Innehållsförteckning för January 2026 från Real Classic

Have you ever considered just how social an activity is an old bike building project? It hadn't actually occurred to me until I started hurling both abuse and spanners at the unlovely Triumph TR65 which is absorbing, time, attention and indeed money in The Shed at the moment. But the more I progress (in a loose sense of the word) with the rebuild, the more I need to involve others. Oh! I hear you say. Almost everyone needs to engage professional services from time to time, and to stumble around the trade ads seeking out those rare but almost essential bits. Which is true. But it's not the only way other folk get involved. Involving others is of course inevitable to a certain degree, especially when you are – like…

Is it me? I have a 1992 Triumph Trident for sale. Very clean and in excellent condition, MoT until next September, starts on the button and runs smoothly. I've had one viewer in person who loved the bike but was concerned about the high mileage. Another person was interested but didn't come and view – again, citing concerns about the high mileage. When did 30,000 miles become high on a 33 year-old bike? I've had bikes with over 100,000 miles that I've then added another 20-30,000 miles to and had no issues with them at all. I really can't understand what the worry about this sort of mileage now seems to be. Philip Rawnsley, member That's the whole problem with selling privately, isn't it? We were once amazed when a…

A mate's Triumph 5TA had been rebuilt, including a rebore and new pistons. It would never run right, misfiring, oiling plugs and chucking out oil smoke from both sides. On one run and after only a couple of miles, the 5TA died. It has electronic ignition – no idea what type as it came with the unit fitted into the distributor. While checking under the seat, we heard a ticking from the coil, around one click a second. We held the HT lead against the motor and it was sparking. Various things were tried: the top end was stripped, barrels honed, valves and guides checked, etc. He would fit new plugs and it was more or less OK, but then it would be struggling again after a few hundred yards.…

In my article Bucket List Bike in RC, I concluded by stating that I couldn't honestly say whether my Velocette Venom was a genuine Clubman or not. Since then, I have been fortunate to have located a photocopy of the original buff logbook and am delighted to now have the confirmation that proves the bike is indeed a genuine Clubman model. Additionally, I discovered that the second recorded keeper was the Vintage Motorcycle Club! Henry Gregson, member Brilliant! Did you discover why the VMCC owned it? Frank W…

In a largely unheralded move, BSA – now owned by Indian giant Mahindra Group's Classic Legends subsidiary – has relaunched one of the most famous models in two-wheeled history books, of which half a million examples were built in the historic British brand's golden years. However, the new BSA Bantam isn't a smoky 125cc two-stroke single like before, but a DOHC 350cc four-stroke with classtopping specs compared to the categoryleading Royal Enfield family of models, which I just spent a day riding around the Warwickshire country roads which were once the proving ground for factory testers from the huge BSA Small Heath factory in southern Birmingham. But first, a history lesson, and the topic for today is – BSA 101. When Britain's largest gun manufacturer Birmingham Small Arms, founded in…

You may recall an article in RC245 about a barn-find Royal Enfield Crusader which was missing all its documents but wore an interesting old number plate. It was brought back to life and nicknamed ‘Frankenfield’. A friend and I did a deal whereby he'd keep the registration and I'd keep the bike. After its initial MoT and registration, the poor Crusader then fell foul of bureaucracy. A mistake with the details on the V5C meant that no insurance company recognised it or could offer cover – because there's no ‘Royalenfield’ on their database. My friend couldn't transfer the reg number and I couldn't ride the bike. Plus there were a few mechanical issues to resolve. A year later, what happened? After several attempts, the gearchange problem was solved. This required…

This is a rather unusual tale for me. It all started, curiously enough, when a friend offered to sell me his very neat Triumph T100C at a genuinely sensible price. After far too much head scratching, which is rarely good for the follicles, I passed. To this day I'm not sure why, apart from the undeniable fact that it was becoming unavoidably obvious that another Triumph twin, the TR65 currently languishing in The Shed, was going to cost a serious fortune to fix. I nursed the fear that the T100C, despite dating from 1971 – the best year – would turn into another costly project. This did not appeal at all. Naturally enough, I was prolonging my indecision in a manner characteristic of prevaricationists everywhere and was chatting about it…

A large Service Star for Gutsibits Moto Guzzi spares. I ordered a manual, oils and filters to service my V7 850 special. A very short time later the order arrived but I discovered I'd been sent the wrong manual. Did I order the wrong bike manual? When I checked the order, the correct manual had been ordered. I then looked closely at the manual: the part number was correct but inside the cover was a V35/50 manual. Hmmm! I sent an email to Hamish at Gutsibits explaining my dilemma. He replied; ‘Not a problem. We will send out the correct manual and you can keep the other one. No charges are to be paid.’ Excellent service from a quick, helpful, oldschool company. Robert Finan, member Please award yourselves a service…

I went to Motorcycle Live at the NEC yesterday. As we saw with the re-launch of Triumph 35 years ago, we are getting all sorts of mixed comments about the new Nortons. Remember ‘Hinckley Kawasaki’ and similar comments? I really like the clean lines of the Atlas models. I'm not keen on the look of many modern watercooled engines, which make bikes look like the inside of a washing machine. They're better covered up. These look right to me. Let's see how they shape up when they appear in the market and prices are announced. The Manx R also demonstrates a very clean approach to styling. Norton are saying that they are focusing on road use and maximising the usable range torque, but even so, 203bhp is enough to make…

