Features

Get that ignition timing sorted! There are a hundred and one ways to compromise a motorcycle’s performance but one of the most pernicious has to be timing. Getting that all important spark to arrive at precisely the correct moment has a dramatic impact upon the bike’s power delivery. If you check out a manual for…

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Come along to Newark and stock up on spares, or just admire the bikes on display… The Carole Nash Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic Show takes place this weekend, January 5-6, at the Newark Showground in Nottinghamshire, with guest of honour superbike racer Chris ‘The Stalker’ Walker. A huge range of trade stands will offer a wealth…

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Honda CB250 Honda’s CB250N twin, the Super Dream, was a remarkable motorcycle. Sold in the UK from 1978, it was a big bike for its capacity and weighed as much the average 650 of the day. With only average power for a 250cc four-stroke, it struggled to reach 90mph flat out. So the Super Dream…

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Tiny trailie Suzuki TC90J The chance to ride certain machines doesn’t come up very often. Some are pampered  restorations but some are just plain rare. And when the owner tells you he doesn’t mind you getting the bike dirty and then points you to a prime piece of unfettered trail bike territory it’d be churlish…

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Honda RC30 and Yamaha 0W01 – both very potent There’s a bloke in the office downstairs from CMM who’s just got permission from his wife to use some of their savings to buy three classic motorcycles. A Ducati 888, a 996SPS and an MV F4. Now this bloke is no mug. He’s got three beautiful…

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Motobecane 350 The search started about two years ago when I decided to run a ‘Wanted’ ad in Perth’s free advertising newspaper. I had a suspicion that a 350 Motobecane existed locally as I already had a 125LT twin that was among 14 others imported to Western Australia in 1974-75. Rumour had it that a…

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Kawasaki was long lived It’s generally agreed that Japanese motorcycle engines have a short shelf life, if not short fuses. Few are produced for more than five years without being updated or replaced, and even Honda’s original CB750 barely lasted a decade before being superseded. So any Japanese machine with a design that has lasted…

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Yamaha YDS3 If the bike in camera this month looks a little old fashioned that’s only because it is. The YDS3 was the machine which brought Yamaha to thepublic’s attention in Britain. It was late 1964 and the timing could not have been better for Yamaha’s sales and marketing team coming hot on the heels…

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Kawasaki 250 S1 The 250 S1 hit the ground running in early 1972, hot on the heels of the larger 350 S2. The triple took over from the technologically more advanced and sophisticated 250 Samurai which had featured disc valves and, by default, a piggy-back ignition set up behind the pots. Intent on displaying the…

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Honda’s GB500TT offers British styling and performance without the price tag Bwooaarr, first, bwooaarr, second, bwooaarr, third. Etc, etc. It doesn’t take long to use all the gears on Honda’s GB500TT, and like most big singles it runs out of revs before you run out of expectation. The surprising thing about this one though is…

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