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retro bike TwinPeaks CLASSIC NOT PLASTIC

(Both incl. GST)

ISSUE 29 AUTUMN 2018

AUS $14.95* NZ $15.99

1 976 ya ma h a xs 6 5 0

D UCATI A POL LO

HONDA C BX 1000

S P I RI T OF M UNR O

TR I TON 650

GLEMSECK SPRINTS

HI STOR I C RACING

“NO ONE KNOWS YOUR

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To celebrate the fifty year anniversary of the first model, Moto Guzzi introduces the V7 III. The third generation of the Moto Guzzi that is known and loved all over the world has been completely revamped: every detail has been fine-tuned to maximise owner satisfaction and riding pleasure, leaving the originality and authenticity typical of this iconic motorcycle unaltered.

V7III Range Includes: V7III Anniversario V7III Stone V7III Special V7III Racer

/motoguzziaus

@motoguzziaus

motoguzziaus.com.au

NEW OLD BIKES EDITORIAL

G'DAY WITH GEOFF SEDDON

I

T WAS great to hang out at the Retrobike stand at the recent Sydney Motorcycle Show. To the many readers who stopped by for a chat and to check out Wayne Fazzalari’s Triton (page 52) in the metal, it was a pleasure to meet you all.

Wayne’s immaculate Triton was one of only two classic bikes at the show, the other being a very tidy Honda CR750 replica on the Saint clothing stand. But there were plenty of retro bikes on display, both stock and modified, it’s just that every one of them was brand spanking new.

Triumph had a bunch of customs based on the 1200 Bonneville and Thruxton, plus of course the new Bobber, which we review this issue on page 86. Yamaha displayed its ‘retrosexual’ XSRs and Kawasaki its new Z900, which looks a lot like the old Z900.

Ducati’s new Desert Sled Scrambler attracted almost as much interest as the V4 Panigale.

And as for Harley-Davidson, apart from the new Street twins, they’ve never been other than retro-styled!

I totally get it. I love the look and feel of classic bikes but know first-hand that they can be difficult to live with, especially if you are not a confident mechanic. Like a lot of journos, I know the theory but less so the hands-on nuts-and-bolts stuff, a theme that Jamie McIlwraith takes up in his usual entertaining style on page 84.

The surprise packet at the show for me was on the Royal Enfield stand. As regular readers know, I’m a big fan of their Continental GT 535 ("Downhill Racer", Retrobike #25), but at the end of the day, 29hp is not a lot if you want

your bike to cover many bases. If only it had a wee bit more.

My prayers were answered a few weeks before the show when Royal Enfield pulled the covers off its new 650 twin at the factory’s technology centre in Leicestershire, England, then debuted two models based on it — the Interceptor and Continental GT — in Milan a few days later.

The all-new 650s are claimed to make 47hp at 7100rpm and 52Nm of torque at 4000rpm, similar to the numbers you’d expect of a classic British vertical twin.

Internally, the new air- and oil-cooled motor is much closer to a modern Triumph than the pushrod Enfield Interceptors of yore.

Dimensions are over-square at 78 x 67.8mm for 649cc and a single overhead camshaft drives four valves per cylinder. The crankshaft pins

EDITOR Geoff Seddon DESIGNER Kate Podger VALUED CONTRIBUTORS Alan Cathcart, Art Defense, Kel Edge, Jeremy Hudson, Jamie McIlwraith, Russ Murray, Kyoichi Nakamura, Stephen Piper, Colin Rosewarne, Jason Schultz, Gigi Soldano, Maurice Volmeyer ADVERTISING MANAGER Fi Collins SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 303 414 www.universalmagazines.com.au ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Marcus Hucker

“I love classic bikes but know first-hand they can be difficult to live with” are offset by 270 degrees, more’s the pity, but so are Nortons and Triumphs these days so it looks like I’ve lost that argument. And it is, of course, fuel-injected.

The proof will come in the riding when they are released mid-year, but I did get a chance to get up close and personal with the Continental GT 650 at the show. As with its single-cylinder sibling, it’s physically small and light, the styling is as retro as they come and the riding position is spot-on. Fingers crossed!

UNIVERSAL MAGAZINES CHAIRMAN/CEO Prema Perera PUBLISHER Janice Williams CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Vicky Mahadeva ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Emma Perera FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER James Perera 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 29 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, Australia. 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 MMXVIII. ACN 003 609 103. www.universalmagazines.com.au Please pass on or recycle this magazine.

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Denim never looked so good as on this tasty (and brand new) Moto Guzzi V7 from Wrench Kings

FEATURE BIKES 08

HONDA CBX666

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DUCATI APOLLO

A beautiful six-cylinder swan takes on the ugly four-cylinder ducklings of Australian vintage superbike racing. Worth the price of entry for the sound alone!

Alan Cathcart rides the sole-surviving Ducati Apollo, 1200cc of tyre-shredding big-block V4 torque that proved too much too soon for US police forces way back in 1963

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GUZZI V7 CAFE RACER

TRITON 650

Ulfert Janssen is at the vanguard of Euro custom motorcycle design. Here’s his take on Moto Guzzi’s reborn V7, delivered by the legendary Wrench Kings of Bilthoven

Is there a sweeter marriage in all of classic British motorcycling than a well-tuned 650cc Triumph Bonneville engine in a sharp-handling Norton Featherbed frame?

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WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN

Lee Munro sets a land speed record for Indian on a much-modified 2017 Scout.

If you don’t follow through on your dreams, his great-uncle used to say, you might as well be a vegetable

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DUCATI 750 SUPERSPORT

Deep Creek Cycleworks delivers a lesson on building a distinctive sports bike with not much more than imagination, commitment and a deft feel for a spray gun

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YAMAHA XS650 ‘MANTA’

Jay Donovan combines traditional old-school metal-shaping techniques with an acute eye for modern automotive design that belies his age of just 24 years

76

MONDIAL 250 BIALBERO

Mike Hailwood reckoned the Mondial that won the World Championship in 1957 was the best 250cc single-cylinder racing bike ever built, but what would he know?

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88

REGULARS 05 82 84 94 98

G’DAY RETRO STYLE McILWRAITH ON ANY SUNDAY FEEDBACK

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OTHER STUFF 20

GLEMSECK SPRINTS

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We return to Solitude racetrack in Germany for the 2017 running of Europe’s coolest dragrace meeting

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LADIES AND GENTS

Melbourne rocks and rumbles as 1000 custom bikes muster for the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride

64

HISTORIC RACING

44 88

MV AGUSTA RVS#1

Wakefield Park in southern NSW plays host to the Australian Historic Road Racing Championships

The world’s first factory ‘neo racer’, from the company that defines performance and radical style

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TRIUMPH BOBBER

Retrobike gets its grubby mitts on a new Triumph 1200 Bobber and we didn’t want to give it back

1957 SPORTSTER RESTO

This is the bike that launched 60 continuous years of Harley Sportster production. Not dead yet!

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Vintage Superbikes

HONDA CBX1000

SYMPATHY

F O R T H E

DEVIL Please allow us to introduce Roland Skate’s CBX666 Honda, aka The Beast WORDS ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS STEPHEN PIPER

A

SELF-EMPLOYED carpenter from the Yarra Valley east of Melbourne, Roland Skate has been stuck on sixes since 1982 when he bought his first Honda CBX, a well-used ex-drag racer.

“I fell in love with it because it gave so much performance, and especially so much fun, in return for so little attention,” Roland says. “I began doing track days and eventually plucked up the courage to go racing in 1994. I gave it a bit of TLC and have been progressively modifying it ever since.

People used to rubbish the CBX, saying it’d never be able to make a race bike. But I knew the bike could be successful if I got a good rider aboard it.”

Enter fellow Hartwell Motor Cycle Club member Michael Gibb in 2007, a gifted novice whom Roland thought had what it took to race the CBX against the big guns of Post Classic Period 5 racing, also known as Vintage Superbike.

Roland set about rebuilding the CBX as a dedicated Period 5 bike, after it had languished for five years in the shed with a holed crankcase from a major engine fail. In this he was assisted by Val Bristow, widow of fellow Australian CBX Owners Club member Mel, who was early in the build of his own CBX racer when he passed away. “Val insisted on sending me everything he’d collected and told me to build a bike in his memory,” Roland says. “That’s why his name’s on the bike today, together with the name of their family freight-forwarding firm, PowerHouse. The Beast wouldn’t exist without them.”

Period 5 rules allow up to 1300cc and slick tyres on 17-inch rims to take the grunt, albeit restricted to 4.5 inches wide at the rear. A pair of shakedown club races with Dibb aboard soon highlighted the chassis’ shortcomings, in particular the lack of cornering clearance. However, help was at hand in the shape of American CBX guru Tom Marquardt, who had brought his own CBX superbike to Australia for the 2008 Island Classic, only to crash and suffer injuries which necessitated a three-week stay for him and his wife as Skate family guests. By way of thanks, Marquardt took Roland’s stock CBX frame home with him and modified it to the same dimensions as his successful US-spec racer.

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HONDA CBX1000

“YEAH, IT GETS A LITTLE PHYSICAL AT PHILLIP ISLAND,” MICHAEL DIBBS SAYS, “BUT WE JUST HANG ON AND SORT IT OUT” The frame mods were extensive, positioning the engine 25mm higher and 15mm further forward, thus improving cornering clearance and loading up the front end for more grip. The upper rear shock mountings were repositioned 30mm lower to give a taller rear ride height and even more forward weight bias. “However, this still didn’t give Mick enough cornering clearance so we had Ted Bishop in Melbourne make another version of Tom’s frame, lifting it at the front by a further 15mm," Roland says. "Now Mick doesn’t ground the bike out anywhere.” Marquardt’s much steeper head angle of 23 degrees (opposed to 27.5 degrees stock) was retained.

The Beast debuted later in 2008 in the Vintage Superbike support races at the Australian MotoGP. “We finished the bike at 5am on the morning of qualifying,” Roland recalls. “It had zero miles under its wheels apart from a quick run up the road to make sure it changed gears, and Mick had never ridden it with the new chassis. He qualified fifth in a 40-bike grid with all the stars like Phillis and Campbell there, as well as the Irving Vincent. It was just amazing!

“We didn’t have the extra power compared to the narrower fours to push the wider engine 10

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through the air down the straight. But Mick rode the wheels off it in the turns and that’s what kept us in contention. They just put the finishing line in the wrong place!”

A definite crowd pleaser, Mick later managed a trio of popular third places in the support races for the World Superbike round in 2010 and a very close second in the Australian Historic titles at Queensland Raceway.

To create the Stage Three version of the bike you see here and which I rode last Easter at Broadford, Roland took a stock CBX engine, junked the generator and starter motor assembly, then shaved 3kg off the crank for a quicker-spinning motor. Unfortunately, the lighter crank was damaged in an engine blowup which he attributed to oil surge under the extreme cornering forces permitted by slick tyres. So a stock crank was refitted, along with a larger sump to hold an extra 1.5 litres of oil, an upgraded oil pump and an HRC oil cooler from a CB1100R race kit.

Carrillo steel rods carry 3mm-oversize Wiseco pistons to punch out the motor from 1047 to 1147cc and bump compression ratio from 9.3 to 10.5:1. The 24-valve head was ported, gas-flowed

and fitted with oversize valves (26.5mm inlet, 23mm exhaust) controlled by dual Kibblewhite Precision valve springs with their operation converted to an under-bucket shim set-up using custom-machined retainers. “We’ve tried heaps of different American race cams, some with very high lift, but Web Cams are the best,” Roland says. “They’re not as aggressive as some we’ve used. The worst were from a sidecar race kit, with literally no power below 7500rpm,- and then it would rip your arms off like a twostroke motocrosser. We even used street cams for a while but these Web Cams are the best compromise. They’re still pretty tractable and give us 130hp at the rear wheel at 9600rpm, with quite a nice spread of power.”

Flat-slide carburettors are forbidden under Period 5 regs, so Roland opted for six 31mm Keihin smoothbores, a tight squeeze that required shaving the top of the crankcases and flattening the top frame rails to fit.

