Issue 67 Summer 2023

Classic Dirt Bike

The magazine for fans of classic and twinshock trials, motocross & enduros

Classic Dirt Bike3 min read
Define A Classic
Waiting in a section-queue during a trial is a great way to interact with a few fellow riders as we all watch some hapless victim negotiate the obstacles ahead. You know how it is and we’ve all done it… the theatrical breath-sucking followed by the k
Classic Dirt Bike2 min read
Off-road Legends Head For Drumlanrig Action
For the best in off-road action this summer head for the stunning setting of Drumlanrig Castle on May 20-21 when the Galloway MCC will present the Scottish Grand National 2023 off-road festival. Where else are you going to get a scramble and a trial
Classic Dirt Bike1 min read
Charterhouse Auctioneers
Looking for a classic to race or trial or enduro? Have a glance at Charterhouse. The auction house is holding a couple of sales later this year and will have bikes such as this 1973 Bultaco Pursang going under the hammer. A competitive machine in the
Classic Dirt Bike1 min read
Hawks At The Wildlife Park
It’s fitting the Hackney speedway team has a celebration at Paradise Wildlife Park on May 13 and not just because its nickname is The Hawks. Paradise Wildlife Park was founded by former Hawks rider Peter Sampson after he retired from the sport. The p
Classic Dirt Bike1 min read
Gerry Holdstock Two Day Trial
Not only is Golden Valley Classic MCC’s Gerry Holdstock Two Day Trial a cracking event – CDB has been there a time or two – but it is a great social gathering too. For 2023 it is on July 1-2 and set in Cowcombe Woods near Chalford, Gloucestershire. T
Classic Dirt Bike1 min read
The Greeves Series, 2023
Although Greeves motorcycle production may have ceased in 1976, interest and indeed passion for the marque has never diminished. Enthusiasts for Greeves fall into two basic categories. One group is interested in the history of Greeves, the various mo
Classic Dirt Bike2 min read
Jude Morris legacy
Jude Morris was a talented youth motocross rider who lost his life while competing in the British Youth Championship in Duns, Scotland. Jude was a leading youth rider in the UK and his passion and dedication for the sport, coupled with his eagerness
Classic Dirt Bike2 min read
Red Marley Hill Climb 2023
Easter Monday is Red Marley day and this popular hillclimb was back in the classic calendar after a break of four years due to the Covid pandemic, writes Dave Gittins. Sadly, nobody told the weatherman as the day consisted of bouts of heavy rain, str
Classic Dirt Bike2 min read
No Longer With Us
The saddest duty of magazine editors, be they of motorcycle publications or not, is reporting on those names in the scene who have sadly reached life’s chequered flag. The motorcycling world lost two legends in February and our few words here can’t b
Classic Dirt Bike1 min read
We Want Your Opinion!
Yes, really... we do actually want to hear what you have to say; of course we’ll only pay attention to the motorcycling opinions though. Why do we want to hear from you? Because you’re the reason we do magazines and if we hear from you then we can en
Classic Dirt Bike9 min read
Expert Development
All motorcycles are built to a generally accepted size which will accommodate the majority of people in the world who decide to ride them. Actually it’s not just motorcycles, as pretty much anything manufactured is designed to cope with an average di
Classic Dirt Bike3 min read
Dave Bickers unscrambled
The world doesn’t seem to breed characters these days but, in the not-so-distant past, characters did emerge forged in the crucible of off-road motorcycle sport and thanks to both ITV and BBC’s scheduling departments some of these characters became h
Classic Dirt Bike10 min read
So, You Want To Win…
Every competitor likes to experience the high of winning. It doesn’t matter if it’s crossing the line ahead of the pack in an MX GP or a first class award in a club trial; there’s nothing better for a competitor than the adrenaline rush success creat
Classic Dirt Bike8 min read
Playing A Pivotal Role
Keeping the rear wheel in contact with the ground has long been viewed as a way to win races. Yes it’s very spectacular when MXers leap hundreds of feet in the air and do fancy loops but if you’re in the air, you’re going nowhere. Once the idea rear
Classic Dirt Bike5 min read
Just A Little Thing…
Anyone who has ever been daft enough to take on a project will know the big bits are fairly easy to sort and it is the little bits which cause the most frustration and bother. I suppose we all already know this yet still we tackle projects with lots
Classic Dirt Bike5 min read
Dirt Bike Life
A picture surfaced a week or so ago. It was a picture which pulled my attention back through time to those carefree days when I only had one motorcycle in the garage. It was a pic of a 325 Bultaco which I’d bought new in 1977 but while a memory jogge
Classic Dirt Bike5 min read
Dirt Products
We all want our bike to be secure in the van or on the trailer and things have moved on a long way since the days when we used a length of rope to do the job. Tie-down straps with a securing ratchet in are fabulous things and quickly secure a motorcy
Classic Dirt Bike4 min read
Cumbrian Classic
At first it seemed the weather was going to upset the plans of Westmorland Motorclub Ltd’s scramble on St George’s Day. After a day of glorious weather, Saturday dawned with torrential rain which threatened to turn the Westmorland County Showground i
Classic Dirt Bike2 min read
Clean in Kinlochleven
There was a phrase often in print about the SSDT and it went “Feet up in Fort William” – the base for the SSDT in case you weren’t sure. As the base for the Pre65 is a few miles away in Kinlochleven “Clean in Kinlochleven” could be a similar catchphr
Classic Dirt Bike5 min read
Centre Of Excellence
Well, were you there? Did you go back to Telford for 2023 and catch up with the best of the best in whichever discipline of off-road sport does it for you? After enforced restrictions to deal with Covid meant the cancelling of 2021’s show and the unc
Classic Dirt Bike4 min read
Light Blue Touchpaper…
The iconic picture of Georges Jobe jumping over his arch rival Andre Malherbe in the Hawkstone Park sandpit, with the backdrop of a massive crowd going bananas on a roasting hot day during the 1984 British Grand Prix, still turns up as regular as clo
Classic Dirt Bike4 min read
Room For Two
Is it any great revelation the Spanish industry used its trials bikes as a base for a trail machine? No, I don’t suppose it is and the concept is a great way to produce a civilised trail or ‘about town’ machine for not a lot of extra production cost.
Classic Dirt Bike5 min read
Dirttalk
Write to us at: ClassicDIRTbike, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ. CDBeditor@mortons.co.uk In CDB issue 62 you had a report on a Butler trials machine but it was very different from the original model. Please find here some photos of our l
Classic Dirt Bike1 min read
Classic Dirt Bike
Editor: Tim Britton cdbeditor@mortons.co.uk 07739 615605 Columnist: John Dickinson Contributor: Alan Telford Media Photographers: Fiona Watson, Nick Nicholls Collection at Mortons Archive Production editor: Pauline Hawkins Art editor: Kelvin Clements
Classic Dirt Bike8 min read
The Next Step
Rear suspension has been a subject which tended to polarise opinions. There were those for it and those against it. In our off-road world it was long thought only a fixed or rigid rear end on a motorcycle could offer any hope of grip as a rider battl
Classic Dirt Bike2 min read
Crown Prince
From our 2023 viewpoint we know Dave Thorpe – the MXer not the trials rider – made good on the predictions for success he had heaped on him as he graduated from the youth sport ranks to adult MX in 1981. We know the lad took three world 500cc MX titl

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