Ken was an employee of Avon Tyre's experimental department. He developed the rear springs intended to increase safe load capacity without bottoming; they are called Petteford springs and are prized today. Ken was a superb all around rider; in addition to racing, he was a long distance enthusiast, and on his Black Shadow he racked up some 200,000 miles before he sold it and emigrated to Canada. Sadly, while only in his thirties, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in the mid 1960's. He was a splendid chap and his death came as a terrible blow.

(1/10/57)

At Christmas time, a friend and I made the journey to Wettebridge and Cornwall, to spend the holiday there. Your remarks about this being a foggy island came back to me a hundred times on that trip as the first 120 miles were covered in really thick mist with visibility down to about 20 feet in places, and you will appreciate that on our winding roads that sort of thing is not funny. Eventually we ran out of the fog and for a change were faced with ice. The fog was moving up country and following the fog was really severe frost. The roads were like a skating rink and I am afraid we dropped her once on a particularly slippery uphill section on the approach to Bodman Moor. Luckily we were not traveling fast and the bike suddenly whipped over from underneath us and we were left sliding uphill on the seats of our pants in pursuit of our bike which was about ten feet ahead. In the midst of this my pal who had been driving turned to me and said, "This is Bloody slippery." No harm came to the machine, except a scrape on the front mud guards. So when we regained our confidence we pressed on.

(8/30/57)

The following day we headed downhill into the plain of northern Italy through the very long Lore Valley, gorgeous scenery and a reasonable road. Soon we were on the Autostrada cruising in the 70's. We arrived at Bergamo in the afternoon and headed off into the mountains, heading toward Lovne. This road is nearly all loose surface, but the Vincent didn't seem to mind at all. We soon reached Edola, and then out to the Tonali pass, where we met another Vincent. Of course we stopped. His was minus headlamp. Apparently his model had toppled off its sidestand on soft tarmac and he had more or less written off that item. He decided that he wouldn't need lights so he had thrown it away! Apparently he was also troubled by a dragging clutch--we agreed that it did too, when we heard him trying to engage bottom cog to get away. . . . Then onto the Autobahn and so to Stutgard where we arrived in early evening after some rapid cruising at the true Shadow gait! At one stage I remember sitting on the back and thinking, "What the hell is Don hanging about for?" and looking over his shoulder, I discovered that we were already doing it, the indicator on 105! I didn't think the old girl had it in her.