The ink was barely dry on our initial impressions of the 350 Bantam when the next thunderbolt from BSA struck – and it is, quite literally, a new Thunderbolt! This model has been on a grand winter tour of the European motorcycle shows and is scheduled to arrive in UK showrooms in the spring. Apparently it's inspired by the ‘legendary 1972 original’, although the family resemblance isn't entirely obvious… Squarely targeted at riders who might otherwise buy a Royal Enfield Himalayan, the Thunderbolt uses BSA's Euro5compliant 334cc liquid-cooled DOHC single-cylinder engine, enhanced by traction control and three riding modes: road, rain and off-road. BSA say that the 81mm by 65mm motor will provide 29bhp at 7750rpm and almost 22lb/ft at 6000rpm, nearly identical to the figures quoted for the Bantam…

My first experience as a motorcyclist started with a 1954 AJS 350. The dynamo was driven by a chain which jammed in the case, smashing the clutch basket and plates. I got to work… by hitting it with a hammer a few times. I was told that AMC would exchange clutch plates, so I rode to the factory on a Saturday morning. The spares shop was in a big wooden shed across the road. The man there asked what had happened, and when I told him he asked if I could take the clutch off. Yes I could – I had my spanner with me (and still do!). I went back half an hour later with the clutch, handed it over, and he gave me back a complete new clutch…

The oil returning to the reservoir in the beleaguered Thudderbird's frame looks beautiful and clean – a good sign, of course. However, judging by the serious state of sad neglect, I couldn't stop myself wondering whether the immediately previous owner hadn't just poured good oil on top of bad. Or worse, on top of the no oil that the engine had last run on, or which had drained away during the decades of rusting idleness. Even I, mechanical ignoramus that I profess to be, wouldn't do that. Time to drain whatever remains inside the engine and the oil reservoir, which as you know is the main frame tube. Of course, being the fastidious planner that I'm not, I'd removed too much of the bike to start up the engine again,…

Just finished the Nimbus article in RC259. Fun bikes to ride and they enjoy much attention at shows with everyone wanting to see them run. Mine was a 1939 model with a military sidecar. A little different from the model in the article but basically the same. The reason I bought my Nimbus? I live in Canada and followed a story online. Some years ago, a Norwegian pair rode their Nimbus around the world in an adventure called ‘The Dumb Way Around.’ Quite the story of roadside repairs in desolate counties. A local buddy also has a Nimbus and he put this pair of travellers up at home when they passed through our area. Upon seeing his Nimbus in his shed their first remark was; ‘Spare parts’! Teddy Riv, member…

You never lose the bug, do you? I am now aged 91 and an avid reader of your most fantastic magazine – so much better than the others. The writing styles of Rowena, PUB and Frank make it so enjoyable each month. I eagerly await its delivery. I have not owned many motorcycles. I started off at age 16 with an AJS 350, probably a prewar Model 16 with girder forks. I passed my test on this. I also had a Trojan MiniMotor fitted to a Raleigh sports cycle. When that was passed to my younger brother, he bolted the motor permanently down onto the rear tyre. That meant jump starting it, but he tuned it to get a frightening 40mph! I did National Service between 1952 and 1954 and…

I was reading Frank's comments in RC260 about ‘free’ bikes in the good old days. Surely the best example of this is the young engineer who was given TE Lawrence's last Brough, GW2275. Apparently he gave the owners a £1 because they helped him push it home! The story is told in Titch Allen's book, ‘Legends in their Lifetime’. Andrew Dockree, member I wonder whether we can rely on any details about those events and that particular bike. This, for instance, is how Jeff Clew related the tale of what happened to Lawrence's last Brough: ‘After the inquest the machine was returned to George Brough, who subsequently sold it to King and Harper Ltd of Cambridge. They were motorcycle dealers and had shown an interest in it. They sold it…

My first motorcycle was a Norton 750 Commando. I bought it in 1971 when I was a spotty youth chasing torque, not revs. I wanted a machine that thumped rather than shrieked, and that ruled out anything with expansion chambers. That was more than half a century ago, and from the start I never looked twice at anything that wasn't a big four-stroke. My motorcycling life has been spent astride British and Italian singles and twins – bikes with personality, temperament, and a charm you learn to love only after you've pushed them home once or twice. I'd never owned anything smaller than a 500 single. After fifty-odd years of that, I realised I'd been missing out on something: the world of two-strokes. Those smoky, noisy, faintly anarchic stinkwheels I'd…

I've gradually come to the conclusion that I must have a mild case of obsessive-compulsive disorder which manifests itself most clearly in my motorcycle history. As a teenager I had a Panther, then, almost fifty years later, another. I had a 2007 Moto Guzzi Breva 1100. Sold it. Then last year bought another. A blue Suzuki Burgman 650 scooter passed through my hands a few years ago. Now I have a black one. A decade ago I had a shiny red 2000 Moto Guzzi Quota 1100es which I eventually sold. And, you guessed it. Now I have another. What's a Quota, I hear you ask? An American journalist once quipped that it ‘was one of Moto Guzzi's famous engineering answers to questions no one asked’. The Quota is a massive,…

PART THE LAST I was in communication with the Model 23 specialist at the New Imperial Owners’ Association, David Jarvis, trying to improve the bike's poor running. He suggested modifying the 23's standard No5 slide to a No3. Being aware (from painful experience!) that it is a lot easier to remove metal than to add it, I hedged my bet and removed enough metal to result in a No4 slide. If that helped, I would then have the option to go to a No3. Caution can be a good thing. Unfortunately, the change could not be evaluated, as it was at this point that the spark completely vanished from the 23. It wouldn't start. Not even a hint. Also, the petrol tap started leaking badly. This seemed to be a…