Old Bike Mart

  • Ardingly event wasn’t just about Nortons

    Ardingly event wasn’t just about Nortons

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    After three years of hard work, my partner and I finished our latest project, the rebirth of an old lady who’d been born in 1942 – an Indian motorcycle (or rather a collection of parts described as a motorcycle). We spared no effort in making this machine one of a kind, a bike to turn…

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  • A lovely green Velo

    A lovely green Velo

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    I was very interested to see the article about the green Velocette MAC restored by Derek Manders in OBM (January), and initially thought it was mine! If you are able to forward it, I thought Derek might be interested in a photograph of my own 1955 green MAC which I bought almost six years ago.…

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  • To brake or not to brake – that is the question

    To brake or not to brake – that is the question

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    Mick Payne opens up a discussion about the merits or otherwise of fitting a brake to your sidecar wheel – and he’d like to know more about your own preferences. Although the sidecar has been around almost as long as the motorcycle itself, there wasn’t a TT race for them until 1923, 16 years after…

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  • A picture from a different world…

    A picture from a different world…

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    Sent in by reader Brian Reynolds, here’s another lovely old picture to ponder. It was taken outside the charmingly named Slaughter Pike Garage just outside Bourton on the Water on the Fosse Way around 1920, and belongs to the man who ran the garage a few years ago. Brian asks whether the motorcycle at the…

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  • A chat between races – those were the days!

    A chat between races – those were the days!

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    After reading the exciting news about the Eppynt road racing circuit in South Wales being used again, Vince Chivers sent us this great shot of riders in their dark leathers having a chat between races at what he thinks was Aberdare Park. He can identify Mike Hailwood, Ray Cowles and Dan Shorey, but wonders if…

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  • Barry Harper, 1954-2018

    Barry Harper, 1954-2018

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    Widely known on the classic bike circuit and at club runs and autojumbles, Barry Harper of Upminster passed away in January after being treated in hospital for a lung condition. His passion for bikes began when his father gave him rides around the garden on the tank of a single-seat 125cc Royal Enfield, and in…

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  • Death of Southern 100 stalwart George Costain

    Death of Southern 100 stalwart George Costain

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    Colby, Isle of Man, road racer George Costain, whose main claim to fame was winning the 1954 Senior Manx Grand Prix just two days after Castletown’s Derek Ennett had won the Junior to make it the MGP’s first Manx ‘double’, passed away on Tuesday, January 9 at the age of 88. That ‘double’ was probably…

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  • £30,000-plus for John Lennon Monkey bike?

    £30,000-plus for John Lennon Monkey bike?

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    A Honda Z50A Monkey-Trail bike that once belonged to John Lennon will coming up for auction at the H&H Classics’ sale at the National Motorcycle Museum on March 4, and is estimated to sell for £30,000-plus. Lennon used the bike as an enjoyable way of getting around his Tittenhurst Park estate in Surrey, where he…

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  • Farewell to Ken Davis

    Farewell to Ken Davis

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    Ken Davis, an enthusiastic all-round motorcyclist and Barking and East Ham Motorcycle Club stalwart for many years, died in January at the age of 85. He lived in London’s East Ham all his life, and notched up many thousands of miles on various road bikes as well as enjoying a long trials and scrambling career.…

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  • When the summers never seemed to end

    When the summers never seemed to end

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    I enclose two photos which I took in 1966 and which, I hope, will help me find a great friend from that time. His name is Geoff Davis, and when I last saw him during the early 1980s he was a ship’s engineer, and I think he lived in Portsmouth or Plymouth. In the photo…

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