Features

  • Triumph Daytona T100R

    Triumph Daytona T100R

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    Triumph introduced their unit-construction 500 twin in 1960. By 1966 it had evolved into a proper proddie racer, the Daytona, which packed considerable poke into its petite package. Marion Thirsk found an interesting example at last year’s Ayr Show… When Steve purchased this Daytona it’d been lying forlorn in a garage for seven years, with…

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  • Triumph 750 Triple

    Triumph 750 Triple

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    You may think this is just another Triumph of 1960s vintage, but you would be mistaken. This machine, seen on the Trident and Rocket 3 Owners’ Club stand at the Newark Winter Classic show, is definitely different to the average Triumph twin — or triple! Back in 1963, Doug Hele, redoubtable engineer par excellence, had…

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  • Readers’ Rides: a Guzzi gallop, Part The Last

    Readers’ Rides: a Guzzi gallop, Part The Last

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    Nick Adams has been riding the unpaved logging roads through Quebec’s forests on his Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone. Would a modern adventure motorcycle have been a better choice of two-wheeled transport for this trip? As with the road to Parent, the 120 miles of road between Parent and La Tuque was a well maintained gravel…

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  • Readers’ Rides: a Guzzi gallop, Part Two

    Readers’ Rides: a Guzzi gallop, Part Two

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    Last time, Nick Adams set off on his Moto Guzzi Falcone 500 for a quick spin around the logging roads of Quebec. This time, the traffic comes closer than is entirely comfortable… Parent is a typical, small, isolated railway village: a scattering of houses and public buildings bisected by the railway, the heart and focus…

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  • Readers’ Rides: a Guzzi gallop, Part One

    Readers’ Rides: a Guzzi gallop, Part One

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    Moto Guzzi’s Nuovo Falcone is a solidly put-together 500 single. It’s far from fast, but it’s famous for going on forever. That’s just as well. When RC’s Canadian correspondent, Nick Adams, goes for a ‘short trip’ on the unpaved roads around Quebec, the miles soon mount up… Whenever I ride the Nuovo Falcone I’m always…

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  • Honda CB400F

    Honda CB400F

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    Honda 400/4s are popular, relatively plentiful and commonly spotted at classic bike shows. So it might’ve been easy to overlook this one – but Marion Thirsk went back to double-check and discovered that its subtly different to the standard 400/4 you might find on British roads… Closer inspection reveals subtle differences to the normal UK…

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  • Classic Scrambles

    Classic Scrambles

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    Back in the late 1950s, Mike Estall was a keen spectator at moto-cross and scrambles events. He was also a dab hand with a camera, and has unearthed this selection of classic scramblers in action – beefy British bikes being ridden with what we might call ‘vigour’! All the photos were taken with Mike’s 35mm…

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  • Frera 500

    Frera 500

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    Richard Jones made a New Year’s resolution to take more photos of rarer bikes. Right on cue he tripped over something truly unusual on his arrival at January’s Vintage Stony event. Look quickly and you might imagine that this single-cylinder vintage motorcycle is something like a British-built Sunbeam – but in fact it comes from…

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  • AJS and Matchless lightweights

    AJS and Matchless lightweights

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    Not all old British bikes have to cost a fortune. In fact, the AJS and Matchless 250 and 350 lightweight singles are still enticingly affordable. ‘But aren’t they also actually awful?’ you may ask, and Rowena Hoseason has some answers… There is one segment of classic society which remains stalwartly sensible when it comes to…

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  • Sunbeam Model 95

    Sunbeam Model 95

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    Sunbeam motorcycles, built in Wolverhampton, were some of the sporting superstars of the pre-war period and they clocked up a series of wins in TT and GP races during the 1920s. Although times were tough during the Depression years, the company’s continued commitment to quality means that bikes from the 1930s are still going strong…

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