BSA’s well loved pre-unit twins culminated with the Rocket Gold Star, pretty much a hot Super Rocket twin engine in the Gold Star cycle parts. Overshadowed by its Triumph Bonneville counterpart, the Super Rocket was arguably as good a machine. Jim Reynolds takes a ride out on one, which is probably as good as it gets...

Benelli’s 650 twin was a radical take on the British parallel twin design.

From early sporting leanings in the roaring 20s, Norton’s immortal 490cc pushrod engine developed into a delightful lusty slogger, fondly remembered by many. The ‘Easy’ 2 was a mainstay of the Norton range for over three decades, and it’s not difficult to see why it had such a devoted following...

The late Pete Sole, who owned this Triumph Thunderbird for over 20 years, was well-respected as a pragmatic restorer with a taste for vintage machinery. The Thunderbird was his first post-war heavyweight and he used it regularly, as a workhorse and tourer...

The Goodman family – manufacturers of Velocette – stopped making motorcycles circa 1970, right? Well, not quite. In 1998, Simon Goodman, the great grandson of the firm’s founder, made one last machine, and thanks to Neil Redley we’ve scooped a test on this unique machine...

‘Specials’ are in a class of their own, particularly when it comes to taking on someone else’s unfinished project. Mike Lewis looks at the marriage of Ariel’s 997cc four-cylinder motor with Norton’s fine-handling wideline ‘Featherbed’ chassis...

The Triumph Métisse models developed for scrambling were streets ahead of the competition on the scrambles tracks of the world. But what are they like on the street asks Tim Britton?

Super Onslow Special and So Obviously Superior were two suggestions what the 'SOS' badge stood for. Whatever the terminology, the bike was an appeal to discriminating riders, to try something different in the lightweight utility market...

There are those among us who prefer practicality over aesthetics and are skilled enough to be able to make something from ‘a mishmash of unrelated parts.’ What’s more, said parts don’t necessarily have to have originated from another motorcycle... but a rotavator?

'World’s finest standard sports 500', so boasted BSA. But to some, Gold Stars are overpriced and unnecessary, though to many others – including our scribe – BSA was quite right, and they are simply the best ohv singles ever made...

The 1968 Triumph Bonneville was the culmination of the company's quest to marry ‘precision, power and performance’ and is arguably its best ever twin...

The Ariel KH perhaps lacked the glamour of some of the other 500cc twins available in the 1950s, but it had a lot going for it. It’s possible to get too hung up on the colours of classic bikes, you know. Roy Poynting tells the tale...

Moto Guzzi never did improve on the superbly designed original, as Rod Ker finds out in the saddle of its plastic-shrouded successor

Harley-Davidson’s motorcycles earned their stripes in combat during WWII, though this veteran modestly disguises its military background today...

In the 1970s Dave Minton first greeted the idea of a high-speed, high-mileage 750cc parallel twin with suspicion, but he was fast won over. Here's how, and why...

Still drop dead gorgeous and probably the best looking 250 of the 70s, the Kawasaki S1 inspires many a middle aged man to relive his teens...

Launched in 1975, the low, lithe S3 was a visual treat. This Moto Guzzi S3 has been superbly restored and uprated by its owner, and is now capable of what the Italian factory originally claimed for it…

It was a simple premise – build a upmarket commuter motorcycle for everyman, one that would appeal to everyone and be capable of doing all things for all men. And it succeeded when others fell by the roadside. So why was Velocette's flawed LE so special?