Features

With the high-level exhausts on the other side of the machine, this unobscured view of Tony’s Triumph Bandit emphasises the size of the engine in relation to the smallish frame. Despite there being a lot of common components for the entire BSA and Triumph range, including the Bandit and Fury, there are many unique parts…

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The editor’s Palma sidecar dates back to 1962, and was in good fettle when this photo was taken just over two years ago. I mentioned last time that our editor, Pete, had offered his BMW R100RT and Watsonian Palma to Kate and I on long-term test. The Palma range of sidecars is probably one of…

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“There’ll always be someone who wants a pair of good boots,” was the best advice Alt-Berg founder Mike Sheehan ever received. During our recent Team Katy charity trip, after I’d left my boots outside the tent to air a bit, some light-fingered Herbert decided he’d like a pair without having to go to the trouble…

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The spirit of the Moidart Run is encapsulated by this scene aboard the Corran Ferry – and the gloves are definitely not coming off yet! A cold, wet, sleety, drizzle was falling as around 80 hardy and determined enthusiasts (nutters?) assembled in the viaduct car park in Kinlochleven for a 120-mile round trip taking in…

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A Japanese single – and an excellent one at that. Yamaha took the world by storm when it launched its XTs. Without exception, every motorcycle we’ve looked at in Old Bike Mart’s middleweight series has run a multi-cylinder engine because, in the period we tend to cover, single-cylinder machines were generally the preserve of tiddlers,…

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In 1931 Ariel won the Maudes Trophy with an ingenious ‘Sevens’ test devised by the firm’s sales and marketing manager Victor Mole. This involved seven different Ariel models, and in one of the tests, seven schoolboys were each invited to kick-start a Square Four seven times. It started first kick on 48 out of the…

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A group of likely lads ogle the selection of new Yamahas during an open day at the former St Neots Yamaha Centre. In 1978 the Marshall Group handed me a car showroom with a petrol forecourt and workshop in Huntingdon Road, St Neots, and invited me to turn it into a motorcycle dealership befitting the…

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Jack Piper explains the technicalities to seated Motor Cycle staffman Peter Fraser. There’s been quite a bit about BSA/Ariel two-stroke specials in Old Bike Mart lately, but one of the best-looking of them all was a Zundapp/Arrow special put together by Hampshire farmer Jack Piper and tried out by Motor Cycle staffman Peter Fraser in…

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