Gallery

When ‘Father of the Z1’ Ben Inamura designed the Z650 in 1976 he could never have realised that derivatives would still be in production 30 years later. John Nutting tested a number of the original versions at MIRA

Between testing road bikes in the 1970s and 80s, John Nutting was occasionally invited to try racing machines, such as Yamaha’s stunning TZ750 two-stroke four. It was a sobering experience…

Feared by some, girder front forks were a light, reasonably strong early solution to steering and front suspension. Today, most are at least 50 years old, so need regular checks and maintenance to make sure they remain safe to use…

Mark Mumford owns one of the very first true British superbikes. And RealClassics gave it an award…

After the pre 65 Scottish CDB caught up with Davy Morewood and Pete Yeadon who are respectively the rider and builder of this fabulous Ariel. It carries on with our series of testing the winning bike each year and it�s good to see that a big bike can still win…

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

Triumph’s SD was based upon the despatch rider’s favourite, the Model H, but used Triumph’s own three-speed gearbox rather than the H’s Sturmey Archer and had chain replacing the belt final drive…

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 – marque enthusiast extraordinaire – we’ve scooped a test on this unique machine…

In the early 70s the world of twins was simple; Ducati produced Vee twins, BMWs were horizontally opposed and the British persevered with pushrod parallels… then Yamaha mixed it all up, with the OHC XS1…