Off-Road Giants! - Heroes of 1960s Motorcycle Sport (Part 1)

http://www.veloce.co.uk. Interview courtesy of BBC Radio Devon. Photographs by Gordon Francis. If you can recall watching motorcycle scrambles and trials on your black and white TV during the 1960s, then this is the book for you. Its a trip down memory lane as the author recalls boyhood journeys in his big brothers ex-GPO van to watch the stars in action, some of the worlds best, including scramblers like the Sharp brothers, Badger Goss and Ivor England, trials riders Gordon Jackson, Max King and the Kendalls, and great all-rounders like Ken Heanes, Johnny Giles and the American Bud Ekins. Not only does it include the star riders, but also the main British manufacturers of the time like BSA, Triumph, James, Greeves, Metisse, Cheney and Wasp, the latter two of which are still in existence to this day. However, the book isnt just about bikes its about the people and their stories from illustrious and successful careers on two and three wheels, which makes for a thoroughly interesting and captivating read. http://www.veloce.co.uk

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[denty001]

i love old motorcross!!!

[ukdotcom]

Chris Horsfield, Keith Hickman,John Burton, Ken Heanes, Ivor England, Dave Nicol I saw there.

[magna59]

The evolution point was not the big two strokes, as such, it was when the road bike based product slip away 'cos the M-Cross field became dominated by specially built Japanese & to some extent Spanish built products. The BSA / Triumph / Matchless / AJS scrambles product were what 3" taller than their road going stable mates, with smaller mud guards, we let the grass growing under the rolling stone & then wondered where the nail in the coffin lid came from.

[willy31057]

Spent most of my childhood at scrambles in the wessex region, mother ran the roman trophy event at bleadon for many years, great times!

[SuperJames1954]

my dad took me to just about every scramble in the south during the 60s and remember them as some of the most enjoyable moments of my childhood and still remember the names like bickers,smith,goss,lapking,eas­twood etc.

[canammx1]

@RyanEpicRoot My grandfather, father and I all race AHRMA. But I'm the only one that rides britsh. BSA B50. A lot of fun.

[RyanEpicRoot]

my grandpa raced matchless and bsa back then and still does through AHRMA today. I race are scrambles now

[thatsmrharley2u2]

In my humble opinion, the golden era of off road motorcycle racing ended in 1968, when Yamaha introduced the DT1...it all went downhill from there..

[12bar145ne]

Fabulous video..I raced motocross in 1972 & 1973 when the bikes were still quite a bit different & a European motocross bike was the coolest thing in the world. Ake Jonnson was my hero riding square barrel Maico's. Maico is still my favorite motorcycle. Thanks for the video...

[ukdotcom]

Why oh why does everyone have to put stupid music to anything associated with motorbikes? We aren't all hells angels.

[arnieboy2004]

Really trying to find more of this footage , my stepdad is Mick 'Bonkey' Bowers who raced along side lampkin, smith, bickers etc... Anyone know where to get any archive footage ?

[Aphidboy]

Lots of Greeves in the beginning photos! Love it!! Still have mine and ride 'em, too.