As I rode it, The Beast weighs 227kg ready to roll, complete with 10 litres of Avgas in the stock fuel tank tastefully adorned by Alan Bailey of Art By Al. He wanted to make the Ogri of vintage superbiking look smart by depicting a

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Vintage Superbikes

HONDA CBX1000

Michael Dibbs tries out his dad’s CBX

Sir Al with owner Roland Skate (centre) and race pilot Michael Dibbs

“THE ENGINE COMES ALIVE FROM 5800RPM, THEN BUILDS POWER IN A LINEAR MODE TO THE 10,400RPM LIMITER” CBX engine on top of the tank with a devilish Beast emerging from it, in keeping with the 666 race numbers and flames. Very satanic.

Those significant kilos are distributed 46/54 rearwards — better than stock, still not ideal — via the NZ-built McIntosh chrome-moly swinging arm with underside bracing and twin Wilbers fully adjustable piggyback shocks. Front brakes are twin 300 x 6mm cast-iron rotors from Ford McKernan Engineering in Euroa gripped by twin-piston Brembo calipers sourced from a wrecked Benelli 900 Sei — one six helping out another! Down back a single-piston Hyosung caliper and tiny 178mm Kawasaki rotor are strictly for decoration as Michael Dibb never uses it. Wheels are 3.5 x 17-inch front off a Honda VTR1000 and 4.5 x 17-inch rear from a Kawasaki ZZ-R600, shod with Dunlop 12

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KR106/108 slicks. The stats looked good on paper, but what would it be like in practice?

It took the best part of a day to get even a hint of an answer after The Beast declined to run on all six at morning fire-up. The culprit was swarf in the freshly painted fuel tank, which meant extracting, stripping and cleaning all six carburettors. Even with many hands on deck, it was a time-consuming process and we missed our scheduled afternoon session as well.

Mercifully we were permitted two sedate laps at day’s end just to ensure it was running okay for Day 2, which it was.

The CBX has lots of presence when you first approach it, a gorilla of a motorcycle, but it rides like anything but. You need to tiptoe to climb aboard thanks to the raised rear ride height and the tall seat pushes your bodyweight forward

onto the Tingate clip-ons, set wide and flat to provide the necessary leverage to muscle what is a very physical bike through the bends.

Working up turn speed to a respectable level in my first 15-lap session taught me that the CBX has lots of cornering clearance and, in spite of the adverse weight distribution, there’s good front-end grip, especially if I keep my body cranked forward over the tank.

It doesn’t feel bulky on the move, which is surprising as you can’t exactly miss that huge cylinder head sticking out either side below.

The handling was astonishing, steering far more sweetly and precisely that I expected in slower turns, leastways on a smooth surface. It brakes well from high speed, the cast-iron discs giving far more bite than comparable stainlesssteel rotors. The bike’s rearward weight bias

Retro Specs promotes stability on the stoppers and the high cylinder count reduces inertia, which prevents wheel chattering when calling on engine braking to lend a hand.

The silky smooth 130rwhp engine is also a surprise. It’s ultra-friendly power delivery makes it easier to ride in the tight sections than its more potent but peakier four-cylinder rivals. It really comes alive from 5800rpm, then builds in a totally linear mode past the peak torque mark of 7200rpm through to the 10,400rpm soft-action limiter. Dibb told me it really pays to redline each gear — there are only five, remember — waiting until the engine flutters before shifting up. Gearshift is firm but positive, although neutral is the devil to find on the move and impossible at rest.

Paradoxically The Beast is at its best in tight turns rather than flat-out sweepers, same as its pussycat of a motor is most effective when playing the throttle back and forth, searching for grip on a track still damp with dew. Pouring on the power

while cranked over didn’t faze the chassis, provided the track was smooth. But having the handling go haywire after hitting the bump on the Broadford back straight each lap gave me a good idea of what Dibbsy’s up for on the final turn at Phillip Island where, by all accounts, The Beast is a sight to behold as it tries to tie itself in knots. “Yeah, it gets a little physical there,” he says, “but we just hang on and sort it out.” Same thing for me cresting the hill leading down onto the straight at Broadford, where the CBX shook the bars violently but somehow or another straightened itself out each time, earning us a round of applause from track-side fans when we headed back to the pits.

“I built The Beast in 1993 but it took almost 20 years for us to achieve what we’d set out do and scare the established players,” Roland says.

“If I die now, I’m content. Although having said that, I’m now aiming to build a 1233cc methanol-fuelled Beast with Pro-Link — let’s see if that gets us to the finish line first.”

ENGINE Air-cooled inline four-stroke six; chaindriven DOHC, four valves per cylinder; 67.5 x 53.4mm for 1147cc; Dyna CDI ignition; 10.5:1 comp; 6 x 31mm Keihin CR-S smoothbore carbs; Morse chain primary drive to Barnett kevlar wet clutch and five-speed gearbox; chain final drive CHASSIS Tubular steel triple-backbone frame with engine stressed, by Ted Bishop and Tom Marquardt; 39mm Showa non-adjustable forks with 3.5 x 17-inch cast wheel, twin 300mm castiron rotors with Brembo twin-piston calipers; McIntosh braced, chrome-moly swingarm with a 4.5 x 17-inch cast wheel and not much in the way of rear brakes at all; Dunlop slicks DIMENSIONS Wet weight 227kg; wheelbase 1500mm PERFORMANCE 130rwhp at 9600rpm; top speed 250km/h (Phillip Island, 2010) BEST Puts the ‘motor’ into motorcycle; dropdead gorgeous; that noise!

NOT SO GREAT Not for the faint of heart ISSUE #29

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Cafe Racers

2017 MOTO GUZZI V7 II

E B L OY T T I L

B L U E Pint-sized Moto Guzzi is dressed for show WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS VANGUARD/GARNET

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U

LFERT Janssen lives the life.

Formerly an automotive designer for Renault, he now pens mostly two-wheeled customs for well-healed clients through his business, Garnet Design, in Switzerland. Not all get built and those that do he doesn’t build himself. Instead, he and his clients commission third-party workshops to bring his drawings to life, while Ulfert dreams up the next one.

His designs cover all the usual suspects — BMW R nineT, Triumph Bonneville/Thruxton, Ducati Scrambler, Yamaha Bolt — as well as less obvious choices like MV Agusta, the modern H2 Kawasaki and GSX-S1000 Suzuki. But he is best known, at least in these pages, for his Moto Guzzi creations for Dutch clothing brand Vanguard.

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“WE CHANGED THE STANCE OF THE BIKE FOR SEXIER PROPORTIONS AND A RACER LOOK”

The first, styled after the legendary Moto Guzzi V8 GP bike of 1955 and featured one year ago in Retrobike #25, was as radical as they come, especially as it was built

by Amsterdam custom shop Numbnuts Motorcycles on an unlikely 1380cc Eldorado platform. This build, based on a new 750cc Moto Guzzi V7, isn’t quite as ambitious and much more real world. Beautifully realised by another Dutch workshop, Wrench Kings in Bilthoven, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the V7, it is all the more relevant for being something we’d actually like to own and ride.

We tested the new Series III V7 last issue and loved its character, style and retro vibe, as you’d expect of a 1970s classic Italian bike that you can still find in the showrooms in 16

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2017. Our feature bike is, however, a Series II model from earlier in the year, but to most eyes it's identical to the Series III; the rocker covers and cylinder head finning are the most noticeable visual differences.

“We designed a one-off custom bike which bridges (the gap) between the first V7 and the model from today,” Janssen says. “We changed the stance of the bike and created a slight forward-leaning angle for more sexy proportions and a racer look.

“The design is a bit retro and some details throw you back a couple of decades. Yet the overall design keeps the connection to the contemporary donor bike, which gives the feeling of a timeless mix.

“The custom cafe-racer tail section and

the bikini fairing underline the racer style with a touch of vintage form language. As a special feature, we designed a custom twointo-one exhaust system with a solid roar; it announces the approach of the head turner even from a distance!”

Wrench Kings is a well-known European brand in the style of Deus ex Machina, building cafe racers, trackers and scramblers from mostly Japanese marques in their workshop and selling lots of cool merchandise on the side.

"After we agreed with the design in collaboration with Gannet Design and Vanguard Clothing, we started the build,” Wrench Kings’ co-owner Bram says. “As usual we start by cutting the rear subframe; it gets

Cafe Racers

2017 MOTO GUZZI V7 II

“IT BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN THE FIRST V7 AND THE MODEL FROM TODAY”

disassembled, lowered and shortened. Then the fitting part starts with the new front fairing and the new rear end.

“The tank of the bike is original, but we needed to customise the tank so we could fit the Monza cap and replace the Moto Guzzi tank badges with the Vanguard logo. As seen in the design of Gannet, the rear light with the Vanguard logo is cut out of the rear end, all hand-crafted.”

The side covers, battery box, air box and rear mudguard were binned, and the front guard bobbed. Clip-ons and rear-set footpegs were fitted, perfectly complementing the small fairing — a cross between a Guzzi Le Mans Mk 1 and early Ducati Super Sport — and custom tail unit fitted with a quilted diamond-pattern leather solo seat. The oneoff dual exhaust snakes its way rearward to a single small muffler under the seat without bothering about a cat converter.

The tank has been painted in a denim look 18

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— appropriate given it was commissioned to promote Vanguard’s new line of V7 jeans — but not the fairing and tail unit painted in gloss blue. Most of the bolts on the bike were also anodised blue to match.

Not everyone will go for the tyres, but in Garnet’s defence the bike’s life ’til now has been largely restricted to touring Vanguard’s many dealers across the Netherlands.

That said, it’s good to go; apart from the tyres, exhausts and filter pods, the V7 is mechanically stock and ready to rock.

So maybe not the most radical custom we’ve ever run but, like the Ducati 750SS featured on page 58, the Garnet Guzzi is a fantastic-looking bike with genuine riding appeal and within the capability of a skilled home builder. And underneath it all, you get a brand-spanking-new motorcycle that will go for years.

Lots of cool simple ideas here. We like it a lot.

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled four-stroke 90-degree V-twin; OHV, two per cylinder; 80 x 74mm for 744cc; EFI; custom two-into-one exhaust; dry single-plate clutch to six-speed gearbox and shaft final drive; 48hp @ 6200rpm CHASSIS Modular double-cradle frame in tubular steel; conventional 40mm forks with single Brembo four-piston caliper on a 320mm rotor; twin-shock swingarm, adjustable for spring preload with twin-piston caliper on 260mm rotor; laced wheels BODYWORK Custom bikini fairing; stock V7 tank with Monza-style filler; custom tail unit with quilted leather seat; custom paint SPECIAL THANKS Vanguard Clothing for footing the bill BEST Fantastic blend of classic 1970s and modern custom styles; goes like a new bike NOT SO GREAT Nothing a pair of Pirelli Sport Demons wouldn’t fix

DATE 26-28 JANUARY 2018

SPECIAL GUESTS WILL BE GIACOMO AGOSTINI, COLIN EDWARDS AND TROY CORSER

Historic bike action returns to Phillip Island this January 26-28, with the Australians chasing redemption after three big losses. Jeremy McWilliams and the hard-charging Brits are current International Challenge champs, but in 2018 the pressure mounts with Phillip Island master Troy Corser to head Australia, the USA signing Texas Tornado, Colin Edwards, and the Kiwis on the attack. Legendary Italian, Giacomo Agostini returns with a bevy of beautiful MV Agustas to ensure the Classic’s 25th commemorative year is a true celebration.

GO TO ISLANDCLASSIC.COM.AU OR CALL (03) 5952 2710 FOR TICKET AND GENERAL INFORMATION

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2017 GLEMSECK 101

STRAIGHT LINE Glemseck 101 is drag racing at its coolest and purest WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS MAURICE VOLMEYER

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2017 GLEMSECK 101

“VISUAL IMPACT AND CREATIVITY COUNT AS MUCH AS PERFORMANCE, IRRESPECTIVE OF THE CLASS”

T

HE Glemseck 101 is Europe’s biggest custom bike festival. Held over three days each September on a small section of what used to be the Solitude racetrack — home to the German 500 GP until 1964 — near Leonberg in southern Germany, Glemseck attracts tens of thousands of visitors to a long weekend of bikes, live music and heads-up 1/8th-mile drag racing.

