SPECIAL EFFECT

Can something simple become special with the passage of time?

- By Kartik Ware Photographs Kaizad Adil Darukhanawala

‘Bro, nice bike ya,’ went the young chap walking an astonishingly shiny Indie dog one early morning. I looked at his handsome companion and then at mine, a 1956 BSA B31, suddenly unsure if I’d prefer company that had a wagging tail or a peashooter exhaust. You see, there’s really nothing all that special about the B31. It was a commonplace working dog, built to the most ubiquitous of British motorcycling templates of the time — an OHV pushrod long-stroke 350cc single. And then I realised I was doing it the same dismissive injustice many people aim at Indie dogs, which happen to be my favourite kind of canine happiness. I should’ve known better.

After all, earlier in the wee hours of that morning, in a dark basement where the sun has no say whatsoever, the B31 had responded to a few kicks by roaring out a British-single rendition of the Dylan Thomas villanelle, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, and then settling into a slightly uneven idle. I looked at the Mikcarb carburettor and assumed that was the reason, but I'd gladly suffer an asymmetrical idle rather than a frustratingly finicky Amal. Even with the nonstandard carburettor, though, the B31 ran just fine in a typically period-correct manner. Which is to say that it was a mechanical cocktail that mostly induced warm vintage feelings interspersed with alarming moments. But we'll get to that in a minute.