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Lasota medals auctioned
Included in the automobilia section of the Dee Atkinson and Harrison Classic Car and Motorbike auction to be held on July 31 at East Yorkshire’s Driffield Showground will be memorabilia relating to ISDT competitor Pete Lasota.
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Dirt tracking in the UK
The third round of the Maxxis 2016 UK national flat track championship was held at Greenfield Farm near Alford in Lincolnshire on June 11/12.
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Wonderful Whitfield
Classic Motorcycle Day at the Dover Transport Museum welcomed a wide range of machinery to the Kent attraction.
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Timely Thunderfest victory for Rob Head
Sponsored by Harleyworld of Chesterfield, the 2016 Thunderfest at Darley Moor saw a packed grid striving to reach their personal target times in a tough 10-lap competition.
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Japanese bikers’ day at Sammy Miller Museum
Almost 200 bikes, including some real Japanese exotica, turned up for the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club’s Japanese bikers’ day at the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum on Saturday, June 11 – and Nigel Barratt and Steph Murchison are to be congratulated on once again organising such a fabulous event.
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Carole Nash winner Ben spends a day with his hero Leon Haslam
After winning a Carole Nash Insurance competition, 37-year-old Ben Hayes from Cheshire recently spent a day he’ll never forget with his motorcycle racing hero, Leon Haslam.
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T160 triplex primary drive problem solved
Owners of T160 Triumph Tridents might be interested to know that a T160 Triplex primary drive conversion sprocket is now available from Clive Scarfe Systems.
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British scooter display opens at Haynes Motor Museum
After several years in the planning, the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust’s exhibition of British motor scooters opened to the public within the Haynes International Motor Museum near Yeovil on May 21.
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A Cotton restored
Last October we ran a short feature headed ‘The Cotton they dragged from the Grand Union Canal’ telling the story of a 1937 350cc JAP-engined Cotton Sports that VMCC Taverners Section member Brian Matthews had just started putting back together. Now the job is done, and Brian tells the tale.
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Another brilliant Banbury Run – and it’s still the biggest and best in the world!
Almost 500 riders took part in the Vintage Motor Cycle Club’s 68th Banbury Run, open only to VMCC members on pre-1931 machines, on Sunday, June 19 – down a little on the 600 or so during the halcyon days of a few years ago, but still living up to the event’s tag of ‘the largest…
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Bill Little to retire after almost 40 years
After establishing his business, Bill Little Motorcycles of Oak Farm, Braydon, near Swindon SN50AG, in 1979, Bill has finally decided to put his feet up, and a Retirement Sale, with lots of automobilia and memorabilia to clear from his barn, takes place on Saturday, August 6.
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The camera does lie
The start of the 1967 Ulster Grand Prix. But all is not, perhaps, as it seems
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Bigger than ever!
The ASI MotoShow is a real celebration of motorcycling, with a hugely diverse amount of stunning machinery taking to the track.
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Two careful owners
That’s all this beautiful 1956 Tiger 110 Triumph has had. Though its original owner sold it in 1961, it was left to him in the second owner’s will.
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Time machine
Not quite faster than light, BSA’s fire-breathing beast was once the quickest 650 twin in town
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Something wicked
Smooth, sophisticated, almost civilised. But have the later Jotas lost their je ne sais quoi?
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Different strokes for 80s blokes
Saying ‘Konnichiwa’ to Honda’s NS400R was not the ‘Banzai’ charge that other two-stroke race replicas offered in the mid-80s. But it was no shrinking violet either…
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Veteran ride
FORMER SOLDIER Colin Stinson plans to ride 5000 miles around the coast of Britain in 25 days, aboard his 1967 Metisse scrambler. He’s raising funds for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.
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Southern Classic Motorcycle Show
THE ANNUAL KEMPTON PARK show and bike jumble attracted its fair share of interesting machinery.
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Bob Smith: the peoples’ champion
EVERY now and again there arises a rider who could hop on any bike and blast the hell out of his peers. Mike Hailwood was one, Bill Ivy another. But there’s another example – albeit a much lesser known one – who shared the majestic two-wheeled prowess of both Hailwood and Ivy – Bob Smith.
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Hurley Wilvert: From mechanic to the world stage
Hurley Wilvert was a mechanic and amateur racer who earned his shot at the big time in the early 1970s. By 1974, he was on the podium of the Daytona 200 with Giacomo Agostini and Kenny Roberts. Norm DeWitt tells his fascinating story.
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ASI MOTO SHOW
Not too far from many iconic two- and four-wheeled factories and museums in northern Italy is the Autodromo di Varano de’ Melegari.
