MOTORCYCLING in the 1950s has caught the imagination of plenty of readers over recent weeks. In edition 1067, on page 2, Olive Bedworth of West Bromwich continued her theme with more photos of racers both on and off road, and mentioned that a Wednesbury rider had once asked her if she would consider being his sidecar passenger.
Willenhall reader Dennis Emms has followed that up with the following response: "In Olive Bedworth's interesting articles on her motorcycle adventures, she mentions that she was asked to act as a sidecar passenger for a man from Wednesbury; she thinks his name may have been Buck.
"She is right about the name; the person in question would have been George Buck, who had a motorcycle shop in Bridge Street, Wednesbury, called the Midland Sidecar Centre.
"Although Olive talks about road racing, in fact George in his day was a very prolific trials riding expert. He rode his Ariel combination all over Europe, representing his country in the ISDT (International Six Days Trial).
"He was my uncle, and I remember when I went to work for him, he would tell us all about his exploits.
He should have written a book.
"George retired in 1964 and sold the shop to Roy Peplow, another trials expert who rode for Triumph.
George moved to Halfway House in Shrewsbury, but sadly he is no longer with us.
"I stayed on at Peplow's until Roy closed the shop in 1994. During my years in the motorcycle trade I met many interesting people, too many to mention. But Olive would have enjoyed the trial riding."
Olive shares more of her motorbiking memories on page 17 of this issue.
