The Liberators: Military Harley-Davidsn Motorcycles: 1939-1952
By David Sarafan
As Allied soldiers advanced through occupied territory in Europe in the closing months of WWII, the first Americans the townspeople say were scouts mounted on WLA Harleys.
This book includes photography of the various derivations, photo example of too kits, and production numbers for WLAs. There are also photos of data plates related to various Harley military motorcycles, including the WLA, the Canadian WLC, the Big twin UA, the experimental flat-twin XA and the Knucklehead-powered three-wheeled TA.
It’s 118 pages and available from Portrayal Press: www.portrayalpress.com
Harley-Davidson 1915-1929 Pocket Valve Big Twins: An Identification and Restoration Guide
By Steve Slocombe
Steve, president of the AMCA’s European chapter and former AMCA board member set out to create a formerly uncover model guide.
Steve is well-known for his work on Harley VL flathead twins from the ‘30s, having published a four-volume guide that is the definitive collection for anyone looking to own or work on these bikes. And in “Harley-Davidson 1915-’29 Pocket Valve Big Twins: An identification and Restoration guide,” he provides the same authoritative perspective on the pocket-valve era.
It’s arranged in a large-format, spiral-bound book that you can peruse in your easy or lay out flat on your work bench.
It’s 220 pages and available from www.replicantmetals.com
In “Bumper’s Garage,” author Geoff Holladay tells the story of Steve, a young boy who is having problems with the chain on his bicycles. His dad knows just the guy to help—a gray-haired man named Bumper who tinkers in an old repair shop.
It’s a kids book and only 32 pages for only $14.95 through www.bumpersgarage.com
Here’s another group from Velcoce
Product Details
Publisher: Veloce
ISBN: 9781787110991
By Jeff Clew
Paperback or eBook • 20.7x25cm • 144 pages • pictures • Flowing format eBook
A Veloce Classic Reprint.
For those who were there, and for those fascinated by 1950s British culture, Jeff Clew’s insight to motorcycling in the ‘50s will provide a delightful nostalgic journey into the past, while those younger riders who cherish 1950s motorcycles today will discover a whole new dimension to their enjoyment of the machines.
Reprinted after many years of absence! For many, a motorcycle bought at the beginning of the 1950s was a first taste of the freedom offered by personal transport.
Although British postwar austerity was fading, money was still tight and new machines virtually unobtainable, but there were plenty of cheap prewar machines around and an ex-War Department motorcycle could be bought from one of the big city dealers on the never-never; better still it would be sent to your local railway station. Ex-army dispatch riders’ coats and boots would serve to keep the weather at bay as the new motorcyclists explored and enjoyed the quiet roads in a pre-motorway era.
The decade would become a Golden Era of motorcycling as manufacturers brought new and excitingly advanced machines to an appreciative audience which had never even heard of a Japanese motorcycle.
Motorcycle sport mushroomed in popularity at a time when you actually had to go to the race to see it and helped to reinforce the public’s ever-growing enthusiasm for the motorcycle. the era would also see the arrival of the moped, scooter and bubblecar.
For those that were there, Jeff Clew’s insight to motorcycling of the ‘50s will provide a delightful nostalgic journey into the past, while those younger riders who cherish 1950s motorcycles today will discover a whole new dimension to their enjoyment of the machines.
Product Details
Publisher: Veloce
ISBN: 9781845840785
By Richard Skelton
Paperback or eBook • 20.7x25cm • 144 pages • pictures • Flowing format eBook
A celebration of the sports moped charting the history of a genre created unwittingly by the government in 1972 and killed off by more legislation five years later.
This book recaptures the spirit of happy and carefree times and looks at the bikes that gave freedom and mobility to a generation.
If you’re red-blooded and somewhere between 35 and 50 the chances are that your first bike was a sports moped.
This book takes you on a nostalgic full throttle trip back to the heady days of the 1970s and early ‘80s when these fabulous little superbikes were available to 16-year-olds.
Packed with photos from past and present, this book will revive wonderful memories of the machines, the people, the fashions, and even the music of the time. Includes coverage of AJW, Batavus, Casal, Cimatti, Derbi, Fantic, Flandria, Garelli, Gilera, Gitane, Honda, Kreidler, KTM, Malaguti, Motobecane, Negrini, NVT, Puch, Suzuki, Testi, Yamaha and Zundapp.
Charts the extraordinary rise of the sports moped in the 1970s and early ‘80s
Fascinating detail on a huge number of machines.
Owners recollections
Social history too, music and fashions of the era
Superbikes for 16 year olds!
