Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 69 Winter 2023 i Classic Dirt Bike

OSSA didn’t have the easiest of times in the Seventies, despite Mick Andrews having major success in the SSDT and launching the MAR – Mick Andrews Replica – serious weather put the factory under water when it should have been making replicas of Mick’s bike. In a time when they could have sold every one they made they couldn’t make any…! Other people could make OSSAs though and offered such things as an updated frame which was lighter though still with the typically OSSA shorter wheelbase. OSSA specialist Martin Rickman at Idleride happened on a Cheney twinshock OSSA and rebuilt it to see what it was like. Speaking to him he told us it was definitely lighter than a standard frame but the odd times he rode the Cheney he…

Picture the scene, the editorial office of The MotorCycle in autumn 1961, a couple of weeks before the 36th International Six Days Trial, which would be held in Wales. In those far-off days before we had keyboards, computers, delete and over-write facilities the only sounds would be the clacking of typewriter keys as a feature was being written, its writer conscious of time constraints which accompany any weekly publication. Like journalists the world over, a finger on each hand would press the keys and all the crossing out would be done on the notepad to one side of the writer. Then the quietness was disturbed by a strident bell of a telephone, no fancy ringtone in those days nor any caller ID to allow the choice of answering or not.…

1. In the frame Once the idea a motorcycle frame didn’t have to be brazed together from cast iron lugs and massive steel tube caught on, all sorts of developments came along. Naturally the competition world was the driving force in experimentation and, in the struggle to make a four-stroke bike lighter, manufacturers soon realised those frame tubes not only formed a structure to put the engine in but could carry the oil too. So, pictured is the latest Otter type of frame from Faber Frames. It is made from T45 ultralight tube and has a pleasing nickel-plated finish. Engine oil is contained in the main frame and there is space for two pints of oil. Faber tells us there are a couple of versions of the frame available and…

Former SSDT winner Bill Wilkinson was mounted on OSSA machinery for his attempt at the 1975 event. His win, still the last time a rider mounted on a British machine won the Scottish, came in 1969 when Wilkie the Elder coaxed his factory Greeves to the finish ahead of the rest of the entry. By 1975 Bill was riding his 16th SSDT having made his first attempt on the most famous trial in the world as a teenager in 1959. With Greeves pretty much out of the competition picture by the mid-Seventies, Bill was OSSA mounted and according to the programme it was a 310cc model, even though its petrol tank looked very 250 – the 310 had a red band on it. Bill might have fitted a 250 tank…

A7th place by works rider Gordon Farley in the Knut Trophy Trial – the final round of the 1970 British Trials Championship – boosted the Barcelona-made Montesa ahead of its rivals Bultaco who’d had a firm grip on the title since 1965. It also introduced to the buying public Montesa’s latest Cota model which was a productionised version of what Gordon rode to the championship win. Montesa had landed on the UK trials scene with a workmanlike and tidy looking machine in late 1967 which was being used and evaluated by Montesa’s southern distributor Don Barrett. His brief was to see what was necessary to change on the new machine to make it more suitable for use in UK trials. Unlike other makers who’d converted a trail machine to trials…

There is a certain mystique, an aura if you like, which settles upon factory team motorcycles no matter which discipline they’re designed to compete in. We remember the event we saw them being ridden in or perhaps, in the case of trials riders, rode alongside them in an event. We know they’re something special, it’s why they’re factory team bikes and their job is to propel team riders to the top, to finish first; so it stands to reason they must be the best bikes around. This is all well and good as far as it goes but it kind of ignores the full role a factory team rider has. Yes, they are there to win and to promote the bikes the company makes and sells, but to be seen…

Golf courses and motorcycles don’t always mix, though back in my Classic Bike Guide days I was at a massive event in Florida which centred on a Golf World venue which was superb. The Floridian event wasn’t an off-road ‘do’, though, unlike Carswell Golf Course Classic Scramble on October 8 this year which was a proper scramble organised by Kevin Downer. It helped a lot that the owner of the golf course, Gerry Lisi, is the manufacturer of Metisse Motorcycles too. What started as a surprise alongside a birthday celebration for Don Rickman – who thought it was going to be a family and friends do – turned into a hotly contested classic scramble with special guests, top racers and actual honest-to-goodness fine weather. On a course laid out on…

