Old Bike Mart

The ‘build-it-yourself’ Excelsior

by

Sam Hewitt

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23rd September 2017

The words ‘Popular’ and ‘Universal’ were once commonly used to describe a car, motorcycle or bicycle manufacturer’s cheap and cheerful bottom-of-the-range models. In 1962 Excelsior went a step further by offering its three-speed 150cc Universal in a box so that the customer could assemble it himself and thus avoid the payment of purchase tax, writes…
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A tongue-in-cheek (or is it?) look at the Trans-Irish Sea Match Race

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

Classic 50s are a big hit in the Isle of Man, and this year will see the Trans-Irish Sea Match Race return to the Island’s Jurby short track on Sunday, October 1 – in fact they’re so important that OBM’s Pete Kelly (good Manx name!) and his companion from Staffordshire (four-legged, that is) will be…
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Remembering Archie Goddard

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

My dad, Jim Mundy, raced with Archie Goddard in scrambles in the early-to-mid 1950s, and they were pretty good friends for a while, but then lost touch with each other after Dad gave up scrambling and moved over to trials. Archie, and his father Dick, had a motorcycle shop in Desborough Road, High Wycombe, in…
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Police evaluation Terriers recalled

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

The letter from John Lines on page 38 of OBM (August) was of interest to me as I run the Tiger Cub and Terrier ‘Register of Survivors’, and was interested to see if any of the machines he mentions were listed in it. The Register currently lists roughly 11,500 surviving bikes, frames and engines, but…
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International West Kent Run booked solid once again

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

A firm fixture on the vintage motorcycle enthusiasts’ calendar is the International West Kent Run weekend, and the 33rd such event took place at The Friars, Aylesford, on August 5-6, writes Tony Page. With a limited entry of 380, it’s actually a Thursday to Monday event, with social runs being organised each day except Sunday,…
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55th annual Graham Walker Memorial Run

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

Ninety-five pre-war motorcycles took part in the Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club’s 55th Graham Walker Memorial Run which started from the Beaulieu Motor Museum in Hampshire on Sunday, August 13, writes Tony Page. Promoted as ‘an informal gathering of motorcyclists in memory of the late Graham Walker, founder member and one-time president of the Sunbeam MCC’,…
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The joy of second-hand parts

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

With the days of bottomless sources of cheap Japanese parts for classic machines now well and truly over, Steve Cooper brings this thought-provoking article. When the classic Japanese scene really took off in the late 1980s, restorers didn’t know just how lucky they were. Pretty much anything they needed for their mouldering project was on…
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Choosing the right wheel bearings for your bike

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

When we’re involved in a motorcycle project and research the specifications for use of certain components, do we really understand what their code numbers mean? Take wheel bearings, for instance. Ronnie McLaren, who established Classic Bikes Scotland in 2015, and has been restoring British bikes since he was 15 years old, tells us that customers…
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Brackley Festival of Motorcycling is still riding high

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

Now in its ninth year, the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling has become one of the biggest motorcycle events in the UK, and is now spread out over 50 acres of the Northamptonshire town. Still run on a not-for-profit basis, the festival continues to put money into the local air ambulance (£100,000 to date) providing the…
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VMCC Taverners put on another great Founder’s Day event

by

Sam Hewitt

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19th September 2017

The Taverners section of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club managed another spectacular Founder’s Day event at Stanford Hall on July 23 – and this year’s theme, American motorcycles, resulted in some super examples of the Indian marque from the earliest days of the company right up to today’s modern motorcycles that are even giving Harley…
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