1956 Matchless G9 500 Twin 1956 MATCHLESS G9 BACKGROUND Matchless Motorcycles cut their teeth on the depressed British home market,...
1969 Honda GL175 Scrambler Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 174cc Cylinders Vertical DRIVETRAIN N/A CHASSIS / SUSPENSION...
1946 Triumph Speed Twin 1946 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN – IN WAR & PEACE World War II had been hard on England. British motorcycle manufacturers like Triumph and BSA, did well during the war selling side-valve singles to the Army and lots of other stuff. But, war is hell, right? In...
1960 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1960 BSA A10 Spitfire Scrambler 1960 BSA A10 SPITFIRE SCRAMBLER The Spitfire was indeed...
1970 BSA A65 1970 BSA A65 Firebird Scrambler 1970 BSA A65 FIREBIRD SCRAMBLER The term “scrambler” was the word used...
1978 Twinstar 185 (CM185T’78) Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin cylinder four-stroke Displacement 181cc DRIVETRAIN Transmission 4-speed CHASSIS / SUSPENSION / BRAKES N/A DIMENSION N/A OTHER Color Candy Antares Red Candy Sword Blue The fuel tank and side cover stripes were white, gold, and black The “TWINSTAR” side cover decal...
1965 BSA A65 1965 BSA A65 LIGHTNING The Lightning was the high-performance roadster in the 1965 BSA A65 lineup, with...
1959 Norton Dominator 1959 NORTON DOMINATOR BACKGROUND Norton designed the legendary “Featherbed Frame” for the single-cylinder Manx racer in 1950....
1962 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1962 BSA A10 – NEARING END OF NON-UNIT CONSTRUCTION In 1962 BSA was in the middle of a major retooling to begin production of the new A50 (500) and A65 (650) unit-construction twins, that were meant to replace the highly successful non-unit twins the...
1957 Norton Dominator Dominator 88 – 500cc 1957 NORTON DOMINATOR BACKGROUND Norton designed the legendary “Featherbed Frame” for the single-cylinder...
1956 Triumph Blackbird ABOVE: The 1956 Triumph Blackbird was essentially a 6T Thunderbird painted black. This earned it the name...
1959-63 CA95 Benly Touring 150 (early model) Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin Displacement 154cc Carburetor Single DRIVETRAIN Transmission 4-speed CHASSIS / SUSPENSION / BRAKES DIMENSION N/A OTHER Color Black Scarlet Red Blue White The headlight was square with an integrated speedometer The fuel tank had small rubber knee pads...
1962 Norton Jubilee 250 twin 1962 NORTON JUBILEE – WHAT’S IN A NAME? The name Norton Jubilee paid homage to...
1962 Norton Navigator 1962 NORTON NAVIGATOR BACKGROUND Norton has always been known for big powerful bikes like the Manx and...
1966 Norton Atlas 1966 NORTON ATLAS HISTORY The story starts not with a Norton at all, but with the 1938 Triumph 500 Speed Twin, the world’s first “modern” vertical twin. The rest of the British motorcycle industry went nuts and rushed to field their own 500 twins. But WWII got...
1966 Triumph TR6 1966 TRIUMPH TR6 BY THE NUMBERS For the 1966 model year, the model lineup were TR6, TR6R,...
1947 Triumph Speed Twin 1947 TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN LEADS THE WAY At the end of World War II, civilian production...
1972 Norton Commando 1972 NORTON COMMANDO MODEL DESIGNATIONS All four road models became MkIVs & one completely new model was added, the Commando Interstate, meant to be a long-distance touring bike, with a 5-gallon fuel tank. ENGINE CHANGES FOR ALL MODELS All models got reinforced crankcase castings with more internal...
1952 Triumph Thunderbird This 1952 Triumph Thunderbird is similar to the 1950 T-Bird ridden by Marlon ABOVE: This lovely 1952...
1964 Triumph Thunderbird 1964 TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD AS A COMMUTER? When the 6T Thunderbird launched in 1950, it was the first...
1960 Triumph Thunderbird The 1960 Triumph Thunderbird was similar in appearance to this 1960 Triumph T110 Tiger. Both had ‘bathtub’ bodywork, full fenders and the trademark headlight nacelle. But the Tiger was the higher-performance version, with bigger carb, higher compression & wilder cams. Note that this bike has a 1968-70...
1974 Norton Commando A 1974 NORTON COMMANDO FOR EVERY TASTE The Commando was available in a variety of configurations, all...
1953 Triumph Thunderbird Sitting in for the 1953 Triumph Thunderbird is this lovely 1951 T-Bird. Very similar to the 1953...
1955 Matchless G9B 1955 MATCHLESS G9B BACK STORY The 1955 Matchless G9B has an interesting history, that is also very telling about the British motorcycle industry at the time. Frank Cooper was the US distributor for AMC (Associated Motor Cycles) who produced Matchless, AJS and Francis-Barnett motorcycles. In the late...
1958 BSA A10 Pre-Unit 650 Twin 1958 BSA A10 BACKGROUND BSA’s A10 was the 650 version in it’s twin cylinder...
1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor 1970 ROYAL ENFIELD INTERCEPTOR BACKGROUND Royal Enfield hopped up its 692cc Constellation and created a new...
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...
1968 Norton Commando ABOVE: The first 1968 Norton Commando was the Commando Fastback, pictured here in this British racing green,...
1967 Norton Atlas 750 1967 NORTON ATLAS HISTORY The story starts not with a Norton at all, but with the...
1971 BSA A70 Lightning 1971 BSA A70 LIGHTNING IS BORN BSA wanted to enlarge their 650 twin to a 750 to compete in the open class in AMA Class C racing. But the rules required that the races bikes be based on an actual production bike that the public could...
1969 BSA A65 1969 BSA A65 Lightning 1969 BSA A65 LIGHTNING The 650 Lightning was BSA’s top-line bike, and meant...
Engine Engine Type 4-stroke OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 198cc DRIVETRAIN Transmission 5-speed CHASSIS / SUSPENSION / BRAKES N/A...
1949 Triumph T100 Tiger 1949 TRIUMPH T100 TIGER LEADS THE PACK At the end of World War II, civilian production of motorcycles ramped up quickly to tap into the tremendous pent up demand for transportation. 1946 was Triumph’s first postwar model year. The 5T Speed Twin, its best seller prior...
1962 Triumph 650 Thunderbird 1962 TRIUMPH 650 THUNDERBIRD-A COMMUTER BIKE The Thunderbird was introduced in 1950 it was Triumph’s first...
1968-69 CB160 Sport 160 Engine Engine Type OHC parallel twin cylinders Displacement 161cc Displacement Duel carburetors DRIVETRAIN Transmission 4-speed CHASSIS...
1951 Norton Model 7 Dominator 1951 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...
1977 Honda CB250T Dream Engine Engine Type Air cooled, four stroke, twin cylinder, OHC, 2 valve per cylinder Displacement 249cc...
1971 Norton Commando 1971 Norton Commando ROADSTER 4 NEW MODELS The 1971 Norton Commando line grew from 2 models in...
1959 Benly Touring 125 (C92 and CA92) Engine Engine Type 124cc OHC parallel twin Carburetor Single Starter both electric start and kick start DRIVETRAIN Transmission 4-speed CHASSIS / SUSPENSION / BRAKES N/A DIMENSION OTHER Colorst Scarlet Red Blue Black The headlight was square and the headlight shell housed the speedometer...
1962 Norton Navigator Deluxe 1962 NORTON NAVIGATOR DELUXE BACKGROUND Norton has always been known for big powerful bikes like the...