The Strange Death of the British Motor Cycle Industry

This book provides a dispassionate examination of the evidence leading to the decline of motorcycle manufacturing in Britain. Although there are now Triumphs and Nortons available again, the decline during the latter half of the 20th century was spectacular. Steve Koerner is a British motorcycle enthusiast and historian from British Columbia who completed a PhD dissertation on the subject at…

Classic Bikes at Boston

  Overlapping events meant that classic motorcycles and sidecar outfits converged on Boston in Lincolnshire, bringing a bunch of BSAs and other old Britbikes into close contact with some awesome aircraft… This is a regular event for the Tri-Anglia Wheels Sidecar Club, which is my local club. The campsite is adjacent to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby,…

Classic bikes for sale

Warning! Browsing this selection of old bikes and classic motorcycles could convert some of your cash into a great big silly grin. Don’t look unless you want to be led astray… in the nicest possible way. The monthly RealClassic magazine always includes an interesting array of bikes for sale by private sellers or on offer at specialist dealers. We’ve selected…

April issue: out now!

It seems that every other British bike in the new issue is a BSA: not quite sure how that happened. However, the magazine is as eclectic as ever and also features a Morini 3½, BMW boxers and even an MZ, among the other classic bikes and vintage motorcycles. You won’t find RealClassic on the shelves in UK newsagents, but you…

Shepton Snapshots, part two

  We return to the VMCC’s brilliant bikejumble to view some bargain Britbikes, an outstanding Ariel, ‘cheap’ Triumph twins and an original Ninja… Just the other day we were talking about ‘bargain Bonnevilles’ and how the prices of Triumph T140 twins seem to have gone sky-high recently. Just to prove us wrong (or possibly not…) this 1977 T140V was offered…

Triumph Bonneville T140

Considering your first classic British bike? The Triumph T140 Bonneville (actually a range of 750 twins built between the mid-1970s and early 1980s) is still the obvious choice. There’s always a good selection of 750s up for sale at any time, so you have plenty to pick and choose between. Spares supply is superb. There are several specialists dedicated to…