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

The Classic MotorCycle

End-to-end record • Posed in 1909, C E Murphy had just established a new record for riding from the top to the bottom of Ireland, aboard a single-cylinder Triumph.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Two beauties top the bill

East Collection up for auction

Sam Clews (1990-2023)

Velocette Owners’ meet

Excellent Egli finds new home

Sidecar to the (Gold) Stars

Book Review

THE WAY WE WERE IN SEPTEMBER

Book Review

A Jap for Jessica

Club outing • Since the dawn of motorcycling – and indeed motoring – clubs have been an integral part of the movement. This 1933 picture shows the Worcester Motor Cycle Club (MCC) members heading off for a day’s entertainment.

Wet weather winner • Though he didn’t lead a single lap until the final one, (the seventh), Australian Ken Kavanagh claimed his only TT victory in the 1956 Junior race.

Readers’ Letters • YOUR VOICE & YOUR OPINIONS

Day at the racecourse • The Kempton Park Autojumbles have been going for years, while this July edition carried on as planned, despite doomsday weather forecasts.

Civilian makeover • This long-term-owned Norton Commando started life as a police issue Interpol, but has been reborn as a gleaming, standard Interstate.

Still got it • Though somewhat lacking in numbers compared to its heyday, the Banbury Run (the 2023 edition being its 73rd running), remains some spectacle.

Travelling in style • If you want to travel Malta in style, forget about yellow buses and hire cars. It has to be a classic motorcycle, like the AJS Model 26.

Tiddlers’ call to arms! • Though there was more than double the participants seen over the last couple of years overall, the traditional core of the Moto Giro d’Italia – pre-1958 up-to-175cc machines – needs a boost…

Relighting the wick • On May 13, 2023, the National Speedway Museum hosted an event to celebrate the long-gone Hackney speedway circuit.

Last but not least • The jewel-like 125cc Rickman Zundapp may have been small in capacity, but it possessed all the quality of its bigger siblings.

Market trends • The Ashford Classic Motorcycle Show has an unusual location, which does the job just fine.

Flashing flourish • Though best known as a maker of razors, the Wilkinson Sword company originally did as its name implies, though there was a brief, fascinating and spectacular dalliance with an outlandish motorcycle too…

Brooklands memories • A cache of personal photographs give an insight into a fascinating time, centred around the banked Surrey circuit in the late 1930s, just before it closed for ever.

A Triumph of engineering • Triumph-engined, Greeves-framed specials have become a marque in their own right, but that’s not to say when building one you have to follow any rules.

Model identification marks to petrol tanks strands • While makers into the 1920s employed engine ratings and number of cylinders in their model identification, the desire to add other details, such as year of manufacture, soon surfaced. Then some factories began naming their models to make them stand out from the crowd, which, along with a more distinctive tank finish, helped marketing.

Ariel W/NG

Restoring or rebuilding? • While some chase catalogue-correct finishes, the costs can be prohibitive.

Investing in the past • Though the cost of professional restoration may make us baulk, actually, when you add up the hours, it all makes sense…

Sketchbook Travels • MOTORCYCLES, SEEN THROUGH THE...