My Best Classic Biking Buy Has Four Wheels, Not Two

I've ridden across the UK, in Europe, on-road, off-road, everything from mini-bikes to superbikes, EV, petrol (and sometimes things that feel like they're diesel...), in all kinds of weather.   

So when one of my friends who's considering adding a classic to his garage, who knows I have a small old-bike fleet, asked me "what's your best moment in biking?" I stopped and thought for a few minutes, had a couple of sips of my pint while my mates chatted, and then made my pronouncement: 

"The best thing I ever did in biking was to buy a van." Automotive journalist Iain Macauley explores the topic further.  

I bought the silver, 2010, 170,000 mile, full-service-history, super-well-maintained, ex-telecoms company Renault Kangoo in 2019 after getting that sudden out-of-nowhere urge to go off-roading after decades of avoiding even the lightest of road-rain, partly because I expected my then '60s and '70s classics to disintegrate at the first sign of a cloud, but also because I didn't like getting wet. Meh. 

Trials riding suddenly appealed. Digital-era nadgery bikes didn't, and EV trials machines were still "new fangled". So I first bought a 1980s Beta - which felt light and agile bup-bup-bupping round the garden until at trials-riding school I had a modern bike inflicted upon me, at which point the Beta by comparison suddenly felt like it had the mass of a 1965 Norton. 

I part-ex-ed it for a more modern (but still only 2005) Sherco which felt better. 

The attraction of trials riding is it is allegedly inexpensive. After the initial investments, yes. There's the riding gear to buy, which varied from gym-spec lycra to monsoon-resistant waterproofs depending upon the weather, and rucksack-style water bladders for on-the-move slurping. Trials riding is both energy-sapping and dehydrating. 

Then there was the matter of getting to places to ride the trials bike. Even if road registered, these are not machines to attempt any sort of distance. No seat, gearing that means third will take you up the side of a house, and a tank that'll take two litres if you're lucky. 

The answer? A van. But while it proved to be incredibly useful for my trials bike of the moment, that small but big-enough uninterrupted space in the load area meant there was also enough room for all the accoutrements associated with leaving behind the contents of my garage: everything from bike lift, to tool kit, to fuel - but also riding gear to allow for the whole range of UK weather, and a dry space to change in and out of that gear. 

And a folding camping chair. 

Then, as fast as I'd got into trials riding I lost interest. But the van had become a life changer - it opened up a whole new range of possibilities. 

Instead of local rides on familiar roads it suddenly meant my bikes could be given their legs in areas much further afield, because with not much manoeuvring I found over the years bikes including my '81 Honda CD200, '72 CB250 and '72 Yamaha DT250 amongst others could fit in the load bay after a proper bike ramp investment. 

That meant the world was my lobster, Rodney. Or at least anywhere within a couple of hours or so. 

So bikes that had previously looped around within 20 miles of my home were loaded up and taken on adventures into the Pennines, Lancashire's Trough of Bowland and neighbouring counties. 

Fortunately, there was only incidence of near rescue service call-out when my CB250 developed a gradually-worsening misfire, limping back to the van - thankfully downhill from a Pennine ride. 

But it also meant I bumped into a whole new array of bikers outside cafes and bike shops in areas I'd never previously visited. One guy I met owned a VW Transporter as his daily driver. He kept his Honda XR400 trail bike and his gear in the back so if he ever had either the urge or opportunity he'd saddle up and take off into the hills, wilderness or green lanes. 

The added bonus of a van is how useful they are when it comes to my kids moving flats, wife spotting antique bargains that won't fit in her Fiat 500, and general usefulness for tip runs and so on. 

And, truth be known, I bought bikes over the years from further afield purely on the basis they'd fit in the back. 

But the cherry on the cake is I bought it just as home delivery really started to take off, and, with members of the gig economy needing the key tool of their delivery trade, I'm often made offers for it. 

I don't think I'll be selling it in the foreseeable future, but if I do I'll likely turn a profit on it.