Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2025 i Classic Bike

September 1978, Daily Mirror International, Donington Park Apparently, there were 50,000 spectators at Donington Park for the September International meeting in 1978, with the big race of the day featuring a top-class entry. The main attraction was a showdown between the new 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts riding a 750 Yamaha, and the man that he’d deposed – Barry Sheene on the 650cc Suzuki XR23, an over-bored version of the square-four RG500 Grand Prix machine. Other GP stars present included Dutchman Will Hartog, also on a Heron Suzuki 650, Teuvo Länsivuori on an RG500 and Takazumi Katayama on a Yamaha TZ750. Top Brits included Dave Potter, John Newbold, Tom Herron, Ron Haslam and Mick Grant. Potter led the first of the race’s 24 laps, before Sheene and Roberts came past…

Startline How many riders from this Donington startline in 1978 can you identify? Your classics Just acquired a new project, completed a restoration or been for a great ride? Letters Want to start a conversation about bike values or commend good service? The Way We Were Have you got pictures and a story from your biking past? Let us know. Contact us at… letters@classicbike.co.uk Enjoyed the read? try 6 issues for £19.99 Turn to page 100 for more details or go to greatmagazines.co.uk/classicbike Simply scan the code from your Smart phone…

£30,000-40,000 1988 Honda VFR750R RC30 The bike on which Carl Fogarty clinched the world F1 championships in 1988-89. Bought by the vendor from George Fogarty in 1989 (confirmation letter supplied), its history is impeccably documented. April Bonhams sale, bonhams.com £180,000-240,000 1937 Vincent-HRD Series A Exceptional Vincents are a regular sight at Bonhams’ sales – and this is a cracker. One of only around 50 Series A Rapides thought to survive, it won a Brooklands Gold Star for its first owner, Jim Kentish, in 1938. April Bonhams sale, bonhams.com £2000 1977 Honda CB750F2 The last and most powerful of Honda’s sohc 750s, the F2 benefits from twin front discs too. While it has an aftermarket four-into-one exhaust and could do with a seat cover, this one looks in good condition and…

’How much?’ Gez Kane on classic values Post-war big singles offer some of the best value of British classic motorcycles. Even when classic prices were at their peak, traditional thumpers from the ’50s and ’60s were affordable. Now, since prices across the classic world have dropped significantly, it might just be the time to pick one up. Of course, there’s still a pecking order in terms of prices. Vincent Comets are top of the tree – though they’re not making high ’teens of thousands any more, so around £15,000 will buy a cracker. BSA Gold Stars are the next in line, but there are plenty around under £10,000 now. For a budget Brit, you can’t beat an AMC heavyweight single, in my view. Simple, sturdy, reliable and plentiful, a tidy runner…

1984 The revolutionary new, lightweight GSX-R750F makes its debut at the Cologne Show in October. The sports bike is based on the factory’s race bike from the previous season. 1985 The GSX-R750F enters production. 1986 GSX-R750G with longer swingarm and more powerful headlights. Beefed up wheels and wheel spimdles. A limited run of 500 GSX-R750R models (above) with dry clutch, close-ratio gearbox, larger-diameter brakes, single seat, steering damper and uprated suspension is introduced to homologate the model for racing. 1987 GSX-R750H Japanese market models get a steering damper as standard, plus the uprated forks from the RR model. 1988 The all-new GSX-R 750J ‘Slingshot’ replaces the original ‘Slabside’ model.…

Welcome to a little piece of Italy Well, sort of. Ged stands with a customer’s 1975 MkI Benelli 750C that he’s recently fettled, and that’s his own 1200 Laverda to his right. There’s another 750 Benelli behind him, while a BMW R90S to his left disrupts the Italian vibe. “The bench I use most is nearest to the tool box behind me,” says the hugely experienced mechanic. “You can always use more room, but I find if I have spare space I just accumulate more crap. As long as I keep it clean, neat and tidy this workshop’s perfect. What I love about Italian stuff is the uniqueness – they made stuff that makes no sense. Like the Ducati MkI Hailwood replica – who else would make a motorcycle where…

