European Motorcycle Ride in 1953

this is a great photo essay of days gone by. Link stolen from the mighty Coudal!

In the Summer of 1953 my father Geoffrey Gander and his friends set off on their annual Motor Cycling holiday around Europe.

It was probably quite an adventurous trip to take at the time.

They would ride through France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland.

We think of old bikes as being unreliable, but my father and his friends were keen riders and engineers and completed the trip without much more than a puncture.

The bikes that took part in the trip were:

GAU 856 Brough Superior SS100 with fuel in the loop sidecar

AHC 650 Triumph Thunderbird. He bought this one on 22nd July 1950 for £219 16 9 and by the day they set off in July 53 it had done 24,900 miles.

KBY 571 Sunbeam

VMM 871 Sunbeam

AHC 963 Triumph