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Ducati Gold Portfolio '78-82 BMW Gold Portfolio '50-'71. BMW Gold Portfolio '71-'76. Moto Guzzi Gold Portfolio 1949- 1973.
Publisher: Brooklands Books Ltd., P0 Box 146, Cobham, Surrey KTII 1LG.
WHAT did testers think of the Ducati 900SD Darmah when it first came out? Or the 900SS, Moto Guzzi V-7, (it BMW R75/5? These are the books to turn to for the answers. Each volume in the ever-expanding series is made up of reprints of articles from top selling magazines, including the original Motorcycle Mechanics.
Road tests make up the bulk of each volume but there are also technical features, competition bike profiles - including Guzzi's mind-boggling V8 - and the odd curio or two. Take, for example Cycle's 1952 report on Guzzi's capture of 20 world speed records. The star rider was Gino Savanna, a man with strong religious beliefs who was toying with the idea of turning his back on motorcycling to become a monk.
ORDER: Ducati Portfolio 60-73 Ducati Portfolio 78-82 Ducati Portfolio 74-78
BMW 50-71 BMW 71-76 BMW 76-97
Guzzi Gold Portfolio 1949-73
Harley-Davidson: A Way of Life. Authors: Albert Saladini and Pascal Szymezak. Publisher: Aurum Press, 25 Bedford Avenue, London WC1B 3AT.
This book is as big and brash as the motorcycles it salutes. Thirty-five quid is a lot to ask for a book, but you get a lot of book - more than 325 large format pages that weigh as much as an Electra Glide. Its picture power hits you as hard as an 80 cubic-inch fist. The illustrations are superb. If you love Harleys you will be mesmerised.
All the info is here too. Albert Saladini and Pascal Szymezak know their facts and even reveal a few new ones What's missing is that spark needed to transform a sound historical study into a damn good read.
Verdict: Great pictures help explain the Harley phenomenon.
Order: Harley Davidson : A Way of Life
Jim Redman - The Autobiography ISBN 1-901295-35-4
This is Jim Redman's 'Mark Two' Autobiography. Now you might think that it is a little late for a man who won six world championships in the sixties to be writing about his exploits in 1998. In recent years, though Jim has made a bit of a comeback to the classic biking scene by parading Team Obsolete's gorgeous 250cc Honda Six all over the world. His life story has been recorded before in "Wheels of Fortune' but this book goes far deeper and deals with more of this amazing man's life.
Everyone knows of his determination to win on those early Honda bikes, but how many of us know of his deprived upbringing in World War II Britain. He lost both parents and had to strive to survive and support his family at the age of seventeen. Unable to bear the thought of his family splitting up when he did National Service, Jim fled to Rhodesia to begin a new life for them abroad.
After the racing career that we all know about he returned to South Africa to being a successful business career. He took to business with the same 'fighter instinct' that saw him through his young life and his racing career.
This is a truly remarkable story and a very good read. If you think that you've had a hard life with no good opportunities- think again!
Order Jim Redman The Autobiography
The Ducati Story - Ian Falloon ISBN 1 85260 535 9
Much less of the personalities and more of the machinery appears to be the theme in Ian Falloon's highly detailed story of Ducati from 1945 to the present. One personality shines through though - the inspired work of Ing Taglioni the man who created so many works of engineering art for Ducati. Ducati origins go right back to 1922 when they were involved with radio. Bologna was the home of a certain Mr Marconi who made a bit of a name for himself with radio.
Motorcycle production began with the Cucciolo a 48cc four-stroke engine intended for use in a bicycle frame. The mark of Taglioni began with the 98cc Gran Sport of 1955. Although only 98cc this engine bore the hallmark bevel drive OHC which was to last until the Pantah range in 1980. The job of creating gorgeous booming Vee-Twins passed to Ing Massimo Bordi in the late '80's. Bordi was the creator of the 8-valve '851' which was the foundation of Ducatis World Superbike supremacy. Bordi was a graduate Mechanical Engineer and his thesis on four-valve desmodromic cylinder head design made him the natural choice for Ducati.
Ian Fallooon's book is just packed with details about the Ducati men and machines and is illustrated with superb photographs which could make a book on their own. For anyone with even a minor interest in motorcycle engineering this book is a must.
Order The Ducati Stoty
The Fibreglass Manual - Keith Noakes ISBN 1-85915-088-8
Glass Reinforced Plastic (or Fibreglass) has struggled to get its reputation back after some rather shoddily built specials burst into flames when their GRP petrol tanks split asunder. Now that production bikes are clothed in all types of injection moulded plastics the relevance of making your own bodywork has passed most people by.
At the same time the use of composite materials has boomed in the manufacture of seriously expensive bespoke kit such as racing cars. True, the sexy material to have is carbon fibre, but the principle as very much the same. You take an incredibly strong fibre material and imbed it in a resin matrix. The fibre provides the strength and the resin positions the strong fibres where they are most useful.
Keith Noakes' book takes you step by step through the processes of pattern and mould making as well as all of the methods for laying up the material to form your masterpiece.
For those of us who never can get it 'right first time' there is a handy trouble shooting chapter. If you think glass fibre is passe compared with the high tech materials we now take for granted, Mr Noakes provides a grew paragraphs on carbon fibre.
If you've got a fairing to create or you just want to patch up the Reliant Robin you bought for the winter, this might be the book for you. If you are patient I might put the book to the test and make all of the embarrassing mistakes for you.
Order The Fibreglass Manual
Triumph and BSA Triples -The Complete Story of the Trident and Rocket-3. ISBN 1861260180
Author: Mick Duckworth. Publisher: The Crowood Press, Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 2HR.
