A match made in Plumstead - Classic Bike Guide

The AJS Model 16 was certainly worthy of a long service medal.

It was a trusted steed that left the AMC works in 1945 and would continue in various incarnations for two decades; postwar Britain needed affordable, reliable and rugged transport that would perform on very low octane fuel of the time, and a low compression, air-cooled simple single filled the bill.

**Looks pretty purposeful, no? Classic racing was once packed with bikes very like this one**

And, sensibly, AJS – or rather their manufacturers, Associated Motorcycles Ltd – built a 500 single, the Model 18, alongside the 16, the biggest difference between the two being the size of the piston and the barrel it ran in.

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