Enduring excellence

The late 1950s and early 60s was undoubtedly a golden era for scrambling, with a plethora of top-notch British stars all capable of taking and beating the best in the world. Two of the best were undoubtedly brothers Derek and Don Rickman from New Milton in Hampshire - a pair of talented men who were not only world class riders, but designers and manufacturers of the machine which revolutionised off-road sport; the Metisse.

Fifty years have now elapsed since Derek and Don hung up their racing leathers, but the Metisse - the name first conjured up in Harold Wakefield's front room in the summer of 1959 - is still going strong. Wherever in the world of Pre-65 scrambling a booming exhaust note can be heard, it's a safe bet the engine will be housed in an exquisitely crafted nickel frame, with the evocative name of'Metisse' on the petrol tank.

That the Rickmans became reluctant manufacturers in the 1960s is now little known - this after all of the industry's big players had declined the brothers' offer of them building the race-winning frames - but it's just one of many interesting stories I discovered when I journeyed to New Milton to meet up with Derek and Don, the dashing duo, who, in the early 1960s were two of my boyhood heroes.

For me as a lad they were carefree days, magical Sundays spent travelling with my big brother Rod in his A40 van to the Wessex and Southern centre circuits of Higher Farm Wick, Farleigh castle, Leighton, Matcham's Park and Giant 's Head . Long, sweeping courses which reverberated to the booming beat of crackling exhaust pipes, where the