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WHEN BIGGER WAS BETTER
COMING OF THE TWO-STROKES
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Auckland 1976 Yamaha RD350 at Pukekohe
1955 BSA Gold Star 350 Honda C100
In fifth place came another icon from the
golden age of British motorcycles, the BSA
DBD34 Gold Star. The name comes from a
lapel badge given to riders who completed
a lap over a ton (100mph) at the Brooklands
circuit in England during the 1930s. A 350 Gold
Star won the Clubman’s TT in the Isle of Man
in 1949. It is, however, the 500 that brought the
model universal acclaim amongst road riders.
The ‘Goldie’, as it became known, had a two-
valve, push-rod, single cylinder 499cc engine,
producing 42bhp at 7000rpm with a top
speed of 160km/h.
Sixth, and this couldn’t be left out, was
Honda’s C100, the only bike so far that
achieved greatness without any suggestion
of performance. Instead it changed attitudes
towards motorcycles in many parts of the
>
world. Often called the two-wheeled Model
T Ford, the Japanese market consumed the
entire production run of 750,000 in 1958 and
59. Millions were sold all over the world, and
Soichiro Honda became the first foreigner
to be awarded a place in the American
Motorcycling Hall of Fame. Production of the
little Honda C100 and following C50 made it
into the 21st century. The remaining four in the
list were the Norton Commando, Honda CBX
1000, Suzuki T20 250, and Suzuki Katana 1100.
In three months time the 120th anniversary
of motorcycling in New Zealand begins, and
we might just ask our readers to vote on their
top ten classic bikes. Watch this space. It will
be interesting to see if there is much change
in the line-up.
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