Features

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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Rare Harley-Davidson XA The horizontally opposed BMW-style 750cc model XA Harley-David­son is a sure-fire attention grabber at any motor cycle gathering—but as is so often the case with rare machines there is a long, long tale a-winding behind this particular Harley; one which led owner Jim Dowdall all the way to Wildcat Ridge in California.…

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Norton’s experimental 800cc dohc The need was pressing, the calendar relent­less. Under Dennis Poore, the Wolverhampton-based Manganese Bronze Holdings company (owners of Villiers Engineering, to name but one) had acquired the wreckage of the collapsed Associated Motor Cycles empire. Now, a determined effort was to be made to salve the Norton name from the Plumstead…

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1939 HRD Vincent Rapide “I believe you guys call it the plumber’s nightmare — round here we simply call it the nightmare”, laughs Stan Gillis, the American restorer who had the job of making the 1939 HRD Rapide on these pages roadworthy after decades of inactivity. The glittering 1000cc V-twin, which left Britain over 20…

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1960 BSA Gold Star/Catalina Scrambler Some nuggets of advice, no matter how well intentioned, are far from encouraging. Robin James is telling me how to make a quick start on his Gold Star scrambler; “You just get your weight well forward, stick it in third gear, wind the revs up and drop the clutch.” It…

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II Mulo Meccanico military three wheeler There’s a subtle irony in the fact that the Triking, a sporty little Morgan-like three-wheeler currently built in Norfolk should utilise the power unit and transmission of the transverse vee-twin Moto Guzzi motor cycle; because in truth that engine – or, more correctly, the progenitor of that engine –…

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