News

The Veteran Car Club’s celebratory re-enactment of the 1896 Emancipation Run (which marked the start of the British motor industry), took place in Hyde Park, London on Sunday, November 4. The VCC is considering adopting Class 1 motorcycles, made prior to 1905, in the event entry, so this year there was a trial of a…

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Can a single image influence a 35-minute-long film? Yes, if the image in question is that of the iconic Roland ‘Rollie’ Free aboard John Edgar’s stripped-down Vincent at Bonneville. While just about anyone with an interest in motorcycles (let alone classic bikes) will know the picture, not many of them will have seen the video…

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Held over the weekend of February 16 and 17, Telford’s Classic Dirt Bike Show (sponsored by Hagon Shocks) is set to have an expansive and fascinating collection of machinery from 50 years ago, with a focus on an eclectic mix of race machinery from 1969. There’ll be an expansive guide to the show in the…

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Continuing their policy of using model names from Meriden’s history, the Hinckley Triumph concern now reflects upon the first model to feature Edward Turner’s parallel twin engine in 1938 and has, 80 years since the launch of the original, recently announced a new-for-2019 version of the Speed Twin. Increasing power by nearly half as much…

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Searching for classic bikes where you might not expect them, Dave Manning takes house-trained photographer Simon Everett into the halls of the NEC for Motorcycle Live. While the initial perception of Motorcycle Live is that the UK’s biggest bike show holds nothing of interest for classic bike fans, the truth is rather different, on two…

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The Ellis Journey To be held on June 29 and 30, 2019, the Ellis Journey is a re-enactment of the journey made on July 5, 1895 by the Hon Evelyn Ellis and his passenger Fredrick Simms. Setting off on Ellis’s newly acquired, French-built, four-horsepower Panhard et Levassor, from Micheldever Railway Station, near Winchester, at precisely…

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The funeral of Stephen John Goddard – otherwise known as Herman – on Friday, November 16, 2018 was a major event in the old motorbike scene. Steve, who was about to go to the last Kempton Park autojumble with his stall the day he suddenly passed away, was cremated at Braintree. His funeral cortege was…

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Focusing on machinery from 50 years ago – 1969 being the year in question – the Classic Dirt Bike Show takes place at Telford’s International Centre over the weekend of February 16 and 17. The show’s headline sponsors are Hagon Shocks, who have themselves a great deal of historical involvement in classic off-road machinery –…

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Originally launched in 1938, Watsonian’s lightweight International was a sidecar outfit primarily designed to be used off-road and in long-distance trials. Thanks to the outbreak of war, production of the original International was delayed until 1950, when it was raced in the International Six Days Trial at Llandrindod Wells. The Watsonian management team of Ron…

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