From The Archive

1962 Triumph Speed Twin Physical landmarks have traditionally been the most obvious measures of progress and the Triumph Speed Twin is one of these, having influenced motorcycle engineering throughout four decades. The owner of this example, Geoff Pearce, was born two years before the launch of the original model in 1938, yet the 1962 version…

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1957 Ariel Cyclone The Ariel Cyclone is not a particularly well-known model – but if there is one thing an enthusiast will know about the model, it’s that rock and roll god Buddy Holly had one. While the rest of the Crickets went for Triumphs, Buddy plumped for the rather rarer glamour red Ariel. The…

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Triumph TR6SC Now, we wouldn’t normally follow last month’s TT Bonneville with a machine that looks – and basically is – so similar but then we decided to put this TR6SC in straight after the TT Bonnie, pretty much for the purpose of compare and contrast. And though the TT Bonnie last month was a…

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1925 BSA S26 Owner and restorer of this side-valve BSA is Swindon enthusiast Alan Smith, who actually provided the first motorcycle we featured in this Spotlight series, his 2006 Stafford best in show 1928 AJS K7, which featured in the September 2006 issue. This side-valve BSA is pretty much from the opposite end of the…

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1948 Panther Model 60 From the Pioneer days on, many Panthers had the distinctive design feature of being sans a front down tube, the engine doing the job instead. This of course continued right through the production cycle, with the final machines (645cc Model 120s) produced in 1966 still having the same set-up. Model description…

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BSA A65 Spitfire Hornet Derek Gothard is a regular face on the classic concours scene, with his stream of brilliant and quite beautiful unit BSA twins regularly picking up prizes and wowing judges and the public alike with their factory-fresh finish and obvious painstaking preparation. And this Spitfire Hornet is no exception. Meanwhile, Derek’s work…

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1963 Triumph Tiger Cub Triumph supremo Edward Turner knew a thing or two – more, in fact – about motorcycles and subsequently motorcyclists. He knew that a bit of extra ‘flash’ attracted them (see the Ariel Red Hunter and Tiger range of Triumphs when he arrived in Coventry), he realised that conservative tastes meant a…

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250cc Honda four racer Last year's star racing power unit, the Honda two-fifty four earned its laurels by both speed and reliability. As this drawing shows, the engine follows orthodox design apart from employing four valves per cylinder – unusual when the bore measurement is only 44mm. With a stroke of 41mm the engine is…

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