RCBE #24 SPRING 2016

retrobike retro bike CLASSIC NOT PLASTIC

OLD-SCHOOL

(Both incl. GST)

ISSUE 24 SPRING 2016

AUS $14.95* NZ $15.99

1978 HOND CB55 A 0

RSD INDIAN SCOUT

MOTODD LAVERDA

TZ750 FLAT TRACKER

THROTTLE ROLL

QUAKE CITY RUMBLERS

ZUNDAPP K800

THE CAFÉ RACER REBORN.

REAL POISE. REAL POWER. REAL PERFORMANCE. The breathtaking new Thruxton takes the legendary café racer back to its performance roots. With beautifully aggressive and authentic styling and the capability and performance of a truly modern sports classic, including ride-by-wire, slip assist clutch, traction control, ABS and 3 rider modes, the Thruxton truly lives up to its legendary name. Powered by the game-changing 1200cc ‘Thruxton spec’ engine, delivering a thrilling peak torque of 112Nm at a low 4950rpm — 62% more than its predecessor, combined with an all-new chassis and suspension for sharper handling and agility, the Thruxton is the café racer reborn.

To find out more visit triumphaustralia.com.au

/triumphaustralia

@triumphaus

s

Official Triumph

GE

TA TO Q U DA OT Y! E

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The eight-day guided tour travels through Switzerland, France, Monaco and Italy. Experience driving a selection of supercars1 from Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Audi and Mercedes over four days. Stay at luxury hotels, castles and stunning chateaus, while enjoying fantastic dining experiences, including dinner with F1 world champion, Alain Prost. Plus, visit the Ferrari and Lamborghini museums in Maranello and the infamous Imola circuit.

The winner will also receive an all new 2016 Victory Octane Motorcycle in Matte Super Steel Grey.

Get a Quote = 1 Entry* | Take out a Policy = 5 Entries!* To enter go to shannons.com.au/supercars or call 13 46 46 and obtain an eligible quote on your Car, Bike or Home Insurance* by 30 November 2016.

INSURANCE FOR MOTORING ENTHUSIASTS | CALL 13 46 46 FOR A QUOTE | SHANNONS.COM.AU Shannons Pty Limited ited ABN 91 099 692 636 36 is an authorised representative of AAI Limited ABN 48 005 2977 807, 807, the the issue issuerr of Sha Shannon nnonss Car, Car, Bike Bike and Home Ho /Contents insurance products. Read the relev evant ant Prod Product Disclosure Statement and consider whether it is right for you ou befo before re buyin buyingg these the insurance products. Contact us for a free copy. Competition cond onducte uctedd by Sha Shannon nnonss Pty Pty Limite Limited, d, of of Level Le 28 28, Bris Brisbane bane Squ Square, 266 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000.

00. Comp Competition commences at 12am on 15/8/2016 and closes att 5pm 5pm on 30/ 30/11/2 11/2016 016 (Mel ( bourne time). Applications for online quotes must be sub submitt mitttted ed by by 28/11/ 28/11/16 1 to be eligible for entry int intoo this this compe com mpetiti tition, on, howe owever, telephone applications will continu nuee to be b available until 5pm 30/11/2016. Entry only open to elig igible ible Aus Austral tralian ian resi residents aged 30 years or older. Eligible Entrants must bee opte optedd in to rece receiive Shannons marketing communications. Total otal pri prize ze pool poo valu valued ed at at approx. $62,075.00 (depending on major ajor pri pr ze winner’s point of departure). Prizes drawn att 12p 12pm m on 14/ 14/12/2 12/2016 016 at Salmat Digital Pty Ltd, L2, 116 Miller St, Nth Syydneyy NSW 2060. The winners will be notified by phone and email by 16/12/ /12/2016 2016 aandd pub publish li eed in The Australian newspaper on 19/12/ 19/12 2016 and on the competition website.

1 The winn inner er must must be aged aged 30 years or older and have a valid and current Austrralia aliann driver driver’s licence. The drive experience e is subject to any terms and conditions spec specified ified byy Ulti Ultimate mat Driving Tours.*New Shannons ons Mot Motor o Insurance or Shannons Home & Contents ents ins insuran urance ce quote quotes/sa s/ les e only (renewals andd CTP quotes/sales inel eligib igible). le). Lim Limit 1 quote per vehicle or insured in address. Permi ermits: ts: ACT AC TP 16/01335, NSW LTP TPS/16 S/16/053 /05363, 63, SA T16/1203.

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EDITORIAL FUN TIMES

G'DAY WITH GEOFF SEDDON

S

OMETIMES we motorcyclists take ourselves too seriously. Whether it’s a restorer thumbing his or her nose at a mild custom, sports riders slagging off Harleys or sad middleaged keyboard warriors taking cheap shots at hipsters on Facebook, we sometimes lose sight that we all ride bikes for exactly the same reason. Because it’s fun.

The team behind Sydney’s Throttle Roll get it. They’re not the first to realise that music and motorcycles go together like engines and oil — live bands were a feature of all the best motorcycle rallies a generation ago — but they’re the first to pull it off in the inner suburbs of Australia’s biggest city. And while it’s centred around the modern urban cafe racing scene, the bikes on show and the people enjoying them increasingly represent a much broader cross-section of the motorcycling community. But best of all, it is a fun event.

Everyone’s happy and having a good time.

Another bunch who get it are the guys and gals of Retro and Custom Motorcycles in Western Australia, organisers of the Ride On rooftop bike show in Fremantle.

As with Throttle Roll, a mountain of work and a considerable amount of money go into organising events like these, and so far the weather has been kind to what are both open-air parties. There are no doubt less stressful ways to give people a good time but thank goodness they make the effort.

Bands and a few beers are also part of the mix, with restored and custom motorbikes the glue that makes it all so special.

And then there are our crazy Kiwi mates in the Quake City Rumblers, formed out of the rubble that was Christchurch after the deadly 2011 earthquakes. Whether you see them as laughing in the face of adversity or just making the best of a difficult situation, the members of QCR have made an art form of not taking themselves seriously. There is humour in everything they do, from the bikes they build to the clothes they wear and the events they organise.

“The Quake City Rumblers have made an art form of not taking themselves seriously”

EDITOR Geoff Seddon DESIGNER Michael Ohanesian CHAMPION CONTRIBUTORS Paul Bailey, Pete Cagnacci, Alan Cathcart, Simon Davidson, John Downs, Josh Evans, Andy Gallagher, Stuart Garrard, Kieran GibsonMacFarlane, Robert Glenton, Jeremy Hudson, Paul Hutchison, Sam Luckman, Adam McGrath, Jamie McIlwraith, Kyoichi Nakamura, Motor Rausch, Vaughan Treyvellan, James Walker, Alan Wells COVER Vaughan Treyvellan ADVERTISING MANAGER Fi Collins SUBS 1300 303 414 or www.universalmagazines.com.au

One common thread amongst all three groups is their ranks include lots of younger riders, many of whom are relatively new to motorcycling. I moan out loud every time I hear crusty old bikers having a go at the new custom motorcycle scene, just because they don’t understand it. Get a life, guys. I don’t understand Triumph Rocket IIIs either but I don’t take the piss out of those who do.

Cafe racers, trackers, bobbers, brats and other customs — even humble posties — are the best things to happen to motorcycling since disc brakes and tubeless tyres. Motorbikes are cool again and thousands of new enthusiasts are joining our ranks every year, combating what was once looking like an irreversible decline in our numbers. Why? Because motorcycles are fun. All the rest is just icing on the cake.

UNIVERSAL MAGAZINES CHAIRMAN/CEO Prema Perera PUBLISHER Janice Williams CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Vicky Mahadeva ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Emma Perera ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Karen Day FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER James Perera CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Mark Darton CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kate Podger EDITORIAL & PRODUCTION MANAGER Anastasia Casey MARKETING & ACQUISITIONS MANAGER Chelsea Peters

Circulation enquiries to our Sydney head office (02) 9805 0399. Retrobike 24 is published by Universal Magazines, Unit 5, 6-8 Byfield Street, North Ryde NSW 2113. Phone: (02) 9805 0399, Fax: (02) 9805 0714. Melbourne office, Level 1, 150 Albert Road, South Melbourne Vic 3205. Phone: (03) 9694 6444, Fax: (03) 9699 7890. Printed by KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd, Singapore, and distributed by Gordon and Gotch. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to the publishers. The publishers believe all the information supplied in this book to be correct at the time of printing.

They are not, however, in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. Prices, addresses and phone numbers were, after investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, up-to-date at the time of printing, but the shifting sands of time may change them in some cases. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements which appear in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility must therefore be on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertisements for publication. While every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy, the publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. *Recommended retail price. ISSN 1838-644X Copyright © Universal Magazines MMXVI. ACN 003 609 103. www. universalmagazines.com.au Please pass on or recycle this magazine. We are a member of

ISSUE #23

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CONTENTS

08

Here's a sexy little thing with a cute behind! The girl's pretty nice too

NEW ZEALAND’S SOUTH ISLAND PHOTO BY MOTOR RAUSCH

FEATURE BIKES 08

RIPON HONDA CB550

OEM graft pull-type Buell suspension underneath a 1978 CB550 Honda for a whole new look, then persuade a pretty girl to pose on it. Works for us!

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RSD INDIAN 1200 SCOUT

KENNY ROBERTS TZ750

In a Broken Hill shed, Chris and Cec Fraser create a stunning replica of the infamous flat tracker that even King Kenny refused to ride

BMW K100 CAFE RACER

Take one new Indian Scout, discard everything except the engine and build a 1920s board tracker around it. Then ride it across the desert

Down in Melbourne, Paul Hutchison built a beautiful Hornet from an unloved 1984 BMW K100RS. Then his mate crashed it, so Paul built it again

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MOTODD LAVERDA 1200

Brisbane’s Red Cawte scoured the world to find exactly the right parts to build Australia’s best Laverda. He still can’t figure out why he sold it

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ZUNDAPP K800

The epitome of art deco style, the 1938 Zundapp K800 is light on power but heavy on cool. Alan Cathcart samples the best of the breed

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SUZUKI GSX750 TRACKER

An unfinished 1981 GSX750 project comes to life in a NSW Central Coast shed, courtesy of three grumpy old men and a fridge full of beer

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REGULARS

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05 80 82 84 86 92 94 98

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G’DAY McILWRAITH BAILEY WALKER RETRO STYLE TANGLES’ WORKSHOP ON ANY SUNDAY FEEDBACK

90

OTHER STUFF 22 THROTTLE ROLL STREET PARTY 2016 Bikes, beers and bands light up inner-city Marrickville for a show like no other

46

QUAKE CITY RUMBLERS

More than two-strokes are a wank, says Christchurch’s newest motorbike club

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RIDE ON BIKE SHOW

All roads lead to a moon-lit Fremantle rooftop for WA’s hottest bike night

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YAMAHA XSR900/XSR700

Yamaha’s newest Hipstars are ripe for customising and go like a scalded cats

90 HARLEY-DAVIDSON ROADSTER 1200

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H-D answers our prayers with new suspension, proper brakes and more cornering clearance

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Cafe Brats

1978 HONDA CB550

To break out of the circle, ямБrst think outside the square WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOGRAPHY VAUGHAN TREYVELLAN

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Cafe Brats 1978 HONDA CB550

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NE theme common to all the new breeds of customs is to declutter the rear of the bike.

Sidecovers, batteries and airboxes are the first to go, after which the stock seat and supporting sub-frame are binned. The more adventurous then go a step further, often replacing twin-shock swingarms with triangulated monoshocks or rigid rear ends. Old Empire Motorcycles has now taken it a step further, with what looks like a dual-sided swingarm but with no suspension at all! It doesn’t get any less cluttered than that!

OEM is a bespoke bike builder based on Great Britain’s east coast. We’ve featured two of their bikes over recent years, the totally radical 900SS-based Typhoon in issue #18 and a hardtail XS650 bobber, Tempest, which graced the cover of issue #22. OEM’s new creation, their first based on an engine with more than two cylinders,

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continues their bent for naming their major builds after notable English warplanes. In this case, it’s the Ripon, a radial-engined bi-plane produced by The Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Company in Yorkshire which saw service as a torpedo bomber with the RAF from 1929 to 1935, and the Finnish airforce through to 1944.

The donor bike is a 1979 Honda CB550, although only the engine, the main frame loops, most of the fuel tank and the forks remain. Some of the swingarm is also standard, not that you’d know.

“We decided there was plenty of room under the engine for a pull-type shock,” says OEM’s Alec Sharp, “so we duly obtained a secondhand Buell shock, braced the swingarm underneath and modified the front of the frame to fit it.” Unlike conventional shocks which compress under load, pull-style shocks — also commonly found on Harley Softails — do the

reverse. “After assembly, we were a little apprehensive to see if the shock would work as we’d intended, but after many trials and tweaks we are proud to say we got it bang-on and it works flawlessly. It’s such a satisfying thing to see working and it keeps the whole bike super clean at the back and really chunks up the main body of the bike. This in turn gives it a vastly more aggressive stance. We couldn’t be more chuffed.”

The Buell shock was subsequently swapped for a custom AST unit, adjustable for both damping and spring preload, which has allowed the team to fine-tune the suspension further. “You still get plenty of ground clearance, which is nice,” Alec says, with the centre-mounted shock taking up no more space than your typical four-intoone exhaust collector.

Frame surgery was major, with the entire seat sub-frame getting the chop. Stylish

curved sections were then added to support the new seat subframe and the rider’s footpegs. Alec and his partner Rafe Pugh have a good eye for this stuff; they avoid straight lines and it never looks tacked on as in some builds. The underside of the stock fuel tank was also modified to make it sit lower over the top frame rails, and knee scallops shaped into the sides for that traditional Brit-bike look.

As with the Tempest XS650, front forks have been radically lowered with shorter stanchions, super stiff Hagon springs and very heavy fork oil. It rides surprisingly well, considering, no doubt assisted by fat, high-profile Coker tyres on laced 19-inch alloy rims front and back. Tyre clearance is tight but as all builders know, if it just fits, it fits. Alec also had a crack at his first twindisc conversion up front which he thought was going to be easy but turned out to be anything but.

“AFTER ASSEMBLY, WE WERE A LITTLE APPREHENSIVE TO SEE IF THE SHOCK WOULD WORK AS WE’D INTENDED” The engine had been recently refurbished when it came to them, but the pair replaced all seals and gaskets anyway, rewound the generator and fitted a new electronic ignition, as this was a customer build and reliability was important. The exterior of the engine was soda-blasted and painted with heat-proof paint, silver on the cases and cam cover, and black on the barrels and heads, before the edges of the head fins were polished back to alloy for contrast. “We think it’s a fantastic

looking little engine,” Alec says, set off by polished ram-tubes on the stock carburettors.

