We Nearly Crashed A 1959 Ariel Huntmaster! Are Classic Motorcycles Really That Bad? 

Before some more nasty comments come in I’ll say this here. We never claimed to be classic bike experts, this was really for fun and to experience a classic bike for the first time, we’d love to ride some more classics and this will be from our perspective not knowing a lot about them. We never claimed this would be a review video either. It was purely to bring our perspective from two classic bike newbies. We loved filming it! So it’s a shame there’s a few negative people here in the comments. Hopefully the majority of you enjoyed this video and would like to see more from this perspective. And those who didn’t then please don’t watch it or better yet, show us how it’s done 😁

To change down, pull the clutch, give the throttle a blip to increase engine speed, gently apply pressure to the gear change lever, when the engine rpm matches the speed of the bike in the lower gear it will change smoothly. It takes a bit of practice but you'll get it eventually.

Lovely old Ariel, thanks for reviewing. It should handle very well unless there is wear on the swinging arm or other vital component. As a rider of a classic bike, I wouldn't object to changing the front brake to twin leading shoe because the bike is meant to be ridden, rather than being an ornament. The existing front brake, properly set up, can still give an adequate performance but it's never going to be like a twin disc. Before the 1970s, little attention was paid by many manufacturers to improving motorcycle brakes. I think it would good for you as well as the viewers if you were able to review more classics in the future. I would be interested to see your take on a Triumph Speed Twin, a Velocette Venom or an AJS Model 18.

In 1967 I owned an Ariel Huntmaster 650. At the time I was just 14 yo and obviously had no licence. So I kept to the backroads and dirt roads, but the freedom was epic. Australia was great for this back then, but the bike was heavy, being massively built, with thick metal fuel tank, mudguards and poor brakes. There was of course no internet and no motorcycle shops anywhere near where I lived. This meant that you had to come to terms with mechanical fettling if you wanted to continue riding. I also had a BSA C11 and a Bantam D7. Later, when I did get a licence and a Japanese bike, Suzuki Hustker 250, I discovered that if you broke down, the first bike up the road would stop and assist you. This no longer happens, unfortunately. Mobile phone, credit cards and selfishness robbed us of the camaraderie we once enjoyed. At 71 years of age I still ride and have a Harley Softail Heritage Classic. Motorcycling has been brilliant for all those years! During this time, I've enjoyed a vast array of great bikes and count myself fortunate to have had the pleasure. Great video guys, thank you.

The Huntmaster & A10 BSA were some of the sweetest handling bikes of their day, this one may need the swing-arm bushes looking at, &/or the rear shocks having a birthday re-build at Hagon's. That front brake needs some loving wisdom too, it shouldn't be that bad, - well, not quite that bad : )

Brilliant review. Reviewing clasics really appeals to me as I am thinking of purchasing a clasic bike at some point. You can pick them up in a fairly good condition for very low cost & it seems to me that if you are into bikes, why wouldn't you? It kind of makes sense to go backwards in time with its engineering to get that buzz that slowly diminishes when riding modern bikes. Well done👍

The throttle cable on my BSA 650 Rocket used to wave about in the wind like that one, when you hit 80m-90 it used to stick open and you’d have to feed it back into the carb. - Great days , when you could speed, freedom of no crash helmet if you wished, Policeman on Triumph Speed-twin challenged me to a race ! 😊

Perhaps the brakes need looking at as they should be better than you have said. Also try using the gearbox to assist the braking. I've owned my 1960 BSA A7 Shooting Star 500cc twin since I was 17 years old and still ride it at normal road speeds (60 to 70 mph), yes they can be temperamental but that's all part of the motorcycling experience. You are wrong about the amount of traffic on the roads back then, that was why they built motorways and bypasses to get traffic out of towns and cities etc. But I agree that there was a lot less than now and not as many potholes then either.

I bet that’s alot of fun 😊

I absolutely agree with you guys when it comes to the mudquards - we need to bring back those beautiful functional mudguars frome the past. Thank you for a great channel. Best regards from Norway

1959 that's the same age as me, I wish I looked half as good as it does. Another British bike that you can't fold the kick starter away so that you will catch your leg on it. I don't care what anybody says but I think bikes should still have a kick starter on them just in case. It's a 1950's British bike so what were you expecting from the brakes?😃

