Real Classic December 2021

I’m in the slightly strange position of not knowing whether to wish you a Happy Christmas! or a Happy New Year! Magazine printing schedules and postal deliveries being particularly challenging at this time of the year makes it impossible – so I’ll wish you both. How’s that for efficiency and bonhomie? And what a year it’s been. I cannot pretend that I felt wildly optimistic when penning this page twelve months ago, and indeed the year started off slowly – from a motorbicycling perspective – but wound itself up as the months progressed and the countryside opened up for us all to enjoy ourselves after the dark months. Which is when one of the few snags about living in the West Country arose: the arrival of Caravan Man. One result of…

The acclaimed relaunch of the historic Indian brand by Polaris has been one of the two-wheeled success stories of the past decade, in marking the latest chapter in 120 years of tribal turmoil representing the fortunes of America’s oldest and most historic motorcycle brand, ever since the Indian Motocyde (s/c) Company was founded back in 1901 in Springfield, Mass. This time around, Indian really is back for good, and posing a serious challenge to the two-wheeled supremacy of its two years younger Harley-Davidson rival. But imagine shoehorning an engine into the rolling chassis of a modern Indian Chief, replacing its OHV motor with a smaller-capacity yet higher-performance powerplant aimed at securing bragging rights over Harley-Davidson. Unthinkable, surely? Yet that would be today’s equivalent of just what happened just over 70 years…

Summat to say? Send your comments, hints, tips, tales of woe and derring-don’t to: RCHQ@RealClassic.net PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATIONS Like Frank, riding for me has to have a destination to aim for. Our roads in Canada are mostly wide smooth and fast with corners that are best taken as fast as you can (surely the only way?). The Sea to Sky Highway from where I live to Whistler is a good example. Having said that, there are times where the higher speeds such roads demand aren’t always what a rider wants. At such times I like to travel on the quiet back roads where the circumstances dictate a much slower, 30-40mph speed at which the Guzzi Ambassador excels with its low-down torque. To sit back and quietly burble along through sun-drenched meadows and shadowy forest,…

he T140 special featured in RC210 was built by Nige at D&N Engineering for one of his customers. That particular bike harked very much to a certain period of flat track racing, what with its Gene Romero styled paint job an’all. Whereas this particular bike deliberately straddles two eras, and is one Nige built for himself as a keeper – for reasons which will become as obvious as they are poignant. The concept is a simple one. The Real Reader might recall 1977, and a somewhat abortive attempt to introduce at least the spirit of flat-track racing to this country. Bulmers Cider were sponsoring grass-track racing in the UK at the time, to promote its Strongbow brand. Somewhat randomly, the company sponsored theTriumph factory to build six or seven flat-track-styled grass-track…

A long time ago, in a city far, far away... I shared a flat with a truly great guy; ace guitarist, enthusiastic motorcyclist and enormously smart. A doctor, in fact, although not of the medical variety. Barrie’s doctorate was in the then cutting-edge art (or possibly science) of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Even today I have trouble spelling that. Barrie rode a Norton, a 650SS, often considered to be the best of the pre-Commando Norton twins. It looked great, complete with its leather-lookalike tank cover, Dunstall Decibel ‘silencers’ and swept-back pipes, all topped off with one of those truly vile quilted plastic foam seat covers. This last wasn’t a performance enhancement; it was an attempt at preventing rainwater soaking the highly absorbent Norton seat. It failed. The actual performance kit, however, produced…