22 Saturday Sep 2012
With the 100th anniversary of the holding of the first International Six Day Trial less than 1 year away, as the event was hosted by the ACU in England before becoming one of the most truly international of top class motorcycle events. Which, with the toughness of the six days of effort quickly saw the event being likened to the ‘Olympics of Motorcycling’ a name that has stuck with it ever since as it has been hosted on most of the worlds continents.
09 Sunday Sep 2012
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I was recently browsing links to ISDT BMW pages when I stumbled upon a perfect example of an old BMW ISDT bike,
Customised BMW R100 from the 1979 rebuilt to have the ISDT look
28 Tuesday Aug 2012
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As the century of ISDT approaches I would like to launch an appeal to gather as much of the lost information, photos and stories as we can gather to be exhibited in the public domain to help the riders, the families of riders, the industry and social historians to see how the technology changed as new influences impacted on the motorcycle industry and associated sport. Back in 1913 a group of British Motorcycle enthusiasts backed by the British Motorcycle Industry set otu an event over 6 days in which riders had to navigate around a series of day long courses in a test not only about the abilities of the Rider to ride a motorbike but also for maintenance and to test the bikes reliability. This Blog / Website keenly follows the history of that event from this beginning…
Photo of riders and motorcycle typical of the times , and just 1 year before the outbreak of World War 1
to this Continue reading
05 Sunday Aug 2012
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With so many of the British hosted ISDT’s being based in Wales, it’s no coincidence the landscape of Wales offers perfect terrain for the event. Associated to this little Principality of the United Kingdom with only 2.5 million is the sport is popular with its residents and often punches above it’s weight in national standing for its sports men. With great Trophy Team riders like Dai Jeremiah in the 70’s was the introduction of ‘national’ club teams in the ISDT by the MCC of Wales. Three of the great managers in this period were Arthur Brick, Elwyn Price and Kenny Williams. For more details check out the web site dedicated to recovering the details of the Welsh national team by former manager in the ISDE era Jeff Edwards
23 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in Europe, ISDT, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Uncategorized
German riders Rolf Witthoeft and Herbert Schek were legends in their riding era which was partially due to the longevity of their time riding and also they became best known for riding some of the largest bikes to ever, later known as the Bull Rider Class. These bikes over 750cc may not have had the greatest power to weight ratio but they were powerful and it took a good rider to get these items of heavy metal around a typical ISDT course.
08 Sunday Jul 2012
Posted in Enduro, Europe, ISDT, Manufacturers, Motorcycling, Motorsport, restoration
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Now there’s a mixed bag title but rest assured each of these 3 bikes we have just added to the ISDT History web site at Speedtracktales is exactly that two heavy weights post war one British and one German and of course the lightweight Eastern European classic that ultimately led to the demise of the heavyweight enduro bike and also saw mass produced competitive bikes coming straight out of the delivery crate rather than the preserve of the favoured works supported rider. Here are the pictures and links
Arthur Merrett’s works 1948 ISDT Vincent HRD
Georg Meier’s works 1953 ISDT BMW
Photo in a studio of the Jawa 250cc of 1961
02 Saturday Jun 2012
Posted in Enduro, ISDT, Motorcycling, Motorsport, restoration, UK
The MZ in its original pre restoration state
Whilst googling today looking for fresh ISDT related material to add to the site I stumbled on this online article of the restoration of an ISDT MZ VTW26L by restoration genius and MZ enthusiast Peter Feilding. I do not know if this bike actually rode in the ISDT or is one of the popular replica models MZ sold that were a popular clubmans bike in the early mid 1970’s enduro scene in the UK. This bike first registered in 1972 has been with the same owner since 1975 until Peter acquired it. If anyone knows anything about this bike please tell us. Continue reading
06 Sunday May 2012
Posted in ISDT, Motorcycling, Motorsport, Photography, Uncategorized
The image of motorcycle racing is often defined in popular culture by the vision of men motors and leather. There should, however, be no doubt throughout the history of motorcycle sport, which predominantly post dates the era defined by Women’s campaigns for the right to vote and the germination of the principles of equality the ACU banned their taking part in road racing in 1925. Women although few in number instead became active and competitive entrants in off road motorcycle racing Cottle and Edyth Foley both winning Gold Medals in the ISDT in 1925.
Marjorie Cottle competes in the ISDT 1939
Marjorie Cottle pictured riding a road motorcycle. (courtesy of Getty Images)
Photo: circa 1920: Four women motorcycle racers in Germany, including Marjorie Cottle. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) ISDT
In more recent times riders like Katrina Price have been able to show women are as competative and skilled as men and able to take on events of the severity of the ISDT/E. The involvement of women in the sport is featured in its own page. Continue reading
19 Thursday Apr 2012
Posted in England, ISDT, Photography, Scrambling, Wales, Welsh Borders
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ACU, mid Wales, motorcycle, motorcycling, Oswestry, scrambles, trials
The development of off-road motorcycle sport has formed a key part of the social history of the Welsh nation, and it’s English Borders. The first popular affordable vehicle for many of its people, also provided mobility in rural areas and led to many owners taking bikes up for recreation uses from which developed competitive riding. Wales’s abundance of natural rugged terrain also meant the motorcycles were often used in challenging conditions. This gave rise to the earliest development of trials, scrambles and their in-between relative, the Reliability Trial which is today goes by the name Enduro.
With all social history the legacy can often be best appreciated through the archives of the work of the professional photographers of the time. Geoff Charles was one of the most important photo-journalists active in Wales at the time covering all aspects of life, political, sport and culture. He was a professional Photo-Journalist working most of his life in Welsh Speaking Wales. Born in Brymbo Wrexham 1909, he obtained a degree in Journalism from the University of London.
The Geoffrey Charles Collection and Archive at the National Library for Wales
14 Saturday Apr 2012
Posted in ISDT
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With the amount of images being held on Flickr related to the ISDT. I have set up a Group called ISDT Archive. I am hoping to gather together as many users of Flickr to bring their images into that group so that their part of the record of the History of the ISDT is maintained.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/isdt_archive/
If you have any images or know anyone who does please do not hesitate to point them this way or to that Flickr group
Speed Track Tales 