Motorcycle Classics

I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I’ve met a lot of motorcyclists in my life, and I bet 75 percent of you would agree with me on this: Motorcycles can speak to you. Some days they audibly speak: they misfire, they squeak, they squeal, or when t

Here is a picture of me (on the Yammy) and my good buddy Bob Kass (Captain America) taken in May 1971. In a few weeks we took off on a summer adventure of a lifetime. Leaving our homes in Michigan, we traveled west across Canada, south on the Pacific

Rider: Fred Hawley, Middletown, New Jersey Age: 69 Occupation: Electrical engineer Rides: 1966 Honda CL77, 1978 Honda CB550, 1975 Honda CB750, 1975 Yamaha XS650, 1981 Yamaha 750 Virago and 2006 Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster I have always had a passio

Timing may not be everything, but bad timing can scuttle the best of plans. Through most of the 1960s, parallel twins dominated the U.S. market for half-liter-plus motorcycles. And while Honda’s CB450 could give a British twin a good run, Bonnevilles

1973-1980 Triumph T140 Bonneville By 1974, Triumph’s Meriden factory was worker-occupied, dependent on government support, and had one product line: the 750 Bonneville and its single-carb sibling, the 750 Tiger. The machines that emerged from the wor

Comprising approximately 300 motorcycles, and representing every decade of the 20th century, this important collection was built up by the museum’s founder, motorcycle manufacturer and Grand Prix boss Giancarlo Morbidelli, over a period of 40 years.

In 1919, George Brough started building luxury motorcycles in Nottingham, England, under the name Brough Superior. A test ride on one so impressed a journalist that he wrote that the marque was “the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles.” George, a marketing ac

Join us for the 15th Annual Barber Vintage Festival, the largest vintage motorcycle event in North America, Oct. 4-6, 2019, at Barber Motorsports Park outside Birmingham, Alabama, with famed national champion enduro rider and entrepreneur John Penton

Don Stockett, one of the principals of Vintage Motorcycle Rescue, a classic Japanese motorcycle restoration business near Sacramento, California, was on a ride through the Sierra foothills with the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club when one rider had

To better understand the Indian Model 741 U.S. Army World War II motorcycle featured here, we need to start with a bit of background. During the years preceding World War II, Harley-Davidson and Indian emerged as the two main U.S. survivors in an ind

Make no mistake: kids are impressionable. When Tom TeRonde was 11 years old, his dad bought him a Honda CB160 to tear around the family property on the outskirts of Oostburg, Wisconsin, where they had a few horses and grew Christmas trees. His four s

As urban legend has it, the hamburger was a spontaneous pairing of a beef patty and a bun. Likewise, the Amphicar was a sly fitment of a Triumph drivetrain and propellers into a water-tight convertible to form a car and boat, all in one. And Alice Co

Every so often a manufacturer conceives a new model that’s unlike anything anyone did previously — and in doing so invents a new kind of motorcycle. Think BMW with its dual-purpose GS models, Ducati with the Monster or Yamaha with the original Ténéré

The Indian Sport Scout introduced in 1934 was America’s first Superbike. The early 1930s had seen the near-collapse of bike racing in the USA, forcing Indian and Harley-Davidson to stop supporting large, professional factory race teams, owing to dwin

Moving from the two-up position to piloting is a reality for an increasing number of women participating in recreational motorcycling. I’ve been riding pillion for more than two years now. Granted I was a reluctant passenger at first for two good rea

In 1997, I joined one of the first motorcycle tours of the remote Himalayan kingdom. Dusk was slipping into night as our motorcycle caravan turned off the single-lane Bumthang Valley road. The Enfield’s pale headlight just picked out the way ahead —

Honda’s V4-engined RC45 had a difficult birth, at a time when Superbikes were challenging 500GP lap records. Born in 1993, it took It took four years for the successor to the legendary RC30 to win the World Superbike championship, but on the eve of H

Team manager par excellence Neil Tuxworth headed Honda Britain’s road racing efforts for more than 20 years, during which he masterminded Honda winning three World Superbike titles with American riders John Kocinski and Colin Edwards, as well as copi

A few issues ago we installed a pair of Donald Pender’s version of the Lansdowne dampers on a 1974 Norton Commando. While looking through his list of available parts, we noticed another cool upgrade we were interested in trying out. Don manufactures

Q: I have a 1966 BSA Lightning, a 1970 Honda CB750 and a 1974 Norton Commando that all use Podtronic or other aftermarket solid state rectifier/regulators for lead acid batteries. I would like to upgrade to lithium iron phosphate batteries and would

My modest stable of motorcycles is occupied by less than a half dozen machines, each one bought not so much on a predicated search for that specific bike but the simple expedience of opportunity. The 1983 Laverda RGS is the dream machine, a bike I ne

8/30 Back for its 14th year, join us for the fun at the Bonneville Vintage GP, Aug. 30-Sept. 1, at the Utah Motorsports Campus in Tooele, Utah. Look for great AHRMA racing, plus the ever-popular Battle of the CB160s LeMans Start at noon on Saturday a

Recommended for use on seats, dashboards and other vinyl or fabric surfaces, this dye transformed the seat on ad man Shane Powers’ Honda CB350 build. This lacquer paint dries to the touch in just 30 minutes. Available at auto parts stores or on Amazo

Even 30 years after his death, Steve McQueen remains a cultural icon. This book focuses on the bikes that the King of Cool raced and collected, from the first Harley McQueen bought when he was an acting student in New York to the Triumph “desert sled

Seventy-five years is a rather long time. In the doggie world that’s 525 years, and in real terms 75 years equates to three-quarters of a century. Closer to home in the motorcycle community, 2019 marked the 75th annual banquet hosted by the Trailblaz

Enjoy our classic black T-shirt, exclusively available through Motorcycle Classics! This black short sleeve T-shirt is emblazoned with the Motorcycles Classics logo on the front of the shirt and the slogan “Ride ‘Em, Don’t Hide ‘Em” in white and red