Classic Bike Guide

In this series CBG’s Rachael Clegg compares notes from her own road test with those from the machine’s original launch date.This month, she takes a very special road machine for a spin – the Norton Dominator WHEN the Norton ‘Dominator’ 99 was launched in 1957, Norton claimed it could reach 100mph. That was a lie.…

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With the engine being sorted, the rest of the bike gets a dry build to see what’s there and what’s not. Again I remind myself – don’t buy a bike in bits… Words and photography by Matt The ES2 is coming along; but it doesn’t feel like it. With every up, there comes one, if…

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It looks straight forward, but there’s so much involved in building a good, safe wheel. We look at the basics and watch Hutch at HTE build our AMC wheel Firstly, this is not a ‘how to’ guide on building a wheel. While you could, in theory, do it yourself; you’ll need a building jig, a…

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Damn. I recently bought a new front brake cable from Draganfly Motorcycles for the B31, as retardation was getting worse. Though true to form, I didn’t get around to fitting it until the old one snapped – twit. “Never mind, I have one at home,” I thought. But my bike has the 8in front hub,…

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One man’s triple fascination has led to the bike he always wanted to build. Totally unique, clever engineering means it could be put back to standard if so desired. Words and photography: Stuart Urquhart While admiring this stunning 750cc Trident Special, I could have sworn I saw ‘Insurgent’ ripple fleetingly across its luscious blue petrol…

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Arguably the Norton Rotary racer’s finest hour – Steve Hislop winning the 1992 Senior TT. It has gone down as one of the most famous battles the Island has seen, Hislop on his ABUS-backed Rotary and Carl Fogarty on his Yamaha Loctite OW01. Neither rider was used to their steeds, but both shot off from…

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Words by Oli Hulme Photography by Matt and Mortons archive THE NAMING OF motorcycles usually follows a series of conventions. There’s the racing links – Bonneville, Le Mans and Montjuic. There are names that are supposed to represent the machine and rider’s vision – Dominator, Thunderbolt or Fireblade. And there’s those with seemingly random collections…

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