WAY WE WERE
Your fabulous memories and brilliant old photos. Got a stash? We want to see them
This is a picture of my nan and grandad with his bike. My grandad was the first person in Stroud, Gloucestershire to own a motorcycle (so I was led to believe by my nan when I was just a grasshopper). The picture was taken when my nan was just 22 years old, so that would make the date somewhere around 1920/21. Unfortunately, both my grandparents passed away over 30 years ago, and the mystery of the make and model of his bike has never been solved. I have tried checking the registration number with DVLA, but they have no record of the registration visible on the bike. I would be very grateful if your collective wisdom (or that of your readers) could solve this question for all time.
Pete Johnson, Swindon, Wiltshire
Lovely picture, but I’m not too sure about the bike. Many details make me think it’s a twostroke Levis: the tank shape and cap position, the forks, the upward tilt of the magneto chaincase (the silver cover on the right of the engine), the exhaust and the fact that it seems to come out of the bottom of a two-stroke-shaped cylinder barrel. But you can also see the rear drive belt on the right side, and all the pics I can find of Levises have the belt on the left. The gearlever on the tank side is also not typically Levis, so I have to admit defeat! Can any readers out there help? Cheers, Rick Parkington