The mile-long pit paddock hosts the International Village of custom bike shops and clubs from all over Europe. The range of customs on show is staggering, covering all genres. It’s also the place to get watered and fed, and maybe take in one of the high-energy rockabilly, punk or rock’n’roll bands on stage.

There is a huge trade area for sponsors, which include BMW, Suzuki, Triumph, Kawasaki, Harley-Davidson, Indian, Honda, Moto Guzzi,

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KTM and Royal Enfield, to name just a few.

Entry to Glemseck 101 is free for spectators, which means plenty of cash burning holes in pockets to spend on stuff, including at stalls representing pretty much every accessory brand in Europe.

Centre stage is the world’s coolest motorcycle drag-race meeting, or ‘sprint’ as they like to call it over there. Held over 1/8th of a mile (200 metres) on the old Solitude start-finish straight adjacent to the pits, entry to all classes is by invitation only, after expressions of interest are invited earlier in the year. So visual impact and creativity count as much as performance if you want to be part of it, irrespective of the class, which is what makes this event so hard to resist.

Racing is heads-up, which means no handicaps, and starts with the drop of a flag by a pretty girl in a frock. Drag racing doesn’t get

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History 101

“THERE ARE NO QUALIFYING SESSIONS, NO EXCUSES AND NO SECOND CHANCES” much purer than that! Fields of 16 bikes fight out each class over four rounds, with the loser of each race immediately eliminated and back on the trailer. There are no qualifying sessions, no excuses and no second chances.

The premier class is Sultans of Speed for purpose-built sprint racers powered by air-cooled four-stroke twins of up to 1400cc capacity and constructed by the best custom shops on the continent. The godfather of the class is Seb Lorentz from Lucky Cat Garage in France. “The Sultans of Speed is a race for speed rugs, turbocharged flying carpets built and raced by creative gearheads,” he says.

Best for 2017 was Amir Brajan from Mellow Motorcycles in Germany on a belt-drive Ducati, ahead of Tommy Thoring on an XV1000 Yamaha and Sami Panseri on another Duke.

Cafe Racer is a run-what-you-brung class 24

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for street-registered customs powered by aircooled engines of up to 1000cc. Leo Fleuren from Holland was too good on a belt-drive 900SS Ducati (we featured his bevel-drive 900SS replica last issue), ahead of Danielle Ghiseli on a T100 Bonneville and Mic Sheer on an R100 Beemer. Danielle was just one of many women competing this year, with Amelie Mooseder also making the podium in the Four-Valve Sprint for BMW boxers.

We spotted a few more familiar faces in the Sunday of the Beast invitational — aka Poets of Sprint — for which there appears to be no rules at all apart from a high level of customisation. Christian Moretti from Plan B Motorcycles in northern Italy (‘Orange Project’ XV750, Retrobike #19; ‘Fireball’ XV1000, Retrobike #21) was giving away too much capacity on his latest build, an

LEONBERG in what is now southern Germany was established in 1248 and has a chequered past. It became infamous in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for its witch hunts, which condemned many innocent women to death, and also during WWII as the site of a concentration camp.

Motorsport came to the area in 1903 in the form of a hill climb track which led up to Castle Solitude, a former luxury hunting retreat built for a wealthy nobleman in 1769. This was expanded to a full 22km road-racing circuit in 1925, then shortened in 1931 and again in 1935 to form the 11km Solitude race track, which hosted international racing up until its closure at the end of 1965. Its narrowness permitted only motorcycles until the late 1950s, when the track was widened to accommodate Formula 2 and then Formula 1 cars.

Notable 500 GP winners at Solitude include Geoff Duke in 1951 (Norton) and 1954 (Gilera), John Surtees (MV Agusta) in 1960 and Mike Hailwood (also MV) in 1964, which was the last year of racing there for the premier class. Aussie Ken Kavanagh won the 350 GP in 1955 on a Moto Guzzi. The smaller bikes continued for one more year to 1965, with Kiwi Ginger Molloy first home in the 250s on a Bultaco and East German defector Ernst Degner winning the 125s on a Suzuki, no doubt looking over his shoulder the whole time.

(Formula 1 cars arrived in 1961, when Aussie Jack Brabham placed fifth behind teammate Kiwi Bruce McLaren, both in Coopers. Brabham won there in 1963 to record his first ever F1 victory in his own Brabham race car.)

How appropriate that a racetrack established at the dawn of the internal combustion engine, which went on to host motorcycle racing for 60 years before being abandoned, has now been reborn as the site of Europe’s fastest growing and most exciting motorcycle festival.

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Lifestyle

2017 GLEMSECK 101

“DANIELE GHISELI WAS JUST ONE OF MANY WOMEN COMPETING THIS YEAR” exquisite Benelli 350 four, to figure in the results. Similarly, Gregoire Galian didn’t run fast enough on his Ed Turner-built ‘Ezekiel’ Z1000 Kawasaki, which was our cover bike on Retrobike #26. The class was won by Per Nielsen on an H2 Kawasaki built by Wrenchmonkees in Copenhagen.

The factories and distributors got to battle it out in the Essenza Sprint, with Nate Kern the most consistently quick on an R nineT Racer ahead of a pair of big-bore Moto Guzzis.

Europe’s premier custom shops are also invited to compete in the Essenza should they have an appropriate bike, including our mates Tom and Pablo from Diamond Atelier in Munich on their 26

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R nineT DA#4 (‘Play Hard’, Retrobike #26).

Sadly, we were in the beer tent when US GP heroes Kevin Schwantz on a GSX-R and Freddie Spencer on a Fireblade faced off in the Clash of Legends, won by Spencer. Other events included an impromptu showdown between motorcycle wallopers from France and Germany, won by France.

What a fantastic weekend. In just 12 years, Glemseck 101 has established itself as Europe’s premier outdoor custom bike festival and dropped into the bucket lists of motorcycling enthusiasts worldwide.

See you there next year!

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Land Speed Racers

2017 INDIAN SCOUT

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HERE is little doubt that Burt Munro has sold more than a few Indians since the famous marque was relaunched by Polaris Industries in 2013, so good on the factory for returning the shout. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Burt’s world record on his highlymodified 1000cc 1920 Indian Scout — as immortalised in that movie — Indian Motorcycle set out to build their own recordsetting salt racer from a brand-new 2017 Scout, then hired Burt’s grandnephew Lee Munro to ride it.

From the outset, it was always intended that the new bike, the Spirit of Munro, would race in a different class — MPS-G1350 — so as not to surpass Burt’s record of 184mph set in 1967, which still stands. (Burt also reportedly ran 205mph the same year on another run that wasn’t officially timed.)

The M stands for modified production, which means the bike must be built around a stock chassis and engine, and PS for partially streamlined, meaning the rider’s body must still be visible from the top and sides of the bike. G is for gas/petrol (naturally aspirated) and 1350 is the capacity limit in ccs. Prior to Lee’s run, the MPS-G1350 class record stood at 167mph.

THE WORLD’S FASTEST The spirit of Burt Munro is alive and well, and his legacy is in good hands WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS INDIAN MOTORCYCLE

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2017 INDIAN SCOUT

“WHEN YOU’RE BREAKING RECORDS DURING TEST RUNS, YOU KNOW YOUR MACHINE IS ON POINT”

Chassis-wise, new triple clamps were filched from another factory project to narrow the forks and the twin shocks were replaced with solid aluminium struts.

Engine bottom end is stock but not so the cylinder heads and induction manifold.

Capacity was bumped to 1299cc and final drive converted from belt to chain.

Main man on the build was factory calibration engineer (and experienced land speed racer) Wayne Kolden, with 30

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hardware development engineer Dan Gervais responsible for fabrication and many other in-house engineers volunteering where they could.

“Fitting the intake and our special cylinder heads within the backbone (of the stock frame) was probably the tightest constraint we had,” Kolden says. “We need airflow to make power so one of the biggest modifications we made was to turn the gas tank into a huge air box.”

The factory’s exhaust boffins recommended headers exactly 15 inches (38cm) long. “The only way we could get it to work on the bike was to go directly out the side,” Gervais says. “So I came up with a solution to pass it through the bodywork; it seemed to be making the power we expected on the dyno and it’s pretty clean and simple,” not to mention uber cool.

Riding the bike would be 41-year-old Lee Munro from Christchurch, well known in NZ -European road-racing circles for his exploits on a Ducati 999. Lee’s grandfather was a first cousin of Burt Munro, who died in 1978 when Lee was two years old.

The factory team’s official objective was to equal or better Burt’s 184mph run, but

Movie Night INDIAN Motorcycle celebrated the return of the Munro family to Bonneville with a special screening of The World’s Fastest Indian, the first time any movie had ever been screened on the salt lake.

Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, The World's Fastest Indian immortalised Burt Munro and his historic under-1000cc world record run on his 1920 Scout streamliner in August of 1967. Prior to the screening, the film’s director Roger Donaldson, Burt’s son John Munro and grandnephew Lee shared anecdotes about the making of the film, Burt and the impact his achievements have had on Indian Motorcycle and motorcycling in general. The talks and screening drew throngs of Speed Week attendees who were captivated by the feature film, cheering and clapping throughout as they watched under an immaculate starry night sky.

“I’ve seen the movie countless times. But to watch it with Speed Week attendees, the Munro family and the film’s director on the very Bonneville grounds that the film was based upon was a surreal experience,” says Reid Wilson, Indian’s marketing director. “It was a special way to honour Burt and the perfect way to complement the efforts of Lee Munro and our Spirit of Munro racing team on the salt flats that weekend.”

DARKER.

MEANER.

STRONGER.

Land Speed Racers

2017 INDIAN SCOUT

Ready Reckoner SALT racers talk in miles per hour, never kilometres. Here’s how fast Lee really went: 125mph 201km/h 150mph 241km/h 175mph 282km/h 186mph 299km/h 191mph 307km/h 200mph 322km/h

“THE FACTORY TEAM’S OFFICIAL OBJECTIVE WAS TO EQUAL OR BETTER BURT’S 184MPH RUN”

what they all really wanted was the same as Burt — to run 200mph on the Bonneville salt flats in Utah. First, however, they had to get Lee licensed. To this end, the team travelled twice to the birthplace of US land speed racing, El Mirage — a huge high-altitude dry lake bed in the central Mojave Desert in California — working their way through 125mph, 150mph and 175mph qualifying passes for a best of 186mph, smashing the existing class record in the process.

“When you’re breaking records during test runs, you know your machine is on point,” says Indian product development vice-president, Gary Gray, who oversaw the project. “Running within a different class has allowed Lee to truly honour his great uncle Burt by joining him in the record books.”

“Setting a new record was something I dreamed about but you never really thought was going to happen,” Lee Munro says. “It was 32

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an incredible feat to join my great uncle Burt within the land speed record book. Indian has been a great partner in not only providing me with a fantastic machine, but providing me with an opportunity to recognise and honour all that Burt Munro did for motorcycling.”

Lee described the Spirit of Munro as perfectly stable and super fast at El Mirage, and he felt like it had plenty more in it, so the team was quietly confident of Lee joining the 200mph Club at Bonneville the following month.

“Bonneville is obviously very special,” Lee says. “When I got there, I had all the emotions going through me. Bonneville is the holy grail of speed, the cathedral of speed. This is where Burt made his mark on the world. The place is vast, it just seems to go on and on.”

Speed Week started well enough, with Lee running 191mph on his first salty pass along the five-mile short course. “If Burt was there, he probably would have said I was doing

everything right,” Lee says, “and not to worry too much about the small things and spend more time chasing the girls!” Lee switched to the nine-mile-long course the next day but a headwind and rough salt surface restricted his best to 186mph. Despite the long course being relocated on the following day, the surface and wind were no better and Lee called it a day.

“These were things that Burt had to deal with and we’re just learning now how difficult it is to get that one good run. There’s nothing you can do, mother nature is the queen of all. The bike performed beautifully, I was really happy with the way it ran.

“It was my greatest honour to represent Indian Motorcycle in such an incredible tribute to my great uncle on his historic 50th anniversary,” Lee says. “We may not have had the results we were after, but piloting a modified Indian Scout on the same salt as my great uncle Burt Munro will forever be one of my most cherished experiences. I am looking forward to future runs and more success with my new teammates and friends.”

