The Classic MotorCycle10 min read
Travelling by Terrier
Day four: It was cold and damp first thing. Despite being high, we headed higher – the Picos de Europa beckoned with a chilly embrace. An hour of misty climbing was not a great start to the day, other than it being the perfect conditions for the litt
The Classic MotorCycle10 min read
The Cockerel Crows Again
It was late on a Saturday evening that the song ‘Oops!…I did it again’ by the US popster Britney Spears started reverberating round my head, as I discovered I had placed the highest bid (well, in fact, the only bid) on a well known auction website fo
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
Hidden Treasures
You might associate one type of history with the stunning Old Town of Dubrovnik, in Southern Croatia, but another sort has recently arrived – the Dubrovnik Indian Motorcycle Museum opened in August 2023. The old monastery building of St Clara is now
The Classic MotorCycle9 min read
Nice And Slow
In the 1990s there was a TV programme which will be familiar to most British readers, a sketch show called Harry Enfield and Chums. In it there was a couple of recurring characters, Lee (Enfield) and Lance (sidekick Paul Whitehouse), a couple of East
The Classic MotorCycle8 min read
Military Hardware
In the early 1920s, British and European truck manufacturers experimented with double drive tandem bogey 6x4 truck chassis. Some also developed halftrack systems to give trucks better grip on rough ground. The British War Department encouraged the de
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
Diary
The Classic MotorCycle is anxious to learn all about your motorcycle-related events. Contact us at The Classic MotorCycle, Mortons Media Ltd, Diary Listings, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ or email obmwallplanner@mortons.co.uk 1 APRIL ISSUE OF
The Classic MotorCycle5 min read
Velocette MSS – Rigid Model
Following the 250cc MOV, then 350cc MAC models, the 500cc MSS was a logical progression. Velocette specialists Grove Classics are very familiar with Hall Green products, but when it came to the earlier version of the MSS, we were directed to a model
The Classic MotorCycle5 min read
Readers’ Letters
While it was great to see Barry Stickland’s cammy Nortons in the March 2023 issue, my favourite picture in the whole issue is the line drawing (or early air-brushed?) picture of the 1936 works Norton, on page 79. It’s a picture I have never seen befo
The Classic MotorCycle4 min read
Tyred And Emotional
It is early Saturday evening in the workshop and I have just finished a pleasant afternoon reassembling the motor for one of my little Puch Maxis. I won’t go into detail about the events that caused the strip down or detail the modifications I did to
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
Beardmores Both
Presumably a publicity shot, we recently shared this photograph with our sister title The Railway Magazine, from where the following information is taken. The original image was published in The Motor Cycle of February 15, 1923, used to illustrate an
The Classic MotorCycle9 min read
News & Events
The countdown is now well and truly on, for what is still the blue riband event, certainly in the first half of the year, for classic enthusiasts – April Stafford. This year, the springtime extravaganza takes place on April 20/21, with, as ever, the
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
Getting On Track
Published in Motor Cycle (‘The’ had been dropped by then) of April 6, 1967, this photograph shows a section of the ⅓mile TT course, in a feature detailing all manner of events the hosting club held on its 80-acre site. The smaller picture shows rider
The Classic MotorCycle6 min read
Münch’s Earlier Masterpiece
In the previous century, several nations had their own superior motorcycle racing engines. While the successful BMW flat-twin came from Germany, Italy offered the four-cylinder MV Agusta and Gilera. The British made the Manx Norton – this extremely s
The Classic MotorCycle2 min read
Welcome
Talking to a friend the other night, he expressed the opinion that: “For me, the Velocette Venom is arguably the finest all-round motorcycle. It could genuinely be ridden to work on Monday having been raced on Sunday.” That’s a true statement, of cou
The Classic MotorCycle8 min read
Sidecar Survivor
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily have to look in derelict barns to find an old motorcycle that is something special or out of the ordinary, you can just as easily find one in an open field. Well, perhaps not just any old field, but t
The Classic MotorCycle4 min read
