Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i Classic Bike

Few motorcycle careers contain as many scrapes as Brian Crichton’s. The former editor of Classic Bike has fallen off the top of a White Helmets display team pyramid, suffered a 130mph tank slapper on the M1, been stopped by police while lapping Snetterton, had his leg broken during an endurance race before he even got on his bike and once inadvertently bought three MZs. Wiping away tears of laughter after yet another anecdote, I put it to Brian that most of his adventures stem from an inability to say no. “I think you’re right,” he says, grinning. “A lot of my career has been based around saying yes. Especially in my early days working for Motorcycle News – I said yes to everything. For example, the first competition bike I…

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What’s the attraction? These two bikes may be ‘only’ 400s, but they’ll provide more fun than plenty of bigger, faster machines. Ride either and you’ll be smitten – if you’re under 6ft tall. Race-quality handling, a top end around 130mph, braking to match and bagfuls of character will make you question why you’d ever need more than one of these miniature missiles on the road. Honda’s exotic V4 NC30 cost more than its VFR750, but then a wave of much cheaper grey import 400s hit UK shores. And the ZXR400 was always considerably cheaper. Which is the obvious choice? The NC30 – it has all the looks and build quality of the RC30 at a fraction of the price and goes as well as it looks Like its bigger brother,…

As I take a short break from Athe business in the broiling heat of Italy, I’ve had a chance to look back at the year so far and reflect on what’s happening in the classic bike market. And the honest answer is – not much. It’s still pretty tough and I wasn’t getting too many enquiries prior to escaping on holiday. It’s probably the right time to take a break, in fact. But I’ve been in this business a long time and I know things will bounce back. When I worked in the modern bike trade, summer was always the busy period, while winter could be a bit of a struggle. But the classic trade doesn’t seem to work like that – at least not for me. The market for…

£55,000 1927 Indian Speedway Motorcycle HJ Pugh sale, July 5-6 HJ Pugh offered an extraordinary private collection of speedway bikes and memorabilia over two days in July. Memorabilia went under the hammer on Friday, July 5, with the bikes on the following day. Star of the show was this Indian. Believed to be an ex-works machine, it was ridden and owned by New Zealander Spencer Stratton who rode in the USA, Australia and the UK during his career. Brought to the UK by him, it was sold to an American collector in the ’60s before being sold to Indian specialist Alan Forbes in Edinburgh, from whom the vendor bought it and subsequently restored it to its current outstanding condition.  hjpugh.com £2500 1972 Hagon Jawa HJ Pugh sale, July 5-6 This…

The classic bike market is a Tconstantly changing environment at the moment. Our recent auction at the Shuttleworth Collection was no exception – there were plenty of indications that the market – and the classic world in general – is still evolving. It’s definitely a buyers’ market at the moment – but that certainly doesn’t mean everything is doom and gloom. While there are still fewer buyers from mainland Europe than before Brexit, for example, we are selling plenty of bikes to overseas buyers – especially from countries whose exchange rates are favourable to buyers. We sold a number of machines to the USA and Australia – and even a couple to Hong Kong. The age profile of buyers moves on almost daily, which means that, at the moment, what…

Mat Oxley With 40 years of experience in race paddocks, Mat’s got the contacts and the quotes to write the definitive story of the 50-year-old Suzuki RG500. Mark Graham MG loves a home-brewed hot-rod – and was blown away by the Kiwi ingenuity of Peter Lodge’s Norton special. Many of its Manx GP rivals will be blown away too. Alan Seeley Amazingly, Project Harris Suzuki is back on, after a short pause to find engine parts and more money. See the engine going together in this issue. Get in touch at: letters@classicbike.co.uk…

Barry Sheene and Suzuki’s RG500 Grand Prix bike go together like fish and chips. Man and machine were mutually beneficial – Sheene probably wouldn’t have won his two 500cc world championships without the RG500, but would the square-four two-stroke have been as good as it was without Sheene’s input? When Sheene won his second 500cc title in 1977, all but three of the top 29 points scorers rode RGs – and when ‘King’ Kenny Roberts took the crown in 1978, the American was one of only five riders in the top 29 who didn’t ride an RG. In other words, Suzuki’s creation democratised the premier class like no other motorcycle before or since. The RG also won the fastest GP in history – a race average of 217.370kmh (135.067mph) average…

