Sam Hewitt

What’s happening to our pastime? A plea from the heart

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Sam Hewitt

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31st July 2018

In the June OBM ‘Pete’s Prattle’ discussed an important matter – the decline of riding numbers. It’s a subject that is on everyone’s lips at present, and clubs, organisers, riders and the press all mention the ever-mounting problem. If we have too few riders, there can be no events, and that means the eventual atrophy…
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In or out – it’s the defining question!

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Sam Hewitt

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31st July 2018

Mick Payne wonders whether it will ever be possible for anyone to produce a truly definitive list of every sidecar manufacturer in history. Who remembers the column NAIT? It stood for ‘Not Appearing in Tragatsch’ and was a regular piece on the marques that slipped beyond the radar of Erwin Tragatsch when compiling his Illustrated…
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Don’t fret, mother! How I learned to ride…

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Sam Hewitt

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31st July 2018

We all remember our first solo motorcycle ride, and lifelong motorcyclist John Edwards recalls the excitement and euphoria of his own, on a side-valve 500cc 16H Norton that he bought for a heady £7 in 1958! Apart from some fun in a local park on my friend’s 32cc Cyclemaster-powered bicycle in 1957, I actually learned…
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Memories of 1953 with my Francis-Barnett trials Falcon

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Sam Hewitt

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28th July 2018

Reading about how the Francis-Barnett pre-dated all trail bikes (OBM April) took me back to 1953, when the specification for the 197cc Falcon trials bike listed a ‘four-inch’ rear tyre and a four-speed gearbox. Before this, the general view was that two-stroke bikes of 122 and 197cc would have only the capability to pull a…
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Who could forget Fred and his racing Bantam?

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Sam Hewitt

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28th July 2018

It was great to see the piece about Fred Launchbury and his racing Bantam in the last issue. I bought the bike from Fred on January 15, 1970 for £175 – a record price at the time! I still have the bill of sale on his Raynes Park Motorcycles-headed paper, with a signed-over fourpenny stamp.…
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Yorkshire Classic revving up for annual bike show

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Sam Hewitt

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25th July 2018

The Bronte Hotel in Haworth will again play host to around 100 classic bikes and many more fans from 6.30pm onwards at the Yorkshire Classic motorcycle event on July 18. With classes for girder fork, British and foreign classics, mopeds and scooters to 1980, ex-military and competition to 1970, along with reproduction and customised there…
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Sun shines on Wells CMC’s Tortoise & Hare charity run

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Sam Hewitt

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21st July 2018

icturesque Wells Market Place was packed with 160 motorcycles of all ages awaiting the start of the 8th annual Tortoise and Hare Run organised by the Wells Classic Motorcycle Club to raise funds for the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance on the morning of Sunday, June 3. Entries came from as far afield as Yorkshire,…
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Mike Hailwood inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame

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Sam Hewitt

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21st July 2018

After more than 40,000 enthusiasts from around the world voted for their favourites in a number of motor sport categories, motorcycling legend Mike Hailwood topped a shortlist including TT hero Joey Dunlop and American world champion Kenny Roberts, and was duly inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame at the Royal Automobile Club’s Woodcote…
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New calendar will boost Exmoor Run charity fund

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Sam Hewitt

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21st July 2018

Open to all motorcycles, Taunton Classic Motorcycle Club’s annual charity Exmoor Run will start from Sheppy’s Cider, just outside Taunton, on Sunday, August 12. Entrants will cover just over 100 fully marshalled miles, enjoying coffee breaks and a lunch stop in picturesque Dulverton, before returning to Sheppy’s for the presentations and raffle, and the chance…
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Heartbeat’s Fanny-B patrol bike – an arresting H&H auction lot!

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Sam Hewitt

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21st July 2018

The 198cc Francis-Barnett police patrol bike that became a star of the early series of the 1960s-based TV police drama Heartbeat will be coming up for auction at H&H Classics’ National Motorcycle Museum sale on Thursday, July 26 – and it will be offered with the full police uniform worn by Nick Berry. The machine…
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Sam Hewitt

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