Features
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Quick Spins – 1975 Benelli 750 Sei
When the arrival of this ground-breaking Benelli was causing a sensation in UK showrooms, I was still a couple of years from starting my own riding career. Even so, as a keen biking apprentice wanting to learn the trade, I bought all the key glossy bike mags to swot up on what was what. Clapping…
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Quick Spins – 1986 Suzuki RG500 Gamma
Yet again I had to admit my negative judgement wasn’t just premature, but inappropriate too. After assessing bikes for not far short of a couple of decades now, you’d think I should know better. Being patient and seeing the whole picture is so important in this testing game, and is certainly the message I took…
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Quick Spins – 1996 Triumph Speed Triple
All was set and sorted. But then, after some overnight contemplation, Speed Triple owner Stuart Wallace developed cold feet and things went disappointingly Pete Tong. ‘Sorry, I’ve changed my mind. I can’t let you ride it. It’s just too special to me, I can’t take the risk,’ was the general sentiment of his decline. Having…
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Workshop: Kawasaki W1 overhaul
Kawa’s W1 is the 650 twin Blighty never built The bike is a total anathema to what we all suppose is standard Japanese industry process, right-hand gearchange, left-hand rear brake, push rod motor, separate engine and gearbox, iron barrel and alloy head. Now observe it’s a 650 parallel twin and do a double take; it…
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Looking back: 1977
World champs Nikki Lauda and Sheene in discussion The British motorcycling scene was riding high in 1977, with Barry Sheene going for his second world road racing title, and the glory reflected in rising bike sales which were approaching 300,000 a year. This was despite the final collapse of the established British factories. The Norton…
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Yamaha TZR250
Yamaha TZR250 The 125cc motorcycle licence laws killed the 250cc category stone dead in the UK as far as learners were concerned. But elsewhere on the planet quarter-litre missiles remained very much in vogue. Hugely popular in Japan, because of licensing reasons, 250cc two-strokes sold like hot cakes. These machines were a huge step on…
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Yamaha FZ750: 25 things
Yamaha FZ750 1985 was Year One for modern motorcycling. OK, so Kawasaki’s GPz900R had sort of got things started the year before, but we’d had water cooling since the Scott Flying Squirrel. And 16 valves since the Honda CBX1000. But Yamaha’s FZ750 was something very special. Yamaha were late to the four-stroke party and even…
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Road Test: Triumph Trident T160
Triumph Trident T160 As with most engines from BSA and Triumph, the triples were evolutionary rather than revolutionary, largely because of conservative management. Development started in 1963 as a Doug Hele design that was in essence a 500cc Tiger 100 twin with an extra cylinder, even down to the 67 x 70mm bore and stroke.…
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Italian favourites part two
Ducati 350 Desmo single Ducati 350 Desmo Ducati is rightly famed for its big vee-twins but they owe their success to the smaller range of 'bevel-drive' overhead-camshaft singles ranging in capacity from 125cc to 450cc. Designed by the legendary engineer Dr Ing Fabio Taglioni, these embodied all the best of Italian flare, providing simplicity and…
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Italian Vincent
James Tennant-Eyles is used to fussy customers. It is one of the occupational hazards of a professional restorer of motor cycles, and if you can't live with it then you get out and find a less stressful job. A fussy customer, however, does not necessarily mean one who finds fault with what you've done, it…
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