Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2022 i Classic Bike

THE BRITS love an underdog. And, what’s more, if that underdog happens to also be British, we love them even more. And it seems the Ausies have a like-minded attitude – at least they do when it comes to the Irving Vincent. A venerable British V-twin concept capable of trouncing super-tuned Japanese four-cylinder bikes and Italian V-twins? Yeah, we’ll all have some of that. The Irving Vincent, the successor of a bike that was born in Stevenage and turned into a giant killer in Australia, is our cover bike this month – and rightly so. Not only is it fearsomely competitive on the track, but its thuggish lines also look a million dollars standing still. Another story of giant killing in the issue is how Frenchman Patrick Godet developed the…

La Bañeza is the principal town in the region of León, some 300km south-west of Santander. Every year since 1952, there’s one weekend in August when motorcycle racing comes to town. Literally. The entire centre is closed off, the streets are lined with hay bales, and spectators come out in their thousands. Back in the 1950 and ’60s there were virtually no permanent motorcycle racing facilities in Spain – a time when it was customary to race motorbikes through the streets as part of a town or village’s annual festival. Hence, much like Ireland, Spain has a rich history of pure road racing. Except, unlike Ireland, when the time came that the sport needed to progress, the Spanish found the cash – and the land – to build permanent racing…

October 30 South of England Classic Bike Show and Autojumble, South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex. A strong Norton theme for this one, with former Norton sales director, scrambles ace and entertaining raconteur Mike Jackson appearing live on stage, and a host of Norton machinery on display. There’ll be all the usual attraction of an Elk Promotions show, too, with masses of autojumble pitches, trade stands and bikes, bikes, bikes. elkpromotions.co.uk November 5 VMCC Autojumble, Bath and West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset Three halls and masses of outdoor space usually attracts around 500 stallholders to one of the best jumbles of the autumn. If you want to be one of them, booking in advance is essential. vmccsomerset.co.uk November 5 Rufforth Autojumble, Rufforth Park, Yorkshire. No frills, no nonsense, just…

Vincent’s overhead-valve Comet single is invariably considered the poor relation of the British marque’s series of V-twins that are widely accepted to be the first superbikes of the modern era. But the 31 examples of the Grey Flash racing version built in 1949-50 are a different matter. The Comet was conceived by Vincent’s Aussie designer Phil Irving in 1935, by reputedly selecting the smallest cylinder bore he could get his hand into to clean the inside – 84mm, which, matched to a 90mm stroke, delivered 499cc. These remained the dimensions of all Vincent twins and singles until the firm’s demise in 1955. The Comet remained in production through this period, and the success of the high-performance Black Lightning version of his V-twin models introduced in 1948 prompted Philip Vincent to…

Opportunities to ride the Guzzi have been few and far between this year. Not because it’s been languishing in a broken-down state, but because spare time for fun pursuits has been in such short supply. But I was determined to get a good spring ride under my belt, and persuaded my mates Alan and Keith to join me on a jaunt to North Wales. I fancied a blast of sea air, and Rhyl or Prestatyn appealed as I’d never been to either resort, with a planned lunch stop at renowned bikers’ hotspot Horeshoe Pass. So we headed north to Stoke on A-roads, then I set a heading towards the Welsh coast and activated the ‘Plan a Thrill’ feature on my TomTom satnav. This points you in the direction of twisty…

November 2022 EVENTSS PORT WAY WEWEREL ETTERS S ometimes the simple ideas are the best. And the concept behind the Norton Owners Club’s Norton Day, held at Maldon, Essex on July 31 this year, couldn’t be much simpler. Ride your Norton to a waterfront park, park it up with scores of other Nortons and spend the day talking about, looking at and admiring other people’s Nortons. Oh, and grab a brew and a bacon sarnie while you’re there, before riding home again enthused by great bikes and great company. Simple, low-key – and an absolutely cracking day out. Norton Day is one of the three annual events organised by the NOC but, like everything else, it was hit by the Covid pandemic. Last year saw a tentative return with a…

C lubs are the heartbeat of the classic motorcycle movement, providing so much to enhance the experience of owning and riding a classic. Whether you’re after technical help or advice, assistance with sourcing spare parts, or just a means to hook up with a few like-minded souls – they’ll soon be mates, by the way – to enjoy a ride out to somewhere, or nowhere in particular. And, whatever your interest, there’ll almost certainly be a club to cater for it – whether that’s a sporting discipline, a certain era or nationality of machine, or a specific make or model of bike. The Norton Owners Club has been around a long time. Since 1959, in fact. And club chairman Peter White has been around bikes – and Nortons – for…

