Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bona nza, bu t a good number of twostrokes were also in attenda n ce. Greeves were quite po pu lar, along with other Villiers-powered makes such as Dot, Cotton and DMW. A few bolt -toget her Husqvarnas showed up, alo ng with twin-pipe 250 and 360cc CZs. Other than some rather disorganized starts, the races went off smoothly. Durin g our stay in the British Isles, we got to visit a coup le of ot her p opular m o to rcycl e attractio ns, including th e National Moto rcycle Museu m in Birmingham, wh ere th ere are literally h undreds of Brit ish motorcycles on disp lay. They are pr im ari ly •road bikes, wit h one room dedi cated to racing machinery, wh ere a few trial s bikes, a supercharged T riumph T rident dra gster and a sing le Ch eney BSA scrambler sit amo ng the many h istoric road racers. The m useum has a full wall of Geoff Duke's troph ies, and was a pleasant visit, althou gh I'd like to have seen more " museu m-type" items, rather than motorcycle after motorcycle on displ ay. An int eresting selection of prototype Triumphs and BSAs are on hand. T he thirst for museum arti facts can be quenched by visit in g the Sammy Mill er Motorcycle Museum in New Milton , Hampshire. Whi le not havin g the sheer volume of motorcycles on dis p lay , Mi ll er 's setup was more interesting to a race-oriented visitor. A great selection of knick-knacks and on e-off pieces sit among the ex Hailwood H ondas, ex-Hugh Anderson Suzuki, aluminum -fram ed Earl s BSA A7, four- cylinder wat er·cooled . AJS racer, No rto n " Kneeler" and many other history-making machines. . For much of the time, we stayed with Andr ew King, who edits the Greeves -Riders Association newsletter, and is heavily involved in old motorcycles, primaril y Greeves . His co llectio n includes ex-works machinery, and he is currently resurrecting th e prototype 500cc Greeves MXer. King sho wed us around quite a bit, and we went along to buy a motorcycle on th e way to th e Bona nza. A .bloke had just picked up three American-spec Greeves Ch al lenge rs, and Andrew secured a very origina l MXl model. Although th e gentlema n was glad to have obtained the three Greeves, he let us know how silly the America ns are for lettin g their bikes get sh ipped o ut of the U.S.. Prices are q ui te a bit high er for pa rts and ent ire machin es there, and it seems that greed gets th e better part of goo d sense some times. .. The tri p was great , an d I enjoyed seeing how th ings are don e in the land where it really all began. It was refreshing to see a dif£eren t selection o f tno torcycles, ins tead of a group of machines tha t loo k like they're all sq uee zed out o f the same sushi mo ld. CN Year End SGP Sa e! Save up to $300* on 1990 CR500s. New 1989 CR500, .** 33 Wor ld Class USGP Tickets From Participat ing Honda Dealers August 25 - Grand Prix Qualifying August 26 • Grand Prix Race one-day ticket both days Honda display and Cub demo both days. Ticket supplies limited. H_.._ Come ride with us. .J.~I(} t,.un/ lJIl tl ifft"tlYJrr' M '..,TlI l unrm ,"'!iN P ;111,1 1990 """;I ,for JKKr. Pr irr d...... 1101 jm ll#fk '.u , 1I11 "K'i.lt"J/I"" .

• Cover