I've been looking around for a copy of the test report in Superbike Magazine of the Hailwood replica. I think it was the May 1980 issue but can't be sure. Does anyone have a scan of the test, or know where I can obtain one? My elderly friend owned the bike a few years later and he wants to find out what happened to it. I believe it was also the one photographed with model Helle for the pull-out poster. If anyone owns this bike or knows where it went he'd be delighted to find out.
I have loads of old Superbike mags... I'll see if I can find anything. And from what I can remember Helle was almost a permanent fixture in the centre spreads.
Here's a good pic of the bike and her. Over 18s only! https://ducatimeccanica.com/hailwood_and_helle.html
I remember that poster well. Almost every garage had it pinned up at one time and another friend (not the one who had the Hailwood rep) had it on his wall until he died last year. Regrettably, all my many boxes of bike magazines that took up a whole spare bedroom had to go a few years ago.
Yep... same here I'm afraid. I had a good look in the back of the wardrobe & the boxes are full of 1990s editions with none from the 80s. It was Superbike magazine in the early days that sortov got me into bikes and I recall an early test review of a BMW R100S by Mike Scott having a big impact on a impressionable callow youth.
Here's a bit more information on the bike in question: The registration is LGS 611V. DVLA records show that it's not been taxed or MOTd after 1992, which was when it was sold by my friend. Why it was never subsequently used is a mystery; I suppose it could have been exported, smashed up or added to a static collection. A number of magazines tested the MHR at that time and it's unclear whether this was a press bike that did the rounds. At the time of sale the swingarm was brush painted with orange/red urethane moisture-catalysed paint. Sounds bad, but it was quite a neat job. When he acquired the bike the swingarm bushes were worn out, so I machined up phosphor bronze replacements and fitted grease nipples to the pivot. The paint was quite rough so my friend repainted it before refitting.
Is this any help? https://www.magazineexchange.co.uk/cw/super-bike-magazine-may-1980-issue.html . Tom. And perhaps these links might help with your search: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super...orcycling magazine from Link House Publishing. https://www.superbike.co.uk/
Thanks. At present the Magazine exchange site doesn't have any print or digital copies, but I'll keep looking there in case something turns up. Rather tantalisingly I found an Ebay seller who'd listed a collection of articles that sold in October which has the road test I'm looking for, showing the bike's registration (too low resolution to be of any use, though)
The Hailwood and Gould advert reminds me of visiting the showroom fairly regularly with my old man many moons ago, the model in the picture wasn’t ever there as I’m absolutely certain I would remember.
I extracted the main image of the bike in your post to see if the registration could be read at a higher magnification, but it is unclear and as you say the image has low resolution. The attached extracted image does make it somewhat clearer, and if you know what the registration should be, it may allow confirmation of at least part of the number. I rode an early example, owned by a friend, that Steve Wynne prepared for fast road use. I later owned a 1984 example with an electric start, which I enjoyed but eventually sold. I've attached some copies of articles on the original bike, if your interested. Good luck with your search. Tom.
Tried as best I could to clean up the image but as has been said, it's very low res, so not much definition to go on.
Thanks for the improved pictures - I'll take a look at how they print. What I need is the kind of 'technology' that you see on films where someone has a single pixel for a head and it magically becomes a hi-res picture of a face when they enhance it...... I was thinking about the MOT and tax records for the bike, as it occurred to me that it could have been exported. I exported a Landrover quite a few years ago and just did an MOT and tax check to see what the records looked like. The format is the same - the registration is still assigned to the vehicle and shows it as untaxed with an expired MOT. So that's a possibility, but I recall written-off vehicles showing the same thing.
