Features

Sunbeam S7 500cc The shaft-drive Sunbeam twins don’t sit easily with the ruffty tufty vision of 50s motorcycling, when young men supposedly roared across the countryside on Norton Inters, Triumph Thunderbirds and BSA Gold Stars with not a care, or a speed limit in the world of the open road. The rose-tinted spectacles of hindsight…

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Norton Old Miracle sidevalve It’s built like a whippet, long, low and lean. The slim, silver tank has tiny little knee pads laced into place, just where my knees will rest on the move. It is arguably the best-known Norton racer of all and for sure it’s held more speed records than any bike that…

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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-JAP special Warning: Please do not enter this riding for fun zone if you’re offended by a motorcycle built by an eccentric, looks like a backwoods collision between an agricultural unit and a military DR, sounds vaguely like a Gatling gun and doesn’t go at all fast. The invitation to try this home-brewed, old fashioned…

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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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Triumph Bonneville Unless you’ve lived live in a cave somewhere for years, you’ll know that this is the 50th Anniversary Year of Triumph’s Bonneville. It’s arguably the world’s most iconic motorcycle, a machine that’s been feeding dreams of riders from the late 50s Rockers to today’s reborn types who remember the name from their youth.…

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The 1973 TT proved it could continue to flourish without the top Grand Prix stars who had vowed never to return to the Island after the death of Morbidelli 125 rider Gilberto Parlotti during the previous year’s event. With no exotic GP bikes in the traditional 500cc and 350cc races to carry the event, more…

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BSA Rocket Three The BSA Rocket 3 is a physically big machine, not that that is a problem for me. Reaching the ground on either side of it is easy enough but at almost 500lb, it’s not the lightest of motorcycles and the prospect of riding someone’s pride and joy in the snow is a…

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Don’t give thieves a chance… Police experts on motorcycle theft told CBG that classic bike theft differs from modern bike theft in a number of ways. Firstly, a lot of the stolen machines are broken up and sold as spares, but equally, anyone with a legitimate frame and crankcases can build an immaculate and valuable…

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Doug’s superb Triumph Trophy Doug Webb has an absolutely stunning Triumph. When first you see it, you could easily dismiss it as a show bike from a chrome plater’s, the whole thing shining from its polished alloy engine to the plated hubs and frame. Then you realise that it’s been ridden to the show, rally…

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