Old Bike Mart Magazine May 2016 Back Issue

It’s always the same at Sta ord: the shock of so many experiences in such a short time leaves my head spinning, and quite often it’s not until several days later that all the strands nally come together and I can start to make sense of it all.
By its very title – and as our crammed readers’ letters pages of recent issues demonstrate only too well – Old Bike Mart is all about nostalgia. But the brilliant 36th Carole Nash International Classic MotorCycle Show got me thinking about nostalgia in a di erent light.
I’d like to believe that most of us love our old machines because of the happy memories they evoke rather than merely their value as an asset.
We cling to them, with all their aws and imperfections, with a passion, yet time has always marched on, and this came home to me when I visited the Peter Williams Motorcycles stand for a brief chat with my old friend
and hero, whose engineering mind remains as sharp as a pin.
During the 1950s, Norton staked
its reputation on handling, and during the Geo Duke era backed this up with race wins all over the world. Featherbed frames and Roadholder forks were considered the epitome well into the 1960s, and
a stock conclusion during the many discussions between Triumph and Norton owners was that, although Triumph engines were great, the bikes just didn’t handle. If you wanted the best of both worlds, you built a Triton!