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The 'golden Years' And Roy K Battson.


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#1 Riggers

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Posted 13 March 2018 - 12:38 pm

I mentioned in a recent short ride report a guy called Roy K Battson who passed away (I believe) around 20 odd years ago. He was born in 1900 and therefore as a young man rode motorbikes through, a period romantically called the  'Golden Years', so called because roads were empty of traffic, there were dozens and dozens of British and foreign makes, and bikes were relatively cheap to buy (but as always I suppose that depended on your job). His interest in bikes was kindled in 1911 by his elder brother who was a biker (or should I say a motorcyclist!).

 

Anyway, when I was a young chappie I used to buy a magazine called 'Motorcycle Sport' and R.K. Battson wrote occasional articles and reports of his adventures on the old bikes which were so beautifully written and with such an affection for his (and our) sport that I sometimes got goosebumps at his way with words.

 

He wrote an article in the September 1972 edition when he was 70 years old and he could see the end of his motorcycling days looming over the horizon. Over three pictureless pages of tiny print he took you through his post 2nd World War bikes from a 1938 Francis Barnett up to his then current bike -   a 1959 AJS Model 14. 

 

I'll say no more about his writing style but let you judge for yourself as here are the last few paragraphs of his article....(he called his AJS 'Pete' by the way).

 

"And now, Pete is 13 years old, and still running as well as ever, while I (having had a birthday while writing this) am seventy, and by no means going as well as ever. The riding part is all right, though I do not go as fast nor as far as I once did, but find it increasingly difficult to manhandle him and get him on his stand, for he is, at 3cwt, heavy for a two-fifty.

I dolefully suppose that, in the natural course of events, I haven't got much more riding ahead (although I knew one man who rode his Enfield Bullet until he was eighty-six; but he, who had been a lumberjack, was a giant among men) because I have no great wish to wind up with a Japanese 98cc, which costs nearly as much as the Ajay did all those years ago; still less do I yearn for a moped.

So, I shall just carry on with Pete as long as we are both able, and, when I can ride him no longer, a day which, I hope, is yet distant, then I must pack it in; and that will be that.

But I have had a good innings. It is a long time since that summer afternoon of 1911, when a small boy waited anxiously for his brother, and it all began.

And so the River of Time glides on, ever more swiftly, until it ends, as do all rivers, in the Unknown Sea; but, as long as memory remains, I shall recall my passage with pleasure and with love.

Especially, and above all, that part of the River which flowed, so long ago, through the gentle, sunlit valley of the Golden Years."



#2 Hombre

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Posted 13 March 2018 - 01:12 pm

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be.


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#3 pete7

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Posted 13 March 2018 - 06:19 pm

I always enjoyed those articles, and crazy/hazy B&W photographs in MS in late 60s. All signed only with writers initials ... people like Ray Knight, with plenty of prod-racing credentials

 

They always seemed a bit raw and un-edited, but all the more charming for that ... much of recent Motorcycle press is a bit juvenile in comparison, but that's just my opinion

 

And nice of him to name his Ajay after me  :lol: .... I'm 70 in January and hoping to go on for a few years yet

 

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#4 SingleCylinder

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Posted 13 March 2018 - 06:52 pm

Has anyone read his "Land beyond the ridge" or ever come across a copy of the book?


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#5 daveRapide

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Posted 13 March 2018 - 08:45 pm

I too read his series in Motorcycle Sport back in the day with great enjoyment, and came across it again recently after rescuing my back issues from the attic. Excellent stuff, and very well written, as Riggers says. There are 3 copies of The Land Beyond The Ridge on abebooks at the moment, priced at £63, £133 and £150. Only 78 pages, so I don't know if it contains much more than the Motorcycle Sport series. Well worth reading, though.



#6 tr7dan

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Posted 18 March 2018 - 12:46 pm

Hi Riggers

 

I posted a reply in ride reports as well

 

I have a copy of 'The Land Beyond The Ridge' and it's a great read, if you like old bikes and nostalgia There are a couple of copies on ebay at the mo for £38 and £34.

 

It's amusing to read one of the last chapters of the book (published in 1974) where he bemoans the demise of the British Motorcycle industry and the simple single cylinder machines they produced

"....But now, public taste and the Japanese have distorted that pleasant image; a rider now must have two, three or four cylinders... at prices varying from £700 to an incredible £2000. True, there is, at the moment a superbike craze but I doubt if it can, or will, last."   :lol: 

 

Funny to think now that that old model 14 Ajay that he sold due to failing health back in 1973, would easily fetch £2000 if it was in good nick

 

Dan



#7 Riggers

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Posted 18 March 2018 - 09:22 pm

 

Hi Riggers

 

I posted a reply in ride reports as well

 

I have a copy of 'The Land Beyond The Ridge' and it's a great read, if you like old bikes and nostalgia There are a couple of copies on ebay at the mo for £38 and £34.

 

It's amusing to read one of the last chapters of the book (published in 1974) where he bemoans the demise of the British Motorcycle industry and the simple single cylinder machines they produced

"....But now, public taste and the Japanese have distorted that pleasant image; a rider now must have two, three or four cylinders... at prices varying from £700 to an incredible £2000. True, there is, at the moment a superbike craze but I doubt if it can, or will, last."   :lol: 

 

Funny to think now that that old model 14 Ajay that he sold due to failing health back in 1973, would easily fetch £2000 if it was in good nick

 

Dan

 

 

See my reply Dan in Ride Reports.

 

Riggers.




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