CUB REPORTER Brian learned his trade on local papers and moved to MCN in 1971. He was soon covering motocross GPs around the world (once banging on the door of a plane at Heathrow because he’d arrived late). Above he’s with Ake Jonsson. TRAINING WITH NOYCE In the 1970s Husqvarna had a brutal training school near the factory in Sweden, where all their top riders would go for a beasting. Naturally MCN sent Brian. He travelled there in the Merc above with a young Graham Noyce. WANNA GO? While reporting on the Newbury round of the 1974 world sidecar motocross championship, Robert Grogg (later the world champ) asked if Brian wanted a go. Obviously, he did (wearing Grogg’s passenger’s sweaty kit). TESTING TIMES Once the MCN bosses realised Brian was…

GOOD TO SEE last month that CB’s Rupert Paul has got his BSA A65 project sorted. His woes in the July issue prompted a letter from fellow A65 owner Francis Kemble, who offered his sympathies but wondered if Rupe’s problem was due to fitting a Kawasaki Z1000 regulator. Says Francis: “Surely they’re negative ground; the BSA is a positive system – and I thought Japanese bikes use a wire-wound rotor, fed by regulator voltage according to electrical demand? The Lucas solid rotor type is regulated differently. I’m also not sure why he had to shorten a Triumph T140 footrest to fit – my A65 has identical rests to my T140. But I hope Rupe gets it sorted, it looks great and I know only too well the scenario of being…

The bikes ridden and fettled by the Classic Bike team SITUATED AT Northern Ireland’s top end, the Armoy circuit is a gem. It’s three miles of anti-clockwise road racing heritage where the legends of the Armoy Armada – Mervyn Robinson, Joey Dunlop, Frank Kennedy and Jim Dunlop – tested their bikes and did their thing. Since 2009, it has been home to the Armoy club’s Race of Legends. Every year, top road racers from around the world come to County Antrim in midsummer to take on the challenge of this delightful place. Arriving at the circuit on Thursday evening for Friday practice, I walked the circuit. There’s something about being able to look backwards through corners that is really helpful. The first obstacle on the circuit is the chicane. It’s…

Honda’s legendary RC30 is rightly regarded as a nailed-on collectible classic. Yet it was only one of a raft of limited-production machines produced by the Japanese factories in the late ’80s and early ’90s to homologate their bikes for racing. But while Honda built almost 4800 RC30s, production of Yamaha’s Superbike contender the FZR750R OW-01 was limited to just 500 bikes, making it much more of a rarity. And from that production run, a mere 140 were officially imported into the UK. That makes this superb example – on sale at The Bike Specialists in Sheffield – something really special. In fact, the OW-01 was special from the day it was launched in 1989. It was considerably more expensive than Honda’s £8499 RC30, at an eye-watering £12,749 – but that…

There’s something special about Triumph triples. And the late 1974-on T160 Trident is arguably the best of the bunch. Ride a wellprepared and looked-after example and you’ll wonder why the British motorcycle industry ground to a sticky end by the early ’80s. It’s a stunning looking machine – and when it’s on song, it’ll put a grin on the face of any motorcyclist with a heart. The handling’s great and the lively engine’s capable of whipping you along to 120mph-plus – accompanied by one of the most hauntingly soulful exhaust notes ever produced by a motorcycle. You do need to dial in a few revs to make the most of its claimed 58bhp and you’ll feel them too – although it’s a 120° triple with evenly-spaced firing intervals and perfect…

Rich Llewellin, Ducati Pantah Rich Llewellin of Louigi Moto was at Donington with his 500 Ducati Pantah in Marmite colours. “It took me two years to assemble out of bits and bobs and then I started racing it,” he explained. “After the second year of racing, the engine blew up – the valve seat fell out of it’. That’s when Rich replaced it with a spare Evo engine, though it took a huge amount of development. ‘We developed a cylinder head with Andy Molnar, we had some cams come over from New Zealand… it just went on and on,” Rich recalled. “Yesterday I did my fastest lap round Donington. It’s amazing, it almost feels like a modern bike with a classic feel; the suspension’s quite rigid, it’s got adjustable forks,…

