Features

Evoking the days when TT riders had their racing numbers stitched to the back of their leathers, a swarm of enthusiastic VMCC members prepares to set off down the Glencrutchery Road. With the Manx Rally, the Isle of Man Section of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club hosts arguably the most popular event in Britain for…

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Ivan Rhodes rides an AJS past the replica motorcycle shop that was helped by the BMCT at the Black Country Living Museum. Formed originally to facilitate the building of the National Motorcycle Museum at Bickenhill, near Solihull, West Midlands, the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust has been an entirely separate organisation since 1995 – a grant-making…

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Motor Cycling’s Bernal Osborne rides the Bullet along a quiet village street in the spring of 1960 – how different it all was then! Right, you’ve got the deposit together (or at least have an old bike to trade in) and fancy a brand new 500cc Royal Enfield – but which one do you prefer,…

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Another take on the theme of the 550 Four, this time with a four-into-two exhaust. No review of classic 1970s middleweights would be complete without due coverage of the Honda CB500. Today the bike is overlooked and, amazingly, regularly ignored and even marginalised. To perpetrate any of these actions is near heresy — but why…

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With a standing-start quarter-mile dash in 12.4sec, and 111.6mph, the 500cc Mach III was a stunning performer. If there’s one motorcycle that defined the change in attitude towards the world of two-wheeled transport, then it has to be the Kawasaki 500 triple. Yes, the CB750 is the world’s first Superbike and proved to be a…

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The picture postcard village of Dunster was on Team Katy’s itinerary. Team Katy spent three fantastic nights camping at The Secret Garden, a site recommended by David Angel of F2 Motorcycles Ltd, Wisbech. We were allowed to camp for free and it even had an on-site brewery. How good is that? After David’s ministrations, the…

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It was a 12-day return voyage from Southampton to New York on Cunard’s RMS Queen Mary that started Geoffrey’s bike-storage adventures. I used to be in the British Merchant Navy, and once, while I was on the Cunard liner Queen Mary, I forgot to arrange to get my BSA twin, PAA 515, put away for…

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The South Wales Sunbeam Motorcycle Club attracts some really interesting guest speakers such as Ken Baxter, who told members all about his ride along the USA’s legendary Route 66. The South Wales Sunbeam Motorcycle Club was founded in 1978 by a group of pals in the Cardiff/Pontypridd area who all rode, and enjoyed, their Sunbeam…

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Triumph’s massive belt-drive 270-degree crank Thunderbird twin was clearly aimed at the American market. The original capacity of 1597cc was later raised to 1699cc. With its instant torque, the vertical twin type of engine that powered Triumph’s Speed Twin success in the late 1930s postwar years is still exciting motorcycle enthusiasts today. Let’s see how…

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The writer and his trusty, well-laden MZ Trophy pose for a fellow rider at the 2770-metre summit of the Col de l’Iseran. Back in the 1960s and 70s, my wife and I had an MZ ES250 Trophy that we regularly overloaded with camping gear to take part in rallies and other such events – but…

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