News
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Seen at the ’66 show
Words: Richard Rosenthal Photographs: Mortons Archive With the British motorcycle industry struggling, the Labour Government appeared hell-bent on finishing it off. Due to an ailing economy, purchase tax rates were sky high, then Westminster hiked minimum HP deposits from 10% to 40% as motorcycles, including commuter mopeds, lightweights and scooters were reckoned ‘luxury items’. Still,…
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Ramsgate records shaved
Photographs: MORTONS ARCHIVE George Brown and Reg Gilbert put up new times on the seafront. Taking place at the end of September 1961, the Ramsgate sprint attracted most of the big names of British sprinting, with George Brown top of the bill, who had his 1000cc Vincent V-twin special and 250cc Ariel two-stroke twin both…
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Indian uprising
Words and photographs: Mark Stone All early Indians were big V-twins, right? Not so, as this unusual single (truly half a V-twin) proves. Time spent in the company of Richard Lancaster highlights this agricultural engineer’s interest in classic motorcycles has far exceeded that of a passion. Besides the tools of his trade – namely tractors…
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Comet-h the hour
Words: Roy Poynting Photographs: Terry Joslin This is actually from a year before the James model name ‘Comet’ was coined, but is in all essence the same model. I’ve had great affection for James’ motorcycles since I took to the roads on an old Comet as a teenager, and while I’ve since had several other…
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Cafe society
Words: TIM BRITTON Photographs: GARY CHAPMAN The label ‘classic’ is applied to all sorts of things from music to architecture through films and furniture – the Gold Star is a motorcycle for which the word could have been invented. As I wait by the side of the road for photographer Gary Chapman and Tony Clarke…
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The Cunliffe Brough
At the Stalybridge Speed Trials, Jack Cunliffe launches his Brough-Superior JAP Photography: MORTONS ARCHIVE On last month’s news pages, we used a picture from the Brooklands Then and Now show, of a pair of Brough Superior SS100s, one of which was finished in a striking lilac-and-nickel finish. This was (and is) the Cunliffe Brough. Seeing…
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Editor’s Welcome
The last couple of months have really flown by, in a flurry of events, road-tests, race meetings and running repairs. There’s been some really great riding, some top company and a rich array of motorcycles. Diversity has always appealed to me, pretty much in every walk of life, and particularly with regards to my motorcycling.…
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Banbury in bloom
Organised by the VMCC, the biggest gathering of running vintage and veteran machines doesn’t disappoint in 2016. The Vintage Motor Cycle Club’s 68th annual Banbury Run took place on Sunday, June 19, starting at what has now become the event’s home, the British Motor Museum (formerly the Heritage Motor Centre) at Gaydon in Warwickshire. With…
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Draganfly turns 40
It’s the summer of 1976. A long-haired chap of 24 is fixing bikes from a rented shed, dreaming of working for himself. A chance offer from a London borough council and the hippy from Glasgow had his own shop (at the bargain price of just £5 a week). Forty years on and Roger’s little East…
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Book Review: ‘Sox’ Gary Hocking – the forgotten World Motorcycle Champion
Gary Hocking was born near Newport, South Wales in 1937 but grew up in Southern Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe when his family emigrated in 1947. Nicknamed ‘Sox’ because of his aversion to wearing them, he used his first motorcycle to travel to and from his engineering apprenticeship in the city of Bulawayo,…
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