Road Tests

At a time when the café racer was king, the December 1964 issue of Motorcycle Mechanics announced the arrival of a yellow emperor. The machine was described as a Vin-Nor, following the convention of prefixing a hybrid with the engine manufacturer’s name. The garish special combined a 998cc Vincent V-twin with a Norton Featherbed chassis,…

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Abingdon King Dick Model 78 You can just imagine the ribald comments a present-day rider would get if he or she rode a motorcycle made by a firm called King Dick. And that’s not just me being unduly sensitive or prurient, because when I did a bit of Internet research on the firm I found…

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Immaculate AJS Model 18S Hampshire-man John Craven is a self-confessed AJS/Matchless nut. It could hardly be otherwise when he was born into a similarly obsessed family, and actually travelled on an AJS before he was even born; his expectant mother being whisked to the maternity hospital on the back of his dad’s Silver Streak! That…

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Some people find it hard to comprehend the enthusiasm older Sunbeams arouse in their owners, and that’s quite understandable. They were unquestionably nicely designed motorcycles with decent performance, but so were several less prestigious machines made around the same time. And while Sunbeam’s as-new finish was legendarily well above the norm, many old bikes from…

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NSU Quick 50 Mopeds may not be your scene and, for you, conjure up images of comedian Jasper Carrot’s moped man. But when they’re as well engineered as this top of the range Quickly, they’re worth a second look. On the continent, mopeds – like all other lightweights – were taken seriously. Although clearly aimed…

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1962 Aermacchi-Harley-Davidson Ala Verde There nothing like an Italian motorcycle to polarize opinions, is there? Non-believers say they’re all style and no substance, with lousy electrics and a self-destruct finish, while their fans feel that their styling is really important, and that it is usually backed up by above-average performance. The archetypal Aermacchi is a…

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1965 Harley-Davidson XLCH Sportster True, Harley's XLCH was expensive compared to other large motorcycles and would hold its value, either intact or in pieces. It was also showy enough to stand out in any car park and had a reputation as a hot-rod, at a time when its performance – and especially acceleration from rest…

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SOS DW SOS surely has the most pleasing symmetry of all the motorcycle makers who ever traded under a set of initials. The letters changed their meaning during the commercial life of the trademark, although their shapeliness remained encapsulated in the monogram of a rotating wheel right through to the final models. The SOS manufacturing…

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1938 Ariel NG De Luxe The owner and restorer of this Ariel, Mike Lymn, is a man who gets things done. Whether it be house building, gun remanufacturing, artwork restoration or bringing old motorcycles back to life, Mike relishes a challenge, and for his first restoration he didn’t pick a particularly easy project, one for…

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1955 Vincent Black Prince Effective armour and high speed rarely combine in nature, save in those instances where man has defied evolution. Such combinations are usually memorable, as when Edward of Woodstock carried a weight of protection into battle on his powerful charger during the 14th century, or when British Railways standard class 9F locomotive…

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