Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i Classic Bike Guide

RUMOURS ABOUND THAT Bimota, the Italian bike manufacturer, has closed its doors in Rimini for good. Started in 1966 by Bianchi, Morri and Tamburini (Bi-Mo- Ta) to make air conditioning, in 1973 they split to make bikes as well, always using other manufacturers’ engines, but concentrating on making frames and suspension that made the most of the powertrain. They had some success in the 1980 350cc World Championship with South African Jon Eckerold and later on in World Superbikes with Virgino Ferrari and Davide Tardozzi, both of whom would go on to Ducati. But finances were always an issue and yet again, they have reared their ugly head. Hopefully, investment can be secured to safeguard the artisan company, but currently it’s not looking good. Here we see Bill Smith at Ballacraine…

NEWS || EVENTS || LETTERS || INTERVIEWS Fancy a brand-new Moto Guzzi? Then you have just a few days to sign up for the company’s interest-free credit scheme. Moto Guzzi is also offering a PCP scheme at 5.2% APR over 37 months. The deals end on September 30. For example, on the interestfree scheme, a new V7 Stone, the cheapest model that Moto Guzzi sells in the UK, would cost £249 a month over two years with a deposit of just over £2,000. The PCP plan requires a deposit of £1,880 and monthly payments are lower too, at £99 a month for 37 months, plus a final payment of £3,300. The deal is available on all three V7 models and the V9 Bobber.…

EUROPE’S leading indoor off-road event will see live action from 12-time trials world champion Dougie Lampkin’s display team. The Dirt Bike Show has been redesigned for 2017, as organisers Mortons Media Group look to build on a successful 2016. New features added to the show this year include a Motoball match between France and Germany, where the four-strong teams will go wheel to wheel and try and score past the opposition goalkeeper, who is on foot. There will be the Minibike Supercross track, the Wall of Death, and many other have-a-go experiences. The Dirt Bike Show is once again being held across four days – October 26-29 – at its now traditional home of Stoneleigh Park, in Warwickshire, in partnership for a second year with oil and lubricant giant, MOTUL.…

HIGH-END sports bike manufacturer Bimota is reported to have departed from its plant in Rimini, Italy. The factory has been gutted and the signage removed. Bimota has been in financial trouble for several years, ever since a disastrous decision to try and build its own two-stroke v-twin engine turned out to be a costly mistake. In recent years the company has tried to make money by marketing a clothing range and Bimota bikes, using Ducati engines built in Switzerland by the firm’s latest owners from stockpiles of parts. With the closure of the Rimini factory it is sadly unclear how long this operation can continue.…

THE 43RD GLAMIS Extravaganza certainly lived up to its name with a vast array of interesting and unusual machinery. With 1500 vehicles dating from 1890 to the present day, and more than 100 motorcycles on display. The regularity run proved popular on the Saturday and it was great to see a large number of owners clubs present exhibiting a broad range of machinery. Entrants also had the option of visiting Glamis Castle or simply soaking up the sun while perusing the assortment of bikes, trucks, steam engines, cars, buses, tractors, stationary engines and military vehicles. A packed programme of events over both days saw representatives from most classes in the ring with a very informative commentary on each vehicle. A fairground organ provided background music while a fire show kept…

BELL MOTO 3 HELMET MY FRIEND HUGH bought this classic looking Bell Moto 3 helmet on looks originally, for when he’s riding his Honda XR600. Hugh also has a more modern, more usable flip-up lid for practicality, but when I see him, he’s always wearing his Bell – so what’s it like? “I fell in love with it when I first saw it as it looked like the helmets we had when we were younger (the original Bell this is modelled on was the first full-face off-road helmet). It took a little while to bed in – I thought I’d got too small a size, but after a while it became really comfortable – and still is. I don’t travel long distances and rarely go above 70mph on the XR,…

