Words: Roy Poynting Photographs: Terry Joslin
This is actually from a year before the James model name ‘Comet’ was coined, but is in all essence the same model.
I’ve had great affection for James’ motorcycles since I took to the roads on an old Comet as a teenager, and while I’ve since had several other models made by the Greet, Birmingham, factory, I’ve always hankered after another example of its smallest product.
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Well, fate eventually played a hand when a 98cc Villiers-engined James turned up in the collection left by the late Martin Tiller, some of whose bikes have featured in these pages.
Luckily I was able to purchase the machine via a mutual friend and ended up with the pretty little James featured here.
So, I’d got a Comet again. At least to all intents and purposes I had, but when I did a bit of research I was surprised to find that James didn’t use that moniker for its tiddler when it was introduced in 1949.
Read more in October’s edition of TCM
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