AS FAR AS WE ARE AWARE, THIS IS one of the prototype Hurricanes that came from the USA, when the distributors had a Rocket 3 modified to show the factory what their market wanted. But by the time it came back to Blighty to look at productionising, BS

WELL, IT’S SAT THERE FOR LONGER than I care to remember, and now it’s going to finally get sorted. There’s been a 1968 Yamaha AS1 125cc twin on my bike bench since September 2022 and since that date I’ve done two things to it – nothing and begger all

CLASSIC JAPANESE BIKES ARE AN amazing collection of machines that truly do have an answer for all. From humble beginnings in the 1950s with some incredible and innovative machines, they were constantly evolving, and used racing to both improve the br

THERE’S ALWAYS A GREAT STORY when it comes to building a bike like this. In this case, it’s partly a personal one of years of training, not just in the skill of the craft but also in the study of another man and his company’s achievement: designing a

MY 1947 350 ENFIELD MODEL G had its rebuilt engine fitted back into the frame over the Christmas period, along with the gearbox and inner primary case. When the bike was stripped, what seems like an age ago, to get the engine out I just boxed and bag

THIS YEAR MARKS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF one of this writer’s most satisfying International race victories. It was the Lightweight Battle of the Twins race, run on the steep bankings of the Daytona Speedway, in Cycle Week 1984, and was achieved on a q

I really like the excitement of this 1968 road test by renowned journalist Vic Willoughby. In a world 56 years later, where the fastest bikes have in excess of 200bhp, Vic’s words are still laced with the thrill of riding the Rocket 3 and its 120mph

I’VE BEEN TRYING TO REMEMBER WHEN TRAIL BIKES became so popular – popular enough to persuade manufacturers to build actual trail machines, rather than lightly disguised roadsters. Can’t work it out, despite wasting far too much time trawling countles

I’VE BEEN GOING TO THE BRISTOL SHOW for well over a decade and this year was lucky enough to get into the Bath and West Showground on the Friday afternoon, just as the exhibitors and tradespeople were setting up, writes Sean. I’m always a little anxi

AFTER SEVERAL CENTURIES OF MESSING about with increasingly elderly and increasingly cranky old motorcycles, anyone might suspect that I would know how to do stuff. Experience, so they tell us, is the greatest teacher of them all. This isn’t my own ex

GREETINGS, ALL! MAY YOUR O RINGS BE sealing and your carbs free of mysterious crud. The skies have used all the rain up and its nearly riding time – hopefully. The traditional use of an editorial greeting is in fact to ramble on about what’s in the m

AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AS A MULTI-disciplined road racer, Guy Martin has since become more famous as a tea-drinking daredevil TV presenter. During the TV series Speed, Guy broke several British and world records on land, sea, and in the air. But d

BACK IN THE VERY EARLY DAYS OF motorcycling, manufacturers would invite journalists of the day to try out their models in trials – tricky off-road courses that would prove the models’ abilities. This grew into a sport, and soon there were competitive

Triumph’s new Speed 400 singles have been a huge hit with buyers and press – see what Matt thought from page 26. So many of the bikes left the showrooms in January, the first month of sales, that Triumph catapulted past Suzuki, KTM and BMW and was sn

EUROPEAN CLASSIC BIKES HAVE SO much to offer. As a rule, you are looking at mid-1960s through to the late 1990s, so they are more able to live with modern life than older British bikes. They are largely left-foot gearchange like modern bikes, metric

Gone are the days of British bike manufacturers chasing engine ccs. Satisfying the American market’s insatiable appetite for larger engines no longer matters – it’s smaller bikes that matter today for the ‘new’ world. If Triumph has got it right, the

MONGREL DOGS, AS IS WELL KNOWN, MIGHT not be as pretty as pedigree pooches, but they do tend to be less highly strung, more dependable, and much smarter. The Trophy Trail/Adventurer is factory mongrel – an actual Meriden-made TriBSA. Born of troubled

Telford’s International Centre was rammed. And we mean seriously rammed. Getting around was a case of doing the Shropshire shuffle, deftly negotiating the sections among a massively enthusiastic and knowledgeable throng. As the only really big show o

IT CANNOT HAVE ESCAPED YOUR NOTICE that lots of folk are talking lots of talk about how the values of old bikes appear to be slipping. Okay, if not values, then the prices. Okay, not all old bikes, just some of them. And as you might expect, I aim to