“If you buy a CB550, don’t touch the carburettors,” says Rafe, whose job it was to refurbish them. “They are an absolute nightmare! There are a million parts that you can’t get anymore.” Alec agrees: “The easy option would have been to fit new flat-slide Keihins but that would have added £1000 to the cost.” The originals better suit the style too, he reckons.

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Cafe Brats 1978 HONDA CB550 Mid-size Mile Eater THE CB550, released in 1974, was a bored-out update of the CB500 Four introduced in 1971, up 2.5mm to 58.5mm on the same 50.6mm stroke. Power was up only 2hp to 50hp but at a thousand less revs.

The mid-sized 192kg (wet) CB550 slotted in nicely between the 37hp 180kg CB400 and the 68hp 235kg CB750F1. Although contemporary road testers sometimes described it as bland, it was a popular bike in both four-pipe (K0 to K4) and four-into-one Super Sport (F1 to F3) form and remained in production until 1978, after which it was superseded by the CB650.

While the CB550 was outwardly similar to the CB750, the engines were totally different; wet sump versus dry sump and physically much

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smaller and narrower. They did, however, share single overhead camshaft design, two valves per cylinder, air-cooling and four carburettors. The 550 lacked the bulk and brawn of its big brother, but made up for it with better handling and cornering clearance.

In one of the few cases where an Italian manufacturer copied the Japanese — it’s more usually the reverse — Benelli introduced the 350 and 500cc Quattro from 1974 with four-cylinder engines that looked almost identical to the midsized Hondas. Alas, Benellis were expensive and could never match the quality of Honda and so few were sold. Not so the often overlooked CB550, of which Honda sold squillions, with plenty still about at reasonable prices. Buy two while you can.

Retro Specs

“TYRE CLEARANCE IS TIGHT BUT AS ALL CUSTOMS BUILDERS KNOW, IF IT JUST FITS, IT FITS” The exhausts also took some fettling.

“Initially we wanted high-level pipes but in reality it was a choice between high pipes or calf muscles,” Alec says. “So we tucked them neatly along the sides, just long enough to make it run nicely but short enough to give it some bark,” albeit muted slightly by internal baffles.

At the sharp end, OEM fabricated from metal a small cowling to house the 5.5-inch Bates headlight and which incorporates a dash to house matching Koso analogue gauges, speedometer on the left and tachometer on the right, with warning lights mounted on the locating brackets from the top triple clamp. Aluminium clip-ons are also by OEM, with stock Honda switchgear and brake master cylinder.

Paint is by Black Shuck Kustom (who also painted Typhoon and Tempest) in a

deep marble-finish smokey blue with gold highlights, with almost everything else powder-coated black. The seat was shaped in-house but trimmed in leather by GB Upholstery, with Rafe adding matching leather knee pads to the tank scallops. The leather schoolbag-style battery case between the engine and rear wheel is a nice touch, as are the leather-tooled hand-grips and footpeg ‘rubbers’ custom-milled rests.

While there is a discernible OEM house style, Alec and Rafe have no fear when it comes to trialling new ideas like the underslung Buell-style shock. Everyone’ll be doing it next, by which time these two young blokes will already be somewhere else.

ENGINE Air-cooled inline four-stroke four; chain-driven single overhead cam, two valves per cylinder; 58.5 x 50.6mm for 544cc; 9.0:1 comp; 4 x 22mm Keihin carburettors with ram tubes; wet clutch to five-speed gearbox and chain final drive; 50hp @ 8500rpm (stock) CHASSIS CB550 twin-loop tubular-steel mainframe; OEM custom seat subframe, footrest mounts and swingarm UP FRONT Shortened Honda 35mm telescopic forks, Hagon springs, heavy fork oil; 19in alloy rim laced with stainless-steel spokes; dual 236mm rotors with single sliding piston calipers; Coker tyre DOWN BACK Honda swingarm, delugged of dual shock mounts, braced underneath; Buell-style pull-type monoshock by AST on custom frame mounting, adjustable for spring preload and damping; single leading shoe drum brake; 19in alloy rim laced with stainless-steel spokes; Coker tyre BODYWORK Honda tank lowered on frame, knee scallops added; Bates headlight; metal cowl and dash by OEM; ditto the seat, leather-trimmed by GB Upholstery; OEM leather battery box; paint by Black Shuck Kustom DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1405mm; wet weight 192kg; top speed 164km/h (all stock) BEST BITS Compact, innovative, stance to die for NOT SO GREAT Limited front suspension travel

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Time Machines

2015 RSD INDIAN SCOUT

BRAVE HEART RSD INDIAN SCOUT Modern mumbo blends with classic style on the world’s coolest Indian Scout WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOGRAPHY RSD DESIGN

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Time Machines 2015 RSD INDIAN SCOUT

S

OMETIMES it’s not all about cubic inches, and less really is more.

Here’s a case in point. RSD’s Indian Track Chief we featured back in issue #19 blew us away with what Roland Sands could do with the gargantuan 1800cc Indian Chieftain. This time he’s performed equally radical surgery on the much leaner 1100cc Indian Scout, and lifted his game to a whole new level.

In both cases, Roland reached back into Indian’s rich pre-WWII racing heritage for his inspiration, and how apt that the more compact Scout, always the sports/race model in the line-up, should come out on top.

Common to both builds was a completely new tubular cradle chassis. Roland admits

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“MADNESS IS AN INHERENT PART OF MANY OF OUR PROJECTS. WHO ELSE WOULD RIP APART A PERFECT BRAND-NEW MOTORCYCLE?” he built the big rigid-framed Track Chief more for looks and was initially a little apprehensive how it might handle on the road. Not so the new RSD Scout, which might look 80 years old but steers and handles like a modern bike, courtesy of RSD’s involvement with Victory’s successful competitive debut

at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado.

The stock Scout frame comprises two large cast sections — one at the front to locate the steering head and another at the back to hold the rear suspension and seat unit — which makes it virtually impossible to modify

as you would a conventional tubular-steel chassis.

“We completely deconstructed a stock 2015 model and built a new frame inspired by the original Scout in chromoly that is damn close to the Project 156 Pikes Peak race bike,” Roland says. “What that means is that it’s a very lightweight frame with much more aggressive geometry than the stock frame, with a shorter wheelbase and less rake.

We’ve also utilised the same Panigale rear suspension package we used on the race bike.”

Project 156, named after the 156 corners of the famous 12.4-mile (20km) Pikes Peak Hill Climb, is a purpose-built racer built by Roland Sands Design to house what was initially a prototype V-twin engine but which now powers Victory’s new 1200cc 104hp

Octane models. Although best known as a custom bike builder, Roland is a former US 250GP champion so knows a thing or two about putting together a light quick-steering bike which probably explains the Ducati rear suspension. First raced in 2015 by Cycle World road tester Don Canet, Project 156 showed promise but a crash and a DNF kept them out of the results. The bike returned in 2016, this time with Jeremy Toye riding, who won his class and came third overall in the motorcycle division, one place behind Canet who was racing Victory’s Empulse RR electric bike.

“If you’re hip to the Polaris method,” says Roland, referring to Victory and Indian’s parent company, “the Scout and the Octane share some mounting points which made this project much easier as we’d already perfected

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Time Machines 2015 RSD INDIAN SCOUT

the suspension geometry on the race bike. So it’s definitely not a cruiser anymore. If you’re a traditional fan of the Indian Scout, then you understand that the Scout was a racer. This bike carries that racing heritage.”

The frame was TIG-welded from chromoly 4130 tubing, it’s single downtube and backbone frame style referencing the original Scouts but now bolted up to a unit-construction engine, adding extra strength. The swingarm and girder fork were handmade of the same stuff, and the entire chassis powdercoated in Indian Red by Specialized Powdercoating.

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“IF YOU’RE A TRADITIONAL FAN OF THE INDIAN SCOUT, THEN YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE SCOUT WAS A RACER” says. The rear shock and linkage are from an 1199 Panigale. RSD’s trademark Morris mags are fitted, 21 inches front and 18 inches rear, shod with Dunlop D803GP trials tyres.

Front brake is a 13-inch Morris rotor with Performance Machine radial caliper, with another PM caliper gripping an 899 Panigale

rotor at the dusty end.

The stock Indian Scout fuel tank was split, narrowed and notched around the engine, fitted with a custom brass cap and painted by Chris of Airtrix in Indian Red with gold-leaf accents, while the hand-tooled leather seat is

by Mauricio Aguilar of Azteca Leather. Pretty

God Of Thunder THE RSD Scout was built for the same customer who commissioned the Track Chief (Retrobike, issue #19) and who goes by the name of Thor.

The Scout’s frame, swingarm and tank had been done but not the girder fork and the rest of the bodywork, when Thor decided he wanted to debut it at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.

“It’s fitting that the raw unfinished bike — fitted with GSX-R forks and with its exposed wiring and a mangled mass of cooling and radiators held

together with zip ties — made its debut at Burning Man,” Roland Sands says. “Thor picked the bike up from us in California and rode it to Black Rock.

It was madness, as this completely hand-built, reengineered machine had a mere 20 miles on it when he left.

“Madness is an inherent part of many of our projects. After all, who wants to rip apart a completely perfect, brand-new motorcycle and reconstruct it from the ground up? We are one of the few who will do that with smiles on our faces.”

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Time Machines 2015 RSD INDIAN SCOUT much everything else you see is custom-built

by RSD, including the rear guard, front racing plate incorporating dual LED headlights, oil tank, handlebars, risers, grips, master cylinders and rear-sets.

Similarly the engine has been dressed in RSD accessories and one-off fabrications.

The latter include the side-draft intake manifold and stainless-steel two-into-one exhaust headers dumping into an RSD Track muffler, while the ignition and clutch covers are listed as prototypes and likely to go into production, in much the same way that the custom breastplate and rocker covers on the BMW Concept 90 are now adorning R nineTs all over the world. The few bought-in bits are limited to a Power

“THE RSD SCOUT MIGHT LOOK 80 YEARS OLD BUT IT STEERS AND HANDLES LIKE A MODERN BIKE” Commander engine management system and a slim double-row Mishimoto radiator initially designed for a Kawasaki KX450F, cooled by Trail Tech fans. An Exile Cycles internal throttle assembly cable-operates the stock throttle-by-wire potentiometer mounted on the front number plate, while at the other end the stock belt final drive has been ditched for a chain.

“In the vision of RSD, we wanted to build a bike that drew a heavier inspiration from the past while also increasing the level of performance,” Roland says.

“This was a fun build. We put our best foot forward, hoping to pay proper homage to the original Scouts that tore up racetracks all over the USA from the 1920s through to the 1950s.”

Retro Specs ENGINE Liquid-cooled four-stroke 60-degree V-twin; 99.0 x 73.6mm for 1133cc; chaindriven DOHC, four valves per cylinder; 10.7:1 comp; fly-by-wire EFI; RSD inlet manifold and air cleaner; RSD clutch and ignition covers; Mishimoto radiator; Power Commander ECU; RSD extractors and Track muffler; six-speed gearbox; chain final drive; 86rwhp @ 7730rpm CHASSIS Single downtube, single backbone, in chromoly tubular steel by RSD; RSD chromoly tubular steel swingarm UP FRONT RSD girder forks with Ohlins TTX22M mountain bike shock; 21 x 2.15in RSD Morris wheel; 13-inch Morris rotor with Performance Machine radial caliper; Dunlop 80/100-21 D803GP trials tyre DOWN BACK Ducati 1199 Panigale suspension link and Ohlins shock; 18 x 3.5in RSD Morris wheel; Brembo/Panigale 899 rotor with PM twin-piston caliper; Dunlop 120/100-18 D803GP trials tyre BODYWORK Stock tank much modified

by RSD; seat by Azteca Leather; Indian Red paint and gold leaf by Airtrix; pretty much everything else by RSD IN A NUTSHELL Modern performance and chassis geometry with timeless looks; Roland’s best yet!

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Hooligan Racing RSD and Indian Motorcycles are co-sponsors of the Super Hooligan Flat Track Racing Series now touring the USA. “The spirit of hooligan racing comes from a simpler time, when you could race whatever bike you owned and then ride it home,” Roland Sands says.

“With its roots in Southern California motorcycle culture, today’s flat-track hooligan racing category is rapidly gaining in popularity with riders of all ages and experience levels by offering the fun of motorcycle competition in a less structured environment. Combining the craft of custom motorcycles and racing, the Super Hooligan rules are loose and limited to bikes up to 750cc and

larger twins in stock frames with dirt-track tyres and no front brakes.”

RSD have built a posse of Super Hooligans based on new 1000cc Indian Scout 60s, one of which is sometimes raced by Roland himself.

The bikes are stock apart from exhausts, 19inch wheels and Dunlop DT3 Flat Track race tyres, along dirt-style handlebars and controls.

The triple trees have been modified to steepen the fork angle and an RSD fork brace holds it tight. Rear shocks are by Progressive Suspension and of course the front brake has been canned, along with the gauges and headlights.

Lifestyle

THROTTLE ROLL 2016

Sydney’s favourite motorcycle party steps it up a notch WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOGRAPHY PETE CAGNACCI @THROTTLE ROLL & GEOFF SEDDON

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Lifestyle

THROTTLE ROLL 2016

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HE Throttle Roll Street Party is put on by the same crew behind the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and Sydney Cafe Racers. Even if you didn’t know that, you can tell by the vibe which is overwhelmingly positive. Almost everyone is smiling and having a good time.

Like most things these guys touch, the event quickly outgrew in just three years its original venue in the beer garden and car park of the Vic Hotel in inner-city Enmore. Last year’s event was our first, and it was barely manageable (in a good way), especially in surrounding streets jam-packed with bikes. So this year Throttle Roll took over a whole street, Railway Parade in Marrickville in the shadow of Sydenham station. Entry was at one end

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“ANOTHER 66 CUSTOM BIKES WERE DISPLAYED THREE-HIGH ON SCAFFOLDING UP NEAR THE STAGE” ($20 on the day) and the bandstand set up at the other, with lots to see and do in between.

The day started with the traditional Throttle Roll Ride through the Royal National Park, although this year it was restricted to 250 pre-entries who also got to park their bikes inside the show. It might have been only half the number on the ride as last year but it still is a lot of motorbikes!

Another 66 custom bikes — many making their debut — were displayed three-high on scaffolding up near the stage, a trademark feature carried over from the Vic and especially spectacular at night. The range and workmanship was amazing and as diverse as Sydney itself; we’re loving the trend to sparse but well-finished rigidframed bikes and also the return of two-

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strokes. It’s as if everything old is new again and we can’t get enough of it.

