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Endurance Legends is on!
Endurance Legends has been confirmed for May 12-13, 2018, at Donington Park. This promises to build on the inaugural event from 2017 to showcase classic endurance racing at its best. The organisers Classic Bike Track
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Endurance Legends is on!
Endurance Legends has been confirmed for May 12-13, 2018, at Donington Park. This promises to build on the inaugural event from 2017 to showcase classic endurance racing at its best. The organisers Classic Bike Track
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New recruits add to Bonhams’ experience
Bonhams motorcycle department has added two experienced consultants, Greg Pullen and Dave Hancock, to the team. Greg Pullen has been a Ducati fan since childhood and is a respected authority on motorcycles. He is also
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The World’s First Ducati 350
Back in 1960, the biggest motorcycle model that Ducati made was just 200cc, so most people would have considered anyone talking of turning that little bike into a 350 racer to be certifiably insane.
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Bright sparks
Anyone who has taken note of the electric bike scene can’t fail to have noticed how far it has advanced over the past few years, from an interesting novelty to a more serious contender.
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New European series will recreate golden era at iconic racing venues
A new international series for classic race bikes of the 1970s and 1980s has been launched. It will bring together three of the most popular four hour races across Europe and provide race classes
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Winter wonderings
I’ve been chatting with friends who’ve ridden the latest phenomenon, Ducati’s Panigale V4. Phrases ‘game changer’ and ‘revolutionary’ were banded around. It’s not ‘just’ the 214bhp (in standard, warranty-friendly road trim) V4 MotoGP inspired engine.
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The long quest for ‘King Dick’
Mention the words King Dick and most polite people will simply think ‘spanner’
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Manx Radio continues Southern 100 link-up
Southern 100 Racing has announced that Manx Radio will continue to be the official broadcast partner for all the races held on the Billown course for 2018. Manx Radio has been broadcasting the Southern 100
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Higher-archy
Years ago I was interviewing the legendary Mick Doohan. At the time, the Aussie was pretty much at the height of his power. Doohan was, outwardly, in command and harshly honest – not only
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Mick Doohan: Developing the Honda NSR500
Mick Doohan and the Honda NSR500 formed the most formidable and successful partnership of the 500cc era of Grand Prix racing that ran from 1949 until 2001. The NSR scored a total of 133 GP wins between
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The BSA-750/3: Born quickly
The Highboy-framed BSA-3 which Mike Hailwood raced in the 1970 Daytona 200 is in the Barber Museum in Alabama, but the fate of his 1971 Lowboy bike is less certain. Taking the frame of
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New TTRA President
At the annual TT Riders’ Association luncheon, held at the National Motorcycle Museum in October, Richard ‘Milky’ Quayle took over from Alex George to become president for the coming year. A staunch supporter of the
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Lois On The Loose
A modern-day motorcycle adventurer, Lois Pryce has crossed continents and survived all manner of mayhem to tell the tale —
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Tony Scott
World famous engine tuner Tony Scott died recently after a hard-fought battle with illness. Tony was revered within the racing world for his ability to get the best from racing four-stroke engines, something he did
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Christmas classic
Dear CBG I quite agree with the article in the January issue, you just have to pick your days and wear appropriate clothing. Chris Sawdon Love it! A safety Santa! Thanks for sending this in,
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The Classic Motoring Review
Shock! Horror! These vintage vehicles have more than two wheels! If that gives you a complete conniption fit then you’d
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MoT exempt – hurrah! Or is it?
