About the Organiser

The organiser of the Bike Jumbles is Eric Patterson. He is always present throughout every event ensuring everything is running smoothly. Old motorcycles have always been Eric’s hobby. He is a knowledgeable enthusiast of British Bikes with specific interests in those built in the thirties right up to the sixties.

His first motor cycle was a 1937 Wolf 125cc that was soon followed by an ex army BSA M20 which he rode in the Windsor Great Park woods in the early sixties, much to the annoyance of the game keepers!

His first job was on a farm at Hook near Basingstoke where he practiced on a D1 Bantam and an old 350cc Panther in the fields. His first purchase for a legal road machine at the age of 16 was a 175cc 1953 Francis Barnet from Sid Moram’s in Windsor. Do not ask him about reliability or how many times he came off though, with its hard Firestone tyres. It was soon part exchanged at Sid’s for a C12 BSA, again on HP (hire purchase) with the standard DA insurance of the period.

This was followed by a 1959 Super Rocket outfit from Pride and Clarke having a “sports” chair on L-plates. Passing his driving test on this machine he was then able to remove the sidecar, no longer limited to solos under 250cc……. He blew it up on the second day out !

Eric has spent his life sampling different bikes and has lost count of the many machines he has ridden. He has a particular obsession with JAP V-twins and Cotton pre-war singles. More recently he has been converted to Vincent HRD’s. However his trusty G85CS Matchless has been his favourite iron for long distance jaunts having done over 20k miles in the past few years.

Eric travels to many events throughout Europe and has even been known to venture further afield; for example in 2001 He took a trip through the Himalayas with Ron Farthing and this shows the group at 18,380 feet the highest “motorable” road.

This photo shows Eric and daughter Clair in 1993 on a Nimbus. Clair is normally collecting the entrance fees at Kempton.