I have been reading the comments about the brakes on bikes from the 1950s. Let us think about what happened to you in more detail. Each brake has only one leading shoe & one trailing shoe. In order to get the bike to stop, it is going to need the effort of two leading shoes. Half the shoes on the machine. So one leading shoe from the rear brake & the other leading shoe from the front brake, applied in that traditional order. The two trailing shoes only provide a small addition to the braking. This is why improved drum front brakes have all leading shoes. The downside of this with a motorcycle is that the front brake of an all leading shoe drum brake may not be able to hold the machine on an up-hill junction. This is why a lot of road bikes had twin sided hubs on the front wheel, with a leading & trailing shoe on both sides. This gave them a pair of leading shoes on the front wheel. The moral of this is simple. With these classic machines, forget about front wheel only braking. They are designed for rear wheel braking with assistance from the front brake to aid retardation, required & to prevent the machine from rolling back.

At the age of 87, these were the bikes of my day. I now have a "keep it on the boil" Yamaha twin. How things have changed.....

Those brakes aren't adjusted right, they should be a lot better than that !!

I have a 54 huntmaster in Black it breaks ok i have it drown up to 100 miles per hour it is a fantastic english motorbike what a sound 💪🙏🙏 you can hear it on my you tube channel best regards from Denmark

One thing for sure that todays bikes won t be running in 65yr. Electronics will cost more than bike is worth in 5yr from now or whatever. A mechanic pal of mine summed it up. Electronics is the new rust. By tbe way i have 3 modern and 3 classics😂

I had a '59 Bonnie in 1961 and I really can't remember having problems with brakes. I suppose we just accepted them in those days and drove accordingly.........mostly. Still riding a more modern Bonnie in my 82nd year and not looking forward to the day when I can't. Love your videos. Thanks.

If you haven't had a kickback from a kick starter bike before, you haven't been bike riding! Getting bruises is a badge of honour!

I bought a 1958 Huntmaster in 1972 for £20.00 I still have it . Totally reliable engine ,but those "full width" brakes ware far worse than the ones they replaced! I have a hydraulic mini (car) twin leader set up on the front which is better.

Fit a four leading shoe Seeley with modern brake material and you can lock the front wheel

the front its very similiar to the classic/bullet 350

Back in 1968 at 17 years of age I had a 1959 BSA Super Rocket, I wish I still had it today, now I have an Interceptor 650 which is 30 kilos heavier and not as quick!

Remember this , with out past engineering history ,we would not be so advanced as we are today, people who take the piss out of classic bikes don't really under stand any form of engineering at all. I ride my classic with pride and understanding it's limitations.

I think it was better in the day, when posers couldn't get their bikes to run right. Because you had to know something about maintaining them and tuning them. I liked it every time some big mouth with a black t-shirt and bandana started his bike and it backfired and missed and stumbled and sputtered. Nowadays, any wanker can buy a new bike that's tuned by a computer and go around pretending he knows something about it.

When i was in my teens and twenties i had all kinds of bikes including a Huntmaster that was a great bike with good brakes what you have here needs to be fixed my future wife and i rode all over England. to motor bike races on a regular basis we had a Speed twin triumph, an Ariel leader, but back then we all worked on or bikes and kept them in super shape and there was plenty of traffic plus our roads were mostly Two lanes one each direction and the surfaces were not as good as they are now. Even though i now live in the USA i come back from time to time to visit family and old friends though some have past on and i still have my 1958 Velo Venom here and i still ride it not so much now as i am 83 but i still keep it in super shape without any computer work just hand tools. yes i have to tickle the carb to fill the float chamber then adjust the fuel mixture and retard the timing the kick to start it which is an art in itself ask anybody who has one and i am a member of the American Velo club. Ed 40 S of Vegas

I think this is adorable! Having ridden these old things since the '70s, and not really riding anything that would rate as "modern", I am completely out of touch with current motorcycle technology. If I were to take a new sportsbike and review it, I'm sure contemporary riders would find it hilarious! Watching this for me, is a bit like watching Back to the Future! 😆

The Huntmaster was a great, very reliable bike. The engine was basically A10 but had Ariel designed rocker boxes which made a big difference if you had to do any head work. The Burman Gearbox was renowned for it's slow gearchange, but you couldn't break them! The alloy brakes were possibly the worst brakes of the era! They made the bike look pretty, until you buried into the back end of the car in front! The older BSA single side brakes were far better. The rear brake was worked though a fairly complicated linkage to an operating cable, making it even worse than the front. Steering was a bit ponderous, but it was a tourer, not a sports bike in any way.

I rode a BSA A10, same engine really, 820 miles in 20 hours around Scandinavia in 1975 with a sidecar on the bike. Only one puncture, and three countries in a day , and over a five thousand feet high snowy pass on gravel roads.

