Road Tests

This Thruxton lookalike performs just as well as it looks, sharing many traits with the machine it apes, and having provided years of solid service. Words: ANDY WESTLAKE Photographs: GARY CHAPMAN Speeding along the wide, empty roads of West Wiltshire, with my head tucked down over the Velocette’s silver/grey petrol tank, it needed little imagination…

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1937 BSA G14 The British heavyweight side-valve V-twin reached its zenith in the 1930s, with models like this G14 BSA proving popular with sidecar men especially. Long of wheelbase and of stroke, the big twins provided plenty of lazy power, delivered with the minimum of fuss – and revs – in a smooth, continuous and…

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1937 BSA G14 The British heavyweight side-valve V-twin reached its zenith in the 1930s, with models like this G14 BSA proving popular with sidecar men especially. Long of wheelbase and of stroke, the big twins provided plenty of lazy power, delivered with the minimum of fuss – and revs – in a smooth, continuous and…

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Velocette 350 MAC and 250 MOV Some things in life, like strawberries and cream, go so well together that it can be hard to imagine them apart. Roger and Jane Franklin have overlapped their tastes to such a degree that you can tell, just by looking at them after 34 years of contented marriage, that…

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Velocette 350 MAC and 250 MOV Some things in life, like strawberries and cream, go so well together that it can be hard to imagine them apart. Roger and Jane Franklin have overlapped their tastes to such a degree that you can tell, just by looking at them after 34 years of contented marriage, that…

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For nigh on a year, I’d been receiving regular phone calls from Hugh Brown at The Bike Shed, which started in the same way. “You been down the gym then?” Hugh would start. “Well, I hope you’re at least hopping up and down the stairs on your right leg…” he’d go on. The reason for…

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For nigh on a year, I’d been receiving regular phone calls from Hugh Brown at The Bike Shed, which started in the same way. “You been down the gym then?” Hugh would start. “Well, I hope you’re at least hopping up and down the stairs on your right leg…” he’d go on. The reason for…

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Unsurprisingly, Tony East’s stunning Huntmaster outfit is a hit with the children. Grandchildren, neighbour’s offspring, friend’s siblings and almost every child who sees the outfit beams. Aged seven when this twin left Ariel’s Selly Oak factory, I’d have taken no prisoners to guarantee first go in the Garrard GP’s dickie seat while older female cousins…

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Unsurprisingly, Tony East’s stunning Huntmaster outfit is a hit with the children. Grandchildren, neighbour’s offspring, friend’s siblings and almost every child who sees the outfit beams. Aged seven when this twin left Ariel’s Selly Oak factory, I’d have taken no prisoners to guarantee first go in the Garrard GP’s dickie seat while older female cousins…

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Norton Dominator Model 88 I wonder if Edgar Lawrenson of Lancaster is still with us, or if any of his relatives read The Classic MotorCycle. If so, they’ll be fascinated to learn that the Norton he bought in October 1953 is still going strong. Of course, all man/machine relationships evoke some curiosity, but several factors…

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