Old Bike Mart Magazine November 2018 Retour à l'édition précédente

As I wrote my editorial piece for last month’s issue, introducing myself to you wonderful readers, I was struck by the timing of my move into the editorial chair, what with it coinciding with Old Bike Mart’s 400th issue.
Consequently, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into timing of late, invariably while I’m walking the dog and in deep thought as to what I’m going to write for the following month’s editorial. And, of course, the timing is such that I have always forgotten the superb prose which I’d concocted with the help of my faithful hound by the time I’ve got back from the walk, fed the dog and put the kettle on… Although it’s not just me as, of course, timing is something that affects us all, from the day we’re conceived, right through to our eventual demise. And, for motorcyclists, it plays an important part in our chosen pastime.
While our time spent out on the road owes a lot to our own personal timing as well as that of fellow travellers – from the simplest of gear changes, through to the potential of poor timing by someone pulling out of a side road on our approach – I was considering the more avant-garde perception of how timing can be seen as being coincidental, rather than the steadfast, formal and fixed timing that we might at first think. So, more like the wildly varying concept of ignition timing on a BSA C15 than the precision required in cam timing for a high-revving, quarter litre Honda six.
That conflicting consideration of coincidence versus measured timing is well described by much of the content of this issue. Many of you will be reading it on November 11, a full century since the guns fell silent over Europe. As a small tribute to those who fought, and fell, for King and country during the First World War, we have three pages of haunting images from life aboard two wheels during this conflict, starting on page 36.