Great review guys. I'm looking at a 1959 royal enfield prince at the moment.

I have a 1965 Triumph T120 chopper with the original drum brakes. I was going to take a side road but I had to change my mind because I couldn't stop in time to turn in. I had to pass it up then turn around and try again. That was exciting. I've not been too keen on Royal Enfield but the Shot Gun has peaked my interest. Comparing that to the Kawasaki 650RS would be interesting to me. The cost difference is substantial.

It’s cool though. Riding an old bike is pretty cool.

Great video! So many things that people accepted in the old days, like leaky engines and crap brakes, didn’t have to be. When Honda arrived with high revving engines, brakes and suspension that worked and most of all, no leaks, the British motorcycle industry reacted by going on strike and going out of business. The reason the paint looks so weird is that today’s vehicles have a clear coat that protects the color and makes it look deep and shiny. Old paint jobs look unfinished by today’s standards. So you got to experience the difference between “retro” and “old”. I’m older than the old man and I have an extensive background in mechanics but I’ll take my V7 over any bike from 50 or more years ago.

Very similar looks wise to my 1951 Triumph. Remember roads were gravel then, hence the intentionally weak from brakes. Most of the braking is on the rear & you should be using the engine to help brake on dirt roads. The gearbox will work much better is you double clutch up and down through all gears except changing up from 3rd to 4th as its not needed. Very simple machines to maintain. Very reliable if maintained!

You used two fingers and no back brake, what do you expect?

Lovely to see you on a real classic. Could have been the bike I used to own and tour Europe on with my step dad (him on an Ariel KH). You definitely need to be an engineer (or have a tame free engineer) to run one. Or have plenty of money and contacts with the owners club hehe. AOMCC are a lovely bunch by the way. Even though I no longer run one, I'll be going along to the annual Ariel rally this year.

The whole point of two wheels is the fear of what maybe happen if you make mistake , like driving a car as well, and if you ride a motorbike or drive a car without the fear of making a mistake you need to hand your licences in and catch the bus .

Beatiful bike, you brought me memories from that time, you see,I grew up one block away from the Seminar and there were two priests that had one like this one but with chromed fenders, the other priest had a 500cc single, so the sound is quite familiar to me except had not listened it for more than six decades, many thanks!!!

I had an Ariel NH Red Hunter. At the time, I made subtle improvements to it, modernising the air filter as the Ariel one was hard to come by and didn't fit very well anyway. I also fitted a Cibie headlamp to improve lighting.

C'mon lads, motorbikes (especially in the 50s and 60s) were made to go -- not stop!!!

Great video. Hoping to be at the sanctuary on Saturday weather permitting. Lovely old bike. I did consider getting a bike same age as me so we could grow old together. Hunted for an April 67 triumph but I’m not a mechanic so decided against it in the end. My mate had a super meteor than had a neutral selector so you could get neutral from any gear. That’s something I’d have now. Keep up the good work

Rev matching to drop a cog is rather second nature to me I still do it on my little Enfield 350 classic and in the wifes MX5. Both braking is also a habit I cant get out of after 50years. Seems to work fine still specially on bikes with limited braking power.. Do me best to get Ethel the Enfield to your meet

Well done on riding the Ariel Huntmaster 😊😊😊 yes there’s a sequence at least the ignition timing is automatic without advance / retard levers… Try to find neutral before you come to a halt…. The bike is 4 years older than me and I ride these bikes often 😊😊😊 Well done guys 😊 You have to get used to the gears and becomes muscle memory cus I ride both new and old 😊😊 I rode my 1932 500 cc side valve a couple of weeks ago for the first time Hand gear change 😊😊 😂 Mechanical stuff is quite easy just pick up a book or on line great fun 😊😊😊 Phil

Those old drum brakes needed to have the pads and inner drum regularly degreased, and finely adjusted to get the best out of them, but they were never going to throw you over the handle bars.' As an aside to biking in this era, my old AJS 500 had worn clutch plates and used to slip in 3rd and 4th going up hill, but I couldn't afford new plate's at the time. As my brother and I sat over a pint in the local pub one night, he was studying a cork beer mat rather intently. "I bet these would make good clutch plates" he said. We half-inched a couple of those beer mats, cut them to shape, and super glued them onto the existing plate, and viola',...they last for months, til I could afford new plates. Those were the days.