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Classic Cruisers

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1963 DUCATI APOLLO

W A E R M I P T Designed for the US police market, Ducati’s 1256cc V4 Apollo was too damn fast for its own good WORDS ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS KYOICHI NAKAMURA & KEL EDGE

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1963 DUCATI APOLLO

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“FABIO TAGLIONI ACCEPTED THE COMMISSION AS A TECHNICAL CHALLENGE”

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EW motorcycles ever built have enjoyed as mythical a reputation as Ducati’s legendary but abortive V4 Apollo, the Italian marque’s failed attempt to produce a Harley-style cruiser aimed at the American market. Just two bikes were built and only this one survived.

Back in 1960, Ducati was one of dozens of relatively small Italian manufacturers struggling to overcome the savage attack on its crucial home market levelled after 1957 by the cheap and cheerful Fiat 500, which, in its hundreds of thousands, brought an end to the post-war boom in Italian biking. Ducati’s annual production plunged to 6000 bikes and the factory went broke, kept afloat only by subsidies from the Italian government.

Of those 6000 bikes, around 5000 were sold in the US via distributor Berliner Motor Corporation, who also handled Zundapp, Norton, Matchless and AJS. Joe Berliner was convinced of the potential of the US police market, especially since American anti-trust legislation required that police departments at least consider alternative sources of supply to the prevailing Harley monopoly.

A major hurdle, however, was that official police specifications naturally favoured the overweight, unsophisticated home-grown product; engine capacity had to be no less than 1200cc, wheelbase a minimum 60-inch (1525mm) and, worst of all, the use of 5.00 x 16-inch tyres was mandatory.

Undaunted, Berliner first approached Ducati CEO Dr Giuseppe Montano in 1959 to see if the firm was interested in producing a special machine for this significant market (and flow-on consumer models), even though

Apollo languishing in the Berliner US warehouse in the mid-1970s

Ducati’s largest-capacity model at that time was the 200cc Elite! Chief engineer Fabio Taglioni eagerly accepted the commission as a technical challenge, but it took until 1961 to convince the bureaucrats in Rome who controlled Ducati’s finances to agree. A deal was struck for Berliner to finance the development and construction of two prototype bikes and two spare engines.

Berliner also got naming rights, opting to commemorate America’s Apollo space program.

The rest was up to Taglioni, who decided on a 90-degree V4 engine with separate aircooled cylinders. At 84.5 x 56mm, the 1256cc V4 was the most over-square design Taglioni ever produced for Ducati. A single gear-driven camshaft positioned between the V operated two valves per cylinder via pushrods and rockers, just as on the V8 car engines and Harley V-twins which US police mechanics knew so well. The horizontally split wet-sump engine featured a single crank running in a central support, with each pair of conrods sharing a single caged roller-bearing big end.

Taglioni politely turned down Joe Berliner’s suggestion to incorporate shaft drive in favour of a duplex chain final drive. Gearbox was fivespeed when almost everyone else offered no more than four.

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“THE ENGINE MADE 100BHP AT 7000RPM AND WAS GOOD FOR 200KM/H” The engine, tipped back 10 degrees from vertical/horizontal, was installed as a stressed member in a beefy open-cradle duplex chassis with a central box-section downtube between the front cylinders. With specially developed Ceriani forks and shocks, the Apollo’s handling was certain to outperform Harley — who had only recently discovered rear suspension — although the full-width 220mm single-leadingshoe brakes front and rear didn’t promise as much. A kickstart was provided along with a Marelli electric starter lifted from a Fiat. A massive 200W generator was fitted to cope with the additional load imposed by police sirens, lights and radios.

Relatively compact at just 450mm wide, the all-alloy V4 allowed the Italian bike to compare favourably with its Harley rival, scaling 271kg dry with a 1555mm wheelbase against the American V-twin’s 291kg and 1580mm. Even so, then Ducati test rider Franco Farnè complained that it handled “like a truck”, but made up for this with its straight-line performance. Running four 29mm Dell’Ortos and 10:1 comp, the engine delivered 100bhp at 7000rpm and was good for more than 200km/h, pretty impressive as befitted what was then the largest capacity and most powerful motorcycle ever constructed in post-war Europe.

But its meaty performance was also the Apollo’s downfall, a fact confirmed by another Ducati tester, Giancarlo Librenti, who was the first to suffer the heart-stopping experience of having the specially made 16in rear Pirelli throw its tread on the Milan-Bologna autostrada, after ballooning under sustained 100mph speeds and 38

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detaching from the rim. “It’s a miracle I never crashed,” Librenti told me some years later.

“Somehow I just wrestled it into submission with the back wheel locked, like a cowboy with a bull. Maybe I should have taken up rodeo!”

The first prototype was delivered to Berliner in March 1964 with deeply valanced mudguards, peanut fuel tank, ape hangers, cowboy saddle with chrome grab rail, whitewall tyres and a ritzy metallic gold paint job. The second prototype was much more on the money, debuting at Daytona as you see it here.

But while initial tests proved the Apollo to have an abundance of power, it was soon discovered that Librenti’s was not an isolated experience. Even detuned in twin-carb form to make 80hp at 6000rpm, the high-speed tyre problems persisted with alarming stories filtering back of police test riders nearly being killed on banked ovals and freeways. Clearly tyre technology of the day couldn’t cope. The solution was to detune the engine even further to 65 bhp — still more power than any Harley made and adequate to meet police performance specifications — but not enough to power the line of luxury sports tourers than Berliner was planning to sell to the public alongside the police models. In fact, Berliner had been so confident of the bike’s potential that they’d already begun marketing the Apollo in the US, quoting prices of $1500 for the 80hp Tourer and $1800 for the 100hp Sport, substantially more than its European-import competition and double the cost of a big-twin Harley. But without the performance edge to justify the extra cost, that side of the business case collapsed and the

suits in Rome pulled the plug in early 1965.

As an indication of how proud Taglioni was of the design, one of the spare Apollo engines sat on display in his office for 20 years until his retirement. Italy’s Motociclismo magazine suggested at the time that one half of the engine would provide a superb basis for a range of 90-degree V-twins.

Meanwhile, the black and silver Apollo prototype languished in Berliner’s New Jersey headquarters until that company ceased trading in 1984 and sold its remaining stock to US vintage parts specialist DomiRacer, who

Classic Cruisers

1963 DUCATI APOLLO

“ITS MEATY PERFORMANCE WAS ALSO THE APOLLO’S DOWNFALL” on-sold the Apollo in 1986 to Japanese collector Hiroaki Iwashita. Many years later, Iwashitasan displayed the bike at a vintage bike show in Japan, alerting the Ducati factory to its existence.

The Apollo subsequently became a centrepiece of the Ducati Museum in Bologna (on an extended loan), where it was restored by former Ducati Corse race mechanic Giuliano Pedretti.

I was initially asked to ride the Apollo at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but family commitments prevented it. So instead they asked me to come to Bologna to make sure it was running okay for whoever took my place.

Happy to oblige, amici, provided you have some modern tyres fitted so I don’t emulate Giancarlo Librenti and have the rear tread wrap itself round my neck!

The tyres were new old-stock Goodyear whitewalls, the same type as fitted in 1964 but quite adequate for my gentle cruise at no more than 110km/h. At just 760mm, the seat height is low and I’m immediately surprised how lowslung and slim the bike feels. It isn’t as wide as it looks once you’re sitting on it, and indeed seems hardly any bulkier than a bevel-drive desmo V-twin. On a warm Italian June day, the motor catches quickly on the electric start, then settles down to a fast idle of around 1500 rpm with more of the unmistakable lilt of an American V8 than a typical Italian four.

Time to motor!

Lifting my right toe to engage bottom gear on the one-up/four-down right-foot gear change with its extremely long lever throw, I was impressed how smoothly the Apollo took off from rest until the time came to change up into second. That’s when the age and nature of Ducati’s V4 cruiser comes to your attention, because even swapping gears in the higher ratios is a very slow, measured process. Rush it and for sure you’ll get a false neutral every time.

However, once the next gear higher does go in, the Apollo drives forward eagerly with a 40

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long-legged feel, especially in the intermediate gears; there’s no way this engine feels like a child of the 1960s. There’s enough midrange pickup to use the bottom four ratios just as a means of getting into top, and then leaving it there, surfing the rich waves of torque available at almost any revs.

Compared to a traditional British vertical twin or any Harley, it’s like setting a sewing machine against a concrete mixer in terms of vibration and riding comfort. Out of respect for the bike’s rarity and the lack of any spares, I didn’t rev it right out, but it has the same unruffled, lazy-feeling response we came to take for granted on later Ducati V-twins.

As for the Apollo’s handling, it is adequate rather than exceptional, even by the standards of the era. The culprits are those 16-inch cop tyres on a bike crying out for 18-inch sports rubber then being introduced in the mid-1960s.

The long wheelbase doesn’t help in tight corners — it really does handle like a truck — but the payoff is good stability around fast sweepers, where the surprisingly effective Ceriani suspension felt pretty good by the standards of 50 years ago.

Of more concern were the brakes. Adequate only at low speeds, they faded badly after a couple of hard stops, sending the lever back to the handlebar and making the rear brake pedal all loose and floppy. By the standards of the era they were probably the industry average, but with the performance delivered by that fantastic engine, the tyres weren’t the only thing that needed attention!

Given there were no four-cylinder production motorcycles of any type when it was built in 1963, the Apollo was truly a bike ahead of its time, loaded with avant-garde engineering.

If only it hadn’t been built to those dated US police specs. After riding it, I’m convinced it was one of the great missed opportunities of global motorcycling.

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled four-stroke 90-degree V4; single cam, OHV, two per cylinder; 84.5 x 56mm for 1256cc; wet sump; 10:1 comp; 4 x 29mm Dell’Ortos; points/coil ignition; gear primary drive to wet clutch and five-speed gearbox; duplex chain final drive; 100hp @ 7000rpm (at the gearbox) CHASSIS Pressed and tubular steel open-cradle frame; 38mm Ceriani forks with 220mm sls drum brake laced to 3 x 16in rim; twin-shock tubularsteel swingarm with 220mm sls drum brake laced to 3 x 16in rim; Goodyear tyres DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1555mm; dry weight 271kg; top speed 200km/h BEST Timeless style, serious horsepower, one of a kind NOT SO GREAT Woeful tyres and brakes

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Lifestyle

DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE 2017

City Slickers Melbourne celebrates the DGR in typical style WORDS & PHOTOS RUSS MURRAY

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DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE 2017

“NEW YORKERS MIGHT SCOFF, BUT MELBOURNE IS THE CLOSEST CITY WE HAVE TO DON DRAPER’S BIG APPLE”

B

Y NOW many readers will have heard of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) and, in all likelihood, participated in one. Those who have will be aware that it was started in 2012 in Sydney by Mark Hawwa, who was inspired by a photo of Mad Men’s impeccably dressed Don Draper astride a classic motorbike.

The 2012 DGR saw 2500 participants in 64 cities. Since then it has grown exponentially and in 2017 over 94,000 riders in 581 cities across 92 countries raised almost $5 million for prostrate cancer awareness and men’s suicide prevention on behalf of The Movember Foundation. It is a genuine modern-day phenomenon — there’s nothing else like it on the planet — and an awful lot of fun to boot.

In recent years, Retrobike has covered DGRs in Sydney, Perth, Toowomba and even the Himalayas. This year we figured it was Melbourne’s turn. New Yorkers might scoff, but the Victorian capital is the closest city we have to Don Draper’s Big Apple, so it was probably long overdue.

As in previous years, the Melbourne ride started in the forecourt of the Melbourne Museum in the Carlton Gardens, adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building. Close to 1000 dapper gentlemen and elegant ladies gathered to enjoy a coffee, catch up with friends and admire the vast array of cool bikes on display. Even Melbourne’s notorious four-seasons-in-oneday weather, which included a band of showers coming through in the early morning, didn’t deter riders from arriving in their splendour.

