Innehållsförteckning för Issue 71 Summer 2024 från Classic Dirt Bike

Honda TLM When a motorcycle is noted for its build quality in the first place, making it even better takes a bit of determination and a fair amount of dedication plus some skill. Often when casual observers look at a motorcycle on display at a show, they don’t see what has been done to improve it and it isn’t until a closer look is taken or perhaps someone with a bit more marque knowledge points out something which shows just how special a bike is. On the face of it, Honda’s TLM is a bit special anyway, never a high-volume production machine or a particularly long-lived one either – in 260cc form it was in the company’s range for five years – and adding to the model’s UK exclusivity it…

Workshop and tech Fixing badly repaired, previously broken bits and altering bits to fit where they weren’t intended takes a bit of time and can create a block to a project’s advancement. Such an impasse has been a cause of delays on the long-term IT465 and while footrest issues haven’t halted progress on the Triumph they have slowed it, as thought had to go into how to actually mount them. In both cases the impasse proved quite straightforward to resolve and needed someone with a skill I don’t actually have… welding. Yamaha IT465 As shown in the previous issue, the welding attempted on the original damage caused when someone binned the 465 in a big way was less than ideal, to the point where I thought someone with less welding…

The Classic Dirt Bike Show has become a focal point of the year for many enthusiasts though their reasons often differ. For some it is a chance to source the vital final bit for a restoration or rebuild, others will be there to show off their project now it’s finished. Others, who’ve done the rebuild and shown the bike, will now seek out a new project in the autojumble. Then of course there are those who use it as a place to catch up with friends. Whatever the reason you went along – be it bikes, bits or buddies – there was plenty to see, no matter what your interest is in off-road sport. Those of us who are feet-up fans had trials bikes from classic pre65s to twinshocks and…

The Hagon Shocks Classic Dirt Bike Show 2025 By the time this issue of CDB comes out there will be only two more issues before the 2025 Classic Dirt Bike Show at Telford International Centre. This incredible venue has been the home of the show for donkey’s years and means it is mostly indoors at a time of year when the weather can be interesting. Though exact details are sketchy at the moment, what we do know is Hagon Shocks is once again backing the show and there will be all sorts of fabulous machines on display. Every aspect of off-road motorcycle sport will be represented in the halls and if you’re looking for bits there will be trade stands and an outdoor autojumble. If you’re planning to see event…

Vinduro Brit Champ If event organisers could control the weather then the 2024 calendar – up until this feature was written in mid-April – would look a lot different. There’d be a lot less of the phrase ‘cancelled due to bad weather’ written across dates where there were events, for a start. On the run up to the first round of the ACU’s classic enduro championship at the end of March in Northumberland the weather was horrendous: gales, rain, snow… you know, the fun stuff we like to ride in. However, Gav Douglas at North East Vinduro Club must have some sway with the weather gods as on the day, March 23, the sun shone and, while it was a bit blowy, by and large it was a decent weekend.…

Arguably the motorcycle competition world would be considerably poorer were it not for the input of the military and it’s no coincidence the major off-road events such as the ISDT and SSDT had teams of military riders in them as these competitions were seen as good training. Nor did it hurt the manufacturers to have a ready and valuable market to produce motorcycles for. The downside of this is not every military rider issued with a motorcycle was sympathetic to the machine’s needs… Which is why reader Erik Boelen in the Netherlands begins the tale of his 1965 BSA B40 like this… “About five years ago I bought what I assumed was a WD BSA B40, the assumption based on traces of Army Green paint on the frame and other…

As 214 riders gathered in Edinburgh to weigh in their machines for the 1970 SSDT they anxiously scanned the weather reports which were predicting all sorts of horrendous conditions, including torrential rain and snow, for the week ahead. Yet, as can be seen by our pic of 1966 winner Alan Lampkin on Laggan Locks during the Friday route in May 1970, the weather was not as bad as predicted. A member of BSA’s C15 works team when he won the trial in 1966, for 1970 Alan was mounted on a Swansea-made Alta Suzuki. Alta was just one of the new breed of ultra-light lightweights but had the benefit that its motorcycle, if not an official Suzuki project, was certainly officially sanctioned by Suzuki GB. Alta Suzukis were of small capacity,…

1998 TM Enduro 250 Wandering around the paddock at the North East Vinduro event at Lilburn – the first round of the classic enduro British championship – before things got under way, there was lots to see and all manner of bikes being prepped. My attention was caught by this smart TM, looking ready to go and meet whatever the organisers and Northumberland had laid on for it. I have to admit TM is not a make I know a great deal about… the company didn’t, as far as I know, do a trials bike so in the early days my attention was on TM’s more trials-oriented fellow Italian manufacturers. As I was doing the journalist bit… y’know what I mean… wondering about the paint thickness and what the finishes…

Karlsson Matchless We’ve all jumped on a bike belonging to someone else and thought: “Ooh, I couldn’t ride this with the ’bars set there,” or “Those footrests feel like my feet are up around my ears…” and if the bike was ours we’d have to alter it so it felt better to us. In the old days, when trials bikes were basically a maker’s roadster with a few heavy bits replaced with light bits, there was much more need to alter a machine to make it more suitable for the job in hand. Once the Spanish industry got going and its products proved to be brilliant straight from the crate, the need to alter and develop a bike sort of faded into the background and it was enough for most…

Undoubtedly recognised as the ultimate one-day classic trial, in fact when classic feet-up enthusiasts mention ‘Talmag’ – Territorial Army London Magazine – there are few who don’t understand which event is being talked about. It wasn’t always so; in fact the trial was originally an open to centre event though heavily attended by the various armed forces groups who competed on their BSA B40s to the point where by 1975 the club took the decision to go solely classic. From there the Talmag has become a haven for traditional classic machines as it approaches its 50th anniversary in 2025. The organisers would love to hear from anyone who rode in the very first all-classic event in 1975 as they’re thinking about some form of golden anniversary celebration for the trial.…