Blog

If a bike from yesteryear was rubbish when it was a new bike, does that mean it’s still rubbish now it can claim to be a classic bike? Frank Westworth contemplates classicness and other fantasies… A man gazed at me in what may have been wonder. It may also have been fright, admiration or horror.…

Continue reading »

In a recent issue of RealClassic magazine, reader Roger Bibbings asked for nominations for the perfect modern motorcycle to suit classic bike riders. And lots of people answered him… Roger’s Quandary I am now 58 years old and have been riding motorcycles (over 45 different machines) almost every day since February 1965, covering somewhere towards…

Continue reading »

If you’re thinking of buying your first Japanese classic bike, then Steve Cooper of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club has some suggestions… Mention Japanese bikes to those of a different persuasion down the pub or at club night and you may often get some incredulous or disdainful looks. It’s not so much the hackneyed, loathing…

Continue reading »

To some folk, a classic bike is a precious thing to be cosseted and cared for. Steve Cooper of the VJMC argues that there’s room for the scruffy sort, too… I recently encountered the legendary chap who has what appears to be the world’s most care-worn BSA Bantam. Sporting copious layers of hand-applied blue and…

Continue reading »

You might expect that everyone sufficiently fortunate to ride old motorcycles would inevitably be cheerful. Frank Westworth can’t understand why not entirely everyone is… Gloom. You get to recognise it as it walks towards you. ‘Another old one’s gone.’ I gaze with a familiar sinking sense of inevitability at a man who has materialised before…

Continue reading »

What is a ‘classic’? It’s one of those abstract questions that has fuelled a million internet arguments, ever since the first bulletin board was set up for people to talk about old vehicles. Andy Wegg adds fuel to the fire with a Jawa Mustang and some 500cc Hondas… ‘Classic’ is one of those unfortunate words…

Continue reading »

Andreas Ganzera responds to Rowena’s recent grumbling about not using GPS or modem navigational aids. Andreas reckons SatNav makes much more sense on the European mainland… I ride and repair an old MZ combination (ES250/1 from 1958) and some Yamaha bikes including dirt bikes, and live in Austria. I am no native English speaker so…

Continue reading »

Power is knowledge, apparently. This may be important if you intend to own a BSA C15, as Frank Westworth explains… Knowledge, so they tell us, is power. They tell us this, whoever They are, and it sounds good, so it must be true. Which is how politics works, also political correctness, which is not the…

Continue reading »

There was once a time when folk rode their AJS and Matchless motorcycles all over the place! Frank Westworth reflects… For reasons which I have never been able to fathom, the AJS & Matchless OC presented me with an award last year. No no; it’s true. Stop tittering at the back. Someone, somewhere will presumably…

Continue reading »

Ric Pirson owns a Hinckley Triumph Bonneville, and tells a sad tale of not seeing the light… In May 1980 I bought a new Honda CX500. Why? Well I’ve often wondered but it was a Honda and it never let me down. In the summer of 2001 my thoughts wandered to a new bike. I…

Continue reading »