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DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE 2017

“IF YOU HAVE TO ASK IF YOUR BIKE QUALIFIES, IT PROBABLY DOESN’T” As well as a dress code for riders, there is also a suggested style of bike, reflecting the event’s genesis within Sydney’s inner-city cafe racing community. As one wag said, if you have to ask if your bike qualifies, it probably doesn’t. As well as cafe racers, the range included bobbers, trackers and scramblers, modern classics, genuine classics, old-school choppers, old-world scooters, monkey bikes and even some classic sidecars.

Triumph has been a long-time supporter of the DGR, and its bikes were everywhere. Other classic British marques making appearances included lots of Royal Enfields and a smattering of Nortons and BSAs. Japanese bikes are a big part of the cafe racing scene with Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda and Yamaha all there in numbers. Some classic Harley-Davidsons rumbled in, along with Ducatis, Moto Guzzis and a solitary MV Agusta.

What is impressive is that each year the participants get more and more into the theme of the event, with very few riders indulging in motorcycle safety gear other than gloves and the mandatory helmet. Even then, most are wearing either a retro-styled full-face helmet or, even better, an open-face one so you can smile at the punters as you pass. The ride has an overwhelmingly positive vibe, 48

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DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE 2017

“EACH YEAR THE PARTICIPANTS GET MORE AND MORE INTO THE THEME OF THE EVENT”

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and improving the perception of motorcycle riders among the general public was always as much a part of the original plan for the DGR as raising money for charity.

While much is made about the bikes and the riders’ attire, there is also a short ride associated with the event. This year’s run entailed a slow parade through the city streets, passing Flinders Street Station and Federation Square, much to the enjoyment of the pedestrians. The pace then picked up for a slightly faster ride through the scenic Royal Botanic Gardens — again to the amusement of those out for a leisurely walk or run around the Tan — before following the Yarra River to Como Park, where we gate-crashed the Citroen concours. I’m not really certain the Citroen owners were expecting quite the invasion that occurred.

For many, this was another opportunity to view the bikes — albeit in a slightly less sardine-like setting than the starting point — and grab another coffee before taking a short stroll among the Citroens on display.

From there it was off to the Stomping Ground Brewery in Collingwood along the Kew Boulevard, once the inner-city testing ground for boy racers, for a quiet ale or a sip of sherry — as any distinguished gentleman and his companion would do.

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Best of British

1971 TRITON 650

SILVER

Dream Racer From the NSW Central Coast, an old home-built Triton gets a makeover ďŹ t for the racetrack WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS JEREMY HUDSON

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Best of British

1971 TRITON 650

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AYNE Fazzalari is a life-long petrolhead from Adelaide with an enviable collection of automobiles, including a couple of Porsches and a serious Ferrari.

“My father was into speedway so I was always around cars and speedboats and engines,” he says, “just not so much motorbikes.”

That all changed when he visited a friend in France some years ago. “He had an original Triton, first registered in 1959,” Wayne says. “I’d never had a bike before but said to my friend, if I was ever going to have a bike, that’s what I would get.”

Wayne was true to his word when his mate later emailed to say he was moving the Triton on; a deal was struck and the bike was duly shipped down under. “I’d had it for a couple of years when I saw another one for sale on Scott Gittoes’ (Facebook) feed,” he says. “I told him I’d buy it on one condition, and that was that Scott restore it. The original plan was to rebuild it as 54

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a road bike but I already had one of those, so we decided to do it as a track bike.”

Scott Gittoes from SDG Moto on the NSW Central Coast takes up the story. “The Triton was owned by a local, Billy Madden, an old school racer from back in the day. It was something he and his mates had cobbled together 20-odd years ago; he’d raced it a couple of times and it was on club rego.” The bike had seen better days and Billy wanted to sell it, but was having no luck finding a buyer, so Scott offered to advertise it on his SDG Moto Facebook page.

“We sold it within 24 hours,” Scott continues, “to a longtime customer in Adelaide, Wayne Fazzalari. He already had a road-going pre-unit Triton that he’d bought in Europe. Wayne flew over, paid Billy the money, then rather than take the bike home, he left it with us to do our thing. He said, ‘I’m not gonna tell you how to suck eggs, just do what you do.’ He gave us carte blanche, let us fly free.”

This would be a very personal build for Scott, whose father Allan was a successful motorcycle racer. Along with his mate Phil Page, Allan came out of retirement (from competition) at age 60 to go classic racing on a trio of Tritons. “Dad and Pagey figured they needed a spare,” Scott laughs. “So it was a bit of a nostalgia trip to be working on a Triton again.”

For those who came in late, a Triton is a marriage of a twin-cylinder Triumph engine and a Norton Featherbed chassis, the former the quickest of the early post-war twins and the latter renowned for its fine handling. Fitted with clip-ons, rear-sets and a small ‘fly-screen’ fairing, it became the quintessential cafe racer of the 1950s and '60s, as popular on the street as on the track.

The engine here is a 650cc T120 Bonneville from 1971, relatively late for a Triton. “It’s not the ideal thing,” Scott says, referring to the purists’ preference for pre-unit Triumph engines from before 1963. “But to do what

“A TRITON IS A MARRIAGE OF A TWIN-CYLINDER TRIUMPH ENGINE AND A NORTON FEATHERBED CHASSIS” Wayne wants to do, a unit-construction engine is a lot easier to maintain, no mucking around with primary chain adjustments every time you ride it.”

Unit construction aside, many Triumph enthusiasts regard the smooth, free-spinning 650 as the pick of the OHV litter. Although weathered on the outside, the engine’s internals were in good shape, making the rebuild an uneventful one. The engine is stock, apart from a Boyer Bransden electronic ignition and the exhaust, which comprises custom 1¾-inch headers (stock is 1½ inches) from Redline Motorcycle Exhausts in South Oz dumping into non-baffled Manx Norton megaphones sourced

in the UK. Carburettors are new (stock) 30mm Amals.

Externally, the engine was vapour-blasted before the primary and gearbox covers were painted black in two-pack, mostly to be different but also to blend in with the black cylinder block. Ditto the unpolished timing cover. The original home-built front and rear engine mounts (to match up the Triumph bits with the Norton bits) were a bit ordinary, Scott says, replaced here with billet components also sourced in the UK. “I’d had my eye on them for years but never had anything to put them on.”

Scott then machined his own alloy head stay under the fuel tank to tie it all together.

The main chassis is an early-reproduction Wideline Featherbed frame made from chromemoly, although the swingarm is stock Norton fare in mild steel. Both are finished in black two-pack paint. No-name rear shocks were sourced in Eastern Europe and offer adjustment for spring preload, compression damping and rebound. Norton Roadholder forks do the job up front, pretty much the same front end as fitted to every Norton from 1953 to the last Commando in 1977, but here refurbished with new staunchions, bushes and seals. The stock Norton steering damper is also retained, albeit adjusted by a custom knob embossed with the Triton logo.

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Best of British

1971 TRITON 650

“BODYWORK IS A MIX OF ORIGINAL, REPRODUCTION AND HANDMADE PARTS” The hubs and conical drum brakes are Triumph, laced to alloy rims. The brakes were refurbished with new linings and springs, and custom alloy torque plates fabricated before the drums were painted black, referencing the two-tone black-alloy vibe of the motor.

The rims, as originally fitted by Billy Madden, were still in good shape and polished up a treat before being re-laced with stainless-steel spokes. Tyres are the new super-sticky racecompound Avons now being offered in classic sizes and profiles.

Bodywork is a mix of original, reproduction and handmade parts. Most special to Scott is the genuine Norton Manx nose-cone, which once graced a double-knocker (DOHC) Manx that his father raced in the late 1950s. The clipons and adjustable clutch and brake levers are also Manx parts, although the quick-action throttle is from Joker Machine. Tacho is a new Smiths-style replica.

“The fuel tank is something you’ll never see anywhere else,” Scott says. “In those days, Billy and his friends didn’t like spending money and made everything themselves. It’s an alloy tank that they shaped and panel-beat by hand.”

The temptation was there for Scott to replace it 56

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with a reproduction Norton Manx sprint or TT tank, but it’s come to grow on him. “Tritons are every person’s interpretation of what a race bike should be,” he says. “There are little pieces of everybody in their own builds; this was Billy’s vision of what a race bike should look like.”

The new handmade alloy oil tank was sourced in England and holds 3.7 litres. Paint is by Japsports with pin-striping and graphics

by Shack-o. The original seat unit was binned, replaced by a fibreglass seat base from Mick Jones of Tumbi Umbi Fibreglass and covered in leather, suede and red piping by Dave at Custom Upholstery. All four businesses are based on the NSW Central Coast. Mick Jones also supplied the Manx-style rear guard and laced the wheels, while Peter Steele was commissioned to plate most of the external bolts and fasteners in a gold-like passivated zinc coating.

As we write this, Wayne Fazzalari hadn’t yet seen the fruits of Scott and Dave’s hard labour, but there’s already talk of them doing their thing on Wayne’s other Triton. Allan Gittoes’ last Triton is also waiting patiently in the back of the shed for its turn on the busy SDG Moto bench. There’ll be some emotion invested in that one too.

Retro Specs ENGINE 1971 Triumph T120; air-cooled fourstroke unit construction parallel twin; single camshaft, OHV, two per cylinder; 71 x 82mm for 649cc; dry sump; 9.0:1 comp; 2 x 30mm Amal concentric carburettors; Boyer Bransden ignition; 1¾-inch Redline headers and Manx megaphones; chain primary drive to wet clutch and four-speed gearbox; chain final drive; 50hp at 7000rpm (stock) CHASSIS Norton Wideline Featherbed frame in chrome-moly steel (reproduction); Norton Roadholder forks with Triumph conical drum brake laced to 19-inch alloy rim; tubular steel swingarm with multi-adjustable no-name shocks, conical drum brake laced to 18-inch rim; Avon tyres BODYWORK Alloy fuel tank by Billy Madden and friends; alloy Manx oil tank (repro); genuine Manx nose cone; alloy racing number plates; seat unit and guards by Tumbi Umbi Fibreglass; leather seat by Custom Upholstery; paint by Japsports; graphics and pin-striping by Shack-o WEBSITE www.sdgmoto.com.au BEST Tiny, light and fast; looks and sounds the business NOT SO GREAT Sneaking home late at night

CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE RESTORATIONS ALWAYS THE BEST DISPLAY OF CLASSIC MOTORCYCLES IN AUSTRALIA A SELECTION OF OUR CURRENT STOCK

1969 NORTON 750S COMMANDO 750

1979 YAMAHA XS650 SPECIAL

1966 HONDA CL77 305

This is a matching number example of this very hard to find model.

Vin # 132868 $15,950.00

9476 miles from new, runs really nicely. A great looking motorcycle.

Vin # 2F0-171345 $5,950.00

Very low mileage motorcycle, only 3430 from new. Quite a rare motorcycle that is looking great. Vin # CL77-1065080 $5,950.00

1961 BSA DBD34 500 GOLD STAR CLUBMAN

1979 HONDA CB750 FOUR CUSTOM

1966 TRIUMPH T120R 650 BONNEVILLE

What a gorgeous machine, getting very hard to find these days.

Vin # DBD.34.GS.6350 $32,950.00

This is a nice low mileage example 14,219 miles and looks great.

Vin # RC01-2200172 GREAT VALUE $5,950.00

Nice clean matching number machine.

Vin # T120R.DU25606 $15,950.00

1959 BSA C15 250 1971 TRIUMPH T150 TRIDENT

BSA BB31 350 This is a lovely old machine with a nice patina.

These bikes go on forever. Reduced from $8,950.00 in our winter sale.

Vin # BB31.3898 $6,950.00

This is a low mileage matching number bike that runs and rides well.

