THE 1935 BROUGH SUPERIOR SS100 ALPINE GRAND SPORT Brough fitted the SS100 with full touring spec and named it the...
1955 Ariel Square Four 1955 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR – NEW & IMPROVED The Square Four went through a major revision...
1954 Triumph Thunderbird ABOVE: An early-1954 Triumph Thunderbird with rigid frame. BELOW: Partway through the 1954 model-year Triumph converted over to a swing-arm rear suspension setup, as seen on this ’54 T-Bird. 1954 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD’S ‘SISTER-BIKE’ The 1954 Triumph Tiger were “sister-bikes”, in that they were very similar in appearance....
1971 BSA Rocket 3 BIG CHANGES FOR THE 1971 BSA ROCKET 3 1971 was a watershed year for BSA and...
1952 Triumph Thunderbird This 1952 Triumph Thunderbird is similar to the 1950 T-Bird ridden by Marlon ABOVE: This lovely 1952...
1926 BROUGH SUPERIOR SS80 WAS AN EARLY BIKE Brough Superior was established by George Brough in Nottingham, England in 1924. He bucked convention and rather than mass-producing huge volumes of identical machines, he designed every bike to meet the exact specifications of the customers. The bikes were literally ‘fit’ to...
1938 BROUGH SUPERIOR SS100 BACKGROUND The SS100 (SS stood for “Super Sports”) was built from the very best components available...
1961 Matchless G12 650 Twin 1961 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROUND Just prior to World War II, Triumph rocked the world with...
ARIEL SQUARE FOUR BACKGROUND The Square Four engine was originally designed in 1928 by Edward Turner, the man who later came up with the vertical twin for Triumph. In original form, it started out as a 500cc and was quickly expanded to 601cc. The Square Four was essentially two 2-cylinder...
1960 Matchless G12 650 Twin 1960 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROUND Just prior to World War II, Triumph rocked the world with...
1939 BROUGH SUPERIOR SS80 The “SS” in the name stands for “Super Sports”, and the SS80 was George Brough’s earliest...
1965 Matchless G12CSR 650 Twin 1965 MATCHLESS G12CSR – A BRIEF HISTORY Matchless built their first vertical twin in 1949, the 500cc G9. In 1956, they punched it out to 600cc and named it the G12 (seen here). In 1959 they punched it out again to 650cc and called it...
1964 Matchless G12 650 Monarch Twin 1964 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROUND Just prior to World War II, Triumph rocked the world...
1963 Matchless G12CS 1963 MATCHLESS G12CS – A BRIEF HISTORY In 1963 there were four models offered of the G12....
1966 Matchless G12 1966 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROND In the 1950s, Matchless and AJS were the diamonds in AMC’s (Associated Motor Cycles) crown, but by the 1960s, their fortunes had turned for the worst. Matchless had launched the G12 and AJS Model 31 650 twins in 1958, with high hopes for...
ABOVE: This 1952 BSA A7 featured plunger rear suspension, the transition between earlier rigid frames & the swing arm frames...
THE NORTON COMMANDO SS WAS A STREET SCRAMBLER Today, the differences between types of bikes within a given brand can...
THE HORSEPOWER RACE IS ON The BSA A10 was the inevitable result of the relentless drive for more & more horsepower. Driven mostly by the performance-hungry US market (which also happened to be the largest by far), every British motorcycle maker scrambled to build a 500cc vertical twin after the...
1958 Ariel Huntmaster 1958 ARIEL HUNTMASTER BACKGROUND Ariel was owned by the Sangster family, failed a few times, then ended...
1949 Vincent Rapide 1949 VINCENT RAPIDE BACKGROUND Vincent built its reputation on it’s robust 499cc Comet single. Prior to the...
1956 Triumph Blackbird ABOVE: The 1956 Triumph Blackbird was essentially a 6T Thunderbird painted black. This earned it the name “Blackbird”. STUCK WITH THE IRON HEAD The 1956 Thunderbird retained its old cast iron head and all its overheating problems, while the new alloy “Delta head” debuted on the Triumph...
1971 BSA A70 Lightning 1971 BSA A70 LIGHTNING IS BORN BSA wanted to enlarge their 650 twin to a 750...
1963 Royal Enfield Interceptor 1963 ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR BACKGROUND Royal Enfield hopped up its 692cc Constellation and created a new...
1962 BSA A65 1962 BSA A65 – NEW UNIT TWIN After 15 years of great success with their pre-unit twins, the 500cc A7 and the 650cc A10, BSA had a real challenge ahead of them. How do you follow up a ‘home run’ like the A7 & A10? They had...
1964 Triumph Thunderbird 1964 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD AS A COMMUTER? When the 6T Thunderbird launched in 1950, it was the first...
1958 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1958 BSA A10 BACKGROUND BSA’s A10 was the 650 version in it’s twin cylinder...
1956 Triumph Thunderbird ABOVE: This 1956 Triumph Thunderbird wearing black livery was nicknamed “Blackbird” by the public and it stuck. STUCK WITH THE IRON HEAD The 1956 Triumph Thunderbird retained its old cast iron head and all its overheating problems, while the new alloy “Delta head” debuted on the Triumph...
1966 Norton Atlas 1966 NORTON ATLAS HISTORY The story starts not with a Norton at all, but with the 1938...
1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor 1970 ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR BACKGROUND Royal Enfield hopped up its 692cc Constellation and created a new...
1957 Triumph Thunderbird 1957 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD IS THE COOKING VERSION The 1957 Triumph Thunderbird was fast becoming the ‘ugly sister’ to the hot new Triumph TR6 and the already red-hot Triumph Tiger T110. With its full fenders, headlight nacelle and milder tuning, the 6T was really the basic commuter of...
1951 Ariel Square Four 1951 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR BACKGROUND The original Ariel Square Four was created by legendary engine designer,...
1962 Triumph TR6 1962 TRIUMPH TR6 NOMENCLATURE Of course, this is tFor the 1962 model year the only Triumph TR6...
1967 BSA A65 1967 BSA A65 LIGHTNING 1967 BSA A65 LIGHTNING The 650 Lightning was BSA’s top-line bike, and meant to do battle with the market-dominating Triumph Bonneville and had twin carbs just like the Bonnie. The Lightning was certainly fast enough and handled well. It just never had the...
1966 Triumph TR6 1966 TRIUMPH TR6 BY THE NUMBERS For the 1966 model year, the model lineup were TR6, TR6R,...
1932 Aerial Square Four 1932 ARIEL SQUARE FOUR GROWS TO 600cc The first production Ariel Square Four was the 1931...
1976 Triumph TR7 1976 TRIUMPH TR7 IS A FIRST The 1976 model year was the first full model year under the newly-formed, worked-owned Meriden Co-op. It was also the first year that the big twins (Bonneville and TR7 went to left-foot-shift, as mandated by US law. It was a big...
1959 Triumph TR6 1959 TRIUMPH TR6 NOMENCLATURE 1959 was the last year that the TR6 did not carry a letter...
1971 Triumph TR6 The 1971 Triumph TR6 saw the introduction of the new oil-bearing frame & all new cycle gear....
1963 Triumph TR6 1963 TRIUMPH TR6 BY THE NUMBERS The only model for 1963 was the Triumph TR6 S/S (Street Scrambler). Engine numbers ran from DU102 to DU5790 with build dates running from Sept. 29, 1962 to August 14, 1963. UNIT CONSTRUCTION FINALLY HITS THE 650s Unit Construction, all the...
1963 BSA A65 NEW MODELS The 1963 BSA A65 was, of course, the second model year of the new unit...