Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2026 i The Classic MotorCycle

Published in The Motor Cycle of April 21, 1953, under the heading of ‘An Unorthodox Sidecar outfit’ we learn that the machine – christened ‘The Roamer’ as can be seen displayed on the petrol tank – was ‘a pipe dream that turned into reality’ and the result of work by three brothers, Ron, Len and Bob De’Ath, who ‘decided that the only sidecar outfit to measure up to their ideas would have to be a one-off special’ so hence this creation. It was also reckoned they ‘relished the prospect of enjoyment in doing the work themselves’ and they certainly had the necessary abilities, with Ron being a metal worker, while both Len and Bob were self-employed, as electrical and mechanical engineers respectively; plus they had ‘full workshop facilities’ at the…

I never owned a Trident. Back in the day (1970s/early 1980s), if you wanted a Brit roadster that was good for the long roads, motorways included, it was pretty much a Triumph triple or a Norton Commando. For eight years, I favoured the latter, and was not disappointed. I’d owned a string of Norton twins already, and the Triumph triples had a reputation as intimidatingly and expensively high maintenance. Since then, the late triple expert John South had been persuasive about their virtues, and being a far quicker rider than I, their performance. John let me out on his ratty X-75 Hurricane factory custom, and I loved its looks and pizzazz, though the extended front end and conical hub front drum brake meant that it was really a cruiser, not…

If you read last month’s column, you’ll know that the MZ’s primary and final drive has been my focus of late. When we left off, I was wrestling with the clutch springs and the Haynes manual’s suggestion for refitting them: “Press down on the spring with an open-ended or ring spanner and install the retaining pin.” Easy for them to say. My first attempt ended, inevitably, with the spring, lock ring and pin flying across the workshop. It was clear this was one of those jobs that needed a ‘special service tool’, as the manuals like to call them. The problem was, I couldn’t find one specific to the MZ, and the universal ones didn’t look like they’d work. Improvisation, MZ-style I’d had the foresight to order a handful of…

DECEMBER 6-Jan 3 Shuttleworth in Lights at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden Aerodrome, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SH18 9EP. Tel: 01767 627924. Email: enquiries@shuttleworth.org. Web: www.shuttleworth.org. What3words: donates.bouncing.giraffes. 6 Kempton Classic Bike Show & Autojumble at Kempton Park Racecourse, Staines Road E, Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey TW16 5AQ. 9am-3pm. £7 entry, £10 earlybird. Web: www.kemptonautojumble.co.uk. What3words: crowds.cost.foam. 6 Rufforth Autojumble at Rufforth Park, Wetherby Road, Rufforth, North Yorkshire YO23 3QH. 8am start. £2 entry. Tel: 01904 738620 or 07713 164848. Email: info@rufforthautojumble.com. Web: www.rufforthautojumble.com. What3words: suggested.withdraws.adventure. 6-23 A Festive Voyage: Christmas at SS Great Britain at Brunel’s SS Great Britain, Great Western Dockyard, Gas Ferry Road, Bristol, Avon BS1 6TY. Tel: 0117 926 0680. Email: admin@ssgreatbritain.org. Web: www.ssgreatbritain.org. What3words: doing.bowls.mirror. 7 Dengie and South Essex Bikers Santa Toy Run leaving from the Anchor, 34…

Octane rating A defined measure, quoted as RON (Research Octane Number), of a fuel’s resistance to premature detonation when compressed within the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine. The higher the number, the greater stability. We can all hear premature detonation as we’ll detect audible knocking on running the engine, often referred to simply as ‘knocking,’ or by some as ‘pinking.’ Readily available fuels In the UK, pump petrol is usually 95 RON (E10) and a higher octane 97 or 98 RON for higher performance engines. It’s currently possible in Britain to source synthetic fuels of up to 103 RON in plastic or other cans from specialist dealers, aimed at the owners of higher performance classic vehicles. Some of us are able to source Avgas (Aviation Gasoline), available in…

Though it’s a close-packed bunch, there were, one deduces, already a few riders gone past, with the lead man in our picture Harold Hartley (Rudge) in front of Tommy Wood (Moto Guzzi), Dario Ambrosini (96, Benelli) and John Harrowell (87, LEF) near the beginning of the quarter-litre race, held over seven laps of the Isle of Man’s Mountain Course. Men already through would include fast-starting Roland Pike (Pike-Rudge) and Len Bayliss (Ellbee Special) who were the early pacesetters, while the highly-fancied Maurice Cann – on the second silver Gambalunghino Guzzi; Wood was on the other one – had a slow getaway and was way back. There were 25 riders who came to the line, their machines a mixture of Italian thoroughbreds (three Guzzis, the two aforementioned plus A W Jones…

