Morley and Me

Men. Gear. Morley.

Don Morley that is. That's him on the right. With the camera and the ears.

I call him Don and he responds with who the fuck are you? Seems reasonable cos the truth is the nearest I came to knowing the great Don Morley is that we both worked for United Newspapers at one time or another, he as a photographer, me as a nude model. There's more though. There's an affinity that goes beyond simply meeting and knowing – I like to think so anyway.

We both make a fetish of Leica rangefinders and Royal Enfield motorcycles, and we both love the heyday of trials events – say, immediate post-war to the close of the 1950s. The run-what-you-brung, compete-sunday-ride-it-to-work-monday, arrive-on-your-road-bike-and-get-a-ride golden-period…I mean, golden period that was classic trials.

Morley's seminal work, Classic British Two-Stroke Trials Bikes (Osprey, 1987), says so: “This was a time when many competitors rode their [bikes] to the event, competed and rode home again, using the machines as daily transport for the rest of the week.

“[It was] a thriving era of club trials that could be entered on the day with the minimum of red tape [and] countless trials riders could enjoy the sport. For them there was no segregation between stars and also-rans, no bunny hops nor trick cycling. Instead, the worst could always enter and enjoy the event side by side with the best, neither to be overawed, demoralised or likely to suffer physical damage to themselves and their steeds. Great days indeed…"

Morley: “Taken at the Exeter event in the days when trials bikes were a more
general form of transport, this happy bunch made it to Land's End on a
pretty typical mix including Dot, James and Francis Barnett” 

By the way, there's no use in trying to buy the book. It's absolutely the best read on the subject but long out of print and commanding stupid prices at second-hand.

To paraphrase Dr Johnson: worth owning, not worth paying a second-hand price to own.