Riders’ Reports: Honda’s Thumpers
Riders’ Reports… Honda XL600… Honda NX650… Honda FT500… Honda GB400… Honda NX650… Honda FT400… Honda XL600There’s always someone willing to put the boot in, isn’t there? On the ride home...
Riders’ Reports: Honda CB450 and CB500T
..Honda CB450 and CB500T.. Riders’ Reports… Honda CB450… Honda CB500T… Honda CB500T… Honda CB450K… Honda CB500T… Honda CB450SS… Honda CB450 Black BomberThe 1967 Honda CB450 looked okay, had done 20,000...
The Best and Worse Japanese Bikes of the Nineties
The Nineties This was the decade of the race replica, no doubt about that! The fundamental survival route was minimal mass and maximum power crafted in a way that made...
The Best and Worse Japanese Bikes of the Eighties
The Eighties A decade when weight was lost, handling improved, engines became more powerful and the overall package more useful. It was also one of ever increasing complexity, poor frugality...
The Best and Worse Japanese Bikes of the Seventies
The Seventies This was a decade that began to erode Honda’s omnipresence in the manufacture of four stroke twins and fours. That they failed to really develop their sixties designs...
The Best and Worst Japanese Bikes of the Sixties
The Sixties The bike that defined the sixties was undoubtedly Honda’s CB750, though there was a lot that was bad about it, its overwhelming impression was good. It put to...
Riders’ Reports: Yamaha 250-400 Twins
Riders’ Reports… Yamaha XS250 … Yamaha XS400 DOHC… Yamaha XS250… Yamaha XS400… Yamaha XS400… Yamaha XS400 Special… Yamaha XS400… Yamaha XS250… Yamaha XS250 … Yamaha XS400 DOHC… Yamaha XS250SOU 312S,...
Kawasaki GPZ900 – Survival of the fittest
The first Kawasaki GPZ900 was a despatch hack with an incredible six figure mileage and an owner so ugly I couldn’t deal with him. His horror at his own appearance...
AJS Model 31 650 – British masterpiece or hell on earth?
My elder brother had owned the AJS Model 31 for a long time. He had shocked the motorcycle fraternity of the University of London by turning up on the 1963...
BSA C11 Rigid framed horror turns out to be a bargain buy
I can recall the day, six months ago, that I bought the BSA C11. It was one of those marvellous English summer afternoons – bright blue sky, burning sun and...