RC111, July 2013

British twins, singles and two-strokes sit alongside an awesome example of the archetypal UJM, an affordable Italian V-twin and BMW’s hard-to-beat Boxer. All this and more in the pages of this month’s RealClassic magazine…

AJS 31 CSR
The Myth: all 650 twins are the same. The Reality: that’s not true. Frank Westworth discusses development, AMC style, and how he happens to prefer a certain 650 from a very definite era. Whether AJS is better than Matchless is an entirely different argument which we’ll save for another day

ARIEL NH REBUILD
This month, FrankW tackles the clutch and chaincase sealing, and has to engage in un petit peu of bodgery to straighten a bent stud. Then he thinks about timing the mag, and suddenly discovers a forgotten appointment in a far-off corner of the country

A BMW ABROAD
Martin Gelder and Ted are stumbling across the trails of northern Spain on two wholly inappropriate motorcycles (a BMW R80 and a Harley-Davidson, since you asked), armed only with The Plan. Last month, they rode across a desert, and now The Plan calls for them to ride up a mountain…

BSA BANTAM BUILD
Part Four: Odgie’s undercover project continues, building a Bantam from bits for his fair lady. This month: perfecting the petrol tank

BSA M21
When his stalwart BSA sidevalve started to struggle under the strain, Shaun Gibbons went on a search for the big squeeze...

HONDA CB750 SPECIAL
Nolan Woodbury meets a special SOHC Honda which has been rebuilt along the ‘less is more’ principle. Apart from in the engine department, where more is most definitely, erm, more

MORINI 350 SPORT
A middleweight marvel which happens to be one of the least fashionable Morini 3½ twins available… which means it’s also one of the most affordable. Mark Holyoake celebrates his special K

NORMAN B4 SPORT
If you didn’t know this 250 two-stroke had been built in Britain, you could be forgiven for thinking it was an import from Italy. Rowena Hoseason reckons it would’ve been a smash hit in the 1960s, if it had been given more than half a chance…

1936 NORTON MODEL 18
Dave Blanchard fancied being Lost Before The War. And what better way than to prepare a Norton Model 18 to share the ride?

SCOTT SQUIRREL REBUILD
Roger Cooper has accepted the challenge of rebuilding a vintage water-cooled two-stroke twin. This month in Part Three, he tackles the primary drive and moves onto the wheels

VELOCETTE KSS
A Velocette with both a history and with its camshaft upstairs. Odgie discovered a truly unusual survivor…

PLUS
 Jim Reynolds considers Vincent’s neglected single; Jacqueline Bickerstaff takes a stroll around the Stafford Show; Rotary racers at 1000 Bikes (also some other bikes, apparently); Classics in Kent; Thunderfest at Darley; reader ads, reader letters, and some very inventive typing mistakes. Big fat fingers this month, it seems, or perhaps we could call it ‘creative use of almost-English’