Old Bike Mart

Inconspicuous, reliable and beautifully engineered – Steve’s electric-start solution for classic BSA twins

by

Sam Hewitt

–

8th August 2016

Electric starter? What electric starter? Pete Kelly visits Steve McFarlane, of SRM Engineering fame, in Cardiff to fully appreciate the huge amount of skill and dedication that went into his patented design for an electric starter for swinging-arm A7 and A10 BSA twins. Once Steve McFarlane had set his heart on manufacturing an electric-start mechanism…
Continue reading »
Dot Motorcycles – the end of an era at Ellesmere Street

by

Sam Hewitt

–

8th August 2016

An association with Manchester spanning over 100 years will come to an end this September when Dot Motorcycles Ltd ceases trading from its 1912 premises in Ellesmere Street. We delve into Mortons’ Archive to give some idea of the surprising variety of road and sporting machinery – all quite Devoid of Trouble – that the…
Continue reading »
A Norman conquest

by

Sam Hewitt

–

8th August 2016

Piers Kurrein from Harrogate, who had a lovely Norman B2CS trials bike on show at The Girder Fork & Classic Motorcycle Club’s Big Bike Sunday at Skipton on June 26, tells OBM about its history and long restoration. While studying industrial design at Leeds Polytechnic in 1974, I discovered a Norman B2CS trials bike in…
Continue reading »
Never built – the 500cc V-twin Morini sports that everyone really wanted

by

Sam Hewitt

–

8th August 2016

With quality, performance and excellent design apparent in every detail, the 350cc Morini V-twins bore comparison with any Japanese motorcycle – but when the Italian firm upped the capacity to 500cc, it never quite managed to produce the right machine, writes Steve Cooper. Sometimes you jump on a bike, ride it all day and then…
Continue reading »
Japanese bikers’ day at Sammy Miller Museum

by

Sam Hewitt

–

22nd July 2016

Almost 200 bikes, including some real Japanese exotica, turned up for the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club’s Japanese bikers’ day at the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum on Saturday, June 11 – and Nigel Barratt and Steph Murchison are to be congratulated on once again organising such a fabulous event. Awards for the best 1950s/60s bike, the best machines from the 1970s, 80s…
Continue reading »
Pete’s Prattle – July 2016

by

Sam Hewitt

–

22nd July 2016

In recent months we’ve had an astonishing mailbag from readers in response to various memory-jerking subjects raised in Old Bike Mart – and they continue to rumble on in this issue. After the recent spate of correspondence about old bike shops, it occurred to me that many of us will also have fond memories of the…
Continue reading »
Another record-breaking weekend at Stafford

by

Sam Hewitt

–

13th July 2016

Visitors flocked to the 36th Carole Nash International Classic MotorCycle Show at Stafford on April 23-24 to make it one of the best yet, with exhibits of the highest quality, another record-breaking Bonhams’ motorcycle sale, hundreds of club and trade stands inside and outside the halls, star guests, special displays and so much more. Another…
Continue reading »
Ravaged by time, but Bodmin BS4 still makes world record £331,900!

by

Sam Hewitt

–

13th July 2016

A new world record price was set for a Brough Superior – and for any British motorcycle sold at auction for that matter – when a German bidder in the room paid a staggering £331,900 for a 1938 750cc BS4 that came up as part of the ‘Broughs of Bodmin Moor’ collection during the Bonhams’…
Continue reading »
Cubes without vibes – Triumph’s 1200cc Bonneville Black

by

Sam Hewitt

–

13th July 2016

One of the reasons we sometimes run road tests on British-built retro machines is to compare the old with the new, but is Triumph’s new and extensively-researched 1200cc T120 Bonneville Black muscle bike the best way to go? Frank Melling brings his impressions first-hand. Cubes without vibes – Triumph’s 1200cc Bonneville Black For such a…
Continue reading »
The ‘lightweights’ that time forgot

by

Sam Hewitt

–

13th July 2016

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. The ‘lightweights’ that time forgot There wasn’t much wrong with the handling, as a Motor Cycle…
Continue reading »

Old Bike Mart

Latest Issue

Free Digital Issue

Search

Tags