Buying Guide

Words by Those Who Should Have Known Better Photos by Mortons Archive If you are tempted by the world of old bikes, you are entering one of wonderment. Of just going for a ride, of smiles per miles, of listening to folk’s stories about when they rode, and of just being your own person, not…

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Nestling under the ‘classic’ radar, Honda’s CBX 750 is an Eighties throwback that gives many modern luxuries. Imagine this: Back in 1984 a young man named Marvin Nicholls stared through the window of a motorcycle shop, with his face pressed against the glass. Eagerly, he lusted after a gleaming, red, black and chrome Honda CBX…

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Nestling under the ‘classic’ radar, Honda’s CBX 750 is an Eighties throwback that gives many modern luxuries. Imagine this: Back in 1984 a young man named Marvin Nicholls stared through the window of a motorcycle shop, with his face pressed against the glass. Eagerly, he lusted after a gleaming, red, black and chrome Honda CBX…

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This was one of the last stories Rob Davies, a regular CBG contributor, wrote for us before illness took him. Right to the end, he was trying to convince himself of bikes he didn’t think he would like. Words: The late Rob DaviesPhotography: Robin Horton, Ales Tomis and BSK SpeedworksPublished: Classic Bike Guide – December…

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This was one of the last stories Rob Davies, a regular CBG contributor, wrote for us before illness took him. Right to the end, he was trying to convince himself of bikes he didn’t think he would like. Words: The late Rob DaviesPhotography: Robin Horton, Ales Tomis and BSK SpeedworksPublished: Classic Bike Guide – December…

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Yamaha were not following the herd back in the early 1970s. When some of their rivals were frantically developing sporty fours to replace their smoky, thirsty two-strokes, Yamaha went in a different direction technologically. It was a bit of a blind alley, but they were at least ploughing their own furrow. And that’s enough mixing…

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1956 Panther Model 100 Panther owners are an eclectic bunch. Take the owners' club stand at the Bristol Show for example. Next door, the Vincent OC, all precision, conformity and spit ’n’ polish. On the Panther stand, a double adult combo, two rare and immaculate pre-war Model 95s, and the ‘Panbeam’ – an intriguing amalgamation…

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1956 Panther Model 100 Panther owners are an eclectic bunch. Take the owners' club stand at the Bristol Show for example. Next door, the Vincent OC, all precision, conformity and spit ’n’ polish. On the Panther stand, a double adult combo, two rare and immaculate pre-war Model 95s, and the ‘Panbeam’ – an intriguing amalgamation…

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1952 BSA B31 We live in a world where complexity, for its own sake, is held as a benefit. One train of thought is ‘if something looks too simple to work, it probably is too simple to work’. I remember thinking that when I first saw a gutter chain on a building. Surely, a pipe…

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Ariel 500cc KH twin Ariel’s smooth 500cc KH twin was a Val Page design of the early 50s, the Selly Oak company’s answer to the parallel twin vogue that Triumph started in 1937 and the rest of the British industry was forced to follow in the 1940s and 50s to keep up their sales. Never…

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