Features

  • Time machine

    Time machine

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    This staggering motorcycle, built in 1935, is based on a Henderson Four. It takes its styling cues from the art deco period from whence it came – and it couldn’t have come from any other era. Time machine The compact dimensions of the riding position are clear to see. Most motorcycle design doesn’t represent a…

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  • The camera does lie

    The camera does lie

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    The start of the 1967 Ulster Grand Prix. But all is not, perhaps, as it seems The camera does lie Every picture tells a story, right? So, here we have the start of a race and Giacomo Agostini, on the MV, right, is streaking away into an unassailable lead, probably on his way to a…

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  • Bigger than ever!

    Bigger than ever!

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    The ASI MotoShow is a real celebration of motorcycling, with a hugely diverse amount of stunning machinery taking to the track. Bigger than ever! Sunbeam Model 9, dating to 1927, being ridden stylishly by Luca Boccardo. Kork Ballington drifted his 1981 lime green Kawasaki KR500 around the outside of Danilo Gardella’s Ducati Mike Hailwood Rep,…

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  • Two careful owners

    Two careful owners

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    That’s all this beautiful 1956 Tiger 110 Triumph has had. Though its original owner sold it in 1961, it was left to him in the second owner’s will. Two careful owners Lovely 1957 picture of Roy and Doreen touring on the Triumph. Here, they”re at Land”s End. I didn’t regret selling the Tiger One-Ten at…

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  • Imps in the Island

    Imps in the Island

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    Despite a modest competition budget, Birmingham maker New Imperial won six IoM TT victories and many top 10 places. Recalling this record, one asks – how? It’s impossible to understand New Imp’s housekeeping but we can look at and read between the lines of the IoM record. Imps in the Island New Imperial’s finest moment?…

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  • A Social History of Motorcycling: Episode 8 – Mods vs. rockers (1964)

    A Social History of Motorcycling: Episode 8 – Mods vs. rockers (1964)

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    In this series of extracts from his forthcoming book, Mike Lewis looks at the growth and evolution of social motorcycling in Britain and the USA. A Social History of Motorcycling: Episode 8 – Mods vs. rockers (1964) From May 1964 and 59 Club members congregate in Trafalgar Square, to collect posters promoting Christian Aid Week,…

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  • A Social History of Motorcycling: Episode 8 – Mods vs. rockers (1964)

    A Social History of Motorcycling: Episode 8 – Mods vs. rockers (1964)

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    From May 1964 and 59 Club members congregate in Trafalgar Square, to collect posters promoting Christian Aid Week, which they then distributed. On December 19, 1963, a feature in Motor Cycle magazine invited readers aged under 25 to answer the question: ‘Are you a Mod or a Rocker?’ Starting with the assertion that “Sitting on…

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  • Imps in the Island

    Imps in the Island

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    New Imperial’s finest moment? Arguably, yes. With managing director Norman Downs on his deathbed, Bob Foster raced to victory in the 1936 Lightweight TT. For decades, enthusiasts pointed out the 1936 250cc New Imperial unit construction racer was the last British machine to win an IoM Lightweight TT. The claim stood until 1981 when Lancashire’s…

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  • The yellow motorbike revived

    The yellow motorbike revived

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    Many years after parting with his last, lamented M21, Mr Wilson is once more a contented soul. Sometimes, the classic motorcycle planets do appear to align. Looking back over a lifetime’s riding, of all the British bikes I had owned, I found the only one I really regretted having let go a dozen years before,…

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  • Barred!

    Barred!

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    Geert de Boer adjusts the throttle lever on the right handlebar to three-quarters open, closes the air lever, floods the carburettor and sets the magneto lever on the left bar to nearly full advance. Then he rolls his bike forward as he turns the coffee grinder handle on the left side of the petrol tank…

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