Old Bike Mart

Service with a salute!

by

Sam Hewitt

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28th October 2017

Once upon a time, breakdown help was more of a club affair than merely an insurance scheme with multiple marketing spin-offs run by giant companies. Photos from the Mortons Archive tell the story of the good old days, when the sidecar-mounted patrolmen of the RAC and AA were seen as the knights of the road.…
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A Vindec at 14, then Triumphs all my life

by

Sam Hewitt

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28th October 2017

Graham Overd tells of a lifetime of motorcycling memories, from keeping a stock of box sidecars for sixteeners taking the bigger bike, three-wheel ‘L’ plate option to building off-road specials and proudly riding a succession of Triumphs on the road. In February, Old Bike Mart ran a story about a reader who bought his first…
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A covered bike in Germany

by

Sam Hewitt

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28th October 2017

Hello to the editorial team, and it was very interesting to read about all the covered bikes built in the UK in the last issue. In 1934 the Victoria factory in Nurnberg (1886-1958) built a covered bike called the KR8 Fahrmeister (Driving Master), and this was one of the first such bikes to be built…
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Schmoozing the Met for LE Velo orders

by

Sam Hewitt

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26th October 2017

I thoroughly enjoyed Triumph Tiger Cub and Terrier expert Mike Estall’s fascinating letter ‘Police evaluation Terriers recalled’ (OBM September). With typical attention to detail, Mike describes the Metropolitan Police’s evaluation in summer 1955 of competing lightweight motorcycles for beat patrol work. By the mid-1950s the Met was facing a manpower shortage, and the prospect of…
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Ariel FH Sports outfit memories evoked

by

Sam Hewitt

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26th October 2017

The recent OBM article about the Ariel FH Sports took me back to my days as an apprentice compositor at McCorquodales (Printers) in Euston. I left school at the age of 15 on Thursday, July 24, 1958 and began a six-year apprenticeship the next day, so there was no holiday that year! In 1959 a…
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Happy Dayton Albatross holiday

by

Sam Hewitt

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26th October 2017

I’ve managed to rustle up all the old photos I have of my Villiers 2T-engined Dayton Albatross scooter from the 1960s. I know there’s not much of the scooter to see, because the purpose was to picture my late wife Maureen on holiday in France and at Calella, near Barcelona in Spain. I repeated the…
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No ramps required! Motolug ingenuity makes motorcycle trailer-loading a doddle

by

Sam Hewitt

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26th October 2017

Ingenious, versatile and affordable, Motolug collapsible motorcycle trailers are designed and manufactured at the Cotswold Business Village at Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire. Founded in 2007, the business offers a unique range of UK and internationally patented EC Whole Vehicle Type-Approved trailers whose key design criteria have resulted in products that can be easily and quickly…
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A second-hand outfit – at half the cost of many new sidecars

by

Sam Hewitt

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26th October 2017

Mick Payne concludes his series about getting into sidecar riding by looking at a bargain second-hand outfit with great possibilities. The word serendipity, first coined by Horace Walpole in 1754, is said to be one of the most difficult words in English to put a meaning to, but it sums up the subject of this…
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Motorcycling in the 50s

by

Sam Hewitt

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14th October 2017

Raiding the bound volumes of the old ‘Green ’Un’ and ‘Blue ’Un’ weeklies in Mortons’ impressive Archive month after month for Old Bike Mart material, this reviewer loved the black and white, almost ‘scrapbook’ design of this large-format classic reprint by Jeff Clew from Veloce Publishing. All the spontaneity, simplicity and promise of things to…
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Ardingly show to celebrate 50 years of the Norton Commando

by

Sam Hewitt

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14th October 2017

To mark 50 years since the introduction of the Norton Commando at the Earls Court Show in 1967, Peter Williams will be guest of honour at the South of England Classic Motorcycle Show and Bikejumble at Ardingly, West Sussex, on Sunday, October 29. Bikes booked to appear include Peter’s original 1973 JPN Monocoque, a genuine…
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