Monday 3 October 2011

Tachtastic

Years before the internet could resolve such matters, I knew this high-energy French barman working in London...
He did boggling juggling tricks mixing exotic cocktails in fashionable Soho clubs. His act and lifestyle was chemically enhanced and he burnt brightly. One minute he would be loaded and on a roll, the next, out of a job again having overstepped the mark. Anyway one day I bumped into him in Portobello Market with a desperately pathetic collection of things he was selling for his cause, laid out on the pavement (when most traders can stretch to a trestle table). One of the things he had was a motorcycle exhaust guard with a DC Comics-style eagle on it. I joked "Ha! that looks likes its come off one of those Aermacchi-Harley trials bikes, it's probably worth a lot of money to somebody". BP

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are the people in the shot laughing with him, or at him?!.

Sideburn Magazine said...

He's the DJ on the wheels of steel. G

Nick said...

First road bike I ever rode, put me off bikes for years!! PS Steve, there laughing at him

Sideburn Magazine said...

Thats very poignant Steve, as it was the case for the barman in the story too.
If you had a pink Harley and some party-fueled bint cracked a bottle of bubbly over your headlamp I don't think anybody would be laughing - even if you did have a tach like that. (I would have certainly sprayed my mojito across the dancefloor trying to contain myself).
BP

grant said...

its not pink rite its laser red

Anonymous said...

i feel sorry for your barman friend.
if the last of his possesions was a part of that bike, then he must have been right at the bottom of the barrel!.
i hope there was a good ending to the story!!.

Sideburn Magazine said...

Steve, dear Sylvester knew zilch about bikes, which made it even more bizarre that he should have such an obscure part in his possession. That was the last I saw of him. I imagine he exploded in a happy froth of laser red fizz. BP

Garrett302 said...

Hey look! It's my bike! Exactly how the 302 bike started out, except in blue.

Those emblems are pretty hard to come by. I have an exhaust guard in my garage with one missing.

The bike can be a handful...

-Garrett302

Dr-Ogo said...

To me, Mr Tash has the smug look of a man who knows that in a matter of seconds the annoying party twats surrounding him are going to die a most horrible death!

McQmoto said...

I rode an SX-250 for a few years and actually took it around the Isle of Man TT course - just for funnot racing. I remember getting good air over Ballaugh Bridge too. It's still in the shed but hasn't turned a wheen for a long time. It was OK for a quick nip to the shops or the post office but pretty crap overall