Some years ago, Scrobs decided to do something with two items which had been lurking in the shed for many years!
Senora O'Blene and Scrobs had been given a generous present by her beloved mum, and as we had a couple of decent mountain bikes on which we would scoot around various forests and lanes, some of the hills were getting a bit steeper, so we invested in a couple of Sinclair Zeta 3 motors...
They took a bit of time to fit and were heavy and ungainly, but on the level, riding on a perfectly dry road, you could achieve some sort of momentum, and get along without pedalling! The eventual demise started on a trip to a pub a few miles away on a very, very hot day, and the long hill we were both relishing turned out to be a total failure for the motors, and we both arrived, utterly exhausted, having pushed the bloody bikes for miles!
After that, I used mine on several occasions, but eventually gave up, and we sold the Senora's bike! The motors stayed somewhere at the back of the shed for years afterwards, and while they rejoiced in a new venture a long time later - as seen in the pic at the top - they really didn't do much more than screech a bit and make for a very heavy ride so I eventually chucked them about a year ago!
(Editor's note...)
Those very motors became the subject of one of the funniest Dad's Army scripts ever written, and I'm proud to say that my grateful letter (and large cheque) from Sir Clive, appreciating the fabulous story of Sergaeant Wilson's motorbike became the touchstone for further innovative, hilarious and inspiring writing for television! Sir Clive and Scrobs met on several occasions after that, but on most opportunities to discuss their future inventions, the great man's attention was usually averted by his love for his latest squeeze, and soon-to-be-wife - the Bicycling Correspondent of The Sodden Prickney Bugle, Ms. Edwina Baggage...
2 comments:
Reminds me of the Sinclair ZX81 I bought rather a long time ago. This and the ZX80 must have introduced a huge number of people to computing. Yet as soon as it appeared I thought the Sinclair C5 was obviously too small. A pity.
Interesting, AK... We eventually chose an Amstrad 464, and had a fabulous time with it!
I actually wrote my first spreadsheet on it, but got onto better things a bit later on...
http://scroblene-webley-bullock.blogspot.com/2010/01/come-back-psion.html
I never actually saw a C5, but was sitting in a hotel near Paddington station one day, and saw an 'A'Bike, which was another failure of a sort of bicycle with tiny wheels! It was actually launched on that day, and forgotten within a week!
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