Features

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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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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