Features

A cleaned wiring loom, now re-wrapped, and new HT leads Produced between 1968 and 1975, some say that the Trident – the last big throw of the dice from the British Motorcycle manufacturer NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) – was too little, too late. The production figures tell their own story. The total number of bikes…

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‘Several species of small furry animals…’ BSA SOLD A VAST number of ride-to-work utility motorcycles. Most of these were of relatively low capacity, sturdily built and ideal for their intended commuter role. That is actually to say that their performance was adequate for the urban and country roads of the time, but would be rather…

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Out for a sunny Sunday morning ride on a snooker-table smooth back road, lined with hedges, stone walls and barbed wire fences, the characteristics that define a Triton are felt through the seat of the pants. The road meanders through mile after mile of lush green countryside. The speed limit sign is only a suggestion…

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Fowl play! Add your own ‘Not a Bantam in sight’ joke here. The Navigator; an affordable Norton. IN HIS LONG career at the core of the original Britbike industry, designer Bert Hopwood rarely made a monstrous mistake. However, you’d have to say that the unit construction 250 Jubilee was far from his finest hour. It…

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The archetypal mid-1950s English all-rounder. After the swinging arm model was introduced in 1954, production of both rigid and plunger versions continued for a couple of years, but by 1956, when this bike was built, they’d finally been discontinued. CONSIDERING A CLASSIC? Perhaps you’re about to buy your first old Britbike, or are seeking to…

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Edward Turner’s first triumph of style over substance: the 5T twin uses the single’s chassis, which was hard-pushed already by the performance of the Tiger 90… CRITICS OF THE Speed Twin justifiably argue that it is the most over-rated motorcycle in the world. Certainly, there are other bikes built in the 1930s that surpass it…

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Back in the 1960s, lightweight two-strokes, which the British motorcycle industry had produced in droves, were virtually a throw-away item. Not that anybody actually threw anything away in those days, it somehow went against the grain of generations of make-do-and menders. But there was a point when a worn-out machine, especially an ever so humble…

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Inspiration is everywhere, but taking the plunge and actually committing yourself to your first hands-on project can be daunting. The process normally starts when you find yourself transfixed by someone else’s special. It’d be perfect, if only that was a drum brake up front. If only the frame was matt, not gloss. If only the…

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A sense of purpose, from every angle IT DIDN’T TAKE too long after the launch of the 790cc Bonnie in 2001 for the first customised café racers and street scramblers to come rolling out of backstreet workshops. The slightly surprising thing is that it took Hinckley a further five years to build a factory Scrambler…

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