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Mystery Solved
I’VE BEEN LOOKING at the mystery bike photo in April’s issue. Not very good is it? However, to me the bike is not a Cotton, but a New Imperial. You can clearly see the almost-meeting
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IN BALANCE: A sad occasion
Husband, father, brother, uncle and off-road legend – RIP Martin Lampkin. It isn’t only the trials world that will have been saddened by the passing of inaugural world trials champion Martin Lampkin as, like many
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ISDT Decade
I’ve just finished reading your great article about the UK decade of ISDT. I was looking for a restoration project last summer and looked up a friend who used to have a Honda dealership. He
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A Take On The TriBSA
I liked the TriBSA feature in the last issue and thought I’d send photos of my TriBSA that my son, Geoff, bought from Ian Davis. Davis made third place in the Welsh Championship on 2010
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The weather has been frightful… but is bound to improve soon. Meanwhile, a meander through tales of torrents past…
The weather is a recurring theme in UK motorcycle sport, I suppose it is elsewhere in the world too just those who live outside Great Britain don’t seem to take discussing it to such great
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Cadwell park anniversary
In your look back over eight decades of motorcycle sport at Cadwell Park 80th anniversary celebrations you seem to have missed the one major decade I cannot see or read any mention of the 1960s
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Praise For Morris
I really enjoyed the Dave Morris piece in the current issue of Classic Racer about BMW’s ‘forgetfulness’ in their PR for Michael Dunlop’s TT wins this year, but surely you too have forgotten something? If
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Ken McIntosh – the legend lives on
980 was a time when big-bore Formula One racing was catching on worldwide, and the crowds loved it! The bikes were big, made lots of noise and in the right hands they could sometimes take
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BRISTOL BEATS THE STORMS
Star of the wind and rain swept Carole Nash Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show at the Bath & West Showground was local legend Henry Body. Winners all – Despite the inclement weather the Bristol Show winners
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TEAM MOLNAR MANX
Last year proved to be the team’s most successful season, with 116 race starts and only two mechanical failures and Chris Firmin taking bike number 001, the first ever built by Andy Molnar, back in
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Obituary – Steve Murray
Steve giving Tommy Robb some words of advice at Daytona. Cheshire has, over the years, produced many exciting and gifted racing motorcyclists of distinction, but one of the most loved and charismatic of all, Steve
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Square Four evolution
While little cannot already have been written about the Ariel Square Four, it takes only a brief look through the Mortons Archive to reignite the intrigue this distinguished British design has always generated, writes Pete Kelly.
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Yamaha’s XT and SR500 – a singular sort-out
Eyebrows were raised when Yamaha entered the ‘big single’ market in the 1970s – but it had done its homework thoroughly to put some tired old bogeys to rest, writes Steve Cooper.
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Cold hands, warm hearts on Moidart Peninsula Road Run
John McCrink reports on a decidedly wintry motorcycle road run in Scotland on Thursday, April 28.
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Happy feet as Alt-Berg sticks with tradition
Mick Payne visits a Yorkshire bootmaker with a proud tradition, after the very comfortable and practical boots they made for him 20 years ago were swiped from under his nose.
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Picturesque tour proves the classic way to explore Brittany
If your perception of northern France is that it’s flat and boring, you need to experience the annual three-day Tour du Calvados, run by the Lue sur Mer-based Retro Moto Cote de Nacre Club, writes Ian Kerr.
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Foggy to ride Triumph legends at Goodwood Festival of Speed
Four-time world superbike champion Carl Fogarty will return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed from June 23-26 for the first time in eight years.
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‘Tangerine Dream’ winner announced
Peter Allan of Epsom, Surrey, is the lucky winner of the top prize in the National Motorcycle Museum’s Winter Raffle, a 1959 Triumph T120 ‘Tangerine Dream’ 650cc Bonneville.
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Vintage Tyres appoints new managing director
Vintage Tyres, the world’s largest supplier of original-equipment tyres for enthusiast vehicles, has appointed Ben Field, who joined the company last June, as its new managing director.
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More than half-a-million bikes in a year – Royal Enfield’s best financial results ever
After selling more than half-a-million motorcycles in the last financial year, Royal Enfield has announced its best-ever results for a 12-month period.
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Wobbling ‘Dad’s Army’ invades Northern Ireland!
Picture the Dad’s Army scene as Captain Mainwaring addresses his mainly past their ‘sell-by’ date squad, writes Ted Bemand.
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Italy shows how to keep classic bikes alive, kicking and FUN!
