News

We left Shaun Gibbons with his A10 stripped-down, and awaiting a complete engine rebuild at the hands of a kindly Geordie named Mike. Enter the engineer… Christmas had been and gone, and my wait for engine parts and services was nearly over. Newman Cams said ‘come and get it’, so I did. Next on the…

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After months of work, Philip Rashleigh’s scrambler-special is coming home and it just needs an MoT and registration to hit the road… Quite a few people have contacted Roy, who’s been building the engine for me, since they’ve read these articles [Potential advertisers please note! RM] and they want him to build a bike similar…

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Kel Boyce tells us what happened once he’d completed his rebuild, and how he learned to live with an ‘oilfield’… Now the old British motorcycle industry was inherently charitable. It kindly provided us with oily old engines that kept our waterproofs waterproof, rattles and whirrs to keep us awake and a multitude of parts that…

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We’ve just ridden a much-modded Duke Darmah for the magazine, but back in 1978 Dave Minton rode one of the very first of the breed to leave the factory. And he thought it was really rather good… If you accept that riding in freak rainstorms can provide enough information with which to formulate an opinion,…

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The lean-burn Electra X Enfield isn’t everyone’s cuppa tea, so how about heading back to basics with the Spartan Pre-65 trials bike? Or if you prefer to travel on tarmac, maybe the full-dress touring Sixty-5 would suit you, sir? For classic bike fans, the Spartan Bullet was just about the most exciting bike on display…

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Last episode, Michael Eustace explained how he found his Greeves and got involved in Pre-65 off-road racing. After one race he had a fair bit of work to do over winter… After my first race I then went on to complete another three scrambles by the end of last year’s scrambles season. One at the…

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Fancy a true Japanese classic? Steve The Toast has owned and run most examples of the Bike Which Changed The World„¢ and offers sage advice for 21st century riders… There was a time when the top dogs who barked the loudest in our town rode oily great British bikes, the likes of Commandos, A10s, Bonnevilles…

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What makes your dream bike so special? Andrew Peek’s first Zed One was too loud and too fast — and too good to be true. Here’s how he met his ultimate streetbike… It all started for me one Christmas when, as a child, I received my first book about motorcycles. The book featured all different…

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This book promises ‘the definitive guide to the repair and calibration of Smiths magnetic speedos and tachos’ so you can ‘fix it yourself and never have to pay or wait for repairs again.’ An intrepid RC reader put it to the test… After several well-known repairers had told me that they only worked on chronometric…

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It rattles, it squeaks, it bounces, it’s uncomfortable, its electrics are iffy – but it’s loud, it’s red, it’s Italian, and it’s just what the doctor ordered. Martin Gelder exchanges real cash for a real classic… Key slipped into ignition and turned. Fuel tap solenoid clunks, oil pressure light comes on. Key removed from ignition…

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