VINTAGE motorcycles dating back to the early 1900s converged on the Yorkshire Dales at the weekend.

The Sunbeam Motorcycle Club held its first rally in the North of England on Sunday (July 1), when motorbikes pre-dating 1915 took to the roads of Wensleydale.

The motorcycle club is well-known for its annual London to Brighton road test, but it is the first time the rally has travelled north.

The Northern Pioneer Road Test set off from Tennants Auction House in Leyburn and travelled 50-miles through some of the Yorkshire Dales’ most well-known scenery under the sweltering sun. The route made its way past Jervaulx Abbey, Bolton Castle, Askrigg, Hardraw, Haws and Aysgarth, stopping off for lunch at Bainbridge.

Veteran motorcycles with the club include Connaughts, Sunbeams, Premiers, Royal Enfields and other models by Bradbury and Kynoch and a 1912 Harley Davidson.

Bike-owners brought their vintage machines from across the UK, as well as Holland and Germany for the event and Beamish Museum, near Stanley in County Durham, loaned its 1912 Dene motorcycle, made locally in Newcastle.

Many of the early models require some skill to ride, as they were made without a clutch or gears and came with bicycle-type brakes.