I don’t watch the news any more. It gives me a little more time in the workshop, and to my less-than-academic mind it seems the world is run by sociopaths trying to look after themselves
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TEXAS TORNADO AT ISLAND CLASSIC
Hot on the heels of Aussie Troy Corser announcing he will ride in the 2018 International Island Classic at Phillip Island over the weekend of January 26-28, former US World Superbike champion, Colin Edwards, has
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Two-Wheeled Blitzkrieg
The motorcycle played an essential role during WW2 on all fronts. Among the soldiers of the Third Reich, motorcycles served
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In his own words: Benedicto Caldarella
My participation in Europe for the works Gilera team was a boy’s dream come true. Back in 1957, when I was 17, I accompanied my father, Salvador, who was racing a 500cc Gilera Piuma in
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Thanks for keeping it real
As a recent subscriber I would like to comment that I really enjoyed the December issue. I was particularly impressed by the GPO Bantam story with its good blend of interesting old bikes and social
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Around The World On A Motorcycle
Ready for another armchair adventure? This travellers’ tale goes back 90 years to the era between the world wars, when
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Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Mike’s TT Comeback
Arguably the most memorable and emotional moment in the TT’s 110 year history will be central to the celebrations at next year’s Classic TT presented by Bennetts, which forms part of the Isle of Man
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1950 Vincent 998cc Rapide Series-C Touring Model – Bonhams Las Vegas Motorcycle Auction 2018
Ever since the Series A’s arrival in 1937, the Vincent v-twin has been synonymous with design innovation, engineering excellence and superlative high performance. From Rollie Free’s capture of the ‘world’s fastest production motorcycle’ record in
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The Ginger Molloy story
Whenever Ginger Molloy and his mechanic Gary Williams travelled on the Continent they either slept under the stars, between the bikes inside the van, or even on top of the bikes using a thin foam
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MODS AND ROCKERS – A NEW WAY OF LIFE FOR NEWARK JANUARY SHOW
ELEMENTS of the scooter/motorcycle rivalry of the mid-60s will be showcased at The Carole Nash Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic show. The motorcycling event, now in its seventh year, takes place at Newark Showground on
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On the G50 Metisse
Dear CR It was nice to see the line drawing of the G50 Metisse in CR 187. The machine as drawn would be 1967 spec onwards. The front forks were 1966/7 and the front and
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The changing face of trials
Your editorial in issue 44 of Classic Dirt Bike magazine really shocked and saddened me. I was vaguely aware that real motorcycle trials – maintaining forward motion over a difficult terrain – had been overtaken
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KAWASAKI SANDWICH
Editor Tony’s little quiz to identify the two riders in the Kawasaki sandwich in the great archive shot in the last issue of Classic Racer caused great interest, with my inbox jammed with correct answers
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Suzuki’s Katana Endurance Racer
There’s an understandable beam of pride that comes from Tim Davies and Nathan Colombi when either of the two men talk about the Suzuki GB/Team Classic Suzuki Katana race bike – and it could be
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Lansdowne Season End
The last two meetings of the year, both with the CRMC, were at the Donington Festival in August and their Race of the Year at Brands in October. Donington was a four-race programme with 41
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Thermals? Check. ‘I’m just popping out, dear’
All that well-intentioned squit last month I wrote about workshop jobs to do? Well, I, er, there’s an issue. You see, as lucky as it is working around bikes, you are constantly reminded just how
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Passion fruit
Recently, I found myself sitting with cleverer people talking about motorcycle racing. Yes, I quite agree – finding people cleverer about racing than me is not exactly the world’s toughest task – the average empty
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YZR500 The OW60 family line
Yamaha’s RD56 factory racer which took Phil Read to the 1964 250cc World title really did use a disc-valve motor which profited from MZ technology – purloined by Suzuki from the DDR’s MZ, by enabling
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Lone Rider: around the world by BMW
Back in the early 1980s, Elspeth Beard took her broken heart, packed up her BMW airhead boxer, and rode it
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Sexy Suzuki RGV500 rebuilt!
Kevin Schwantz’s 1989 Pepsi Suzuki RGV500 was restored to full working order at the recent Motorcycle LIVE event. The iconic Grand Prix machine was completely stripped, before being carefully and meticulously restored by Team Classic
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Anniversary Blade book coming!