Farleigh Castle MX track in Somerset has been the scene of many a spectacular race since it first tasted the rubber of competition wheels in the Thirties… yes the Thirties! The cream of British and world scramblers tackled this impressive course to the excitement of crowds of enthusiasts… who can forget Don Rickman’s victory over Jeff Smith in 1966 when conditions were as ideal for racing as they were in 2023. Then as scrambling faded and we had to call it MX there was Dave Thorpe’s almost unbelievable feat of going from dead last to leading and winning in the space of three laps in the Eighties… is it any wonder the lad is a superstar? The racing for the HoleShot Motorhomes-sponsored Field of Dreams meeting on August 19-20 this…

When Michael Woodend sent in a pic of his trials bike and the accompanying tongue-in-cheek comment of: “What do you think of my Bantam…? Will it be pre65 eligible?” we had to find out more and said to him: “Do a bit for our new Readers’ Rides section please.” Motorcycling in general was changing in the Sixties. There was less emphasis on motorcycles being used as transport and more emphasis on them being a leisure thing. Certainly the sporting scene was realising this and the days of the ‘competition model’ for use in sporting events of all types was a distant memory and there was much more specialisation happening. Trials had tighter sections requiring lower gearing and steering geometry less compatible with a speed event or roadwork. Fewer riders used…

In the very early days of motorcycle sport anything and everything was pressed into service as the desire to compete needed to be fulfilled. Back then there was little specialisation; often the motorcycle being used would be the rider’s daily transport too. As far as scrambles, trials and even road racing bikes were concerned this wasn’t a major issue as, when in their competition trim, they could easily be used on the road too. For the grasstrack scene, however, it was a little different and as riders realised their bikes were only being used for short periods then there was no need for lighting, mudguarding, large-capacity fuel and oil tanks or comfortable saddles. For a race of around a couple of miles in length, a tank with four- or five-pint…

Now the Velocette I’ve had on loan has gone back to its owner and there is nothing else urgently needing attention in the workshop, I thought there’d be a bit of time to catch up on some of the minor bits and pieces which always take longer than you expect. Something which has been glaring at me for a long time and been ignored because it hasn’t prevented the bike working is the number of joins in the wiring loom. There has to be a certain amount of joins as the bits and pieces need to come on and off but some of the joins have been caused because certain bits were moved to a better location and despite thinking there was enough slack in the wire to cope with…

Just a few days after our last issue went to press in August, Cumberland County MCC hosted the Diane Shield Memorial Trial as part of the Rockshocks Classic Trials series. Diane, a bubbly personality on the Northern Centre Trials scene for many years, died in January 2021. A tribute to her on Facebook says: “You would always know when Diane was in the vicinity as she could light up a dreary day on the fells with her smile and chatter. She will never be forgotten by all those who were lucky enough to meet her. Always the same, rain or shine, whether observing or helping out. RIP Diane. Will always be missed and never forgotten.” With bikes of all types in action, from twinshock to Britshock, air cooled mono two-strokes…

Foxhill MX track near Swindon has had a chequered history thanks to the weather but some pioneering organisation from the club in the Eighties and Nineties changed the way events were run. They couldn’t control the weather though. Fast forward to the new millennium and the weather is sorted for the Foxhill Vets… sadly we couldn’t get a programme so our apologies if we’ve misnamed anyone.…

A bike which refuses to perform as it should will very quickly jade even the most enthusiastic of riders as meeting after meeting brings uncertainty. Will it run all day, will it croak in the first race, will it be okay in practice but fail in the final? All these factors will spoil a rider’s day which is bad enough for a local event but if the meeting is at the other end of the country… well… Just such a situation had beset John Smith who’d been enticed out of a 24-year break from MX and was back racing again. Despite a history of KTM and the four Japanese makes all through the Eighties and into the Nineties it was a nice looking 400 Maico which brought him to the…