Blog
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HANDSOME HUNTER
INTERESTING ARTICLE ON the Ariel 650 twin in the Feb issue. I went the same route with my Ariel 500 special. Bought it in 1970 for £35 from a friend for use commuting into London, then clocked up thousands of miles. It’s a 1952 VHA engine in a 54 frame; that’s how I bought it.…
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Vee time
HAVE YOU EVER owned a bike for well over a decade yet never ridden it? Never even fired it up? Sounds stupid, no? And – take a deep breath – have you ever truly lusted after a bike, resigned yourself to never riding one, never mind owning one, and then somehow acquired exactly that bike?…
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CLASSIC and CUSTOM
CLEARLY I’M IN the custom camp, as you can see from the photos. I’m currently building another café racer, a Norton Gold Star. Mind you, I do have a mint Vincent as well. I used to show Jaguars at concours. Rarely does any bike comply to authentic concours standards: they have nearly all had modifications…
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Showing off again
“HAVE YOU SEEN the Enfield? The one outside?” “No.” “It’s just your kind of bike. Really is. Here…” the kind guy thrusts his cell phone at me and shows me a tiny, dark, out of focus photo of a bike. It may be black, but it’s hard to tell. “But the price is ridiculous. You’d…
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THE LIGHTER SIDE OF LIFE
CBG HAS BEEN my chosen motorcycle read almost from its first issue. It always holds my interest and I like your way of keeping it fresh by slipping in articles about modern retro bikes and readers’ specials and customs. Like many of my fellow readers, age and its problems have curtailed my riding of large,…
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Questions of taste
Here’s a simple question for you. Are you a crazy customiser or are you a stock bike stalwart? I bet you’re neither. I bet that you’re somewhere between the two and that exactly where on the dotted line between custom and stock you’d place yourself depends on the bike in question … and on many…
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Letters: T’BIRD TRIBULATIONS
I NOTED WITH interest an article on the Triumph Thunderbird in the December issue; the model John Bloor and his merry band of horribly successful engineers turned out in the 1990s. I have a 1994 Trident which has clocked up an astonishing 140,000 miles under my stewardship, and I like to read about stuff I…
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Revisionism
A recent chance remark from a guitar-playing maniac and friend made me laugh out loud. But only briefly, because what he’d intended as a joke might not have been. My friend is no motorcyclist, perhaps wisely, but he is one mean guitarist – although I would never admit it – and he knows lots and…
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REVIVALISM
A mysterious peculiarity of the magazine world is The Themed Issue. In these odd attempts, the editor (who should always be blamed for everything) decides to run several features with a common theme. Makes sense, huh? In my own case, I never like them. They always feel contrived to me. Other opinions are of course…
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HARDLY A HARLEY
I’VE OWNED MY XLCR since 1991. Wanted one when I was kid, bought one in the States and shipped it back. I doubt there are many bikes that create the same intense feeling of riding a motorbike as the XLCR does. It’s like riding a wild beast. It’s nothing to do with what the engine’s…
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