April issue out now!

This month’s magazine celebrates big British twins from BSA, Norton and Royal Enfield alongside three 750 triples; two Triumphs and a radical kettle. And if that’s not odd enough, how about BMW’s streamlined bahnstormer, the K1? All that, and the world’s fastest Velocette, the new MoT regulations for classic bikes, and an 80mph vintage single with barely any brakes. If…

Hammered! Auction report

The most difficult part of writing this report is describing the sheer volume of machines present at this year’s Las Vegas vintage bike auctions. It’s almost overwhelming, with nearly 2000 classic motorcycles offered for sale across two separate events in January. The first of these annual events is staged by the British auction house Bonhams, while the other is hosted…

Show Stoppers: See you at Shepton

The RealClassic Crew will be setting up shop at the 38th Carole Nash Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show this coming weekend – if you come along to the Royal Bath and West Showground at Shepton Mallet, be sure to stop by and say hello! You’ll find the RC Roadshow in the main hall, aka the Showering Pavilion, about halfway down the…

Frank’s Famous Last Words, #46

Everyone gets excited by the new project. But take care, say Frank Westworth, a man who has begun more projects than most. It is too easy to stumble along the way especially if, for some bizarre reason, you choose not to restore a Norton… A most excellent friend has just ground to a halt in his restoration project. He is…

December issue out now

Winter drawers on! We’ve been waiting all year to make that joke. We have also decked the halls with boughs of holly for the fabulous festiveness that is RC164. The December issue of the monthly RealClassic magazine is indeed a veritable cornucopia of classic motorcycling. And some dodgy old bikes. And even a shock-horror-hold-the-front-page new one! You can cut to…

Ariel Square Four

In the December issue of RealClassic, Roger Slater rebuilds a four-cylinder Ariel engine. Here’s the historical context to this remarkable motorcycle… The Square Four started as a twinkle in Edward Turner’s eye back in the 1920s when he worked at BSA. After moving to Ariel and enlisting the aid of engineer Bert Hopwood, Turner’s idea was made into metal in…