Features

WORDS & PHOTOS: PHILLIP TOOTH ARCHIVE IMAGES: MORTONS ARCHIVE With more than 1,300 trials wins during his long career, many consider Sammy Miller to be the most successful trials rider ever. But he is also a formidable motorcycle developer. Here’s how he came to turn a humble Ariel into the definitive trials iron of the…

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From the Archives: Ducati’s first production bevel-drive bike was hot stuff in 1956. And, phew, it’s still a little scorcher… WORDS BY Frank Melling PHOTOS BY Carol Melling AT AGE NINE, I was in love with a Ducati Silverstone Super. Forget being a cowboy out on the range or a Spitfire pilot battling the Nazi…

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Yamaha’s dressy XVS650 Dragstar hides a neat machine beneath the frills WORDS & PHOTOS by Oliver Hulme CHOPPERS, CUSTOMS, CAFÉ RACERS and bobbers all come from the same basic root. The principle is that if you make your motorcycle lighter by junking all the heavy extra bits and pieces put on it by the original…

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Long, low and lean: an enduring influence on Guzzi’s subsequent sportsters Words & photos by Marion Thirsk In a successful attempt to retain its longstanding role as suppliers of police and military motorcycles, in 1963 Moto Guzzi started work on a replacement for the Falcone. Replacing the long-serving 499cc Falcone single required a faster, more…

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Almost civilised and almost sensible, Suzuki’s GT550 is actually a triple treat WORDS & PHOTOS BY Oliver Hulme SUZUKI LAUNCHED THEIR range of big two-stroke triples in 1972 with less than perfect timing. The GT arrived in a world that was just about to start worrying about air pollution and an oil crisis. Despite the…

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Minor by name, but not by nature ITS NAME INDICATES a smaller powerplant than the 692cc Meteor and Super Meteor, but the ‘Meteor Minor’ designation unjustly plays down the bike’s own star qualities. Often overlooked in favour of larger Royal Enfields, particularly the Constellation and Interceptor, the Meteor Minor is an extremely pleasant machine to…

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Overshadowed by Bonnevilles, there are some good buys in Beezerland THE BSA A65 and A50, launched in 1962, dragged the look of the British big twin kicking and screaming into the 1960s. The sleek lines of the bikes were a world away from the more mechanical look of their rivals on the market. The move…

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Bigger than the 380, smaller than the 750; Suzuki built stroker triples for everyone WORDS BY ROB DAVIES PHOTOS BY PAUL WATERFIELD AND ROBIN HORTON High revving, whim-whim two-strokes (that’s my version of their noise by the way) were the sound of the Seventies. I know because I had one, and so did several of…

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For some riders, owning an Italian or German motorcycle is a lifelong ambition or simply the status quo. For others, European classics can be an all-new experience; an experimental exploration into unknown territory away from the safe haven of Japanese reliability or a traditional Brit. Moving from a modern motorcycle to an older machine of…

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