FOOTBALL fans of a certain age, grey haired and marinated in nostalgia, never tire of reliving the glory of the 1966 World Cup. Give 'em a pint and their minds drift back 30-odd years to the Wembley terraces and the lion's roar - Moore, Peters, Hurst. "They think it's all over - it is now" etc, etc.
The equivalent for Brit bikers of similar vintage is the 1971 Race of the Year at Mallory Park. Fifty-thousand of us thronged to the Leicestershire circuit for what turned out to be greatest race ever run on the UK mainland - John 'Mooneyes' Cooper and the BSA Rocket 3 v multi-world champion Giacomo Agostini and the all-conquering 500 MV. We shouted ourselves hoarse through 30 laps of intense action which ended in a fairy-tale win for the British rider on the British bike. I rubbed shoulders with those packed in at the hairpin. I was 18, I owned a BSA and went home feeling ten feet tall. No one there will ever forget that race.
Cooper delivers his verdict on the clash in Mick Duckworth's marvellous book Triumph and BSA Triples -The Complete Story of the Trident and Rocket Three. He says simply: "I beat Ago because I was prepared to stick my neck out more."
The race exploits of the 750-3s take up a sizable chunk of Mick's thoroughly-researched and well illustrated 224-page study. And rightly so. They are an important part of the story. Triumph/BSA needed the kudos of track success to combat the superior spec and sophistication of Honda's CB750.
Doug Hele and his team delivered the goods with headline grabbing victories from the sunshine of Daytona to the misty peaks of the Isle of Man. Sadly, it was not enough.
The last of the 33,441 triples to be made rolled off the production line on April 28 1976. The first showroom model had been built on August 23 1968. But those dates, as important as they are, are not the beginning and end of the story. Mick takes us back to 1961 when the idea of a three-cylinder 750 superbike was first mooted by the two men who eventually made it happen -Bert Hopwood and Doug Hele. He takes us through the development of the P1 and PI prototypes, through the history of the road and competition machines (remember Slippery Sam?), the successes and failures, details some of the proposed developments that never made it (including the oh and Quadrant variations) and brings the tale up to date with a nod to the new generation of Hinckley triples.
The story is peopled with great characters - designers, developers, stylists, testers. tuners, racers, mechanics, owners and restorers. Some are household names, others worked in the background and have gone largely unsung. Mick, a respected freelance motorcycle journalist, seems to have talked to them all and brings the story alive with their voices. It's a lesson to all those authors who try to get away with palming the reader off with stale material regurgitated from musty archives. It is obvious that a huge amount of new research went into this book. It couldn't have been an easy task but the result justifies the effort. The best motorcycle profile I have read,
Verdict: Superb.
Order Triumph & BSA Triples
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Suzuki Books
Suzuki GSX-750R ~ Usually dispatched in 2-3 days Gary Pinchin, Doug Polen / Hardcover / Published 1997
Suzuki SJ Gold Portfolio 1971-1997 ~ Usually dispatched in 2-3 days R.M. Clarke / Paperback / Published 1998
Chilton's Suzuki : Samurai/Sidekick/Tracker 1986-98 Repair Manual (Chiltons Total Car Care Repair Manual) George B. Heinrich, et al / Paperback / Published 1998
Clymer Suzuki- Gs500 Twins, 1989-1996 : Gs500 Twins : 1989-1996 Paperback / Published 1996
Suzuki Gs 750 and Gs 550 Owners Workshop Manual : 1976-1982 Mansur Darlington, Rik Paul / Paperback / Published 1989
Suzuki Gs and Gsx1100 Fours, 1980-1981 David Sales / Paperback / Published 1981
Suzuki Gs500E Twin Service and Repair Manual Matthew Coombs, Haynes Publications / Hardcover / Published 1998
Suzuki Gs550 1977 1986 Service Repair Maintenance David Sales / Paperback / Published 1985
Suzuki Gs650 Fours, 1981-1983 Service Repair Performance Paperback / Published 1982
Suzuki Gs750, 1977-1982 Paperback / Published 1995
Suzuki Gs850-1100 Shaft Drive 1979-1984 : Service, Repair and Maintenance David Sales / Paperback / Published 1984
Suzuki Two-Strokes : All Two-Stroke Singles, Twins and Triples (Plus Re5)-1952 to 1979 Roy Bacon / Hardcover / Published 1998
Clymer Suzuki Dr250-350 1990-1994 : Service Repair Maintenance (Clymer Motorcycle Repair Series) Paperback / Published 1994 Clymer Suzuki Lt230 & Lt250 1985-1990 Paperback / Published 1993 Clymer Suzuki Vs700-800 Intruder Twins 1985-1997 Paperback / Published 1997 Suzuki; Minoru Yamasaki; An Wang; Conni E Chung; Carlos Bulosan (A mitchell Vol. 1 Barbara J. Marvis / Paperback / Published 1993 Cycle World Motorcycle Books: Cycle World on Suzuki 1962-70 R.M. Clarke / Paperback / Published 1988 Cycle World Motorcycle Books: Cycle World on Suzuki Off-Road Bikes 1971-76 R.M. Clarke / Paperback / Published 1988 Cycle World Motorcycle Books: Cycle World on Suzuki Street Bikes 1971-76 R.M. Clarke / Paperback / Published 1988 Grand Prix Suzuki Philip Scott / Paperback / Published 1995 Illustrator Motorcycle Legends : Suzuki Roy Bacon / Hardcover / Published 1996
Kawasaki Books
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