Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i Classic Bike

WERE YOU THERE? Do you know who the rest of these riders are? Or were you in the crowd? Let us know: letters@classicbike.co.uk On one of the hottest days of the year (43°C in the factory Kawasaki awning) and with the rest of the country voting in a general election, 20,000 fans turned up at this majestic valley outside the Tuscan village of Ponte a Egola, 25 miles from Pisa. For the first time in six years, Dave Thorpe was absent with injury – the defending champion had won the first three rounds. His great rival Georges Jobe had nudged 10 points ahead by dominating a hideously muddy German GP. This is the start of the first 45-minute moto, led throughout by Honda-mounted Claudio di Carli (now winner of over…

LETTER OF THE MONTH Having just loved reading the November 2024 issue of Classic Bike, sent over by my Irish partner to my home in New Zealand, I thought I’d send you a few photos of some of my bikes. I constructed a new house for myself in 2017 and planned the lounge to accommodate the three classic bikes I had; here’s a quick rundown on them… 1980 Honda CBX1000: I totally dismantled this Californian import and resurrected it around 2012. It’s now in showroom condition, with around 32,000 miles on the clock. 1984 Yamaha RZ500: This bike has only done 28,000km (17,400 miles) and is in very good condition. It’s one of my favourite bikes to ride – although getting it out is from the lounge is a bit of…

£8000-10,000 1980 Laverda Jota UK registered from new, this matching numbers Jota looks the real deal. An earlier restoration, it has been stored in a private collection for some months and will need checking over before use. Spares included. February auction iconicauctioneers.com £3750 1970 Yamaha AS-1 A delightful and very tidy early Yamaha twin – a UK model that promises heaps of fun. The engine has been rebuilt (including the crank) and most of the hard-to-find original parts are present and correct. Dealer sale classicsuperbikes.co.uk £4900 BMW R90/6 Still in regular use and with just two previous owners, this tidy-looking twin has never been ridden in winter, always been garaged and comes with a stack of MoTs to back up its mileage. Recent tyres and oil change. Private sale 0208…

’How much?’ Gez Kane on classic values It’s striking how few CB750K variants – for a long time the most collectible of Honda’s sohc fours – feature in our 20-bike sample of recent sold prices. That’s not to say rarer and more sought-after models like the first-year sandcast models won’t still command high prices. But you should be able to pick up a decent K1-K5 model (with most of the classic style of the original sandcast) for around £4500-5000. If the styling of the later F models appeals, you could pay a grand less. Middleweight CBs are on the up, too. CB400Fs remain popular, matching 750Ks on price. But it looks like the 500s and 550s are getting more interest, with the previously largely ignored CB500K topping the Pricewatch chart this…

Morinis for charity Two 500cc Morinis, a Sport and a Strada, are being sold at the London Motorcyce Show auction on February 16 in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. The well cared-for bikes have been donated by Andrew White, who lost his wife to the illness 23 years ago. An ideal opportunity to buy a 500 Morini or two – and in a good cause. iconicauctioneers.com Shelsey Walsh 120th The UK’s oldest motorsport venue celebrates its 120th anniversary this year, having first been used in 1905. Shelsey’s annual Bike Bonanza, in aid of Midland Air Ambulance, is on July5. Book early for a chance to ride your bike on the historic 1000-yard 1:6 hill. shelsleywalsh.com Jota hits 50 Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the legendary Laverda Jota at The…

RESCUED Completing the set This year I’ve restored both of these bikes – a Harley-Davidson SS125 and SS175, both 1975 models and original UK bikes. They were both purchased as boxes of parts and required full restoration. The 175 was stripped down in the 1990s as a engineering project, but was never reassembled; I purchased it from a guy whose son-in-law had stripped it originally, but it was left at the back of a garage for 30-plus years. The 125 was a similar story – it had also been stripped down and never reassembled. These two bikes complete my collection of two-stroke Harley-Davidsons – I now have all the models that were available in the UK, from 125-350cc, in both road and off-road versions. Michael Salvatore ‘They were both purchased…

In 1977, David Allen made the biggest decision of his young life: Moto Guzzi Le Mans 850 or Laverda Jota? After much deliberation, he put £2099 down on the booming V-twin. “It looked lower and more serious with its clip-on ’bars, rearset pegs and laid-down riding position, so to my 20-year-old mind, it had to be the better bike. And I still stand by that today.” Time has shown it to be the correct choice. David and his MkI Series 2 Le Mans have been inseparable for the last 47 years and his name remains the only one ever to grace its V5C. In that time they’ve clocked up 35,500 miles, numerous adventures, several calamities, and a bond that’ll likely never be broken in David’s lifetime. He also owns a…

