Foreword
Richard Rosenthal’s popular Buyers Guide series has run since November 2000 in The Classic MotorCycle magazine, month-in, month-out offering an in-depth look at the makers that help to give the classic motorcycle scene its rich diversity and variety.
The Buyers Guide series has enabled Richard to chronicle the deeds of not only the big names in motorcycling history, but also shed light on the endeavours – some successful, others less-so – of some of the more unfamiliar names in the motorcycle making game.
From A to Z, nearly every marque has its diehards and true believers, men and women who value the products of one particular maker above those of all others. Hopefully all of those enthusiasts will think their favourite has been given a fair ‘crack of the whip’ but will also enjoy reading and learning about some of the other makers who’ve added to the mixture of thoughts, ideas, brainwaves, successes and failures that, combined, go together to make up the eclectic history of motorcycling.
For a long time a valued and respected contributor to The Classic MotorCycle, Richard Rosenthal is a man who enjoys and appreciates the quirky side of motorcycling, whether that be with his 50cc Kreidler racer or perhaps his veteran Premier, his two-stroke DKW, the flat-tank OEC-Blackburne – the list of ‘non mainstream’ motorcycles in the Rosenthal shed goes on...
Though of course Richard is fully aware of the efforts of the ‘big’ makers (indeed, BSAs are particularly well appreciated chez Rosenthal) it’s his enthusiasm for the unusual, abnormal and downright odd that have helped to make his Buyers Guide such a popular series and which will help make this book a much-needed, much-valued and surely much-enjoyed addition to any enthusiast’s bookshelf.
James Robinson, Editor, The Classic MotorCycle
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