1965 Royal Enfield Interceptor 1965 ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR BACKGROUND Royal Enfield hopped up its 692cc Constellation and created a new...
1961 Triumph Speed Twin 1961 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN HAS A “BATHTUB” The British home market had been hungry for cheap...
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...
1967 Triumph TR6 1967 Triumph TR6C Trophy 1967 TRUMPH TR6C TROPHY Triumph built two basic versions of the 650 TR6,...
1966-69 CA160 Touring 160 Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin cylinder Displacement 161cc Displacement Duel carburetors DRIVETRAIN Transmission 6-speed Front...
1970 BSA A65 1970 BSA A65 Firebird Scrambler 1970 BSA A65 FIREBIRD SCRAMBLER The term “scrambler” was the word used back then for a bike that might be called a “dual-sport” bike today. In other words, on that can be ridden on the highway, and yet handle itself off-road. These...
1966 Norton Atlas 1966 NORTON ATLAS HISTORY The story starts not with a Norton at all, but with the 1938...
1959 Benly Touring 125 (C92 and CA92) Engine Engine Type 124cc OHC parallel twin Carburetor Single Starter both electric start...
1975 Norton Commando ABOVE: 1975 Norton Commando MkIII Roadster in Union Jack paint scheme. TROUBLE BEHIND THE SCENES While the Norton Commando was enjoying reasonable success in the marketplace, other problems, both inside & outside the company wreaked havoc with Norton Motorcycles finances. By 1975, the Meriden Triumph fiasco was...
1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor 1970 ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR BACKGROUND Royal Enfield hopped up its 692cc Constellation and created a new...
1956 Triumph TR5R 1956 TRIUMPH TR5R BACKGROUND Triumph offered the TR5/R in limited numbers in 1956 as a top-of-the-line 500...
1962 Norton Jubilee 250 twin 1962 NORTON JUBILEE – WHAT’S IN A NAME? The name Norton Jubilee paid homage to the 60th anniversary of Norton Motorcycle production at the time of its launch in 1958 at the Earls Court Motorcycle Show in London. It was a clear break from Norton...
1962 Triumph TR6 1962 TRIUMPH TR6 NOMENCLATURE Of course, this is tFor the 1962 model year the only Triumph TR6...
1968-69 CB160 Sport 160 Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 161cc Displacement Duel carburetors DRIVETRAIN Transmission 4-speed CHASSIS...
1952 BSA A7 Pre-Unit 500 Twin 1952 BSA A7 BACKGROUND Like everyone else in the British motorcycle industry, BSA was caught flat-footed when Triumph introduced its game-changing 500 Speed Twin in 1938. And like virtually everyone else, BSA was relying heavily on single-cylinder designs for its bread and butter. But...
1973 Triumph TR7 1973 TRIUMPH TR7 BY THE NUMBERS 1973 was the first year for the new 750 twins, in...
1962 Norton Dominator 650SS 1962 NORTON DOMINATOR 650SS BACKGROUND The story starts not with a Norton, but with the 1938...
1968-69 CL175K0 Scrambler Engine Engine Type 174cc OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 174cc Cylinders inclined from vertical DRIVETRAIN Transmission 5-speed CHASSIS / SUSPENSION / BRAKES Frame Tubular backbone frame DIMENSION N/A OTHER Color Metallic Silver Candy Orange Candy Blue The gas tank and side covers were the basic color The...
Engine Engine Type 4-stroke OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 198cc DRIVETRAIN Transmission 5-speed CHASSIS / SUSPENSION / BRAKES N/A...
Honda CB125SS Engine Engine Type Air cooled, twin cylinder, OHC, 2 valve per cylinder Displacement 124cc Bore and Stroke 44...
1952 Norton Model 7 1952 NORTON MODEL 7 BACKGROUND Following Triumph’s lead, Norton, along with nearly every other British motorcycle manufacturer, entered the parallel twin race with its own new 500 twin in 1949. Known as the Model 7, its basic layout followed the established norm of a 2-main bearing...
1970 Rickman-Triumph 1970 Rickman-Triumph Background This 1970 Rickman-Triumph is typical of many of the Rickman desert racers of the era,...
1964 Matchless G12 650 Monarch Twin 1964 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROUND Just prior to World War II, Triumph rocked the world...
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...
1966-67 CL160 Scrambler Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 161cc Fuel delivery dual carburetors Starter kick start only...
1955 Triumph T110 Tiger 1955 TRIUMPH T110 TIGER CONTINUALLY IMPROVES True to the British style at the time, steady, continuous...
1961 Matchless G12 650 Twin 1961 MATCHLESS G12 BACKGROUND Just prior to World War II, Triumph rocked the world with their seminal 500 Speed Twin, but the world had to wait for the war to end before the rest of the industry would have a chance to catch up. At...
1973 Norton Commando ABOVE: 1973 Norton Commando 750 Roadster was more or less the “standard” Commando. BACK ON TRACK After...
1951 Norton Model 7 Dominator 1951 NORTON MODEL 7 BACKGROUND Following Triumph’s lead, Norton, along with nearly every other British...
1952 Triumph TR5 Trophy ABOVE: This 1952 Triumph TR5 has a chrome tank with a silver panel and blue pinstriping. BELOW: This version of the same bike came with a painted take, solid silver with black pinstripes. 1952 TRIUMPH TR5 TROPHY BACKGROUND The Triumph TR5 Trophy was produced from 1949...
1968 Norton Commando ABOVE: The first 1968 Norton Commando was the Commando Fastback, pictured here in this British racing green,...
1977 Honda CB250T Dream Engine Engine Type Air cooled, four stroke, twin cylinder, OHC, 2 valve per cylinder Displacement 249cc...
1939 Triumph T100 1939 TRIUMPH T100 – THE LAST PRE-WAR TIGER The Tiger T100 was launched in 1938. Performance was boosted by the use of high-compression forged pistons and polished ports and internals, the result being a machine that could touch 100mph in road trim and exceed it with the...
1972 Norton Commando 1972 NORTON COMMANDO MODEL DESIGNATIONS All four road models became MkIVs & one completely new model was...
1970 Honda Motosport SL175K0 Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 174cc Exhaust 2-into-1 DRIVETRAIN Transmission 5-speed Clutch manual...
1959 Norton Dominator 1959 NORTON DOMINATOR BACKGROUND Norton designed the legendary “Featherbed Frame” for the single-cylinder Manx racer in 1950. In 1953 they dropped the Model 7’s 500 twin-cylinder engine into the Featherbed frame, and created a new bike, the Norton Dominator, in fact a whole new line of bikes....
1946 Triumph Speed Twin 1946 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN – IN WAR & PEACE World War II had been hard on...
1965 Triumph Thunderbird 1965 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD AS A COMMUTER? When the 6T Thunderbird launched in 1950, it was the first...
1970 BSA A65 1970 BSA A65 Firebird Scrambler 1970 BSA A65 FIREBIRD SCRAMBLER The term “scrambler” was the word used back then for a bike that might be called a “dual-sport” bike today. In other words, on that can be ridden on the highway, and yet handle itself off-road. These...
1953 Matchless G9 500 Twin 1953 MATCHLESS G9 BACKGROUND Like everyone else in the British motorcycle industry at the time,...