Another interesting vid , bike technology has like everything else in our lives moved on especially when it comes to brakes, so the "Ol Mans" Brown trouser moment wasn't a surprise , as for classic bike ownership it's frequently a mixture of fun and frustration (never a dull moment) , I tried out classic British iron but just couldn't get on with the right hand gear change so abandoned the idea and stuck with 70 & 80s Japanese classics with the gear change on the left. Looking forward to more classic bike content in the future.

Would buy one of those tomorrow! Love the color and the look!

Those old designers knew how to protect the bike from getting covered in dirt 👍

Like my old man in the 1950s this bike was probably someone’s only means of transport, to and from work, taking the lady on a day out, and so on. Today’s bikes are mainly toys………

More Classics please.. 👍

Of course you need to ride a number of classic British bikes to understand them better. Some handled as well as modern bikes, some brakes better and some was quite reliable. Some was for touring, some for dirt, some was sports bikes and some was for cheap transportation. Properly maintained they can run as long as there is petrol. Modern bikes will never be classic because when the electronics eventually fails, the electronic chips is out of production.

I've been rebuilding a matchless G5 350 lightweight fer me mate. It's from 1961. Has same sort of wheels n mudguards. Project nearly ready. Me and the owner ain't rode it yet. We can't wait to test the awesome brakes. She gonna be a bundle of fun. Ive had to go through everything mechanical on it. 63 years old it all needed looking at. I've fitted indicators to it for modern day traffic. May give me and owner a fighting chance. Great lil bikes all got their own character. Mr phil the dood

I can imagine the pride and excitement of buying one in 1956

Good feature, don't worry about the brakes it can easily be put right. Even upgrade to a Twin leading shoe. And the Huntmaster is a very Reliable machine.

Unlike most modern motorcycles, this Ariel was clearly designed to be more than just a weekend toy. Practical features such as centerstand and functional mudguards have disappeared on modern bikes, and so have enclosed chaincases. They work brilliantly and make chain drive bearable, but we get colourful TFT screens instead, I guess....

Nice review. Can't wait to see more classic bike reviews. 👍

That front brake should work better than that....

Brakes on classics obviously aren't up to modern standards but there's no reason they should be as bad as you make out here. A lot depends on proper set up and adjustment of the shoes plus lubrication of the pivot points and cable. And you'll need all 4 fingers on the lever of course and perhaps a bit of hand exercise!

Ariel's can't be that bad, Buddy Holly had one ! 👍

My bsa A10 almost the same was rebuilt in 1984 and it can be left for months and it will start after just a couple of kicks.i used to travel all round the country on it .I you take time Assembling them they can be very reliable and lots of fun 😉

beatiful

IT DOES NOT IDLE AND IS RUNING LEAN

You need to increase your anticipation and gap between the vehicle in front of you when riding these old bikes. You mentioned that traffic was much quieter back in the day but funnily enough 1960 was the year of highest motorcycle usage in GB (don’t ask me how they know). 1960 was also the second worst year for motorcycle fatalities in this country (1,743) only beaten by 1930 (1,832). If you don’t know modern day figures are @ 350. In 1960 new motorcyclists on L plates were restricted to 250cc max and that was for all ages from 16. So yes, not that they’d have the money but a 16 year old could ride one of these bikes on their 16th birthday. Helmets didn’t become compulsory until 1973 so it’s easy to understand why fatalities were so high especially in the 50/60’s. And maybe the brakes had something to do with at as well.

I've noticed before on older bikes that the speedometer reads from right to left-the opposite to today's bikes. Smith's went on to make watches. I think they were standard issue for the British army for a while.

This was a great video. I would be interested to see more of this - I aspire one day to have a 1930 AJS. BTW - I look forward to seeing you at the BS on Saturday.

That sort of explains why the Enfield Classic 350 is flying off the shelves.

My first bike, with a Watsonian sidecar. Bought @ age 16 in 1969 for £30. Where are you, 111 DUR ?

I would only have a classic bike with a 8” twin leading shoe Front brake, hence I have a 69 Triumph Daytona 500 and boy does it stop, you have to be careful not to lock it up in the wet though, no ABS 😱 if you get the chance to ride a bike with that brake you’ll be pleasantly surprised. ❤️ the video 👍

I enjoy your bike reviews (and musings) regardless of their age etc...best to do what you enjoy. I have to say, for me, it's a rotten old clunker of a bike, awful 😂 Vive la différence!

It has a nice puttputty sound. One thing that won’t be missed is a vertically split crankcase. Thanks to Honda and probably others over time horizontally split cases gradually became vogue. Nothing worse than splitting a case on an old Brit bike and watching parts scatter or worse not stay put on assembly. Working on a Honda with all parts sitting in a “basket” was a revelation.

