Features
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Dot Motorcycles
Famous after WW2 for their lightweight trials and scrambles machines, Dot Motorcycles adopted their ‘Devoid of Trouble’ marketing slogan back in the early 1920s, around five years before the 1928 350 pictured here was built. Exactly where the company’s name came from appears to have been lost down the back of the sofa of time.…
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Norton Commando
The S-type 750 Commando was introduced in 1969 alongside the Fastback, itself a tweaked version of the initial Commando, and the R-type Roadster. The S was intended to capture the hearts and wallets of the American market and it wedded Norton’s isolastic chassis to the street scrambler styling of the P11 desert sled which had…
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Honda CL350
Here’s another contender for our ‘compact classic’ competition. Honda’s street scrambler from the late 1960s comes with 100mph potential, electric starting and a not too scary purchase price. Richard Jones examines its credentials… So here’s the problem. You like the look of those trail / adventure bikes that seem to be ridden by everyone yet…
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Egli Vincent
Take an iconic British V-twin engine and wrap it in an uprated Continental chassis and – voila! – you have created the Egli Vincent. Well, that’s exactly what Fritz did. Richard Jones bumped into this example of the breed at a recent British Historic Racing meet, and it inspired him to investigate the background of…
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Suzuki GT750
Now that it’s an acknowledged cult classic, this iconic 1970s water-cooled 750 triple doesn’t come cheap. But if you spend one single quid to enter the VMCC’s raffle, there’s a chance you could win this very bike. So what’s it like to ride? Remember the ‘Universal Japanese Motorcycle’, that faintly derogatory term from the 1970s…
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Moto Guzzi Falcone
Which aspect of classic motorcycling is more important – the nuts, bolts and engineering which produces the bike’s performance potential? Or its charisma, its character; its joie de vivre? Richard Jones reckons this iconic Italian encapsulates all the attributes of a timeless classic bike… I could tell you that the Moto Guzzi Falcone of the…
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Frank’s Famous Last Words #45
Is today a BSA day? Frank Westworth remembers 1971 or so, when the threat of precipitation in biblical proportions affected which old Britbike was likely to be pressed into service… ‘It’s a BSA day!’ That was my friend Geoffrey, back somewhere in the mists of time, coming out with what became something of a favoured…
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Matchless G50 CSR
Nicknamed the Golden Eagle, the Matchless G50 CSR is ridiculously rare – an homologation special of an exclusive, limited edition works / clubman’s racer. Not the sort of thing you see on the streets every day, but we know where you can find one. Or two! The National Motorcycle Museum at Solihull display this 1962…
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Rudge Sports Special
Rudge Whitworth promised ‘grace, speed and silence’ in the shape of their svelte 500cc sporting single, the aptly named Sports Special. This was one of the final motorcycles made by the high-class concern in the years leading up to the outbreak of war. It may not be the fastest bike Rudge ever built, nor the…
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Douglas Trials 350
In the world of British classic motorcycles, the Douglas horizontally-opposed 350s are a long way from the typical post-war parallel twins built by the likes of BSA, Norton and Triumph. With a cylinder stuck out each side, a Douglas looks more like a BMW than a traditional British bike. While those Bristol-built roadsters are unusual…
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