There’s nothing quite like it
When I was a youth, my dad took me to the first-ever truck Grand Prix at Donington Park in 1984. Barry Sheene was driving a DAF…

My neighbour isn’t a motorcyclist and has no interest in bikes. He couldn’t tell a Velocette LE from a Ducati 900SS. Yet there’s one machine that grabs his attention when it rolls up outside; not only that, but he can recognise it at 100 paces. Triumph’s Bonneville. Is there a more famous motorcycle?

Four decades. That’s 14,600 days and thousands of inspirational bikes, compelling people and an awful lot of PG Tips. And it means that, now we’re 40 years young, the world’s favourite classic motorcycle magazine has become a classic itself

We meet Christine Wise and hear the inspiring story of her Moto Morini that she's owned from new, commuted in snow, won the National Rally, written off and it's even been raced at the TT. V-twins stir an emotion in many of us and this special issue celebrates the charismatic motor that’s forever been at the heart of motorcycling; from the raw craziness of a board track racer, through the sheer class of Brough Superior and landmark Vincent Black Shadow, to Honda’s innovative CX500. We’ve got the story of the giant-slaying Moto Guzzi racers built by a dentist, we got to ride the exotic road version. Plus it’s a month of rumbling exhausts, fabulous engineering and, crucially, pure riding joy.

It’s incredible to think Yoshimura and Suzuki have been together for 40 years. Surely it’s one of the longest running and most successful partnerships in motorcycle sport.

Touring holidays, ambitious tuning, a period dolled-up as a street tracker, disassembled and hidden in boxes, and an eight-valve conversion.

It’s the sort of romantic story easily dismissed as a myth. Man goes to shed, man buys pile of rust, man finds he’s inadvertently bought a bike raced by a British hero. This time it’s most definitely true, however. …

Mike Hailwood’s TT comeback was, and is, remarkable. Returning to the Island after an 11-year absence was unprecedented, but storming to victory in 1978’s TT F1 race was staggering.

Think Norton, think Commando. There are many revered models in the brand’s history, yet it’s this big parallel twin that the fabulous logo always brings to mind.

Everyone expected a price like a phone number, however when bidding hit £652,414 even Bonhams must have been surprised. That’s the thick end of a million dollars.

Have a fascinating look behind the scenes at one of classic racing’s most colourful equipes - Team Obsolete's base in Brooklyn. Back on home soil, we also go behind the scenes at one of our unsung national treasures, Wasp Motorcycles – a firm that continues to make a wide range of motorcycles and rolling chassis kits using old-school production methods.

In the January 2018 issue of Classic Bike magazine we shortlist the ten potential projects that could win Barn Find of the Year in 2018. You can see all the bikes and decide who to vote for in the issue.

Ever since the motorcycle was invented, people have been trying to go faster – on the roads, around the race track, at the drag strip and on the beaches or the salt flats. Speed drives motorcyclists and this issue celebrates our need for it.

It seems rather timely for Garry Laurence to have finished his Norton Featherbed-framed BSA Gold Star to coincide with our coverage of the Ace Cafe Reunion....

If you’re a disciple of Rick’s workshop-inspired content, you’ll love this issue. As we’ll as Rick’s expert advice and fettling tips in his regular Fixes section, and the latest update on the Rudge Special project – it’s off the bench and running!

It's one not to miss!

In our September issue we have 16 pages of Classic workshop and Rickman takes us through his Suzuki saga.

This is The Green Issue, but not some kind of environmentally-motivated political message those three words now suggest. Far from it. It’s a celebration of a time when green was mean, a time of Kawasaki’s outrageous two-strokes triples and ground-breaking four-strokes. A time when big horsepower was everything and chassis technology was struggling to catch up.

This month’s Classic Bike features a free Best of British 52-page supplement featuring some of the best bikes in the National Motorcycle Museum and how you can ride them.

The CB team argue over which of Suzuki’s 70’s triples are best, we look back at the history of Donington Park at 40 and visit a shop in Athens that has been restoring BSA’s for years – we meet the third generation of Papoutsas to care for the machines.

1967. The Summer of Love. Hippy culture was kicking back big time. Traditional British bikes were coming under fire from the Japanese industry with exciting new lightweight two-strokes that matched (and even exceeded) the performance of the traditional 650 twins. Grand Prix racing hit its peak in 1967 – with the epic 500cc battles – MV Agusta v Honda, Ago v Hailwood. Honda was also pushing the boundaries of technology in the other GP classes, too – exemplified by the amazing 250-6...

Inside the May issue - Sandshifters had a ton of fun in the Sellicks Beach Races in South Australia. George Greenland told us of his plans to head to Europe for a few weeks of classic trails – at 84! Our Gez grabbed a test ride on a Ducati 750GT – the Italian V-twin of his dreams. Duckers had a spin on a Brough Black Alpine. And Rick has been flat out in this shed.

One of the many things we discovered this month was that despite Yamaha’s supermoto-styled TDR250 being initially considered totally impractical, it’s every bit as much fun to ride as it’s TZR racer-style sibling...

With Triumph recently launching their much-improved Street Scrambler, we thought it the ideal opportunity to not only test the new model, but also to look back at the original high-barred, high-level piped, knobbly-tyred bike that came out of Meriden, destined for the US market...

Inside this issue we jumped at the chance to borrow Ian Grundy’s original Suzuki GS750 example. And as the 2017 Classic TT celebrates 60 years since the first ton-up lap on a Gilera four, we look at the Kays' replica that's joining the party...

This bumper 164-page issue of Classic Bike is not just about celebrating our annual CBOTY competition, we’ve also added an extra 32 pages to celebrate an amazing year in classic bikes.

In this issue of Classic Bike we ride 3 Triumphs built by the doyen of Meriden’s racing past, Les Williams. 87 year old Ernie Allen is reunited with his old Black Lightning Watsonian outfit and ninety 100-year-old motorcycles race 3500 miles across the width of America – what could possibly go wrong?

In this issue we delve into the depths of everything black and yellow. We’d all read about Kenny Roberts in the American magazines, but the first time we saw him race was during the 1974 Trans- Atlantics. He and Yamaha US team-mate Gene Romero came to Britain armed with their TZ750s – two characters as colourful as their yellow and black Yamahas...

In the latest issue we road test three generations of Triumph Bonnevilles in our Bonneville special and we take a look at the screaming strokers that shaped Barry Sheene’s career, 40 years after his first 500cc world title. Plus Honda heaven: David Silver’s new museum hosting biggest collection outside of Japan and a preview of our brand new event Classic Bike Live. 

In the August issue there’s a freshly-restored Yamaha XS2 from first time restorer Paul Harris which matches Bonneville punch for punch, we ride four pristine big singles from Neil Redley’s ‘collection’ of rare Velocettes and Ace Classics tell us how they recreated legendary actor Steve McQueen’s #955 Triumph TR6. 

In this month’s issue we ride JMC’s immaculately-crafted modern incarnations of the Egli Vincent and Norvin, which beautifully combine creativity with practicality. There’s a stunning collection of six Triumph Grand Prix 500s superbly restored and owned by one man, we ride a rare pair of Yamaha YM2s, plus there’s a free Lost Brits poster with this issue.