Innehållsförteckning för July 2022 från Real Classic

Every year I make the same pledge: No More Projects! I swear (violently and volubly, but only while alone – cats are sensitive to such things) that I will acquire no more motorcycles which do not actually work. That as I toddle across the endless golden uplands I shall devote more time to riding, less to spannering. Stout stuff! But there’s a snag. And that snag is that I actually enjoy making a bike work. Well, I enjoy it when it does work – if you’ve been following my adventures with the world’s least satisfying AJS 350 you will understand that I do expect a bike upon which I’ve lavished funds (mine) and expertise (sometimes mine!) to run. Joking aside, the AJS has been a real lesson. It has great…

1986 was an eventful year. Halley’s Comet lit up the night sky. Chernobyl went critical. The space shuttle Challenger exploded. And I bought my first Norton… I’d owned a succession of Triumph T140s from the age of 17, and spotted a Norton Commando in the local paper. The bike was a bit scruffy but mechanically good. The old fella wouldn’t let me ride it but agreed to take me on the back. We went around a few roundabouts and then straight up the A3M at about 90mph…when my jacket zip started to undo. I was frantically trying to hold on to the zip as all my money was tucked down my jacket! Back at his place – money still intact, thankfully -a deal was done. £625 plus some spares and…

It’s tempting fate to even think this, but the Macchi’s motor does indeed purr like that well-fed kitten of fable. Its top end sounds almost silent when compared to the clatter of impending catastrophe which our Triumph 250 Blazer SS emits, even at tickover. Heck, my modern BMW 310 chatters more than the 50 year-old H-D Aermacchi motor. Instead of sounding like ten bags of spanners, the American-Italian 350 gives out a gruff thrum from the engine room and a steady bop-bop-bop from its twin pipes as it idles. Twist the grip and that bopping becomes the kind of enthusiastic barking from behind which is such a glorious component of the classic experience. It’s all really rather inspiring. In fact, it inspired me to head off the straight and narrow…

The other evening, I was lounging in my garden, sipping a San Miguel and admiring the sensuous lines of the bike parked under the magnolia tree. I bought it brand new in 1974, this Ducati 750 GT. This is the model that launched Ducati on its trajectory to become the Ferrari of the motorcycle world, so to say it’s an iconic machine is an understatement. The GT is still a visual feast. It was designed in a period when the engine rather than the bodywork was the main styling focus – think of the earlier Vincent Black Shadow or Brough Superior -and this engine is a beauty. The alloy bevel tower on the forward cylinder looks like something off a 1930s aero engine. I polish it, lovingly, for many a…

I like BMW’s airhead R80s. I don’t get why folk don’t like them. It’s a big, 800cc twin. Torquey, reasonably quick with decent handling. It doesn’t vibrate despite not being suspended in rubber, gets smoother the faster you go (dream on, Atlas owners), and it has an electric foot. And airheads keep your feet warm. They last well and you can get spare parts, should you need them. Parts? Need? I thought they didn’t go wrong? Ah. Well. Like any machine, these BMWs have foibles and faults, which I will proceed to bore you with. Or you can go and read a clever article about polishing Triumphs. Again. My first one was an R80ST, which is probably the best handling airhead, although to be fair I haven’t ridden the ‘last…

I’d ridden up and down the estate road a few times while waiting for the registration to arrive, so I knew that the Bulsader was OK-ish. Everything worked after a fashion, but there were improvements needed. I’d therefore done some light fettling, including a gearbox swap (‘light fettling’!), to improve obvious things. As a result I knew roughly how the bike felt. The time for a proper ride was rapidly approaching, and the obvious event was our local VMCC 50-mile Mow Cop Run (that’s the Cheshire Cats Section, thanks for asking). To ensure I actually used the Bulsader for this event, rather than bottling it at the last minute, I responded to the club invitation to the event by boldly announcing ‘I’ll be on the Bulsader…’ Sadly, events didn’t go…

I’ve owned my AJS Model 31 for a few years. I love it; I have finished all the repairs and upgrades and it has proved reliable so far. Yet while I really enjoy riding, my main passion is restoration and I early 2020 I needed anew project. I was looking for something a bit lighter, and didn’t want another machine that was too similar to the one I had. I noticed a basketcase AJS Model 8 on eBay. It was in boxes, with no paperwork and of course I should know better. It came with a spare engine and gearbox plus the buff logbook, so there was a possibility that I could reclaim the original registration (if I ever got it working). There was a lot missing and some parts…

As India’s huge Mahindra Group conglomerate gears up to commence manufacturing its born-again BSA Gold Star 650, unveiled in the UK last December, for the past 15 years on the other side of the world a dedicated Australian BSA enthusiast has been creating a series of unique models with the historic badge on their tanks. Emu Engineering’s owner Doug Fraser has literally created with his own hands, with minimal outside assistance, not one, not even two, but no less than three completely different V-twin tributes to the historic BSA marque, in the form of motorcycles he’d like to have seen the British firm produce at one stage of its history or another. The M46 late 30s sports model; the middle one, the B66, early-70s disc-braked roadburner; the third the E120R,…