Eddie Pinchbeck on his remaining Royal Enfield 1965 motorbike after his Norton Commando 1971 was stolen.

Hi Blog, sorry I've been away so long!!! Went to Istanbul, very interesting, been back to Warton on business, having a day off today to do something with Dan (not sure what yet and he is still in bed!).

Next Friday we are booked to go to the Motorcycle Show at the NEC with Charles from work, should be good fun.

The following report is from the local paper, the Andover Advertiser, if anyone has any news on the stolen bike, leave a comment.

Ram raiders steal rare Norton bike
3:40pm Thursday 27th November 2008

A RARE motorcycle worth up to £7,000 has been stolen in a ram raid on Pinchbeck and Sons garage in Abbotts Ann.

The 1971 black Norton Commando with gold piping is the pride and joy of garage owner Eddie Pinchbeck who has offered a £3,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of the thieves.

He said: “I feel bad. I was brought up that if something’s happened it’s happened, but I would not like to tell you what I would do if I found them.”

Mr Pinchbeck, who has owned his main garage in Middle Wallop for 45 years and raced motorcycle and sidecar for 20 years, said he bought the machine in bits from Norton Villiers about seven years ago and restored it. The Norton Commando make has a very special place in his heart because he ended up racing them. His speciality was speedway, but he also ice-raced in Canada.

It was the only vintage machine at his second-hand car showroom in Abbotts Ann but it was a determined raid.

Not only did the intruders ram-raid the offices to get in, they had to lift the 392lbs machine into the back of the van because the wheels were chained and locked.

Police say that a man who keeps an eye on the site and lives in a mobile home next door woke as the van crashed into the premises at 1.20am on 20 November.

He saw two men get into the white Transit and speed off towards Salisbury.