laird387 Posted October 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2016 (edited) Hi, Many thanks to all who posted views in answer to my query - it has helped me considerably! How? Well, forty-four years ago, as a young working man with a growing family there was a revolution in the trials world when the first Spanish models appeared on the trials scene. They had been designed specifically with trials in mind and were suitably specialised. Those of us left with older British bikes AJS, Matchless Royal Enfield Bullet, BSA Gold Star, etc. were riding models designed for everyday road use, lightly adapted over the years for use in trials - but that was all we could afford, buying a new bike was out of the question, so when organisers set sections to stop the Spanish models it killed any chance of riding our old bikes. We had two choices - literally. Take up some other sport or recreate a form of trials suitable for our old machines. We chose the latter and I created, eventually a national series of older style trials. We needed a title to identify the 'new' sport and I used the description 'Pre-65' since 1964 was the last year that any British manufacturer offered an old style machine in their sales programme, the AMC catalogue. The name stuck - but it was flawed, because there were British bikes made before 1965 that were almost as competent in sections as the Spanish models, the works BSA C15Ts, the Greeves Scottish being two obvious examples. With the perfect vision of hindsight it is likely that Pre-unit would have been the better title............ But that was then - and this is now, and I am trying to produce a digital magazine that is both interesting to as many people as possible, and also as useful as a reference source of images and information as possible, so whilst it would be easy to describe it, perhaps as a 'vintage' magazine - a dictionary definition of vintage being more than twenty-five years old - or maybe as 'classic', but the various postings have revealed several competing ideas as to what precisely is classic. Fortunately my image archive is still growing - or to be more accurate, those of us contributing to the archive are converting film negatives to digital format for easier storage - so I can adapt my ideas to include in the magazine henceforth any image requested or suggested by any of the subscribers, we have already widened the scope to cover the additional interests of all forms of off-road motorcycle sport and now I will include more images similar to those above in this posting - but also of the other makes available at the time. The next issue that I am working on at the moment is our fiftieth issue, which is already busy answering requests I have already received - but the other real advantage of the digital system is that the size of the magazine and the number of images included is not limited by the cost of printing or postage - so if YOU have a particular interest - just join in the fun and drop an email with your request - you could be surprised how much is there in the archive to see.............. We already describe the ORRe as our classic magazine - that is totally apt and will remain, because there are no other comparable products covering off-road motorcycle sport from the earliest days right up to the present. Edited October 31, 2016 by laird387 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laird387 Posted November 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2016 (edited) Hi, For those interested in the history of our sport, another image from our digital magazine, of Steve Saunders in action on Fountain's Fell in the Allan Jefferies trial. Enjoy Edited November 1, 2016 by laird387 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon v8 Posted November 1, 2016 Report Share Posted November 1, 2016 Good stuff Deryk, Steve Saunders really was a master of the RTL Honda, they were not an easy bike to ride. But are you sure these pics are 1986 ? I seem to remember that the Rothmans colour scheme didn't come in until 87 or 88.Not a criticism,just that 86 was the year I bought a new TLR250 in the same red/white/blue setup as Steve was riding. I always thought they were a work of art in that colour scheme, the later Rothmans and pinky ones never looked so good. I always thought they would have been what Triumph Cubs might have been like had things not gone wrong,the Cub with the Red/silver tank are another beautiful looking bike,along with the rigid Trophy - either round or square barrel types. But of course nothing beats a rigid AMC for looks - they are the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laird387 Posted November 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2016 Sorry Jon, I was guessing the date - and hadn't time to check on my lists of the entry lists and riding numbers for the period - just wanted to get an image out where people could see it......... And no, sorry, I still prefer the actual original sprung Ariel HT5s as the most likely looking of all the British trials models - even though I did start on a competition rigid AJS as my first real bike........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon v8 Posted November 1, 2016 Report Share Posted November 1, 2016 Whilst I have to agree the HT5 is a fine looking motorcycle.(Looking forward to my "new" one) I think the rigid AMC's are in a class of their own,in looks and performance. My mate Steve O'Connor on his Matchy,which is now nearly fully sorted,just over 400cc's and is running in nicely... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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