David Williams: Motoring icons with two and three wheels

British Café Racers by Veloce

Café racer motorcycles are very fashionable in London, and many old boxer-engined BMWs, even old Honda CX500s, are being converted to this style, just as fast as backstreet garages can get their hands on them.

So the publication of British Café Racers, by Veloce, is particularly good timing — and it makes for a great read, backed up by evocative images of stylish Nortons, Excelsiors, Cottons, Triumphs, Royal Enfields and so on. Costing £30, the hardback book by Uli Cloesen aims to present the “eye candy of historic British brands”. That it does — and in spades.

I only drove a Reliant Robin once — and that was enough for me. It was flimsy, slow and, to my eyes at least, ugly.

Now author Giles Chapman has made a virtue of these very features to write an engaging new book about what he aptly calls Britain’s Most Bizarre Car.

He went to great lengths to research the Reliant Robin, even parting with £150 to buy a non-running example with no keys, no documentation and locked steering — so we wish him luck with that. In his well-researched book, published by The History Press at £16.99, Giles celebrates this ugly duckling in great, amusing style.

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