The ASI Moto Show has to be one of the best-kept secrets of the classic bike world in the UK – which, considering the advertising the Italian club has done over the 16 years it’s been running, is somewhat surprising, writes Ian Kerr, with pictures by himself and Tony Page.
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Welsh Motoring Auction cancelled
The annual Welsh Motoring Auction on June 18th at Cothi Bridge has been reluctantly cancelled by the Auctioneers Peter Francis of Carmarthen.
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Beautiful baby
The 680 ohv Brough Superior was launched as smaller version of the iconic SS100 – and it certainly looked the part. But, for better or worse, does it share its bigger brother’s characteristics?
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Commuting with style
In Germany in the 1950s and 60s, Zundapp was one of several companies to manufacture high-class ‘commuter’ machines.
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The Jubilee Races
The appeal of the 1953 ACU Jubilee Races, which took place in late August, suffered a major blow when many of the big stars were eliminated from the running owing to injury, illness or schedule conflicts. The event went on regardless, and it was those spectators who decided not to attend that missed out on…
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Racing Rudges
This 1933 TT Replica Rudge is a real rarity, taking nearly three decades to piece together.
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Club stand success for DOT at Stafford
The 36th Carole Nash International Classic MotorCycle show took place over April 23/24, 2016.
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Guy in Scotland
TV and TT star Guy Martin took to the hills, rocks and mud of Scotland, to take part in the Scottish Pre-65 Trial, aboard an Ariel. He gamely battled on to the finish, classified as the final (157th) finisher in the results.
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Sixth Ixion Cavalcade
On Sunday May 1, 2016, the Sunbeam MCC held the Sixth Ixion Cavalcade, to commemorate Canon Basil Davies, who wrote for The Motor Cycle under the pseudonym of ‘Ixion’ for many years from the earliest days of motorcycling.
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Foggy at the Goodwood Festival of Speed
Carl Fogarty will return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 23-26 for the first time in eight years as he prepares to celebrate Triumph’s heritage.
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Sunbeam and Steve star at Stafford
The Classic MotorCycle backed show at Stafford saw a Best in Show award for a fabulous Sunbeam, with guest of honour Steve Parrish a popular appointment.
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Bonhams breaks records
Bonhams Stafford Sale set a new world-record price for a Brough Superior and for any British motorcycle sold at auction, as the gavel fell at an astounding £331,900 for the 1938 Brough Superior 750cc BS4.
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A Shakespeare appreciation
Vincent Day at Shakespeare County Raceway took place on April 17, 2016, with Stevenage’s finest celebrated in noisy style.
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Gone but not forgotten
Time and time again proof arises that the British industry wasn’t short on ideas or talent. Finance on the other hand… Colin Sparrow looks over the Greeves 500.
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Martin Lampkin: 1951-2016
Having achieved so much in motorcycling, Harold Martin Lampkin – ‘Mart’, ‘Big Mart’ or ‘H’ depending on who you talk to – is the subject of many images in our archive. We hope this small selection of pictures goes some way to show the impact that this true legend – who died earlier this spring…
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Manx Classic Trial
One of the most popular events on the trials calendar is the Manx International Classic Trial. A two-day affair, held latterly on September 5-6, it took riders all round the Isle of Man and provided a variety of terrain to test the skills of all entrants.
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Carole Nash Classic Mechanics Show: October 15-16, 2016
One of the funny things about quarterly publications such as Classic Dirt Bike is that while writing the news about this coming October’s Stafford, April’s event has only just happened…
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International Dirt Bike Show: October 27/30, 2016
Though not a ‘classic’ show as such, the International Dirt Bike Show at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire will still have a lot for the classic, evo and twinshock enthusiast to enjoy.
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Burgundy classic two-day
There are a number of trials and MX ‘weekends’ in the calendar but not so many enduro or trail ones.
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Mallory Bike Bonanza
We would like to apologise for the incorrect advert for the Mallory Bike Bonanza appearing in the June issue of Old Bike Mart. CORRECT DATES: 30-31 JULY 2016.
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Trend setter
If Edward Turner hadn’t built this bike, would we all be riding sports singles?
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Back To Life
Loads of ancient Brits have returned from overseas, ripe for a rebuild. This T160 Trident was an easy job
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SMOOTH OPERATOR
IF YOUR HEAD was turned by the new Norton Dominator featured in this issue there’s a good chance that you’ll be a fan of the original Norton twins too.
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Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle show
STAFFORD always comes up trumps as the top classic event of the season, and this year was no exception.
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Hello world!
