Editor’s intro

There’s only one subject I can possibly write about in this month’s ‘Prattle’ – the wonderful achievement by Michael Worthington-Williams, who has been a much-respected contributor to Old Bike Mart for around a quarter of a century, in being made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Now 80, Michael, of Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire,…

Continue reading »

Two readers’ letters in this issue raise niggling concerns about the future of classic bike riding, and I put the word in italics to emphasise the difference between riding and owning. In his emailed letter to OBM, Hugh Dixon says what a great day out he had riding his old Triumph Bonneville in the ‘Spirit…

Continue reading »

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines the condition of ‘writer’s block’ as “being unable to create a piece of written work because something in your mind prevents you from doing it” – and this affliction can be a particular nuisance when you have to prattle on about something every month, especially when you’ve already got 49…

Continue reading »

Reader Colyn Thomas’s atmospheric recollections of the comings and goings at the petrol pumps at Castle Garage, on the A38 at Trebrown Bridge in Cornwall, and this month’s cover shot of two BSA C15 Sportsman riders at North Bar Garage in Banbury, a control point in the 1966 National Rally, got my memory buds going.…

Continue reading »

Pondering about the page plan for our bumper 64-page pre-Stafford Show issue next month got me thinking about just how much motorcycle shows have changed over the years. The first one I ever attended was the Earls Court Motorcycle Show of 1963, when my late motorcycling friend Peter Poole and I took an overnight train…

Continue reading »

We’ve had some interesting themes in Old Bike Mart during the past couple of years, from old-fashioned bike shops and favourite motorcycling cafes to sidecar outfit antics and rides from hell, and your response has always made brilliant reading – but one we haven’t touched on so far is the plethora of cheap aftermarket accessories…

Continue reading »

One of the great joys of editing Old Bike Mart is receiving the many motorcycle club journals that are kindly sent to me each month. Those who edit and write for them are the unsung heroes of motorcycle journalism, providing countless brilliant historical and technical articles, riding memories and event reports – and the layout…

Continue reading »

Christmas is a time to reflect upon the year gone by and look forward to the season ahead, and in this issue we mourn the passing of motorcycling characters young and old, along with all the happy memories they gave us, as we start to think about what the new year might bring. One exciting…

Continue reading »

A single glance through Old Bike Mart reveals just how many great events the various sections of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club bring to us each and every month of the year. In this issue alone we have lovely reports by John McCrink on the Beamish Trophy Trial organised by the club’s South Durham section…

Continue reading »