Despite drizzly weather, more than 600 motorcycles and trikes — from single-cylinder mopeds to flat-six monsters — turned out for the recent annual Simply Bikes event at Britain’s National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
Among the vintage machines were a 1943 BMW R75 with sidecar, both in World War II military guise, as well as a 1969 Yamaha YR3 350cc sport bike and a 1975 Honda 750 Four.
Also present were the quirky, including a vintage Mobylette moped with pedal assist for its tiny engine, several trikes with Volkswagen flat-four engines — one retaining the entire rear bodywork of the Beetle, and another trike that mates a motorcycle front fork with the engine and chassis of a Reliant Robin.
In what the museum called “an extra treat for motorcycle fans,” engineers from the museum’s workshop performed a start-up of the recently restored Brough Superior 11.50, the first time this “Rolls-Royce of Motor Cycles” was heard running in public following its restoration.
Photos courtesy National Motor Museum, Beaulieu