Headed For The Hill
For many, the Talmag Trophy Trial, run by the Territorial Army (London) Motorcycle Club each January, is seen as a season ‘reopener’ after all the festivities at the end of the previous year. Not only do 200-plus riders arrive at the famed Hungry Hil
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
Drum Roles
Many sources state drum action twist grips as having straight pull action. They do, but as their straight pull action applies to the cable (inner/outer) rather than the handlebars, they are a different beast from the axial action designs. Although th
The Classic MotorCycle15 min read
Buried Treasure
Around 75 years ago, the Vincent Black Shadow delivered the most performance from a street legal series production vehicle that money could buy – on two wheels, or four. Officially timed at 122mph, it outsped by 2mph the Jaguar XK120 sports two-seate
The Classic MotorCycle1 min read
The Classic MotorCycle
EDITOR James RobinsonTel 01507 529405 Fax 01507 371066jrobinson@mortons.co.uk REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Alan Cathcart, Jonathan Hill, Roy Poynting, Richard Rosenthal, Martin Squires, Jerry Thurston, Alan Turner CONTRIBUTORS IN THIS ISSUE James Adam B
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
Rallying To The Cause
In July 2023, I attended the British Two Stroke Club’s Annual Rally, and also the Vintage Club’s Founder’s Day. Although both are rallies in the strictest sense of the word – i.e. gathering groups of people for a common purpose – they represent very
The Classic MotorCycle7 min read
A Wiffen Matchless performance
The first Sunday in December has become an established tradition in bringing together a glorious variety of off-road machinery for the Sidcup and District MCC’s Jack Thompson Trial. The venue is the club’s dedicated ground at Canada Heights, Swanley,
The Classic MotorCycle12 min read
The Tin Banana
In the 1950s, West Germany was a nation in flux, as it struggled,with the aid of a $1.39 billion handout from the USA via the Marshall Plan (equivalent to $24 billion today), to recover from the internal depredations of warfare brought about by Adolf
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
Big Boy’s Racer
This wonderful picture shows a trio of early Matchless G50s outside the Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) works, while, as a backdrop, a host of swaddled twins wait to be delivered wherever they were due. Now, it could be an optical illusion, but the wra
The Classic MotorCycle12 min read
The Spirit Of ’72
In the autumn of 2022, I became convinced that my life would not be complete unless I got a 650cc Triumph T120 Bonneville, vintage 1971-73. These obsessions have roots too deep to fully fathom, but there are some parameters. Despite enjoying traditio
The Classic MotorCycle3 min read
To The Manor Born
With much of the country’s road system half-choked by traffic, it is easy to understand the popularity of track days where limits of bike and rider can be explored. Whatever is achieved, it will not be at any cost to the licence, allowing the owner t
The Classic MotorCycle1 min read
The Classic MotorCycle
EDITOR James Robinson Tel 01507 529405 Fax 01507 371066 jrobinson@mortons.co.uk REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Tim Britton, Alan Cathcart, Jonathan Hill, Roy Poynting, Richard Rosenthal, Martin Squires, Jerry Thurston, Alan Turner, Steve Wilson CONTRIBUT
The Classic MotorCycle5 min read
Readers’ Letters
Whilst lamenting the miserably cold and wet weather of late, I recently noticed a Capriolo face cam engine advertised on eBay. I’d always liked the bikes, but never read an article on them, so after some research I was delighted to find one in the Oc
The Classic MotorCycle7 min read
News & Events
After being originally held in the centre of Bristol, the now Shepton Mallet-based show has grown and evolved into Britain’s greatest annual West Country celebration of all that is best about the motorcycles of yesteryear. The event is a magnet for e
The Classic MotorCycle6 min read
Sum Of Its Parts
In the early 1920s, it seemed there was a motorcycle maker for every letter of the alphabet – in fact, many more than one for the vast majority. Nor was it just every letter of the alphabet, pretty much every city and many larger towns had its very o
The Classic MotorCycle9 min read
Suspension Of Belief
Winter is the time for club night quizzes and a favourite question is often: ‘Who made the first ‘whatever’?’ If I were a question master, I’d always avoid this topic, because someone will always know of earlier examples. However, me being me, I will
…Or Discover Something New