The much expanded space allowed for trade displays for the first time. Shannons remains the major sponsor and was well supported by Yamaha, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, BMW and Royal Enfield. Deus ex Machina and Sol Invictus were also prominent, as were our mates from Himalayan Heroes and Motorretro along with MCA and Pipeburn.

Four food stalls and a couple of bars kept us fed and watered, while a free mechanical bull kept us entertained in between bands.

The crowd was an equally interesting mix of young hip folk — whether riders or not — local families, rock ’n’ roll dancers and older riders getting a fill-up from the

“6000 PUNTERS CAME THROUGH THE GATE FOR A DAY AND NIGHT OF MOTORCYCLES AND MUSIC” fountain of youthful cool. As always, music is a big part of Throttle Roll, with this year’s line-up including The Snowdroppers, The Drey Rollan Band, Los Tones and The Persian Drugs. We especially enjoyed a ripping set from guitar ace Pat Capocci and can never get enough of Frank Sultana & The Sinister Kids. Deep Down & South and Wes Pudsey & The Sonic Aces filled out the bill, with The

Slippery Trouts spinning turntables ’til late.

In all, some 6000 punters came through the gate for a day and night of motorcycles and music, similar numbers to last year when the event was free. Plans are already afoot for next year including, hopefully, more food stalls as the queues were long. Apart from that, the day went off flawlessly and it’ll only get bigger.

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“IT’S AS IF EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN AND WE CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF IT” “The Throttle Roll team are extremely proud of what we achieved with the Street Party,” organiser Stephen Broholm says. “It took an army of staff and volunteers to make it happen, and we’d like to shout out to Inner West Council and Marrickville Local Area Command for their support in giving the event the green light to begin with.

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“Everyone left with a smile on their faces and a few with new stains! Punters, sponsors, council, police and bike builders were all excited about the event and enjoyed it. Thankfully we got lucky with the weather and had a successful event. We are practising our sun dance for next year.”

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Endurance Racers

1981 MK3 MOTODD LAVERDA

Red Cawte scoured the world to build Australia’s best Laverda WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOGRAPHY JOHN DOWNS

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1981 MK3 MOTODD LAVERDA

AVERDAS are hardly common in Australia and custom-framed ones even rarer, but this highperformance Mk3 Motodd built by Brisbane workshop Redax Laverda is up there with any in the world.

Red Cawte is a retired oil and gas drilling engineer and lifelong Laverda tragic who has turned his hobby into a business restoring and reconditioning Laverdas. His former day job had him living out of Australia for many years, which has given him an international perspective on life, the universe and sourcing components, as you’ll soon discover.

“I started collecting parts from 2010, when we purchased the bare frame while travelling through the UK,” Red says. “I’d always wanted to build a custom-framed Laverda using modern suspension, wheels and tyres. There must have been 15 different manufacturers building specialist frames for Laverdas (back in the day), and the Mk3 Motodd is one of the best.”

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Motodd frame kits were made by Saxon Racing in the UK for fellow countryman Phil Todd, who sold them through his Motodd Laverda workshop. There were five versions all up; the Mk3 was the first to feature a rising-rate swingarm linkage system. This particular frame dates from around 1983.

About 50 Motodds kits were built in all, of which maybe 12 were Mk3s.

“Phil was having a clearance sale when we visited and we were able to purchase an unused frame kit that had never been assembled or painted,” Red says. “It included the swingarm and a small handful of brackets that we didn’t use but no bodywork.”

The engine was sourced in Serbia, where Red has an engineer friend. It is a 1981 Series 2 1200, the last of the 180-degree triple engines (the good sounding ones) before Laverda switched to a 120-degree crankshaft.

Initially built to power the sport-touring Mirage, this engine has had a no-expense-

spared makeover to give it the performance, reliability and soul of an endurance racer.

Redax machined the crankshaft, removing just on three kilograms, before having it rebalanced by Crankshaft Engineering in Browns Plains. Carrillo conrods carry custommade Ross Racing pistons with ceramic and dry-film coatings which bump capacity from 1117cc stock to 1145cc here.

F1 camshafts, from blanks machined by Laverda Scozia in Scotland, were ground by Newman Cams in England, who also custommade the cam bucket followers. Valves were also made to Redax’s specifications by Advanced Valve & Valvetrain in Canada.

The heads were offset-ported by OEM in Brisbane, with the inlets opened up from 32mm to 36mm. The head and exhaust valves were then sent to Competition Coatings in Archerfield to have the combustion chamber, exhaust ports and exhaust valves ceramic coated.

“IT WAS OUR FIRST, BARE-FRAME CUSTOM BUILD AND I’M VERY HAPPY WITH THE RESULT” Carburettors are Mikunis. “We buy banks of 36mm RS flat-slide carbs to suit Japanese fours and convert them to suit the triples, which is what we’ve done here,” Red says. The ignition is a custom-made Hall Effect system mated to a four-channel Ignitech controller, which fires a trio of Nology single-pole coils.

“We can program in any advance curve, coil dwell settings or corrections we need for each cylinder independently.”

The headers and collectors were made

by CES Racing Systems in Meadowbrook.

“The design is a copy of the system that CES designed for our race bike,” Red says.

“Finding the right exhaust cans took me weeks on the internet. The Two Brothers titanium mufflers are actually for a GSX-R600 but had exactly the look we were after. The bonus is the bike sounds fantastic on the throttle and is totally different sound-wise to any other Laverda we’ve worked on or owned.”

Quality triplex chain is hard to find these days, so Red converted the primary drive to duplex chain, shaving some weight off the sprockets and clutch while he was at it to further reduce rotating mass. The kevlarlined heavy-duty clutch hides behind a ISSUE #24

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1981 MK3 MOTODD LAVERDA

CNC-machined billet Redax cover mated to a Brembo master cylinder, while the five-speed gearbox has a custom billet fourth gear to take the strain of over 100hp at the tyres, a lesson learned from racing.

The Motodd frame is made from strong lightweight T45 tubing, as used in aircraft seats and struts, and the frame is brazed rather than welded. Redax removed almost all the mounting tabs and brackets from the frame as the plan from the outset was to not use any Laverda parts apart from the engine.

The forks are from a Ducati Multistrada — sourced from the US on eBay — carried in one-off machined triple trees and fitted with Racetech springs and a modified shim pack.

The Mk3 frames are designed for 18-inch wheels, in this case cast alloys from an early GSX-R1100 slabby, also found Stateside.

Mating the front wheel, brakes and forks was a challenge. “The Ducati caliper position on the forks was for 320mm rotors,” Red says.

“The largest rotors we could find for that rim were 310mm and the offset was also wrong.

So we machined our own brake rotor carriers and then had Metalgear in Brendale install a new pair of Ducati 320mm rotors.” Down back, a custom floating caliper mount, billet torque arm and master cylinder mount were

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“THE REAL ACHIEVEMENT HAS BEEN TO BUILD A BIKE THAT YOU CAN RIDE FOR HOURS AT HIGH SPEED” hand-fabricated to match the Brembo caliper to the stock GSX-R rotor.

The swingarm is from the Motodd kit, fitted with Redax axles, spacers, adjusters and billet suspension link. More troublesome was finding a shock absorber to suit. “We had a dimensional issue due to the spring diameter of modern shocks being too large for the space we had. Every company we approached said they couldn’t source the spring diameter we needed, until we found MP Suspension in Cape Town, South Africa. Martin had no issue with the diameter at all and, after riding the bike, the rear suspension is awesome so I am very impressed with his work.”

The fuel tank, electrical tray and rear guard were made by a fellow Mk3 Motodd owner, Rob Berryman in Walpole, WA. “Rob has owned his Mk3 forever,” Red says. “Standard they were supplied with an alloy fuel tank but over the years Rob had to have his welded

up a number of times so he decided to build his own bodywork from carbon-fibre. As we didn’t have any, he kindly agreed to make us a bodywork kit at the same time he did his.”

The cool flyscreen fairing, initially designed for a Buell, is from Holeshot Performance in Nevada. The carbon-fibre tail unit, modelled on the Laverda 750 SFC production racer, was made by Red’s good mate Boba at Carbon Gas Tanks in Serbia.

The front guard is in alloy by Matt. Guzzler Seats did a neat job on the upholstery.

The project was sold prior to the build commencing to Western Australian Laverda enthusiast Mike Nazroo, who came up with the paint colours with assistance from Peter Ellery at 660 Motorcycles and Joel French from Pirate Customs, both in Perth. Wade Lobley of Brisbane Auto Repairs advised on graphics and painted the whole bike in two-pack, including the frame and swingarm. Roberto’s Custom

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Endurance Racers

1981 MK3 MOTODD LAVERDA

Retro Specs Powder in Morningside then applied a satin black chrome coating to most of the custom billet parts, as well as a satin-black finish to the rims and rotor carriers.

The single instrument is from Germany, a fully-programmable Motogadget Pro Scope unit mounted on custom risers also used to raise the height of the standard Laverda Jota handlebars.

Switchgear is from Nippon Denso in Japan, and the Tarozzi rear-sets come from Italy.

The Motodd debuted at the Club Laverda Concours in July, winning People’s Choice and Best Laverda, before heading straight to John Downs’ photographic studios for these pics.

Red’s approach to bikes like this is to build them in primer, register and ride around on them for a while to iron out the bugs, before disassembling for paint, polishing and all the rest. New owner Mike plans to ride the wheels off it from the moment it lands in WA and reckons it’ll never be as clean again.

“I grew up in London not far from where Phil Todd has his shop,” Mike says. “Guys were building specials all over the place in the late 70s, early 80s, and the Motodds were amongst the best. No way could I have afforded one then but the desire was always there.

“When you look at the bike, you can see the amount of work done, but the real achievement has been to build a bike that you can ride for hours at high speed, like an endurance racer.”

“I’m very happy with the final result,” Red says. “I built the bike as if it was my own. It was our first, bare-frame custom build which taught us a lot. After riding the bike in shakedown trials, I am very sorry that I decided to sell the project to Mike; if I had ridden it first, I would never have sold it on. It is by far the nicest Laverda I’ve ever ridden.”

“IT IS BY FAR THE NICEST LAVERDA I HAVE EVER RIDDEN”

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ENGINE Laverda; air-cooled four-stroke 180-degree inline triple; chain-driven DOHC, two valves per cylinder; 1145cc; 10.2:1 comp; lightened and balanced crank, Carrillo rods, Ross Racing pistons; 3 x 36mm RS Mikuni flat-slides; custom programmable ignition; custom CES headers with Two Brothers titanium mufflers; duplex-chain primary drive to five-speed gearbox; chain final drive; 100-plus rwhp CHASSIS Motodd Mk3; twin-cradle chassis in T45 tubing; Ducati Multistrada USD forks with Racetech springs, Ducati four-piston calipers and 320mm rotors on custom mounts; rising-rate rear with custom MP Suspension monoshock, twinpiston Brembo caliper on GSX-R rotor; 18-inch GSX-R1100 wheels, 2.75in front, 4in rear; 120/60 and 150/70 Dunlop radials BODYWORK Carbon-fibre tank and rear guard by Rob; c-f seat unit by Carbon Gas Tanks; Holeshot Performance fairing; alloy front guard by Matt; Lamborghini orange and Porsche charcoal grey paint by Brisbane Auto Repairs; coating by Roberto’s Custom Powder SPECIAL THANKS Club Laverda; Rob for bodywork; Matt for more bodywork; Bruce for wiring; Waz for CNC machining; Maxene for everything BEST FOR Blasting past Ducatis; unique looks and sound NOT SO GOOD Short people

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Trackers

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1974 YAMAHA TZ750

Kenny Roberts TZ750 replica goes land speed racing WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOGRAPHY SIMON DAVIDSON

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C

HRIS Fraser is an interesting bloke.

A three-times Australian Longtrack Speedway Sidecar Champion, he was also the long-time publican at the famous Silverton Hotel near Broken Hill. I met him in 2003 when he was racing a replica of Kenny Roberts’ XS750 flat tracker at Speed Week on Lake Gairdner in South Australia, and then again in 2006 when he raced another bike he’d built, this time powered by a supercharged Leyland P76 V8.

His son Cec is a chip of the old block; they even share the same nickname, Frase.

Growing up in the outback, Cec was riding a Pee Wee 50 at four and had his first run on the salt at 17. These days he’s an underground shot firer in the mines, a competitive flat

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“YOU CAN’T GET PARTS FOR THESE ENGINES ANY MORE SO WE RAMPED IT UP SLOWLY” track racer on a YZF450 and an aspiring speedway sidecar racer and passenger.

Together, Chris and Cec built this replica of Kenny Roberts’ infamous flat tracker on which KR won the 1975 Indy Mile. Flat track was the main game in US motorcycle racing back then, and Roberts’ bored-out XS650 struggled against the dominant XR750 Harley-Davidsons. So his

mechanic, Aussie Kel Carruthers (son of dual Australian Speedway Sidecar Champion Jack Carruthers) shoe-horned a water-cooled inline four-cylinder two-stroke motor from a Yamaha TZ750 road-racer into a Champion flat track chassis. Roberts didn’t see the bike ’til race day, and initially struggled on it, qualifying in last place for the 25-bike final.

From there he overtook the entire field to win

on the last lap, after which he said he didn’t get paid enough to ride a bike like that. “You had to throw it sideways at 150mph to get it slowed for corners,” he said at the time. While he did ride it in two non-Championship events soon after, he successfully campaigned to have the engine banned, on the basis that everyone would now want one and people would surely die.

“I was 15 when I read the story in REVS of how Kenny Roberts rode and won the Indy Mile on the TZ,” Chris says, “and then placed a ban on the bike because it was too dangerous to ride. The bike captured me and I thought I’d love to have one one day.”

It also led to a serious obsession with Kenny Roberts, regarded by many as the racers’ racer. “I loved his arrogance,” Chris says. “He was so sure of himself. He knew

he had so much raw talent and he wasn’t frightened of letting people know how good he was. Nothing scared him except that TZ.” It was banned from competition within three months, during which time US racer Steve Baker built one very similar but never got the chance to race it. Both bikes are still around. In more recent times, a wealthy US collector commissioned replicas of both, which makes four. And then there’s this one.

First step was to find an engine, not easy given the TZ750 was virtually a 750cc GP bike.

Chris never stopped looking and found his in Darwin 15 years ago, sitting in a road-racing sidecar owned by an old mate, Jeff Flemming.

It even came with a spares kit.

