Features

Norton Jubilee This fine pair of Norton Jubilees are owned by Malmesbury Classic Club duo Terry Brock and Malcolm Wright. Terry (owner of the green and white one) is a long-time devotee of the Norton lightweight twins and has been featured several times in The Classic MotorCycle in the past (and became camera shy on…

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Sunbeam Supreme TT classic motorcycle road Then imagine how you would have felt when somebody asked you for a ride, on a busy morning, in the traffic. Re­hearse your reply. David Nairne Clark coped like a man, though a source close to the family leaked the information that, in the sub­sequent 15 minutes, he wore…

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Harley-Davidson 45 sidevalve (pdf) Tough, dependable, and not very fast, the 45 cubic inch Harley-Davidson side-valve was what American motor cycling was all about from 1930 to the early 1950s. A product of the terrible depression and then the war years that discouraged creativity and innovation of design, the 750cc Harley catered to a market…

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Ariel 4G and Watsonian sidecar test (pdf) From the point of view of the family man who may be in a position, finan­cially, to buy the cheapest of current new cars simply as passenger-carrying transport, yet who seeks, nevertheless, to stay a motor­cyclist, the combination represented by the 997cc Ariel 4G model and Watsonian 'Warwick'…

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1938 Earls Court Motorcycle Show (pdf) What the show reveals: Widespread adoption of rear-wheel springing. No fewer than nine different makes of motorised bicycle – cycle-type machines which any cyclist can learn to ride in a matter of minutes and which afford handy, inexpensive personal transport. More lavish use of colour and chro­mium on both…

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1914 Douglas Ladies (pdf) History books do not, on the whole, serve women well. With a few exceptions women's achievements, though they may be lauded at the time, are soon forgotten. This is never truer than after a war. During both world wars women were urged and encouraged to take on heavy manufacturing work, work…

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1927 BSA 500cc single (pdf) Big Slow and Awkward. That was the reputation of Birmingham Small Arms' range of dependable but boring motor cycles. But this 1927 Sloper is some­thing else. Fitted with a TT carburettor, the engine gulps a petrol-air mix with no consideration for fuel economy and packs a punch that has the…

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1953 BSA A10 650cc road test (pdf) On an ‘mph per pound’ basis, the B.S.A. 'Golden Flash' must be one of the least expensive high-performance projects offered to the buying public in post-war years. In fact, every mile indicated on the speedometer at the machine's maximum speed, costs approximately forty-two shillings and sixpence : a…

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Indian Warrior: why it failed (pdf) Brutish but durable, the massive vee-­twin has always held a fascination for American motor cyclists, brought up in the traditional "New World" philosophy that big and tough is better than small and refined. There were, of course, valid reasons why American motor cycles should have evolved along different lines…

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Gnome et Rhone (pdf) Hardly had the smoke lifted from the battlefields of France after WWI than the famous British aircraft company Sopwith revealed plans, and a proto­type, of a radical new motorcycle designed by Granville Bradshaw of the All British (Engine) Co Ltd — ABC. ABC had made a name immediately pre­war with a…

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