Features

Following the editorial in issue 403, John Hersevoort recalls how he used to wrap up for winter trips over 50 years ago. I’m 69 years old and have been riding motorcycles since 1967. I ride all year round and have always done so. The Friday before Christmas, I had to collect a crankcase that had…

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Imagine being the development manager at a maker of mobile phones in 2007. There you are, happily turning out straightforward push button phones by the shipload. Your customers can’t get enough of your designs – and then Apple introduces the Iphone and you suddenly discover your entire range is out of date. Words Oliver Hulme…

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In the motorcycle world there are any number of reasons to create a special with components from various sources. These reasons range from ‘couldn’t afford a catalogued machine’ to ‘the standard offerings weren’t right’ and often include ‘had a load of bits’ and ‘sheer bloody mindedness’ to give just four examples. Some such specials, or…

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One of the most sensational British motorcycles of the 1950s was the ground-breaking Ariel Leader designed by the legendary Val Page from a clean sheet – but sadly, times were changing too quickly for the good times to roll for long, writes Pete Kelly Last month Old Bike Mart raided Mortons’ vast motorcycling archive to…

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Four cylinder motorcycles were nothing new in 1969, but Steve Cooper shines a light on the one that made the biggest impact. If you have never sampled an early Honda CB750/4 I’d urge you to do so before they are all consigned to sterile museums or dark anonymous warehouses. No, we’re not talking about the…

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To celebrate the 80th anniversary of Edward Turner’s transformative ‘Speed Twin’, Triumph has re-introduced an updated version of its iconic motorcycle, but in a look back at the original, ground-breaking machine, David Curry takes a trip into the Mortons archive. When originally introduced in 1937, the Speed Twin received rave reviews from test riders, who…

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It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of Les Hampton who passed away on October 5, 2018. A single man, he was a lifelong fan of Moto Guzzi motorcycles, and a former president of the Moto Guzzi Club GB. David Crawford relates how he got to know Les… From the mid-1970s, I’d…

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In order to give himself more opportunity to ride his classic, Graham Mudway tells us how he fitted an electric starter on his Norton ES2. It was part designed and completely installed by my friend, Fred Smith, who is a past chairman of the Cotswold Vintage Motor Cycle club. I purchased the starter online from…

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So, what happens when two engineers fascinated by old motorbikes get together and talk about building a vintage-styled motorcycle using modern manufacturing techniques? Martin Gegg and Rob Overy visited a small industrial unit in the Hampshire countryside to find out more. I first met Steve Hayes at a bike show in 2017. As a lover…

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The West Midlands has been a hive of engineering knowledge since Ironbridge gained its apocryphal river crossing. Dave Manning takes a trip west of Birmingham to discover that some things really haven’t changed. While the recent years have seen a reduction in heavy industry throughout the UK, the West Midlands still has a hugely diverse…

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