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  • South of England success

    South of England success

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    There was a record attendance at the final Elk Promotions event for 2016, at the South of England Classic Show on the familiar Ardingly Showground, on October 23. Guest of honour was Jim Redman, and this time a fire-up paddock, inspired by Jim’s stellar race career, added a further dimension to proceedings. A number of…

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  • Delighted Rotary winner

    Delighted Rotary winner

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    The National Motorcycle Museum’s summer 2016 raffle to win a 1990 Norton F1 Rotary 588cc motorcycle was drawn by road racing superstars Carl Fogarty, John McGuinness and Ian Hutchinson at the ‘Museum Live’ open day at the National Motorcycle Museum on Saturday, November 5. First prize was won by David Schofield, from County Durham, with…

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  • Shed and Buried

    Shed and Buried

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    A motorcycle-mad pair of TV engineering detectives are on the hunt for forgotten and hidden treasures tucked away in the sheds of Britain. Travel Channel presenters Henry Cole (above) and Sam Lovegrove are about to film their next series which sees them rifling through the lock-ups and sheds of the UK. In previous series they’ve…

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  • Series A just short of world record

    Series A just short of world record

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    At its November 15 sale at Donington, H&H sold a Series A HRD Rapide, recently discovered among a job-lot collection in Japan, to a British buyer bidding on the phone for £267,696, just short of the £275,000 world record. The rare survivor had been carefully stored in recent years and not only do the frame…

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  • The wrong Ernie?

    The wrong Ernie?

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    I believe that reader Howard McKay (TCM, November 2016) has got his Ernies mixed up when he mentioned the nice ‘Ernie Lyons BSA racer.’ This machine was actually built in 1952 by Ernie Earles of Elms Metals in Birmingham. An impressive looking machine, with its duplex all-welded aluminium tube frame, housing a possibly ex-works BSA…

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  • Simple pleasures

    Simple pleasures

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    Words: Roy Poynting Photographs: Terry Joslin This two-stroke, two-speed Levis is a fine example of an early vintage ride-to-work machine. Some visiting American friends once saw one of these delightful little machines and exclaimed “gee, that’s neat, a motorcycle with the same name as our jeans!” Well, for the record there’s absolutely no connection between…

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  • Silver streak

    Silver streak

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    Words: Steve Wilson Photographs: Gary Chapman This 1956 Thunderbird is a rolling demonstration of why these soft-tuned, iron-engined 650s were the ultimate Triumph twin for many experienced riders. Triumph’s 6T Thunderbird was held by many ‘in the know’ to be the all-round best of the firm’s twins. Sales manager Ivor Davies, the late guru restorer…

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  • Beauty from the beast

    Beauty from the beast

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    Words: JAMES ROBINSON Photographs: GARY CHAPMAN MV’s 4C, introduced for 1966, was not what prospective purchasers and schoolboys the world over dreamed of. Imagine if MV had made this instead… Amulti-cylinder MV Agusta roadster had been the dream of enthusiasts ever since the four-cylinder racer made its bow in 1950, with the R19 Turismo shown…

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  • Matchless to Israel

    Matchless to Israel

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    In June 1950 a pair of enthusiasts from England set off on two of Plumstead’s finest, bound for Israel. W A Ingram and his cousin Ken set off from Newcastle headed for Israel, on two practically new rigid-frame 500cc Matchless G80 singles; the motorcycles were largely standard, apart from the additions of windscreens, air filters…

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  • Book Review: The Honda Gold Wing

    Book Review: The Honda Gold Wing

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      Classic Four-Cylinder Bikes Author: Peter Rakestrow Published by: Amberley Publishing, The Hill, Merrywalks, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 4EP Tel: 01453 847823 Email: [email protected] www.amberley-books.com Softback, 165 x 235mm (portrait); 96 pages with approx. 100 photographs. ISBN 978-1-4456-5717-2 £14.99 Honda stunned the motorcycle world in 1969, with the launch of its fabulous four-cylinder CB750. Then Kawasaki…

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