Classic Bike
June 2021Classic Bike helps and inspires enthusiasts to get more from their passion for classic motorcycles. The magazine shares their fascination with motorcycling’s heroic past while also helping them buy, fix and improve the bikes in their shed. Our main areas of content are: - Inspirational and entertaining reads that celebrate the glory of motorcycling, from riding stories that put the reader in the seat of history’s greatest bikes to incredible racing tales - Restoration stories and instructional features that inspire and help people get their tools out and sort out their old bike - In-depth technical features from the most expert and authoritative writers in motorcycling If you share our passion about classic motorcycles from the last century, you'll enjoy reading Classic Bike.
in this issue
harvey mushmam motorcycle fun on every sunday
HATS OFF TO HARVEY This issue of Classic Bike is our tribute to Bruce Brown’s On Any Sunday, the ultimate motorcycle movie that was released in 1971 – a film that had a massive effect on me, and I’m sure many others, in shaping our motorcycling lives. A film that, even today, continues to inspire. One of the key characters in the film was Harvey Mushman, a guy who lived and breathed motorcycles and liked nothing more than to race his Triumph desert sled or Husqvarna motocrosser at weekends. That spirit, in essence, was the message of On Any Sunday. Of course, it focused on the exploits of some legendary motorcycle racers – every cinema production needs its leading characters. But ultimately the film was a tribute to all the guys like Harvey,…
slide rules
OBITUARY WAY WE WERE EVENTS YOUR CLASSICS LETTERS As a motorcyclist, I can’t count the amount of times I’ve watched On Any Sunday – and I know for a fact I’m not alone in that. For some people, the legacy of the classic Bruce Brown film is insignificant – a nod to a different time, perhaps, or an interesting look at Steve McQueen. For many motorcyclists, they are glad that things have moved on since 1971 and would never think to look back at that era in some sort of golden light. But I’m sure many of you reading this will know that what Bruce Brown captured was something special. Something that has been lost from the world we live in now, but something worth preserving the vestiges of – be that…
dick mann 1934-2021
Although short in stature, Dick ‘Bugsy’ Mann was a giant figure in US motorcycle sport. In a career stretching from the 1950s to the 1970s, Mann was twice US Grand National Champion, won two Daytona 200 epics and was the first of only three racers to win rounds in all five of the championship’s disciplines: the mile, half-mile, TT and short track on dirt, plus asphalt circuit racing. He won a Bronze Medal in the 1975 ISDT, shone in motocross (a sport he helped launch in the USA), campaigned for track safety and built frames for dirt track and off-roading. Mann was truly versatile, but his special skill was racing on rough tracks. “Anyone can be a superstar on a track as smooth as asphalt, but dirt track can be brutal,”…
the way we were
Reaching a Zenith Cherished photos capture John Saunders’ dad and uncle on tasty inter-war tackle THE PHOTO ABOVE right is of my dad, Frank Saunders (born 1904) on a mystery bike in Acton, West London in the early 1920s - scarily, no front brake visible! Frank and his older brother Syd owned many renowned bikes in the 1920s and ’30s, including a Triumph Model H, Rudge Multi, Zenith, Douglas and OK Supreme. I am fortunate to have photos of some of them handed down to me. The pic of Syd on the Rudge Multi (right) was taken in the back garden of the family home in Chatsworth Gardens, Acton, West London around 1920. Syd was a draughtsman for various aircraft companies, then ended up being a lecturer in Newport, Isle of Wight,…
mine’s a bud
MY FAMILY ARE all very much into custom builds and restorations. Myself, my brother Sam and my dad David have built many bikes over the past few years - all leaning towards the off-road style, as we come from a trials background. Over the last few years I’ve restored an RT360 Yamaha and built a BSA C15 trials bike, but as my 30th birthday was looming in April last year I was looking for a present to myself. I came across a 1970 Triumph Daytona T100R being imported by Huggy’s Speedshop in Atherstone (now based at Mallory Park); I had dealt with these guys before - they are top notch and were very fair with the price. So the deal was done and the long six-week wait for the bike to…
nothing compares to z
This Z900 arrived in my family in 1993, having been purchased by my brother from the previous owner, who was a chap known to him. We knew then that the bike was cherished and had never been out in crap weather. The bike at this time still had very low recorded mileage. During my brother’s ownership the bike was stored in my garage, during which time I occasionally rode it to keep things ticking over, and to keep the MoT updated - but over time he lost interest in it, so in 2011 I made him an offer and became the owner. It has never been restored and is serviced and kept polished by myself. I have most of the old MoT certificates to verify the mileage. The only major parts…
