At the appointed hour we turned up at North Dallas BMW to see the bike. Corbin was already there with his gleaming 1200cc Trophy in “British Racing Green”. He proudly showed us over the machine, pointing out the modifications he had made: D&D (extra loud) exhausts, anti-dive forks, sports brakes (argh … that’s why he had those anti-dive forks!), and a fancy cream leather (butt buster) seat, to name but a few.
With a certain amount of trepidation, John started the bike up and set off for a test drive (presumably leaving Brigid behind as collateral). Vroom! Off he went down Avenue K. He had only gone about 500 yards before he had to test the efficiency of the sports brakes (eek!) … at the level crossing. For the next 10 minutes John waited as one of those mile-long trains trundled past. At last the barriers were raised, and he continued his test drive. John went once more round the block … only to hit the level crossing just as the barriers were coming down again!
Despite the interrupted test-ride, the bike was an instant winner with us both. We agreed that Corbin should replace his brakes with the original Triumph ones. All that remained now was to withdraw enough cash to finance the purchase, organise some insurance, and we would be on the road tomorrow.