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 take me down the B-road, via potholes, roadkill and farm detritus to the small town of Wymondham, Norfolk. Wymondham (pronounced Windh’m round these parts) wasn’t as big as Dereham, there wasn’t the other bikes to chase that you had in Norwich and the girls weren’t as pretty as up on the coast, but it had Chris Clarkes Motorcycles. By the time I got there it would be closed, but the Ducati and Aprilia dealer had large, full-height windows for me to stare through, just like an enormous computer screensaver. It was my equivalent of surfing a…

MUTT Motorcycles has opened its first shop in the heart of Birmingham. The company offers a range of 125cc customs and has resurrected the New Imperial name with 125 and 400cc models. Mutt’s new store is based in an up and coming retail and business area known as the Custard Factory, in Digbeth, and showcases its range of lightweights and upmarket custom creations. The company’s workshop is on site so buyers can pop in for any Mutt requirements, from demo rides to servicing to commissioning a bespoke build. Along with the full range of bikes, one offs and other custom machines, the store sells motorcycle clothing and accessories with some of the finest brands in the industry, including Belstaff, Deus Ex Machina, Roland Sands, Rokker, Biltwell, Bell, Hedon, Knox, FTH,…

HARLEY-DAVIDSON is launching eight new higher-performance Softail models for 2018 in the face of renewed competition from Japan and a resurgent India. The company says the aggressively styled 2018 Softail models are faster, lighter and offer better handling than any of their Big Twin cruiser predecessors. The Softail now has a lighter, more rigid frame, while maintaining the look of a hardtail. A new high-stiffness, carbon steel tubular frame, combined with a new swingarm, increases the rigidity of the chassis, which has half the component parts of the previous model and 22% fewer welds. The new Softail models are up to 17kg lighter than before, improving the power-toweight ratio, providing better braking and increased lean angles for many models. New seat designs and materials have been designed to provide an…

FOR THE LAST 30 years the quiet, tucked away village of Wimbotsham, just outside King’s Lynn, Norfolk, has turned itself into one of the largest gatherings of classic bikes in East Anglia for the August bank holiday Monday. This charming show started out as a few friends meeting at the park bench and quickly grew in size to fill the pub car park. Although one year was cancelled due to the foot and mouth disease outbreak, it’s now grown to eclipse the entire village, with the local pub putting on guest beers and friendly residents putting signs outside their house declaring ‘free bike parking’. The show bikes take pride of place in the primary school playground, trade stalls and club stands frequent the playing field, visitors in cars are allowed…

NORTON ADDED A bit more muscle to its Dominator range in 1956, when the 497cc parallel-twin Model 7 was dropped, and the Model 88 was joined by the 596cc Model 99. The 66mm x 72.6mm bore and stroke of the 497cc Model 88 were increased to 68mm x 82mm on the Model 99, giving 596cc, an extra 99cc. Both machines enjoyed the benefit of confident handling, attributed to the combination of Norton’s wideline featherbed frame, their famous Roadholder forks, and relatively good brakes. In common with the Model 88 of the time, the 99 had a light alloy cylinder head with integral rocker boxes, deeper fins were introduced in 1960 on the 99 for greater cooling. Norton’s Dominator twins were solid and reliable, good steady sellers for a public who…

If you were a penniless but promising young racer back in 1982, the Yamaha RD350 Pro-Am challenge provided a dream platform to fire you into the limelight. Identical bikes were handed out to professional, established racers and young, up-and-coming upstarts alike, by picking keys from out of a helmet, so there were no shouts of ‘fix’ The racing was fierce, physical and at times, plain dirty, with plenty of elbows and even legs out action – reaching out to hit a rival’s kill switch was not uncommon – pros defending their egos against the young ’uns with a point to prove. And to cap it all, most races were shown on Saturday afternoon TV, giving many a couch sports fan their first taste of bike racing. The championship ran for…