The frame for Roberts’ racer was a oneoff constructed by US flat track specialist Champion; Team Fraser’s resources were

PHOTO: JUDY MACKAY

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1974 YAMAHA TZ750

more modest but that didn't stop them from building as exact a replica as they could. “I was having a beer with Trevor Woolcock — he was my passenger for many years — and there was a 1974 Yamaha TT500 leaning against his shed,” Chris says. “From a photo of Kenny’s bike, I’d worked out the wheelbase, and the TT was within millimetres of it.” A deal was done over a carton of beer and the roller trailered home.

It was at this point that Cec got involved, aged about nine, first helping Chris strip the TT to a bare frame, and then to build the bike you see here. These were the early days of Chris’s involvement with Silverton Hotel and progress initially stalled, prompting him to commission local sidecar builder Rob Wilson to construct 42

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“NEXT YEAR WE'LL FIT SOME CLIP-ONS AND A LITTLE FAIRING AND GO A BIT QUICKER” engine mounts to fit the TZ engine to the TT frame, just to get them started.

From that point on, it was a father-andson effort all the way through. “Dad would gets parts in from the States and we put it all together in the shed,” Cec says. “And it was good to hear all about Kenny and the bike’s history while we worked on it.” Imported bits include the fuel tank, seat and numberplates,

all from Omar’s Dirt Track Supplies in Minnesota. The seat and ’plates are exact replicas, the tank very close, the whole lot expertly painted by Trampus Garnaut. Even the tyres came in for close scrutiny. “We blew Kenny’s photo up and we could see the rear was a Goodyear wet-weather slick, so we got one exactly the same,” Chris says. “The front is reasonably close.”

dragginjeans.net

feel the

[REVZ]e for Summer Her

Trackers

1974 YAMAHA TZ750

Cec and Chris also attended to the engine rebuild and tuning — no small deal on a TZ750 — including designing the four individual expansion chambers tacked up by Chris and TIG-welded by Rodney Grenfell, the only other person involved in the project.

“The build was well worth it,” Chris says. “I loved every minute, every nut and bolt and weld. I was always thinking what would it be like to ride this thing that scared the hell out of the man who could ride anything, and here it is.”

“When we finished it, Dad had a tear in his eye,” Cec says. “And then when I fired it up and took it for its first run down the road, I had a tear in the eye too.”

This was early 2015, ahead of the bike’s debut at Gillman Speedway in Adelaide

in March in the capable hands of former Australian Dirt Track Champion, Nic Waters, for an exhibition run with Brody Waters riding Chris’s XS750 replica. On the tight 1/4-mile Gillman oval, Nic described the experience as spooky and could only wonder at how Roberts managed the TZ flat-out on the super-fast mile-long Indy track.

Frase and Frase then set their sights on Lake Gairdner for Speed Week 2016, this time with Cec in the saddle. Trackers are exactly the wrong shape for salt racing, but those four expansion chambers sounded like nothing else; absolutely wicked! Experienced salties both, Cec slowly built up speed over multiple runs under Chris’s watchful eye.

“You can’t get parts for these engines so we ramped it up slowly,” Chris says. Mindful of

a seizure, Cec limited the revs to 9000rpm, then 11,500 before letting it run to 14,000rpm for a best pass of 135mph.

“Dad had a mountain of sprockets and jets, he must have changed the jetting and gearing 10 times,” Cec says. “So it was good to do all that with Dad, it was a big learning curve. 135mph was redline in top, flat out, as fast as it was going to go. Next year we’ll fit some clip-ons and a little fairing and go a bit quicker.”

Amazingly for a 750cc road-racing engine in a 500cc dirt bike frame, the homebuilt rocket ran straight as a die. “It was so stable, it didn’t wobble at all,” Cec says.

“On one run, I even took my hand off the handlebar at 125mph and did a little peace sign for the Go Pro.”

King Kenny

Retro Specs ENGINE 1974 Yamaha TZ750; watercooled inline four-cylinder two-stroke; 64 x 54mm for 750cc; 7.3:1 comp; 50:1 premix; CDI; custom exhausts; dry clutch to sixspeed gearbox; chain final drive; 105hp @ 14,000rpm CHASSIS 1974 Yamaha TT500; twin-loop tubular steel; engine plates by Rob Wilson; TT500 forks and swingarm BODYWORK Tank, seat and number plates from Omar’s Dirt Track Supplies; paint by Trampus Garnaut BEST FOR Scaring yourself silly NOT SO GOOD Learners

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KENNY Roberts was equally famous in road racing as the first American to win the World 500GP Championship, on debut in 1978. Ever the competitor, he also raced 250cc and 750cc Yamahas to get in more practice on what were all new tracks, and so added fourth in the 250GP Championship and second in Formula 750 to his maiden score.

Proving it was no fluke, he turned it into a hattrack by winning the 1979 and 1980 World 500GP Championships, always for Yamaha. It was during this time that Roberts became a vocal advocate for GP riders, most of whom were racing for loose change. He even tried to form his own breakaway ‘World Series’ championship which, while it never got up, did at least force the FIM’s hand to improve rider conditions and safety.

Increasing competition from Suzuki saw Roberts drop to third in 1981 and fourth in 1982.

He retired at the end of 1983, after Honda’s Freddie Spencer had beaten him in his final championship by just a couple of points.

Roberts then formed his own race team, with success coming in 1990 when John Kocinski won the 250GP Championship and Wayne Rainey the first of three consecutive 500GP Championships. Roberts later made a less successful move into building his own bikes, but his legacy flared again when his son Kenny Roberts Jnr won the 500GP Championship in 2000, the only father-andson duo to ever do so.

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Crazy Kiwis

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QUAKE CITY RUMBLERS

Boomtown ats R M O R E T H A N T W O - S T R O K E S I S A WA N K

New Zealand’s shaky South Island is the home of the Quake City Rumblers WORDS ANDY GALLAGHER PHOTOGRAPHY MOTOR RAUSCH

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Crazy Kiwis QUAKE CITY RUMBLERS

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UAKE City Rumblers came about when Chris, now the QCR president, bought an old motor scooter at a swap meet, then saw a photo on the net of a guy riding a modified one. We’d never seen anything so awesome or even remotely like it, so Chris started modifying his immediately. You know the story, as soon as one person gets something that’s new and fun, others soon follow suite.

At the time, it was just after the big Christchurch earthquakes and we couldn’t drive our modified cars on what were now badly potholed, flooded and cracked roads, which was also part of the appeal. There are now 23 members and we all ride.

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“AFTER THE EARTHQUAKES, WE’D RACE AROUND THE EMPTY STREETS MAKING AS MUCH NOISE AND CHAOS AS WE LIKED” Not everyone can show up to everything as we all lead busy lives — there were only a few bikes at the Motor Rausch photo shoot — but we usually get around 10 riders to events which include The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, the Scooter Safari

Challenge, rides with the local moped club and our own runs. These include after-work rides around the local hills with pub stops, day trips around the bays, often on gravel roads, and overnight rides where we sleep under starts; no tents allowed!

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Crazy Kiwis QUAKE CITY RUMBLERS

“BECAUSE IT’S ORGANISED BY US, THERE ARE NO RULES AND WE CAN DO AS WE PLEASE” We usually get a positive response wherever we go, with lots of people approaching us, asking questions, taking photos and filming us taking off.

Sometimes people on the side of the road cover their ears as we go past and there’s the occasional shaken fist, but once they realise we’re all on mopeds, most people are in tears of laughter.

We have a Bike Night every Thursday at our local bar, Smash Palace. Most of the central city fell down in the earthquakes and it was cordoned off for the next few years. When it finally reopened, it was completely dark (no streetlights at all) and abandoned apart from half-destroyed buildings. We’d ride in there with all of QCR and race around the empty streets making as much noise and chaos as we pleased.

There were no traffic lights and plenty of empty sections to tear around. This mayhem happened

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every Thursday night for several months until slowly the city started being populated again.

QCR is made up of all professions, albeit more trade-oriented than university degreed. Most members are hands-on and that is reflected in their work; fabricators, mechanics, engineers, plumbers and roofers. We always joke about there being terrible initiation rites involving lots of bro jobs but there aren’t any really.

We are open to new members but don’t rush into it as people in the past have seemed really keen, then just not shown up so they get booted out. You just have to build a sweet ride and come riding, and eventually we’ll decide if you’re QCR material. We are all good friends and it’s usually another mate that joins.

As well as taking these photos, Motor Rausch also made short video about us called More Than Two Strokes Is A Wank which you can find at https://vimeo.com/motorrausch/qcrnz..

Dirt Masters WE organise an event called Dirt Masters each year. We set out a rough course in one member’s paddock and have races throughout the day and night while drinking heavily, building jumps and setting things on fire.

Because it’s organised by us there are no rules and we can do as we please, thus ensuring ultimate carnage and entertainment.

You must race an old small bike and no motocross bikes are allowed, which keeps racing close and injuries to a minimum. You do have to look out for tree stumps, however, as one member found after he wiped out and broke his leg.

Our most recent event was the best yet, with 50 riders and some awesome racing on some hilarious contraptions. It hadn’t rained for quite some time so it was more Dust Masters than Dirt Masters. We had a huge bonfire which we lit up and then rode dangerously close to as it was part of the berm for the racetrack.

If you'd like to know more, you can check out a great video of the event in all its dusty glory at http://www.throttleroll.com/dirtmasters-2016/.

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Stripped

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1984 BMW K100RS

From Melbourne, an owner-built rocket with a sting in its tail!

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY PAUL HUTCHISON

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Stripped 1984 BMW K100RS

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IKE many bikers, I had the idea of one day doing a project bike. Every bike I’ve owned has been modified to my personal taste and I had talked about wanting to do a proper build for some time.

My very supportive, beautiful wife asked me, what was I waiting for?

On the BIKE EXIF blog, I stumbled on a custom BMW K100 built by Marc Robrock in Germany. Marc couldn’t see the challenge in taking a nice bike and rebuilding it; instead, he had chosen the ugliest bike he could think of! I was blown away how a K100 could look so good!

I found a 1984 K100RS in Adelaide, advertised on Gumtree as an unregistered trade-in. Dad and I did a quick 1500km round trip from Melbourne with a trailer and the real journey began. The fairing and seat were immediately stripped and sold to a wrecker so there could be no turning back!

Being my first build, knowing where to begin was a bit daunting so I took the easy option of chopping the front guard with a dremel while Dad trimmed unwanted metal tags from the seat subframe. Rearsets were sourced from UK K100 specialist BSK SpeedWorks; they proved to be very well-made and an easy fit. Mick at Valley Engineering in Research, Vic, modified the exhaust collector to get the muffler angle I

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“IT ALL WENT WELL UNTIL MY MATE KEV LOST THE FRONT UNDER BRAKES AND WROTE IT OFF” wanted, and also the clip-ons I had to match the BMW stanchions, handgrips and controls.

I then made up a bracket to hold the Dakota Digital speedo — taking a couple of goes to get it low enough to where I was happy with it — and also brackets to mount a single horn behind the radiator and the reservoir for the rear brake.

By this time, I was starting to get a rough idea of the seat unit style I was after. I wanted to follow the line from the base of the fuel tank through to the tail unit. I wasn’t after any particular style but aiming for a look that was a cross between a cafe racer and a streetfighter.

The BM was then trailered to Valley Engineering to do all the tasks I couldn’t do at home. Mick has form; he turned his own Ducati Monster SP into a cafe racer, which included relocating the radiator to under the seat sub-frame! The main job here was to cut and brace the sub-frame rear of the shock mount, and fabricate the seat unit

and tailpiece from alloy sheet. To this end, I provided him with accurate drawings and a scale mock-up I’d made from kitchen cutting boards. He also made an exhaust hanger for the Supertrapp muffler, honed out the hole in the top triple clamp to take an ignition switch and built an alloy box to enclose the battery. I had the bike back in a week.

My mate Pete of Peter’s Panels in Woodend offered to paint the tank and seat for a couple of bottles of scotch so long as I did the preparation work. The orange colour is from a new range called Vibrance and is a nod to the BMW R90S of the mid-1970s but with added metalflake.

Meanwhile I attended to the finishing touches. I bought some bar-end indicators off eBay — later replaced with brighter units — which I mounted in the ends of the cut-off sub-frame, hiding the wiring internally which was interesting. The front mudguard was covered in 3M carbon-fibre wrap and the battery hooked up to get the dash sorted

out. I managed to get most of the caution lights working, apart from the neutral light for some reason, and it looked like the BMW speedo signal didn’t want to play the game either. I ended up getting a sensor unit from Dakota Digital which works off the wheel studs on the front wheel.

I fitted the twin headlights and the seat was upholstered by CKT Motor Trimming in Preston who did a great job. I was getting close! I took the tank and seat back to Pete for a final touch-up and he surprised me with a sticker he’d had made for the tail unit.

It turns out the colour I chose was Hornet Orange and because I flew Hornet combat jets in the RAAF, the bike now had a name, The Hornet!

It was finally time to fire it up and go for a ride. After initial rough running and

stalling, possibly due to air in the lines, it settled down and ran smoothly. The exhaust was surprisingly not much louder than stock. I programmed the gear indicator and calibrated the speedo. It was a bit of a reach to the clip-ons but at 100km/h the weight came off the wrists and it was all good.

The lighter weight — a measured 215kg fully fuelled, compared with 249kg stock — was apparent from the first crack of the throttle but also meant the Hyperpro rear shock had to be resprung and revalved to suit. New White Power springs and fresh oil were added to the front suspension to match. I did a 1000km loop of the Snowy Mountains with some mates, the only glitch being the rear-view mirrors folding back at 170km/h. In the tight stuff, it was fast as my K 1200 R!

Build #1 with conventional forks and BMW wheels

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Stripped 1984 BMW K100RS

I continued to fiddle with the bike, including making a small instrument cowl out of the discarded rear mudguard to hide the dash wiring, and painting the header pipes black; the instructions said the paint had to baked, so I used the barbecue!

Just four months after buying the donor bike, The Hornet was finally finished, and what better way to celebrate than with a seven-day tour of Tasmania. It all went well until Day Three, when I lent the bike to my mate Kev who lost the front end under brakes. The resulting low-side caused too much damage to continue — tank, engine cases, clip-ons, rear-sets — and it was back to the drawing board.

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“IT NOW FEELS LIKE A MODERN SPORTS BIKE — MUCH MORE PLANTED ON THE ROAD” after it had been transported back to the mainland — I kept the wreck and embarked on The Hornet Mach II. I considered repairing it to pre-crash condition but it seemed like a waste of money and effort to end up with the same bike. I thought about what I could improve. It was a weapon in the corners but like Kev I didn’t have much faith in the tyres, and to run radials,

I needed wider wheels. I knew a K1100 rear wheel would bolt on, as would a complete K1100 front end for that matter, but why settle for that when I could have upsidedown forks which always look the biz on older bikes.

