Motorbikes At A Steam Show

It sounds all wrong, for as far as I know the steam motorcycle has yet to be invented, but it still makes perfect sense to me. Motorbikes were a huge part of growing up around here in the 1950s and 60s. I often would visit friends in the village to find them with a motorbike in bits in the shed - or on one memorable occasion in the kitchen; their mother having gone out for the afternoon.

That particular episode did not end well, though the mechanical expertise gained piecemeal in teenage years must have given a head start to those who later turned their hands to restoring the kind of vehicles on display at Haddenham Steam Rally.

There were grass-roots motorbike sports too. "Scrambling" or "moto-cross" was racing stripped-down bikes over rough and often muddy terrain. In summer "grasstrack racing" was a low-cost version of "speedway". Men like Dave Bickers, Andy Lee and Badger Goss became heroes to those who cared little about footballers or pop stars.

"Motorcycle trials" is a different kind of sport. It's not a race but depends on successfully negotiating a seemingly impossible obstacle course. Penalty points are incurred if you put a foot to the ground. "Dabbing" was the term used for putting a foot down and a group self-deprecatingly known as Dabbers Trials Club were on hand to demonstrate. 

The beauty of trials is that you can pitch it at whatever standard you choose. You don't have to risk life or limb, or even wreck your bike. Many just like to amuse themselves pottering around a course of their own devising on farm tracks or around disused chalk pits.

Proper trials bikes are stripped down to the bare essentials and kept as light as possible - they don't even have a saddle, as competitors ride standing up to maintain better balance and control.

But the Dabbers Club also like to ride vintage machines. While looking online I noticed that a man called Dougie Lampkin was seven times the world trials champion in the early 2000s. Now that surname is one I recall from way back. Sure enough, Dougie is the nephew of Arthur Lampkin, a well-known moto-cross rider back in the 1960s.

But when Midsummer Fair was on in Cambridge the place to congregate was over by the "Wall of Death".

The Wall of Death originated in the USA and was imported to these shores in the late 1920s. It's said that at one time there were ten of them built along the Skegness sea front in order to train riders to perform at Billy Butlin's Holiday Camps. The Fox family was involved from the outset and has continued to this day. 

The Wall consists of a wooden cylinder which the bikes ride around, held up by friction and centrifugal force. I think they only go around 30 miles per hour (around 50 kph) but in a tight, confined space with the noise echoing around it looks much faster.

They even take a go-kart around. In the early days they sometimes used a bike with a sidecar and took lions and bears on the Wall - or else they had a monkey that balanced on the fuel tank. Needless to say - that doesn't happen any more.

Going up to meet the audience.

Setting a bad example to the younger generation!

What would you like me to do next?

No problem!

Three for the price of one.

Teamwork!

Les caught some video on his phone.....

Take care.