RealClassic

Frequently fabulous; occasionally awful, but always interesting

RealClassic3 min read
From The Front
This is hardly an original thought, but it is certainly a truism that time flies – and it flies ever faster with the passing of the years. Which is of course, entirely subjective; time passes at the same speed no matter what, it’s our perception of i
RealClassic4 min read
Superbike CELEBRATION
Hang on, I hear you holler, the T160 was introduced in 1975, surely? How can it be 50 years old in 2024? Your memory does not play tricks on you: the final factory version of the BSA-Triumph triple was indeed listed for 1975. But the first production
RealClassic5 min read
Smokey Joe
Frank's old T160 Trident was the first classic British bike I spent any real time with. I grew up on Japanese motorcycles and was comfortable with airhead BMWs and Italians from the 1980s, but by my late 20s I had only a passing acquaintance with the
RealClassic4 min read
Real Life Rides
So now it's your turn. How many RC readers, we wondered, have experienced the delights of T160 ownership? Quite a few as it turns out… 'The first photo shows me collecting one of the last T160s in April 1976. Pleased as punch, having traded in a most
RealClassic2 min read
Thinking Of Buying?
Prices of electric-start Tridents were firmly in five figures just a couple of years ago, and some traders are still asking big money for quite average machines. A tidy 1975 machine was offered recently for £12k by a Harley dealership, for instance.
RealClassic1 min read
Birthday Bash
The TR3OC celebrates the T120's 50th anniversary at this summer's national rally at the Newark Showground on 30th and 31st August. The TR3OC has a long tradition of running the Beezumph annual rally which welcomes members and other classic enthusiast
RealClassic11 min read
Incoming!
PO BOX 66 BUDE EX23 9ZX In Members’ Enclosure last month, Rowena suggested that insurance premiums had increased rapidly lately, and that may well be true, but I’m not sure that historically they were much cheaper in the more distant past than they a
RealClassic2 min read
Thinking Of Buying?
Enfield now offer their 650 twin in half a dozen different trims, with the standard Interceptor listed at £6399 in the UK. However, brand new 2024 models can be found online for £5600, with some pre-registered / zero miles machines offered for under
RealClassic6 min read
A Retro RIDE
Royal Enfield have come on in leaps and bounds over the last few years, with a wide range of models to suit different customers. The Interceptor 650, Continental GT and the other 650 twins have been quite the success story. The Interceptor was judged
RealClassic10 min read
Happily UNAPPRECIATED
It all depends on whether you read an issue of our unusual and only slightly chaotic magazine in order – front to back – or in another, possibly less traditional way. If, for example, you started reading this issue from the back, you will already hav
RealClassic11 min read
Peace DIVIDEND!
The 1920s was a decade brimming with technical innovation in motorcycle engine design, which gave rise to numerous alternative solutions to providing motive power on two wheels, as engineers all over Europe – and in America, too – sought to work out
RealClassic1 min read
The Miller Museum
The Sammy Miller Museum in New Milton, Hampshire, UK is crammed full of interesting machines – including one of the biggest collections of exotic racing bikes in the world, and all are runners! These include the V8 Moto Guzzi, AJS Porcupine, Mondial
RealClassic10 min read
Desmo DAZZLER
It is often the case that the best example of a bike is found at the very end of the model’s life. This is certainly true of the 450 Desmo Ducati of 1973, which can trace some elements of its bloodline all the way back to Ducati’s 1956 125 GP racer.
RealClassic2 min read
What The Papers Said
➢ THE DUCATI picks up black marks for a totally inadequate toolkit and poor quality glassfibre on the panels and seat which crazed badly for no apparent reason in non-stress areas. Bike magazine, 1975 ➢ THE 450 DESMO is a more simple design than the
RealClassic5 min read
Shining BRIGHT?
At last year’s Scottish Classic Bike Show at Ayr, I’d entered my Honda CB175 and was wandering around, looking at the other exhibits and being dazzled by the fine machinery on display. Sitting quietly in a corner was a bike that I recognised from a s
RealClassic2 min read
Readerads
TRIUMPH TROPHY pre-unit, 1961. This low ownership is for the purist and in superb standard condition with all numbers matching, original registration number, club authenticity certificate and buff logbook. Ready to ride / show with new stainless rims
RealClassic7 min read
Connie LONG LEGS
PART THE LAST After last month’s efforts I hoped the machine was ready to move under its own power, always an exciting if not always rewarding experience. My first run of a few miles taken proved successful, and with just a few checks and adjustments
RealClassic1 min read
Starfire scrambler
PART FIVE From my perspective it’s been a while since I updated my running record about this project. You get to read it regularly every month, and I do my best to make it seem fairly seamless, but in reality there’s lots of other stuff going on in t
RealClassic9 min read
Too old to ROCK 'n' ROLL
PART FOUR Next the stainless, Commando-type mudguards needed fitting. The pre-drilled front went on easily with one set of stays, carrying a mudflap. Fitting the rear guard required a useable seat, as the mudguard is attached to a bracket on the seat
RealClassic7 min read
Pub Talk
As well as the January 1 Vintage Stony, the little town of Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, runs a June event, Classic Stony, aimed at somewhat more modern machinery. It is not always on PUB’s schedule, being altogether too modern, but this year she
RealClassic4 min read
Ollie's ODDJOBS
Have you ever asked yourself, ‘What’s the best bike I’ve ever ridden?’ It’s a tricky one, isn’t it? Now here is a trickier one. ‘What’s the worst bike I’ve ever ridden?’ A decade or so ago I decided to create a list of all the motor vehicles I have e
RealClassic4 min read
Members' Enclosure
It’s been a wee while since we gave you the chance to win something a bit special – and we like to make sure that every so often there’s a little extra bonus for you subscribers. That’s simply to say thanks for signing up to an ongoing sub to the mag
RealClassic9 min read
Tales From The Shed
When life sends you lemons, it’s plainly time to give up being teetotal and reach for that bottle of Big Peat which is safely stored somewhere safe and take a refreshing, fortifying sip. And so it was, gentle reader, that when it became clear back in
RealClassic2 min read
Who's Done What
THIS AUGUST ISSUE – which is also the August issue! - of RealClassic magazine has been brought to you by Frank Westworth and Rowena Hoseason of the Cosmic Bike Co Ltd working with Sanjay and Arun of Druck Media and the whole team at Mortons Media Gro

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