1976 MZ ISDT replica

vincent "vinny" adams, his old man named him after stevenage's finest motorcycle, vinny was five foot seven of pure anarchy, he was one of the hardest men i have ever met, he would fight anyone no matter how big they were, he was like a little terrier, once he got that 'look' in his eye he was gone, he did some time for robbery back in the day, he would say to me 'you would be ok in there becauase you read a lot and that would pass the time for you, can't be arsed with all that bollocks!', he was a demon on a bike, we would race everywhere, he turned legitimate and raced big jappers in the earlystocks series and later long circuit kart racing, i remember riding to darley moor one day in the pouring rain and he was in the lead going at a good rate of knot's for the conditions, i like the rain and it doesn't bother me when the bike gets twitchy so i passed him, he was right up my pipe all the way to darley but he couldn't pass me, we pulled in to the circuit, payed and parked up, he took off his helmet and i saw he wasn't happy, 'you fucking nobhead, it's pissing down and your'e riding like a twat, and i'm piss-wet through, why didn't you stop so i could put my leggings on?', he flashed me the vinny grin and i knew that i had the seal of approval, we rode thousands of miles together, our favourite was always the transatlantic race series held over the easter holidays, brands on good friday, mallory on sunday and oulton park on easter monday, we had regular weekends away in west wales, the bottom photo was taken on the gower peninsular in the early eighties, that's me on the left when i had hair and i don't know what was happening with the facial hair! , the top photo is vince on his gs750 at a 'run-wot-you-brung' at santa pod, i'm digging the belstaff wax cotton jacket and 'peek-a-boo' ankle exposing jeans and trainers combo, vinny passed away three years ago, a victim of cancer, he left a big hole in a lot of peoples lives.......