Features

Words by OliPhotography by Chippy (Mrs Doubtfire) Wood DESMO IS A word that means everything to Ducati aficionados. It’s the thing that makes Ducati’s engines special. Born out of their racing programme, Ducati’s Desmodromic valve actuation system, has valves that are both opened and closed by cam followers, rather than relying on coiled springs. The…

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The bike that started the adventure bike trend is still a great bike Words by Oli Hulme Photography by Chippy Wood BY 1973, WHEN the last BSA B50 and Triumph Adventurer off-roaders had rolled off the production line, the big four-stroke off-roader was thought to be dead. To seriously take to the dirt, if you…

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Words by Oli Photography by Gary Chapman I SAW MY first BSA Rocket Gold Star in the early 1980s. It was lurking in the back of a barn, covered in dust and bird poop, propped up between a Vincent Comet and a Rapide. Even in such inauspicious surroundings and auspicious company the class of the…

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What’s this? an advert for another bike magazine? Are you mad? I had to share this with you, as it is brilliant, just brilliant. Greg Pullen, Italian classic bike expert wanted to share features that were longer than those in a magazine, but shorter than warranting a book, hence an anthology. Pullen’s previously edited Benzina,…

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With 600 pages this is a big beast of a book! It makes it too long to read from cover to cover and is best used as a reference, and good at that it is. To have so many bikes featured from just a 20 year period is quite something, but it includes great artwork…

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As a relatively new rider I have only tried a few styles, but I have found that the Shark Race-R pro Carbon seems just right for me, as I’m considering how it feels to me, not comparing it to others. I think the helmet looks great, has an air of quality and is a light…

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I’VE spenT most of my life riding in full face helmets, and more recently in open face lids. I always disliked the flip-up types as they were neither one thing nor the other, but I appreciate they have their uses. But full faces don’t give the classic experience, while open face lids do, but also…

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For this month’s Machines That Matter, Rachael Clegg delves into the history of the National Motorcycle Museum’s sensational Grindlay Peerless 498cc record-breaking machine. IT’S hard to believe that Shakleton Road, Coventry, was once home to one of the most formidable motorcycle marques of the prewar era. Here, in the 1920s, among row upon row of…

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Over 100,000 examples of the Norton 16H were supplied to the war effort. Simple, easy to maintain and reliable, the side-valve was essential. And it made a reasonable coffee table. Read more News and Features in the July 2019 issue of CBG –on sale now!

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