Letters

A few issues ago you asked for images of couples who were still together on bikes after many years, and these photos of my long-suffering wife Jackie and me were taken in 1966 at Little Dial Farm near Wymondham in Norfolk, where my best mate lived. The bike was a 1954 Triumph Thunderbird with coil…

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After reading about the auction of the Heartbeat police Francis-Barnett in the last issue, please find attached pictures of a real Francis-Barnett patrol motorcycle. It’s a 1964 Cruiser 89 250cc twin that was first registered as a black and white Police Twin at Northallerton, North Yorkshire, on April 8, 1964, but it’s been around the…

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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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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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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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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,…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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