Readers Letters
WRITETO:The Classic Motorcycle, PO Box99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, LN9 6LZ
EMAIL:[email protected]After nearly60yearsof
wonderingabout its
background, the article‘Useful...
or useless’ (June 2019)has
identified myfirstbikeasa
James ClockworkMouse.
Ipaid£5for asmall,
Villiers-engined, three-speed
hand-change,twinbox exhaust
bikethat hadlaid unlovedfor
many yearsinour neighbours’
shedinTotton,Hampshire.
Iran it until the girder forks
collapsed and my dad suggested
Iuse his incredibly reliable NSU
Quickly.
Alan Coulson,
Sydney,Australia.James Clockwork
MouseidentifiedMany motorcyclistsfrom the
Grea tMissendenregion must
have hadour memories jolted
readingthe commentsofMike
Saunders in theApril2019 issue,
mentioning Bert Jeffrey.
Thecopywas sent to meby a
frien d(I’ve lived in Switzerland
since1970)who alsoboughthis
TigerCub fromBert.
IrememberBerthavingbought
my secondandthirdmotorcycles
from him.Therewas no internet
or mobile phones then,so Bert’s
waswherewediscu ssed ourbikes
and therace meetingsto come,
be it Brands,Mallory, Oulton or
Thruxton, orwherever,aswewere
really well pl acedfor choice.Bert enjoyed thecompanyand
the bikechat –this waswhere
Bert revelled.
Meanwhile,David Merridan
wasthe youngmanwho came
roarin gpast ourschool andBert
sponsoredhim.David decidedto
change fromaTiger 100 Triumph
to a500cc BSA Gold Star forthe
1956 season .Tragically, he died in
acrash at BallaughBridge during
practicefor theTT(June 11,1956).
Iremember talking to an
emotionalBert one even ingwhile
buyingsomeracing boots.Hetold
me howanofficial came to inform
him that his riderhad hadafatal
accidentand hewouldbeasked
to identify him. Onecan onlyimaginethe shockand sadness,
especially forDavid’sfamily.
Maybethat waswhy Bert always
went to theIsland andinstalled
himself on adeckchair,fully
clothed, onasunny Douglas beach,
rememberingtimesgone by?
Bert maybeonly made one
longjourneyayearonhis BMW
R60, butall th echaps who went
with himagreed youhad to try
to keep upwith him on therun
to Liverpool andthrough the
Mersey Tunnel, headingfor the
Isle of Man.
Many thanks for bringing back
the memories.
Chris Dady,
Lausanne,Switzerland.Ireadwith greatinteres tyour
recentarticle aboutbikes made
in theformerSoviet Union (TCM,
April2019) .Afew yearsago at
the Veteroma in Mannheim,
Germany, Iboughtaheavy
andthick (330 pages) an dfairly
expensive(over €100)book
called‘TheCompleteHisto ry of
Soviet Motorcycles Part 1,
1924 -1945,’written by Andrey
Myatiyev.Thebookiswritten
both inRussia nand English.
To me it still is the most
interestingbookabout
motorcyclingI’ve ever read.
Everythinginitisjustunknown
to most people and the quality of
the pictures isjust amazing.
This bookiss omehow
touc hing, for it showsnomatter
whereyou live,under which
politicalsystem, you’llfind
people who arekeenonriding
motorcycles.I’venoticed that
in manycountries.I’vebeena
subscriber ofyour magazine
for alongtime and it is alwaysa
grea tpleasurewhen Iopenmy
mailboxandfind it .Iknowitwill
givemeafew hoursofpleas ure
and Ialwayslearn thingsIdid
not know.So just keep up the
goodwork and keep remaining
focused on the oldmachines.
MichelMeisner,via email.Michel’s weightyRussian tomeJeffreyand Merridan rememberedIt is really heartening, nayeven
uplifting,tobeabletoshare
thefun ofreading thearticle
by ChelseaBorch ertonthe
restoration andespeciall ythe
ridingofher RickmanTriumph.
Ican well im agine too, the
plea sureall of thiswould have
afforde dthe Rickmanbrothers in
theirwell-earned retirement.
Congratulations to Chelsea
and others likeher dadwhohave
playedapartint hisventure, and
who continue to so do.Oh, andalsotoyou forfeaturing this
lovely story.
Thenextarticle,onPeter
Occleston’sVelocetteKSS, built as
abiketorideand on which tohave
funseemedtosustai nthe positi ve
feeli ng ourhobbydoes indeed
have we nowterm‘sust ainability,’
beside sbringingfun toawide
baseofpeople of allages and
bothgenders.
TheVelocette isatrue
thoroughbr ed as well, being the
sporting ohc KSSmodel,withbikesoft hat ilk havingbeenmore
likely topopulate collectionsor
spendmost of their livesbeing
pushed around andvanned from
auctio ntoauctioninrecenttimes.
TheRetro Ridesmagaz ine was
good too; last yearIboughtanew
Jawa 350c ctwo-strok ejust because
Iliked it,and nowIget loadsof fo lk
thinking it’s arestoration job!It’s
only a‘retro’ because theynever
changedthe designmuch!
NigelStennett-Cox,
NorthWalsham,Norfolk.Such ahearteningand upliftingreadPlace correction
With regardstot he Louie McLean article in the
August 2019 issue andthe st atementthather
husbandGeorge“went on torunamotorcycle
dealership inPerthshire”.
George McLean’sbusinesswasinDundee and
Iwould have acceptedAngus orForfarshire, but
not Perthshire!
As you cansee from theattachedphotograph, the
motorcycle showroom wasonthe CraigPier where
the TayFerry oper ated.Iwastold that whenever
anew carcame outinthe 1930s, theywould be
exhibited in aprominentpositionat theferry
terminals onboth sideson theriver.The
Newport-on-Tay ferrybuildingson thesouth side
of theriverhavesurvived,but with thereturn of
the RRSDisco very to Dundeeand thebuildi ng of
DiscoveryPoint, everythingthereisg one.
Ithink theWardRoad carshowroomadvertised
on thewall wasreplaced by amoder nofficeThemotorcycleshowroomofGeorgeMcLeanin
Dundee.
block, buthis main workshops, whichIbelieve
mayhavecovered agricultural and commercial
machineryaswell,wereinland from thedocks and
arenow the DundeeContemporary Arts building
with printworkshops,exhibitions, shop, large
restaurant and bar,and two cinemas.Iam sure
that George oper ated from other sites in th ecityat
differen ttimes.
George ownedhis ownaircraft that he kept at
Scone Airfield, which isin Perthshire.
AlecStevenson,via email.