The 25th anniversary of the Honda FireBlade (or Fireblade post-2004) was in 2017 and a new Mortons’ bookazine is coming along in 2018 to celebrate this fact. Written by our own editor Bertie Simmonds, it
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Mackenzie Hodgson Insurance
Triple British Superbike Champion Niall Mackenzie and World Superbike Champion Neil Hodgson have become insurance salesmen! With many race and former race stars fronting up big bike insurance companies for their own gain, this is
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Honda Valkyrie
Honda’s six-cylinder ‘power cruiser’ certainly turned heads when it arrived two decades ago. It turned out to be an inspired
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Vincent Black Shadow
When the Vincent Black Shadow was announced in 1948 it wowed the world with a top speed of 125mph. Since
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Torrens: the classic motorcyclist
Back in the days of black and white, when the Green ’Un and Blue ’Un ruled the motorcycling roost, journalist,
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Ride Of My Life
In Ride of My Life, racer and writer Frank Melling tells of a few of the bikes and experiences, bad
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In balance
Loading the shed The prospect of planning a new workshop is exciting. How often do any of us have the chance to lay out a workshop from scratch? A chance to build what we want
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French sale
There’s a fabulous, eclectic range of machines on offer at Osenat’s sale, at the Salon Moto Legende in Paris, on Saturday, November 25. Ranging from a host of engines – mainly from French machines –
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Lone Rider
35 years ago, Elspeth Beard became the first British woman to ride solo around the world, and she accomplished this
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Only Bounders Ride Motorcycles
By Pete Kelly I sometimes think that Yorkshiremen are born with dry humour – and it simply falls from the pages of Ken Mellor’s self-published book, Only Bounders Ride Motorcycles, 100 Years of Family Motorcycling.
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A Racing Read
For British motorcycle road racing fans of the mid-1960s to mid-1970s there was no better racer than Peter Williams. Usually
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Perspective, perspective
A pretty big chunk of my little downtime these past few weeks has been spent watching some amazing races via my Duke DVD collection. And whilst I’m watching the thrills and spills of childhood heroes
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Feisty talk
Dear CR What an excellent letter from Gordon Chatterton (Classic Racer issue 187). It really sums up the current state of play, particularly with regard to the TT races. No longer the domain of the professional
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Mr Springsteen
Dear CR Thanks for another great issue of Classic Racer. Your article on Jay Springsteen was awesome… but you failed to mention that #9 still road races! He’s been riding an XR at the Barber
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Ducatis are a hit
Recently I was at Newcastle airport in a magazine shop searching for a good read for my flight back home to Hamburg. What I saw I did not expect – I found your good Classic
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Jim Curry Hot stuff
Qualifying a written-off road bike on the front row of a Grand Prix grid ahead of Phil Read and Jarno Saarinen was just one high point in a career that embraced some of the best
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Absolutely gorgeous!
When a factory makes a handful of motorcycles – only a handful – to race at the highest level in one of the most competitive championships ever seen, you get this. What a bike. What
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Classic TT 2017
Where else other than the Isle of Man would you find a top current British Superbike contender, a leading female racer and an OAP all in top-six contention? In five years the Classic TT has
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Tears and joy at Gedinne
Local rider Alain Vandriessche was delighted to qualify on pole for the IHRO races one and two at Gedinne, a feat not lost on the Belgian crowds who love to cheer on one of their
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Lansdowne update Cadwell Park and Castle Combe
It’s not often you can visit Cadwell and be blessed with sunshine, but this time we were lucky. Dean Stimpson, the leader in the Bonhams Championship, took pole position on Nick Izzard’s Manx, with Glen
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Harry Pearce 1923-2017
The funeral has taken place at Poole Crematorium of H A (Harry) Pearce, the very first motorcycle road race winner at Brands Hatch, who passed away peacefully aged 94, after a short illness. Originally from
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Colin Edwards Snr
Colin Edwards Snr, 72, of Montgomery, Texas, passed away on September 18, 2017. He was born on September 12, 1945 in Sydney, Australia. Colin, first and foremost a proud dad and grandpa who loved being
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ÁNGEL NIETO 1947-2017
Spain’s 13-time world champion and so-called ‘king of the tiddlers’ Ángel Nieto passed away on August 3, from head injuries sustained in a road traffic accident a week earlier. This saw him thrown off a
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Motorcycling in the 50s
Raiding the bound volumes of the old ‘Green ’Un’ and ‘Blue ’Un’ weeklies in Mortons’ impressive Archive month after month for Old Bike Mart material, this reviewer loved the black and white, almost ‘scrapbook’ design
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Kiwi Aaron Slight brings the sun to a packed Stafford Classic Bike Show
EX-WORLD Superbike star Aaron Slight showed that he really is ‘The People’s Champion’ as thousands of visitors packed into the huge annual event to meet their hero and take advantage of the autumn sun. Compere
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Don’t Miss The Stafford Classic Bike Show This Weekend
STOP what you’re doing, cancel your plans and clear your diary. This weekend is the Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show at Stafford, the weather’s set fair… and you simply HAVE to be there!
