Baruch Blaker and his BAT

 

Baruch Blaker with BAT motorcycle c 1902.

I have no more details about this superb postcard other than the caption. You've got to assume that the postcard was produced as a promotional tool for BAT motorcycles. BAT were named after the company's founder, Samuel Batson, and from the start were prominent in competition. Following competition success the company in 1903 adopted the logo, 'Best After Test'. The BAT in this image has a De Dion Bouton engine which should date it as 1901 or 1902.

I can't find much out about Baruch Blaker but he seems to have been quite a character. From what I can find he was a resident of Worthing in West Sussex and was a sporting cyclist from the earliest days. He was an early convert to motor bicycles and was a competition rider in the very first motor sport events. There is a record of him having competed at the first Brighton Speed Trials in 1905. He apparently ran a photography studio in Worthing from 1899 to 1904 and then later ran a shop selling bee keeping apparatus as well as wax and honey.

Having a ripping time

Summer is not long away now! Here's a postcard that is postmarked 1914. Postcards like this were printed in their thousands, the bike illustrated is generic and the same card and message would be printed with different town names, a variant for every seaside town in the country.

Having a ripping time in Bournemouth!

Rudge celebrity endorsement

Celebrity endorsement is nothing new. Here's movie couple Ivy Duke and Guy Newall promoting a Rudge on a Rudge produced postcard.

The bike looks to be circa 1923 just when Rudge were moving away from their famous 'Multi' models with variable belt drive to conventional gearboxes. The bike appears to have a drum front brake but in fact it had dummy rim brakes front and rear. The front hub 'brake' is actually just a large flange on the hub and could be used to semi enclose the speedo drive when this was fitted as an option.

Ivy Duke and Guy Newall appeared together in several films and were married for seven years. Both were most prolific in the silent film era.

Silent movie stars Ivy Duke and Guy Newall
with c1923 Rudge outfit.

Try spooning with a Premier v twin

'When tired of Cycling, try Spooning!'

As you may have guessed 'spooning' had a different and more innocent meaning back in the veteran era when it referred to flirtatious behaviour. All the same this probably would have been considered a risqué postcard back in the day. Apparently the phrase spooning has its roots in seventeenth century Wales where a young man would present an intricately carved wooden love spoon to the object of his affections. The spoon signalled his intent to both his amor and her family that he was a skilled man able to provide.

Of course of equal, or perhaps more, interest to us moto nerds is the bike. It's a very unusual v-twin Premier from roughly 1909. There's one in the Yesterday's archive of sold machines to compare:
https://www.yesterdays.nl/product/premier-1909-model-2-600cc-2-cyl-sv/

Premier gent spooning with two
young ladies, what a cad!

Souvenir from the Isle of Man

A postcard from the Isle of Man looking over Douglas Harbour. The nice touch is that some TT legends have signed the card. From the careers of the riders the postcard must date from the fifties. Each rider below is linked to their page on the tt-database.

Geoff Duke

Bill Lomas 

George Newmann

Merry Christmas 2020

A very Merry Christmas to all!

Veteran era Christmas postcard. It looks like the
proud owner of this bike had his own custom made
cards. I've seen identically framed images around
that are very similar so it seems like it was a 'thing'
in the Edwardian era. By the way, no idea what the
bike is so if you can identify then get in touch...

A shocking incident

Yes, shocking indeed. And a slightly risqué flirty message on the rear.

The White Helmets motorcycle display team

The White Helmets as they were popularly known or, to use their official title, The Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team were based locally to me as I grew up and very ocassionally you would see one of the Harris Triumphs with a reg plate on it blasting through town.

The Team was wound up in 2017 as being outdated. Sad, but history moves on and really the decision seems fair enough as there are no motorcycles in the British army anymore. Perhaps the Team was a good promotional and recruitment tool for the signals but how can you really justify spending so much tax money on a display team that has little relevance to modern operational competencies?

Originally formed in 1927 the Display Team had different nicknames through the years, 'The Red Devils', 'The Mad Signals' before 'The White Helmets' was settled on in 1963. The purpose of the Team was initially to promote riding skills amongst despatch riders. Machines used over the years varied and did not necessarily correspond to bikes that were in regular military contracts. Most recently the Team was known for flying the flag with their Devon built Harris Triumphs which were all auctioned off shortly after they disbanded.

Merry Christmas 2019

Wishing all a wonderful Christmas!

Great War Douglas advertising

This postcard was published by Douglas to publicise the reliability of their bikes as demonstrated in the theatre of war. This particular postcard has actually been posted and the postmark is from 1922.

The caption on the card reads, 'Artificer Corp. J. Aked, Signals, Cavalry Corps, B. E. F.-"All the Douglas machines under my care have done good work" '

Personally I had to do some quick research to find out what that all means, so for others also unfamiliar with World War One military parlance here is a quick explanation... An artificer is a skilled mechanic in the armed forces. So Mr J Aked was a Corporal in the Signals Squadron of the Cavalry Corps with a responsibility for mechanics (ie the Signals Squadron was the home of the Despatch Riders and Mr Aked was more than likely responsible for maintaining their bikes). The B E F was the British Expeditionary Force and refers to the British Army sent to fight on the Western Front.

The man who looked after the Don R's
bikes was happy to recommend Douglas
machines!

The Brigadier's Side Car

'The Brigadier's Side Car', a postcard illustrating the British Army's ASC in the First World War. The machine illustrated is fairly clearly a Triumph, probably a Model H, of which many thousands were produced for military service. The Army Service Corps was the unit tasked with military logisitcs.

An Awkward Hill revisited

I posted the below postcard image up round about a year ago. Shortly after Pete from Occhio Lungo got in touch to say that the bike is a Premier and now I've heard from Andy Loosemore with a whole load more detail.

The bike is indeed a Premier, a 3 1/2 hp model that was first registered 12 July 1912. The rider is a chap called William Kier Little and it is he owned the machine from new. Little lived at 73 Petteril Street in Carlisle, an address that still exists, the street is known in more modern times for having suffered bad flooding on more than one occasion recently. William Little was born 30 July 1879 and unfortunately there is a sad end to the story for he was killed at the Battle of the Somme 5 October 1916 at the age of 37. He was a Private (#4923) in the London Regiment and his death is commemorated at at the Thiepval Monument in France (pier and face 9, D9 C13C).

The information is somehow haunting but it seems fitting to know something of the people who rode the machines we now cherish. The history and story of the riders it has had is something of the soul of a motorcycle. Some folks get excited by racing history and famous riders but the story of Reginald A N Other, BSA Bantam rider, is every bit as valid and potentially interesting and gives us food for thought each time we get out and ride.

Thanks Andy for the story.

in memoriam William Kier Little.

Feline traffic chaos

Charming Swiss postcard on the theme of calamitous feline road habits.

Audible and Sufficient Warning

Cute postcard postmarked from 1908.