Features

John Wallace and the Duzmo (pdf) The programme for the 1922 Olympia Show listed 310 exhibitors of one sort or another, of which no fewer than 94 were displaying complete motor cycles. All the well-known names were there, of course — BSA, Matchless, Norton; but there were shoals of makes whose names are now forgotten…

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1926 Brough Superior SS100 (pdf) What does the sight of a Brough Superior SS100 make you think about? If your answer is "money, and lots of it" you're probably not a motorcyclist. Say "Lawrence of Arabia" and you're getting warmer. But why focus on the marque's most famous casualty? That's not cricket. I like to…

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Triumph Daytona road test (pdf) Code-named T100T, it is the Daytona Tiger, directly evolved from the machine which took Buddy Elmore to victory in America's gruelling 200-mile classic race this year. Racing know-how benefits other models, too, for the new frame of the Daytona Tiger is employed also for the existing single-carburettor 349 cc Tiger…

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1932 Triumph 500 CD The motorcycling world was a very different place in 1931. Competition machines back then bore a close resemblance to the sort of machine that could be seen propped up against countless factory walls in the week. And with good reason too. Most of those machines were one and the same before…

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MV Agusta four cylinder engine If there's one thing that's difficult to dis­cover about the MV Four, it's hard facts. One might imagine that such things as bore and stroke measurements were fairly easy to ascertain, yet look in any two books on the subject and you are likely to find two different sets of…

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Calthorpe Ivory (pdf) When Calthorpe launched the Ivory in 1928 it gained immediate acclaim from press and public alike. "The two-port super model is entirely new and is certainly one of the most attractive machines in its class" declared Motor Cycling on September 12th, 1928. "At 147 this machine, with its original finish should attract…

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1958 Royal Enfield Bullet The Royal Enfield Bullet must hold the record for the longest continued production run for any motorcycle in the world. Though there have been changes and alterations over the years – including of course the relocation of the main manufacturing site to India. Malmesbury man Alan Jones’s 1958 Bullet is an…

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Norton Commando 1968 Reading-based Peter Weait is no stranger to these pages, his S-type Commando having been featured previously, plus we’ve a rare R-type that will be appearing some time in the future. But in this issue, we’ve decided to focus on – literally – his immaculate early Fastback Commando. It was at the London…

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Norton Commando S Type Former sidecar motocross racer Peter Weait has owned this S Type for six years, having bought it after it returned from America  and comprehensively restored it. Though the Commando was complete when he acquired it, there was plenty for the Reading-based man to do. But he’s not one to hang around…

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