Vin # T150T.FE01324 $9,500.00

BSA GOLD STAR 350 SCRAMBLER

1961 MATCHLESS G80TCS 600 TYPHOON

This is a very nice bike, easily put on the road with a simple lighting kit. Very hard to find. Vin # CB32C196 $19,950.00

This is a stunning machine and one of the most sought after models of the Matchless Competition range. Fitted with the GP Carburettor, this is a machine to excite. Vin # 61/G80TCS3975 $25,950.00

1968 NORTON P11 750

1976 KAWASAKI KZ750 TWIN

This is one of the rare muscle dirt bikes built by Norton in the late 1960s. This is an immaculate matching number machine that runs and rides really nicely. Vin # 125878 $19,950.00

Good running bike in very original condition. These are a great value machine. Vin # KZ750B-020053 $4,950.00

This is a nice tidy machine and an ideal first classic bike for anyone looking for an entry level British machine. This model was the ultimate learner machine in the late 1950s. Reduced in our winter sale from $5,950.00. Vin # C15.10617 $4,950.00

1952 TRIUMPH TWN 250 This is a rare bike, one of the German built Triumphs from the early 1950s. A very interesting machine for any collection.

Vin # 299089 $7,950.00

1980 MOTO GUZZI V35 350 This is a beautiful sweet running machine that is a joy to ride.

First we have seen in a while. Vin # 19154 $5,950.00

WE HAVE BANK FINANCE AVAILABLE ON ALL OUR BIKES

CLASSIC STYLE AUSTRALIA 34 PENINSULA BLVD, SEAFORD, VIC 3198

PH (03) 9773 5500 FAX (03) 9773 5533 www.classicstyle.com.au Email: classicstyle7@gmail.com

Cafe Racers

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1997 DUCATI 750 SUPERSPORT

TRUE CO7OURS

A hotshot workshop from Belgium builds a bike made for Australia WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS ARTDEFENSE

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1997 DUCATI 750 SUPERSPORT

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EEP Creek Cycleworks is a motorcycle speed shop located in Diepenbeek, Belgium. They build customs from all manner of bikes, including early and late-model BMW twins, SOHC and twin-cam Hondas, Moto Guzzis and Ducatis. The only common denominator is that Deep Creek likes to start from as close to scratch as they can.

“We are all about second chances,” proprietor Kris Renier says. “Everyone and everything deserves a second chance in life. We build or rebuild old and recent motorbikes into cafe racers, bobbers, trackers, custom motorcycles, you name it. We make them cool, built for a smooth ride and to turn heads. All of our bikes are made to ride.”

Most often Deep Creek starts with a complete if down-at-hill donor bike, but that wasn’t the case here. “I had only the frame — a Ducati 750SS from the late 1990s — and the papers, nothing more,” Kris says. “I bought the frame because I liked the shape of it, and for its potential. Then this year I bought a Ducati Monster 900ie and so it began.

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“I always had a crush on Ducati because of the awesome sound of that engine. This bike is a bit of a bastard, but that was on purpose because not everything that Ducati makes is beautiful, in my opinion.” That said, almost every component of this bike, apart from a few accessories, is a genuine Ducati part, albeit from a wide range of models.

Deep Creek Cycleworks also builds race bikes, including the shop’s own CB1100-powered Moto Martin that Kris’s good buddy Christophe Heyligen campaigns on in the super-competitive European Classic Series. This provided both the inspiration and the credibility that lies at the heart of this bike’s classic style.

“I named the bike ‘900SS Distinto’ — translated it means ‘distinguished’ — because I believe it is a marriage between a racer and a looker,” Kris says, a motorcycle that’s equally at home at the track as inside your house near the fireplace “so you can stare at its beauty and colour”.

Kris is rightful to be proud of his work, because he is essentially a one-man band.

“ALMOST EVERY COMPONENT OF THIS BIKE IS A GENUINE DUCATI PART” Good Sports IN 1988, Ducati revived the famous Super Sport model name with an altogether easier-to-live-with belt-drive V-twin in place of the revered but highmaintenance bevel-drive engine. Basically a Pantah top end on a set of beefy 851 crankcases (also scoring the eight-valve’s six-speed gearbox), the new 900SS was faithful to the original model’s DNA of elegant simplicity, light weight, good brakes, sharp handling and deceptively quick on-road performance.

The first model was a little underdone, but better carburation and new styling soon had it a big hit with critics and the public, despite steep prices.

Some commentators described it as the ultimate real-world sports bike, inevitably spawning Japanese copies in the form of the Honda VTR1000, Suzuki TL1000S and Yamaha TRX850.

I test-rode the redesigned 900SS for Streetbike in 1991 and scratched an itch for four years before buying a ’92 ‘white-frame’ model in 1995. Contrary to many Ducati myths, it has proven over nearly 140,000km to be the most reliable thing I’ve ever owned (touch wood), despite my sometimes slack approach to motorcycle maintenance. I still own it, 23 years on.

Sold alongside the much faster and expensive water-cooled eight-valve 851/888/916 V-twins, the air-cooled belt-drive 750 and 900 Ducati Supersports lack collector appeal and these days are as cheap as chips. Which means, of course, buy two. GS ISSUE #29

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1997 DUCATI 750 SUPERSPORT

“Everything on this bike is done by me — painting, welding, bodywork, electrics, you name it,” he says. “The only things I didn’t do were the powder-coating and leatherwork.”

Ducati’s 1990s-era Supersports came in a wide range of capacities, but the 750SS and 900SS are virtually identical apart from engine capacity, suspension, wheels and brakes. So it was a no brainer to upgrade the 750 to better than 900SS specs. The 78rwhp Monster 900ie engine is the same one that powered the late-'90s fuel-injected Supersports, so was a straight-up bolt-in fit.

The Monster also donated its forks and a full complement of Brembo brakes bolted to S4 Monster wheels. The rear swingarm is from a 1000SS. The bodywork is a stylish blend of late'80s and early-'90s Ducati style, with a tank from the more slab-sided earlier 750 Sport perfectly matching the later 900SS fairing, in this case a race replica which permitted an endurance-style offset headlight. The tank was also modified on top for that 24-hour look, while inside the plumbing was modified to accommodate the fuel-injection system.

“The things I made myself are the tail 62

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section in aluminium, and the exhaust headers in stainless steel,” Kris says, although he outsourced the leather seat. “Also the frame was shortened and the lower rails repositioned to get them to line up with the tail section.”

Accessories include a Motogadget speedometer, K&N pod filters, Highsider LED taillights and blinkers (mounted on the swing arm) and a trick Shin Yo Ellipsoid headlight.

Rather than paint the bike red like every other Ducati, Kris went for a radical white, green and gold colour scheme guaranteed to make his bike a hit down under. The racing number on its flanks also evokes the memory of adopted Aussie Barry Sheene, not that Kris was aware of any of this, of course. He just thought the colours looked cool and the Deep Creek/Warp Speed Moto Martin races as 777.

Not only does it look a million bucks, Kris Renier’s ‘Distinto’ is both street legal and track ready to boot. It certainly caught our attention, a fantastic example of how a distinctive custom sports bike can be built from standard parts for not much more than imagination, commitment, mechanical skill and a deft feel for a spray gun.

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled four-stroke 90-degree V-twin; 92 x 68mm for 904cc; belt-driven desmodromic SOHC, two-valves per cylinder; 9.2:1 comp; Marelli EFI, 45mm throttle bodies; K&N pods; gear primary drive to rattly clutch and six-speed gearbox; chain final drive; 78rwhp @ 8250rpm CHASSIS Triangulated tubular-steel trellis chassis with engine stressed; modified seat sub-frame; 43mm Showa adjustable USD forks with twin four-piston Brembo calipers gripping 320mm rotors on 17in rim; cantilever-style mono-shock rear with single twin-piston Brembo caliper and 245mm rotor on 17in rim BODYWORK Ducati 750 Sport tank; 900SS race fairing; owner-made seat unit; leather seat; Motogadget speedo; Highsider LED taillights and blinkers; Shin Yo Ellipsoid headlight BEST Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

NOT SO GREAT Nothing at this price

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Retro Racing

2017 AUSTRALIAN HISTORIC ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sound of

THUNDER WakeямБeld Park plays host to the 2017 Australian Historic Road Racing Championships WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS COLIN ROSEWARNE

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2017 AUSTRALIAN HISTORIC ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Mick Johnston on his Ducati TTF1 leads Corey Forde and Aaiden Coote

P4 750 champion Aaiden Coote

Aaiden Coote won the P4 750 class on his Rob North Trident

B

Y THEIR nature, racing motorcycles have a short shelf life, especially at the sharp end of competition.

It’s hard enough being thrashed to within an inch of self-destruction every time you go out, even worse to then suffer the ignobility of being abandoned at the first sign on the scene of a newer faster model.

And so classic racing kicked off to give bikes no longer competitive a second chance at life. Initially restricted to classic and earlier bikes built before 1963, the advent of postclassic racing in the mid-1980s for bikes built between then and 1973 set the precedent for an ever-growing list of classes which now cover bikes as late as 1997.

I remember well the birth of the Post Classic Racing Association (PCRA) of NSW in 1986 as it wasn’t long before a buddy 66

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and I sourced an early GT250 Suzuki to have a crack ourselves. The PCRA is still going strong more than 30 years later, running a well-supported five-round state championship with racing split between Sydney Motor Sport Park and Wakefield Park, near Goulburn. The PCRA also hosts the International Festival of Speed — formerly known as the Barry Sheene FoS — at Eastern Creek every March (Retrobike #23) and this year also hosted the Australian Historic Road Racing Championships (AHRRC), so they’ve been busy!

The AHRRC moves around the country every year. Held last year at Symmons Plains in Tasmania and at Mallala in South Australia the year before, the AHRRC is one of the two big classic racing events held in Australia each year, the other being the Island Classic

at Phillip Island in January, which attracts an international entry list.

Wakefield Park is a tight and technical 2.2km tar circuit designed more to reward bike set-up and rider ability than necessarily reward those with the most horsepower. It proved to be a popular choice for 2017. “When the AHRRC event was announced, we expected around 300 motorcycles racing but we ended up with more than 380,” Wakefield Park Operations manager Matt Baragwanath says.

The crowd was also larger than expected.

“Our spectator figures from the weekend show there’s plenty of interest in historic motorcycles because all the main vantage points were close to capacity,” he says. “And a lot of guests were walking around the pits and taking the chance to have an up-close look at all the old bikes.

“CLASSIC RACING KICKED OFF TO GIVE BIKES NO LONGER COMPETITIVE A SECOND CHANCE”

Chas Hern leads eventual winner Aaron Morris in P6 Unlimited

Garth Francis on his 1962 Norton Atlas

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2017 AUSTRALIAN HISTORIC ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS

P3 Unlimited winner Corey Forde

“A lot of competitors travelled from interstate to participate this weekend — we had riders from as far away as Tasmania and Western Australia — so it was a sensational event for the local economy.”

Historic racing covers six time periods from the dawn of motorcycling. Period 1 is for Veteran bikes built before 1919 and is virtually defunct, the bikes so fragile and rare to ever be revved in anger. Not so Period 2 for Vintage bikes built between 1920 and 1945, popular with owners of WLA Harleys and Indian Scouts but also attracting a couple of wickedly expensive, locally built Indian Altoona replicas which dominate the class. This time round it was Stan Mucha (#112) who finished ahead of Peter Birthisel (#111).

Period 3 is where you’ll find all the pre-1963 BSA Gold Stars, Manx Nortons, Triumph Speed Twins and post-war Vincents, classic by name and nature and sounding like a long burst of rolling thunder as they boom their way around 68

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the track. Pre-race favourite in the 500cc class, Keith Campbell, was sidelined with rare machinery problems, as was Bob Rosenthal, who was injured in a workshop incident prior to the meet and offered his G50 Matchless to Brendon Roberts (#41) who returned the shout by winning. In the Unlimited class, reigning champ Garth Francis (#97) was looking good until his 1962 Norton Atlas seized and threw him over the handlebars, with victory going to David Trotter (#48) on a 1956 1000cc JAP. The original post-classic class is now known as Period 4, full of air-cooled two-stroke twins, Ducati singles and Honda fours. Pro racer Davo Johnson (#3) flew in to debut the muchanticipated, Ducati Imola replica hand-built

by Bevel Rubber’s Damien Birch in Melbourne for owner/tuner Shane Zakelj. Just squeezing into Period 4, a few teething problems kept it off the podium this time but we can’t wait to see it setting a new land speed record down the PI straight in January. Instead, Corey Forde

(#22) on his 1204cc Honda Four took home the silverwear, with Aaiden Coote (#66) best of the 750s on his Rob North-framed Triumph Trident.

