Features

Putting aside the confusing nomenclature of Suzuki’s model range in the 1960s and 70s, the 90mph X5 200cc two-stroke sports twin and SB200 commuter variant were cracking little bikes that needed to be kept on the boil to get the best out of them, writes Steve Cooper. Assuming that you’ve been following our Japanese 175-200…

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From our 2016 archive Time was slowly running out for Associated Motor Cycles when it launched its new-style 250cc overhead-valve singles in 1958 – but were the sturdy and neat-looking AJS and Matchless models the best they could have offered? asks Pete Kelly. By the time Associated Motor Cycles launched its apparently unit-construction 250cc overhead-valve…

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FROM OUR ARCHIVES For more than 60 years P&M, whose well-designed motorcycles became known as Panthers in the early 1920s, provided sensible down-to-earth transport along with a surprising amount of innovation, particularly during the inter-war years. This is their story, with research and photographic material from the Mortons Archive. Renowned for decades for their tireless…

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After hearing about Triumph specialist Supreme Motorcycles’ sell out to Draganfly Motorcycles in Suffolk, Mick Payne visits the owners of the now vastly-expanded British bikes business to learn about their plans, and is encouraged by what he finds. ‘Le roi est mort, vive le roi’ is said to have originated in 1422 upon the death,…

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Instead of printing a long missive about the life of John Surtees CBE, who sadly passed away on March 10, Old Bike Mart has decided to remember his motorcycle racing career in several outstanding photographs from the Mortons Archive. We suggest instead that readers wishing to pay tribute to one of the true heroes of…

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How did a well-made, nippy, economical and – yes, oiltight – motorcycle made in China come to carry the hallowed AJS name? Pete Kelly asks the questions, and Nick Brown provides the answers. Could you tell OBM readers something about your background in business and motorcycling, and your father, Fluff? Fluff was employed at Cotton…

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Steve Cooper pulls no punches as he looks back on the 1965 UK debut of Honda’s first technically brilliant ‘big twin’, the CB450, and the enlarged 500T that followed.

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From a 200cc Durkopp Diana/Royal scooter combo to a potent Ducati 860GT/Watsonian Palma, Mike Searle has tried just about everything on three wheels. It all began after he broke his neck on a Norton Dominator, and here he regales us with some of his memories… I suppose most Old Bike Mart readers over the age…

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Steve Cooper looks back to the early 1970s, and the introduction of Yamaha’s fiery CS5E & RD200 models. As was observed a little earlier in our series on Japanese 175-200s, Yamaha’s early CS series motorcycles really cut the mustard when it came to performance and value for money. Even as the final batches of CS3s…

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Continuing with his Triumph Tiger 90 project, Tim Britton asks whether it’s really necessary to rip everything out of an engine and replace it wholesale before first utilising the careful measuring methods that could save a whole lot of unnecessary bother. Photos by Fiona Watson. An engine such as the one in our Triumph project…

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