Classic Bike Calendars & Posters

You may think there’s ages to go before the end of this year, but 2009 will be upon us before you’ve had time to grease up your girders for winter. The first 2009 calendars have landed already at RCHQ… and if you’re of the Triumph persuasion then you’ll probably love the Ace Classics effort. It’s an A3 publication packed with glossy photos of pre-unit beauties: T120s, TR6s, Speed Twins, Thunderbirds and terrific Tigers.

Each bike is accompanied by a detailed history from when it left the factory to where it is now, so you get a biking bonus on top of the twelve months of the year. The Ace Classics calendar costs £12 from 020 8698 4273.

Now, we don’t actually own a Greeves machine here at RCHQ but we’ve been using the Greeves Riders’ Association calendar throughout this year because it’s just so fab. The illustrations offer a unique viewpoint on the marque, and for 2009 the calendar again uses photographs from the GRA Greeves archive. Many were taken for use in the contemporary brochures. The calendar travels through the best of the Greeves years, highlighting examples of the wide range of models that the Thundersley factory offered.

The 2009 Greeves calendars are available now and the price has been held at £5 each including postage and packing within the UK. To order, please write to Colin Sparrow at 71 Pear Tree Walk, Cheshunt, Herts EN7 6RG, and enclose a cheque for £5 made payable to ‘Greeves Riders Association’ (not ‘GRA’!) for the appropriate amount, and please don’t forget to include your name and address.

Our final item for today isn’t a calendar at all, which means you don’t have to take it down at the end of the year. You also don’t need to wait before ordering… It’s a glorious poster which will inspire the Ariel enthusiasts among us, and which features a monster 222 images of spectacular Ariel machines, taken from each side and printed on opposing sides of the poster. So you could turn it around every month to get a different view of each bike – or you could hang it in the middle of the room and get a revolving view of 111 different machines.

The poster is the work of Ariel enthusiast and RC contributor Markus Nikot, whose beautiful photos occasionally grace the cover of the magazine. The poster is produced on very high quality, 200gm paper, and comes with a separate sheet detailing each model and its year. This poster has gone straight to the top of FW’s Christmas list; it’s far too good to hang in the Shed so will probably take pride of place in the RC office.

The Ariel poster costs just £13 plus delivery, and you can order direct from Markus at www.nikot.de/ariel/fs_ariel.html

It should also be available through Ariel specialists Draganfly; see draganfly.co.uk