Classic Bike Guide

this month’s witterings

UNLIKE MOST, I LIKE MONDAYS. I GET to read the various club mags that have come through, I may even peek through a rival mag or two, and then start on my chores. This week was the turn of ‘Horizontal View’, the mag of the Cossack Owners’ Club, and it had some fantastic stories inside. I don’t understand some, it has to be said, but the enthusiasm and amusement I get from the mag is brilliant – and I don’t even have a Cossack! I also like the reason behind why people have Cossacks. One journalist I know, and it has to be said, normally respect, wouldn’t be seen dead on any bike unless it was perfectly restored, well-revered and usually costly (he drives a Range Rover – get the picture?).…

bantam weight

The BSA Bantam flew through many people’s lives in one way or another. From 1946 until 1971, the two-stroke, unit single became a byword for lightweight, easy to ride and generally reliable transport; and, for many, the route to larger bikes. The design for the engine was taken, as it was by others, from German manufacturer DKW after the Second World War from their RT125 model. This was what the world needed to get moving again and the RT125 was simple to manufacture and a great design to boot. And simple to copy too, although BSA decided to produce the engine with a right-hand gear-change and imperial fixings to integrate with the rest of the range. The 123cc engine made between 4-5bhp from the loop-scavenged two-stroke design running a 24:1 petrol/oil mix,…

guy martin’s great escape

STEVE MCQUEEN MADE A BIG IMPRESSION ON bike riders all over the world when he jumped a Triumph over a barbed wire fence in The Great Escape. His air force leather jacket, chinos and blue sweatshirt with cut-off sleeves added to the ‘King of Cool’ legend. But McQueen didn’t make the jump. That was his close mate, Bud Ekins. So North One Television, who make Guy Martin’s programmes, along with Triumph Motorcycles and Dick Shepherd came about the idea to not only recreate the famous jump, but to clear both barbed wire fences – a feat not managed in the film. As with many things in TV, it’s big business. Working with North One Television, Guy’s TV programmes typically attract four million viewers in the UK and another 20 million in about…

find this wedding day star twin

READER JOHN KING is trying to track down his old BSA for a romantic reunification. John writes: “I’m hoping for readers’ help. In 1960, I bought a BSA A7 Shooting Star and later that year my fiancée and I were married, on July 23, in Chester. “Following the wedding reception, we set off on our honeymoon to Minehead, Somerset, on the A7 Shooting Star, registration number YTC 843. “Later this year we will have been married for 60 years, celebrating our diamond wedding anniversary. It would be marvellous if we could make contact with the current owner with a view to having our photograph taken with the old bike, 60 years on.” The Shooting Star is still on the DVLA database and a new registration document was issued in September 2018.…

triples to race the waves

THE TRIDENT ROCKET Three Owners’ Club (TR3OC) is to field a five-man team campaigning three triple-engined machines at Race the Waves, Bridlington, on May 8-10. The event, organised by Backfire Promotions, is a “Retro Theatre of Auto-motion” extravaganza that harks back to the motoring speed events on the Yorkshire Sands. The event will feature 1950s hotrodders, custom cars and motorcycles and the TR3OC will have a club stand. Now in its third year, Race the Waves will be held on the South Shore beach at Bridlington. In addition to purveyors of steampunk, alternative lifestyle and Goth, and displays of classic motorcycles and scooters, Race the Waves includes a beach race run along the lines of a sprint. TR3OC has entered three very different machines for the beach races. The machines, kindly loaned for…

charterhouse auctioneers welcome george beale

RACER, RESTORER AND REPLICA builder George Beale has joined the ranks of experts at classic and vintage motorcycle and car auctioneers Charterhouse. “Contrary to common belief, George has not retired but has joined us,” said Charterhouse’s Matthew Whitney. “He has a lifetime of experience, during which time he has consigned five of the top 25 motorcycles auctioned in the world for clients and holds the highest price for a client’s Brough Superior SS100 sold at auction.” George has always been a competitor, whether on two wheels or four. His sporting career started in 1965, when he competed in motorcycle trials and scrambles, and continues today – he was a class winner in the 2018 Gordon Bennett Classic Car Rally. In between, he started restoring and collecting motorcycles in 1970, became a Yamaha…