Motorbikes

2013: The Three Legs of Man (Design - Emma Cooke)

Some things instantly say the Isle of Man, one is the triskelion or Thee Legs of Man, the island's symbol for thousands of years. When Emma Cooke moved from Aberdeen to the Isle of Man in the year 2000 she also was fascinated by the emblem that appears in all different contexts throughout the island and in an ongoing project started to photograph them. The stamp features one of the photographs from the hundreds she has taken.

The other image that springs to my mind are the Manx TT Races and the motorbikes

1994: Manx Tourism Centenary (Design - Colleen Corlett)

zooming around the island here shown with the Red Arrow Display team flying overhead.  This is a stamp from a rather attractive booklet they issued featuring a year of events complete with descriptions on the selvedge and caption stickers to put on your postcards.

1974: Tourist Trophy Motorcycle Races (Design - John H Nicholson)

As you can imagine stamp issues featuring motorbikes make a regular appearance on Isle of Man stamps.  This is one of the earliest (although not the first) after Manx postal independence in 1973.  It features Freddy Frith in 1937 when he set the first 90 mph plus lap of the Snaefell Mountain Course.   One of the most famous and greatest racers, Mike Hailwood, also features on this set but as I don't have that one then

1982: 75th Anniversary of Tourist Trophy Motorcycle Racing PHQ Card (Design - John H Nicholson)

here the artist shows him in 1961 when he became the first man to win three races in one week in different categories, it was a good year for him because he also won the 250cc World Championships.

2003: Post Office Vehicles (Design - Peter Hearsey)

Some people who rode the roads around the island throughout the year were the GPO telegram delivery boys on their BSA Bantams. I could have said zoomed around the island except  that would have been an exaggeration because the three-speed gearboxes were governed to restrict their top speed.

Sunday Stamps II prompt of the letter M - for Motorbike and Isle of Man - motor over to See It On A Postcard