Mods V Rockers

Anybody in Southeast Florida may be interested in this.

This Saturday, October 24, will be a Poker Run, Bike Show, and a showing of Quadrophenia in Fort Lauderdale.

Louis Dutton, who runs Vintage Rider online magazine, has been working on this for some time, and at least 80 bikes and scooters are pre-registered.

Weather should be fantastic, there should be a bunch of vintage British and European stuff (at least 3 Commandos).

Go to MODVROCKER.COM for more info.

Well, I presume it will be more friendly than the proper mods & rockers.
My missus originally came from Brighton (England), & she can still remember the blodstained roads & pavements.
Oh good old days.

For a first-year event, it went on very well. A little over 100 bikes and scooters participated in the poker run, with around 80 entered in the show. Nortons were well represented, with 7 Commandos, one Dominator, and one Triton ('67 Atlas featherbed frame with a warmed-over T140 engine, and 4 a leading-shoe front brake off a water buffalo).

Scooters had a pretty decent showing, too. Most of the classic scooters were Vespas, with a couple Sears Allstate-badged ones thrown in, and a '71 Velocette LE, which even the owner wasn't sure should be called a scooter or cycle.

That does sound pretty amusing Bill.

They've posted up a collection of pictures from the day here:
http://www.modvrocker.com


Some interesting bikes

I remember the Mods & Rocker days. I used to hang around the Chelsea Bridge in London & remember a couple of times when scooters were thrown over the bridge & into the river thames. One day some of the lads even chucked a car over the bridge as it was blocking our parking space.
One of the bad places to hang around was The Nightingale cafe near Biggin Hill. The local Hells Angels had this as there haunt.
Ah, the good old days. Now i'm older & more civilised but still a Ropcker at heart, even though my business partner has a 67 Lambretta Li silver special.
cheers all.

Hi I am in many ways "Sleeping with the enemy" as my wife was and is a Mod.
I on the other hand am an old Rocker.
She has her Vespa and I have my proper bikes.
We are both nearly 60years old.
She will still threaten to throw my deckchair into the sea.

In truth it was never as bad as it is made out to be, such is the power of the press.

NORBSA DBD34
TRIBSA 6T
MK3 COMMANDO
BSA RGS REPLICA
CCM 350T
MATCHLESS G12
HONDA TL125
BROCKHOUSE CORGI
ITALJET PACK 2
HONDA CBR1100RR

Funny you should mention deck chairs. While we were in Minehead train station earlier in the year, there was some 60's photographs on display & one of them was of mods & rockers throwing deck chairs at each other.
Nowadays, just park your bike there, wonder around & try to find a reason for stopping there.

I remember riding down to Dover from portsmouth and seeing a burning Vespa on the side of the road, I was convinced for years that Vespa was Italian for bar-B-Q.

I used to visit the Nightingale cafe and Johnson's on the A20 just up the road from Brands Hatch race circuit, Johnson's was the best they used to race down Death hill (Now renamed Gorse Hill for reasons best known to the local authorities) around the roundabout at the bottom and back before the record finished on the juke box and it wasn't a 33rpm!....needless to say the local constabulary were ever present. I now belong to the V.M.C.C and we hold our club meetings at a Pub not from Johnson's and I still see some of the same faces. As they say old rocker's never die the leathers just get tighter !.......Great days

P.S The Nightingale is a D.I.Y store !!
Johnsons is offices for an advertising company

Hi Ron or are you not ron,
I too went to Johnsons for a few years & I remember the ride to the roundabout & back.
I never managed to make it fast enough though.
I still have a picture of me on my brand new commando in 1973 in Johnsons car park. Ive still got the commando & was out on it last sunday (It was bloody freezing & damp).
On the way home to The Elephant & Castle once, I remember doing just over a ton on my Atlas down the mad mile near the dutch house pub I think it was called & going round the bend under the railway bridge at 95 mph.
My brother nearly crapped himself as he was on the pillion.
That Atlas used to handle really well whereas my commando felt a bit like a camel somtimes.
Having said that, the reduction in vibration on the commando compared to the Atlas makes it a nicer overall ride.
I remember old man johnson too, he was a right misserable bugger. He used to line up a load of tea cups on a tray & keep pouring till the pot was empty & the tray had loads of spilt tea in it.
I think his daughter also worked in the cafe & I remember her being fit as a butchers dog. Ahh, the good old days. Happy memories.
cheers Don

Rocker1: Your collection sounds interesting!