Classic Bike

Classic Bike helps and inspires enthusiasts to get more from their passion for classic motorcycles. The magazine shares their fascination with motorcycling’s heroic past while also helping them buy, fix and improve the bikes in their shed. Our main areas of content are: - Inspirational and entertaining reads that celebrate the glory of motorcycling, from riding stories that put the reader in the seat of history’s greatest bikes to incredible racing tales - Restoration stories and instructional features that inspire and help people get their tools out and sort out their old bike - In-depth technical features from the most expert and authoritative writers in motorcycling If you share our passion about classic motorcycles from the last century, you'll enjoy reading Classic Bike.

Welcome

Shale-shifters for sale • One of the world’s finest collections of speedway machines goes under the hammer in the Bonhams Autumn Sale at the October Stafford Show. Here’s a preview of some of the outstanding machines in the Forshaw Collection

Authenticity guaranteed • The British Bike Bonanza is a festival of off-road nostalgia – and seriously competitive racing

My Golden Triton • Gordon Williams marked a personal golden anniversary by taking on a basket case and battling through to create something special

Rubbery Triumph wasn’t lovely • This is the first ‘Anti Vibration’ Triumph tested by former police motorcyclist and long-time CB reader Ken Bidwell. But the factory’s attempt to break BMW’s stranglehold on the police market with an Isolastic-style machine were ill-fated

Autumn outings • Summer might be over, but the classic action remains hot

DUEL PURPOSE • The Lightning was the strike force of BSA’s new unit-construction A65 range in the ’60s, going toe-to-toe with the Bonneville. We ride one to see how it compares today

TIME BOMB • BSA’s Firebird scrambler exploded on to the scene in 1971 – the last blast of the firm’s A65 twin. It was an exuberant expression of a new era in motorcycling – but is it as good as it looks?

A TALE IN THE STING • Built to take on the deserts of ’60s America, BSA’s Hornet scrambler is equally at home thrashing through Kentish back lanes

SENSORY OVERLOAD • The Donington Classic Motorcycle Festival is a truly inclusive celebration of motorcycle sport crammed into a racing weekend overflowing with sights and sounds – so where were all the crowds?

Stirred not shaken • It may have been the first Japanese parallel twin with anti-vibration technology, but the TX750 got a reputation for unreliability. We ride one to see if Yamaha succeeded in properly sorting its issues

AT LUNCH WITH... Steve Tonkin • The TT winner and multiple British champion takes a break from yet another flawless restoration to explain how he helped shape the modern Triumphs

Steep learning curve • American motorcycle sport has its roots in hillclimbs, when the motorcycling pioneers thought it was a cool idea to test their early machines to the limit by trying to ride up the side of mountains

SHIFTING SANDS • Sandraiders is an epic Dakar-inspired rally taking in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and the dunes of the Sahara. So what’s it like to cover 1000 miles of such harsh terrain on ’80s and ’90s dirt bikes?

RALLY RAIDERS AND THEIR RIDES

I’ve been ragging my T-Bird • We’ve all heard of an oily rag restoration – but an oily rag fix? That’s a new one...

Pro or anti-sumping valves?

How to... fit Triumph taper roller wheel bearings • At least changing the Thunderbird’s wheels wasn’t difficult – but there are a few tricky points worth bearing in mind

Unstoppable Triumph

RICK’S TOP TIPS

CUTAWAY CALCULATION

Run, run, run...

HONDA FOUR BORE

Go straight to hell...