I don't like beards, prefer clean shaven. The SuperCub 125 I have in Japan has a similar exhaust and the chain is enclosed. It seems that the chain is immersed in oil. Funny to hear your fender comments again 🤣! We have certainly become much less practical in modern times with bikes with virtually no water and muck protection Always enjoy your sensible views.

The throttle cable should be re-routed ASAP, as it could cause a crash as it is. The brakes, yes....Drum brakes need precise maintenance. Maybe some improvements could be obtained. But this said, modern ABS brakes can be surprising too, and too much confidence could lead to somewhat awkward situations.

It's supposed to have an air filter, same as BSA A10 etc. This Huntie is running lean & won't idle because the air filter is missing.

I’m worried about the cable dangling while you’re riding…

You forget the best modern classic and the one which looks the most realistic of them all, the GoldStar. Looks like a 50s bike but with all the modern touches like good brakes and an engine that doesn't leak oil all over your garage floor.

If it was yours and you wanted to keep it looking original, I believe you can get shoes made out of modern materials that give way more grip while still keeping the drums. Love the look of the motor, why with modern motors do they feel compelled to hide the motors in plastic, so much so that if you want to do anything to you would have to spend 1/2 hr or more removing panels before you get anywhere near it!

Oh man this bike sounds proper! I don't know much about Ariel bikes as my knowledge of British bikes mostly comes from my dad and he never had done, but this thing is awesome.

Very cool, gents. Love it.

Motorcycles like these are what makes cell phone justifiable. Have fun with that machine.

You can blip the throttle and change down when approaching a stop, much better than arriving at a stop still in a high gear. Helps the bike slow down too. Those old twins vibrated and leaked oil. modern twins leave them for dead in all aspects.

Hi its me the horse whisperer, no force equines FOREVER LET THEM CHOOSE. X I USED TO RIDE RED HUNTER, I LOVE THE RIGHT HAND GEARS, NEVER COULD GET USED TO Left hand on xl,,, but loved trials, british were hard to buy trials, and costly so got xl, still prefer 1 up 3 down etc, if about come to Count Draculars country, tons bikes x

You should never see a man socks on a motorcycle real bikers wear boots

Great video friends 👍 So I now have a 1986 Honda Shadow vt1100 and I would love to see y'all find one and do another "retro review" they only made the one I have 1985-86

Really beautiful! Evolution is a wonderful thing though. These are why the old /2 BMW were such a revelation at the time. Also the demands of maintenance requirements of the Ariels and such are on a par with the demands of braking and shifting. This is a really great video.

Real bikes for unpampered riders.

Quite difficult getting the muscle memory to kick in for that RH gear change isn’t it 🙂, most of my bikes are LH gear change apart from a couple of late 50’s James Captains I own, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve applied the rear brake when I actually intended to change gear!!, top tip for anyone riding an old Brit bike with drum brakes is to get the shoes re-lined with woven lining material, it’s twice as good as the original linings, they transform the braking from “utterly lethal” to “dangerous”, which is of course a huge improvement 🙂👍

The brakes were never going to be anything like as good as modern bikes, but having said that they were nothing like as bad as the ones on that particular Huntmaster. Those look like twin leading shoe front brakes which were actually quite effective provided they have been set up and adjusted correctly. Whoever lent you that bike doesn't have much knowledge about these things, otherwise he would never have let anybody out on the road with the brakes in that state, which is lethal.

I had one of these bikes years ago with a sidecar attached, you really had to anticipate a stop. It was a good reliable machine.

Thank you for showcasing this wonderful machine. The duplex drum brake on the front is made by BSA and needs constant maintenance and checking, but then works beautifully. I would quote you here with "It's a work of art". Always loved the Ariels as , for me, they represent British Motorbikes like no other brand. Whenever you look at one of them, you find some quirky technical details, which prectically scream Britain.

When someone tells you the brakes don't work well, they're right, but they should work well enough. That front brake didn't look like it was set up properly, It barely compressed the forks. I would imagine the restorer used rock hard new old stock linings, or modern rock hard linings. These brakes can be very effective with a little thought put into the set up, and the people that ride these every day make sure the brakes work properly.