Hugo Wilson 1951 BSA Bantam D1 Acquired two years ago, and turned into a runner in 2024, there’s still some de-bugging work to do on the diminutive BSA to get it back onto the road this spring. Fuel tank leaks are one of the annoyances of old bikes. Years of corrosion and vibration take their toll, and the added peril of modern fuel means that many tanks that were sealed in the pre-ethanol age are now failing again. The tank on my Bantam project is weeping along one of the upper seams. It’s a minor leak, but it needs fixing. So I asked Rick Parkington what to do. “You need to grind back the metal with a powerfile so that it’s shiny with no corrosion, and then solder the holes,”…

1 A bit flash Having stretched one side over the rim, this moulding ‘flash’ obstructs fitting the other side. Don’t cut it off – except to clear the valve – because it acts as a rim tape and helps the tyre grip the rim. 2 Well tucked up You need to tuck the flash under the tube. Using both hands, roll the tyre back, pushing the flash in with your fingertips. There’s only enough ‘give’ do a few inches at a time, so when fingers gets really sore… 3 Slide it in … follow up by sliding the tyre up the tucked-in flash and onto the rim, making sure the lip on the tyre clips into the rim bead. If it’s reluctant to settle, tap it (where Rick’s thumb is…

Alan Seeley 1984 Harris Magnum Suzuki Project manager Al continues to nudge the Harris ever onwards in its gradual journey towards being a roadworthy machine, over two years after starting it… Whether replacing the original aged rubber brake hoses on a project bike, or if you need a bespoke-fit hose because you’ve fitted different handlebars, it makes sense to fit higher-specification stainless steel lines. You can get these with a black plastic sheathing if you’re concerned about retaining a more original appearance. It’s easy enough to order the lines in the lengths you want from suppliers like Venhill, but I’m fortunate enough to have one of Venhill’s Powerhose dealer kits, so I can make my own. If you fancy having a go at making your own brake lines, all items…

Onions souped up my Triumph This is me in August 1970, sitting astride what had been my 1959 Triumph T110, shortly after I had sold it to a guy called Dennis Onions for £25. The photo was taken outside GKN Axles in Aston, Birmingham; that’s my Mini van in front of the bike. I was quite short back then, and had always thought I would only have long enough legs for maybe a 350cc bike at most! But when my neighbour Terry North borrowed the T110 from its owner, I had sat on it. I could put my feet down, and it was for sale – so I bought it, for about £60, I think. I kept the bike for some time, but when it broke down with a sheared…

ESTIMATE £8,000-£12,000 We want it + Temptation + Winning bids + News + Events + Your classics Certainly, this bike represents one of the great transformations from a tragically uninspiring roadster (Alpino) into an absolute nutcase of a sports/production racer. The Laverda Montjuic MkI you see here is dead original, low miles, and waiting to be snapped up by a discerning top bidder at the upcoming Bonhams Stafford Show auction (April 26-27). The MkI part is critical to the plot. Generally, first production models are the purest and prettiest. They might harbour bugs ironed out in subsequent versions, but any first-gen teething troubles can be retro-fixed, where the overall mien of the primogeniture model can be hard to better. The 1982 MkII was a more rounded machine, especially in the…

In a remarkable turn of events, a breakaway organisation led by club members has secured public liability insurance for road races at Walderstown, Munster, Athea and Faugheen, which the official governing body had failed to do since 2022. “There was no prospect for road racing in 2025,” said Paul Power, who helped set up Road Racing Alliance Ireland (RRAI) and arrange the crucial public liability insurance. “A number of clubs decided that if Motorcycling Ireland [MCI, the governing body] couldn’t get insurance, then we should start looking for ourselves. “It wasn’t done to put two fingers up to MCI; the only driving force was that if we didn’t do it, our road racing would be consigned to the history books. We thought it was better to do something and fail…