A NEW Enfield-based one-litre V-Twin engine has been launched by the founder of Carberry Motorcycles – as Royal Enfield develops its own parallel twin 750. The Carberry V-twin is created from two Royal Enfield single-cylinder barrels mated onto a new crankcase. Creator Paul Carberry has relocated to India to build his Double Barrel V-twin. A new company, Dream Engines and Modifications, has been formed by Jaspreet Singh Bhatia and Paul Carberry. It is resurrecting the Carberry Motorcycle, which had ceased production in Australia in 2011 after fewer than 15 bikes were produced. The engine uses the latest Enfield cylinders and heads and has a five-speed gearbox. The proposed frame for the upcoming complete bike is made from cold-drawn tube and the primary drive is upgraded with a sevenplate clutch. Initially,…

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LIKE MANY BRITISH bikes, the American market enjoyed Royal Enfield’s Constellation (badged as the Indian Apache) a year before it came to the home market in 1958. Launched as “A motorcycle for real enthusiasts only” the solidly muscular Connie oozed raw power. Royal Enfield’s Constellation and Super Meteor were, for several years, the largest British twins available. An interesting alternative to Triumph and BSA’s 650cc twins, the Connie’s 692cc motor offers plenty of grunt, with bags of torque and brisk acceleration, proving an extremely fun ride with plenty of usable power on tap throughout the rev range. Marketed as one of the fastest roadsters in production, the Constellation featured special cams, high-compression pistons, machined induction tracts, special valves and valve springs. Claiming a maximum speed of around 115mph, adverts suggested…

Clews Competition Machines are masters of survival. For over 40 years, the team at CCM have built a niche making scramblers, road bikes, racers, adventure bikes and now, as much a surprise to themselves as to anyone else, custom bikes. But looking at their skillset, if there is an area that suits the expertise of the Bolton factory, it’s customs, where their attention to detail and innovative ideas are appreciated even more. CCM founder, Alan Clews, was a newsagent who liked going scrambling at weekends. Like many riders in the Seventies, he wanted a decent scrambler and the BSA was the best at the time, but they wouldn’t sell him one. So he built one himself, firstly with frames and parts from the defunct BSA competitions department, then making his…

In 1974, Mike Hailwood was already a nine-time motorcycle world champion and was enjoying a new career as a Formula 1 driver in a Yardley-sponsored McLaren. But just months after this photo was taken, he was involved in a terrible accident at the German Nurburgring circuit, which would end his car days and see Hailwood retire to warmer climes, in New Zealand. But four years later, as we know, Mike the Bike returned to bikes in the Isle of Man TT in 1978, taking a dream-like win for Ducati. Meanwhile, a young James Hunt was on the up. 1973 was his first year in Formula 1, with the enigmatic Hesketh Racing team running a March chassis. In 1974 the British team, bankrolled by Lord Hesketh, had their own car, which…

This year marks a very important anniversary. Thirty years ago saw the showroom debut of the Ducati Desmoquattro (eight-valve) V-twins, the most unique and successful series of production motorcycles the modern era has seen come to the marketplace, via the race track. Yet it would have been hard to envisage at the start of the 1980s that a decade later, Ducati would end up defeating both Honda and Yamaha to win the World Superbike Championship with a twin-cylinder racer. For by 1983 the Italian company was at a low ebb, with fewer than 3000 bikes a year trickling out of its Bologna factory as this was increasingly turned over to diesel engine production, having passed in 1978 into the hands of the Rome-based VM Group, a state-subsidised manufacturer of industrial…

THAT YAMAHA’S BIG single remains a minority interest is proof positive that Yamaha made the same mistake as many other manufacturers – they came unstuck by following the demands of vociferous customers, who then didn’t buy the bike they had been so stridently demanding. Throughout the 1980s there was a consistent call for a true classic big single – a bike drawn directly from the same gene pool that spawned the likes of BSA’s Gold Star and the Velocette Venom. The arguments for the sporting single were strong and persuasive. With a narrow engine, the rest of the bike can follow suit and the single concentrates its mass immediately down the centre line of the bike, providing a most elegant and graceful of riding experiences. Yamaha had already tried one…