A STROKE of inspiration — or should that be two-stroke? — has prompted a West Devon man to write a book on the history of a British motorbike manufacturer.'

Terry Liversidge had never written a book before but his love for all things built by the now defunct Excelsior Motor Cycle Company, prompted him to write 'Excelsior the lost pioneer — the story of Excelsior Motor Cycles'.

The self-employed grounds maintenance man, whose work takes him to cemetries in Tavistock, Buckland Monachorum, Lydford and Brentor, was looking seven years ago to rebuild a British-built bike and restore it to prime condition — the only problem was, which one?

By chance, he was told of an old 1953 Excelsior Consort 98cc motorbike that had been in his backyard shed since 1976. Two years later the abandoned frame and 'pile of junk' was transformed into a working model.

Terry's father, Les, told him of an RAF man during the war whom he remembered riding through Horrabridge on a Talisman Excelsior. This spurred Terry into tracking an old model for sale in Suffolk, which he bought without even seeing it — adding a 1961, 250cc Talisman Twin to his collection. His current restoration project is a 1948 Excelsior Autobike.

The Excelsior Motor Company, based in Coventry, was the first British motorcycle manufacturer. They moved to Birmingham in 1921 and their bikes enjoyed successes in the famous Isle of Man TT races in the late 1930s.

However, following some lean years after the war the company was eventually absorbed into BSA, although its break-up does not detract from many followers of the Excelsior marque.

Terry, aged 50, who lives at Bere Alston. is married to Tracy and has twins Ben and Ashley, aged 14, certainly loves all machines on two wheels with an engine.

He is a member of the Cornish Classic Motorcycle Club, the National Cycle and Autocycle Club, the Excelsior Talisman Twin Owners' Club and the British Two-Stroke Club.

He said: 'I was at one of the rallies when someone said that somebody should write a book about Excelsior and I thought I might as well do one because I can't see anyone else doing it!'

So Terry's labour of love began and having never done anything like it before he even underwent a correspondence course on writing.

He said: 'What I love about the Excelsiors is that they are different from any other bikes, the look of them, how they sound and they are so robust. I even enjoy the smell of the two-stroke engine. They are nothing like a modern bike.'

Terry does not expect to make any profit from his book, which he paid to have published, but he is certainly pleased with the response so far.

'I have orders from people in Australia, the USA, Ireland, Norway, Germany — all over. I even had one from Nepal.'

Excelsior, the lost pioneer — the story of Excelsior Motor Cycles, is available from Bookstop in Tavistock and through Amazon website. Priced £7.99 ISBN 9781449 76788.