5 Huggy’s Speed Shop Auto Shindig and Swap Meet Huggy’s Speed Shop, Mallory Park Circuit, Leicestershire Buy, sell, or just gawp. There’s always some interesting bikes at Huggy’s, but be warned – some of them are for sale. huggysspeedshop.co.uk 6 Festival of Transport and Autojumble  The Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire. Classic cars and bikes in the glorious Malvern Hills. classicshows.org 6 The Brooklands Sunbeam 100 Veteran and Vintage Motorcycle Day Brooklands Museum, Surrey. A must for fans of pre-’1940 bikes. Tackle the Test Hill and enjoy bike displays, talks and ’20s/’30s style motorcycle gymkhana event. brooklandsmuseum.com 12-13 British Historic Racing Lydden Hill Circuit, Kent. The British Historic club’s championship gets underway in Kent. britishhistoricracing.co.uk 12-13 Iron Motors Circuit Carole, Tremblay-en-France. A two-day celebration of ‘motorcycles of character’, featuring classics…

1 Summer Motor Show and Autojumble Weston Park, Shifnal, Shropshire. Around 500 classic bikes and cars are expected alongside the autojumble. classicshows.org 1 VJMC and Japanese Bike Bonanza Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire. Japanese classics are the stars for the day at Sammy’s. Ride in, park up and show yours off. sammymiller.co.uk 7 Rutland Rattle  Ketton Guide and Scout Hall, Ketton, Stamford, Lincolnshire. A 70-odd mile ride around Rutland on under-250cc, pre-1975 bikes. The Classic Bike crew had a ball on this last year. You will too. frostytheslowman@gmail.com 7-8 STP Sportsman Nationals Santa Pod Raceway, Podington, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. Old School Stockers is the class to catch for classic bike fans. santapod.co.uk 7-8 Classic Racing Motorcycle Club Championships Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire. Round two of the club championship at…

4-6 British Superbikes Round 4 Knockhill, Fife, Scotland. britishsuperbike.com 5 VMCC Bike Track Day Jurby, Isle of Man. Another chance to test yourself and your classic. vmcciom.org 5 Vintage Speed Trials Grimsthorpe, near Bourne, Lincolnshire. Pre-war bikes and cars strut their stuff on the main drive of the castle. speedtrials.co.uk 5 Bike Bonanza Shelsley Walsh, Worcestershire. Mad action on the hill – including classics – plus bike displays, including the Dick Shepherd Triumph collection, trade stands and more. bike-bonanza.com 5 Huggy’s Auto Shindig and Swapmeet Huggy’s Speedshop, Mallory Park Circuit, Leicestershire. Bikes, cars, parts, memorabilia, live music and shindigery. huggysspeedshop.co.uk 6 Smokin’ to Sammy’s – Two Stroke Event Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire The crackle of two-strokes fills the air at this stroker tribute. sammymiller.co.uk 6 Classic Motorcycle Day Crich Tramway Village,…

1-3 The Annual Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza South Cerney Airfield, Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Hundreds of classic bikes plus cars, buses, commercial vehicles – you name it. glosvintageextravaganza.co.uk 1-3 German Triple Run 16 Mendig, Germany. Fancy riding your Triumph or BSA triple in Germany for a change? This event provides you with the the perfect excuse. triple-run.de 2 Huggy’s Auto Shindig and Swapmeet Huggy’s Speedshop, Mallory Park Circuit, Leicestershire. Autojumble and informal show plus live music and food. huggysspeedshop.co.uk 2-3 CRMC road racing Donington Park Circuit, Leicestershire. crmc.co.uk 3 South Yorkshire Classic Car and Motor Show Wentworth Woodhouse, Rotherham, South Yorkshire (10am-4pm). Cars, bikes and an autojumble. classicshows.org 3 Triumph Owners Meet Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire. The Triumph Owners Motorcycle Club descends on Sammy’s museum for a day full of Meriden memories.…

