Sunday, May 27, 2007
Frank Melling relives the running of the first Isle of Man TT aboard the historic 1907 TT-winning Norton ridden by Rem Fowler.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
The Beatles were only part of the British Invasion as the 1960 Triumph Bonneville owed much of its success to its popularity in the U.S.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Our Memorable Motorcycle for April looks to the not too distant past and the circumstances that prevented the Cagiva Raptor 1000 from enjoying the success of Galluzi's other creation, the Monster.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Before trials riding reached the pinnacle of popularity it currently enjoys, Honda came out with its progenitor to modern trials bikes, the Honda TL125.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Our classic bike expert takes a look at a vintage MX bike that demonstrated both great promise and imminent failure.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The legendary CB92 played a crucial role in Honda's transformation into a major player in the motorcycle industry.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Our Memorable Motorcycle correspondent, Frank Melling, delivers one of his best ever with his write up on this Bavarian beauty - the BMW R90S.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Frank takes a spin on one of the last machines ever produced by the Norton firm, the 1979 Norton Commando Interstate.
Friday, September 15, 2006
You're a sporting rider and want the latest and greatest sportbike. If it's 1928, you'll want to ride the Rudge Four.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Our Memorable Motorcycles correspondent, Frank Melling, tries his hand at classic racing behind the controls of the Baker Honda K4.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
The X-6 Hustler changed the way the world looked at Suzuki's products, becoming the bargain sportbike to beat in the mid-'60s.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
For this month's edition of Memorable Motorcycles, Frank takes a stroll through George Barber's amazing motorcycle museum in Birmingham Alabama.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Back in the early '50s Norton's attempt to improve their failing Grand Prix racer resulted in the 1953 Norton Kneeler.
Friday, March 10, 2006
This month Frank takes a closer look at the BSA Bantam Sports, a bike that was behind the times before it was even manufactured.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
In 1965, BSA set out to build the best motocross bike the world had ever seen.
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Our Memorable Motorcycles' standby Frank Melling, kicks off the new year with a look back at a bike which stirs up memories of his former racing glory - the Suzuki TS250.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
In the early sixties the Triumph Speedtwin emerged as the bike of choice for the gentleman motorcyclist.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Before the exotic RC45 and RC30 came the last of Honda's inline-Four homologation special Superbikes, the CB1100R.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Frank Melling focuses his attention this month on the Cyclemaster, a little machine that brought about big change to cultural life of Britain.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Very rarely, there appears a bike which engenders affection - a motorcycle which is the true embodiment of the mechanical horse. The Suzuki PE 250B was one of these special machines.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
It's not just the mediocre performance, or appalling reliability, which takes the Ural to the very top of the worst motorcycle ever chart. Rather, it is the militant lack of care with which the bikes are built.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
By current standards, the Suzuki T500 does not look like an engineering masterpiece - but nearly 40 years of hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
In our May issue of Memorable Motorcycles, we'll take a look at the little Yamaha FS1, also known as, the Fizzy.
Friday, April 01, 2005
It is difficult today to imagine just how big a company BSA was at its peak. At one time, in the mid-1960s, the BSA group was the tenth-largest company in Britain.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
It is often the case that the best example of a bike is found at the very end of the model's life. This is certainly true of the 450 Desmo Ducati.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Everything about the Greeves Sportsman is crude and amateurish. Despite that is has been severely beaten with the ugly stick you still can't look away and that's why its here.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
The time is 1948 and Europe is coming out of its nine years' of a nightmare of crushing depression. Things are beginning to stagger back to normality and, in the bike racing world, this means racing: enter the 7R.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Technically advanced, beautifully finished and with dynamic, original styling the 345cc disc-valved twin was state of the art when launched in 1966.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
After sixty years of being a world leading innovator and manufacturer Velocette was beginning to look like a living industrial museum with designs and production techniques dating back to the 1930s.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
The Triumph Adventurer is one of the great, "If only..." stories of the British motorcycling industry.
Monday, September 13, 2004
The story of the 1974 360 "Mikkola" Husqvarna is a fascinating one. At that point in time, motocross was big business - especially in the open class.
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Tritons were a bike of their age - but some 40 years later new versions of this most famous "special" are still being created.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
There is no question that Colin Seeley was by far and away the most successful British chassis manufacturer - yet, outside the racing world, he is scarcely known.
Monday, June 07, 2004
If there is one classic bike name which still carries immense weight it is the BSA Gold Star. It was the definitive hyper-sports bike of its day.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Of all of the impressive works of the Honda engineers, the CBX goes down as one of the Japanese manufacturer's best bikes ever.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Conceived in 1932, The P&M Panther remained in production well into the 1960's and holds a special place in the history of motorcycles.
Monday, March 08, 2004
By 1951 BSA sold more than 50,000 Bantams making it one of the most successful machines of its generation.
Friday, February 13, 2004
By 1949, Norton's flagship Grand Prix race bike - and therefore its single most important marketing tool - should have been consigned to the museum.
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
If the Japanese launched the Ariel Leader today, with a modern four-stroke engine, it would most likely be considered a stunningly creative and radical design.
Friday, December 05, 2003
There's no argument the Japanese have led the motorcycling world in terms of producing efficient, reliable machines as far back as the 1960s.
Friday, November 07, 2003
Soichiro Honda wanted to show the world what his factory could build if it had a no-holds-barred attack on making a super-sports bike. The RC30 was that bike.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Post-war British motorcycle factories were a perfect example of how not to build motorcycles - but Norton still managed to produce one of the best big bikes of its era.
Thursday, September 04, 2003
If the H1 were a lad, it would be the sort of boy you desperately hoped your daughter wouldn't bring home: fast, noisy and dangerous.
Friday, August 01, 2003
The Monkey was an accident of time and place and was never intended to be a commercial product yet it did and has since become a memorable motorcycle.
Monday, June 02, 2003
In 1978, everyone had a baby Yam in their garage. Beginners got their motorcycle licenses on them. Road riders commuted on them and enduro riders thrashed them like thoroughbred race bikes.
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
While most XRs live in cocooned luxury, two do not. These belong to Georgia car dealer, pilot, bike racer and Harley-Davidson enthusiast Keith Campbell.
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
At a time when even a very good super sports bike was pushed to scrape over 100 mph, the touring Vincent would burble along all day at well over the magic ton.
