Real Classic November 2019

There’s a terrible temptation when putting an old bike back on the road – especially an old bike which has been standing for quite a while. Right at the back of this very issue you’ll find some maniac – that would be me – waffling maniacally away about the joys of riding an old RE Bullet through the winter. It’s all true, too. Except… Except when I tottered out on it the other day to justify the fitting of the world’s tattiest top box by collecting something everso vital for a purpose I’ve now forgotten. Bike running fine. It even ticks over, which is always a little daunting to someone more familiar with ill-tempered old twins, especially twins with twin carbs. Off I pottered, and took a short cut down a lane.…

Arguably the most beautiful motorcycle ever built, it’s no surprise there’s a Hurricane in the Smithsonian Institute. While the history of how the Ogle-designed BSA Rocket 3 ugly duckling morphed into the Triumph X-75 Hurricane surely doesn’t need re-telling, you might wonder what is it about this bike which made it such an obscure object of desire. And what’s it actually like to ride? Like many RCers, I was once svelte, impecunious, and propelled around the mean streets of my adolescence on a variety of the Birmingham Small Arms company’s products, mainly slowly and usually incontinently. The bikes, not me. From the lofty heights of a C15, the Triumph Hurricane was as attainable as Susan George. The triples’ rarity meant I only ever read about them, never seeing one in the…

I’d like to award five service stars to Avondale Welding, who corrected my stupidity and dented pride. Being an impatient chump, I tried pushing my Enfield Continental 250 up the ramp backwards onto the bench on my own. It fell off, breaking the steering lock and allowing the clutch lever bracket to bash the tank. Mike Pegler of Avondale bent a special tool from steel bar which could be wiggled in through the filler cap to support the dent while he played a few rhythms with his small hammers on the outside. The plating is still intact and the blemish is quite acceptable and infinitely preferable to the very costly alternative of cutting open, straightening, welding, replating and repainting. Mike is a real craftsman and has worked wonders for me over…

This photo came to light while rummaging through my father’s old files. He wouldn’t go near a motorcycle, but my grandfather, Donald Bright Hoseason, was a keen rider so we presume this is him. The Rudge looks to be from roughly the right era for a chap who was born in 1899… so unless anyone knows otherwise, I’m claiming this rakish fellow as my grandad! Rowena The photo of my dad on the Ariel was taken in Normandy, not long after D-day. His keen interest in motorcycles landed him a job as an army dispatch rider in the signal corps: lucky him! The Matchless G80 has a special significance because he bought it new to celebrate his 21st birthday, not long after leaving the army. The pic was taken outside my grandparents’…

We’d love to share motorcycling photos from your own family album. So if you’ve got a snap of grandma and grandad on the old combination, or maybe your father on his first bike, then send them to us for this page. There may be prizes for TP’s favourite photo each month… It’s probably easiest to take a digital image of your original pic and send it by email to RCHQ@RealClassic. net but you’re equally welcome to send actual photos (but not prints of scans, sorry) by post, and include an SAE if you want them back. And don’t forget the younger generation – photos of your offspring and their close encounters with classic bikes would be wonderful as well!…

Horex was Germany’s leading manufacturer for almost 50 years either side of WW2, and was in many ways comparable to Britain’s older Matchless marque in terms of product and marketplace positioning, as well as in its road racing involvement. But, curiously, it’s little known outside Germany, despite its products being exported to as many as 65 different countries during the 1950s, though not including the UK. That’s despite its wide range of models having an undeniably British air about them in terms of design, and even styling. Located in Bad Homburg, north of Frankfurt, Horex was founded in 1923 by Fritz Kleeman, 22, whose father Friedrich owned the Rex glassware company, a manufacturer of preservative jars based there, and was also the main shareholder in the nearby engine manufacturer Motorenfabrik Oberursel.…