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1964 Velocette LE MKIII The LE Velocette was such an oddball that it’s a sitting target for criticism. It weighed and cost more than half as much again as a contemporary BSA Bantam, but didn’t go much faster. Its complicated engine relied on old-fashioned side valves, and it appeared to have been styled by the…

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Indian Scout Daytona (pdf) Standing alongside his immaculately restored Indian Scout, Ken Burian looks ust like any other proud owner at contours meetings. However, this motorcycle is not just something he acquired to restore in retirement, but a machine he had a hand in creating. Not only that, but the immaculate side-valve V-twin is even…

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Yamaha V-Max The V-Max was the most American of Japanese bikes: conceived, largely designed and initially sold only in the States. It resembled a two-wheeled Yank muscle-car, with big alloy air-scoops jutting out from the side of its dummy fuel tank. The fact that the chassis was barely able to cope simply added to the…

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1922 TT Triumph Ricardo (pdf) Well, there is one man who will be able to say whether or not the 1922 TT-type Riccy turns out to be a delightful super-sports roadster, and he is the 1984/5 Association of Pioneer Motor Cyclists (APMC) President, Ormonde Gurr, of Great Brickhill, Beds. Something of a specialist in four-valve…

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1930 AJS 996cc Vee-twin The massive 996cc supercharged AJS twin was certainly handsome, but it was a thorough-going pig to ride. So declares George Rowley, for­mer works racer and trials man for the company. "We were down at Brooklands, passing-out R7 racers, when Bert Collier came over and said: 'You are our Number One, you…

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1951 Ariel VB 598cc I don’t suppose that the few large side-valve singles still being made in the mid-1950s feature on many Christmas present lists. Such machines had abandoned their sporting pretensions while flappers were still dancing the Charleston; and being unashamedly marketed as sidecar tugs in the age of Rock’n’Roll wasn’t likely to set…

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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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