1962 Velocette Venom 1962 Velocette Venom CLUBMAN 1962 VELOCETTE VENOM CLUBMAN The Venom was already a fairly low-volume bike, but...
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1957 Ariel Square Four 1957 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR – GETTING LONG IN THE TOOTH Alas, the world was changing, and...
1957 Norton Manx 1957 NORTON MANX BACKGROUND The Norton Manx was developed in 1937, in both SOHC and DOHC form, to compete in and win the Isle of Man TT. Before fully developed, World War II intervened, and production of the Manx was delayed until 1946. The Manx quickly gained...
1965 Triumph Thunderbird 1965 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD AS A COMMUTER? When the 6T Thunderbird launched in 1950, it was the first...
1950 Ariel Square Four 1950 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR BACKGROUND The original Ariel Square Four was created by legendary engine designer,...
1962 Triumph 650 Thunderbird 1962 TRIUMPH 650 THUNDERBIRD-A COMMUTER BIKE The Thunderbird was introduced in 1950 it was Triumph’s first 650 twin, and instantly became its fastest bike and its best-seller. But the introduction of the T110 Tiger, a hotter version of the 650 twin, in 1954 the T-Bird lost...
1959 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1959 BSA A10 Rocket 1959 BSA A10 ROCKET By 1959, both of BSA‘s big...
1970 BSA A65 1970 BSA A65 Firebird Scrambler 1970 BSA A65 FIREBIRD SCRAMBLER The term “scrambler” was the word used...
1939 BSA Gold Star THE 1939 BSA GOLD STAR IS FAST! The BSA Gold Star was introduced in 1938 in both 350cc and 500cc form. They were hand-built as high-performance machines. The BSA factory offered several performance modifications as options. Every bike was run on a dyno, and came from...
1961 Triumph Cub 1961 TRIUMPH CUB BACKGROUND The 200cc T20 Tiger Cub was produced from 1956 through 1968 and sold...
1948 Ariel Square Four 1948 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR BACKGROUND The Ariel Square Four engine was originally designed in 1928 by...
1967 Norton Atlas 750 1967 NORTON ATLAS HISTORY The story starts not with a Norton at all, but with the 1938 Triumph 500 Speed Twin, the world’s first “modern” vertical twin. The rest of the British motorcycle industry went nuts and rushed to field their own 500 twins. But WWII...
A WORK IN PROGRESS In our efforts to complete our online index, and make this the world’s greatest website about...
2007 Royal Enfield Bullet Sidecar Rig 2007 ROYAL ENFIELD BULLET SIDECAR RIG BACKGROUND Royal Enfield was another classic British motorcycle...
1962 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1962 BSA A10 – NEARING END OF NON-UNIT CONSTRUCTION In 1962 BSA was in the middle of a major retooling to begin production of the new A50 (500) and A65 (650) unit-construction twins, that were meant to replace the highly successful non-unit twins the...
1947 Velocette KSS 1947 VELOCETTE KSS BACKGROUND The Velocette KSS debuted in 1925 as an OHC (overhead cam) 350cc air-cooled...
1960 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1960 BSA A10 Spitfire Scrambler 1960 BSA A10 SPITFIRE SCRAMBLER The Spitfire was indeed...
1954 Vincent Rapide Series C 1954 VINCENT RAPIDE-NEARING THE END Vincent built its reputation on it’s robust 499cc Comet single. Prior to the war, they figured out that if they doubled it, they could create a 998cc V-twin and the series A Vincent Rapide was born. Few were built prior...
BEST EVER The 1970 Triumph Bonneville T120 was not only the high water mark in Triumph 650 development, and...
1956 Ariel Square Four 1956 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR – NEW & IMPROVED The Square Four went through a major revision...
1946 Triumph Speed Twin 1946 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN – IN WAR & PEACE World War II had been hard on England. British motorcycle manufacturers like Triumph and BSA, did well during the war selling side-valve singles to the Army and lots of other stuff. But, war is hell, right? In...
1967 Triumph Daytona 500 1967 TRIUMPH DAYTONA – WHAT’S IN A NAME? Triumph derived the name of this bike from...
NEW MODEL DESIGNATIONS Starting with the 1961 Triumph Bonneville, the T120 model designation was followed by either an “R” for...
1958 BSA Gold Star 1958 BSA GOLD STAR BACKGROUND By 1958, the Gold Star was well-sorted and had turned into a fine machine. All Goldies were special to begin with, each engine being hand-assembled and dyno-tested at the factory. A copy of the dyno test was included with each new...
1971 BSA A65 BIG CHANGES FOR THE 1971 BSA A65 For the 1971 model year, BSA and Triumph changed virtually...
1965 Royal Enfield Interceptor 1965 ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR BACKGROUND Royal Enfield hopped up its 692cc Constellation and created a new...
1959 Ariel Square Four 1959 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR- IT’S FINAL YEAR Alas, the world was changing, and with it the motorcycle market. The Ariel Square Four designed decades before, was keyed to another age, one where acceleration and all-out top speed weren’t as important as smoothness and reliability. Hence the...
1970 BSA A65 1970 BSA A65 Firebird Scrambler 1970 BSA A65 FIREBIRD SCRAMBLER The term “scrambler” was the word used...
1955 Vincent Rapide Series D 1955 VINCENT RAPIDE-LAST OF THE LINE Vincent built its reputation on it’s robust 499cc...
SLOW STEADY REFINEMENT The 1965 Triumph Bonneville T120 650 was again more or less a carry-over from 1964, which itself was a carry-over from 1963. Changes were minor and evolutionary in nature, aimed at refinement, improving reliability, performance and ease of production. Model designations were also carryovers: T120R was the...
ABOVE: 1980 Triumph Bonneville T140E in Steel Gray & Black. SLOW SALES HURT CO-OP By 1980, what was left of...
ABOVE & BELOW: This 1978 Triumph Bonneville is a T140V, which still has the Delta-style head with splayed intake ports...
1970 Norton Commando ABOVE: The 1970 Norton Commando came in a new guise: The Norton Commando Roadster, or Type R. A new tank & seat, conventional rear fender & those voluptuous upswept pipes! Establishes the ‘Commando look’ in the public mindset. NEW ROADSTER The 1970 Norton Commando line grew to...
ABOVE: This 1971 Triumph Bonneville was restored to ‘better-than-new’ condition. It won “Best of Show” Award at the Clubman’s All-British...
ABOVE: The 1959 Triumph Bonneville had the big fenders and nacelle of the Triumph Thunderbird. Not a popular move with...
1973 Norton Commando ABOVE: 1973 Norton Commando 750 Roadster was more or less the “standard” Commando. BACK ON TRACK After the dismal finish of the 1972 model year, thanks to the Combat engine, 1973 was a good year for Norton Motorcycles. The entire model line had benefited from the engine...
1962 TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE -MODEL DESIGNATIONS The 1962 Triumph Bonneville again came in two basic model designations: T120R was the Road...
MORE POWER, SCOTTY! By the release of the new 1966 Triumph Bonneville T120 650, Meriden had had a few years...
ABOVE: This 1975 Triumph Bonneville is rarer than you might think. While it looks very similar to the 1973 & 74, very few were made due to the workers strike. MERIDIAN CO-OP FORMS The ’75 Bonneville is practically non-existent. So few were produced that it hardly counts as a model...
COMPETITION FROM ABROAD The 1969 Triumph Bonneville had its work cut out for it. It seemed like the Triumph Bonneville...