BSA: Winner of 15 AMA nationals on Harley-Davidson and BSA flat-trackers.

Blind Ambition: Everett Brashear, American Racing Legend Winner of 15 AMA nationals on Harley-Davidson and BSA flat-trackers.

March 1, 2013 By Norm DeWitt 1 Comment
Photographer : Everett Brashear Archives

If you ask Everett Brashear, crashing was more of a “when” than an “if.” He “finally got it” at a half-mile track in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954. “I fell off in practice,” recalled Brashear, “and another guy ran right over the top of me. He hit me in the side of the head and severed [...]

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Filed Under: Features, Racing Tagged With: BSA, flat-track, Harley-Davidson, Indian

Vintage Motorcycle & Scooter Festival Ace Café on the menu at Washington bikefest.

September 19, 2012 By Paul Duchene Leave a Comment

A Norton Manx in “as-raced” condition. King of the Isle of Man TT through much of the 1950s, the British Singles were eventually surpassed by multi-cylinder bikes like those produced by Honda and MV Agusta.

The first Vintage Motorcycle & Scooter Festival drew around 250 collector bikes to the nine-acre field adjoining the LeMay America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, on August 25. Saturday’s concours was followed by a 110-mile ride to Mt. Rainier the next day. Summer Shakedown 2012 kickstarted a bike component to the museum, which opened June [...]

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Filed Under: Bike Shows, Events Tagged With: BMW, BSA, Cafe Racer, Norton, Triumph, vintage motorcycles

The Ace Café Riding the Reunion: Welcome to the original  social network.

September 17, 2012 By Michael Lichter Leave a Comment
Photographer : Michael Lichter

Leather girl Hiroko from Japan on her '52 Triumph Speed Twin.

Every low-bar, stripped-down, lightweight sporty motorcycle from a pre-unit Triumph to the Zach Ness Victory [link NessCafe when live] owes something to a little café on the North Circular Route in the northwest London area known as Stonebridge. Yes, the Ace served as ground zero for a café-racer movement that not only survives but flourishes [...]

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Filed Under: Features Tagged With: BSA, Cafe Racer, Norton, Triumph

2012 Cannonball Under Way A Certain Kind of Madness.

September 13, 2012 By Paul d'Orleans 2 Comments

Paul d'Orléans with his turncoat Velocette KTT, at the start of the Cannonball in Newburgh, NY.

There are two types of people who ride the Cannonball: Mechanics, and those who can afford to bring one along. Sometimes the afforders are decent wrenches too, but hire even better ones: whizzes with side-of-the-road magic in their fingers, rewinders of magnetos, truck-axle crankpin makers. All such repairs were made on the first Cannonball two [...]

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Filed Under: Features Tagged With: BSA, Cannonball, motorcycle events, Triumph, Velocette, vintage motorcycles

From the Archives: Daytona, 1973 Nearly 40 years ago, the dreaded Yamaha TZ700 and the racing slick were still in the future.

June 12, 2012 By John Burns Leave a Comment
Photographer : Cycle World archives

Prior to 1969 in AMA competition, side-valve engines (like the Harley-Davidson KR) were allowed 750cc, and overhead-valve engines got just 500cc. When new rules for 1970 made it 750cc for everybody (to make a place in racing for the cool new Triumph Trident, BSA Rocket 3 and Honda CB750), few people realized what a can [...]

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Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 750cc racers, BSA, CB750, Daytona 200, Daytona International Speedway, Gary Nixon, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, motorcycle racing, Norton, roadracing, Suzuki, Triumph, vintage motorcycle photos, Yamaha

2011 Cycle World Rolling Concours The CW Rolling Concours returns. Who knew what great bikes lurked in the shadow of the Speedway?

November 1, 2011 By Peter Egan Leave a Comment

Register for the 2012 Cycle World Rolling Concours brought to you by BikeBandit.com. Well, Editor Mark Hoyer and I were a fine pair at our own Rolling Concours at the Indy MotoGP this year, what with no vintage bikes to ride. Mark had planned to ship his 1958 Triumph out from California, but the magneto [...]

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Filed Under: Bike Shows, Events, Features Tagged With: 2011, Bike Shows, BSA, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Indian, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy, Kawasaki, MotoGP, motorcycle shows, Norton, Rolling Concours, Suzuki, Triumph

Price: Marrying high technology with affordable motorcycles

December 28, 2010 By Kevin Cameron 5 Comments

An important point can be easily forgotten in high-flown discussions of technology: cost. Each time the state of the motorcycle art is advanced, this point is central—but invisible. Through most of the 1960s, Honda produced its reliable electric-start motorbikes using traditional (and expensive) rolling-element bearings. Meanwhile, in winning many world championships, its Grand Prix racebikes [...]

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