Then we move onto Period 5, aka Forgotten Era, for bikes built up to 1982, just the place to punt your big air-cooled Japanese superbike, and New Era/Period 6 to cover TZ Yamahas and the newer breed of water-cooled street rockets like the GSX-R Suzuki up to 1990. The favourite for both classes was Chas Hern (#2) on the T-Rex Harris Honda in Period 5 and a Yamaha FJ1200 in Period 6, but he was pipped by Paul Byrne (#52) on a Harris Suzuki in P5 and Aaron Morris (#64) on an FJ1200 in P6. Ryan McLauchlan (#618) was the best of the Ducatis with a hardfought win in the P5 750 class on his TT2.

The PCRA has also recently established the Pre Modern class for bikes up to 1997, but this has not yet been ratified by Motorcycling Australia so was not included in the program.

The 2018 AHRRC will be hosted by Preston MCC and is set to be held at Broadford.

Davo Johnson was quicker than most on Shane Zakelj’s Birch-built Ducati Imola replica

“OUR SPECTATOR FIGURES SHOW THERE’S PLENTY OF INTEREST IN HISTORIC MOTORCYCLES”

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Artworks

1976 YAMAHA XS650

Curved Ball Here’s one you don’t see every day WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS JASON SCHULTZ

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J

AY Donovan is a 24-year-old Canadian panelbeater who quickly tired of straightening busted Jeeps to pursue his passion for automotive design and traditional coach building. He set up his own workshop, BareSteel Design, two years ago on the south-west coast of British Columbia, just over the border from the US. “Starting off more automotive-based, I quickly realised that as well as improving my craft in metal shaping, I needed to incorporate my desire for creativity and invention,” Jay says. “Though I really enjoy automotive design, and the history of coach building, to design and build one-of-a-kind cars requires a lot of resources, time, space and money, and it’s a very small client base. The reality of my situation and only having a small 400sq/ ft workshop brought me back to rediscovering my love of being on two wheels, and what incredible platforms motorcycles are for artistic interpretation.”

This is only Jay’s second bike build, the first being a cafe racer based on a 1980 Harley-Davidson Sportster.

“The Yamaha project was built for Michael Lichter’s 2017 ‘Motorcycles As Art’ show in Sturgis (USA), something I was very lucky and fortunate to be a part of as I didn’t have much previous work to show him. The theme for this year’s event was ‘Old Iron, Young Blood’ so it was all about up-and-coming bike builders, and thankfully Michael had enough faith to invite me to participate in the show.

This bike was built in the two-and-a-half months leading up to the show, almost entirely by myself and very much designed on the fly.”

With a short deadline, Jay hunted around for a donor bike in good mechanical condition so that he could concentrate on fabrication. “I’ve had an interest in XS650s for some time and found a very clean example locally with exceptionally low miles,” he says. Even so, on dismantling, the engine was dispatched to nearby

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1976 YAMAHA XS650

“THE ONE-PIECE TANK AND TAIL SECTION WAS HAND-FORMED FROM ALUMINIUM”

Whiplash Customs for a top-end rebuild, including new rings and reconditioned cylinder head. Jay then added a pair of Mikuni VM34 round-slide carburettors with three-inch velocity stacks and a Boyer Bransden electronic ignition. He also ditched the electric starter. “As XS650 guys know, the starter system was a complete afterthought!”

Jay says. “It gave me so much trouble it is now kick only.”

In the meantime, Jay turned his attention to the infrastructure, retaining the main chassis comprising the steering head, twin downtubes and hefty backbone, but constructing a whole new tail section in mild steel and radically reworking the swingarm.

The swingarm pivot was converted to run on needle roller bearings and gussets removed before the arms themselves were stepped out to the same width as the frame to accommodate a wider 17 x 4.25-inch rim and 140/70-section tyre. Lower and upper swingarm support structures were added, not only for a fluid look — we love the way the lower bracing flows into the curvy seat sub-frame — but also to create a very rigid, multi-dimensional structure that could take the strain of the cantilever-style monoshock, which formerly graced the dusty end of a 2008 Ducati Monster.

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As with the mainframe, the swingarm’s welds were smoothed before being brushfinished and clear powder-coated.

The curves also extend to Jay’s amazing custom-bent engine header pipes snaking their way down the left-hand side into a Cone Engineering muffler; lots of work there! “My inspiration is to get better at my craft,” Jay says, “and do things that force me to do so.”

The front end is from a 2002 Suzuki SV650, including the dual discs bolted to the stock XS650 hub which is, in turn, laced with stainless-steel spokes to a 17 x 3.5-inch Excel aluminium rim. The conventionalstyle forks were lowered by 4cm and fitted with Race Tech 90kg springs and Gold Valve Emulators, essentially tuneable valves that sit on top of the damping rods which bring the performance benefits and adjustability of well-tuned cartridge-style forks to more ordinary fare. The mudguard mounts were shaved and the sliders polished.

Jay’s considerable metalcrafting skills extend to the swoopy bodywork. “The body was designed using classic Italian coachbuilding methods of creating a wire form buck, which is used as a guide for shaping the metal,” Jay says. “The one-piece tank and tail section was hand-formed from a flat sheet of aluminium using traditional methods (the

Two For The Road YAMAHA was already a well-respected musical instrument brand (hence the tuning fork logo) when it produced its first motorbike, the 125cc YA-1 two-stroke single, in 1955. It stuck with two-strokes exclusively until the end of the following decade, refining their road-bike range with oil injection (in place of pre-mix) in 1964 and developing the 250cc TD-1 into an unbeatable production racer.

The factory’s first four-stroke was the XS-1 vertical twin released at the end of 1969, styled after the once-dominant British twins but updated with a chain-driven overhead cam and horizontally split crankcases to keep the oil inside for a change. Offering similar performance to the Brits, mechanically it was a pearler, although the chassis was initially underdone and it earned an early reputation for poor handling.

Front disc brakes came with the XS-2, electric start was added in 1972 and the frame was gradually improved as the model name changed to TX650 and later XS650, but they’re all much the same bike. I’ll say the XS650C of 1976 was the best, only because I owned one. A cruiser model was added in 1978 and lived on until 1985, by which time more than 250,000 XS650s had been sold.

Once cheap and plentiful, they are super popular for all the right reasons with custom bike builders everywhere, and prices are rising.

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Artworks

1976 YAMAHA XS650

“JAY CALLS THE BIKE ‘MANTA’, AFTER THE ELEGANT AND POWERFUL MANTA RAY” belly sections were shaped separately, then seamlessly joined), as was the fairing, then given a brushed finish.”

Continuing the metallic theme and with fastidious attention to detail, all the hardware was cadmium-plated, polished or chromed.

“Every bolt head was smoothed and slightly domed and all the nuts replaced with chromed acorn nuts,” he says. “Small amounts of brass hardware were used for contrast but kept minimal for an understated, classy look. The license-plate mount (under the seat) is the arm from a brass desk lamp, fully adjustable and designed to house the wiring internally, and its contours were a great fit. My fascination with shapes and proportion leads me to walking through thrift shops for interesting and useful items like that.”

The adjustable three-piece clip-on handlebars are from Woodcraft fitted with Kustom Tech levers, front-brake master cylinder and throttle housing. Switchgear is from Motogadget, as are the handgrips, the tiny dash, digital control unit, keyless ignition and blinkers. Nova LED taillights are mounted flush into the bodywork, while up front Jay fitted a pair of LED motorcycle driving lights to offer both low and high beams.

Rear-set footpegs and controls were fashioned by Jay from a kit by Loaded Gun 74

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Customs in Delaware. The seat is upholstered in maroon leather, as is the (lithium) battery bag swinging from the swingarm pivot and the handgrips.

The bike’s beautiful curves prompted Jay to name the finished bike ‘Manta’, after the elegant and powerful manta ray, and the bike made it to Sturgis on time where it garnered a lot of interest for the budding custom bike builder. Asked if he is happy with the result, Jay says he’s “always happy but never satisfied.

There are things I wish I could do over but overall I am extremely happy. It’s only my second motorcycle project, ramping up quite dramatically from my previous build in both quality and design, something I hope to continue with each build.”

Jay is a big fan of Argentinian auto designer Horacio Pagani, who designed landmark cars for Renault and Lamborghini before forming Modena Design and later building his own Pagani Zonda supercars. “The more I get involved with my craft, the more I am discovering how much it satisfies across many different mediums,” Jay says. “Much like Horacio Pagani, and the men he admired like Da Vinci, I have become obsessed with combining design with engineering in ways that complement each other rather than having to compensate between the two.”

Retro Specs

ENGINE Air-cooled four-stroke vertical twin with 360-degree crank; chain-driven SOHC, two valves per cylinder; 75 x 74mm for 653cc; 8.4:1 comp; 2 x 34mm Mikuni smooth-bores with 3in velocity stacks; wet sump; gear primary drive to multiplate clutch and five-speed gearbox; 520 chain final drive; 53hp @ 7200rpm (stock) CHASSIS Twin-downtube, single-backbone mainframe in mild steel; fabricated seat sub-frame UP FRONT 41mm conventional forks (SV650), shortened 4cm with heavy springs and adjustable Race Tech cartridge emulators; XS650 hub laced to 17 x 3.5in rim; twin 290mm rotors with sliding twin-piston calipers; 120/70R17 Dunlop Sportmax GPR-300 tyre DOWN BACK Very much modified XS650 swingarm pivoting on needle-roller bearings, braced and converted to single-shock cantilever style in mild steel tubing; Ducati Monster monoshock; XS650 drum-brake hub laced to 4.25 x 17in rim; 140/70R17 Dunlop Sportmax GPR-300 tyre BODYWORK One-piece tank-seat unit handformed from flat aluminium sheet; ditto the fairing; brush-finished with clear powder-coat; leather seat; recessed headlights and taillights BEST Superlative style and finish; light weight; soulful engine; ridden not hidden NOT SO GREAT Let’s not be churlish, an amazing effort from a talented newcomer

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Classic Racers

1957 MONDIAL 250 BIALBERO

Smooth Operator Mike Hailwood reckoned this was the best 250cc singlecylinder racing bike ever built WORDS ALAN CATHCART PHOTOS KYOICHI NAKAMURA

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UST over 60 years ago in 1957, Mondial capped its mercurial rise to road-racing supremacy by winning both the 125cc and 250cc World Championships. The Italian factory then withdrew from racing at the height of its success, although two of the 250 GP bikes went on to have a second life in the hands of one of England’s most revered road racers.

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Classic Racers

1957 MONDIAL 250 BIALBERO

“THERE WAS A SPELL OF MEGAPHONITIS AT 4600RPM BEFORE THE POWER CAME ON” Mondial was the creation of the Boselli family, wealthy land-owning nobility from the Piacenza area in the valley of the River Po, Italy’s breadbasket. Count Giuseppe Boselli treated his motorcycle business as a sideline to his agricultural interests, but as a former ISDT Gold Medal winner, he understood the value of competition success in promoting Mondial’s road bikes in sport-mad Italy. He therefore recruited designer Alfonso Drusiani in the late 1940s to create a 125GP racer. Drusiani came up with a small-scale version of the classic bevel-driven DOHC single-cylinder four-stroke, which proved literally unbeatable for the first three years of the 125cc World Championship, with Mondial riders winning all 11 GP races run in 1949-51. Nello Pagani took out the inaugural World Championship in 1949, Bruno Ruffo won the title in 1950, and in 1951 his teammate Carlo Ubbiali made it three from three.

Count Boselli had achieved his promotional goal by winning the 1949 title, so the two that followed were icing on the cake. It was now time to focus on a new line of Mondial road bikes, which debuted in 1950. These beautifully made series-production models were renowned for their quality of manufacture as well as design, but it meant the Mondial racers played second best to MV Agusta in 1952, then to the allconquering German NSU team for two seasons in 1953-54.

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In 1956, Count Boselli decided to get back into the main game, this time in the 250GP class.

Drusiani responded with what many people, not least the late Mike Hailwood, considered to be the greatest single-cylinder racebike ever built.

