• Ariel Leader
Back in the day, Ariel promised magnificent steering, road-holding and performance from its ‘turbine-smooth’ 250 twin. David Brindley’s recollections suggest that was pretty much what he got when he bought one in 1960…
• BSA B44 Victor Scrambler
Most genuine scrambles bikes saw a lot of off-road competition action and were endlessly modified in pursuit of performance. Dave Blanchard reports on a surprisingly standard Victor Scrambler
• Excelsior Consort Lightweight
Back in the 1950s, Excelsior weren’t shy about proclaiming the merits of their motorcycles, claiming to produce the ‘world’s leading lightweight’. Roger Kirkman chose a Consort to return to British biking
• Harley-Davidson WLA
Harley’s military sidevalve 750, with its foot clutch, hand change, three-speed gearbox and Thompson sub-machine gun can take a bit of getting used to. Owner Roger Newark has just about got the hang of his after a quarter-century in the saddle
• Laverda 3CL, Jota and RGS
Steven Troupe always regretted getting rid of his old Laverda 3C. Three decades later, he finally found a replacement in the shape of a 3CL. But it was obviously lonely because, in no time at all, along came two more triples to keep it company…
• Moto Guzzi Lodola
The Moto Guzzi rebuild project has been running for several months and now this 1960s Moto Guzzi single isn’t far off being started for the first time. That might prove tricky without a kickstart, however, and several other vital components including the drive sprocket have gone AWoL…
• Puch 250 SGS
When is a twin a single? Or a single a twin? When it’s both. Which is what a split-single tries to be; a two-stroke engine with the best of both worlds. Frank Westworth explains this unusual Austrian engineering idea, sold by Sears as the ‘Twingle’ in the USA, and rides the results
• Velocette Mac & Thruxton
Rowena Hoseason investigates the beginning and end of Velocette’s post-war motorcycle production, encapsulated in two very different four-stroke singles. Veloce started by building a bike for everyman, and finished with a bit of a beast which few were man enough to handle…
• Technical tips: electronic ignitions
Dave Whiting takes an economical approach to his classic motorcycling. So when an expensive electrical component on his BMW Boxer went on the fritz, he came up with an inexpensive solution
PLUS! Recreating a Great Escape, in which a group of British bike riders revisit the scene of the 1939 ISDT which came to an abrupt halt when hostilities broke out; Jacqueline Bickerstaff goes to the Prescott hillclimb; Dave Minton remembers a schoolboy adventure by Bantam to Italy; readers write about petrol rationing, baby Boxers, fitting engines into frames, bead-breaking without a sweat; and there’s news, events, small ads and all sorts (apart from Triumph twins, because apparently it’s possible to have too much of a good thing…)
? Subscribe to RealClassic
? Buy this copy to RealClassic
Or read it on your desktop: subscribe to the digital version of RealClassic – now available for iPad and Android and Nook.
RealClassic – running, riding and rebuilding RealClassic motorcycles
