Motorcycle Live, this year held from November at the Birmingham NEC, is the modern motorcycle industry’s annual showcase, but it doesn’t take much investigation to find some interesting old machinery, plus plenty of ‘influence’ being brought to bare on modern designs.
Girder forks seem to be in vogue among many ‘special builders’ with several modern Triumph and Harley-Davidson engined creations having a type of girder fork.
One of the interesting machines to study was Royal Enfield’s new twin, which looks absolutely ‘right,’ compact and properly proportioned. It’ll be interesting to see how it performs, both on the road and in the showroom.
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Norton, Triumph and the resurgent Brough-Superior all had large areas, with full ranges – including some ‘show specials’ – basking under the lights.
All the major Japanese firms were there too, plus the likes of Ducati, while Harley-Davidson’s stand highlight (to my eye) was the superb XR750 flat-tracker.
The National Motorcycle Museum had brought some nice machines across the road, while a 1950s Triumph twin was being restored by the museum team at the show ‘live’, too. Next to where the NMM was based, there was an area in which prospective new motorcyclists could take an opportunity to sample two wheels, on and off-road, all encouraging initiatives.
Read more in the February issue of TCM – on sale now!
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