Blog

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…

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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…

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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…

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The international classic bike scene boasts many men of metal. Roger Slater grabs a chat with one of them, Sonny Angel of San Diego… Few motorcyclists in England will have any idea as to who is Sonny Angel, but over in the USA it is a completely different story. Sonny has been a revered legend…

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What’s the best way to stop oil draining into the sump of your old British bike? Phone up Frank Westworth and ask him… Many sights common in today’s world are a puzzle to me. Prime among them is the endless parade of folk marching about with cell phones nailed to their ears. Cell phones are…

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David Wright remembers a remarkable motorcyclist who took part in trials and displays; rode the largest capacity Britbike of its time, and worked behind the scenes for decades for grassroots clubs and the national ACU… Forty years ago in 1973 the compulsory wearing of crash-helmets was forced upon the motorcyclists of the United Kingdom. To…

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Motorcycling and music fit together as well as grease and grit, says Frank Westworth. Possibly… I was unable to avoid overhearing a conversation the other day. Some folk do talk terrible loud, turning all of us into unwilling eavesdroppers. Too often it’s deliberate. Folk declaim loudly in the full knowledge that the person they’re talking…

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Roger Bibbings suggests that while speed itself may not kill, you don’t have to travel at 180mph to enjoy yourself on two wheels… Speed kills? Well, momentum increases as the square of velocity – so as speed increases the energy to be dissipated in a collision increases very rapidly indeed, more than is generally appreciated.…

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Do you prefer cappuccino, or is builder’s tea more your style? Rowena Hoseason wonders if there’s still room for all sorts in classic biking… Agent Orange, Frank’s foremost feline friend, doesn’t particularly appreciate me using this expression but I will risk catty wrath by saying it nonetheless: there are indeed many different ways to skin…

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Do you know anyone who commits the motorcycling equivalent of cold-blooded murder? KarlB knows a few criminals… I have a confession to make. I know people, I even call some of them friends, who are killers. One of them lives not very far from here; you probably have someone similar living near you. These killers…

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