Features

Words by Frank Melling; Photos by Carol Melling/Mortons Archive IN 1958, MIKE HAILWOOD and Dan Shorey won the Thruxton long distance race and a year later the Thruxton Bonnevilles were born. Strictly speaking, the name Thruxton only applies to the 49 machines made for homologation purposes in 1964/65. However, it was Triumph practice to put a…

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WORDS & PHOTOS BY Frank Melling YOU’RE IN A rush, right? You want to go out for a ride, not read a magazine. I’ll come straight to the point. The Triumph Thruxton R is not only the best-ever retro bike made, it’s one of the greatest motorcycles of all time. If you love classics, you’ll…

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Immediately after the Second World War, and until engineer Charles Udall relaunched a new version of the 500 MSS, the 350 MAC was the only four-stroke roadster in the Velocette range. Then for 1954 the MSS reappeared with a redesigned ‘square’ engine of 86mm by 86mm, and this 499cc motor would go on to power…

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Laid out on a table in the dining room were the pieces of paper that told the life story of Neil Hinks’ Triumph Twenty-one. Not that he’d owned it from the very beginning, saving every document and scrap of a receipt over the years, together with lists of things to do, service and repair. Far…

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All that stands between a reasonably effective front suspension system and a badly handling motorcycle is a set of what used to be called garter seals. A pair of these seals – with their minuscule surface areas – amazingly holds in the fork oil that damps out the vagaries of Her Majesty’s highways. If you’ve…

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We should tread carefully with this story, because it’s all about a man renowned for some stunning restorations who also enjoys taking a gentle rise out of folks who would have you believe they possess great knowledge. If you called such a chap an expert, he’d probably blush slightly and bow his head in false…

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