Blog

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.…

Continue reading »

Some time ago, I decided to build a sidecar and trailer to attach to my D14/4 BSA Bantam with successful results, but then I started thinking about my next project – or two. I’d always had a hankering to build a trike, and saw myself on an autocycle, so I found an old bike frame,…

Continue reading »

In response to Malcolm Ranieri’s photos of the four-cylinder two-stroke hybrid in Readers’ Letters (May), I’m pretty sure it’s the same bike that called in a couple of years ago at Fosse Garage, near Harbury, where I work. The owner, who arrived in a small group of fellow riders, said the engine had a Suzuki…

Continue reading »

Following the sad news of the passing of Ivan Mauger at the age of 78 on April 16, I’d like to mention my wife Hilary’s moment with him in 1973. For my sins, I was secretary of the Manchester ‘17’ Motor Cycle Club in the late 1960s and early 70s, and arranged for the club…

Continue reading »

I enjoyed the ‘filling up at Presteigne’ picture on page 20 of OBM (May). Having lived there for about four years I immediately recognised the garage, although it’s looking a bit sad these days. I didn’t recognise anyone on the photo, of course, but I consulted a local octogenarian who immediately named all of the…

Continue reading »

I came across this 1943 James ML ‘Clockwork Mouse’ in military livery at a Cannock Truck Stop Commercial Vehicle Gathering on Sunday May 13. I believe it’s quite rare, and thought your readers would like to see it. Malcolm Ranieri, Email Read more Letters, Opinion, News and Features in the June 2018 issue of OBM…

Continue reading »

Following the recent readers’ letters about petrol pumps, I thought you might like to publish this photo. The garage, in East Preston, West Sussex, was redeveloped in 2009/10, but as it was a listed building, part of the planning approval required that the pumps be retained and restored – and they remain in good condition.…

Continue reading »

Andrew Millard from Stockport, Greater Manchester, became the lucky winner of a brand new 1200cc Triumph Speedmaster after the winning ticket in the National Motorcycle Museum’s winter raffle was drawn by former racer and Honda team manager Neil Tuxworth at the International Classic MotorCycle Show at Stafford on Sunday, April 22. The second prize, a…

Continue reading »

Having read many classic bike and similar magazines over the years, I have never seen any articles about the late Fred Launchbury. He had a shop in Raynes Park, London SW20, and around 1963 I was working in a shop called Mowbray Motors in Wimbledon. I’d just bought a Norton Dominator 77 from the cheap…

Continue reading »