Gnome et Rhône

Gnome et Rhône

Gnome et Rhône is a familiar name in vintage aviation circles. But few people know that the French company also built motorcycles, from 1920 until the early 1950s. This lovely machine is one of around 3,000 manufactured under license from the British firm ABC Motorcycles—a company closely aligned with Sopwith, another aircraft manufacturer. In those days, aviation and motorcycling were commonly linked, and this particular connection was brokered by a pilot: André Barthélémy, the official Parisian distributor of ABC. Barthélémy was a talented engineer, and fixed numerous mechanical problems with the powerful yet fragile

Ace Cafe heads to the USA

Ace Cafe heads to the USA

EXCLUSIVE Some great news for café racer fans Stateside: the legendary British Ace Cafe is setting up shop next year in the USA. Ten new outlets are planned, and arrangements for the first one are close to being finalized. If you can’t wait for that, then you can get a taste of the Ace Cafe vibe by heading to the Dime City Cycles grand opening event in Tampa, Florida on Saturday 14 May: a temporary Ace Cafe will be erected for the duration of the celebration, stocked with classic motorcycling memorabilia. Ace Cafe boss Mark Wilsmore (above) will be flying in to join Dime City’s Jason Michaels and Herm Narciso on the day, and helping to judge the vintage ride-in bike show. (We’ll be there too—in spirit—because Bike EXIF is sponsoring the Best In Class award.)

Ducati 750SS

Ducati 750SS

If you had to make a list of the most desirable sporting motorcycles of the 1970s, the Ducati 750SS would be near the top. It was built by Ducati’s racing department to mark its victory in the 1972 Imola 200, and the accepted knowledge is that only 401 were manufactured. This is one of the surviving machines. Even better, it was restored a few years ago by Steve Wynne, well known amongst Ducatisti for his role in Mike Hailwood’s 1978 Isle of Man TT comeback

MV Agusta 750S

MV Agusta 750S

There are maybe ten bikes in my dream garage, and the MV Agusta 750S is one of them. Like the Ducati 750SS we featured two weeks ago, this one is owned by English motorcycle enthusiast Peter Bullard. It’s one of the very early models, built at the Varese factory in January 1972—there’s no ‘lip’ on the crankcases, and apparently only the first ten or so bikes were built like this. It was also one of the first two bikes shipped to Australia

MV Agusta 600: the ‘Black Pig’

MV Agusta 600: the ‘Black Pig’

Throughout the MV Agusta community, the 600 is affectionately known as ‘The Black Pig’. It’s one of the ugliest bikes ever made, but perhaps so ugly that it transcends style and fashion. Only 127 were built, between 1967 and the early 1970s, and this one is #11. It was the second 600 to go to the USA, and was the bike photographed by the factory for the owner’s manual—its frame number appears clearly in the images. All of the 600s were black, hence the ‘Black Pig’ title, with the exception of one blue bike and one yellow bike. (There’s also rumor that the factory built a red machine, but the works records don’t mention it—not unusual with Italian manufacturers.