I spent several hours at the wreckers looking for USD forks in good condition. I also needed a three-spoke wheel to match

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Stripped 1984 BMW K100RS

Retro Specs ENGINE Liquid-cooled inline four-stroke four; chain-driven DOHC, two valves per cylinder; 67 x 70mm for 987cc; 10.2:1 comp; Bosch LE-Jetronic fuel injection; wet sump; dry single-plate clutch to five-speed gearbox, shaft final drive; 90hp @ 8000rpm (stock) CHASSIS Tubular space frame, with engine as stressed member; seat sub-frame removed and braced rear of shock mount by Valley Engineering (VE); BSK rear-sets UP FRONT Yamaha R1 upside-down forks with 17-inch R1 three-spoke wheel and brakes; K1100 master cylinder and controls; R1 triple clamps modified by VE; 120/70-17 Pirelli Angel GT tyre DOWN BACK BMW single-sided swing arm with Hyperpro shock; K1100 17-inch three-spoke wheel and brakes; 160/50-17 Pirelli Angel GT tyre BODYWORK Stock tank; custom seat by VE to owner design, upholstered in vinyl by CKT Motor Trimming; Dakota Digital dash; Yamaha MT-03 headlight; PPG Vibrance Hornet Orange paint by Peter’s Panels and MFS Motor DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1516mm; fuel capacity 22 litres; wet weight 215kg (249kg stock) BEST BITS Light weight, vastly improved suspension and brakes, stunning looks NOT SO GREAT Nothing at this price 58

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“I WAS BLOWN AWAY HOW AN UGLY K100 COULD LOOK SO GOOD!” the K1100 rear, and the solution presented itself in the form of a 2000 Yamaha R1.

Valley Engineering was charged with mating the BMW steering post to the Yamaha triple clamps, and a larger K1100 master cylinder (together with K1100 throttle and switchgear) was fitted to provide enough juice for the Yamaha front brakes.

A replacement fuel tank was repainted in Hornet Orange by MFS Motor in Spotswood, and the replacement valve cover blasted and prepped by Competition Coatings in Coburg.

New alloy rear-sets were sourced from BSK and the wheels finished in black before being fitted with Pirelli Angel GT tyres. I also took the opportunity to relocate the dash flush with the top triple clamp and replaced the twin headlights with a single lamp from a Yamaha MT-03. Total rebuild time was two

months and the cost within a few dollars of the insurance payout.

I was concerned the modern front end might not flow visually into the rest of the bike but I couldn’t be happier. With the new front end and Pirelli rubber, it now feels like a modern sports bike. It is much more planted on the road and the brakes are comparable to my K 1200 R. The bike was accepted into the Oil Stained Brain Bike Show and it has featured on The Bike Shed (twice), Pipeburn and Silodrome blogs. I was also incredibly stoked to be contacted by BMW and have the bike featured on their international BMW Motorrad website.

I have been a bit remiss in not acknowledging my co-builder, Dad. He provided the workshop, tools and lots of unwanted advice, some of which was useful, and we’re already onto our next project.

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Restos

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1938 ZUNDAPP K800

ART DECO STYLE 80 years on, the little known but oh-so-cool Zündapp K800 ranks as one of the world’s best looking bikes WORDS ALAN CATHCART PHOTOGRAPHY KYOICHI NAKAMURA

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1938 ZUNDAPP K800

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HEN it comes to pure Art Deco style, Zündapp’s K-series bikes from the 1930s were as cool as they came.

Introduced in 1933 as both horizontallyopposed, sidevalve twins and fours, they bore little resemblence to the small-capacity two-strokes that the factory had been building since 1922. The flat-four K800 was the flagship to put rival BMW’s twins in their place, and 80 years later still commands respect … if you can find one.

The K stood for Kardanantrieb or shaftdrive, but the 600cc and 800cc fours had otherwise different architecture to the smaller twins and were as quirky in their engineering as their appearance. Remaining examples of what was a low-volume highpriced solo model in civilian guise are few and far between these days, especially outside Germany, but this impeccably restored Zündapp K800 flat-four is now on display in

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Britain at the Sammy Miller Museum after the indefatigable Ulsterman persuaded the owner of a complete such bike to part with the remains of another he’d acquired as a source of parts. Sammy then set about re-creating it together with his right-hand man Bob Stanley – the Miller Museum’s mechanical magician – whose accumulated expertise in restoring the most exotic, improbable and often unlikely two-wheeled designs to running condition is unequalled.

The Zündapp K800 was one of their more challenging restorations. “It was in very poor condition, all stripped apart, with the engine in a million pieces,” Sammy says. “It was the first Zündapp we’d ever worked on, and simply working out how the gearbox functioned was a challenge in itself, although its designer Richard Küchen also used it postwar on his Victoria V35 Bergmeister and Hoffmann flat-twin designs, both of which we also have here in the Museum. But we

persevered and finally got there. Parts are not a problem because there’s a very helpful Zündapp spares chap in Germany called Michael Aichner who had almost everything we needed.”

Somewhat improbably, the finished result took just a matter of months to complete.

With the Art Deco styling of its pressed steel frame and substantial engine, the big Zündapp has undeniable presence.

Measuring 62 x 66mm for a capacity of 797cc, the Miller K800’s sidevalve engine no.192435 (with matching numbers on the bolt-on gearbox) has a lowly 5.8:1 compression ratio and produces just 22bhp at 4300rpm. But once you get it revving, it has a considerable amount of torque delivered via a curve that’s almost as flat as the cylinder layout.

The camshaft runs down the centre of the engine, chain-driven directly off the lengthways crank, with a spur gear mounted above it to drive the dynamo. Coil ignition is

employed, via a Bosch distributor driven off the front of the camshaft, with the 6V coil under a cover at the front of the motor. Power is transmitted to the shaft final drive via a car-type twin-plate dry clutch and the fourspeed hand-shift gearbox that’s distinctly unconventional.

“It’s got two shafts as on a normal gearbox, with the layshaft acting as an output shaft to drive the pinion in the rear wheel hub via the shaft final drive,” Bob says. “Then you have four sets of chains with two sets of sprockets on each shaft, which give you four separate ratios. There are two sliding dogs on the mainshaft between first and second, and again between third and fourth which are obviously located in the splines, and are engaged in an H-pattern by the external hand-lever. The sprockets rotate freely until the dogs engage each individual sprocket in whichever gear you choose.

“It’s quite a good idea in terms of reducing

weight and certainly cost compared to a conventional gearbox, until a chain breaks and you then have one less gear – though there’s lots of room for the broken links to fall to the bottom out of harm’s way, so you won’t lock the transmission!”

There’s just a single 22mm Amal carburettor made under licence in Germany and mounted forward of the crankcases right at the top, with the mixture left to take the scenic route to the four combustion chambers. It must wend its way past an elbow in the inlet tract down into the crankcase body, then drop further through some guide holes in the crankcase casting before entering each cylinder via the base of the barrel, passing through the tappet chest to eventually reach the side-mounted inlet valve.

It’s a surprise the engine runs at all!

But run it does, super-smoothly, after kicking it into life via a gentle stab on the left-foot kickstart – that low compression ratio makes starting pretty easy once you’ve found neutral.

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1938 ZUNDAPP K800

Despite not having previously ridden a bike with a car-style hand-shift pattern, I soon got the hang of it, especially since all the other controls are in their usual places, including the light-action clutch lever on the left and the ultra-precise twistgrip throttle on the right.

You must lift the gear lever towards you to the right to find first gear, a stump-puller aimed at sidecar use, so that almost at once it’s time to then push forward in the same plane for second – you can actually start off in second gear on level ground. Second to third is the tricky one, across the ’box and back again, but after a few missed shifts I eventually had it sussed. It’s just a rite of passage to top gear anyway which, with such a flexible motor, is where you’ll spend most of your time.

The speedo, which normally lives on the back of the headlamp, was missing when Sammy bought the bike, replaced here by an alloy plate. He’s since found one, which was away being reconditioned, so I’m only guessing when I say you could run the Zündapp to as low as 40km/h in top gear, without transmission snatch. There’s a lovely, luscious, liquid-smooth build of power that’s insistent rather than strong, with a subdued hum from the twin two-into-one exhausts that sound not unlike a WRX Subaru. All together this makes for a true grand tourer, albeit one limited by a quoted top speed of 120km/h.

The K800 has a surprisingly modern feel to it, perhaps because of the relaxed riding position and slim fuel tank, though fortunately the pressed steel frame has a couple of rubber pads on each perimeter rail

From left: Sir Al, Sammy Miller and Bob Stanley

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“IT HAS A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF TORQUE DELIVERED VIA A CURVE THAT’S ALMOST AS FLAT AS THE CYLINDER LAYOUT” What’s In A Name?

ZUNDER und Apparatebau was founded in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1917 to make fuses for artillery. Fritz Neumeyer later bought out his partners and began building tractors, railway rolling stock and, from 1922, Zündapp motorcycles powered by Levis (UK) two-stroke engines.

More models were added and annual production grew swiftly to 17,000 by 1928 before the Great Depression reduced production to a trickle. Hitler’s rise to power later brought with it a resurgent industrial economy and Zündapp released its heavyweight K-series models at the Berlin Show in 1933. They were an immediate success, buoyed by government orders as the country geared up for war.

Fritz Neumeyer died in 1935, leaving the company to his son Hans-Friedrich, who renamed it Zündapp. On the outbreak of WWII, all production switched to military, where K-series outfits became the mainstay of the Wehrmacht until the factory was flattened by Allied bombers in 1945.

Zündapp returned to motorcycles in 1947 with a small two-stroke. The

big K-series bikes were re-introduced in 1950 and scored telescopic forks and plunger rear suspension before being discontinued in 1957. Instead, the company concentrated on strokers and enjoyed much international racing success. When Hans-Freidrich handed control to Dieter Neumeyer in 1966, production was 55,000 units a year and eventually peaked at 115,000 in 1977, before succumbing to the weight of the Japanese onslaught. Despite having sold three million bikes over 60 years, Zündapp suddenly found itself priced out of the game; production tumbled quickly and ceased in 1984.

The Zündapp intellectual property, production line and tooling were sold to China, who dispatched a series of trains and 1500 workers to dismantle the factory. Relocated to Tianjin under the banner of Xunda (the phonetic equivalent of Zündapp), production recommenced in 1987 and continues still, albeit these days with Honda four-stroke knock-offs and electric mopeds and scooters.

which you can hug with your knees to help change direction. This it does in a rather lazy but still decisive manner. The low-down weight not only means that it rides bumps surprisingly well, even leaned over, but also that it steers easily from side to side, better than I expected for a bike weighing 215kg dry.

In spite of the rigid rear end, you’re insulated from all but the worst of it by the well-tuned saddle springs; the rough concrete surface of the Museum test track (a disused WW2 airfield) provided a pretty good simulation of what 1930s roads would have been like away from the autobahnen. That reasonable ride quality comes in spite of the Zündapp’s pressed steel chassis and girder fork – the latter with a friction damper on its lower axis, as well as a central spring and a tiny hydraulic damper up top – so it’s true that

a series of bumps in quick succession will send the K800 leaping around a little. But generally speaking it steers okay, apart from a strong self-centring action once you stop countersteering to get round a bend.

Since the wheels are interchangeable, the brakes are the same 190mm single leadingshoe drum front and rear. The back one worked the best once I got used to having to operate it with my right heel rather than my toe. Zündapp provided its K800 customers with a choice of where to put their feet – either on rear-set rubber-clad footrests for normal riding, or on cast-alloy footboards mounted in front of them for highway cruising. That’s if you can find room to squeeze your boots between the lower cylinder finning and the footboards without getting roasted!

Apart from that, the Zündapp K800 flat-four represents a little known but truly high-end, luxury model in the two-wheeled panoply of the 1930s, with a well thoughtout multi-cylinder design capable of providing lasting satisfaction to its discreet purchasers.

While obviously lacking the speed and consequent notoriety of its Brough Superior SS100 or Vincent Series A contemporaries, it was a sophisticated mileater with a long-legged gait and deserves its place as one of the world’s great motorcycles.

THE Sammy Miller Museum is located in New Milton, Hampshire, in the UK. It contains one of the world’s biggest collections of exotic racebikes, factory prototypes and other rare stuff. Go to www.sammymiller.co.uk

Zundapp prototype car

Flathead design (below) offered reliability and ease of maintenance but not a lot of power, even in 1938. Think of it as the German version of the Harley WLA

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled sidevalve horizontallyopposed four-stroke four; two valves per cylinder; 62 x 66mm for 797cc; 5.8:1 comp; single 22mm Amal carburettor; 6V coil ignition; twin-plate clutch to four-speed, chain-and-sprocket gearbox and shaft final drive; 22rwhp @ 4300rpm CHASSIS Pressed-steel duplex frame; pressedsteel girder forks, rigid rear; 190mm single leading-shoe drums front and back on 19-inch laced steel rims DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1400mm; seat height 710mm; dry weight 215kg BEST BITS Leading-edge style; innovative engineering; comfort and ride NOT SO GREAT Hard to find; slow ISSUE #24

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Lifestyle

RIDE ON BIKE SHOW

Fremantle comes alive with a rooftop custom bike show WORDS ROBERT GLENTON PHOTOGRAPHY SAM LUCKMAN & KIERAN GIBSON-MACFARLANE

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Lifestyle RIDE ON BIKE SHOW

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UTTING on an outdoor event is always a gamble on the weather, even in sunny Perth. It had rained on both weekends either side of Ride On 2015, so an indoor venue was considered. But apart from being difficult to find, we’d set a precedent that first year by cramming in retro show bikes, stalls, music, food and a lot more on top of a roof in the heart of bustling Fremantle. The unique atmosphere that venue helped create was hard to ignore, so we decided to roll the dice again, and won because it rained either side of the 2016 show too!

So when the sun set over the Indian Ocean, the handful of dedicated organisers breathed a collective sigh of relief as the carnival ambiance of Ride On spread over the rooftop, and the only clouds in the sky were there to create a backdrop of nature’s colours. As dusk drew

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“IT’S IMPORTANT TO ENCOURAGE THOSE WHO ARE YOUNG, INEXPERIENCED AND LOW ON FUNDS” in, the hundreds of festoon lights that were strung over the 60 or so show bikes in the centre once again created that special effect.

