classic bike books Archives

RC Reading: A Million Miles Of Racing

22nd August 2022 RowenaH Features

RealClassic regular Stu Thomson recently discovered a book by GS Davison, Phil Heath and WJ McGowan, originally published in 1950. It attempted to capture the million miles that were estimated to be completed by motorcycle racers in that year’s season. As a fan of Italian lightweights, Stu was drawn to the report from the Ulster Grand Prix… The Ulster Grand…

RealClassic Reading: The NW200 Road and Race

5th March 2021 RowenaH Features, Reviews

The North West 200 is one of those street-circuit road races which tests both the metal of the machines and the mettle of their pilots. It’s one of the fastest road-based courses on the racing calendar, where bikes average 120mph and can exceed 200mph in places. It’s one of Northern Ireland’s largest sporting events – and in 2019 celebrated its…

RealClassic Reading: adventure riding!

6th December 2020 RowenaH News

Regular readers of the magazine will be familiar with the (mis)adventures of Nick Adams as he explores the byways and back-roads of northern Canada – usually on vaguely inappropriate elderly motorcycles. Nick captures the untamed landscapes through which he rides alone – often without meeting another human being for days on end – and shares that experience with us in…

RealClassic Reading: new BSA book

5th December 2020 RowenaH Reviews

It’s unusual for us all to be amazed by a book about one of the best-known British marques, but Peter Crawford has produced a remarkable gem. And it’s all about the A65 twin, as you might expect from the title: ‘Thunderbolts & Lightning’. In fact the book is far more than that – it is a careful and revealing study…

Books: Life on a Triumph Speed Twin

30th March 2020 RowenaH Features

Long-time RC readers will be familiar with the adventures of Graham Ham, whose journeys aboard his 1948 Speed Twin were documented in his ‘Daisy’s Diary’ articles some years ago. But there was much more to Graham’s original and subsequent adventure than simply taking part in the Landmark Challenge on a sprung-hub old clunker, collecting Landmarks, WATOC points and not inconsiderable…

RealClassic Reading

18th March 2020 RowenaH Reviews

‘And The Wheels Went Round’ by John Chisnall and Anthony Davis was published last year. Roy Workman is a sidecar rider so the two racing outfits on the front cover prompted him to buy it… John, the passenger, was the main contributor to the stories with Tony, the rider, adding his thoughts. What a great read! The motorcycling part of…