Reviews

Not all restorations are accomplished in one fell swoop. Dean Southall’s Beezer has been steadily reconditioned over the years – until it got to be so good that it won its class at the 2003 Stinkwheel Show… When I bought the 650 for £1500 it had been restored about 10 years previously, used a little…

Continue reading »

The end of Philip Rashleigh’s scrambler-special project is in sight. But no matter how close you think you might be to actually finishing a rebuild, there’s always more to do than you might imagine… A new problem had shown itself, how to get the rolling chassis to Bedfordshire for the minimum amount of cost. There…

Continue reading »

Kel Boyce paid £40 for his non-running Continental back in 1979 and, bearing in mind how much work it needed ,that might have been over the top… The first step was to remove the wheels. The hubs and drums seemed OK but the rims and spokes were almost devoid of plating. I set about dismantling…

Continue reading »

Ash Gannicott wanted his own classic bike. One small problem: Ash is only nine. So doting Dad Russ swooped on this ideal opportunity to play with (sorry; rebuild on a tight budget) a miniature Italian cafe racer… OK, imagine the scenario: you’ve got a few(!) bikes in your garage, a couple more at your workplace…

Continue reading »

What happens when you combine classic motorcycle wiring and feminine intuition? Emm lights the blue touch paper and we should all stand well back… Royal Enfield motorcycles bear the slogan ‘Made like a Gun’. Olive, as an example of a Royal Enfield 500 Bullet, is not so much a motorbike ‘made like a battle-ready, empire…

Continue reading »

If you like dipping in and out of an old bike book, rather than following a lengthy narrative, then you probably enjoy the ‘great big list’ formula. Here is possibly the greatest, biggest list we’ve ever encountered… This is one seriously weighty tome, in both literal and content senses. It aspires to replace the once-famous…

Continue reading »

Let’s go back, back, back in time to when flares were cool the first time around, and the Honda CB350K4 was all the rage. Paul Webb has a fascination for Hondas of 1973/1974 vintage — we blame the parents. His dad said ‘no’ 30 years ago… You will understand why back in 1974, as a…

Continue reading »

Three decades ago, Ted Simon rode a Triumph Tiger some 63,000 miles through 54 countries on a journey which took four years. Does the story still seem relevant today?… All too often a book that is trumpeted as a ‘must read’ proves to be at best a let down or at worst a crashing disappointment.…

Continue reading »

Not your usual history about the usual suspects, says Dave Minton, but the essence of inspiring motorcycling lives distilled for your elucidation… In 1956 I was walking through Preston when an outfit purred past, sounding more docile from its single fishtail pipe than I imagined, in my youth, that any motorcycle had a right to.…

Continue reading »

Looking for a little latin élan? Something small and perfectly formed in the shape of a Morini 350 might just do the job. Rowena Hoseason has met several of the breed… It was one of those brisk, glowing evenings when I rode my first Morini 350. The air was full of faint shafts of golden…

Continue reading »