The Classic MotorCycle June 2025

Recently, I’ve been thinking about handlebars, and this has come about due to various reasons, including riding several machines and having discussions with friends – not necessarily setting out to discuss it, but it seeming to be the topic of conversation. Personally, I’ve always struggled with clip-on handlebars, some of which I put down to being a spectacle wearer, albeit these days it’s generally contact lenses I use. But years ago it was specs, and to see through them when riding with clip-ons I’d have to tip my head back, not being in the possession of some snooker star Dennis Taylor-style glasses. And it was a bit uncomfortable, which added to the dislike of clip-ons – that and not being able to see over hedges. To see over the aforementioned…

It’s the 1920 Isle of Man TT, the first Manx races since 1914 owing to the horrible business of global conflict which swept the world from 1914-1918, meaning such joyful occupations like motorcycle racing were off the agenda, replaced by warfare and all the misery that it entailed. There’d been no IoM races in 1919 either, as the world – and industry – attempted to return itself to an even keel, while counting the cost of the huge number of lives lost. Several popular TT men were among the dead, including Captain Sir R K Arbuthnot, Bt, third in the 1908 race and who went down with his ship HMS Defence in 1916. One man who appeared lost in conflict but wasn’t, was Howard R Davies (HRD), his obituary printed…

Hairy Biker’s Beesa charity bonanza There was a packed saleroom at H&H’s auction, held on March 25, 2025, at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham. In-person attendance at sales have clearly dwindled in the postcovid era, with many preferring to do their bidding remotely, but this sale brought out the crowds for sure, with motorcycles following a morning scooter sale. One of the star lots was the BSA Gold Star ridden by the late chef Dave Myers in the final series of TV show The Hairy Bikers. His wife Lili was on hand to watch (and cajole!) as bidding reached £15,800, with all proceeds from its sale split between CancerCare North Lancashire and South Cumbria, NSPCC Childline and The Institute of Cancer Research. Biggest price of the day was for the…

1900 Results of the Automobile Club 1000 Mile Trial had been confirmed. Attracting both trade and private entries, the event started from Grosvenor Place, London, on April 23, 1900, and finished in the city on May 12, 1900. Of the 83 entrants, 65 started and 35 completed the course. The event took them to Manchester, the Lake District, Carlisle, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield and back to London. Three machines from the Ariel Motor Company started from London, with trade entries Jack (John William) Stocks driving a quadricycle and Edwin Cheel riding a tricycle with trailer, plus privateer Arthur James (A J) Wilson, the former renowned racing cyclist and cycle sport scribe (with the pseudonym ‘Faed’) riding his own 1899 Ariel tricycle. Stocks’ Ariel quad won Class E (b) for motorcycles carrying…

“Italy and the Ulster” Introduction by Denis Wilson Author: David Crawford Published by David and Joan Crawford Email: lario@btinternet.com Designer: Colin Slack Dedicated to the memory of Denise Houston. All profits from the sale of this publication will be donated to the Northern Ireland Hospice, Belfast. Softback, 210 x 295mm (portrait); 118 pages with over 180 photographs and illustrations, plus colour paintings and artwork by Gerald Browne, Chris Graham and cartoonist Jock Leyden. ISBN 978-0-9570341-1-2 £20 GB; $25 USD; $36 CAD; $40 AUD. “A book like no other,” is how the author, David Crawford, describes Italy and the Ulster, which became a labour of love – the result of over four years spent researching and writing the history of Italian works machines and riders taking part in the Ulster Grand Prix from…

In the kind of antics which probably wouldn’t happen today, an RAF policeman sits on his BSA A65 and watches on, apparently waiting to collect the incoming pilot from an early vertical takeoff RAF Harrier aircraft that had just flown across the Atlantic in an attempt to win a race, backed by the Daily Mail newspaper. Conceived by the Daily Mail to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Alcock and Brown’s first nonstop transatlantic flight, and held between May 4 and 11, 1969, it was called an air race (in fact, The Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race), though actually it was a race between individuals, between the top of London’s Post Office Tower (now the BT Tower) and the observation platform of New York’s Empire State Building. There were at least…