Balancing act

Bringing up the rear on a big twin in the California sunshine while wrestling an Agfa 120 Isolette folder…

From the sublime to the…Tomos

1988 Tomos A3 MS as advertised

What is it about motorcycles that you can own examples which, by any standards, rank right up there with the classics – a ’53 sprung-hub Thunderbird and a ’56 Panhead are good for admiring glances pretty much wherever they go, even among the sports bike fraternity (and sorority) – and yet also stable a machine which, when new, was the butt of every possible joke and has done little to redeem itself in the intervening years?

And yet… I like my Tomos moped. In fact, I love it! Mind you, I did once own a CZ Sport 250 twin with a home-brew sidecar and pretty much anything is a step up from that.

Clean, but there's one or two jobs to do…

Tomos! Even the name is naff and any machine manufactured in the dour Yugoslavia and sold through branches of Woolworths for just £219 is unlikely to win over the funky moped brigade and yet that's just what it does. Fantic, Garelli or Yamaha Fizzy it isn't (or even Malaguti or Puch) but the plucky little Tomos with its cheerful decals, simple and sturdy design and willing motor wins plaudits to this day.

Mine came from a private ad on an autocycle club website and is a replacement for the 1951 98cc James Comet I was riding on club outings but sold in a rash moment. I miss the James but its departure made way for the Tomos, a machine I've always liked and would've bought new had I not been a penniless student in London at the time, riding to and fro to uni on the CZ when I could afford fuel or my bicycle when I couldn't.

Prepping for 'action'

There's a few jobs to do – inevitably – but this one's pretty clean and will be campaigned vigorously once it's back on the road. Look out for reports of its exploits posted here…

Yo ho ho…nda!

Very cool Christmas ad, very uncool use of (admittedly hot) female to sell Baby Dream Benlys… Have a great Christmas.