5-6 The Carole Nash Eurojumble Netley Marsh, near Southampton, Hants. From bikes to bits, you’ll find it at this, one of the biggest autojumbles in the UK. classicbikeshows.com 5-7 British Superbikes round 8 Donington Park Circuit, Leicestershire. britishsuperbike.com 5-7 Ace Cafe Reunion Weekend Ace Café, Stonebridge, London There’s a bike night on Friday, followed by the café racer ride-out on Saturday and the legendary Brighton Burn Up on the Sunday. london.acecafe.com 6 Huggy’s Auto Shindig and Swapmeet Huggy’s Speedshop, Mallory Park Circuit, Leicestershire. huggysspeedshop.co.uk 7 Festival of Transport Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcestershire (9am-3pm). Classic cars and bikes alongside a busy autojumble. classicshows.org 7 Kickback Custom and Classic Bike Show Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire. The Kickback crew take over the entire complex at the museum to bring the best of classic…

PRICE GUIDE Mint £8000-10,000 Good £3000-3500 Project £1000-1500 Some bikes change the face of motorcycling in a heartbeat. And Suzuki’s GSX-R750 is one of them. When the first F model appeared at the Cologne show in late 1984, it was received like a two-wheeled messiah by the motorcycling public. Here was the sports bike of the future. Suddenly, everything else was old hat. When it hit the dealers’ showrooms in spring 1985, it had the lot: light weight – around 60lb (27kg) less than its so-called competitors – startling rapidity and drop-dead gorgeous, race track-inspired looks for the road. Production and endurance racing success backed up the first impressions. The GSX-R had arrived. Forty years on, the ‘Slabbie’ GSX-R750 remains a soul-stirring motorcycle. Later GSX-Rs improved the breed still further,…

Which model of ‘Slabbie’ GSX-R750 you buy will depend on why you want one. As with many classics, there’s a slight price premium attached to first-year models in original trim – but you shouldn’t have to pay more than 10% more for an F model compared to a G or H hat’s been similarly looked-after. With the GSX-R750 ‘Slabside’ models, the real drivers of price seem to be condition. There’s a significant difference in terms of sale price between bikes in good, rideable condition and machines that can genuinely be described as mint. About 18 months ago, Bonhams sold an immaculate 1986 French-market bike with 1194km on the clock for £8970. Currently, there are a couple of bikes for sale in the UK – a 1987 and a 1986 model…

1976 Honda TL125 The first proper off-road bike I had was a 1976 Honda TL125. That got me hooked on messing around on trials bikes and taught me the fun you can have while not going very fast. I’ve still got a little Honda now because of those days. I just fell in love with the bikes and trials itself. 1980 Fantic Caballero My first important road bike was a moped at 16, when you suddenly learn what freedom feels like. I had a 1980 Fantic Caballero. I could get out and the world was my oyster – finally I could escape the village and go places. Although it was dog slow, it taught me what freedom was. 1981 Laverda Jota This was the first bike I rode on the…

I’m trying to eliminate the hurried bodges that were made when putting the Bantam together last year, as well as fixing other things that I find along the way. There are a lot of trivial annoyances, like the correct fitting of the clutch cable, replacing mashed case screws and split handlebar grips. This always leads to new things to learn – but once I get the tank back on we’re nearly there (famous last words). • A reminder. In the late 1960s, BSA switched from Whitworth to Unified thread forms. This engine is a hybrid of D1 (1948-55) and D14 (circa 1968), so contains both. Which is worth knowing when you are trying to work out why the new screws don’t fit – and an added confusion for those of us…

Rupert Paul 1982 Moto Morini Kanguro Why did Rupert buy this bike? ‘Had to get the train… from Potsdamer Platz,’ he replied, referencing Bowie’s Where Are We Now? from The Next Day album… If you’re any kind of Bowie fan, you’ll know the song mentioned above, and the achingly nostalgic feeling behind it. Well, that feeling is pretty much why, at the age of 62, I find myself owning a Morini again, 44 years after the last one. How strange that it’s this obscure Italian marque bracketing a biking career which has spanned at least 1500 different bikes ridden, owned, raced, thrashed and crashed. It’s a first-generation 350 Kanguro, the X0 model. Y-reg, nine former owners, 50,000 miles. The X0 had the round-tube frame, which I think looks nicer than…