It may seem a bit weird, the whole Norton/Matchless thing. We’re all used to hybrid concoctions like Tritons and Norvins – shed-built specials where enthusiast has mated one maker’s engine with another’s chassis – often the Norton Featherbed – but this is a factory bike. What’s more, it’s a Norton without its Featherbed; an Atlas engine stuck in a Matchless frame, of all things. It’s also an off-roader, built in the late sixties when the UK café racer boom was at its peak – and stranger still, a 750. Few people associated engines that big with knobbly tyres until over a decade later, when those crazy continentals started going for the big trailies that ultimately spawned today’s huge ‘adventure bike’ market. Well, I have to admit riding the P11 off-road…

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Snap-on ⅜in torque wrench Cost: £366 Where: Snap-on dealers The RC30 HRC Kit rear wheel spindle is a 56mm left-hand thread and has to be done up to 290Nm, so I had to buy a £300+ Snap-on wrench. Without it, it’s almost impossible to know if it’s tight enough – and I know of one team whose nut came undone. The rider was not happy… DeWalt XR impact wrench Cost: £229 Where: Screwfix, tool shops Fantastic for undoing clutch centre hubs and sprocket nuts, because you don’t need a holding tool. We use it for the wheel changes when racing and then nip the nuts up with a torque wrench, so you can do fast wheel changes. It’s a very cool bit of kit and we use it a lot.…

Alan Seeley ‘I run my classics on super unleaded and have never bothered with additives. They seem to run fine.’ What’s in modern pump fuel? Under the terms of the UK Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, 10% of all road vehicle fuel now has to be from ‘sustainable renewable sources’. Of course, ‘sustainable renewable sources’ means ethanol. This is made by fermenting grain or sugar cane. Ethanol is claimed to be partially carbon-neutral, because the plants absorb more CO2 as they grow than is released in the production or burning of ethanol. Any fuel company that retails more than 450,000 litres of fuel a year, defined as ‘major suppliers of fossil fuels’, is obliged to add ethanol to their fuel. In the UK, standard unleaded fuel is E10. This indicates that…

For much of the 1970s a good club racer could buy the latest TZ from their local dealer, get some judicious tuning and compete in GPs. Yamaha’s production racers were that good. And now you have one of the best opportunities to buy one, thanks to Glyn Marriott. Glyn is a Birkenhead bike dealer who, over three decades, has amassed the UK’s biggest collection of TZs and their predecessors, the TDs and TRs. He’s selling all 17 of his bikes at the MCN London Bike Show on February 16. The machines range from a 1969 TR-2 – Yamaha’s first ever 350 proddie racer – to a 1994 TZ125, with almost every other Yamaha TZ in between. There’s a matching-numbers 1973 TZ700A, a similarly well-restored matching-numbers 1981 TZ500H and a brutal-looking…

When I told friends that I wanted to ride around Australia on my 1969 Triumph T150 Trident, most of them told me I was a bloody idiot and should buy a modern adventure bike. One said I’d only make it to Brisbane, 800km (500 miles) away from my home in Nelson Bay, north of Sydney. When I realised that I’d have to cover over 10,000 miles, I decided it would be best to break the journey into manageable sections, concentrating on each at a time. It sounded like a plan to me… I set off on July 1, 2024, saying goodbye to my wife Carole and our dog Scout (my constant companion), my friend Vic Vasella and everyone at work. It would be just me and the Trident for the…

ALL LUNCH WITH My first TT was terrifying – really shocking,” says Michael Rutter, wincing at the memory. Given that his father Tony won seven TTs, I’m slightly taken aback. I assumed Tony would have eased his son in gently. “Yeah, I should have gone over with a van and a couple of bikes, but I was in a big team riding an RC45 and my team-mate was Robert Dunlop. It was probably the worst start I could ever have.” We’re sitting in Michael’s race workshop in Birmingham, deep in Rutter territory – Michael bought the pulled pork sandwiches we’re eating from the same takeaway his dad used in the 1970s when he ran a bike shop down the road. Michael leans back on his chair, his head almost resting…

