Honda’s 400cc and 500cc V-four sport bikes that appeared in 1983 were exotic high-revvers with a luxury feel – but they concealed a nasty secret. John Nutting delves into his MIRA files to find out what they were like...
When Kawasaki launched the GPz900R 25 years ago it turned the world of motorcycling on its head, shook it up and spun it around so many times that when everything settled back down the scene was almost unrecognisable...
In the early 70s the world of twins was simple; Ducati produced Vee twins, BMWs were horizontally opposed and the British persevered with pushrod parallels... then Yamaha mixed it all up, with the OHC XS1...
Tighten up your chin strap, slip on some cool shades and politely advise your cardio-vascular system that it’s about to get a good sized dollop of adrenaline; it’s Kawasaki 350cc street scrambler time...
Yamaha’s original RD350LC was furious if not as fast as we’d expected. But the two-stroke twin had huge potential which has been explored with a huge range of modifications. John Nutting tested it at MIRA in the early 1980s...
Royal Enfield’s heavyweight twins never enjoyed the success or the popularity of their contemporaries but Jim Reynolds reckons they were equally as good, if not better. Here he gets all star-struck about a Constellation...
Building a bike from bits is an expensive way to do it these days, but it makes sense if half the bits are already in your possession – and if it’s done properly, the results
can be very tasty indeed, as Jim Reynolds discovered...
Velocette's LE had a long production life, which indicated success, but it also absorbed a colossal post-war investment from the company, which in hindsight arguably did irreparable damage to the manufacturer...
It’s a conundrum many marque enthusiasts have found themselves in and one, which causes a rumpus around equally as many owners’ club committees – when does your marque cease to become your marque, or is it always your marque irrespective? James Robinson sampled one such conundrum...
There are those among us who prefer practicality over aesthetics and are skilled enough to be able to make something from ‘a mishmash of unrelated parts.’ What’s more, said parts don’t necessarily have to have originated from another motorcycle... but a rotavator?
Current Issue: Issue 40-06 - June 2013
• Joan Westbrook interview
• Jerry Thurston column
• Archive photograph
• Which model? (Norton 500cc twins)
• BSA M20 super profile
• Moto Guzzi Bicilindrica – history and test
• Reader’s restoration – Triumph Tiger 100
• Straight from the plate – 1963 Thruxton 500 miler
• Ted Mellors’ reflections
• Bantam engine build
• Restoration guide - Triumph 3T
Issue 40-06 - June 2013
Where legends come to life...
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