The reprint of the T160 vs 850 Commando road test in the ‘1975’ issue brought back some memories – the centrefold shot of the bikes at Stonehenge adorned my bedroom for ages. It acted as inspiration for me to get my own Trident – a year after reading that test, in May 1976, I part-exchanged my rubbish 650 Bonneville for a red and white large-tank T160 from Slocombes of Neasden. For the next three-and-a-half years and 12,500 miles, it performed well beyond my expectations with outstanding reliability, although rough running in traffic encouraged me to have Lucas Rita ignition fitted by the dealer. It didn’t improve matters, only making them worse. A visit to ‘Mistral Engineering’ (a shed in Walthamstow), who developed the system, revealed the ignition timing was not…

1 Sometime ago, you asked for pictures of bikes parked in living quarters. The photo above is from around 2006, showing how my house used to be home to my Triumph Trident T150V. It was a production racer with a shortened chassis, Moto Guzzi Le Mans front end, home-designed bodywork and an 860cc motor. Since that time, I have remarried and sold the bike. I still have a Speed Triple 1050 and a 1971 BSA A65 Firebird Scrambler – but they live in the shed! Rob van der Vegt, Bruinisse, Netherlands 2 Pursuant to the theme of interior décor for the discerning, please see our recently made-over ‘family room’ (above right), which used to house a PlayStation, large TV, football table and latterly a ‘drunk bunk’ for visiting students and other dignitaries.…

Fuel tanks for Ducati 916 Rot-prone fuel tanks on the Ducati 916 and derivatives can now be replaced with an aluminium tank that looks like the steel original, but is almost half the weight. The tanks are hand-made in the UK and cost £2250 including cap. ettomotorcycles.co.uk Castrol Honda return After 30 years, and having won 15 world championships in the premier road racing class, Spanish petroleum giant Repsol have withdrawn their sponsorship of the HRC Honda MotoGP team. From this season, the works Hondas will carry a Castrol livery, similar to that used by Honda’s World Superbike team in the 1990s. Final Jawa two-strokes F2 Motorcycles have announced that Jawa are no longer producing their long-lived 350cc two-stroke twin. F2 have been importing the Czech-built bikes for years, but…

RESCUED Rebuilt and reborn In 1997, after a gap of seven years with no bike, my best mate offered me a 1977 GS400 in bits for free. I soon had it reassembled, riding it through the winter of 1997. In 1998, I rode it to the Assen Centennial meeting, with my 18-year-old son Tom as pillion. But on the way back, the bike developed a carb fuel leak and a holed piston. We had to cut through the wire fence at the side of a Belgian autoroute with pliers and push the bike to a nearby farm. We managed to make a Walloon farmer understand our situation, mainly by hand signals; he kindly tucked the bike up in straw bales in a barn. We hitched to Ostend, got a ferry…

Arable farming has its advantages. Sure, there’s the ever-present worry of the capricious British weather laying waste to your crop, vicious fluctuations in grain prices, combine harvesters exploding at inopportune moments and sleepless Augusts come harvest time. But then January is basically one long holiday. “A lot of farmers ended up watching Paris-Dakar in January,” says 66-year-old son of the soil Harry Metcalfe. “In the 1980s and 1990s, when it really was A Thing, I was glued to it. And having grown up riding dirt bikes from old DOTs to a Suzuki DR350, the more I watched huge chunks of it, the more it absorbed me. “I got a KTM200, then a 450 Beta and started doing trips to the Pyrenees with a little gang of friends. I then bought…

asifed.it The problem with setting dates in the distant future is that suddenly they’re right on top of you. Or they are with me. My brother Jim and I had decided four years ago to mark the 50th birthday of his round-case Ducati 750GT by riding from Devon to the Bologna factory in 2024. Plenty of time to get his GT and my 1993 900SS ready for the trip – or so we thought. Jim went the traditional route of a patient and painstaking restoration over the years, gradually ironing out gripes and improving finish. Electronic ignition was fitted (of course), an engine rebuild done (no surprise there), plus there was a wheel and spoke rebuild, multiple bits of re-chroming and even a bit of garage lathe work. In theory,…