This year marks the 50th birthday of two ultra-significant models in Kawasaki’s back catalogue, which at the same time could hardly be more contrasting one to the other. They’re the beat-that-Honda 903cc four-cylinder Z1 four-stroke, arguably the world’s first superbike for the road, and the H2 Mach IV 750cc two-stroke triple, Kawasaki’s ultimate drag-strip dominatrix which took no prisoners in straight-line competition on road or track. Going round corners was, however, quite a different matter. One man who’s been fortunate enough to be able to celebrate both birthdays by simply opening his garage doors and choosing any of the 22 different Kawasakis he owns for a ride through the Hampshire countryside around his home, is British Kawa-collector Rich Hobbs. Guildford-born Rich, 57, who runs a property maintenance business, has been…

I’ve had a busy month, with two of my favourite events just one week apart. The first was Kop Hillclimb a non-competitive car/bike demonstration recalling the heyday of the event, banned in 1925 following an unfortunate vehicle/spectator interface. It’s a great chance to make a lot of noise and blow out some cobwebs on an old bike. Well, if you can get it going that is. In the paddock I found Ben Christie, fiddling about with his 1928 Cotton Blackburne. Although just 20, Ben put the bike together himself – but it was spitting back and very flat over half throttle. Raising the carb needle helped the spitting, but I suspected the valve timing was wrong. Ben assured me he’d set it to the marks – but Blackburne engines don’t…

FOR SALE £59,995 Kawasaki Z1s If money is no object – and I realise that won’t be the case for too many people at the moment – and you’re a Kawasaki Z1 fan, how do you fancy celebrating the 50th anniversary of the big K’s famous four by treating yourself to a brace of first-year models? Well, that’s the intriguing proposition being offered by Shropshire-based Classic Bikes Ltd. The two bikes, being offered as a pair for £59,995, are US-market 1973 models – one finished in candy orange and brown and the other in candy yellow and green. Both have been restored at some time, are now UK registered and are in lovely condition, complete with genuine Kawasaki exhaust systems and the original chain oilers. They come with an extensive…

This summer was a hot one – but then, it’s always hot at the West Kent Run. The only exception being last year when – as if outraged at mandatory Covid restrictions scaling the event down to a one-day run – the heavens opened! With all that (we hope) now behind us, baking sunshine blessed the return of the usual long weekend format over the first weekend in August. The event’s full title, ‘The International West Kent Run,’ reflects the original concept – making use of the south-eastern location to welcome visitors from overseas; a formula so successful that the entertainment now spans five days, making the journey worthwhile for people coming from afar. Originally based at Avery Hill College in south-east London, the awkward relationship between Metropolitan traffic and…

Triumph Grand Prix’s untimely end IN YOUR TRIUMPH anniversary issue, you mentioned in your write-up that early Triumph Trophies in original condition are few and far between, because they only made them in a smallish quantity – but an even rarer model appeared within our crowd in the late ’50s/early ’60s – a Triumph Grand Prix. However, it was soon to change hands for an undisclosed amount when the vendor had his eyes on a BSA Super Rocket. The new owner, who was somewhat small in stature, wanted to upgrade to something a bit bigger than his Tiger Cub. The GP was soon bungled off to a local expert to upgrade it so it looked more like a café racer – with clip-ons, ill-fitting mudguards, a mega and a racing…

W hen you talk to the most humble of trials riders, the reality is that, unless you’re a top competitor, the bike is always going to be better than the rider. And so it goes with my BSA B40 Wasp, built by superb veteran engineer George Greenland who has many years experience of putting machines together that work well, with many tweaks and subtle modifications to make them easier to ride. Yes, this bike is definitely better than me. Although I’ve been riding on the road for 40 years, until I was lucky enough to buy the B40 from George, I only had two years of off-road experience, all of which on a modern trials bike. I’ve long been fascinated by classic trials machines, though – no two are the…

PROJECT B.S.A Getting what you want in life can be a long game. That’s certainly true of restorations, where you need to take your time but stay focused, balancing ambition and patience so that you don’t lose heart. Maybe you remember the February 2014 issue of CB, when I breezily planned my multi-1920s BSA project? I realise that to anyone involved in a 1970s restoration, my efforts to assemble five bikes with a combined age of 482 years may seem a little irrelevant – but whatever the bike, we all find ourselves in similar situations. For example, missing parts for my original project led to my buying a ‘donor’ basket-case to get them. Of course, I should have sold the leftovers, but reasoned that by buying another basket case, I’d…

ESTIMATE £5000 £7000 Silverstone’s 2022 season finale is already shaping up nicely, with some rare and unusual machines joining the more mainstream classics already consigned. Bikes don’t come much rarer than factory prototypes – especially when, like the Royal Enfield 175 pictured above, they never made it to production. Built in 1961 as an evaluation exercise with a view to entering the European lightweight market, the ohc engine, with extravagant cast alloy covers, is housed in a compact rolling chassis with more than a hint of café racer styling. This one-off vision of what might have been has been fully restored, is in good running order and is being offered with a estimate £5000-7000. ESTIMATE £3000 £5000 And when was the last time you saw a Dresda Suzuki T500? Probably…