Here's a piccie for you Bogus, of my earliest outfit - now in new hands and still looking good
I envy you your collection. I must be a little older than you perhaps; I had a Norton Dommie for a couple of years, but the Commie was beyond my wage packet at the time. I also had a brace of BSA M21's, the side-valve 600 single, but nothing ever quite came up to the big Panther for sloggability.
@Katana. I remember your namesake as a wicked piece of kit
I nearly bought a Kettle once, but otherwise it was all Yam's for me after the British industry crashed. I never met the Yam R1
rider, but while I was a NABD rep we must have done 3 or 4 conversions for one-armed riders. Unfortunately the damage to my shoulder and spine wouldn't allow me to check out a solo, as I couldn't risk any further impact damage in the event of a spill. My first converted outfit was a Yam XS650, quite a classic in its own right. It had the lightweight sidecar from one of those Harley Davidson 350 2-strokes (re-badged Aermacchis?), but even that was too much for the Yammy gearbox. Eventually I restored it as a solo and got a great price from a collector.
As you said, I recommend a well-fitting lid and good leathers at the very least.