RealClassic 105/Jan 2013

You won’t find the monthly RealClassic magazine on sale in the shops, so if you want to read about old bikes being restored, ridden and rebuilt by real people, then here’s how to get hold of the latest issue…

AJS Model 18
The road to riding delight can be a bumpy and unpredictable one. Stuart Urquhart wanted a bike like his dad’s…

Ariel 500 Twin
Ariel twins are some of the more neglected of the British parallel lines, but why? Frank Westworth rides one and ponders

Bert Hopwood Profile
Inspired to investigate the people who created the bikes we call classics, Richard Jones started with one of the old industry’s most well-known characters. He follows Bert Hopwood’s early career from Ariel to Triumph, to Norton and then BSA

Featherbed Special, Final Episode
Martyn Roberts created a modern café racer from a Suzuki engine and a featherbed frame. And finally the Manki is finished! It runs! It rides! It brings a smile to Martyn’s face!

Kawasaki Z1R Turbo
Meet Black Molly, one of the world’s first stabs at a factory turbo motorcycle. Paul Miles discovers the meaning of warped speed…

Morini 125 Rebuild
Part Cinque: Stuart Thomson’s restoration of his small capacity single-cylinder Morini continues with sprockets, oil filters and the dreaded electrics...

Royal Enfield Bullet, Part 2
They’re everywhere. They’re affordable. They’re a load of fun. Odgie caught a Bullet and stripped it back to basics

Triumph 3SW
Some outlandish alterations are inflicted on innocent two-wheelers during military emergencies. Rowena Hoseason meets one of WW2’s less well-known warriors and learns about one of its unusual applications

Meanwhile, Frank Westworth tackles an Ariel, a Matchless, grease, grime and backache in The Shed; Dave Minton says farewell to Gordon Lucas; PUB grapples with gearbox grief, and Burman’s b’stard bearings, and Graham Ham considers the best old bikes for riding vast mileages.

Buy a copy of RealClassic 105

Subscribe to RealClassic in print, delivered to your door the old-fashioned way each month

Or read it on your desktop: subscribe to the digital version of RealClassic - now available for iPad, Android and Nook