Off-Road Giants!: Heroes of 1960s Motorcycle Sport

If you can recall watching motorcycle scrambles and trials on your black and white TV during the 1960s, then this is the book for you. It’s a trip down memory lane as the author recalls boyhood journeys in his big brothers ex-GPO van to watch the stars in action, some of the world’s best, including scramblers like the Sharp brothers, Badger Goss and Ivor England, trials riders Gordon Jackson, Max King and the Kendalls, and great all-rounders like Ken Heanes, Johnny Giles and the American Bud Ekins. Not only does it include the star riders, but also the main British manufacturers of the time like BSA, Triumph, James, Greeves, Metisse, Cheney and Wasp, the latter two of which are still in existence to this day. However, the book isn’t just about bikes - it’s about the people and their stories from illustrious and successful careers on two and three wheels, which makes for a thoroughly interesting and captivating read.

After nearly forty years of riding motor bikes Andy Westlake is one of the UK’s leading motorcycle magazine journalists. He contributes to leading monthly magazines such as The Classic Motorcycle, Classic Dirt Bike and Motorcycle Sport and Leisure in the UK and also classic and off road magazines in France, the USA and Australia. He attended his first motorcycle sports event as an eight year old in 1961 and it is the bikes and people of that era that he writes so passionately about. He has competed with great success in classic long distance trials and as recently as 2006 won a gold medal in the Lands End trial on his Cheney Triumph. He has also toured extensively on Guzzi twins including a coast to coast trip across the USA.