Features

Greeves model 25R Unheard of as a motorcycle manufacturer until the early 50s, Greeves Motor valid carriages stemmed from Invacar Limited, a company that specialised in making invalid varriages for the disabled. Founded by Bert Greeves, himself a keen motorcyclist, it was whilst experimenting with rubber in torsion suspension systems for invalid carriage use that…

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Excelsior 250cc Model STT4 Excelsior had the honour of being Britain's oldest motorcycle manufacturer, having sold their first machine in 1896. The company had been formed in 1874 as Bayliss Thomas & Co, to make bicycles under the Excelsior trade mark, and by fitting a 144hp Minerva engine into one of their bicycles as a…

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Popular Ariel Leader When, during 1943, Jack Sangster decided to sell Ariel Motors to the BSA Group, there was concern at Selly Oak lest the company should lose its identity. This concern heightened in March 1951, when the Triumph Engineering Company also became part of BSA. Fortunately, it was not until many years later that…

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Velocette advertisement It was not until 1909 that Veloce Limited had their first own-designed motorcycle on the market, an unorthodox but ingenious unit-construction four-stroke single that failed to attract much attention. As a result they had to diversify by introducing another, more simple four-stroke, not unlike the contemporary Triumph of that period. It too was…

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Triumph model Q I suppose it's the historian's who determine whether one man's name should be remembered when another's forgotten, sadly for Siegfried Bettmann and his partner Mauritz Schulte, only the knowledgeable now recall that they were the brains behind the Triumph Cycle Company of Coventry; the saviours of the British motorcycle industry in the…

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Scott moves to Birmingham Only 600 post war models had been made and even the construction of a prototype plunger rear suspension model had shown little promise. Fortunately, not all was lost. Matt Holder, a lifelong Scott enthusiast, came to the rescue before the end of the year was out. He acquired the company and…

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A ride out to Whitby for fish and chips with a bunch of mates It seemed like a good idea to me as I’ve had a reasonably varied year where bikes are concerned. Way back in the mists of time my predecessors would be generally riding the bang up to the minute machines from the…

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Moto Guzzi 850 T3 Here’s the story, streaked in unusual pastel colours through the rose-tinted spectacles of 30-plus years ago. It is perhaps rather poignant that it should be narrated by me, an Italian girl from Sicily – the arid triangle of land that lies beneath the ‘boot’. However, southern Italy does have a fascination…

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Panthers were a favourite of the sidecar crowd for many years I can’t really claim any credit for the way the bike looks, points out Bill Moore, current custodian of this Panther 100 and sidecar. “The condition of the bike is all down to Ian Bone who actually carried out the restoration to the standard…

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BSA ‘Sloper’ Then, over a few weeks in the early Seventies, it was assembled to running order in my grandfather’s garage. One of my earliest memories is of it being started, then run up a hill. I remember that the clutch was slipping, so it only went a dozen yards. Then it was left until…

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