The Classic MotorCycle
-
FROM OUR ARCHIVES: Pretty special
This attractive 500cc replica of a Production TT winner started life as a 350cc Viper. Words: Andy Westlake Photography: TERRY JOSLIN Bombing along the wide empty roads of the Mendips with my head tucked behind the Velocette’s race screen, it needed little imagination to transport my mind back to 1967 and picture myself on the…
-
Flat-tankers on tracks
I and several friends regularly take our flat-tankers to French events such as the Coupes de Moto Legende at Dijon and the Vintage Revival at Montlhery. The opportunities to ride your girder forked motorcycle on a race track in the UK are pretty limited. I have spoken to some UK circuits and it is definitely…
-
Side order
Once the only means of family transport available to the working family, sidecars still have a loyal following. Watsonian helps gets Steve Parrish’s back into fine fettle. Words: Tim Britton Photographs: Gary Chapman Given Steve Parrish’s earliest experience of a sidecar, when he was left sitting in one outside a shop while his older brother…
-
Men who mattered: Albert Catt
“Catt returned to Northampton for a hero’s welcome, having ridden 2557 miles in six days.” There has been a long history of tough, hardy souls chasing long distance motorcycle records, both in the UK and all around the world, but Albert Catt, from Northampton, was arguably the grandaddy of them all – and the toughest…
-
The diminutive Dukes
Mention ‘Ducati’ and we think ‘Multistrada,’ ‘Panigale,’ ‘Monster’, or perhaps 916, 888 or 750SS. Earlier, and our minds conjure up images of Mach 1s and Elites. But Ducati began manufacturing 50cc cyclemotors and for decades built a range of under 100cc models from the superb to the, well, less desirable… Words: Richard Rosenthal Photographs:…
-
Getting it wrong… but making it right
When The Classic MotorCycle ran a Restoration Guide on the BSA Bantam D1 (March 2012), it stated BSA never made a plunger-sprung competition version. This error was picked up by reader John Excell, who had bought a brand-new, plunger Competition Bantam in 1951 from Gray’s, a long-defunct dealer in the Medway Towns. He sent a…
-
Norton memories
I’ve just finished reading your excellent April 2017 edition, with contributions that triggered my motorcycling memories, and now, after 56 years of riding, I find myself writing to a motorcycle journal. Phil Turner asked: “How about you?” at the end of his article on the Super Rocket and SS, which prompted the following: I regularly…
-
Battle of the blues
Rivalry between Cambridge and Oxford universities has taken many forms. Once, there was a motorsport version too. If one thinks of Cambridge (the ‘light blues’) competing with Oxford (the ‘dark blues’) then the contest which most readily springs to mind is the boat race, first held on the Thames in 1829 and then annually since…
-
The mouse that roars
This unrestored Velocette Valiant is living testament to Hall Green design and build quality. But the surprisingly rorty offering would have needed to be 50cc more and £50 less to succeed. Words and photographs: Steve Wilson Andrew Whiting has lived in the same beautiful Berkshire village for some 50 years. It is an altogether fitting…
-
The need to diversify
From our 2016 archive Though his primary interest was producing high-quality performance machines, Philip Vincent was keen to look at other opportunities too. Words: ROY POYNTING Photography: TERRY JOSLIN It’s tempting to think Philip Vincent was an impractical dreamer who bankrupted his company making prestige motorcycles that few could afford, but that would be grossly…
Free Digital Issue
Search
Tags
Bonhams Book of the Week Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show British motorcycle history Brough Superior buy sell motorcycle parts UK Carole Nash Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic Classic Bike Hub Classic Bike Shows classic motorcycle auction UK classic motorcycle events UK Classic Motorcycle Mechanics classic motorcycles Devitt Insurance Editor’s Intro Insurance International Classic MotorCycle Show International Classic MotorCycle Show 2026 Island Racer Isle of Man TT Kempton Autojumble Latest Issue TCM Letters MoreBikes Mortons Archive Mortons Books motorcycle restoration News Normous Newark Autojumble Norton pre-order pre-war motorcycles Sponsored Content Stafford Stafford Classic Bike Show Stafford Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show Stafford motorcycle show 2026 Stratford Autojumble TCM The Classic MotorCycle The Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show Triumph Vincent Vintage motorcycles
