Copycat73 Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 51 minutes ago, Bender said: They need to read the signs and watch the news it was more than well enough publicised already been explained .. eyes glazed over .. they will go elsewhere .. metrocenter .. dalton park .. galleries ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Westerly Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Copycat73 said: already been explained .. eyes glazed over .. they will go elsewhere .. metrocenter .. dalton park .. galleries ... Can't buy motorbikes there though; not unless it's changed a hell of a lot since I moved south. Edited December 12, 2023 by S-Westerly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essem Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Just look at the bike buying demographic. Back in the hay days of the hill, almost everyone was under the age of 30. When I’m out on the bike now, most people I encounter are nearer 60. We are in the last days of biking as we know it. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 1 hour ago, S-Westerly said: Can't buy motorbikes there though; not unless it's changed a hell of a lot since I moved south. Nip to the Harley shop round the corner from MetroCentre 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlylegend Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Sounds just like Great Western Road in Glasgow in the sixties and seventies. Kings, Victor Devine, Valentes and all the others in the side streets too. All gone now except Infinity Motorcycles which doesn't sell bikes, just clothes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 15 minutes ago, curlylegend said: Sounds just like Great Western Road in Glasgow in the sixties and seventies. Kings, Victor Devine, Valentes and all the others in the side streets too. All gone now except Infinity Motorcycles which doesn't sell bikes, just clothes. Still a clothes shop at top of the hill, they are pretty isolated, parking is easier though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copycat73 Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 14 hours ago, S-Westerly said: Can't buy motorbikes there though; not unless it's changed a hell of a lot since I moved south. the remaining bikeshop of note is on scotswood road .. outside the ulz.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 8 minutes ago, Copycat73 said: the remaining bikeshop of note is on scotswood road .. outside the ulz.. Usually with a good selection of used stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Westerly Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 I'm in the NE quite often to visit my Dad but I'm not in the market to buy a bike there! By the sounds of it, fortunately! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenyun Posted December 21, 2023 Share Posted December 21, 2023 Yes I remember Westgate road very well, the "greasy spoon cafe" on a Saturday morning, a big plate of pie, chips and curry, the best cure for a Friday night hangover ever! I would frequent the "Hill" most Saturdays from 1970 till the mid 1980s [when I moved away], checking out all the bikes and meeting up with "me marra's". I'd call in to Ken's bike shop just to chat with Jim, [when he was just a salesman!]. In those days I rode a Triumph 500 and 2 Bonnevilles, but in '78 I bought my first Japanese bike, from Kawasaki Newcastle at the bottom of the hill, it was the only way I could sell/partex my immaculate '67 Bonnie [no-one else wanted it] against a new Z650c, followed by a new Z1R in 1980, which cost £1860 on the road! Wish I'd kept that bike, they didn't handle well [needed frame braced] and the brakes were crap due to part cable part hydraulic operation, but I loved it!! On a nice day there would be hundreds of bikers visiting the many accessory and motorcycle shops or passing through on their way to the coast or Jedborough, Halcyon days when biking seemed inexpensive, petrol and tyres were cheap and a bikes mileage was unimportant!!! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SICKS6SIX Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 me and my two brothers must have had 20 new bikes from Kens, my first on-the-road after a few off road bikes at 17 was a Suzuki TS100 for £399 from Kens in 1976, Mick Ken's son-in-law was the main salesman then Jim joined the team after marrying into the family, Ken's workshop at the top of the street for rebores etc, I never thought it would ever close down, it's a furniture showroom now I think I can't look to find out for sure, Harry Woods down the street and the cafe near the post office, Saturday mornings I've seen maybe 300 bikes during the summer, wheelies up the hill and crowds cheering and the occasional BANG as someone hits a car, mass ride offs to Tranwell woods near Morpeth for drag racing, Police turning up and checking frame numbers while scraping the paint off frames to see them clearly (so they said) its heyday was the time of RD's GT's KH's & CB's the blue haze hung in the air all day and the smell was adictive as you sat on the wall at bikesport eating your fish and chips watching the free show, nowhere like it back in the 1970s, 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stottycake Posted December 27, 2023 Share Posted December 27, 2023 Used to go to Westgate Road in the 70s bought all 3 of my bikes at Kens, Honda ss 50 to start ,then a yamaha Rd 250,all my mates were buying suzuki gt 250s Any finally a gt 750, Always wish I'd got the kawa z 900,though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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