Sam Hewitt

Claude Mackenzie – an unsung Highland hero

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Sam Hewitt

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21st December 2016

I was delighted to see the photo and article from Arran Marshall about his Ariel ‘racer’. During the 1980s the bike was owned by a good friend of mine, Claude Mackenzie, who lived at Tornagrain, near Inverness and sadly died about 10 years ago. He was a brilliant self-taught engineer with a penchant for challenging…
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A ‘dogfight’ with a difference!

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Sam Hewitt

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21st December 2016

One of the finest descriptions of fast riding ever written was T E Lawrence’s essay, ‘The Road’, describing an impromptu ‘race’ between Boanerges, his beloved Brough Superior 100SS, and a Bristol Fighter in Lincolnshire. It appeared in the December 27, 1962 issue of The Motor Cycle after first being published in a book entitled The…
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Triumph GP best in show at top American event

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Sam Hewitt

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21st December 2016

Ian Kerr visits an up-and-coming motorcycle concours event in Tacoma, USA, to prove the point that beautifully-restored classics are equally impressive no matter where in the world they are shown. Each year America’s Car Museum at Tacoma, just south of the port of Seattle, in Washington State, hosts a motorcycle concours event that’s fast becoming…
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Downsized to perfection – Suzuki’s punchy T200 twin

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Sam Hewitt

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21st December 2016

Steve Cooper appraises a significant two-stroke twin from Suzuki’s Hamamatsu factory that lifted customers’ expectations in the sub 250cc category onto a completely different plane. Anyone who’s familiar with the earlier Japanese motorcycles will know just how significant the Suzuki T20 was. In one package, here was the bike that pretty much cemented the blueprint…
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Pete’s Prattle

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Sam Hewitt

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7th December 2016

From the moment I first opened a twist grip – quite illegally, on a Post Office BSA Bantam – motorcycles and those who ride them have been a pivotal part of my life. In 1961, after first working in a wire factory, I settled on journalism as a career and eventually found myself in the…
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Bike-mad TV detectives are on the hunt for hidden treasures in the sheds of Britain

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Sam Hewitt

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25th November 2016

A BIKE-MAD pair of TV engineering detectives are on the hunt for forgotten and hidden treasures tucked away in the sheds of Britain. Travel Channel presenters Henry Cole and Sam Lovegrove are about to film their next series which sees them rifling through the lock-ups and sheds of the UK. In previous series they’ve unearthed…
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AJS and Matchless, Post-War Singles and Twins, The Complete Story

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Sam Hewitt

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9th November 2016

After the Second World War, Associated Motor Cycles’ range of AJS and Matchless models helped put the British worker back on the road. With 350cc and 500cc AJS and Matchless-badged singles based on the military Matchless G3L, AMC quickly resumed production for the civilian market, much of it at first exported to bring in much-needed…
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Make mine a Triple…

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Sam Hewitt

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9th November 2016

Tony Page reports from the 11th French Triples Rassemblement around Angers, and the extraordinary commitment to the pre-1975 Triumph and BSA triples by organiser Georges Boisniere. Some will immediately recognise the name Georges Boisniere. A Triumph/BSA Triples stalwart from a young impressionable age, he deserves a medal – well, several actually – for as well…
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Honda’s super smoothies

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Sam Hewitt

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9th November 2016

Steve Cooper traces the evolution of Honda’s 175-200cc twin-cylinder commuter machines that transformed the daily ride-to-work experience at a stroke. If ever a company got 175cc motorcycles right first time, and then every time thereafter, it has to be Honda. The effective pioneer of the modern Japanese motorcycle, the company grasped the concept of small multi-cylinder machines…
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Joining the Dots…

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Sam Hewitt

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9th November 2016

Unable to pass up the opportunity of visiting an old-time motorcycle factory that’s probably the last of its kind in Britain,Tim Britton joins a gathering of Dot enthusiasts and their machines in Manchester. Photos and extra information by David Pool. One good question worth asking at club nights is: “How many old and original British…
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Sam Hewitt

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