Reviews

Kel Boyce lusted after a little Enfield back in the 1970s. Then he bought one. Then he took it apart. And then… it had to be put back together again! It was winter, so I started with the engine rebuild, as the lump could be easily accommodated on the kitchen table. The crankcases were helicoiled…

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In the first instalment of this short saga, we met Ash Gannicott and his miniature Italian cafe-racer project. Russ (Ash’s dad) Gannicott takes up the tale of a first time classic bike rebuild… The non-running, 125cc Mototrans Ducati had been successfully stripped. Nothing much was wrong with the major components, apart from the nearside fork…

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A giant leap for mankind? Or just another new Bullet? Rowena Hoseason takes a quick spin on the latest Royal Enfield to go on sale in the UK… Royal Enfield have been talking about their lean-burn engine since the late 1990s. It’s been on the drawing board for a while, the 350cc version has been…

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Most people ride classic bikes on the Queen’s Highway, but some riders never turn a wheel on tarmac. Michael Eustace took to scrambling… If this time last year you had said to me I was going to be involved in classic motorcycling, let alone racing a classic motorcycle, I would have keeled over laughing. As…

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A CBX1000 might be an awesome thing to admire in a showroom, but what’s it really like to live with? Long term owner John Hall reveals some useful wrinkles… The CBX is one of those marvellous monsters from the 1980s which nowadays brings with it a unique set of problems. John Hall has owned four…

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Jonny Wellard wants to know if his Kawasaki W650 is groovy and fab, or just grubby and sad. People ask him; ‘what’s the point of having one of those when you could buy the real thing?’ And he has an answer for them! That’s the nub of the issue isn’t it — Kodak or Constable?…

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In 1932, Robert Fulton Jr set off aboard a Douglas twin on a round the world ride from England to America. The essence of that adventure is revealed in images in this rarely-seen hardback book… Many of us will be familiar with the globe-trotting adventure of Robert E Fulton Jr, whose epic journey of the…

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Martin Gelder goes back to the seventies (inevitably) to explain why his personal idea of a Real Classic Motorcycle is small, Italian and has “Three and a Half” written on the side… This is a story that begins a long, long time ago and in a land far, far away. Travel back with me to…

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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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