A Vindec At 14, Then Triumphs All My Life
Old Bike Mart|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.

A Vindec At 14, Then Triumphs All My Life

In February, Old Bike Mart ran a story about a reader who bought his first motorcycle on his 16 th birthday in 1963, but instead of buying a learner-limit machine of up to 250cc chose a larger motorcycle with a sidecar attached. Since then, several readers have written in about their times on sidecar outfits.

In 1963 I was two years into my motorcycle business working from the Esplanade Garage on the Paignton sea front in south Devon, and for the learner/rider who wanted a big bike to learn on and then keep, I kept four sidecar chassis with large wooden boxes bolted to them so that when a customer chose his motorcycle, one of them could be fixed on. When he passed his test, the third wheel could be taken off and made ready for the next customer.

Credit squeeze

All four chassis were used, as trade was very good back then – until 1966, when the Prime Minister of the day put a credit squeeze on the whole country. As hire purchase accounted for 99% of my sales, it became much harder to sell the bikes, and sometime later selective employment tax (SET) was levied on employees, so sadly, with the fall of sales and the cost of SET (1 5s per employee) I was forced to lease my garage to another business.

Denne historien er fra October 2017-utgaven av Old Bike Mart.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra October 2017-utgaven av Old Bike Mart.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA OLD BIKE MARTSe alt
The Missing Link?
Old Bike Mart

The Missing Link?

Given the asymmetrical nature of motorcycle sidecar combinations, handling is always going to be a little interesting, and Mick Payne takes a closer look at how it can be improved.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2019
Telford Gets More Classic Dirt!
Old Bike Mart

Telford Gets More Classic Dirt!

The extrovert Bernie Schreiber, the American World Trials champion of 1979, and Bryan ‘Badger’ Goss, the 1970 British 500ccmotocross champion, are the exciting guests for the TelfordClassic Dirt Bike Show of 2020.

time-read
3 mins  |
October 2019
Suzuki TS400
Old Bike Mart

Suzuki TS400

Last month, Steve Cooper showed us that Suzuki’s TM400 dirt bike was something of a loose cannon and, ultimately, doomed to ignominy in the archives of motocross history. Now he tells us what happened next...

time-read
5 mins  |
October 2019
Royal Enfield Continental GT
Old Bike Mart

Royal Enfield Continental GT

There’s been no cover-up operation regarding the new twin-cylinder Royal Enfield machines, although a significant wait was forthcoming for those of us desperately eager to get our hands on one of the new 650cc models. Nigh on 18 months after the new offerings were due to hit the roads of the UK, Dave Manning finally gets to grips with a Continental GT.

time-read
8 mins  |
October 2019
Nine Years That Rocked The World
Old Bike Mart

Nine Years That Rocked The World

This year marks the diamond jubilee of Honda’s first appearance at the Isle of Man TT in 1959, and there hasn’t been a single year since without the successful participation of racing machines built by the Japanese factory. Pete Kelly continues his look back over the first nine eventful years, fromHonda’s first 125cc foray on to the Clypse course in 1959 until Mike Hailwood’s record-shattering TT victories in 1967.

time-read
7 mins  |
October 2019
Elegance out of the Bloc – the two stroke boxer that Zschopau built
Old Bike Mart

Elegance out of the Bloc – the two stroke boxer that Zschopau built

Pete Kelly travels to Wales to view Andrew Powell’s outstanding MZ collection.

time-read
4 mins  |
Ferbruary 2017
Empire of the Sun
Old Bike Mart

Empire of the Sun

Sun motorcycles were manufactured from 1911 until 1961, but their roots go back to the Victorian Birmingham brass foundry of James Parkes & Son. We delved into our archive to show some of the motorcycles, autocycles and scooters that proudly carried the Sun name.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 2017
Suzuki's Little Firecracker – The GT185
Old Bike Mart

Suzuki's Little Firecracker – The GT185

Following Suzuki’s sometimes puzzling marketing philosophy of the 1970s, Steve Cooper traces the birth and development of the GT185 two-stroke twin.

time-read
5 mins  |
March 2017
Salt of the Earth, These Motorcyclists!
Old Bike Mart

Salt of the Earth, These Motorcyclists!

Harry Stanistreet recalls a nightmare trip to the Elephant Rally with his young wife Lesley and a group of friends in 1970, when just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong – but the kindness of people they met along the way ensured that everything turned out all right in the end.

time-read
8 mins  |
March 2017
Silver Jubilee Year For Historic Police Motorcycle Group
Old Bike Mart

Silver Jubilee Year For Historic Police Motorcycle Group

Ian Kerr tells the story of a growing group that was set up for the owners of former police and other service motorcycles after a six-bike ride organised by a Royal Parks police officer in 1993.

time-read
3 mins  |
January 2018