I WOULD like to add to the recent article written by P Southall from Cumbria, about Power Assisted Bicycles.

In the 1950s my wife and I used to ride a tandem. When our daughter was about four years old I fitted a unit called a ‘power pack’, which was a motor that was installed behind the rear seat and over the rear wheel. A ribbed roller, in contact with the tyre, drove the unit. Our daughter used to sit on a seat bolted to the top frame on the front of the bike, with a bar for her feet on the down frame.

She wore a pair of ex-RAF goggles to keep the wind out of her eyes and she loved it.

The motor was particularly beneficial when travelling up hills or against head winds.

We later progressed to motorcycles with a sidecar and as the family increased, so did the cc of the motorcycle.

Before moving to a car, our last motorcycle was a Royal Enfield 700cc twin known as the ‘Constellation’. It was a lovely bike, and was fitted with a Canterbury double adult sidecar, with its own luggage rack on the back.

Back then we quite often went on static caravan holidays with my wife on the pillion, two kids in the sidecar and a suitcase on the rack.

Happy Days.

EG DOWDEN, Ashridge Gardens, Bournemouth