A nostalgic road trip through history
Product Details
Publisher: Veloce
ISBN: 9781787111196
By Ian Grainger
Paperback or eBook • 22.5×22.5cm • 128 pages • 380 pictures • Flowing format eBook
Back in print after a long absence!
Guides you through the scootering way of life and all its factions, giving a unique insight into the modern scene and all its diversities – warts and all! Includes interviews with well known scootering personalities, plus over 150 colour photos of award-winning custom scooters.
There has been plenty said and written about scooters over the years, but until now there has been no definitive look at the culture surrounding the riders’ chosen way of life. Many authors have written about mods and the infamous and often over-hyped beach battles of the 1960s, but hardly any have tried to capture the atmosphere of the modern scene in print.
The original mods are still responsible for fuelling the imagination of past, present and future generations, and for leaving a rich scooter heritage behind them. Although the mod way of life was the spark which lit the fuse for many of them, the majority of scooter riders have evolved into lifestyle scooterists.
As the author says “We may not dress in a particular style, our scooters may not be adorned with lights and mirrors, but we still burn with the same passion as our scooter riding ancestors. It’s over sixty years since the first Italian scooters rolled off the production lines, but there is still a buzzing and vibrant lifestyle surrounding them.
The small capacity machines have overtaken the lives of thousands of us, often to the detriment of everything else we hold dear. Careers, relationships and families have suffered for this overwhelming and expensive addiction. An addiction to which there is no cure.
We live and breathe the sickly-sweet smell of synthetic two-stroke oil and worship at the altar of our chosen gods, Lambretta and Vespa (or occasionally Gilera and Italjet). Our hands are permanently ingrained with the oily ‘tattoos’ of a thousand engine rebuilds, and our major organs have suffered the long term effects of our hedonistic lifestyleor a.”
Including interviews with well-known scootering personalities, over 150 color photographs of award-winning custom scooters, best-selling scooter models, and information on rallies and events, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in these fun machines.
Nostalgia with a modern twist
Interviews with prominent scooterists, past and present
Scooter rallies, from the inside out
The scooter scene as a way of life
People, friendships and comradeship
Custom scooters, what’s wrong with spending £25k on a scooter?
The machines, what’s hot and what’s not
Racing, who ever said scooters are slow?
Over 150 colour photographs
Product Details
Publisher: Veloce
ISBN: 9781787114463
By Ian Falloon
Paperback or eBook • 20.7x25cm • 160 pages • 163 pictures • Flowing format eBook
When the great Ducati engineer Fabio Taglioni designed the 750 Ducati in 1970 there was no way he could comprehend how important this model would be. The 750, the Formula 750 racer and the Super Sport became legend: this book celebrates these machines. Year-by-year, model-by-model, change-by-change detail.
When Ducati s great engineer Fabio Taglioni designed the 750 Ducati in 1970 there was no way he could comprehend how important this model would be. His design was unlike any other before or since: a 90-degree V-twin with single overhead camshafts driven by a train of bevel gears. Taglioni soon developed his 750 into a Formula 750 racer, and in 1972 beat the rest of what the world had to offer at the Imola 200. With this victory, the desmodromic 750 became a legend.
Ducati responded by producing a hand-built limited production desmodromic Super Sport. They also continued to produce the touring 750 GT and sporting 750 Sport until legislation killed them at the end of 1974. Today, this triumvirate of 750s represents the end of an era; the era before cost accounting and government design requirements.
These were amongst the last pure, unadulterated sporting motorcycles built and it is not surprising they have inspired a new generation of retro classics, the Sport Classic of 2005 and 2006. Author, Ian Falloon, is a Ducati expert with several books on the marque including the best-selling Ducati Story, and Ducati Twins Restoration Guide. He has owned several 750s over the years and has a particular enthusiasm for this model, still owning the 750 Super Sport he bought back in the 1970s.
The definitive reference/sourcebook on Ducati’s classic bevel-twins
Written by a world-renowned expert
Product Details
Publisher: Veloce
ISBN: 9781787112483
By Rod Burris
Paperback or eBook • 22.5×22.5cm • 224 pages • 450 pictures • Flowing format eBook
The definitive development history of the most famous Velocette motorcycles, this third edition includes updated information and the most comprehensive appendices ever published on this historic marque.
The definitive development history of the most famous Velocette motorcycles, written by an acknowledged expert. Based on the author’s earlier work, which was out of print for many years, this edition has been fully revised and updated, and includes the most comprehensive appendices ever published on this historic marque.
As one critic said: “THE best book about Velos – I know because I’ve got the lot. Go buy it.”
