Classic Bike

Classic Bike helps and inspires enthusiasts to get more from their passion for classic motorcycles. The magazine shares their fascination with motorcycling’s heroic past while also helping them buy, fix and improve the bikes in their shed. Our main areas of content are: - Inspirational and entertaining reads that celebrate the glory of motorcycling, from riding stories that put the reader in the seat of history’s greatest bikes to incredible racing tales - Restoration stories and instructional features that inspire and help people get their tools out and sort out their old bike - In-depth technical features from the most expert and authoritative writers in motorcycling If you share our passion about classic motorcycles from the last century, you'll enjoy reading Classic Bike.

Welcome

Going up in the world • Westmorland Motor Club’s three-day Lake District Tour kicks off the riding season with a combination of heady climbs and hairy descents – and even some sunshine

Speedway on the slide • As its centenary approaches, British speedway is under threat. Tony Hoare reports

NEXT MONTH IN Classic Bike

June 4, 1950 Junior TT, Isle of Man

A slow lap of Herefordshire • Classic bikes are for riding – and lightly populated Herefordshire, with great roads and beautiful scenery, is one of the best places to use them. So the Herefordshire on the Edge event is the perfect excuse to go there. Event secretary Geoff McGladdery explains what’s going on...

More dates for June

Grid reshuffle

Classic Bike

Show us yours • Classic Bike readers share news of recent acquisitions, regular rides and progress of ongoing projects

Bimota • Over the last 50 years Bimota have created some of the most extraordinary motorcycles ever – from the brilliant HB1 you see here to the revolutionary Tesi. But genius and madness often share the same workshop and Bimota didn’t always get it right…

EXTRA SPECIALS • In 1975 Yamaha’s XT500 trailie revived interest in off-road four-strokes – and created a cottage industry of specialists making frames to turn it into a hardcore ride. We’ve ridden three of them

Tubular belle • Ernie Earles built a BSA-powered racer with an aluminium frame 30 years before they became common. CB got to ride the only surviving machine at Goodwood

Tubeway army • The specialist chassis making tradition is alive and well, nurtured by craftsmen and living in the industrial units of Britain. So who’ll be framing your next project?

NORTON’S SECRET HISTORY • Legendary Norton race boss Joe Craig amassed a collection of photographs during his three decades at the top. Here, seen for the first time, are a selection

‘I needed a bike to ride to Albania’ • After lapping the UK on a 1926 Sunbeam, 23-year-old Harry Bott decides to ride a 1981 MZ TS250 to Albania. As you do…

I’m a Supa man too

Tales from the workshop Eyes on the prize

Imperial Fixes

At the workbench

Metric Fixes

At the workbench

How to... Overhaul brake calipers

PROJECT Triumph Thunderbird • PART Will Coleman is turning an ex-Police Triumph T-bird into a desert sled; Rick’s guiding the build

Our Classics

CHOSER Honda CX500 vs Moto Guzzi V50 • They’re both 500cc transverse V-twins with shaft drive – but there the similarity ends. Honda’s Mr Chalk meets Moto Guzzi’s Mr Cheese...

DEEP POCKETS

LOOSE CHANGE

‘There’s a shift in what constitutes a classic bike’

Building material • Dubbed ‘the flying brick’, BMW’s K100 has proved as durable as one too

Our choice selection from the Stafford sale • Bonhams’ flagship Spring Sale threw up a fascinating mix of the exotic and expensive, with an abundance of both exciting and affordable bikes. Gez...