My continued thanks for the kind comments and helpful info!
The 'dashing' photo of me on the Norton was taken some 35 years ago - having just left the army following an injury, my hair was much the same length then as it is now, although I might not have quite as much on top as I did all those years ago... While I think about it, I apologise for the Honda leathers, but they were all I could afford at the time! And yes, the best photo of the bunch was screwed up by some idiot during the layout process - I was livid about it at the time, and seeing it again reminds me how annoyed I was!
As I said above, I later extended the seat subframe so that I could take a pillion - usually a lithe young thing, although every now and then it'd be some hulking mate who needed a lift somewhere. Sadly, you rarely see lithe young things around the bike meets any more - and when you do, they're generally some mate's daughter, so you aren't allowed to look too closely!
The Dingbat made a very good road bike - although it didn't have the gearing for high speed stuff, it wiped the floor with just about everything it met. I remember a mate telling me about one of the local heroes who rode an all-conquering LC350 - the poor chap was just about in tears at the bar, and when asked about it, he'd said that he thought he was fast until this metalflake blue Norton went past him like he was going the other way! Oh, memories, memories...