Old Bike Mart

Although the Vintage Motor Cycle Club was founded by 38 enthusiasts who assembled at the Lounge Cafe, Hog’s Back, Guildford, Surrey, C E ‘Titch’ Allen has become known as the ‘founder’ in recent years, writes Ian Kerr. While not as old as the club itself, Founder’s Day has been run for around half a century by the…

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Mick Payne delves deeper into the history of Martello sidecars, and wonders if we’ll ever see a ‘Son of Moby Dick’. Last month I touched upon the distinctive and shapely Kent Martello built by Martello Plastics Ltd, and for this part of the story I’m deeply indebted to Steven Lancaster, who has compiled a comprehensive…

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Regulations are available for the Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club’s Romney Marsh Run, starting and finishing at The Star Inn, St Mary in the Marsh, Romney Marsh, Kent TN29 0BX on Sunday, September 25. It will be open to anyone, Sunbeam club member or otherwise, entering a veteran (pre-1915) or flat-tank motorcycle, sidecar combination or three-wheeler…

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With an entry of 100 riders, this year’s Graham Walker Memorial Run around Beaulieu, Hants, on Sunday, August 7, was one of the best in the area to be organised by the Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club, writes Ian McGill. In warm sunshine, the riders set off over a route laid out by the Southampton &…

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Based at Aylesford’s 12th century Priory and organised by the West Kent section of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club on August 6/7, the 32nd International West Kent Run Weekend attracted riders from the UK, France, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, plus two intrepid adventurers from Norway who made it on 175cc Tempo Transport machines,…

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When the idea of a Brackley motorcycle meeting in the centre of the Northamptonshire town was first mooted in 2008, little did the organisers know that it would turn into one of the UK’s biggest biking events, raising thousands of pounds for charity each year, writes Ian Kerr. Thanks to all the hard work, enthusiasm…

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Plans are shaping up for the third National Motorcycle Museum Live free open day on Saturday, November 5. The event will include two ‘Stars on Stage’ presentations with racing legends Carl Fogarty and Jamie Whitham in the magnificent Britannia Suite at 11am and 2pm, in association with Central Wheel Components Ltd. Appearing by courtesy of…

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Just too late to include in our last issue, but oozing with road racing nostalgia, the Mallory Bike Bonanza over the weekend of July 30/31 also celebrated 60 years of the famous Leicestershire circuit, and Old Bike Mart is indebted to Tony Page for these photos. Among those giving demonstration laps on historic race machines…

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After arriving in Belfast towards the end of their charity fundraising tour of Northern Ireland, the National Autocycle & Cyclemotor Club’s Wirral Wobblers got a nasty surprise in the shape of 17 parking tickets placed on the seats of their small machines. Ted Bemand, whose account of the tour has been appearing in recent issues…

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The letter in OBM (June) about bike shop tours of Liverpool rekindled memories of 1958-59 and my first bikes as a 16-year-old apprentice mechanic on £3 per week. All the big car dealers, Watson’s (Morris/Jaguar), Garlick Burrell and Edwards (Vauxhall) as well as Blake’s (Ford) were intermingled with the bike dealers, so while running for…

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