Bikes seem to be pretty prominent amongst the collective, so I thought I’d pitch these in. I was looking up some old photos from my own Pentax era to illustrate an article on the resurgence of camping and found these gems. This is my brother, the renowned yachtsman, Captain Haddock, fiddling with two bikes he abused in the early seventies. First was the Matchless 500 single. No doubt worth a fortune now, but picked up for less than a fiver then. The front mudguard soon went, to be followed by the fitting of a ‘peanut’ fuel tank from an NSU Quickly and some Ape Hangers. Essential kit back then. It looks SO dangerous. Marvellous! The workshop picture is the one we had at Appletreewick Farm and I was astonished to find that I have that workbench her e, now, in my garage complete with the very same vice and buffer (on the extreme right). The bike was a Bultaco Sherpa trials bike. 250, two stroke, bags of torque. he competed at club level with mixed success. I’m confident Fred Fibonacci will take up the story.
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Wow! I can honestly say I have no recollection whatsoever of these images. I remember the bikes vividly of course. The Matchless cost £2.50 and had a broken engine mounting, so the whole thing shook like a road drill. Alan(?)Fowkes at the top of the village welded it up for a quid; a transformation. The grinning victim on the back is Sam Barker, a school mate from Snarestone. Fantastic to see that I am barely older than Fibonacci Jnr is now, especially in the first shot. In the background is our Dad's Peugeot 404 Familiale; a great car.
The Bultaco was a very different machine. That cost £250, a major investment. I used to enjoy the discipline trials riding but fell off a lot, and only worked out how to use the adjustable rear suspension on the last trial I did with it. Very agile bike 'though. Good for wheelies across the lawn.
Excuse me while I go and blub into my cornflakes.
Yes. It's stiring stuff. I love they way the front brake, in the first shot, is completely disconnected! Any fool can make a bike stop. it takes a genius to make it go fast.
If you look closely at the bottom of the down tube you can clearly see the crack in the casting that led to the wayward handling. Me and Barry Bowley once used the garage wall to stop the bike, bending those forks back and putting me on his shoulders (I'd been riding pillion). We then salvaged some forks from a B31 BSA that just about fitted and got back to business, covered in large purple bruises. How we laughed.
The workshop pic is almost too much. Every item, every oily mark telling its own story. Particularly impressed by my early grasp of ergonomics: the pull-handle to the drawer on the bench, you will notice, is set at an angle. This made it a nanosecond quicker to open if you were right handed, and was far more comfortable to use as the drawer was always full of heavy bits of engine.
Bizarre. I've just been out to my garage and the handle is still there, unchanged. It looks home made. Maybe a project set in metalwork for form 2b. The drawer is still too heavy, though now it's redundant tools. Hub pullers etc. The B31 must have been my first, of two. I ripped it apart and various bits layed around for years. For the benefit of Affer and Diplo, it was a sprung hub model. About 1949 with a single saddle. Ten bob from a lad up the road.
This is too much. Thankyou. All that happened to me on a bike was crashing straight into a gas lamp in our lane, sliding down the crossbar and crushing my nuts against the front bit that held the handlebars. With my father looking out of the lounge window, shaking his head and putting another Brazil Nut Toffee in his mouth.
Well, Mr Fibonacci, I can see the rason for your lack of success with the Bultaco straight away: it's the trousers - or perhaps they are pajamas? My good friend Sammy Miller would never have been seen in such garb - Belstaff only - although the rather louche Mick Andrews might have worn such outlandish garb.
Mick Andrews rode a Montesa Cota 325, if I remember correctly. Harry Andrews always played army types. Julie Andrews was in 'The Sound Of Music'. An extraordinarily talented family by any standards. Julie could often be found on the muddier sections, urging her brother on to fewer and fewer points whilst Harry would sit in their Commer van drinking Pink Gin, learning his lines. They loved the anonymity of trialling; a welcome respite from the hurley-burley of Hollywood life.
Which of the Andrews family was responsible for the Liver Salts? I've just eaten a large meal without the aid of alcohol and feel most odd.
Back 'then', the Big Four all thought trials bikes were a way forward - Sammy went to Honda of course, and Mick Andrews took on the role of Yamaha-meister, with Harry and Julie's support. But perhaps the most talented of the Andrews family was Archie, whose exploits riding a works Brough were really remarkable.
Now Eamon was your man for trials and the boggier the better. For some reason he always encumbered himself with worthless gifts and rather than 'footing' penalties was give extra cabbages to hold.
Affer, why on earth did the manufacturers consider that most gentlemanly of motorcycle sports - trials - would boost sales, when all that me and my mates were interested in were road racing and 'sprinting', later to become drag racing. They were noisier and therefore much more fun.
I'm afraid the only thing that I can add to this debate is that I did once sit on my Uncle Ray's BSA Bantam in the garage one cold Christmas.
Affer gets serious (not too often I hope!). Jon, the short answer is that, back then, trials riding and MX were seen as part of the marketing of the Trail Bike line - always a major chunk of sales for the manufacturers - particularly in 'warm' Europe, a much bigger market than the UK. Trials and MX here did attract a lot of media coverage...BBC tv had 'scrambling' on Grandstand and 'Kickstart', and they produced some national names. But then along came Barry Sheene....and although MX is still pretty huge in Europe, it's all road racing now. As for Drag Racing....hmmmm, biking in women's clothing is still a bit risque....
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