Not so often you see an 'action photo' of this age featuring regular blokes riding around. This chap larking on his Royal Enfield had the decency to label the back of his pictures so we know that it was taken in 1934. The location is also written down though a little unclear but through the wonders of the interweb it narrowed down to Bereton Road in Rugeley, Stafforshire.

By strange coincidence I put one of these photos up on the Facebook feed before posting here on the blog and Laurent from France of Twist Grip blog got in touch to say that he has different pictures of the same machine in the same location and that the bike is a Model T 150cc. Small world!

Yep, it's a crappy photo but there's something fun and evocative about it. The bike is a Triumph 3SW, best guess is that the photo was taken early post-war and that the bike is an army surplus machine. The tractor looks like a Ferguson TE20 and they came out 1946.

A blast from the past for many. The Sidewinder sidecar from the eighties was a ruse to get around learner motorcycle laws - a learner in the UK was restricted to 125cc until he or she had passed their riding test, that is unless they were in charge of a sidecar outfit. In the case of a combo any capacity was possible; so the learner could ride for example either a CB125 solo or a CX1000 with sidecar.

The Sidewinder was a mail order clip on banking sidecar that was aimed at the learner market. There was no passenger, or even luggage, carrying capacity. The whole thing was just a liberal interpretation of the rules to get around learner capacity restrictions. They sold a whole load of them and at one time they were a regular sight on British roads.

Though the spirit of the law was being twisted there was never a huge spate of road traffic accidents associated with learners and Sidewinders. As learner laws changed and direct access riding tests came on stream so the whole raison d'etre of the Sidewinder vanished and they are now a largely forgotten footnote in British motorcycling history. 

Here's the catalogue for Precision Engines for motorcycles and cyclecars from c1914. Apologies for the slightly dodgy scanning - it's a delicate item and the stapling was wonky from new.

The bike is a Sunbeam and the location somewhere in Bournemouth, UK. I would guess the period is early to mid twenties, top marks if you can name the model of Sunbeam...

I've no idea where or when this photo was taken but it is one impressive act. The motorcycle is only just in frame. I'd love to see a movie clip of the performance.

A flyer produced by Layford Automotive, the British importers for the Peugeot BB model moped. Dates from around 1960.