Well I saw and I wanted. I positively lusted. But could I buy one – no sir! None in the UK for sale, and probably no more than three or four in the country, if that, anyway. None expected ever at the dealers. Some expected at the dealers on the continent, but when – well who knows? No-one apparently.

So I turned to the States. eBay, and there was one… but did I bid? No I didn’t, terrified by Euro-three emission controls and importing something I couldn’t register, so I watched it fail to meet its reserve. Then, suddenly feeling irrationally brave I got in touch with the vendor (why oh why?). We swapped so much detail and information and we agreed a price. So the vendor agreed to put it back on eBay with a ‘buy it now’ price, at 5am so I could buy it there and then.

Which I did, only to find an automatic bid in the States from someone else, who also didn’t bid the first time, which pipped me at the post. We both pleaded with the buyer saying it was pre-sold but eBay rules were eBay rules. She was not mine, she was not going to be mine, he was going to have her and I was distraught.

So I started looking where everyone says you should look anyway, on the bulletin board, and one contact led to another and there, amazingly, was another one for sale, 1700 kms over two years, and one owner. ‘Firm’ price. So I said I would buy it, much to the hilarity and disquiet of the rest of the bulletin board hacks who decided I was an internet scam. Anyway, did ‘Tom’ want to sell his Californian bike to me in Scotland? Did he heck, it all sounded like far too much hassle. To someone down the road who would press many of the mighty dollars in his hand and drive away - yes. Scotland, jeez, no, not going to do that! But the old silver tongue and the offer of help, i.e. doorstep pick up, payment before shipment etc. finally did their trick, and she was going to be mine.

Russian bits on eBay.co.uk

So what do you do when you have agreed to buy a bike in California and you need it shipped to Scotland? Apart from panic. Well lots. First the bank, making arrangements to make a transfer to the US in Dollars. Then you need a shipper. And boy did I check the net, and many many shipping options and eventually found ‘California Connection’ based in Derbyshire who import ex-California bikes and cars to Ashbourne (from where they sell many of them no doubt). Bring it in no problem they said, in a container.

So then there followed my biggest ever trust in human nature in my life (probably). Pay a man I didn’t know thousands of dollars for a bike I hadn’t seen, on the other side of the world. Pay some folks in the Peak District I had never met to truck it to the port in LA, ship it to the UK and lorry it to Ashbourne, oh and then pay someone else to ship her to Scotland. What was I doing? And what would I get at the end of that lot?

What I got was exactly what had been promised by everyone, and hats off to them all. Thanks all round. She arrived in Scotland gleaming black in pristine condition one day when I was out at work. And you know what? She started on the button when I got home from work (early!)

So let me get technical, an overhead valve, external pushrod tunnel, 749cc boxer twin, very very directly descended from a 1938 BMW. Upgraded with electronic ignition, and CV carbs from Keihin. But still the same engine really, she may now have an electric leg, but the chrome shiny one to prod with is still there. ‘Ski’ at Triquest, the San Jose Ural dealer, (yes I even paid him money on trust to prep her), did a great job of returning her to normal (49 State spec) removing the tortuous arrangement of tubes and valves that passes for emission controls just in California. A very helpful man.

The frame is beautifully powder-coated smooth black. Tinware is all primered, smooth and immaculately pinstriped. She stops smartly at the front thanks to an Italian Brembo disc, and the back, wait for it, is an hydraulic drum, courtesy of a Lada car, itself a derivative of an Italian Fiat design.