Road Tests

Triumph Metisse Most classic enthusiasts will be aware that Triumph created the Trophy range from the three machines that the experimental department had converted for the 1948 ISDT by adding a few lightweight parts to the Speed Twin roadsters. The bikes were good enough to earn the British team gold medals but not as good…

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Norton military prototype motorcycle Simple fact of life: motorcycle makers need to move bikes through production, out of the despatch department and on to customers who will pay for them. If they offer a wide range of bikes in various colours, the process becomes more complicated and the possible pitfalls are greater, so a production…

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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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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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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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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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BSA Gold Star, and this is one of the best I don’t know about you but I’m in awe of those talented individuals who, with ease and a minimum of fuss, step up to lathes and milling machines and casually fashion special items to make their machine stand out. Part of this awe comes from…

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Eric Boocock’s BSA C15T All trials riders like to make their machines as light as possible. It stands to reason, the lighter the bike, the easier it is to haul over rocks or out of bogs and the less tiring it will be to ride. But how to go about getting a light bike? Well,…

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Mk2 Royal Enfield Interceptor Arranging a bike for a photo shoot isn’t always the easiest thing in the world, there is the weather, the photographer, the owner and the tester to get in one spot at the same time. If you want to test more than one bike, then the problems increase in proportion to…

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