This whole pre-65 thing is an interesting concept, it doesn’t matter if we’re looking at the scrambles or MX scene, or vintage enduro or, as with this feature, the feet-up game. To those of us within the scene there are a multitude of classes which we instinctively categorise. To us the distinctions are clear and obvious, yet others who only touch on the old bike thing will categorise almost any British powered machine as ‘pre-65’ regardless of when it was made.
I don’t propose to delve into the subject of pre-65 as opposed to twinshock or classic for that matter, as if this pandemic carries on I may need to visit it in future issues. So, for this feature it will be the actuality of pre-65 being discussed.
The pre-65 cut-off date of December 31, 1964, a Thursday in case you were curious, has long been recognised as the day the last true heavyweight trials bike left a British factory, okay it was built under instructions of the official receiver and to use up parts, but the fact remains it was a true traditional machine with separate four-stroke engine and gearbox.
Sadly for us motorcycle enthusiasts, this momentous occasion was over-shadowed by Donald Campbell piloting Bluebird over the surface of Lake Dumbleyung in Western Australia to set a new water-speed world
