Features

This beautiful AJS V-four was scratch-built (the build was featured in our November 2006 issue). Ground-up rebuilds like this sit in the grey area between ‘replica’ and ‘new bike’. It is a very handsome machine. While it may be an ugly topic and not one that many classic motorcycle devotees like to spend much time…

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Explaining to Bruce what to expect. Derek looks on. During the 1920s, the bosses of several firms cast their lines into the waters of the 1000cc ohv V-twin pond, but most quickly found that the lake was if not devoid of stock, then running low. There really wasn’t the numbers to sustain a host of…

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The film career of Harry Lorraine was not one of particularly great renown due to the fact that records from that period (the 1920s through to the 1930s) are fairly scant… and because filmography was not as advanced nor as widely accessible as it is today. Lorraine was involved with films and filmmaking for several…

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British woman Theresa Wallach became first vice-president of the Women’s International Motorcycle Association (WIMA). Here, she’s pictured at Pikes Peak in Colorado, US, in 1949. In the immediate aftermath of the so-called ‘Hollister riot’, the AMA called a press conference, at which it was later alleged that a figure of 1% was used to differentiate…

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The Maudes Trophy team. From left, Len Crisp, S Slader, Tim Robbins, Bert Perrey and Bob Holliday, with the 6/1 and sidecar which covered 498 miles in 500 minutes. When designer Valentine Page joined the Triumph Cycle Co in 1932 he knew he would have to come up with some fresh ideas – and fast.…

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The 1929 type ZS UMP GP works replica uses a genuine 175cc ‘Brooklands’ Villiers engine. For approaching half a century, father and son Henri and Michel Gagnaire have been collecting Monet et Goyon motorcycles. And 12 years ago, when their collection outgrew their homes, they did the obvious thing – open a museum dedicated to…

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In town the Aermacchi is excellent, nippy and possessed of rapid acceleration allied to its good balance. Behind is North Leicester Motorcycles (NLM) workshops, where the Aermacchi was for sale. Though this Ala Verde has gone, call NLM (01536 263381) for similar Italian beauties. Sometimes, one somehow misses a certain motorcycle. This has been my…

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Andy lets the KSS special stretch its legs on one of Somerset’s country lanes. If you’re a connoisseur of the superb range of bikes that rolled off the Hall Green production lines, then you might be a tad confused when you take a look at this machine. The engine is readily identifiable as that of…

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These bronze statues were intended to be placed at the north curve of the AVUS, which was formerly a popular racetrack in Berlin but is now a controlled-access highway that forms part of autobahn 115. However, the onset of the Second World War – and the resulting legislature that banned the use of bronze for…

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Magni pictured to the left of motorcycle number 73. Little more than two months after celebrating his 90th birthday, one of the most illustrious figures in Italy’s rich panoply of motorcycle history has passed away, with the death on December 2, 2015, at his home at Samarate northwest of Milan, of former MV Agusta team…

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