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Isle of Man TT, The Golden Years, 1963-1982
Encompassing the years 1963 to 1982, Isle of Man TT, The Golden Years, brings those exciting years back to life with 108 unforgettable images.How this reviewer remembers the crisp, smooth sound of Max Deubel’s fabulous
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Triumph factory insight
The author of Tales of Triumph Motorcycles and the Meriden factory, Hughie Hancox, was a Triumph factory man who started work in the repair shop as a teenager and worked his way up through the
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No MOTs for 40-year-old bikes!
From May next year, MOTs for cars and bikes 40 years or older will be abolished. That means that any bike registered before or around 1978 will be exempt from the yearly safety check and
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Classic Bikes, modern times
Before the interweb, dreams couldn’t be realised quite so easily. When I started riding, my evening ‘blast’ (as much as you can on a Suzuki ZR50, albeit with a slightly tired 80cc big-bore) would
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The Carole Nash Classic Mechanics Show gears up for another huge turnout
It’s just over a month until the world’s biggest and best celebration of classic motorcycles comes to Staffordshire County Showground. The Carole Nash Classic Mechanics Show takes place over the weekend of October 14-15 and
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Suzuki Village at Stafford Classic Bike Show to display a whole host of rare machines
VISITORS to the upcoming Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show – October 14-15 – will have the opportunity to get up close to a variety of rare Suzukis, including the two RG500s which Barry Sheene
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BIKES AT THE BAY SUCCESS!
It was another amazing weekend at the Bikes At The Bay event, down in sunny Kent. The August weather just about played ball and an amazing array of machines turned up over the two-day event
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The beginnings of a wonderful relationship
So why would Bob turn down these works rides and instead decide to stay with Joe, working at the back of a funeral parlour in Bellshill, Glasgow? The answer: Bob was a man of his
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BHR Cadwell Moore has it
Close finishes, a dominating performance and something of a find in the ‘chairs’ added to the memorable BHR meeting for round two of the championship in Lincolnshire. Read more News and Features in the September/October issue of
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Gear up for the Dirt Bike Show!
You really can’t miss Europe’s very best off-road event: the Dirt Bike Show! The event is once again being held across four days – October 26-29 – at its traditional home of Stoneleigh Park in
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Breathing life back into Clara
Initially, the cammy Velocette was anonymous. The bike came about as the result of a discussion between two of the company’s top engineers. It was based on a standard, 350cc overhead camshaft KTT engine but
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Commentator Maurice Mawdsley retires
Long-time anchorman of the race commentaries at the Southern 100 International Road Races, Maurice Mawdsley, has decided to hang-up his microphone, having been ‘the voice of the friendly races’ for 28 years. Maurice took up
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CAUTION WHEN MEETING HEROES
There was much of interest in August’s issue of the ‘Guide‘. I was particularly interested in Paul Miles’ encounter with that well known prewar V-Twin. I too was lucky (unlucky?) to sample the delights
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My memory of Mike Hailwood
Dear CR A sunny morning practice at a very full Braddan Bridge in 1967, it was just like a race day, with everyone waiting for Mike and the Honda. Then that fantastic howl came
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Mechanical Marvel – Moto Guzzi’s 500 V8
Moto Guzzi built a total of six complete 500cc V8 motorcycles, and while these differed slightly in design, they all had the same incredibly compact dry-sump water-cooled engine architecture, measuring 44 x 41mm for a
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Mallory’s brilliant Bonanza
With all the elements for a great weekend of motorcycling nostalgia, the sun-kissed Mallory Bonanza ticked all the boxes for the large crowd of enthusiasts that made the journey to the friendly Midlands track. Saturday
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Brightona 2017 is go!
