Classic Bike Guide - Real rides, real riders

Book review: Aug/Sept 2010

This month's book reviews by Classic Bike Guide.

We have teamed up with Amazon UK to allow you to purchase many of them on-line at reduced prices.

If you have a title you'd like us to review, please drop the CBG team a line from our contact page.

Road Racing History of the Triumph 500 Unit Twin

OK, so it’s not the most imaginative or catchy title but it’s nonetheless a very interesting and well illustrated book. Its author is one Claudio Sintich, who has been a life long fan of the racing 500s.

It’s a soft back, a little short of A4 size with some 196 pages. It looks at the beginnings of why Triumph went road racing, speaks about the men closely associated with it such as Doug Hele, Les Williams, Jack Shemans, Arthur Jakeman, Percy Tait, plus the likes of Don Woodward, Norman Hyde, Ken Sprayson etc. There are detailed chapters on the 1966 Daytona Winning machine, the 1967 and 1968 bikes, the famous 1969 Percy Tait GP machine, there are lists of successes in the USA for Gary Nixon, Bill Baird, Gene Romero and many more. Then there’s Percy’s UK races, plus interviews with Mick Hemmings, a look at the bikes which have survived plus others such as Dave Degens, Dudley Ward and more. Terrific stuff.

It’s published by Panther Publishing Ltd, 10 Lime Avenue, High Wycombe, Bucks HP11 1DP. Price is £22.95 all in. www.panther-publishing.com

ISBN 978 0 9564975 0 5.

Ducati 750 SS

To give it its full title this is The book of the Ducati 750SS Round Case 1974 and is compiled by regular Ducati author Ian Falloon. It’s a 10in square hard back of 176 pages and takes an in-depth look at the development of the model, the power unit, the prototypes, the racing history and the men who helped create the legend. There are tips on ownership, riding and maintenance, a whole host of specifications and a full parts list.

The 750SS was produced for just one year, hence it’s rare and expensive. It was built by Ducati’s race dept to commemorate Smart’s Imola 200 750cc race. The 750cc round case engine was in production for four years but only the Super Sport could boast desmodromic valve gear. It was also the only machine to be hand-built in the race shop. Only 401 were built so if you aspire to one, prepare to spend big style, that’s if you ever find one.

The book is published by Veloce Publishing and will cost you £40. See www.veloce.co.uk 01305 260068.

Around the world on a motorcycle – 1928 to 1936

If you’ve been taken in by the television programmes where egotistical ‘celebrities’ ride across continents on BMW motorcycles, complete with entourage and copious back-up facilities, then this book is an eye opener.

It’s a tale about two Hungarian friends who decided to travel around the world on a motorcycle. They chose a Harley-Davidson combo’ and started in Paris. Zoltan Sulkowsky and Gyula Bartha traversed Europe, Africa, Mid-East, India, Australia, south-east Asia, China, Japan, North and South America and back to Europe. The story was originally published in Hungary in 1937 but has now been translated into English and is presented with all the maps and original photographs.

The world of the 30s was a very different place, with a colonial British influence on Africa and Asia. The tale speaks of rich Sultans, primitive cultures and extreme poverty, wilderness, desert and jungle, wild animals, roads of mud and sand, intense heat and cold, rivers where the only crossing means was to dismantle the bike to ship over via small boat and meetings with the likes of Benito Mussolini, Chiang Kai-shek and President Hoover. You have to keep reminding yourself while reading that this was 80 years ago. Amazing stuff.

ISBN 978 1 884313 77 6.

It’s a hard back of 415 pages, and an ideal 9in high x 6in wide. It’s published by Whitehorse Press, in the USA. www.WhitehorsePress.com. RRP in the UK is £24.99 but if you look on the web, you can find new copies for as little as £13.67.