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What’s the best way to stop oil draining into the sump of your old British bike? Phone up Frank Westworth and ask him… Many sights common in today’s world are a puzzle to me. Prime among them is the endless parade of folk marching about with cell phones nailed to their ears. Cell phones are…

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David Wright remembers a remarkable motorcyclist who took part in trials and displays; rode the largest capacity Britbike of its time, and worked behind the scenes for decades for grassroots clubs and the national ACU… Forty years ago in 1973 the compulsory wearing of crash-helmets was forced upon the motorcyclists of the United Kingdom. To…

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Motorcycling and music fit together as well as grease and grit, says Frank Westworth. Possibly… I was unable to avoid overhearing a conversation the other day. Some folk do talk terrible loud, turning all of us into unwilling eavesdroppers. Too often it’s deliberate. Folk declaim loudly in the full knowledge that the person they’re talking…

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Roger Bibbings suggests that while speed itself may not kill, you don’t have to travel at 180mph to enjoy yourself on two wheels… Speed kills? Well, momentum increases as the square of velocity – so as speed increases the energy to be dissipated in a collision increases very rapidly indeed, more than is generally appreciated.…

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Do you prefer cappuccino, or is builder’s tea more your style? Rowena Hoseason wonders if there’s still room for all sorts in classic biking… Agent Orange, Frank’s foremost feline friend, doesn’t particularly appreciate me using this expression but I will risk catty wrath by saying it nonetheless: there are indeed many different ways to skin…

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Do you know anyone who commits the motorcycling equivalent of cold-blooded murder? KarlB knows a few criminals… I have a confession to make. I know people, I even call some of them friends, who are killers. One of them lives not very far from here; you probably have someone similar living near you. These killers…

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We all know what it’s like to browse the trade stalls at classic bike shows. But what’s life like on the other side of the trestle table? Paul Goff shares a working weekend in the life of an autojumbler… Two jumbles this weekend. The first was at Ross on Wye, so I got up early…

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Frank Westworth has inadvertently encouraged someone to buy a classic BSA C15. This may be an offence punishable on summary conviction… Knowledge, so they tell us, is power. They tell us this, whoever They are, and it sounds good, so it must be true. Which is how politics works, also political correctness, which is not…

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David Wright continues the story of a remarkable motorcyclist who took part in trials and displays; rode the largest capacity British bike of its time, and worked behind the scenes for decades for grassroots clubs and the national ACU… Although thoroughly enjoying riding her 500cc Royal Enfield Meteor Minor, the very feminine Doris Lowe decided…

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Back in the 1970s, Mocheck of Clapham fielded an array of racers. John Ryan shares a selection of his photographic memories of the time, from the track and back at the shop… The original Mocheck workshop in Kings Avenue, Brixton, with the staff bikes parked outside Race mechanic John Ryan at work in the Mocheck…

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