The Classic MotorCycle

Started in 1903, The Classic MotorCycle has more to offer the true vintage motorcycle enthusiast than any other publication, backed by Europe's largest motorcycle image archive.

Welcome

GET YOUR FIX • Struggling to get to the shops?

Classic Motorcycle

The late Anthony F Wilding • Fabulous Zenith V-twin transporting a Wimbledon tennis champion and steered by an Olympic gold medal winner.

Back to Bristol

The big one is returning

NEWS IN BRIEF

Great Escape Trophy watch

New Year’s Day fun

THE WAY WE WERE IN March

Book Review • “British 250cc Racing Motorcycles”

Bonhams at Stafford

Monte Carlo or bust • Six hardy riders prepare to set out on the 1951 Trophee International Motorcycliste de Monaco – or the Monaco rally, as it was otherwise known.

Readers’ Letters • YOUR VOICE & YOUR OPINIONS

Good to be back on board

Italian Thruxton woes

Later carburettor

Remembering Chris Buckle

Tribute to Ken Sprayson

THIS MONTH’S STAR LETTER WINS

Tony Jefferies • (1948-2021)

Platinum pleasantries • Celebrating 70 years since its formation, members of the Ariel Owners’ Motorcycle Club reconvened at the site of the first meeting.

The bikes are back in town • At the end of September 2021, the Circuit des Remparts, held at Angoulême in the west of France, once more welcomed motorcycles.

Secret treasure • The Competition Sports variant is one of the rarest versions of the Triumph Bonneville – which is a great pity, as it’s a superb all-round motorcycle.

FINER DETAILS

Circus life

Living the dream • Trevor Barnes talks through his Moto Guzzi racing history, which spanned many decades and featured numerous memorable experiences.

The challenges of Anneka • Part two charting a long-time relationship between a man and his BSA.

Chasing the Whitworth thread • The Rex-Acme on display at the Brooklands Museum has plenty of stories to give up.

Production genius • As a leading motorcycle engine designer, after signing for Ariel, Val Page wasted little time revising Selly Oak’s dated range, proving himself a manufacturing engineer who was able to put designs into cost effective production line assembly.

VELOCETTE VALIANT

F...F...Frustration • All the elements are there but nothing works, meaning that, to put it mildly, some gentle annoyance has been experienced.

Sketchbook Travel • MOTORCYCLES, SEEN THROUGH THE SKETCHBOOKS OF MARTIN SQUIRES

You were asking • Your queries resolved with Richard Rosenthal

Bantam building • During lockdown, this ex-racer and self-confessed ‘impatient’ soul needed something to keep idle mind and hands active. This is part one.

Bing goes the carburettor • That the German carburettor was actually named thus due to onomatopoeia is doubtful, indeed not the case, but if the cap fits…

Keeping an open mind • Whether it’s about sports mopeds or the efficiency of the vehicle licensing bodies, we can only have expectations challenged and opinions changed.

Diary

Ensuring longevity • By the early 1970s, many carburettor makers worldwide were offering cold start devices, rather than traditional flooding and air valve (slide). Amal followed suit with a seemingly new instrument, and, finally, in 1985 they similarly modified the 600 and 900 series.