Profile: Barry Corby

LOWER HUNTER MEMBER PROFILE

WELL IT’S A DIFFERENT WORLD THAT WE NOW LIVE IN, DUE TO COVID, AND IT CERTAINLY INTERRUPTS THE THINGS WE LIKE TO DO AND ONE OF THOSE BEING A CLUB RIDE WITH OTHER MEMBERS TO ONE OF OUR FAVOURITE SPOTS.

Playing it safe and not mixing with the general public has made it hard to supply a good story for our club magazine so I thought, why not do a “member profile” on one of our members. We have many members in our chapter of the lower Hunter of New South Wales one of them being Barry Corby, a well liked, extremely talented and a well respected member. Barry has been involved with motorcycles for most of his life and his love for two strokes is infectious once you see his collection, so put the kettle on, make a coffee and sit back and enjoy Barry’s story.

Yours in Unity Chris Hellyer Chairman Lower Hunter A2904

MY JOURNEY WITH YAMAHAS STARTED IN 1972 WITH THE PURCHASE OF MY FIRST BIKE A SECOND HAND HT1 90CC TRAIL THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY A SECOND HAND DT3 250CC A YEAR LATER AND THEN FINALLY A NEW BIKE A YEAR LATER WITH THE PURCHASE OF A DT250A.

However i was doing a fair amount of road work so I traded it for a new DT360A in 1974 which had about 10mph top end speed, I kept this bike for a years and took it with me to Katoomba in 1978 where I worked for a year. the original muffler, fitted a Staintune, new air box and some jetting, the thing flew unfortunately rear knobby tyres only lasted 2500kms, it was quite a heavy bike and I struggled to hang on at times but I still took it Arkaroola and rode around the flinders ranges for a week, very rocky country, after a while I sold the bike and still regret it.

My old TTR250 was for sale so I bought it back which needed a bit of work by now to bring it up to speed. In 2004 I moved to Newcastle to start a new job and with no storage I sold the TTR and for a period of time I had no bikes.

By 2010 i had some where to store bikes so i decided to collect old Yamaha trail bikes as we called them in the early 70’s.

In late 1975 I lent the 360 to a mate & borrowed his Triumph Daytona 500 as I was planning to ride from Goulburn to Cairns and back in just over 2 weeks, 5000 kms didn’t look to far on the map, I set out with a mate on a Yamaha TX750, we made it, but all I can say is everything you hear about old Triumphs is true. First was a 1969 DT1B originally from California which came with a Californian rego plate attached, It needed some work with new forks, tyres, exhaust, sort wiring, re-chrome some bits and painting, motor and box were in good condition, it came with a aftermarket rack but it looked pretty good so I left it on.

Next bike was a second hand XT250 being my first 4 stroke and eventually it was replaced by a second hand TT350. As I had plenty of private land to ride a unregistered bike this was great in the bush but you needed to trailer it back home.

This led to getting another registered bike in the mid 90’s a brand new TTR 250 which I took as far as the Alpine National Park to attend rides a great little bike for a 250 you could rev it hard all day without fuss, however mates were turning up on Honda XR600’s so I decided to sell it privately and buy a new TT600, tossed Next on the list a 1971 CT1C, I travelled to Stanthorpe to pick up and upon sight should have

turned around and drove away and left it there but the owner was prepared to negotiate, I still ended up paying more than it was worth as it turned out, new piston/rings, rebore, new carby, recon seat, clutch plates, replace front rim and tyre, main seals and numerous other items before it would run properly I learnt a few things with this bike. The 3rd bike I picked up was a 1971 AT1C form Murray Bridge which turned out to be in excellent condition with electric start, clutch adjustment and a good clean the only work required, may need new friction plates at a later date.

I then found the 1970 HT1B in Sydney ex Japanese import, the bike needed a good clean and some new bits but most of all a paint job, covers and guards done, still have the tank, headlight bowl and ears to finish, I put the tank back on just for the photos, it was painted yellow which is for the MX model but this is the B model?

Last bike in the collection is a 1971 RT1B which the dealer said was running and threw in free delivery, which meant the bike was not running when delivered, A hole in the piston was the diagnosis this was the first model with a decompressor lever on the handlebar, forget to use it and it will let you know, ended up doing a top end recon, new tyres, fitted indicators, replaced kick lever which was welded on, new badges, fitted new brake shoes due to import rules, cleaned out fuel system and repaired some interesting wiring modifications. I ended putting this bike on club plates mainly as I needed to ride one and it was better road orientated than the others.

That sums up my journey with Yamaha dirt bikes to date, my favourite bike being the DT1B, what the future holds is probably a few more little improvements to the collection to improve on their originality.

Barry Corby Lower Hunter Group Member No. A3381