O happy days.

I still remember the thrill of going from Three Bridges to the Lake District on my old Calthorpe.

The bike was a great looker Mine had a Chrome tank sides
The clutch needed constant adjustment and it drank oil I used to travel with a gallon of oil in the boot of the sidecar






I was riding a 650 cc Panther 120 twin port with a Stieb single seat side-car like the one above^^^^^
it took a special skill to fire it up from cold, choke, pull the advance and retard right back, engage the half compression lever and ease the engine through a revolution so as to allow a good swing valve lifter dropped . This ritual had to be gone through to flash it up, once on the road it fired every other lamppost
It was a long wheel base basic set up for side-car use not happy in solo form I bought it from Pride & Clarks on Stockwell Road south London the entire road was " Pride and Sharks" establishments painted Red . It was My first outfit Knowing the theory was one thing steering with the bars like a tiller, you cant lean it to get round a corner as you do with a solo.I thought it might be safer to not ride it for the first time in London Traffic so I got the thing delivered by Rail It arrived at two different stations in Eden bridge the bike and chair split so I had to recover the Bike along with a bag of tools ride it to the other station connect the chair the steering geometry set up is critical bike lean from vertical the toe in sidecar and bike tracking towards each other and lead .....
learning to ride a couple of circuits of the station yard left circuit then right hand It was a few days till I really got the hang of it The worst moment was when full of confidence took mum to see her sister in Penshurst rounding a bend the damm thing went straight on and into a ditch (only a small ditch ) Mum bless her cotton socks never batted an eyelid .Thats when I truly Knew what a Learning Curve meant .


I dont know if this is like your Calthorpe Ivan its circa 1936 I was in Digs in Rye east Sussex and the land ladies Hubby had one of these


My first proper Bike was a 1934 BSA 500cc twin port Sloper it was built like a brick outhouse had a cast top frame member the
the engine and gearbox pretty agricultural and it weighed a ton I bought it from the local saddler who had it under a tarp in his back garden
This picture is of a 350 model they looked the same just a bigger hole in the barrel
this is the steib sidecar s 500 that I had fitted on the otherside of the bike braked wheel and lockable boot and a hood for wet weather

Morning all, Its a frosty one clear skies with twinkling stars. 31f.

will be placing these on Dads grave next Sunday

mornin...............