The Brightona Charity Riders show takes place once more on the front at the famous seaside town and it’s going to be one helluva event. This is a one-day charity event, taking place on Sunday,
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Excited (and excitable)
The past few weeks have seen me attend several meetings with some major players in the racing world . You may be surprised to hear not much of what was discussed centred around modern,
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Age knows no barrier
As you may have read last month, Frank Westworth has now stepped away from creating Classic Bike Guide. Rumours that decades of perfecting the skill of kicking over his trusty steeds taking its toll,
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Jim Redman Assen 1964. The best ever
Agostini – 15 times world champion and racing on public roads? Mike Hailwood – able to win anything, in any conditions and against any opposition? Rossi – beating the toughest racers on the planet and
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Thanks to generous IOMSPC travellers
Collections on board sailings to the Isle of Man during the 2017 TT Festival raised a record £19,465 for the Rob Vine Fund. Since the Steam Packet Company first instigated the collection, a total in
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To maintain forward motion
I’ve pretty much kept out of this whole ‘stop’ ‘no-stop’ debate where trials riding has been concerned, but have been goaded into placing my opinion on record… it is my opinion rather than
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Montesa Cota
I read the last Classic Dirt Bike and liked the short story about the Montesa Cota 310, also as the bike had quite a unique colour scheme. Thank you very much for showing up with
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Diary Dates
Make a date for these upcoming events in your classic calendar… AUGUST 2017 23 Bike Night, The Plough Inn Town Street, South Leverton DN22 0BT Tel: 01427 880323 27 LE Velo Lancs & South Lakes,
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Honda “6” RC165 Isle of Man Classic TT, August 2017
The extended rebuild of Team Obsolete’s 1964 Honda RC 165 250cc six cylinder Grand Prix racing motorcycle is finally complete and will return to the Isle of Man for the 2017 Classic TT to take
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Three cylinders good
FRANK MELLING’S VIEWS were definitely a different slant on the 750 BSA-Triumph triple and, while thought provoking and informative, the article was also bizarrely negative. The collapse of the British bike industry is tragic and
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Feet Up In The Fifties
This is the third book in the ‘Classic Images’ series which uses original photographs that first appeared in the Green
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Want to see Barry Sheene’s World Championship winning Suzuki RG500?
Advertisement feature Two of Barry Sheene’s iconic World Championship winning Suzuki RG500 motorcycles will be on display at the end of this month during the annual Cumbria Steam Gathering. Alongside Sheene’s machines, The Broke FMX
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Want to see Barry Sheene’s World Championship winning Suzuki RG500?
Advertisement feature Two of Barry Sheene’s iconic World Championship winning Suzuki RG500 motorcycles will be on display at the end of this month during the annual Cumbria Steam Gathering. Alongside Sheene’s machines, The Broke FMX
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The 145mph TZ750 Flat Tracker: Banned but not Forgotten
Sideways scrubbing. Looking for traction. Riding what is one of the nastiest machines ever made. There’s a reason why many in the racing world love and fear these things. Not least of all because of
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Lazzarini – Small bore assassin
In the ultra-lightweight classes Eugenio Lazzarini was a force majeure, with 27 GP victories, two 50cc titles and another in the 125cc class. He was runner-up eight times and won four Italian crowns. As if
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Slighty for Stafford
If you’re a fan of the 1990s when World Superbikes was at its best, then you can’t miss this October’s CMM Stafford Show. Why? Well, Kiwi Aaron Slight – undoubtedly the best rider never to win the
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Classic TT 2019 to celebrate ‘illustrious’ Steve Hislop
‘Back to the Future: The Hizzy Years’ will be a celebration of his career 30 years after his milestone.
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Good as Gould
Dear CR In the November/December issue of Classic Racer, you covered the career and success of Rod Gould. He, along with his mum and dad lived next door to me and my parents, and Rod
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Jay Springsteen – Forever Fast
There have been many popular riders in American dirt-track racing across the decades but none have exemplified timeless competitiveness in the Grand National championships across three full decades of continuous racing in the Expert class.
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