Reviews

Dave Minton discovers what might be the definitive description of the Isle of Man TT circuit… If your motorcycling interests cover Vincents you will recognize the name David Wright because he wrote the fascinating ‘Vincents in the Isle of Man’. Understandably such a specifically targeted volume appeals to a minority of buffs. Fortunately David has…

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Phil Speakman takes an unusual first ride on his latest classic bike. From the middle of nowhere to the other side of the country on one of the coldest days of the year — aka hypothermia for beginners… ‘How do you spell it?’ ‘S-L-E-A-F’ ‘Ah yes, I’ve got it now. Never heard of that station…

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Chapter Three of Jim Algar’s Dominator Diary, wherein the engine gets torn down, and the news is… not good. So let’s take the gearbox apart, shall we? With the engine and gearbox on the workbench at the end of Chapter 2, the next step was to tear the engine down to its component parts in…

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So when did the Post Office start using BSA Bantams to deliver telegrams? Paul Wood continues his tale of working motorcycles, from the 1930s through to the heyday of the BSA Bantam… Before the 1930s, the Post Office had concentrated on sidecars for the bulk of their delivery rounds but the solo motorcycle was to…

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This motorcycling anthology of ‘writing from the fast lane’ was selected and introduced by Neil Bradford, and it caught the attention of at least one RC reader… ‘When my mood gets too hot and I find myself wandering beyond control I pull out my motorbike and hurl it at top speed through these unfit roads…

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How do you turn a bland UJM into a genuine Japanese classic? You add style, of course. Rowena Hoseason has a thing about pop-up headlights… An interesting phenomenon was observed at the recent Japanese Classic Motorcycle Show at Donington: there was an extremely clean Suzuki 1100 Katana offered for sale at sensible money. It wasn’t…

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George Wilshaw’s Triton defied classification at the 2004 Stinkwheel RealClassic Bike Show. As we couldn’t figure out which class it belonged in, we had to invent an award on the spot for it… There’s no such thing as a typical Triton – even trying to define the nature of the beast is like dipping your…

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In years gone by, young men dribbled and young women swooned at the very mention of the name. Bonneville. Can the T120 live up to its reputation, even today? Rowena Hoseason examines an icon Think of the days of export guarantees when America reached for its wallet and bought the T120 by the boatload. Britain…

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Where BSAs Dare! by Norman Vanhouse Back in 1952, three workaday BSA A7s beat the world to win gold medals in the ISDT and secure the Maudes Trophy. This new book tells the inside story, written by one of the competitors… This is a real gem of a book, centred around the BSA factory’s ambitious…

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If you like your British bikes to be a little bit different to the usual pushrod parallel twin, then John Walton’s 250 two-stroke might just turn your head… After a lapse of twenty-something years (wife, kids, mortgage, blah blah blah) I thought it was about time I came back to bikes. A quick trawl on…

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