Down the years I have acquired defunct projects many times. Projects is the operative word here, in case you were wondering. I’m drawing an imaginary (but compulsory) line between a project involving rebuilding a bike and a special, which is somethin

➤ The Ashford CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE SHOW and bikejumble opens 10am to Ashford Livestock Market, Ashford, Kent TN24 0HB. The date may be April 1st but it’s no joke! Plenty of private entries plus indoor and outdoor jumble and trade stalls. Worksho

Great to see John Young’s 1200Triumph in RC238. However, the fourth cylinder was most definitely not added on the right. Both triples and fours have their engine centre on the chassis centre line. Because they share the same petrol tank, the cam driv

Staring into the abyss of the collapse of the British Motorcycle Industry can make you a little obsessive, and the odd jewel or glimmer of lost hope is always both a joy and a sadness to discover. Take, for example, this motorcycle. It was not made b

Frank commented on measurements of power output recently. One fully Brexified horse will deliver 746 watts. A metric horse (PS) delivers 1000 watts. 30PS is equivalent to 40hp. Tom Gaynor, member All is revealed. Thanks! Frank W ■

In the UK, Suzuki (Gt Britain) Limited first imported and assembled machines between 1963 and 1965 from spare AMC premises at the rear of the James factory in Gough St, Birmingham. Although no actual trials machine was offered by Suzuki at the time,

There aren’t many motorcycling organisations which survive and thrive to celebrate their hundredth anniversary. We mentioned the Sunbeam MCC recently and then - like London buses - here comes another one. Based in the Guildford area, this organisatio

I had a look at the 650 Gold Star in my local dealership. I was impressed overall but a couple of questions came to mind. The pillion peg tubes have so many welds: why? Looks like they were assembled from a number of stock tubes. More importantly, am

The talented Peter Gaunt was one of the first riders to spot the potential of the little Bearcat. He was a trials rider with James, but as the AMC empire began to disintegrate so the competition shop at James was axed. However James had been importin

The astute among you might’ve noticed something a little odd about last month’s magazine. I’m referring to RC239, the March issue… although what you received claimed to be the April / May magazine. There was also a bright red bubble on the cover whic

I totally agree with Frank’s view about the use of LED headlight bulbs in motorcycles. I have them fitted in three of my four bikes, purely to make it easier for other road users to see me. I also don’t choose to ride at night (that’s when the kangar

Some friends recently let me know that my Moto Guzzi appeared in RC234, when my wife Cheryl and I were mentioned in a letter that recalled a trip in 1974. We bought our 850 GT Guzzi in Melbourne, Australia, but took delivery of it in Switzerland. We

BSA’s parallel twin was both inspired by and intended to compete with Triumph’s Speed Twin. The latter was - as you know - famously designed by EdwardTurner. What you may not know is that the same Mr Turner worked for a while on the design of BSA twi

The weather just before the Bristol Classic Bike Show was pretty foul, and the forecast was wet and cold – conditions in which starting the Scruffy Suzuki has become a bit‘iffy’. Since PUB had a plan to round trip via friends and family (and is getti

REALCLASSIC READING: BIKES & BATHURST Bathurst was Australia’s first inland settlement the other side of the Blue Mountains, 130 miles northwest of Sydney. It was founded in 1815, the same years as the Battle of Waterloo. The town is best known aroun

I’ve been shouting at the TV for some years, usually when some twit gets the name of something wrong or uses American pronunciation. Recently I have been noticing more and more in supposedly technical magazines that people give items the wrong name.

Interesting to read of George Todd in the fastest Bantam in the world article (Ollie’s OddJob in RC238). Back in 1969 I rather fancied one of George’s high compression cylinder heads on my new Bantam D14/4. I rode out to George’s house and he showed

Most of us have experienced that sinking feeling when we go to start our bike and we hear the click-click of the solenoid but not much else. It usually happens when we are in a rush to go somewhere! The chances of this happening increase if you ride

As always I enjoyed the latest edition of RealClassic (RC238) but I was particularly struck by Rowena’s Members’ Enclosure. It was a very evocative description of the reality of producing a small magazine, particularly in its early days - no Clark Ke