Features

1923 James Model 10 “It’s a mixture of fate and circumstance,” says Don Hunt, recalling the day in 1978 when he suddenly became the owner of a 1923 James Model 10 combination. “I used to go to auctions with my pal Dan Geary and we’d bid as high as we dared for all sorts of…

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250cc Honda four racer Last year's star racing power unit, the Honda two-fifty four earned its laurels by both speed and reliability. As this drawing shows, the engine follows orthodox design apart from employing four valves per cylinder – unusual when the bore measurement is only 44mm. With a stroke of 41mm the engine is…

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Some of those putting on a performance were already established, while others were to be near the top of the racing tree even after the Second World War, which was still six years away. Commented Motor Cycling; “There can be no doubt about the popularity of small circuit road racing, and entrants had been attracted…

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1955 Triumph Tiger 100 This Triumph Tiger 100 has had a couple of narrow escapes in its life. Its previous owner had decided that he wanted to build himself a TR5 Replica and had bought this original and largely complete Tiger 100. He duly took it completely to pieces and promised himself he’d get on…

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AJS Model 16 350cc In this business, being involved with classic magazines, we do get a wide variety of telephone calls. Most, obviously, are from normal and sane folk, though there is the occasional fantasist who has stumbled across our magazine, found a telephone number and decided to ring up with either bizarre requests or…

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1961 Matchless G12 CSR By the late 50s, ‘hot’ twins were the machines that young ‘tearaways’ aspired to. Triumph marketed the Bonneville, BSA the ‘Rocket’ range, Norton the Dominator 650SS, Royal Enfield tried to get involved with their Constellation while AMC – Matchless and AJS – produced the ‘CSR’. Somehow, the CSRs have always looked…

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1953 Norton 40 International Norton’s International was one of the glamour models of the British motorcycle industry, before and after WWII. The overhead camshaft Norton could trace its lineage back to the 1920s, and the Walter Moore-designed CS1. After Moore left Norton for Germany and NSU in 1929, the overhead camshaft model was substantially redesigned…

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1949 Norton ‘Garden Gate’ Race-winning pedigree doesn’t come any more comprehensive than that of the ohc Norton; TT wins, GP triumphs, world championships and of course national and club wins for decade after decade – and still ongoing. There were a host of models, but the pedigree is plain to see in them all. Model…

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This Pilgrim delivery only oil pump is fitted to a New Imperial 250cc Mechanical pumps fall into three groups – feed only, scavenge only and duplex pumps, which serve both roles. Many later total loss engines, often in use during the 1920s and early 1930s, along with some sports engines such as speedway motors, were…

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