Sunbeam Model 95

Sunbeam motorcycles, built in Wolverhampton, were some of the sporting superstars of the pre-war period and they clocked up a series of wins in TT and GP races during the 1920s. Although times were tough during the Depression years, the company’s continued commitment to quality means that bikes from the 1930s are still going strong today, over 80 years later……

Brough Superior

Back in 1938, the four-cylinder Golden Dream Brough Superior was unveiled to an adoring public at the UK’s annual motorcycle show, then held at Earl’s Court. Last autumn, and almost 80 years later, Richard Jones was on hand to record the appearance of the current Brough SS100 and Pendine Sand Racer at the NEC Bike Show, ‘arising like a phoenix…

Norton International

The December magazine featured a fabulous cammy Norton, a Model 30 500. There wasn’t space in print to show off the super old images to best effect, so here they are in glorious web-o-vision – together with the background to the model in case you’re not familiar with it… Before the Inter came the cammy CS1 The International was introduced…

Moto Guzzi V7

Although Motorcycle Live at the NEC majors on modern motorcycles, the odd classic bike sneaks in here and there. RC’s roving reporter Richard Jones discovered an authentic Moto Guzzi V-twin, and then fell over its modern equivalent… I was wandering out of the NEC one evening after a hard days graft at Motorcycle Live when I spied, in the distance,…

Honda Black Bomber

In 1968 Soichiro Honda rode his firm’s 10 millionth motorcycle off the production line. That bike was the ground-breaking CB450 Black Bomber – notable not least for its use of novel valvegear with torsion-bars ‘springs’ in its top end. It wasn’t long before racers transformed the CB streetbike into a world class competitor, and the Drixton Honda was born. They’re…

Royal Enfield Interceptor

Several manufacturers showcased models at this winter’s Motorcycle Live exhibition which seek to recreate the classic bikes from their marque’s glory days of yesteryear. Richard Jones inspects several of them on our behalf – along with some other retro offerings – and gets the ball rolling with the long-awaited big twin from India…. In mid-1970 the last Series II Interceptor…