Classic Bike Hub UK

  • Laverda 3C

    Laverda 3C

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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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  • Egli Laverda 3C

    Egli Laverda 3C

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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: The Frame Man

    Ken Sprayson: The Frame Man

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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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  • 1978 Kawasaki Z650

    1978 Kawasaki Z650

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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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  • Kawasaki Z440

    Kawasaki Z440

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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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  • 1967 Kawasaki W1 650 – Part 2

    1967 Kawasaki W1 650 – Part 2

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    With the parts back from the chromers, Kim Henry starts rebuilding his Real Classic Kawasaki. But will it start? I discovered that it’s a wise idea to remove wheel bearings before the polishing process because mine came back fairly choked up with compound and after cleaning them out I discovered they were stuffed. It’s a…

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  • 1967 Kawasaki W1 650 – Part 1

    1967 Kawasaki W1 650 – Part 1

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    “I thought that restoring something old may be what I needed” said Kim Henry, before starting the rebuild of his Real Classic Kawasaki… About 12 years ago I noticed an ad in the local newspaper to sell a BSA 650 look alike that didn’t cost as much as the real thing. I was talking to…

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  • Kawasaki Z1300

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    It was big. Really big. Really extremely big for the 1980s. Steve The Toast debates the virtues of blunderbuss motorcycling and Kawasaki’s classic six-cylinder machine… If anyone ever tells you that they have never made a mistake, you would be relatively safe to draw the conclusion that they have never made anything, as the saying…

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  • Kawasaki Z900 A4

    Kawasaki Z900 A4

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    Easy to work on, good handling, but infested with an electrical gremlin. Is Mark White really talking about a Kawasaki Zed One? What’s one of the commonly-held attributes which unites classic bike owners, no matter what sort of classic they ride? It has to be pride of ownership, and Mark White of Wiltshire is certainly…

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  • 1973 Kawasaki Z1

    1973 Kawasaki Z1

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    What makes your dream bike so special? Andrew Peek’s first Zed One was too loud and too fast — and too good to be true. Here’s how he met his ultimate streetbike… It all started for me one Christmas when, as a child, I received my first book about motorcycles. The book featured all different…

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