Robbie Phillis made a lot of fans smile in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s with his lairy riding on big four-strokes and his true-blue Aussie sense of humour. I have various personal memories of Phillis – from watching him battling the Ducati hordes in the World Superbike Championship aboard a Team Green Kawasaki ZX750R to wrestling big and bouncy proddie bikes around Australia’s lethal Bathurst street circuit. But the memory that shines brightest has a bunch of us in Mama’s Bar, a small drinking den near Japan’s Suzuka Circuit, one Sunday night after the Suzuka 8 Hours race, around 1987. The bar, owned by a very tolerant Japanese woman nicknamed Mama, is crammed with riders and team people: there’s Phillis, Wayne Gardner, British ace Kenny Irons and most of my…

RC30 heaven Though Team Bike – the famed endurance racing team that Ian now runs – did race other models, it’s become synonymous with Honda RC30s, sometimes ridden by double world endurance champion Stephane Mertens. On the ramps beside Ian are the actual bikes the team used in 1989, ‘90 and ‘91. “The one on the left is the Cherokee bike that we raced four or five times,” says Ian. “On the right is Mat Oxley’s [the TT winner, MotoGP reporter and Classic Bike contributor], which we raced last year at the Classic Bol d’Or. I’m putting those two back to original specification, and they won’t be raced any more because we’ll be using the two bikes in the foreground. I built these last winter from parts – I got…

Daytona days Seeing the Rick Rides test on the Triumph Daytona in the June 2024 issue reminded me of how quick the one I raced in 1970-71 was. In production race trim, complete with lights and silencers, I regularly used to finish in the first half dozen against Manx Nortons, Matchless G50s and bigger bikes. These shots were taken at Croft, in the paddock and showing me dicing with a Manx Norton. I remember Mick Burns, father of GP racer Chris, coming up to me in the paddock at Croft and saying: ‘It’s a 650 isn’t it, Mike…’ I bought the bike from Gary Green, a production race ace and former Honda works rider in endurance races. He lived in Coventry and I was led to believe the motor was…

When I was growing up in the 1960s, my father used to tell me stories about his unreliable British bikes, so when I got into biking in the ’70s I set off down a Japanese road. I started with a Honda SS50 (still in the shed), passing through the capacity categories until I got a Honda CB750 K6, which was great – but then I read the 1975 Bike magazine ‘Big Muthas’ Giant Test: Harley Electra Glide vs Guzzi T3 California, and I had to have a California. Secondhand Calis were thin on the ground, but in October 1979 I found one in Morphy Motors of Tring that was manufactured in 1977 and first registered in ’78. Apparently, it had been ridden from its Welsh home and crashed into a…

John King John is an expatriate Brit living in Australia. His story about rebuilding a Trident and then riding it around Oz is nothing short of inspirational. Pages 26-31 Mat Oxley MotoGP journalist Mat is a TT winner who loves telling tales of bike racing’s glorious past and legendary riders like Australian Rob Phillis. Pages 56-62 Rupert Paul Former Performance Bikes magazine editor and now a bike rewiring specialist, Rupert’s workshop provides some great fettling stories. Pages 91-93…

£4000 1928 Cotton-JAP Model 25J Vintage project bikes continue to be popular. This machine from a deceased estate has a number of missing and incorrect parts and the frame number doesn’t match the V5, yet it still made good money. hjpugh.com £8500 1955 BSA DB34 Gold Star Rebuilt in 2014 and has done only 200 miles since. This Goldie has been dry stored for some time and will need recommissioning. Nonetheless, the hammer price confirms the downward trend in Gold Star values. hjpugh.com £1830 2001 Kawasaki W650 Tidy example of Kawasaki’s retro twin in good cosmetic order. Runs well and largely original, except for aftermarket silencers. Original side panels and airbox included in the sale. Recent rear tyre and chain. ebay.co.uk £7500 1960 Velocette Scrambler Rare MkII American-market model and…

Ariel has announced that its only current motorcycle – the Ace – is no more. After ten years in production, the last one rolled out of the company’s Somerset factory at the end of 2024. The Ace was a startling bike, with a 170bhp Honda V4 engine, a frame milled from a single massive block of alloy and a beautifully effective girder front end. However, Ariel director Simon Saunders says this might not be the end of the line for two-wheeled Ariels: “The history of Ariel is steeped in bicycles and motorcycles, and we’re keen this legacy continues. We are looking at the possibilities for a new, different Ariel motorcycle – so watch this space!” The company will continue to build its high-performance Atom and Nomad cars.…