The glow from the lights of the stalls lining the entire perimeter — displaying everything from leather goods and clothing to bikes, pinstriping and custom parts — also helped to produce a magic fairground feel.

Other space was filled with food outlets selling delicious grilled burgers, great coffee and wood-fired pizzas. A fully stocked bar gave

Style Council RIDE ON is the product of Retro and Custom Motorcycles, a Perth-based rider group celebrating the spirit and style of times past.

It was formed in 2014 following a chance workplace meeting between founders Robert Glenton and Calum Sonnenberg. For more information, check out our feature on the group back in issue #21. GS

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Lifestyle RIDE ON BIKE SHOW Team Effort THANKS to all the exhibitors, sponsors, vendors, The Classic Scooter Club and the Cranksters Hot Rod and Custom Car Club, especially their member Ben for hand-making the groovy trophy as well as another for last year’s winner. And cheers to more than 1500 attendees who came and supported the show. This is what matters to the 20-odd guys and gals who gave their time to set up and take down the event, for which they do not even get a free ticket. How do you avoid bitching and infighting over who gets a free ticket when you run an event for passion not profit? No-one gets one, that’s how.

Not even the main organisers.

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“NOT EVERYONE HAS THE SKILL OR MONEY TO BUILD A PANHEAD CHOP OR A TRITON” the punters the chance to wander around the bikes, beer in hand, as we’d insisted the entire event area be licensed to add to the chilled vibe.

We even took care of the smokers and provided them with a small marquee called Dooby’s Lounge, decked out like grandma’s living room including a TV. Perhaps we overdid it as it was a hit with non-smokers too!

Earlier, the Michelle Smith Jazz Trio, featuring a harp no less, had set a laidback scene and later DJ Ash played a great selection. Datura4 then took to the stage and blasted out their psychedelic rock as a giant moving art projection wrapped around two

walls of the lift shaft. Images ranged from retro bike clips and movie scenes to wild acid-inspired visuals, all of it in sync with the equally spacey music.

The show t-shirts read ‘Pro Built to Home Built’ and we were very pleased to have both takes represented, as well as a broad selection of bikes showcasing all the styles that Ride On is about; classics, old-school choppers, café racers, trackers and more. We believe it’s very important to encourage those who are young, inexperienced and low on funds. Not everyone has the skill or money to build a Panhead chop or a Triton.

The Cranksters put on a great display of vintage hot rods and bikes, and the classic scooter lads brought some terrific Italian moto-culture too. A good example of the diversity of the styles on display can be seen in the show winner and runner-up. We only have one trophy and that is for People’s Choice, with each punter getting a voting slip at the gate. A gorgeous Harley-motored bobber with a springer up front and no springs down back earned the most votes. Yet from the opposite end of the retro-custom scale, a very neat and tasty RD350 café racer built by Joel at Custom Bike Electrics & Restorations came in second.

And the future of Ride On? The venue is due to be redeveloped and it certainly is a hard act to follow. Where else in the world can you hold a retro bike show on a rooftop?

Looks like it’s time to take another gamble, to once again roll the dice.

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Transformers

1981 SUZUKI GSX750

M

Ugly Duckling Grumpy Old Men make a silk purse from a sow’s ear WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOGRAPHY JEREMY HUDSON

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Transformers

T

1981 SUZUKI GSX750

HE Grumpy Old Men are a former road-racing sidecar team from the NSW Central Coast who, when the time came to hang up the leathers, found themselves with a shed full of fabricating tools, a lifetime of metalworking skills and all missing the camaraderie of sharing a common purpose.

So they set about fixing all that by forming a collective to restore or modify bikes for themselves and their mates.

“We built a Honda Bol D’Or for a mate that we showed at Throttle Roll last year,” Scott Gittoes says of a Matchless G50styled cafe racer that has since featured in a bunch of magazines and blogs. “We sat down afterwards and thought, we need something for next year. Pete said he still had that basket-case Suzuki so we decided we’d get onto that.”

Pete is Peter Steele, who with Dave Ashe had formed the nucleus of Scott’s

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pit crew back in the day. The Suzuki was a disassembled pile of parts, what was once a 1981 GSX750 owned by Scott’s former sidecar passenger, Brian, who had pulled it to bits with a view to building something not a million miles from what you see here.

Brian had already sourced the GSX-R1100 front end and Hayabusa rear but had hit a brick wall, so he sold it as an unfinished project to Pete for not much. Brian had the vision, as Scott puts it, and it was now up to them to realise it.

The motor was dispatched to Danny Dest for a rebuild while the team concentrated on mating the late-model suspension to the early-girl chassis. “Danny’s a very good engine builder,” Scott says. The bottom end was treated to new bearings while the top end scored new valves and seats, a new camchain and first-oversize pistons and rings. The engine is the same as fitted to the first 750 Katana so Pete and Scott

“WE’RE ALWAYS ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER — GRUMPY OLD MEN HAD NOTHING ON US. BUT WE GET THE RESULT.” report there were no problems sourcing parts on the ether, including all new seals, gaskets and a kit to refurbish the original carburettors. Ignition is a stock electronic CDI unit, fed by an SSB lithium battery hidden in the seat cowl, while Delkevic four-into-one headers from the UK dump into a Tri-Y muffler for that classic fourcylinder note.

To see these guys in action is a hoot.

They swear like troopers, laugh a lot, call each other names, drink lots of beer when

tools are downed and solve problems as a team. “We’re alway arguing with each other,” Scott says. “Grumpy Old Men had nothing on us. But we get the result.”

The front end was relatively straightforward. Scott and his wife Danielle run SDG Moto, a custom motorcycle accessories and clothing brand with a locally-manufactured bespoke line which includes CNC-machined billet top triple clamps. The original GSX-R1100 bottom clamp is retained. Front wheel is from an ISSUE #24

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Transformers

1981 SUZUKI GSX750

R1 Yamaha, including the brake rotors, although the calipers have been upgraded to four-piston Brembos mounted on custom brackets and fed by HEL braided lines. Scott also machined spacers to mate the Yamaha wheel to the Suzuki forks. “A lot of the Japanese stuff is very similar,” Scott says. “It’s all pretty easy to do when you’ve got it sitting in front of you.”

The dusty end is where it gets more interesting. The seat subframe was cut off just ahead of the top mounts for the twin shocks, with the remaining section forward of that braced and gusseted to take a custom top mount for the single Hayabusa shock unit, which is adjustable for both compression and rebound damping, as well as spring preload. The bottom of the shock

is attached to a progressive rising-rate linkage, which pivots off a point below the swingarm spindle (in this case, an existing chassis cross-brace gusseted for strength).

Scott then replaced the fixed-length rods which hook up the linkage to the swingarm itself with rose-jointed adjustable rods which he can use to fine-tune both ride height and the progressive rate of the suspension action. Amazingly, matching the Hayabusa’s swingarm pivot to the GSX frame was by comparison a piece of cake; the spindle diameters are identical so it required only a couple of spacers to make it all work.

Next job was to make a path for the drive chain, which Scott achieved by fitting an offset drive sprocket with more teeth than

standard and by sectioning the left side of the swingarm with 10mm alloy plate. The rear sprocket also increased in size to keep the final drive ratio as close to stock as possible. Rear wheel is from a GSX-R1100, including the rotor gripped by a twinpiston Brembo caliper.

The final frame mod was fabricating a new rear seat loop to fit under a bevel-drive SS solo seat unit. This section was braced and gusseted to contain all the electrics under the hump.

The fuel tank is stock. Paint is by Jap Sports Finishers in Berkeley Vale in a fetching shade of BSA Bantam olive green with cream. “I picked the colours,” Scott says, with a view to giving it the look of an older bike. “The others pooh-poohed me but

The first GSX SUZUKI was all about two-strokes until the release of the DOHC eight-valve GS750 four in 1976 and later the GS1000. These were replaced in 1980 with the 16-valve TSCC (Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber) GSX750 and GSX1100, the engines of which also powered Katanas from the following year.

Just as the Honda CB750F lived in the shadow of the almost identical 900 Bol d’Or, so did the GSX750 in the shadow of the monster 1100, only more so. They were physically the same size, the 1100 maybe an ounce heavier but significantly more powerful at just under 100hp. By comparison, the

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750 made just under 80hp (up 9hp on the GS) but was still a handful at 229kg dry or more than 250kg wet. Contemporary road testers likened it to an underpowered 1100, some describing it as bland and Two Wheels christening it The Pig (mostly on account of its pork), which was probably bit harsh.

On the plus side, the new GSX engines proved to be very strong, the 1100 in particular a long-time choice of drag racers on account of its bulletproof bottom end.

A bigger fuel tank, up five litres to 24 litres (as on the feature bike), was introduced in 1981 and adjustable rear shocks in 1982.

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled inline four-stroke four; chain-driven DOHC, four valves per cylinder; 67 x 53mm for 747cc; 4 x 32mm Mikuni carburettors; 9.6:1 comp; electronic CDI; Delkevic headers, Tri-Y muffler; wet clutch to five-speed gearbox and chain final drive; 79hp @ 9200rpm (stock) CHASSIS Twin-loop tubular-steel main chassis; custom seat loop and rear shock mounts; GSX handlebar on Joker Machine risers; Joker Machine rear-sets UP FRONT GSX-R1100 USD forks and bottom clamp; SDG billet top clamp; Yamaha R1 17in wheel and rotors; Brembo four-spot calipers with HEL braided lines; 120/70-17 Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport tyre DOWN BACK Modified Suzuki Hayabusa swingarm, shock and rising-rate linkage; Suzuki GSX-R1100 wheel and rotor; twin-piston Brembo caliper; 180/55-17 Bridgestone Battlax Hypersport tyre BODYWORK GSX tank; SS Ducati solo seat trimmed in leather; chopped Hayabusa front mudguard; Dime City Cycles headlight; SDG/ Speedhut GPS speedo; paint by Jap Sports Finishers; graphics by Shack-O Pinstriping SPECIAL THANKS Peter Leven for help with the electrics WEBSITE www.sdgmoto.com.au SUMMARY Old meets new in an unlikely blend of 50s colours, 80s mumbo and modern running gear

“I PICKED THE COLOURS. THE OTHERS POOH-POOHED ME BUT IT’S THE FIRST THING PEOPLE MENTION WHEN THEY SEE IT” I stuck to my guns. People love it, it’s the first thing they mention when they see the bike.”

Shack-O Pinstriping, also in Berkeley Vale, hand-painted in 3D the early Suzuki tank logo with gold leaf and then added pinstripes to the tank and seat in burgundy.

A chopped Hayabusa front guard is fitted, while the back end gets by without one. Getting exactly the right distressed black leather for the seat was a chore; Pete ended up buying a whole hide just to get the look he wanted! “We’ve got enough left over for another 70 seats!” Scott says.

For accessories, the team ransacked the SDG Moto parts bin, which in addition to the Tri-Y muffler includes Joker Machine risers for the stock Suzuki handlebars, an SDG-branded Speedhut GPS speedo, Pingel fuel tap and filter, and a small Joker Machine rear-view mirror. Rear-sets are also Joker Machine with mounting brackets and linkages fabricated in-

house. The control levers, blinkers and taillight were sourced elsewhere, while the headlight is from Dime City Cycles. The Suzuki brake master cylinder is retained.

Tyres are a matched pair of Bridgestone Battlax Hypersports.

If the bike looks brand new, it’s because it mostly is. “Nearly every nut and bolt has been replaced with stainless-steel Allen heads, all the washers too,” Scott says.

The Suzuki was finished on schedule and made its debut at Throttle Roll 2016 where it attracted a lot of attention. “I’m over the moon with the finished result,” Pete says.

“The boys have done a sterling job — it way exceeds my expectations.”

With no time for idle hands, the Grumpy Old Men are already into their next project — a hot rod Triumph America — after which they’ll tackle a rigid SOHC Honda 750 chopper for Scott. They’re already arguing over the colour.

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TESTING TIMES MURPHY’S LAW

McIlwraith WITH JAMIE McILWRAITH

FLYING AT NIGHT OU HAVE all heard about Murphy’s Law, which says “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”. That, apparently, has been sourced back to a US Air Force engineer named Murphy. Well, there’s a corollary to Murphy’s Law called “the buttered toast phenomenon” which is weirder and goes like this: “The chance of the buttered side of the toast falling face down on the carpet is directly proportional to the cost of the carpet.”

To translate this into plain English, I think it means that if things are going to go wrong, they’ll probably do so either at the exact worst time, or they will cause maximum expense. Here’s an example …

There we were, leaving Singleton as the sun was going down, heading back down the Putty Road to Sydney to finish yet another road test.

This time my mate and I were on sporty 250 twostrokes: a Yamaha TZR250 and a Suzuki RG250.

As always, the Putty Road was full of trucks, and the truck we were about to overtake then gave us a perfect dose of Murphy’s Law, plus some buttered toast on the side. The truck dipped a wheel off the tar, up flew some gravel and BAM! The RG250’s headlight was shattered, right on sunset.

We still had one good headlight between us, and to quote Monty Python, “always look on the bright side of life” became our policy. We figured it like this: we’re on similar bikes, we’ve ridden a zillion kilometres together, we can stick together as a two-bike/one-headlight unit and get back to Sydney’s bright lights.

So that was the plan. I have no shame in admitting that my mate’s a quicker rider than me,

Y

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with all his road-racing experience, so neither of us argued about how it was going to pan out: I was going to ride up front on the Yamaha with the good headlight, and he was going to follow a close but safe distance behind on the Suzuki.

I honestly cannot remember whether we had any assistance from the moon that night, as neither of us spent any time with our heads skywards.

“The little Suzuki stuck to my tail like he was at the end of a rope” Darkness quickly descended, and at first I was cautious about everything, waiting for a decent straight to indicate that overtaking manoeuvres were about to commence. After the first one went off without a hitch, my mate appeared beside me making gestures I translated loosely as “speed up you slow bastard”.

So I upped the road speed to normal nighttime touring pace, and the little Suzuki stuck to my tail like he was at the end of a rope. In fact, as the evening ride wore on, I knew my mate was thinking along the same lines as me, which is what we often did anyway. So I upped the pace a bit more.

The whole ride rapidly turned into a hoot, and as well as getting by several trucks, cars and caravans, things got really entertaining when we spotted some bike headlights up ahead.

I’m not sure about you, but if I see another bike up ahead on the road I am hard-wired to speed up and catch it. I must have been a dog in a previous life, because it’s a pack animal instinct.

I’d love to know what the riders of the big Japanese fours that we passed thought about two little 250 two-strokes whizzing past them in formation, going hard at it with just one headlight between them, but I suspect they did a “what the?” as they watched our little red taillights disappear ahead of them.

