The first-ever Rickman road bike, available for the first time in fifty years
1966 Rickman Triumph 649cc Street Métisse
Registration no. ARD 746B
Frame no. DU14208
Engine no. T120 DU 14208

• One owner from new, with fascinating history file
• The first production road bike ever to feature a disc brake
• Sympathetic rebuild to original 1966 specification
• Professional engine rebuild and rewire

'Legendary' may be an overused term but few would deny it to the name 'Rickman' by the time this machine was built. After a very successful scrambles career on factory machines brothers Derek and Don Rickman began building hybrids that utilised the best parts of various makes. Their 'Metisse' model name may have originated in the French word for a 'dog of mixed breed' but they soon established a bloodline by designing and building their own light, yet strong, competition frames. 1966 saw the Hampshire company branch into track racing frames, also experimenting with Lockheed disc brakes – at that time virtually unheard of on motorcycles. Within months the Rickman chassis was the one to beat on or off road and from this success came the idea of expanding into road/sports machines. A prototype 'Street - Metisse' was constructed; the engine and registration number came from a crashed 1964 Bonneville (the ultimate hot-shot motor of the day) and just like the racer, it featured the disc front brake, making it the first production road bike ever so equipped. At the rear was a Fontana twin leading-shoe drum.

Motor Cycle News purchased the prototype before the November Show, offering it as first prize in a road safety competition. The lucky winner, out of 10,000 entries, was chemistry student Peter Brewis from Durham, who conveniently – if ironically, given the nature of the competition - had just written off his own BSA twin in an accident! Just two days after receiving the notification, Peter was on the Rickman stand at the Show being protographed for MCN and shaking hands with Derek and Don. Peter kept the bike from that day until his untimely death in 2013. Marshalling with the bike at the Isle of Man TT in 1967, the Street Metisse created as much interest as any of the race bikes.

Early on, Peter ordered a touring kit for two-up work and returned the frame to the works for necessary modifications - pillion footrest and exhaust brackets, after which it was re-nickelled. This is the same plating on the frame today. The Metisse remained in regular use in this guise up until 1995 by which time the engine was due for rebuild. Planning to restore the bike to its original trim, Peter sent the engine to Triumph specialist Hughie Hancox. The special swept-back down-pipes were re-plated and the body kit resprayed in its original ivory.
Sadly, illness prevented Peter reassembling the bike but it was taken on by Rick Parkington of 'Classic Bike' magazine as 4-part workshop feature. Given the detailed one-owner history of this unique machine it was decided to complete the job leaving the bike with as much as possible left unchanged. The main addition being a professional rewire by 'Ferret's Custom Electrickery'. The glass fibre petrol tank has been carefully sealed with Hirsch sealant.

Supplied complete with the touring kit and a large box of paperwork, containing brochures, cuttings, an annotated Triumph works manual and correspondence with Rickman and others – among which is an intriguing (and successful) challenge to Honda, demanding that they retract their claim to have pioneered the use of disc brakes on the road.

Speaking in an interview for Classic Bike in March 2016, Derek Rickman commented that he remembers the bike very well, "It was our first ever road bike," he said, "and thinking back, really it was ahead of its time. This is the machine that kicked off the production of all our road-going machines – the majority of which were exported to the USA – and made Rickman a world famous name. It's good to see it again after all these years".

This is an opportunity to own the first-ever Rickman Street Metisse; the father of all CRs and later Rickman roadsters; the first ever disc-braked road bike and probably the most envied motor cycle of the mid-1960s.