Category: Features

Classic Scrambles

Features
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 Paxette 1 camera – back…
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Frera 500

Features
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 Continental Europe… The first bike…
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AJS and Matchless lightweights

Features
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 cost. That’s because the Associated…
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Sunbeam Model 95

Features
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 today, over 80 years later……
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Brough Superior

Features
Back in 1938, the four-cylinder Golden Dream Brough Superior was unveiled to an adoring public at the UK’s annual motorcycle show, then held at Earl’s Court. Last autumn, and almost 80 years later, Richard Jones was on hand to record the appearance of the current Brough SS100 and Pendine Sand Racer at the NEC Bike Show, ‘arising like a phoenix…
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Frank’s Famous Last Words, #46

Features
Everyone gets excited by the new project. But take care, say Frank Westworth, a man who has begun more projects than most. It is too easy to stumble along the way especially if, for some bizarre reason, you choose not to restore a Norton… A most excellent friend has just ground to a halt in his restoration project. He is…
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