Once we got back to Windsor and the bright city lights the ride became a lot easier. We both lived in the deepest, darkest inner city, so it was still a long ride home, but when we got home we were elated with the ride. There was so much to talk about, so much to re-live, so much laughter at the idea of the night-formation riding team flying by.

Once the bikes were unpacked and the coffee was brewed, we did reflect on the whole ride. Both bikes were fabulous, but the Suzuki was more peaky and required perfect gear-swapping two-stroke technique, which my mate had down pat. The Yamaha was more civilised and easier to ride and suited me just fine.

However, the big thing we realised was that neither of us could have done such a quick night ride with just anyone else. It all came down to teamwork born of our familiarity with each other’s riding style.

Now, I’m not suggesting you take a hammer to a headlight then head off for a night ride with your mate, but should you ever bust a headlight at dusk, I hope you’re in company with an old mate, that’s all.

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MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK

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VERY now and then, the planets align and life throws you a home run. It doesn’t happen often but when it does it can be a great thing; add to that luck a motorcycle and things are looking really good. It’s the old story, if you can land a job in an industry where you already have a love and you end up getting paid for doing what you love, then it couldn’t be better, right ?

I’ve had that kind of luck a few times over my 58 and something years on this Earth, and I’ve been very lucky to have had such good fortune with work. But good things at some point come to an end.

My last venture was as Ride Manager at Sydney Motorsport Park; I had been running the days there for the past six years. Last year there was a tender put out and, to cut a long story short, a new provider was awarded the business. I thought I was out of a job. My former employer had no other work for me in Sydney – they are a Melbourne-based business – so I thought that was it.

But the new provider contacted me and asked if I could continue with the same role. They had a number of different ideas and I took on the role. But as it happens so often with a changing of the guard, things never stay the same, and for me, I realised after a few months that I needed to move on from that role. No hard feelings, just a need on my behalf to look after myself a bit

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better and not have all the associated worries of running ride days.

Now the really great thing about all this is that I now still do ride days, I just do them as a customer. Track days have been around a long time and I’ve been doing ride days for the best part of 18 years. But with the past six years tied up in running them, I had lost touch with my personal satisfaction of participating in it. I actually did ride at the days during that time but there was always a restriction or limiter for me when I was on the track; it was simply impossible to relax and focus on my riding while I was also the guy in charge.

“The change has been awesome, I’ve never enjoyed doing track days so much” Apart from that, my riding was going well and I was racing and enjoying that too. As I mentioned last issue, my diagnosis with leukemia brought me closer to my bikes and gave me reason and desire to get back on the track, even though that was still my day job at the time.

Now as a free agent, so to speak, I can book in to a day, turn up, set up my bike and gear and

totally focus on a day’s riding at one of the best motorcycle tracks in the country. My biggest worry these days is tyre pressures; if only all problems were that easy to solve! My riding has taken great leaps forward because my focus is now all on my riding and there are no other distractions that are getting in my way of riding faster. The change for me has been awesome, I have never enjoyed my track days so much.

What I’m getting at here is the simple pleasure there is in doing a track day or, for that matter, just going for a ride. Jumping on the bike and taking to the road or track is still one of the best forms of therapy there is. A motorcycle just by its design requires so much of us mentally – concentration, alertness, forward planning, defensive skills – that we just don’t have room in our brains to get caught up in the problems of life or work while we are riding.

My wife Lynda often comes out to the track with me and comments when I come in after a session that I look like a 20-year-old again. It’s true! The adrenalin of the fast pace, the bike itself, the competition and the friends sharing it all with you just make you feel young, fit, invincible and at your best.

Sure, having a job that is also your love can be great. But getting on that motorcycle and taking it out on the track is by far the best fun you can ever have on two wheels. Total concentration on getting the best out of your machine gives a reward that is very hard to beat.

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FIGHTING WORDS HELL’S BELLS

WA L K E R WITH JIMMI WALKER

STREET RACING

O

NCE upon a time there were two young men who were convinced that with enough balls and not much in the way of brains they could drink for free. So let me engage you in a tale of bikes, beers and big hairy blokes with patches.

It was the late 1970s and my mate Justin and I used to frequent a particular hostelry in south-east London that specialised in heavy metal music and attracted all sorts of people, mostly dressed in denim cut-offs, this being the uniform of metalheads when I was a kid.

Justin and I went to the local tech college together and rode a pair of Japanese twostrokes. Our life consisted of four days at work and one at college. The weekend however was ours to raise as much hell as we could muster on 34 quid a week.

By the time Saturday night came around and fuel for the bikes had been purchased, lodgings paid to our respective mums and bike payments made, we’d be, in the words of the prophet, skint.

How then to get our pints of light and bitter on no money?

We hatched a plan to race for money anyone who was keen up the local ‘mad mile’, a straight dual carriageway that ran from a disused railway bridge to a set of traffic lights.

The railway bridge had an almost 90-degree bend running through it. They used to race in the opposite direction in the 60s, and several bikers rode their last when they hit the bridge supports after a mile of flat-out acceleration.

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So starting at the bridge was much safer, so long as the lights were green at the other end, of course.

Anyway we decided to wind up as many Brit bike owners as possible with a view to extracting cash for beer. Our steeds of choice were one very new Suzuki GT550 and my slightly secondhand RD350. The grief we got riding these bikes into a pseudo rockers venue was tangible but we knew they were faster than whatever old rubbish they were riding.

However one particular week we bit off more than we could chew when we challenged a dude called Cuffy to a race, me on my 350 and him on his 650.

“We hatched a plan to race for money anyone who was keen up the local mad mile” Now a number of things went wrong that night, mostly down to our naivety. Number one was we’d never met a Hells Angel before; we just thought they were another bunch of heavy metal fans with fancy cut offs. Number two was assuming the 650 twin he had was a British clunker. It wasn’t, it was in an XS1 Yamaha. I know, bikies don’t ride Jap bikes but this was Britain and the rules were somewhat less enforced as my understanding goes.

Now my 350 had been ported and tuned by none other than Stan Stephens at Brands Hatch and had around 37 ponies – each a flighty stallion – and it was peaky and fast. I can’t comment on the 650 Yam but it went like a bloody rocket! The race took off and I was struck by Cuffy’s speed off the line. I usually had the jump on my competitors but this time we were neck and neck up to the halfway mark. By this stage I’d normally have left whatever Midlands junk the other guy was riding in my mirrors but I was just in front when the big fourstroke got her second breath and came at me again. All I could hear above the scream of my expansion chambers was the throaty rasp of the XS’s reverse megaphones and I lost by a nose.

Normally this would mean a round of abuse and a hasty exit with the promise of payment the following week. But when I arrived back at the pub’s car park, Cuffy’s mates had Justin by the collar and were ready to grab my keys as I coasted to a halt.

We were left in no doubt as to what would happen if we pulled a stunt like that again.

As it turns out, I later found out exactly what that meant after another run-in with the same mob but that’s another story for another time. All I’ll say is it involved me dangling from a sixth-floor window by my ankles.

Stay loose, ride fast enough to outrun your demons and don’t let the bronze get you down

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STUFF WE LIKE

Retro

STYLE UNION JACK DAVIDA HELMET MADE in Britain, Davida helmets evoke a bygone era with leather linings and hand-painted shell. Davida has a reputation for producing the quietest, most comfortable and well-made open-face motorcycle helmets available. $799.95 zorros.net.au

CAFE RACER THROTTLE CONTROL CHROME-plated and supplied with a pair of Domino Para rubber coloured grips. The techy bits are maximum stroke 25mm and quickness 2,9°/mm. Too cool! $79.95 offroadimports.com.au

TREDZ RING AVAILABLE in a variety of tyre patterns, TREDZ rings make a perfect gift. Made from Bright Silver which is 10% harder than traditional Sterling Silver.

From $149 ryleyjc.com.au

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REVZ JEANS THE latest from Draggin Jeans, their eir REVZ jeans have a classic look without sacrificing the performance and protection you expect from a pair of kevlar jeans. Sizes 28-44 $319 dragginjeans.net

CAFE RACER GOGGLES C IT ITALIAN-designed Ethen Cafe Racer goggles capture the vintage feel with a frameless style. c Lenses are Zeiss certified S2 offering superior vison.

L $TBA $ motiveimports.com.au m

R NINE T LUGGAGE BMW Motorrad has released a tank bag and rear bag designed for the ever popular R nineT and the new R nineT Scrambler. Both feature a water-repellent canvas outer and a waterproof main compartment to keep your gear dry and safe.

The tank rucksack has 11 litres of storage space while the soft rear bag offers 40 litres.

Tank rucksack $475 Soft rear bag $525 bmwmotorrad.com.au SUMMER c calls for a lightweight glove that doesn’t leave your hands all hot h and sweaty. The Mustang b

by Five Gloves is a shortstyle glove with discrete soft knuckle protection, pr perforated leather for comfort and velcro MADE of high-quality cowhide leather and fabric stretch denim, wrist closu closure. the Street Hawk jacket doesn’t compromise on safety with soft $94.95 protectors on shoulders and elbows. The lightweight construction motonational.com.au motonatio t ti and mesh liner makes it a perfect summer jacket. Small to 3XL.

MUSTANG GLOVE MUSTA

STREET HAWK JACKET

$550.00 heldaustralia.com.au

BAD LOSER NEXX HELMET NEW to Australia, the Nexx range of helmets takes classic moto styling into the 21st century merging vintage looks with superb protection and performance.

The limited-edition designs of the “Maria” range are perfect for the rider who wants to stand out from the crowd. $549.95 ctaaustralia.com.au

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NEW BIKES YAMAHA XSR900 & XSR700

TRIPLE TREAT Yamaha’s new XSR900 and XSR700 look cool, go hard and don’t cost a bomb WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS JOSH EVANS

Y

AMAHA has unveiled two new retro models based on the MT-09 triple and MT-07 twin as part of their ‘Hipstar' range which also includes the C-Spec Bolt V-twin (Retrobike #20), the XJR1300 four and the SR400 single.

The XSR900 and XSR700 look similar but are wildly different bikes to ride; the former is seriously quick, the latter less so but much more soulful.

Both models hark back to the 1970s, before the days of market fragmentation when bikes were just, well, bikes. Commute on it to work

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during the week, race it on the weekends or ride it around Australia; they were jacks of all trades and masters of none. They were also comfy and easy to ride, relatively inexpensive to buy and maintain, and only exotic European models had fairings.

A big seller back in the day was the Yamaha XS1/XS650 vertical twin, of which more than 250,000 were sold between 1969 and 1985, which makes that model so popular with the custom crowd today. The XS750 triple followed in 1976 and was bored out to 850 in 1980 before being discontinued the year after, so is not as

well known. Either way, these bikes provided the inspiration for the new XSR range, the extra letter denoting a modern factory take on an old classic.

Yamaha has obviously also taken inspiration from the BMW R nineT, making much of XSRs’ modification-friendly features, which include replaceable aluminium panels in the sides of the fuel tank, replacement seat units and, on the 700 at least, a bolt-on sub-frame ripe for the chop. Most of the accessories — headlights, taillights, blinkers and side-covers — are not integral to the design so can be easily swapped for custom pieces.

No surprise, then, that the bikes were launched at trendy Deus Ex Machina in Sydney — ahead of a day-ride through the Royal National Park — and that two distributor-built customs modelled on the DT1 and RZ350 were displayed prominently at the Throttle Roll Street Party a month later.

Retro Specs

ENGINE TYPE

CAPACITY BORE & STROKE COMP POWER GEARBOX FINAL DRIVE FUEL CAPACITY WHEELBASE WET WEIGHT PRICE

So what are they like to ride? The XSR900 is a bit of an animal, particularly when the most aggressive of three fly-by-wire engine modes is selected, which brings with it the least intrusive of three levels of traction control which can also be turned off, not that we ever did. With 114hp at 10,000rpm and torque aplenty at all points below that, it is one of the fastest retro-styled bikes around and, courtesy of its MT-09 running gear, one of the best handling. A wet weight (full tank) of just 195kg also helps. The only changes to the MT-09 are in spring and damping rates and they are for the better, according to testers who have ridden both. The brakes are great, the tyres are sticky and cornering clearance virtually limitless, at least on the tight and gnarly National Park run where I often find it hard to get my rhythm. I especially liked the very broad spread of power which allowed me to hold one gear while muscling my way

through the more challenging sections. The riding position is comfortable, with a gentle lean to the hand grips and slightly rear-set pegs. We never rode long enough between photo sessions to challenge the seat, which looks and feels comfortable enough, nor did we get the chance to carry a pillion.

While most of the riders on the launch preferred the XSR900, it was its little brother that caught my fancy. I’m a sucker for any twin-cylinder bike, even one that is LAMSapproved. The learner-spec XSR700 makes 47hp, similar to the original XS1’s 50hp, but is much revvier and sounds more like a V-twin than a vertical twin due to its 270-degree crankshaft. It’s quite lively off the mark and easily capable of freeway speeds, but is a bit breathless out of corners on the pace or up long hills. I actually don’t mind underpowered bikes; things happen a bit slower which allows me more time to concentrate on the good

XSR900 Liquid-cooled, DOHC, 12-valve, inline triple 847cc 78.0 x 59.1mm 11.5:1 114hp at 10,000rpm Six-speed Chain 14 litres 1440mm 195kg $12,999

XSR700 Liquid-cooled, DOHC, eight-valve vertical twin 655cc 78.0 x 68.6mm 11.0:1 47hp at 9000rpm (LAMS model) Six-speed Chain 14 litres 1405mm 186kg $10,999

stuff like cor corner entry speeds and smooth lines. The non-LAMS model makes 74hp at 9000rpm, which sounds just about perfect; I’d love to try one of those.

The XSR700 is also physically smaller than the 900 and feels lighter than the 9kg weight difference would suggest. It is a very easy bike to ride and I’d have no reservations about recommending one to a rider starting out, so long as they could handle the relatively tall 815mm seat height.

The suspension is less sophisticated but the modest power makes fewer demands of it and I thought it steered a bit more sweetly on its shorter wheelbase. I also think the XSR700 is the better looker, with a nicershaped tank and overall leaner vibe.

Both XSR900 and XSR700 are keenly priced — leaving plenty of cash to make them your own — and come with two-year unlimitedkilometre warranties.

