... complete with sidecar content:
Prologue:
In the Summer of 1953 my father Geoffrey Gander and his friends set off on their annual Motor Cycling holiday around Europe.
It was probably quite an adventurous trip to take at the time.
They would ride through France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.
We think of old bikes as being unreliable, but my father and his friends were keen riders and engineers and completed the trip without much more than a puncture.
The bikes that took part in the trip were:
GAU 856 Brough Superior SS100 with fuel in the loop sidecar
AHC 650 Triumph Thunderbird. He bought this one on 22nd July 1950 for £219 16 9 and by the day they set off in July 53 it had done 24,900 miles.
KBY 571 Sunbeam
VMM 871 Sunbeam
AHC 963 Triumph
I have published these pictures as I like them and I hope that anyone interested in bikes of this era will also enjoy them. I have all his pictures from numerous other trips and will try and publish these when I find the time as they are also full of beautiful pictures....
Read more and see the pics here: http://www.go-faster.com/SS100.html
Lee
MB5+TW200+CRF250L+GTV300+INT650
XL883R w/Texas Ranger Sidecar
Zuma 50F + Burgman w/Texas Sidecar<Mrs. SwampFox
Great site. I forwarded it to a Europhile friend who's into Britbikes. I love old school internet sites like this - interesting content from around the world with little or no commercial intent.
Wonderful! Thanks.
gp
Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! I passed it to my friends who will appreciate it but probably won't see it here. Thank you for sharing that piece of history.
I really enjoyed looking at these photos - fantastic! The most striking thing to me was the clothing that they wore - so different from today.
Great pics, Thanks for the link
Thank you for posting, That was great to read & see. I too wondered at the clothing they wore, so proper & business like.
One of the bikes looks like a Ariel square four parted in the middle. What is it?
Congratulation to have had a father like yours. He must have been a bright mind and good technician.
I remember close to Edinburgh a North See platform engineer with a tremendous collection of bikes in his grandfathers machine shop who had his Grandfather's bike from 1903 still registered and running in 1983.
Keep your fathers wheels rolling.
Sven 😉 😉
Those pictures are absolutely priceless!! I look at them and realize I was born a generation late and a continent too far west....
Peter Pan - 10/14/2011 12:41 PM
One of the bikes looks like a Ariel square four parted in the middle. What is it?
I think you're looking at one of the Sunbeams. http://www.stewartengineering.co.uk/gallery.asp
Some models are known for shaft drive with a worm gear final drive.
Dave, thank you very much,
Your link is very interesting.
For me as somebody who lives now in the tropics it is allways something currious why only the Scotts was making water cooled bikes in those days.
That would have been the way for Sunbeem to live longer.
Watercooled bikes came up as popular in the 80tees with the water pig = Honda Silverwing CX500.
They were ugly but durable.
Seeing these pictures my mind starts to swift off the work in these days, specially because its raining now cats and dogs for weeks and dozends of roads are closed by land slides or washed away bridges.
Best regards to all.
Sven
This would make a great article for the "Sidecarist"!
Great website. I given it to a Europhile companion who's into Britbikes. exciting articles from worldwide with little or no business purpose.
