I think its fair to say that the book is pretty limited in scope, and it held some disappointments for me too.
The back-cover blurb states that the book contains 'a stunning new set of over 100 new photographs' and '17 rider profiles..(which) originally appeared in Classic Motorcycle', while Jackson's foreword acknowledges that the author's 'concentration was on his local West Country talent'. Being both partial to good photography and a West-Country lad currently restoring a Greeves challenger to ISDT spec who grew up in the town where Triss and Bryan Sharp had their motorbike shop in the period, I was awaiting the book's arrival with some interest!
I was hoping that this book would be a rider-focused version of, for example, Don Morley's many bike-specific volumes, filled with well-researched details of hitherto generally neglected riders, iced with lots of bits of 'insider info' from works riders on the bikes themselves. Well, the author is certainly no Don Morley, and the articles themselves are not particularly satisfying. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that all the characters included deserve far more than this book offers, and the (shocking) omission of the Rickmans is symptomatic of a wider series of problems with the book. All of the profiles follow the same format, and focus on social and competition background mixed with a handful of 'fondly remembered' anecdotes, combined with MSN-frontpage style 'scramblers of the past....where are they now?' updates. Despite the author claiming that many of the subjects had personal scrapbooks 'that could fill another volume' almost none of this all important detail makes it onto the pages. The impression of shallow research, poorly expressed, is only compounded by the writer's incessant use of stock phrases.. 'the black art of two stroke tuning', 'lucrative continental meetings'..throughout multiple profiles, the repetition of at least one anecdote(!), and a generally poor standard of proof-reading, and dare I say it, spelling, as one used to Matchams Park being spelt without an e.
Having said all of that, the book certainly contains a swathe of stunning photographs, although a least a few are available on the net. But if you, like me, manage to find even one useful little nugget of information within the book, then that may well justify the purchase price. I paid the princely sum of 10 pounds and 35p plus postage via eBay for mine, which back here in pommieland won't even buy you a couple of gallons of petrol, and certainly won't stop me from passing it on to someone who lived through the period, and may feel a little more at home in its warm glow than me.
In the meantime Veloce publishing, where can I buy wall-sized blowup posters of the Greeves on page 111, and the Matchless on page...................
