Classic Bike Guide - June 2020

A trio of Nortons

BUY  SELL  RIDE  RESTORE

Buyer’s guides BSA B33

BSA’s super-single

Yamaha DT250 Hit the shows, then hit the dirt

JUNE 2020

British Bike Guide

ESCAPING EUROPE IN LOCKDOWN ON A CLASSIC

Part one of your guide to every British classic

Contents

#010

006From the archive

034Products

064British bike guide

010Contagion

036Letters

074Fork rebuild pt2

020

What is it about the R100RS?

038

News

044DT250

Subscribe!

052A trio of ES2s

Angus McPhail

060Triumph’s logo

We look back at Norton’s first TT victory

One reader’s story about escaping Europe’s lockdown on his trusty BMW R100RS

027 028 030

Why you want the bike that was so good BMW brought it back

Norton gets a new owner – Hurrah! Coronavirus stops everything else – boo

Seriously – at these prices why not?

And it gets delivered to you!!

From home-made bombs to revolutionary drag bikes, Jim Reynolds looks at the man

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JUNE 2020 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE

Some gear we’ve been testing – is it any good?

Some good letters coming in from around the world; thank you!

BUYING GUIDE

BSA B33

A thumping-big, 500cc Beeza – what could be better?

BUYING GUIDE

Yamaha

They look sweet, are light and fun in the mud. And that two-stroke smell…

A man and his friends can’t seem to get enough of Norton’s single life

Our Triumph man looks at the history of the Triumph badge

The letter A is a good place to start – so AJS and Ariel

Steve looks at getting his telescopic forks back together

080Project Norton The bottom end is fighting me...

085Reader ads

With zero per cent interest when has there been a better time to buy a bike?

097Next month

We carry on with the British bike guide, build a Beezumph flat tracker and take a ride on a rare Bianchi in Italy

098Frank Westworth

No idea what our living legend is on about – can you help?

#038

#044

#060

#052

#064

#074

#080

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CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || JUNE 2020

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JULY 2019 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE

Professional photographer, Owen Howells, thought he’d use his BMW R100RS to get him to a great job on the Med. Then the world closed. This is his superb p story y about his run from the sun WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY OWEN HOWELLS

I really want a ta an RS S – and I’m not sure why

Matt has an unhealthy obsession with a bike he’s never ridden. We self-indulgently investigate the reasons many of us lust after a bike, but we’ve no idea why…

Obituary

Angus McPhail T he world of motorcycles lost one of its most eccentric geniuses when coronavirus claimed Angus McPhail in April. He was best known in drag racing and sprinting circles, particularly for Jade Warrior that h had him stretched out on his stomach ahead of a ssupercharged two-litre four cylinder engine that used a Cosworth cylinder head on a home-brewed barrel a and upper crankcase, cast as one. It drove a big car sslick through a torque convertor, and in the 1980s he w was the first Englishman to get into the seven second b bracket for the standing start quarter mile without u using nitro-methane for fuel. Google Jade Warrior to ssee him in action and prepare to be amazed.

He was born in Pinner and made his mark early on w with a 1930s 250 BSA that went better than it should,

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JUNE 2020 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE

but him serving an apprenticeship at the De Havilland aircraft factory in Hatfield meant access to advanced knowledge and materials. He built a Formula Junior single seater racing car there and was renowned for getting special parts made; a set of close ratio gears for the Volkswagen gearbox would have cost close on £200 in the 1960s, but not with his connections. Plans for the car didn’t advance far when he got involved in bike sprinting and he sold the Macon design to Tony Houghton, who went on to build a series of them.

He had a lesser known second hobby with the manufacture of small bombs, using a blend of fertiliser and sugar sealed in steel tube with an Airfix model jet engine fuse. If he wanted a long delay, he’d light a fag and wrap the fuse around it, which could give up to 10 minutes’ delay while we all got out of

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ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW? THE BEST ACTION IN TRIALS AND MOTOCROSS

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CLASSIC

#48

ISSUE

Forty-eight Autumn 2018

OCTOBER 2018

No. 330 October 2018 £4.30 UK Off-sale date 31/10/2018

MOTO MEMORIES // TECH TALK // MONTESA COTA 200 // BULTACO MATADOR

3.60

Running, Riding & Rebuilding Running, Rebuilding Real RealClassi RealC Classic C lassi Motorcycles

BOXER CKS TRIC

HOW THE LEGEEND BEGAN

SUPERMAC’S TRIUMPH DRAYTON

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PLUS MOTO MEMORIES TECH TALK MONTESA COTA 200 BULTACO MATADOR AN HOUR WITH: GERRIT WOLSINK

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HOME, JAMES!

UNIVERSITY GRADUATE

#48

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AT THE CASTLE

DRUMLANRIG 2018 D 20

WINNER

SUPER PROFILE: ARIEL’S HT3

GREEVES ESSEX TWIN BUYING GUIDE // STRIP YOUR TWOSTROKE // BSA B31 RESTORATION // MALLE MILE // CAFE RACER CUP // SHETLAND CLASSIC // THE CLASSIC TT // MIKE HAILWOOD REPLICA

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PRINTED IN THE UK

R 2018 ISSUE 174 OCTOBER

N48 2018 US$15.99 Aus$14.99 NZ$18.99 UK£5.50 UK Off-sale date 15/11/18

BUY  SELL  RIDE  RESTORE

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