Welcome to Mortons Sites. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
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Far Horizons by Andrew Earnshaw
f you’re going to ride around the world in instalments, then America would seem like a fairly safe place to
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The ‘lightweights’ that time forgot
Time was slowly running out for Associated Motor Cycles when it launched its new-style 250cc overhead-valve singles in 1958 – but were the sturdy and neat-looking AJS and Matchless models the best they could have offered? asks Pete Kelly.
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Music to the ears! Suzuki’s GT550 triple
Steve Cooper fondly remembers Suzuki’s largest air-cooled two-stroke triple – the excellent but often overlooked GT550
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Agricultural it wasn’t – farmer Jack’s Zundapp-Arrow special
When OBM reader and Adler to Zundapp Club member Bernie alerted us to a long-forgotten Zundapp-Arrow special, it was a simple matter to visit the Mortons Archive and turn up the original report.
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Here’s a car showroom – turn it into a bike shop!
Concluding the story about motorcycles in his life, Tony Proctor tells how he set up a brand new Yamaha Centre 38 years ago.
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A question of sport
When thinking of a sport to combine with football (or soccer to our American friends) the petrol-fuelled revelry of motorcycling hardly seems conducive, but motorcycle football really was all the rage in the 1920s, 30s and even beyond, with crowds flocking to watch the beautiful game played on motorcycles.
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Pretty special
This attractive 500cc replica of a Production TT winner started life as a 350cc Viper.
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Trying times
Have you ever been to a museum and wanted to ‘have a go’ on the exhibits? Now, the National Motorcycle Museum has decided to allow that to happen.
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Motorcycles dominate at the Land’s End Trial
Previously an event favoured equally by those of the two-, three- and four-wheeled persuasion, the 1953 Land’s End Trial was one in which the motorcycles took centre stage.
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Vitesse with finesse
An exhaustive search led to the resurrection of an incredibly rare, but quite fabulous, model.
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The story of the Ormonde
Modern literature often relates the decline of the British and continental motorcycle industry in the 1950s and 1960s. Arguably the rot set in before the First World War.
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Another record-breaking weekend at Stafford
Visitors flocked to the 36th Carole Nash International Classic MotorCycle Show at Stafford on April 23-24 to make it one of the best yet, with exhibits of the highest quality, another record-breaking Bonhams’ motorcycle sale, hundreds of club and trade stands inside and outside the halls, star guests, special displays and so much more.
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Ravaged by time, but Bodmin BS4 still makes world record £331,900!
A new world record price was set for a Brough Superior – and for any British motorcycle sold at auction for that matter – when a German bidder in the room paid a staggering £331,900 for a 1938 750cc BS4 that came up as part of the ‘Broughs of Bodmin Moor’ collection during the Bonhams’…
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Cubes without vibes – Triumph’s 1200cc Bonneville Black
One of the reasons we sometimes run road tests on British-built retro machines is to compare the old with the new, but is Triumph’s new and extensively-researched 1200cc T120 Bonneville Black muscle bike the best way to go? Frank Melling brings his impressions first-hand.
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Peter Williams Motorcycles plans replica Arter-Matchless, a road-going JPN, Commando parts and an exclusive club!
Lots of things are happening at Peter Williams Motorcycles, including the formation of a PWM club with the many benefits that go with it, a project to build an Arter-Matchless replica, a road bike evolution of the John Player Norton and even hand-painted Bell helmets with Peter’s distinctive ‘Big W’ blue and white motif!
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Herefordshire VMCC invites older machines to new long-distance ride
Starting and finishing at Ross-on-Wye Cattle Market, the first running of a new long-distance ride entitled ‘Herefordshire on the Edge’ takes place on Sunday, June 26.
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Make a date for the Golden Era Run
Organised by the North East section of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club, the highly-regarded Golden Era Run for motorcycles and three-wheelers built before 1931 will take place at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington, near York, on Sunday, July 24.
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Sunbeam Club’s Pioneer Run hits 77 not out
In mid-February 1930, a crowd gathered at Croydon Aerodrome to witness the very first Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club’s Pioneer Run to Brighton for pre-1914 motorcycles – which, it has to be said, were not all that old at the time!
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Spring in the air at Ardingly
Spectators riding in, taking advantage of fine spring weather, soon filled the regular bike parks at the Ardingly Showground for the first of this year’s ELK Promotions shows, on April 3.
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Pioneering spirit
This year marked the Sunbeam MCC’s 77th Pioneer Run, with an eclectic range of machines and riders attempting the famous journey from London to Brighton.
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Chance to join charity end-to-end run for classic BMWs
IF you’re the owner of a classic air-cooled beauty then you could help make a big difference for charity… and enjoy the best of British scenery too.
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American idol
BSA built some of their best bikes for the USA, including this fast, fiery and flamboyant 650
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