Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2017 i Classic Bike Guide

IN 1973 BMW attempted to shake off the firm’s boring image by launching the R90S. Using the well proven R75/5 as a basis, the engine was bored out from 749 to 898cc and an extra gear added, giving a five-speed box. Hans Muth introduced bold new styling with a unique air-brushed finish on each machine, and the BMW sports tourer was born. Long- distance, high-speed riding in comfort became a reality. The R90S was ultra-reliable, economical and handled well; 17,465 were built between 1973 and 1976, and today they have lost none of their appeal, commanding prices in excess of £8000. Our featured machine is probably as far from a standard R90S as it’s possible to get. Using the reliable powerplant, it takes things to a whole new level. Although…

When BSA first built this bike , they did a damn fine job of it . The Gold Star is arguably one of the best British motorcycles ever made, and the DBD editions of the late 1950s represent the model at the peak of its development pathway. But that was 60 years ago . Times have changed and technology has been transformed since this DB 32 was originally assembled from handpicked components, then rigorously bench-tested before delivery. Many of the Goldie’s uncompromising attributes , those which gave it such a successful career as a clubmans racer, sit uncomfortably with its current role as a Sunday-best classic ride. Famously , the GP carb and close-ratio RRT2 gearbox make starting a Gold Star into one of British biking’s black arts . Combined…

We have a lot to thank the Yanks for. There’s the Big Mac, the King Size bed, the XXL T-shirt… and the Norton Dominator 99. America is where size matters and big is better. Norton jumped on the vertical twin cavalcade in 1948 with the 500cc Model 7 Dominator, a sweet running twin with a top speed approaching 100mph. When Bracebridge Street swapped plunger suspension for the swinging arm Featherbed frame in time for the 1952 season the Dominator 88 even handled like a racer on the road. But that wasn’t enough for our American cousins – they were used to 1200cc Panhead Harleys and Indian Chiefs. And as far as they were concerned, ‘there ain’t no substitute for cubes’. So in 1956 Norton announced the Dominator 88’s Big Brother…

A FEW WEEKS ago I had the good fortune to be invited along to one of the oldest established motorcycle clubs of our noble land, in Kings Norton Birmingham, where I had the honour to discover the most delightful bunch of biking guys you would ever wish to meet. Most of them were well over 140. But that’s another story. The main event of the night was a talk focused on one of the new breed of electric bikes (we all shuddered), the Zero, but we’ll leave that for now. There I met Doug Walker, a slight, gently spoken man who I was informed was their local expert on the Ariel – and I wasn’t to be disappointed. My usual restoration pieces seem – I try my best –to follow…

Beef up your Beezer WHEN OUR AMERICAN COUSINS say that there ain’t no substitute for cubes, they’re not normally talking about Oxo. Nope, they’re thinking of grunt, not gravy. Increasing a bike’s cubic capacity isn’t simply about making it go faster, it’s all about adding mid-range flexibility and low-rev response. Ride a 500cc Norton Dominator and then an 850cc Norton Commando, and you’ll see exactly what we mean. That’s fine and dandy if you happen to be a Norton man or a Triumph fan as both their big twins were built as 750s as standard. But if you’re a Beezer geezer then your options are a little limited: the firm’s all-round excellent unit construction A65 twin was only ever manufactured in 654cc format. But wait! Is that SRM we can…

LAVERDA HAD ITS ORIGINS in rugged tractors and combine harvesters, so it’s little wonder that their motorcycles are equally well engineered. Solid, reliable, durable and dependable, with top quality components, Laverda’s twins and triples exhibit the same design strengths as their agricultural predecessors. Following the Second World War, Francesco Laverda began designing motorcycle engines, and Moto Laverda started production in earnest in 1950. A student of thermodynamics, Francesco created small capacity, high performance engines which successfully avoided the cooling issues commonly encountered in Italy’s sunny climate. He spent two decades creating reliable, affordable commuter transport, building a solid reputation for durable, low maintenance machines. Moto Laverda believed in serious product testing, both on and off road. Competing in endurance races, long distance races, hill climbs and time trials enabled them…

IN THE PAST 40 years, Jack has always owned at least one Gold Wing. He started out with a GL1000 in 1977 and, as you might imagine, he’s owned quite a few since then alongside many other types of motorcycle. But there’s something about the original Wing which keeps him coming back for more – and that says something significant about Honda’s achievement. Aimed squarely at America, the GL1000 was so successful that Honda sold more than 25,000 original Wings each year in the USA and ended up building the things Stateside. The Gold Wing is a lot like the Range Rover: it’s almost a marque in its own right. After stealing the scene with the CB750 in the late 1960s, Honda then had to share the spotlight with the…

After five years of diligent development in what Triumph’s technical boss Stuart Wood says has been the largest engineering project the company has yet committed to under John Bloor’s ownership, Britain’s No.1 bike manufacturer has now completed the total overhaul of its born-again Bonneville range, which for 2017 comprises an array of 10 different models, on two distinct platforms. So, alongside the five big-bore 1200cc variants (T120, T120 Black, Thruxton, Thruxton R and Bobber), the 900cc entry level Street Twin introduced a year ago has now been joined by the Bonneville T100 and T100 Black plus the Street Scrambler and Street Cup café racer, in the line-up of bikes powered by the smaller capacity single-cam version of Triumph’s new generation liquid-cooled eight-valve parallel-twin motor. The two T100 models are the…

IN 1971 DAVID BOWIE wrote Moonage Daydream and sang ‘Put your ray gun to my head’. It’s almost certain that he wasn’t influenced by the distinctive silencers on Triumph’s legendary three-cylinder racer, but that must have been how the competition felt every time ‘Slippery Sam’ won yet again. In a bid to stay ahead of the Japanese and boost sales in 1969, Triumph made a deliberate move away from twins and onto something fresh and new. Chief engineer Doug Hele was instrumental in creating the distinctive Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket 3 racing triples using a frame designed by Midlands frame specialist Rob North. In 1970 three production bikes were prepared by the Triumph factory for the Isle of Man TT Production 750 class. One ridden by the aptly named…

JOHN BLOOR HIMSELF aside, Triumph’s head of engineering, Stuart Wood, 52, is its longest serving employee, a 29-year company veteran who joined the design team in 1987, three whole years before the appearance a quarter of a century ago of the first three- and four-cylinder models bearing the revived British brand’s historic badge. He was there when the born-again Bonneville made what for many customers was a belated debut in 2000, when Bloor decided he’d reestablished Triumph sufficiently well as a thoroughly modern mainstream manufacturer which could now afford to look in the rear view mirror of history by introducing a modern interpretation of its most iconic Swinging Sixties model. Sixteen years on from there he’s headed the development team which has once again reinvented the Bonneville, making the chance…

IT MAY COME as a surprise to some, but the stock of Japanese New Old Stock (NOS) is drying up. Those who previously carried out the infamous chequebook restorations now have little choice but to do what many have been doing for ages… actually repair what’s in front of them. Engines and forks have long been standard fare for the home mechanic, but few are willing to even countenance the idea that shock absorbers are serviceable/ rebuildable items. For many the units that prevent the rear of the motorcycle from collapsing onto the ground are afforded a mythical, godlike, status and are regarded as uncharted territory . What man can make man can repair is a reasonable maxim. However, with Japanese suspension units it’s more a case of how far…