The photo posted here can be seen on a website dedicated to the British Channel Island of Jersey. 1 The accompanying text reads: ‘Young future motorcyclists ready for a cycle trial competition.’
In response to my enquiry, I was informed that the image had been posted in a Facebook group and then sent to the website's creators by a contributor who is not yet known. The photo was then added to the article ‘Motorcycle trials and scrambles’, which deals with early motorcycle trials and motocross on Jersey, under the heading ‘1950s’. The date on the image was probably based solely on the appearance of the photo and is therefore uncertain.
The wide handlebars indicate that this was an off-road competition. One of the participants on the left of the picture appears to have a suspension fork. It is unclear whether this was an observed trial or a speed competition (bicycle cross). This question cannot be answered based on the photo, so we can only hope that more detailed information will be found. It is quite possible that this was an observed trial, if there were corresponding motorcycle trials on Jersey!
The boys in the photo are now (2019) around eighty years old and therefore do not necessarily belong to a generation that follows this research on the internet. I fear that many things may be lying dormant in albums or boxes and end up in the rubbish bin. Fortunately, the photo in question here has escaped this fate.
It is to be hoped that evidence of cycle trials during this period will also be found elsewhere, because in view of the Windlesham Wheelers Trials in 1947 and the emergence of a British motorcycle trials championship in 1950, one would expect that such a thing must have existed.
- https://www.theislandwiki.org/index.php/Motor_cycle_trials, 18 July 2019 ↩