Features

Harley-Davidson Dyna Glide Unlike the smaller Sportster series, the Harley big twins are essentially a pre-unit design with entirely separate engine, gearbox and primary drive. In that respect the layout of the power plant will be familiar to anyone who has worked on British bikes of the 1950s. However, Harley-Davidson do use top quality materials…

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It was no mean feat when you realise that the ZXRs weren’t as factory as some would lead you to believe. Starting out as a kid motocrossing, Russell joined AMA in 1987, being runner up in the 750cc Supersport class the following year. By 1992 he’d joined Kawasaki – which in the USA and in…

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Buy any used motorcycle and you are undeniably taking a chance; buy something that’s badged as a classic and you’re potentially in uncharted waters. It can be a minefield out there unless the bike in question is a known entity or comes from a mate or reputable dealer. The Yamaha SRX400 in camera came from…

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Yamaha FZR1000 Motorcycling as a lee-zure sport was a good five years down the road. It didn’t matter that they had way too much power and that tyre technology needed 10 more years to catch up. The fact was that you couldn’t ride a CBR600 without an overwhelming curiosity that…‘If this thing goes so bloody fast it makes…

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Kawasaki GT550 Some otherwise great motorcycles of the seventies and eighties were doomed to obscurity simply because they were unable to make a splash when they first appeared. So it was with Kawasaki’s GT550. It was launched in 1983 as a more sober alternative to the intoxicatingly swift GPz550 sportster. It provided the then novel…

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Suzuki GT550J For all the innovations that have come and gone in motorcycle design over the years, only two manufacturers have ever mass produced a two-stroke triple and gone on to turn it into a sales success. Those two companies were, of course, Kawasaki and Suzuki, both of which saw the potential in such a…

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Suzuki GT750M The Seventies were arguably the most prolific period of motorcycle development in the 20th century. It was when the Japanese manufacturers consolidated on their racing success, expanded the superbike sector and made it their own; when the British factories finally collapsed and Italian designers showed that they would be a force to be…

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Yamaha 650 XS1 Despite the ravages of time the engine proved fairly straightforward to dismantle and I can now turn my attention to examining the internals to see what parts need attention before the rebuild. For step-by-step images of the overhaul, see the image gallery The second part of the rebuild is subscriber only. Please…

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Japanese 750 four cylinder motorcycles tested There once was a time when 750s were regarded as the pinnacle of motorcycle power and prestige. Ownership of a CB750, one of the Trident or Rocket triples, or – in hushed tones this – a Kawasaki Mach IV, implied the ultimate in cool. With three or four cylinders…

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Moto Morini 500 In the UK in the early 70s Italian bikes were by and large, expensive, highly strung, poor quality, unreliable, quirky, and generally not viable due to poor spares supplies. On the plus side – they were exclusive, looked like a million dollars and had a certain je ne sais quoi not found…

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