oliversmount.com Starter’s orders As a rider, you were aware of the crowd at Scarborough. You’d pull out of the paddock and you’d see them on the bankside in front of you, like Cadwell Park on BSB day. When you lined up on the grid, the track was so narrow that you’d be almost touching the riders next to you. There are 23 riders on this grid, and I can see Phil Mellor, Graeme McGregor and Steve Henshaw in there, so I suppose this must be 1981 or ’82. It was great if you were on the front row, but if you were back on the third or fourth row you thought you’d never find a way through. Where that hay barn is, there’s now press room and the marshal’s office,…

tramway.co.uk wheel any bike around when you’ve flicked up a sidestand or rocked it off a centrestand and much is revealed. How it behaves standing off at walking pace nearly always dictates its manners when you’re astride it on the go. The Griffin feels like a quality bicycle to manoeuvre. Small wonder. The Vincent-powered special weighs 300lb (136kg) dry. This was the maximum target mass for its builder, Glyn Johnson. Johnson has considerable form when it comes to the Stevenage product. He is at vast pains to downplay his expertise, yet it remains to mention he was the go-to guy when the National Motorcycle Museum sought to restore its Vincent exhibits after the collection was gutted by fire in 2003. His reputation for rebuilding machines to original spec is unimpeachable.…

Exhaust Original exhaust systems are vanishingly rare. If the original is still fitted, examine it carefully for damage and corrosion. There are a number of aftermarket systems on the market to keep you on the road, though. Bodywork As you’d expect, genuine body panels and fuel tanks are no longer available from Suzuki. Pattern fairing panels are available, but check for damage if you want a bike with genuine bodywork. Frame The lightweight alloy frame is one of the original GSX-R’s standout features. It weighs in at a shade over 8kg – but it’s easily damaged in a crash, so carrying out a careful check on its condition is an absolute must. Wheels Make sure that you examine both wheels carefully for any sign of damage. The ultra-light items of…

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90° screwdriver Cost: £90-100 Where: Tool merchants “A round-the-corner screwdriver is brilliant for setting carbs up on old Japanese fours and getting to the linkage adjusters on V4s. It’s basically a right-angle screwdriver that you turn with a knurled wheel at one end. Essential for those hard-to-reach screws.” Pick-up claw Cost: £16 Where: Ebay, Amazon etc “As anyone who’s dropped something in an engine will tell you, these things are priceless. Just pull the bar at one end to send the claw out, then release to make it grab. Used in conjunction with a magnet, it’s a get out of jail tool.” Obstruction spanners Cost: Zero to £20 Where: Tool merchants “I’ve accumulated this assortment of weird spanners over the years, either buying them for specific jobs where I can’t…

Rick Parkington 1914 750cc Bradbury After a major job repairing the frame of this Bradbury for the owner, it’s coming together quickly. This month all it needed was a pair of tyres fitting. Or so it seemed… With the engine and gearbox fitted to the Bradbury project, the next step was to get it rolling. After building the rear wheel last month, I just needed to build the front and fit some tyres – but there was a problem. The 36-hole front rim was rusted through and I couldn’t find one anywhere, because it’s an unusual size – most beaded-edge rims are about 22.5in diameter, this one’s 21in. Beaded-edge (or ‘clincher’) rims and tyres were derived from bicycles, where they’re still to be found. They rely on a lipped tyre…

Rick Parkington ‘I was put off Concentrics because worn ones I used seemed more bother than worn Monoblocs, but I’ve since learned there’s a bit more to it…’ Amal replaced their Monobloc carburettor with the MkI Concentric in 1967. The float bowl was now central rather than to one side of the body, stabilising float level but also allowing a carb casting that could be machined for left or right fitting and used less space – a handy option as twin carbs grew more popular. The Concentric was also more modelspecific; less interchangeable than the Monobloc, with several variations that, if they get mixed up in an autojumble carb, can create baffling problems. Also, problems with the original pilot jet location led to a compromise in the design. On fourstrokes,…