Real Classic November 2022

When you reach this issue’s letters pages, you will stumble across a whole chunk of mail replying to a simple question. None of the answers are exactly the same, as you might expect. In last month’s magazine, reader David Stracey expressed strong views on the lack of new bikes offered to riders of that certain age. His list of requirements was decently long, but his central demands were ‘light weight and being able to get both feet flat on the ground.’ I read the letter when it first landed, and I confess that I may have smiled a little, not least because I share the same physical restraints as many others of my personal antiquity and high mileage - not just aboard motorcycles. The main reason for that original smile was because…

During the 1950s and into the early 60s the choice in Britain for larger capacity motorcycles centred around the big British manufacturers. Norton, Royal Enfield, AMC,Triumph, BSA and Velocette were the obvious options for a middleweight sportsbike. The Japanese invasion had not quite started, while Italian bikes were pretty expensive and, well, a bit exotic. The smaller Italians weren’t really considered’ real bikes’so were a bit thin on the ground. That despite the fact that some of the Italian technology was well in advance of the home market industry, with unit construction engines, overhead cams, oil-tight engines and high performance from those smaller motors. Instead, British riders looked to popular models like the pair we have here: the Triumph Tiger 100 and the Velocette Venom. Both were 500cc sporting models, one…

When you reach this issue’s letters pages, you will stumble across a whole chunk of mail replying to a simple question. None of the answers are exactly the same, as you might expect. In last month’s magazine, reader David Stracey expressed strong views on the lack of new bikes offered to riders of that certain age. His list of requirements was decently long, but his central demands were ‘light weight and being able to get both feet flat on the ground.’ I read the letter when it first landed, and I confess that I may have smiled a little, not least because I share the same physical restraints as many others of my personal antiquity and high mileage - not just aboard motorcycles. The main reason for that original smile…

FLASHBACK RealClassic dropped on the doormat this morning, reminding me once again of times past. Back in the early 1970s I was already heavily into motorbikes but still too young to have one. I was an avid reader of Motorcycle Mechanics, which also dropped onto the doormat along with my dad’s newspaper. Back then I’d get myself comfortable and go through the whole magazine assessing what order each article would be read in. This, now as then, is an interesting exercise, with initial lower-interest material often ending up the best read. Recently there has been correspondence regarding what RealClassic should contain. In my experience, it should be kept an eclectic mix which keeps things interesting and fresh. Just as in the 1970s, I end up reading everything from cover to cover. This…

RealClassic TWIN V SINGLE During the 1950s and into the early 60s the choice in Britain for larger capacity motorcycles centred around the big British manufacturers. Norton, Royal Enfield, AMC,Triumph, BSA and Velocette were the obvious options for a middleweight sportsbike. The Japanese invasion had not quite started, while Italian bikes were pretty expensive and, well, a bit exotic. The smaller Italians weren’t really considered’ real bikes’so were a bit thin on the ground. That despite the fact that some of the Italian technology was well in advance of the home market industry, with unit construction engines, overhead cams, oil-tight engines and high performance from those smaller motors. Instead, British riders looked to popular models like the pair we have here: the Triumph Tiger 100 and the Velocette Venom. Both…

The design offices and workshops of the British motorcycle factories of the 1950s, 60s and 70s were littered with promising designs which were supposed to transform the industry but came to nothing. Built by dedicated designers, engineers and apprentices, they include Norton’s Unified Twin, Bert Hopwood’s modular range of Triumphs, the BSA-Triumph Bandit / Fury twins, Triumph’s Thunderbird 3 and four-cylinder Quadrant and Ariel’s 10OOcc flat four version of the Leader. They were all, it was promised, going to keep dealers busy or, by the 1970s, to turn around falling sales. After assorted efforts these machines appeared in prototype forms (except for Hopwood’s modular efforts, which only existed on paper) and then vanished into the mists of time and dusty corners of motorcycle museums. Sadly, senior managers in working environments…