The British formula for establishing a motorcycle company frequently entailed family ties – take Matchless, Velocette, AJS or Greeves, for example, all with two or more siblings running the show – whereas in Germany, it was invariably large corporations which owned the two-wheeled marketplace, firms like BMW, NSU, DKW or Zündapp. But one German concern was a standout family affair: Maico. For fans of 1970s offroad racing, when ‘Maico-maniacs’ like Adolf Weil, Åke Jonsson and Willy Bauer gave Husqvarna, CZ and the Japanese factories the hurry-up in winning GP races and filling Motocross World Championship rostrums, it’s often a surprise to learn that the West German company was also a successful road bike manufacturer in its own right, always with two-stroke motors of its own design. Founded in 1920s Germany…

In the pantheon of British motorcycling, few marques have suffered as cruel a fate as Excelsior. Here was a company that could rightfully claim to be Britain’s first motorcycle manufacturer, having demonstrated their Minervaengined machine to an astonished crowd of 250 riders at Crystal Palace in 1896. Yet today, mention the name Excelsior to most enthusiasts and you’ll likely be met with blank stares or confusion with their American namesake. The irony is bitter – the firm that blazed the trail for an entire industry has been largely forgotten, lost in the mists of time while their competitors claimed the glory. The odds, it seemed, were perpetually stacked against this Birmingham concern. Just as the company appeared to be finding its stride, fate dealt them a crushing blow that would…

Over the last two issues of The Classic MotorCycle, Banked Track Heroes has provided a visual account of the Easter meeting at Canning Town in 1903, following our hero Harry Martin as he tore around the velodrome and stole the show from the visiting Frenchmen. This month’s article shifts focus from the comic strip to the machines themselves, giving some mechanical and historical context using three motorcycles that appeared on that damp July afternoon. Together, they offer a snapshot of early racing practice and the sharp contrast between British and French thinking. For readers not already familiar with the period, it’s worth pausing on the significance of the French visit. At this moment in time, French competition motorcycles were in their ‘Monster Era’ – machines built around outsized engines that…

Cole tops the bill Television presenter and motorcycle enthusiast Henry Cole will take centre stage at the Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic Show, held at Newark Showground on January 10-11, 2026. With more than 30 years in television, Cole is best known for hosting World’s Greatest Motorcycle Rides, The Motorbike Show, Shed and Buried, Find It, Fix It, Flog It and Find It, Fix It, Drive It. Beyond the screen, Henry’s passion for motorcycles shines through his work with Gladstone Motorcycles, where he creates bespoke, hand-built machines. He has also made his mark on the Bonneville Salt Flats, setting a land speed record for Brough Superior in 2013 and riding in the world’s fastest two-up attempt with creative engineer Allen Millyard. Visitors can catch Henry live on stage with compere…

There’s not really much to go by regarding anything more than the simple caption that accompanied this picture when it was published in The Motor Cycle of August 29, 1929. The original accompanying text read: “THE POLICEMAN’S HOLIDAY. Members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary MCC, who took part in the club’s annual run.” And that’s it, nothing else about who, why, when or where. But it’s such a lovely picture, it was deemed worthy of reproduction here. Of the six motorcycles pictured, the four on the right are easily identifiable, the one far left seems pretty clearly apparent and then second left, not sure. All are, as one could reasonably expect, Northern Ireland registered, Belfast in fact, while the four oldest machines wear ‘XI’ numbers – with the lowest numerically…

In the dim and distant past, I had another of my never-realised, frequent, slightly hare-brained schemes, which are always conceived with the idea of trying to add some ‘structure’ to my motorcycle collection; or, with collection perhaps being generous, what should be more correctly known as, the assembled ragtag menagerie of two-wheeled machinery in my overcrowded garage, all of which are totally unrelated and just about span the entire alphabet – literally from AJS to Zenith. The AJS numbers are down of late, though there’s one machine which will never be sold and that’s my dad’s 1928 AJS K8. For a while, it shared storage space with my cousin Peter’s 1928 AJS K10 and, of course, at one point I was thinking, well, if I added a few more, I…

For some reason, speedway has never had the appeal for bikesport enthusiasts as most other disciplines. It may have been different many years ago, when speedway was second only to football as Britain’s most popular spectator sport. The formula is so basic: engines 500cc, methanol fuel, no brakes, no gears. Four laps, four riders, with two from each team. Three points for a win, two for second, one for third. All long established, but it’s a formula that still regularly delivers the same thrills. If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Celebrating the more recent past, the Veteran Riders’ Open Speedway Championships took place at Lydd Speedway on the Romney Marsh. The short (210 metre) track was defined by boards, unprotected by the air fences that are mandatory for modern…

These two motorcycles don’t look like your typical project bikes, right? Well, they’re not really ‘projects’ in the old sense of the word – you know, the tea chest of bits that needs piecing together – but they are in need of care and attention. Allow me to explain. Towards the end of the summer of 2025, a pal of mine, Matt, called to say he’d come across a cache of six bikes, that the bloke selling wanted out of the way ‘quickly.’ Matt, who restores and buys and sells a few bikes, was going to buy four of them, but he didn’t have the finances to purchase the lot and, well, this pair were the leftovers. As I’ve always had a penchant for Bathtub Triumphs but have never owned…