New & Features

Specioal award for a special bike… Of the bikes on the Triton Owners Club stand, Ray Brown – a close friend of Cliff’s – judged Dave Codd’s to be the recipient of the glass trophy. It was presented on the day by Emma Airey, of RH Insurance. Dave’s bike is a 1959 registered Wideline Featherbed…

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Colin Seeley (right) accepts cheque from NOC’s Barry Owen They can of course do with it what they will, but when Martin Maynard and Peter White received their cheques, they both chose to donate them to the Joan Seeley Pain Relief Fund, which is now in its 33rd year, and has done sterling work over…

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Individual touch for your Duke The business began when Rugeley, Staffs, based interior designer John Simmonds doodled a few sketches around how he’d like his 900SS to look. He set about stripping down his standard model intent on shedding a lot of weight by virtue of removing all unnecessary brackets etc. Then, with the help…

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Bill Van de Becke built special The car was then passed to Carl Skinner, of Skinner’s Union (SU) fame. He built the lightweight alloy body and replaced the Powerplus blower with a Zoller unit before his son Peter blitzed everyone at the important Shelsley Walsh hillclimb. Later in the decade Peter replaced the original Minor…

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This incredible figure is only part of the story as over and above this are the star riders who will be parading their genuine works machines within the Past Masters feature on Sunday. The past masters’ sessions will have multiple themes including Suzuki RG500/GP and, in conjunction with Ducati UK, a Ducati World Superbike feature…

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Unusual use of BSA Bantam engine… BSA side valve industrial engines were, at one time, a fairly regular sight, powering rotovators, cement mixers, conveyors, lawn mowers etc, indeed I even had a 420cc side valver on a garden tractor. However, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a Bantam engine used in such a…

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Rare Crocker V-twin Just 125 or so Crocker V-twins, designed to top 100mph and defeat the Harley-Davidsons and Indians of the day, were manufactured between 1936 and 1941, since when they’ve become the Holy Grail for American classic motorcycle enthusiasts. It is believed that just 68 examples of the V-twin survive today. James Robinson, editor…

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1954 350cc Cabton Knightly Never heard of it? Well, you can be forgiven because this is a long defunct Japanese company which took Ariel as its design basis. Surely one of the rarest bikes you’ll see in Britain. Close inspection showed the frame to have cribbed the Anstey link rear suspension, more readily seen on…

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World’s fastest Vincent at Festival of 1000 Bikes The team will be bringing the 1300cc two valver (100 x 82.55mm) which shoves out some 145bhp at 7000rpm, and its new four valve 100 x 100mm 1600cc job too. This one makes 186bhp at 7000rpm. These will be ridden by team riders Beau Beaton and Craig…

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Classic Bike Guide’s on sale Old rivalries revived in the latest issue of Classic Bike Guide, as Nigel Clark compares three different approaches to performance biking in 1969. This was a year when it was all happening, optimism was in the air, the free for all, swingin' Sixties were about to metamorphose into the tasteless…

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