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NEW BIKES HARLEY-DAVIDSON XL 1200CX ROADSTER

“UNLIKE THE EARLY GIRLS, THE CLUTCH IS LIGHT AND THE GEAR SHIFT ALMOST MODERN, ENCOURAGING THE RIDER TO FIND THE MOTOR’S SWEET SPOT”

WELCOME BACK Harley’s 1200 Roadster combines scintillating cool with much improved on-road performance WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS ADAM McGRATH

H

ARLEY-Davidson’s Roadster first appeared as the XLS 1000 in 1979. It was a four-speed Ironhead Sportster fitted with two-inch extended forks, a bigger fuel tank and a comfy dual seat. It’s been in and out of the line-up in the years since but has returned in fine form in 2016 as the XL 1200CX. It closely follows the theme of the original and is all the better for it, for exactly the same reasons.

The differences to the popular 1200 Sportster Forty-Eight are significant, including 43mm upside-down forks, dual front discs, ’normal’ 19/18-inch wheel combo and gas-charged rear shocks. The Roadster sits much taller — seat 90

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height is 92mm higher at 785mm — to offer heaps more cornering clearance and suspension travel, and the fuel tank holds an extra gallon to enjoy it for longer. This makes the Roadster a way more practical proposition than the FortyEight and infinitely more fun in the twisties, if not quite as cool to look at.

I’ve been a big fan of Harley Sportsters since I bought a 1974 XLCH 30 years ago. It was kickstart only and a cantankerous bastard, but geez it sounded good and it was fun to ride. The arrival of the more reliable 883cc and 1100cc Evolution engines in 1986 took the mechanical pain out of Sportster ownership and I’ve never ridden one I didn’t like in all the time since.

The 1200s are the pick of the litter. Harley are coy on horsepower but claim 98Nm at just 3750rpm, which is a lot of torque, with the engine redline set at 6000rpm. Rare for a Harley, the main instrument is a big analogue tacho (with digital speedo below) and the 1200 will pull those revs cleanly in the lower gears if you dare; I only went there once because I thought I should.

The tacho was useful, however, in not letting the revs get too low, especially when looking for drive out of smooth bends on the hop. Unlike the early girls, the clutch is light and the gear shift almost modern, encouraging the rider to stay in the motor’s sweet spot rather than chug along under the powerband as many Harley riders do.

There’s no doubt the sound of Harley’s 45-degree V-twin engine family is a big part of the appeal. Nothing else sounds like one and the factory has done a lot of aural engineering to meet noise regulations and still provide a pleasing note. Having said that, most owners will fit aftermarket pipes; no point owning a Harley if you can’t share it with the neighbours!

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled, OHV, 45-degree V-twin; two valves per cylinder; 88.9 x 96.8mm for 1202cc; 10:1 comp; dry sump; EFI; chain primary drive to wet clutch and five-speed gearbox; belt final drive CHASSIS Mild steel tubular frame with cast junctions for steering head and swingarm pivot; mild steel, rectangular-tube swingarm UP FRONT Non-adjustable 43mm USD forks on upgraded triple clamps; 2 x dual slidingpiston calipers on 300mm rotors, with ABS; cast 19 x 3in, split five-spoke mag wheel with 120/70-R19 Dunlop radial DOWN BACK Variable rate springs with gas-charged dampers, adjustable for spring preload; single dual-piston caliper on 260mm rotor, with ABS; cast 18 x 4.25in split five-spoke mag wheel with 150/70-R18 Dunlop radial DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1505mm; wet weight 259kg; fuel capacity 12.5 litres WARRANTY Two years, unlimited kilometres PRICE From $19,495

The national launch was held in the hills around Canberra, suggesting the factory was confident of the Roadster’s handling, steering and brakes. The upside-down forks, the first ever on a Sportster, are great. The springs are relatively stiff but compression and rebound damping rates were spot on, which was just as well as there is no external adjustment.

The longer rear shocks are adjustable only for spring preload but spring and damping rates are equally well calibrated. The frame is as strong and almost as heavy as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, contributing to the Roadster’s hefty wet weight of 259kg, but is hardly likely to flex.

With a low centre of gravity, the Roadster doesn’t feel that heavy except when being manually pushed, so it pays to think before you park. It’s an easy bike to ride around town, once you’ve come to terms with the dual blinker switches (one for each thumb).

Come playtime, it wasn’t hard to find the limits of the bike’s cornering clearance on tight, smooth roads but that was at speeds riders

of other Harleys only dream about. Hinged footpegs (with hero knobs removed) were the first and only things to scrape each side, and only then when I set out to do so.

It took me longer to come to grips with the steering. The specs read well. The wheelbase is not overly long at 1505mm and the Harleybranded Dunlop tyres relatively slim at 120/7019 front and 150/70-18 rear. As you’d expect, it was as steady as a rock but I wouldn’t call the steering sweet and it took me a little while to find my lines when the going got going.

The brake package is also great, which is something you wouldn’t normally accuse of a Harley-Davidson; they do the best back brakes in the business but the fronts are usually found wanting. A pair of twin-sliding-piston calipers on proper 300mm rotors may not be fourspot radial Brembos but they’re big news on a Sportster. The brakes are progressive in their application and well-matched to the forks — I was expecting more dive — so good on them for finally getting it right.

The Roadster is very nicely finished with trick wheels, quality paint and numerous custom touches. One thing I didn’t go was for the taillight being incorporated into the blinkers.

The back end looks really clean having a naked mudguard when the bike is parked but to my eye it’s one light too many on such a slim bike when the lights are on (which is all the time).

Much of it feels familiar — like the slim tank, fat handgrips and chunky switchgear — although it has more of a ‘sit-on’ riding position than the ‘sit-in’ feel of other models.

It’s a comfy lean to the handlebar even if the footpegs feel a bit forward and put your knees in the breeze. The seat was comfy and held the bum tight on the gas but I didn’t ride the bike long enough to tax it.

The iconic US factory is notorious for making a million models out of a handful of platforms but it’s not as if it hasn’t worked for them. The Roadster is all that and more; distinctive, cool as muck and the best handling Harley yet. It’s not exactly cheap but the good stuff rarely is.

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TANGLES' WORKSHOP EXPERT OPINION

WORKSHOP TALES There’s more to a well-equipped workshop than machinery and tools WORDS: STUART GARRARD PHOTOS GEOFF SEDDON

T

HE workshop experienced the circle of life recently and things got a bit tough. Seddo lost a close friend in a motorcycle accident, my hero father passed on at 97 and my best riding mate JB lost his special nan, the woman who had raised him, with 99 years on the clock.

I needed a circuit breaker when the lads phoned to say they were going for a run down the NSW south coast for a well-earned break. As so often happens to me, the timing was perfect. The trip was to be done the old fashioned way; get on the bikes, stop where we want to, and just make sure we get home five days later. I’d also recently purchased an eight-year-old 600 Yamaha so it would be a great opportunity to get used to it.

As it turned out, the trip was to be a bit of a ‘mechanics’ ride. Bro and Johno are the real thing, while JB and I are self-taught. JB had to cancel at the last moment, but we figured we still had enough combined mechanical expertise to cope with any problems, not that we were expecting any with all of us riding modern bikes.

The lads arrived at the workshop and were

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greeted with a BBQ and drinks. We planned the route for the next morning and then started telling tall tales and true of our work experiences. This set the trend for the coming days.

Johno and Bro have vast experience in the commercial world, both in bike shops and general automotive engineering. All being keen coffee drinkers, it wasn’t long before the stories started flowing at our frequent stops.

I was in need of a new rear tyre so of course asked the experts for opinions. Well, didn’t that bring back memories? As we all know, new tyres have that ‘new feel’ about them and should be treated with respect for the first 10 kilometres or so. Some tyre shops even do a quick run around the block to scuff them in.

But there are some riders who specifically ask for the tyres not to be touched, and who then promptly come a cropper at the first corner after leaving the bike shop.

Then there is the story of another mechanic who test-rode his customer’s prized MV Agusta after repairs and dropped it on cold tyres. Oh dear, much explaining to do and not a very happy owner. Do bikes really fall off

bike lifts in the workshop? I’m told they do!

Recently an adventure bike came into Johno’s shop on a trailer, booked in over the phone for a new rear tyre. What confronted Johno was a freakish situation. The owner had tied his luggage to the rear guard with a few bungies and ratchet tie-down straps.

One of the straps had worked free, wrapped around a wheel nut, flapped around the back of the bike and then wrapped around the opposite wheel nut and got caught in the knobs of the tyre. The tyre locked-up immediately but the rim continued to spin around inside it and of course ripped the valve out of the tube.

Our second night was spent in beautiful Eden on the far south coast, the perfect weather still with us. We stayed in a great place overlooking the ocean and booked a cab as transport to the pub, driven by one of the local lads looking to make a few extra bucks to feed his growing family, and who also offered to pick us up later in the evening.

Drinks and good pub grub were enjoyed, and of course tickets purchased to support the local footy team. Be damned if we didn’t win two enormous meat trays! After consulting the lovely ladies behind the bar, it was decided that our cab driver would be a worthy recipient. It made a great tip and he certainly finished his shift that night with a smile on his face.

Likewise, not all good workshop stories are of disaster. One day an old, somewhat scruffy bloke walked into Johno’s bike shop.

We’re talking 85 in the shade. He showed great interest in a very large cruiser and asked if he could buy it. Of course, said Johnno, who was on sales and finance for a change. And how would you like to pay for it, sir? Old mate quietly said that he would like to pay cash and proceeded to pull large wads of bank notes from his pockets. And I mean large! He paid for the bike on the spot, including delivery to his house. The story goes that the bike sits in his lounge room and has never been ridden, he just always wanted to own one.

Mechanics say the hardest part of the job is dealing with customers; fixing bikes is the easy bit. Bro’s got a big sign in his workshop advising that he charges $90 an hour for

labour. If you want to watch, he charges $110 and if you offer advice $120. He’ll let you help for $130 an hour. The top rate is $150 for customers who’ve already had a go at fixing it but deny it, after which he suggests you save your money and take the bike home.

So what are you paying for? Legendary Ducati tuner Ian Gowanloch used to run a full-page ad comprising just a photocopy of a bare hand. ‘This is the image of my right hand,’ the copy read. ‘Its collection of scratches, scars and callouses tell an interesting story. In an age when degree of technical wizardry is often the measure of a motorcycle’s worth, it is an old-fashioned quality called skill contained in and

controlled by hands like these that ultimately determines if the machine is running correctly or not.’ Ian always did have a way with words, which still ring true more than 20 years later.

Having said that, some problems are easier to solve than others, like the firsttime Ducati owner who couldn’t get his recently-purchased second-hand Pantah to fire and brought it in to the workshop.

Ian had it sussed before it was even off the trailer. The problem seems to be in the right-hand switch-block, he said deadpan.

The owner had never before owned a bike with a kill switch and had inadvertently turned it off !

Sydney Authorised Dealer of

GT CONTINENTAL 95-97 Princes Highway St Peters NSW 2044

V7 RACER I

T: (02) 9557 7234 F: (02) 9557 7302 E: info@motociclo.com.au

I

www.motociclo.com.au

Also: Lewis Leathers, Stagg Leather, Halcyon Goggles, Ace café merch, Rossi Boots, White Silk Scarves etc and MORE! ISSUE #24

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Social Pages

LIFE'S A BIKE

Pages l a i c o S

PHOTO: RUSS MURRAY

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Social Pages LIFE'S A BIKE

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READERLAND OPINION PAGES

SALTY PAINTS

DOUBLE SHOT

LITTLE BIG BIKE

VELOCITA D’EPOCA

WINNERS ARE GRINNERS WHAT a great surprise I got today when the Draggin jeans arrived on our doorstep, and thank you so much for supplying them in my husband’s size. I can’t thank you enough, both Keith and I love them and they fit so well and look hot. I'm sure he will get a lot of wear out of them, they really do look bulletproof. This is the first thing I've ever won from a magazine!

RereHuia Luckman

DOUBLE SHOT #1 THE photos of the Gasoline BMW last issue are the best you’ve ever published. Every photo is amazing, as is the cover. I saw the bike at Throttle Roll and it took me a while to work out it was the same bike.

William Hughes

DOUBLE SHOT #2 DAMN you Geoff Seddon and Thomas Wielecki. I thought my days of owning a Bavarian Mud Wrecker were long behind me and then you run a story on that stunning R nineT. Alec Simmons

TOOL TIME HAD a wry smile reading Barry Blackman’s letter (Feedback, issue #23) about how hard it is to remove a rear wheel on a modern bike compared with an older bike. He forgot to mention most old bikes also had centre-stands and kick-starters and even came with tool kits. Mind you, they needed them.

Dave Mack

SALTY PAINTS I ENJOYED reading issue #23. I especially

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VELOCITA D’EPOCA #2 PROUD! Gawang Pinoy!

Café Racer Philippines liked your Lake Gairdner story. I’ve never been there but have been to Bonneville a few times and your story brought back heaps of memories.

I also enjoyed the Tom Fritz feature. I’d never heard of him before but I love his work and will seek out more.

Alan Knight

LITTLE BIG BIKE THE 400 Four in issue #23 is really nice.

I had one when they were new but it was nothing like Nate’s!

Noel Scarpel

MAGAZINE OVERLOAD RIDER UNDER CONSTRUCTION I LOVE reading about how other people got into riding motorcycles. My own journey started when I was 11. While walking to school an awesome motorbike went past, I was overwhelmed how it made me feel and so I was hooked. I told my dad I was going to ride motorbikes; my parents were not at all pleased and hoped it was just a passing phase.

Anyway, I started riding at 13 and still ride at 57. While pregnant I had a T-shirt that said Triumph Rider Under Construction, and when our boy was born we changed that to Triumph Rider Under Instruction.

We are proud to say that our boy now has his own Triumph.

Rikki Love

PETER Douglas (Feedback, issue #23) bemoans Retrobike isn’t to his taste but says his 16-year-old grandson loves it.

Instead of not renewing his subscription, maybe Peter should transfer it to his grandson for Christmas and do them both a favour.

Geoffrey Neal

WIN RAZZO JEANS! To encourage your feedback, we’ll pick one letter (Rikki Love this issue) to win a pair of

VELOCITA D’EPOCA #1

Drayko Razzo riding jeans, valued at $289!

VELOCITA d’Epoca is just awesome, truly the product of passion, talent, vision, grit, teamwork and lots of green tea!

High Fives to Benjie Flipprboi, Ben Chan and Dante Dixon. So proud of my brothers!

Jenjen Furer

Protection comes from a combination of Dyneema and Kevlar fibres behind the aged denim exterior: check out all the details at the www.dragginjeans.net website. Write to retro@ universalmagazines.com.au or to our page

(Retro Bike Magazine) on Facebook.

Jacket Seven T Art. 5432

www.heldaustralia.com.au

Email: info@heldaustralia.com.au