I purchased my 1969 Triumph T150 Trident in 2013 – it came from America. When it arrived in Australia, it would start, but I believe it had been in storage for a number of years. It spent time in my shed while other projects took over, including restoration of a Triumph T160, my first rebuild of a motorcycle engine. I finally got the Old Girl out of the shed in 2022. The 11,200 miles on the clock seemed genuine and I thought the best plan was a total rebuild. I rebuilt the engine with 0.010in off the crankshaft and plus-20 pistons. I did all the work myself – apart from machining the crank, boring the barrels and machining for the five-speed gearbox conversion I fitted. Around this time, I had…

NOT JUST PADDOCKS Besides racing, Michael’s father ran a bike shop, selling bikes and bits to everyone from Mike Hailwood to Barry Sheene and Carl Fogarty. Naturally, Michael spent a lot of time at the shop. AMAZING CHILDHOOD In 1981 Tony rode in the Suzuka 8 Hours and took the family with him. “On one trip out with George Fogarty [Carl’s dad] and some mates, I got lost in central Tokyo,” recalls Michael. SUPERTEEN DAYS Michael started racing in 1989 on an RGV250 he bought with money his gran left him. This shot is from the 1992 Superteen Challenge, in which Michael came third overall. TURNING PRO Michael got his first professional ride in 1993 – getting paid £100 a week to ride a ZXR750 for Medd in British Superbikes.…

PRICE GUIDE Mint £5000-6000  Good £3000-4000  Project £1500-2000 If you like big, old-school air-cooled superbikes, Kawasaki’s GPz1100 should be right up your street. Kawasaki had set the bar high with the launch of the Z1 in 1972 but, by the start of the ’80s, the opposition had upped their game. Honda’s dohc fours and the 16-valve Suzuki GSX1100 were stealing some of the thunder from Kawasaki’s ageing Z1/Z1000-derived models. Something had to be done – cue the GPz1100, which kept Kawasaki in the performance mix from 1981 until 1985, while they beavered away developing a new generation of liquid-cooled machines. To look at the GPz1100 as a stop-gap is to do it a disservice, though. Ride one and you’ll appreciate why. For a start, it’s still a brutally fast machine.…

Ducati Mk3 250 This taught me to go round corners fast. All my friends had RD250s and X7s, but I had this in Desmo trim. Away from the lights they’d be gone – I stood no chance – but as soon as we got to the twisties they couldn’t get near me. It was my first big bike and I’m very glad I kept hold of it. Honda XR500 I bought one of these as a youth and it taught me to wheelie. It was just so easy – I could wheelie as long as the road went. I got this US import [above] a while ago – a twinshock like my original bike. It’s unbelievable fun on the road and lifts the front wheel just as easily as I…

Rick Parkington ‘Don’t make the mistake of expecting bad braking if you’re moving from modern bikes to British classics. If they don’t stop well, something’s probably wrong.’ Brakes are commonly the biggest culture shock for anyone going from modern bikes to old – partly because modern stopping is a one-finger exercise rather than having to use both brakes and a good squeeze with your whole hand, the old-fashioned way. That understood, the brakes on most classics are reasonably matched to weight and performance, provided they’re in good order – and there’s plenty that can go wrong. But you also need anticipation and reaction – stopping the wheel doesn’t necessarily stop the bike, tyre grip and road surface are equally important. Early designs – bicycle-type stirrups, fibre wedges cantilevered into V-rims,…

Rupert Paul BMW R90S Bike electrical expert and former Performance Bikes magazine editor Rupert has had to fix wiring meltdowns on three BMW /6 series bikes. If you’ve had the good fortune to ride an R90S you’ll know what a gem it is, with its cost-no-object sunburst paintwork, sewing machine engine, delicious low speed balance… and pyromaniac tendencies. I’ve now had three R90S machines through my rewiring workshop – and all of them had burned wires. One had caught fire in its headlamp. Another sent up smoke signals from under the tank. The third had just begun to cook its wires, but we caught it before the fireworks got going. So there’s clearly a problem – and not just for the 90/S, though that’s where I have experience of it.…

This is not your typical accident repair. Finding parts for a 92-year-old bike is a matter of chance. That’s why my Volvo-modified Sunbeam had to wait and didn’t start getting fixed until last month, when I bought a ‘donor’ project – although I should really say ‘lender’, because I’m sure to end up building both bikes. Having straightened my frame and borrowed the ‘donor’ forks, I was keen to press on. Although the frame passed my visual checks I won’t be happy until I’ve ridden it – and this month I had so many nasty surprises, it felt like I was in one of those scary films where you know something horrible’s going to happen, but each time it’s just a flapping curtain or yowling cat. First worry was finding…