Classic Bike Hub UK

Not your usual history about the usual suspects, says Dave Minton, but the essence of inspiring motorcycling lives distilled for your elucidation… In 1956 I was walking through Preston when an outfit purred past, sounding more docile from its single fishtail pipe than I imagined, in my youth, that any motorcycle had a right to.…

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Mention Brough Superiors and TE Lawrence and you run the danger of disappearing under pomp and circumstance. Not so with this charming, enthusiast’s DVD… Are you cheesed off by the snore-ripping attempts by certain bogus video makers who think that they can cash in on our weakness for old motor cycles? I am. I’m steaming…

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Bru Enzer is best known to the RealClassic world as ‘Laverdabru’, and so it was almost inevitable that this book would land in his lap at some point… Us Laverda owners and fanciers are not best provided for on the books front. My personal collection, after years of Mirage ownership, comprises a photocopy of Tim…

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Thinking of buying a 750 Laverda twin? Dave Minton rings the changes between the models and offers shoppers well-proven advice… In the first installment, Laverda introduced their 750 twin parallel twin and – against the odds – it proved to be one of the best. They could hardly keep up with customer demand it first,…

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In the 1970s Dave Minton first greeted the idea of a high-speed, high-mileage 750cc parallel twin with suspicion, but he was fast won over. Here’s how, and why… As a working motorcycle journalist, by 1971 I had become accustomed to abandoning test BSAs, Triumphs and Nortons by the roadside. The build quality of these final…

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Dave Minton has been riding Laverda triples for over 30 years. Meet his favourite and be surprised: it’s no Jota (but it does make all the right sounds)… At between 2500 and 4000 revs in the higher gears, 180-degree Breganze triples make wonderful noises — a sort of basso profundo gargle, not unlike a narrow…

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This Laverda triple, says Dave Minton, was a memorial to an heroic age, when mighty power made uncompromising demands and the consequences were thunderous. Boom! In the early 1960s Fritz Egli campaigned the European Hill Climb Championship on a Vincent Black Shadow tuned to full race Lightning trim. Dissatisfied with its roadholding up the excruciating…

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Ken Sprayson’s expertise in the design, fabrication and repair of motorcycle frames is the stuff of legend. This autobiography captures an era of the British motorcycle industry when personal skill, enthusiasm and hard work were highly valued… At last. Ken Sprayson has been around the British motorcycle industry for so long that everyone knew he…

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Who can catch a Kawasaki? Message board regular Kevin sets the bait for a Z900 but reels in a pristine KZ650B2… I always loved the look of the Kawasaki Z900 from the day I saw an old friend turn up at the local pub on his new one, in fact that was part of the…

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Like Honda, Kawasaki built both four-cylinder and two-cylinder 400s in the late 70s and early 1980s. Roy and Chris Workman have been running a twin as regular transport for nearly 20 years… This bike was originally registered on 31st December 1982; somebody had obviously bought themselves a New Year present! The machine is a Kawasaki…

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