Motorsport of the Month: Bol d'Or

It's awefully hard to write about motorcycles in the winter months. Especially living on a mountain where I can snowboard for free. But I just can't let my site down, so here's a breif (and late) Motorsport of the Month for January.

The Bol d'Or is a very old and famous motorcycle endurance race held in France. The event first started in 1922, and the race has taken place in various places in France. Since 2000 Magny Cours has been home to the Bol d'Or. The race lasts 24 hours and teams consist of three riders whom switch off. SBK (Super Bike) bikes are the premier class that races.

Honda offers a Bol d'Or version of their CB1300.

The stars of BSA: A10

Golden Flash 1950-61

In 1950 BSA introduced the Golden Flash. The Golden Flash was an evolution of BSA's first parellel twin the A7 (500cc's). The a 650cc parallel twin would go on to define British motorcycles for the 1950's and 60's. Golden Flashes came from the factory with a distinctive gold paint job. 35hp 100mph

Road Rocket 1954-58

The Golden flash gave birth the the Super Flash and Road Rocket. The Road Rocket continued the evolution of the BSA twin. The 650 twins were targeted to US customers for their need of power and speed. 40hp 109mph

Super Rocket 1957-63

The Super Rocket was the next step after the Road Rocket.

Rocket Gold Star 1962-63

A Super Rocket engine in a Gold Star (single) frame.

The A10 was replaced by the unit constructed twins of the 1960's. The A65 star twin replaced was the next evolutionary step.

Kawasaki Concours

The Kawasaki Concours, or GTZ in Europe (ZG1000 and 1400).

In 1986 Kawasaki built a sport touring bike around the then-new Ninja 1000. The big liquid cooled dohc inline four made for a heavy sports bike, but was a perfect fit for a sport touring rig such as the Concour. The bike was so good that it went virtually unchagned for over two decades. Concours competed closesly with Honda's ST1100, which also went on to live an unnaturally long life.

After over 20 years of production, the first generation Concours was replaced by the second generation in 2007. The new Concours 14 uses the fresh 1400cc inline four from the ZX-14 hyperbike.