Road Tests

Kawasaki H1 500 Kawasaki first proposed a 500cc two stroke triple in the late 1960s, when Japanese manufacturers were making a concerted effort to cater for American tastes in particular. In the US, acceleration was what sold bikes (and cars, for that matter). The 350 Avenger twin was already as fast as most British 650s…

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Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk2 Hard to believe now perhaps, but Moto Guzzi was for a long time Italy’s numero uno manufacturer of motorcycles. Although the glory has faded over the last decade or two, business was booming in the second half of the Seventies. The 1975 launch of the Le Mans 850 was probably…

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1980 Harley-Davidson Electra-Glide Classic Although Harley has flourished more recently, back in the Seventies the situation was far less rosy. Just as happened in Britain, once the Japanese started to make large capacity bikes, America’s only remaining large-scale manufacturer found it increasingly hard to compete. Not that they even tried, it could be said. Having…

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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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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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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than five years without being updated or replaced, and even Honda’s original CB750 barely lasted a decade before being superseded.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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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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Yamaha RD350LC The greatest thing about the restoration of classic motorcycles is that you can now recreate precisely almost any machine that you once loved. Almost like meeting again that girlfriend who triggered the lust of youth only to go off to university, to be lost forever. This is all very fine, except when you…

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This green Yamaha XS1 is an American machine imported into UK In 1968 British industry finally launched the Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket 3 only to be aced less than a year later by Honda's seminal CB750/4. Set against this background an upstart firm that had made its mark with two-strokes launched an all out…

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