Features

No question about it, factory team bikes have a hard life but their prototype predecessors have an even harder one. CDB checks out a 1970 370RN Suzuki development model. Looking at the machine it was obvious the Japanese company had come to play seriously in this off-road lark and clear too was Pettersson’s influence. Now,…

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At one time all motorcycling was an adventure, but as roads improved the adventurous had to look elsewhere… There is little doubt adventure biking has taken hold of public perception and big trail bikes are part of many makers’ ranges as enthusiasts clamour for machines which emulate the Paris Dakar mounts thrashed across remote desert…

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Words: Tim Britton Pics: Gary Chapman When Honda debuted the 1981 CR250 they launched many firsts – liquid cooling, Pro-Link suspension – but it was the last to have the Elsinore designation. Cast your mind back to the MX world of the Seventies and early Eighties when development seemed to happen at a phenomenal pace;…

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When Alan Arnott saw Swedish MX superstar Bill Nilsson’s Czechoslovakian ESO motor slipped in a British Metisse chassis, it sparked a desire in him to own one. He tells the tale of the build. Have you ever had an itch you just had to scratch? Well, the ESO is one of mine. It probably started…

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Works bikes are built to win; it’s their function in life, an if they look good too that’s a plus point. CDB has a look at a stunning winner – ex-Graham Noyce 1979 500RC Honda. There is little room for sentimentality in the race world, this week’s new development is next week’s old hat as…

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“It’s Noyce and his mechanic against the world!” screamed the headline in MotorCycle of March 24, 1979. How did that year pan out? Read on… The swinging Sixties were over, the Seventies almost through and not only was Jeff Smith’s second world MX championship but a distant memory for off-road fans but so was the…

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As the ISDT was the shop window to the motorcycle world, all factories took it seriously, though their approach often differed. We take a look at a faithful reproduction of NSU’s 1956 mount. While Gary Chapman set up the lights for our shoot at the Carol Nash International Classic Motorcycle Show, I had a chance…

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There is something appealing about a bike being just as it finished its last outing, complete with the dings and scratches the competition world thrives on. Antique dealers might describe this as the patina of age, we call it ‘life.’ How many readers have gone to look at one thing and come away with something…

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