Features

1951 Norton International Model 30 It’s a built up area, so I’m trying hard to keep a low profile on the highly tuned ohc 500cc single. It isn’t easy. The slightly crouched riding position is comfortable, but more suited to the open road than suburbia. And a metronome-like tickover is not an option with the…

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1973 Healey Square Four This Healey 100/4 may look familiar to longer-term readers of The Classic MotorCycle, and it was indeed featured previously on our pages, in the October 2002 issue. But the chance to put it through our photographic studio was too good to miss – it’s such an authentic, unrestored and important example…

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1968 Norton Fastback Commando Initially, the Commando was somewhat derided for its rubber mounted engine, swinging arm and rear wheel, and the styling as first displayed was toned down by the time production was started, with the first ones delivered in May 1968. Between then and 1978, when the last batch of Commandos was assembled…

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And they’re off! The track at Isipingo beach (a seaside resort built on a high ridge of sand at the mouth of the Siphingo River, 19km south of Durban in Kwazulu-Natal) witnessed some ‘terrific riding by the two southern centre men’ on their Matchless Metisses. The two ‘won the heart of the South African crowd’…

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Triumph LS 350 For Triumph, all the ‘famous’ models were really 500s or above, through the Model A, Model H, Ricardo, Speed Twin, Thunderbirds, Bonnevilles. None of them were in the 350cc class, a category that for many manufacturers was crucial, particularly in the immediate postwar period. While BSA sold its B31 in vast numbers,…

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1955 Ariel Model KH Chaps who were in the trade in the 50s have told me with authority that different batches of new bikes – and even different parts of the same bike – might well be finished in slightly different colours. This was understandable with the incoming metallic finishes, but it also happened with…

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 12.1 megapixel camera from Comley Cameras Mortons Media has launched a competition to find Britain’s best motorcycling photographers – just send in your finest photos (maximum two entries) and show us what you can do. These could be great pictures of your bike, racing shots or something else that sums up life…

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1962 Norton Dominator 650SS This Norton Dominator 650SS was restored in quick time by retired Stoke based engineer Bob Francis, who bought it at the Stafford October Classic Motorcycle Mechanics show in 2007. The Dommie was up, running and stunning in time for the April Stafford show. Bob, a long time Norton man, started his…

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BSA B25S Starfire To put it kindly, BSA’s unit-construction singles didn’t exactly enjoy the best of reputations; and that was despite seeming initially to have everything in their favour. First in the range was the 1958 C15, and compared with its C12 predecessor – recognisably based on the pre-war C11 – it was significantly lighter,…

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1923 Triumph SD Restoration guru Robin James was at pains to point out to me that this Triumph hasn’t been the subject of a full restoration. “We’ve only worked on the engine, gearbox and forks,” he tells me, as I look over the overall smart but not immaculate vintage Triumph. The 1923 SD has had…

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