Started in 1903, The Classic MotorCycle has more to offer the true vintage motorcycle enthusiast than any other publication, backed by Europe's largest motorcycle image archive.

Editor’s welcome

In search of sunshine • Despite the economic hardships of the time, and the fact the exchange rate was terrible, a European tour was still undertaken.

News & Events

Book Review

THE WAY WE WERE IN JANUARY

Fleeting fixture • It didn’t last long, but we had a little bit of time to get a couple of events in.

THIS MONTH’S STAR LETTER WINS

Readers’ Letters • YOUR VOICE & YOUR OPINIONS

Muddled Tiger • ‘Looks like it’s standing still when it’s doing 100mph’, rockers sneered. What’s the truth behind Triumph’s first unit sports 500?

Pitching a ride • The long-running sport of motoball arrived at Brooklands for the first time, in September 2020.

The Den Brown Special

Tiny TT treasure • This diminutive motorcycle reputedly has TT pedigree, featuring in the inaugural 50cc race. Though its rider is unknown, one suspects he (or even she…) was rather smaller than our tester…

The Rowetts’ other Itom special

FINER DETAILS

Steely Dane • The long-lived inline-four from Denmark, made for 25 years in largely unchanged form, is a quirky but practical classic.

Store cupboard special • On to part six, and momentum is still being maintained, though the shopping list is growing ever-longer.

Design, art and desire • The headline on this feature is actually the sub-heading on an exciting new book, The Motorcycle.

Where does the passenger go? • Dictionaries inform the sidecar is: ‘a jaunting-car; small car attached to the side of a motorcycle; kind of cocktail.’ We’ll forget jaunting-cars and cocktails, but how did the world arrive at the sidecar? And what came before?

Engine timing • It’s worth making sure your engine is timed correctly. Here, it’s explained and exampled on an engine which is all a motorcyclist really needs (according to some, anyway…) – the single cylinder four-stroke.

A brief chat with... Al Osborn • From crystal radio sets to current electrical affairs, Al Osborn has had a lifetime of understanding the mystical substance which ignites our engines.

LAVERDA 750 TWINS

The seat of the problem • There are several ways to tackle the issues encountered with regards to somewhere to sit on your restored machine.

Securing a Seagull • The latest avian-named two-stroke addition is not a Francis-Barnett, but a Sunbeam – well, sort of…

Diary

The motorcycles of Lino Tonti Part One

MASSIMO MKE POCOLINI HAIUUOOD

You were asking • Your queries resolved with Richard Rosenthal

You were asking

Changing times • As the Roaring Twenties drew to a close, JAP focussed heavily on improvements, including to lubrication, though, happily, they still found time for the odd whacky engine.

Training run • Sidecar ace and passenger, plus a future winner, learning the TT’s Mountain Course.

Classic Motorcycle Mechanics