‘Timeless styling, enhanced by a striking black and gold limited edition ‘anniversary’ paint job makes it difficult to guess this Gilera’s age’ Mention Gilera to me and my first thought is of Norton’s desperate efforts to spur their ancient cammy singles ahead of the smooth Italian fours. After that? There’s the Saturno, their purposeful-looking 1940s/50s 500 single hailed in its day as ‘the Italian BSA Gold Star’… but I somehow missed Gilera’s Nuovo Saturno when it came out in 1988. Seeing it for the first time today, it’s hard to believe this is a 34-year-old bike. The Gilera’s timelessly classic-influenced styling, enhanced by a striking black and gold limited edition ‘anniversary’ paint job makes it difficult to age – the stylish Marvic wheels, the white clocks, the neat frame and…

Underdog status is not something Peter Lodge celebrates, not something that he revels in. “I’m just an engineer, more of a fitter really,” he says. “But we’ve got this ES2 to a stage where I wouldn’t want to swap it for a Manx – I just wouldn’t.” Of all the unlikely start points for a serial winning classic single-cylinder race machine, Norton’s pushrod ES2 might seem as left-field as they come. How could a massively undersquare (79 x 100mm bore and stroke) 490cc plodder producing a stock absolute best of 30bhp at 5500rpm become the scourge of pure-bred overhead cam racing singles? The answers lie in an appreciation, and great affection, for the original product, a long and inventive development path – and the understanding that if a machine is…

£1000 1991 Kawasaki ZZR600 Up and running with recent service and MoT. Looks fairly original apart from silencer and tinted screen and should make a good runabout for whatever’s left of the summer. vincentsmotorcyclesandantiques.weebly.com £999 1953 MV Agusta Pullman 1A An MV for under a grand? OK, so it’s a project and only a 125cc two-stroke, but what do you expect? The engine turns over freely, there’s a spark and it’s registered on a V5C. automotoclassics.co.uk £995 1989 Suzuki GSX750E Looks fairly tidy and starts on Easystart, so shouldn’t be too hard to get back on the road – it has an MoT till October. Has been repainted at some time and fitted with Marving exhaust. 01536 219091 £995 1990 Honda CBR600 FL A lot of bike for the money.…

Iconic Auctioneers July 14 £1093 1979 Can-Am Military 250  Iconic Auctioneers, Shuttleworth Sale, July 14 Designed and built by Canadian manufacturer Bombadier for the UK military, this 247cc Rotax-powered two-stroke single saw service with the Royal Corps of Transport. Introduced in 1979 and produced until the late ’80s, the Can-Am was the (long overdue) replacement for the British Army’s ageing fleet of BSA B40s. Restored to useable (rather than concours) condition with a rebuilt engine and new tyres, it’s ready to ride and looks like a lot of fun for not too much money. Registered on a UK Q-plate, it came with a useful cache of sparesa and various manuals, along with a letter of authenticity. iconicauctioneers.com £4485 1953 Triumph 5T Speed Twin Iconic Auctioneers, Shuttleworth Sale, July 14 A…

1979 Laverda Jota 180 Estimate: £14,000-18,000 As consignments mount up for Bonhams’ second big Stafford sale of the year, this Jota is sure to attract a lot of interest. It has to be one of the most original and unmolested Jotas in existence. With just two owners from new and a mere 7677 miles showing on the odometer, the bike is accompanied by the first owner’s service log, detailing all work carried out between 1979-88 (including a recall to replace main bearings in 1980, when the bike was sold to the vendor). Unused for approximately 25 years, it was recently recommissioned, but does require new tyres. bonhams.com September 4-6  Mathewsons live online sale  mathewsons.co.uk September 6/7  HJ Pugh sale, Hazle Meadows Auction Centre, Ross Road, Ledbury, Herefordshire hjpugh.com September 11…