The Classic MotorCycle

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.

Welcome

The Classic MotorCycle

An early Triumph • Though the firm missed out on success in the inaugural 1907 Isle of Man TT, it took top honours in the 1908 event, courtesy of the man and mount pictured here.

News & Events

Last one standing • Proper period imagery, showing a Royal Wedding Bonneville, with Meriden in the background. Only the Bonneville – albeit in a different incarnation – remains, with the marriage and building long gone.

Success in the Jack Pine • The winning rider and his victorious machine pose with the trophy – and cowbell – awarded for winning the tough off-road enduro event.

Readers’ Letters • YOUR VOICE & YOUR OPINIONS

Treasure trove • As the Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show at Shepton Mallet enjoys another successful edition, with some fabulous exhibits, it further underlines its status as a leading event on the calendar.

THE pursuit of pleasure • This 1966 US-spec Bonneville has an interesting history and has brought happiness – and not a little expense – in various ways to several people.

The sound of silence • Triumph’s motorcycling fortunes were at a low ebb in the early 1930s, albeit that didn’t mean the company couldn’t make some fine machines.

Speedway’s birthday celebrations • Hertfordshire Zoo was the location for this popular event, which acknowledges the formation of

True visionary • Though it might look antiquated, the Holden being offered by Bonhams in its April Stafford sale is a machine of remarkable modernity.

Rear view

From the vault

Flexible friend • Though sold by Triumph as a race replica, this particular long-term owned race-replica ‘Tourist Trophy’ model has done some actual touring.

Sketchbook Travels presents: George Todd’s racing Bantams • Part1: The D1 and the rotary years

Diary

Clearing the decks • Workshop order returns, the Vape ignition kit finally goes on, and a helpful reader steps in at just the right moment.

It’s a classic encounter

What’s the alternative? • It’s remarkable to consider that, about 150 years since the principles of internal combustion engines were laid out, they still remain recognisably the same.

Triumphs in life • Decades of riding, racing, restoring and tuning Triumph twins have resulted in a cache of world’s bests for the Hertfordshire man.

Curvaceous controller • Your four-stroke motorcycle is a mean speed machine, gentle giant or aggressive scrambler thanks to the profile of its inlet and exhaust cams. Other factors play their part, but the shape of the machine’s cams is all-important.