1959 Norton Model 50 Years ago, I was about to buy a Featherbed-framed Norton Model 50 just like this one, until the vendor reneged on the deal. “You probably wouldn’t have liked it anyway, because
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Category: Road Tests
Road Test: Moto Guzzi S3
1977 Moto Guzzi S3 ‘Like a Lear jet parked alongside a Boeing 747’ was the way journalist Mike Nicks described Guzzi’s newly introduced 750cc S3 on its launch in 1975. The low, lithe S3 was
Read moreRoad Test: Velocette LE MKIII
1964 Velocette LE MKIII The LE Velocette was such an oddball that it’s a sitting target for criticism. It weighed and cost more than half as much again as a contemporary BSA Bantam, but didn’t
Read moreRoad Test: Ariel VB
1951 Ariel VB 598cc I don’t suppose that the few large side-valve singles still being made in the mid-1950s feature on many Christmas present lists. Such machines had abandoned their sporting pretensions while flappers were
Read moreRoad Test: Triumph 500 CD
1932 Triumph 500 CD The motorcycling world was a very different place in 1931. Competition machines back then bore a close resemblance to the sort of machine that could be seen propped up against countless
Read moreRoad Test: Vincent Rapide
1939 HRD Vincent Rapide “I believe you guys call it the plumber’s nightmare — round here we simply call it the nightmare”, laughs Stan Gillis, the American restorer who had the job of making the
Read moreRoad Test: BSA Gold Star Scrambler
1960 BSA Gold Star/Catalina Scrambler Some nuggets of advice, no matter how well intentioned, are far from encouraging. Robin James is telling me how to make a quick start on his Gold Star scrambler; “You
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