Features
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Yamaha YR2C: when Yamaha joined the street scrambler trend
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Steve Cooper looks at how Yamaha took its all-new YR1 and jumped aboard the 1960s street scrambler trend. In 1967, Yamaha’s Iwata factory rolled out its most significant machine since the 250cc two-stroke YDS1 of 1959. The all-new Yamaha YR1 350 two-stroke twin was a ground-up design featuring a vertically split crankcase and a clutch…
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Suzuki’s TC200 came here by accident…
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Steve Cooper looks at the street scrambler that came to these shores by accident… So, as we all know, street scramblers were never sold in the UK, right? Well, why would a company do that when we Brits have always had a reputation for being a conservative bunch when it comes to buying motorcycles? Very…
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Rebuilt 1973 Triumph Trident T150V
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This late T150V Trident, fully and expertly rebuilt by keeper Peter Hall, finally sells your tester on three-cylinder power.
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Dunlop Debut!
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Fifty years ago… the summer of ’76 — the heatwave, petrol at 76 a gallon, Barry Sheene and James Hunt winning world championships on two and four wheels. Punk rock was on its way to shake up the establishment and one J. Dunlop was about to make his debut at the Isle of Man TT…
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R A Jones Classic Motorcycles: a family passion for proper classic bikes
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For anyone with a love of British classics, restoration projects and interesting old motorcycles, R A Jones Classic Motorcycles is well worth knowing about. Based in Manchester, close to the Trafford Centre and M60, the business is run by Robert Jones and specialises in classic motorcycles, with a particular passion for British machinery. Whether it…
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The cult of LC!
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From the era that style forgot came a machine like no other: Yamaha’s RD350LC. What made this bike (and little brother and subsequent models) so well-loved? Bertie Simmonds explains… At the start of the 1980s, we were under the shadow of The Cold War, Thatcherism had been unleashed upon us, and unemployment was hitting two…
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When HRC unleashed the RVF750 at the 1991 Isle of Man TT
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Back in 1991 the most exotic prototype four-stroke racing motorcycles took part in the punishing Isle of Man TT races. Bertie Simmonds reports… Two very special RVF750s were given to then TT legends Steve Hislop and Carl Fogarty to race around the punishing 37.73 mile Mountain course. In some respects, the bikes were the four-stroke…
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Honda CB400 Super Four and CB-1: Everything you need to know
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The earliest of these Hondas may be 36 years old, but they look great, offer modern practicality and reliability, with classic status, and the ability to work on them. We look at two of the finest…
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Japanese Street Scramblers: Kawasaki W series
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Kawasaki’s 1960s foray into four-stroke street scramblers produced just one model, but, as Steve Cooper explains, it was definitely a machine with merits. Kawasaki’s W series parallel twins stem from the Meguro Company that had produced similar 500s from the early 1950s. Towards the end of the decade a power unit very reminiscent of that…
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Swan Motor Manufacturing
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The Swan Motor Manufacturing began life in Frodsham High Street in Cheshire in around 1910 and exhibited its first motorcycle at the Olympia Show in 1911. This was an open-frame machine with, unusually for the time, front and rear suspension. The founder of the company was FH Thornton who lived in a large house opposite…
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