Something you will often hear older bikers say about modern bikes (and I have heard this for decades) is that "they have no soul" I would say this is because the older bikers had to KNOW their ride inside and out, many will have had it in pieces and rebuilt it more than once, this gives one a sense of 'understanding' of the bike the slightest change in engine tone will be noticed instantly not only that it would be diagnosed equally swiftly. You KNEW your ride, which I suppose gives a feeling of a personality to the bike in question, it creates a sort of 'bond' between biker and bike, I have to admit that my older bikes DID seem to have their own 'personality' no doubt due to me having to get to know it. The fact that modern bikes require much less 'rider intervention' is probably why 'some' older bikers will say that they feel modern bikes have no 'soul'. Personally I will take that over having to carry a huge bag of tools everywhere with me. oh, and ask an older biker about oil leaks, yeah, seriously, some of us would be banned from parking on friends driveways by their parents due to the oil slick we would leave behind, leaks which would cause a modern biker to panic were just accepted with a 'that's how things are' shrug, just don't forget to keep it topped up.

These were the ton up boys, but with terrible brakes 😂😂😂😂😂

Bit of a trek for you both I know. But the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham have a classics ride once a month for members and you can take these on the road

My first ever bike was a 1956 BSA C15 250, at the age of 16 back in 1969, the oldest bike I have ever owned was a 1948 Triumph thunderbird 650 hard tail chopper, oddly enough it STILL remains the most reliable bike I have ever owned, had it for over 2 years covered thousands of miles up and down the country on it, (back when I was very much into the rally scene) on the whole having had lots of experience on old British bikes (can't believe you had never heard of giving the carb/s a 'tickle' before starting pretty standard procedure on old Brits) obviously modern bikes are way better as far as reliability is concerned as a result 'lots' (by no means ALL) of todays bikers have less knowledge of the actual mechanics of the bike they own, and why should they? these days bikes are far more reliable, and when they do breakdown fixing at the side of the road is no longer your only option, most people have some kind of breakdown cover on their insurance (I do) or a friend with a trailer or van who can be phoned from the roadside without having to hunt for a 'phone box' in the dark miles from home. Back in my early riding days if you didn't have the ability to fix your own bike at the roadside you were NOT in for a happy time, I saw a guy strip, repair and rebuild a Triumph bonnie top end in a matter of hours at a rally, fortunately today's bikers would be very unlucky to find themselves in such a situation. I certainly don't claim to be an expert just old and experienced. New sub by the way, good channel.

Any chance you could get a Harley side valve tank change to have an afternoon with, & get young MR Darcy a 1984/1985 Harley Sportster 1000 ironhead to have a blast on. I know you like your Harleys.

Kids say the darndest things - no reason the brakes should be "scary" except needing a brake job. In US there was lots of traffic in '59, many Chevy models selling around 220,000 each....

Motorcycles were much prettier back then, today bikers ride things that look like insects while wearing power ranger suits. I had a 66 bonneville and it had good brakes. I bought my w800 just to relive my bonneville lol.

I've got a 97 plate CG-125W. So I'm basically learning to ride on hard mode, in a way. With drum brakes, kickstart, minimal instrumentation all packaged with legendary reliability. But it, like most old bikes, is gorgeous. This Ariel Huntmaster is no different. Older bikes just have this utter charm and appeal to me. When you say "motorbike" to me, those kinds of bikes are what come my mind instantly instead of more modern designs cribbing cues from sports bikes. I think the biggest thing modern bikes can learn from the classics is aesthetic design decisions. The NX500 you reviewed last that I commented on comes to mind instantly. If it borrowed more from Honda's classic designs, like the CL500 has, it would be far more appealing to more people. I hope one day I can ride this Ariel Huntmaster, or a bike like it though.

The brakes on your Huntmaster may or may not be very good but the Ariel brake was reckoned to be pretty good (BSA even fitted the Ariel brakes to their own A10 after they'd acquired Ariel) so they probably need some attention. Just a bit of advice.. It's no good using two fingers on 1950s British bike brake levers, you need to get your all four fingers on there and expect to squeeze hard to achieve the desired effect !!..

If all bikes had kick starters and no electric starters, a lot less people would be riding. I still would prefer a kick starter. With a compression relief there would be no problem with kick back.

Good to see you on an actual classic… would be great to see you put a BSA A7 against an Interceptor or a BSA B40 against a RE Hunter 350 perhaps… the modern bikes will win on brakes 😳🤣 but charm, character and looks I suspect would be an easy win for the actual classics.. good video 👍🏻

Gutted I can’t do the bike meet up it’s close enough to me and I know the place as I’ve been there for the bike nights But im at a vintage car race meeting on Saturday