During the winter of 1956/57, Drusiani and his six-man team worked overtime on producing a completely new 250cc single, and a spin-off 125cc version. Count Boselli would visit the race shop accompanied by august dinner guests like chief Ferrari designer Aurelio Lampredi or Maserati’s technical guru Giulio Alfieri.

The new Mondial Bialbero 249cc single was heavily oversquare at 75 x 56.4mm, permitting safe revs of 11,400rpm, with peak power of 29hp

at 10,800rpm. It featured DOHC driven by a train of five gears up the right side of the engine, with the uppermost of these attached to the central pinion in another array of five smaller gears spreading across the top of the cylinder head, the outer ones driving the camshafts. The valves were fitted with exposed hairpin springs for ease of replacement in an era when broken valve springs were a constant problem (hence the development of Ducati’s desmodromic system, which Mondial also experimented with). A 32mm Dell’Orto SS1 carburettor with remote float was fitted, with total-loss coil ignition firing twin sparkplugs. The gear primary drive drove a five- or seven-speed gearbox, according to rider preference or the type of circuit, via an oil-bath clutch.

The new engine was contained in a twin-loop tubular steel frame, with twin bolted-on struts running from the steering head to the front of the crankcase. Dry weight was 100kg without bodywork, and just 110kg clothed in the most effective full streamlining yet seen in the smallcapacity classes. It was developed for Mondial by the Aermacchi aviation company — the same firm which then also made motorcycles, before selling out to Harley-Davidson in 1960 — and made from alloy. Both front and rear wheels were more than 50 per cent enclosed, and the long, low tank was recessed to enable the rider to tuck himself well away behind the

Sandford leads Miller at the TT

Cecil Sandford on his way to the 1957 World Championship

Sammy Miller crosses the ďŹ nish line after crashing at IoM TT

Sammy Miller at Monza

Mondial owner Count Giuseppe Boselli (in suit)

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Classic Racers

1957 MONDIAL 250 BIALBERO

Sammy Miller today

“HAILWOOD'S PERFORMANCES ON THE MONDIALS WERE LITTLE SHORT OF AMAZING” front screen. The result was a top speed of 219kmh/137mph (at Monza), truly staggering performance for a 250 of that era and faster than most 500 singles.

A tail fairing was later added to stop their rivals slipstreaming the fleet of blue and silver streamliners, and the brakes modified to cope with being tucked out of the breeze.

Wheelbase was a tight 1270mm, book-ended

by Marzocchi forks and Girling shocks.

Count Boselli assembled a strong team for 1957, with former 125GP World Champion Cecil Sandford (who’d ended Mondial’s initial run of success in 1952 for MV Agusta) joining local hotshot Tarquinio Provini and a young Ulsterman, Sammy Miller. A fairytale end to the story so nearly happened when Miller led his first race for the Mondial team — the 10-lap 250cc Lightweight TT race held on the 17km Clypse circuit — until the last corner on the final lap, where he fell off and handed victory to Sandford. “I got carried away and 80

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took a big handful of throttle coming out of Governor’s Bridge with the chequered flag in sight, and it went sideways on me,” Sammy recalls. “I picked it up, but it wouldn’t restart, so I had to push it home to finish fifth. That was the closest I ever came to winning a Grand Prix!”

Sandford duly defeated the MV Agusta team to clinch the 1957 250GP World Championship for Mondial, with Provini and Miller second and third, and Provini winning the 125GP title. “It was the fulfilment of all my dreams,” recalled Count Boselli to me many years later. "I felt so much satisfaction for all our team at our double World Championship success, which is impossible to describe.

It seemed a perfect moment, which I knew could never be repeated. Having achieved such success, we could only lose it if we continued racing. So I decided to stop."

Two weeks later, on September 15, 1957, the road-racing world was dumbfounded by the

announcement that, in conjunction with fellow 1957 World Champions Moto Guzzi (350cc) and Gilera (500cc), dual World titleholder Mondial was withdrawing from racing. For Moto Guzzi and Gilera, the decision was made to concentrate on their road bikes, under threat from the new Fiat 500 and the increasing consumer affluence of post-war Italy. MV Agusta agreed to stop too, but Count Agusta later changed his mind.

Inevitably, after founding the Sammy Miller Museum, Sammy looked long and hard for one of the only six such bikes to have been made, before purchasing one in Italy in 1993, bearing engine number 20M3/13098. It came without bodywork, but Sammy was able to source in Italy an exquisitely crafted replica of the original, and he’s duly demonstrated the bike all over Europe for the past two decades. I also once owned one of the six factory racers (long story), which made the chance to ride the Miller bike a very welcome personal trip down memory lane, even if it was the first time I’d ridden a Mondial with full streamlining.

For strangely enough, it was not the World Championship trifecta in 1957 that stamped the 250 Mondial as one of the all-time great roadracing designs in the eyes of British enthusiasts so much as the subsequent performances of two of them in the hands of Mike Hailwood.

After Mondial withdrew from competition, his father Stan (then a major UK bike distributor) persuaded Count Boselli to supply not only the bikes, but sufficient spares and technical back-up for Mike to contest the 1959 British 250 Championship and selected GPs. Mike Hailwood's performances on the Mondials in what was only his second full year of racing were little short of amazing. Now adorned with a dolphin fairing after the FIM banned full streamlining, he swept all before him in the British 250 title chase, winning practically every race he finished at record

speed, and on one occasion, at Castle Combe, equalling the 500cc lap record. (He also won the British 125 Championship that year on a Ducati, as well as the 350 and 500 Championships on Nortons.) In the GPs, though, the Mondial singles were no match for the new MV Agusta twins, but Hailwood still finished fifth overall.

Stan Hailwood sourced from Ducati a pair of 250cc and 350cc desmo twins for Mike to have a serious crack at the GPs in 1960, with the Mondials retained as backup. The Ducatis were underdone and handled atrociously, thus the Mondials were raced for another year to a second British 250 title and another fifth place in the World Championship. In 1961, Hailwood became a works rider for Honda and the rest is history.

I ended up buying one of Hailwood’s two Mondials — in Muskogee, Oklahoma, of all places (I told you it was a long story) — in 1979, which, after restoring, I rode in the 1983 Isle of Man TT Parade, giving me a rather longer hands-on assessment than I was able to make more recently of Sammy Miller’s similar but fully streamlined bike on his airfield test track and the access roads of the Museum.

So let’s go back to 1983 as I lined up on the Glencutchery Road start line of the TT Mountain Course, surrounded by wafting clouds of Castrol R-tinged smoke and the deafening bellows of Manx Nortons. The Mondial coughed a couple of times heading down Bray Hill, but once under way and into top gear on the five-speed gearbox, the little single was soon thumping away happily.

With all those cam-drive gears, there's a huge amount of mechanical noise, along with the booming exhaust and the clatter of the exposed hairpin valve springs performing a comprehensive lube job on my left boot.

In deference to the engine's age and my own lack of spares, I kept the revs down to 9000rpm. There was a spell of megaphonitis at 4600rpm before the power came on quite strongly from 5200rpm upwards, giving a very usable 4000rpm powerband even with the lower rev ceiling.

In spite of its tiny 1270mm wheelbase, the Mondial's riding position was ideal for me (and so would have been for Hailwood too), thanks to the position of the seat far back over the rear axle. It’s actually quite tall and spacious for a 250 and it handled (and braked) like a dream, passing every exam I set for it on the TT course with flying colours.

Best ever? Essentially a soundly designed and well-built but relatively conventional machine, the Mondial 250 Bialbero owed its GP success mostly to its extremely efficient streamlining — which Sammy Miller says was very little affected by side winds — and thereafter in dolphin-faired form to the extraordinary skills of Mike Hailwood. Still, it was and is a very fine motorcycle, and Sammy Miller is to be congratulated on the excellent restoration he and his colleague have achieved.

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled four-stroke single; geardriven DOHC, two valves; 75 x 56.4mm for 249cc; 10.5:1 comp; 32mm Dell’Orto SS1; twin-plug coil ignition (total loss); gear primary drive to wet clutch and five-speed gearbox; chain final drive CHASSIS Twin-loop tubular steel frame; 35mm Marzocchi forks with 220mm Oldani twin leadingshoe drum brake laced to 1.65 x 18in aluminium rim; tubular steel swingarm with twin Girling shocks and 220mm Oldani single leading-shoe drum laced to 1.85 x 18in aluminium rim DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1270mm; dry weight 110kg PERFORMANCE 29hp @ 10,800rpm (at the chain); top speed 219km/h (Monza, 1957) SPECIAL THANKS Sammy Miller Museum, Hampshire, UK; www.sammymiller.co.uk BEST Streamlining that works; pretty as a picture NOT SO GREAT Hard to find parts ISSUE #29

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STUFF WE LIKE

Retro

STYLE MERLIN ALTON JACKET

The Alton jacket combines authentic design with the benefits of modern technology to produce a functional, comfortable jacket that oozes style. Available in brown or black, men’s sizes Small to 4XL. $499.95 linkint.com.au/merlin.html

BLACK GATE DISTILLERY Black Gate was the first distillery in Central West NSW. Their range of single malt whisky and rum is Australian from start to finish.

Prices range from $80 - $175 blackgatedistillery.com

GIVI 100AL MOTORCYCLE SCREEN Givi’s new 100AL screen is a universal screen made from 2mm-thick alloy, which is brushed and anodised to retain a classic cafe look.

Screen $219.95 Fitment kits range from $59-$120 ronangel.com.au

MOTO GUZZI V7 50TH ANNIVERSARIO HELMET

Something for die-hard Guzzi fans. The leather on this helmet is the same as that used on the V7 saddle and with the Moto Guzzi logo stamped in gold on the front, no one will doubt your allegiance. $350 motoguzzi.com.au ,

AKUBRA LUGGAGE The Akubra canvas and leather luggage range is built to last.

Made in Australia to the same high standards as Akubra hats, with a five-year warranty.

Lachlan Drum Bag $285 (green bag) Murrumbidgee Drum Bag $299 (blue bag) akubra.com.au

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SMITH T-SHIRT

Another great retro-styled tee from Triumph. $55 triumphmotorcycles.com.au

DESERT GLOVES

The Held desert gloves are lightweight without compromising on protection. The palm is kangaroo leather while the back is mesh polyester with hard knuckle protection. Sizes 6-12. $130 heldaustralia.com.au

EUSTON DENIM KEVLAR JEANS

Old-school cool from Merlin. A denim cotton, Cordura and Coolmax combination provides the ultimate in comfort and durability.

Sizes 30-40 $279 linkint.com.au/merlin.html

CORSO BOOT

From Dririder, the Corso boot is made in vintage brown full-grain leather.

With a weathered wornin look, the Corso will suit anything from urban riding and touring through to your cafe racer. Sizes 39-48. $249.95 mcleodaccessories.com.au

X.G100R CARBON HELMET

This is a helmet worth waiting for. Available in February, the X.G100R from X-Garage offers full face protection with a retro vibe. The 100% visible carbon shell makes the X.G100R perfect for the rider who wants to stand out from the crowd. $629.95 ctaaustralia.com.au

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ON THE TOOLS BREAKDOWN BLUES

McIlwraith WITH JAMIE McILWRAITH

ROADSIDE REPAIRS

M

OST blokes don’t like to admit this fact — male pride and all that — but I know that I am not a good mechanic. I wish I was. I’m not hopeless, I know the theory better than I can do the practice, but if I’m with someone I know is a competent mechanic, I’m happy to let them take over. I’ll make the coffee or fetch the beer and keep the helpful suggestions down to a bare minimum.

All that is good and fine during peacetime at home, but what happens when you break down on the open road? That’s where you need to have learnt at least a few mechanical basics, or be riding with a mate who’s a dab hand with machines, or just get lucky and someone comes along and stops to lend a hand.

My first "oh shit I’m in deep doo-doo" breakdown was on the west coast of Tasmania in the 1970s. My sturdy little Suzuki GT250 two-stroke twin had never let me down, but its first failure was a bad one. The little Suzy made it all the way from Sydney to Melbourne, via the Snowy Mountains, without a problem. Touring on a 250? It was the 1970s. Lots of us did it.

Halfway down the west coast highway on Tassie’s left-hand side, the Suzuki decided that this lonely road was a great spot to drop its gearbox sump plug. No gearbox oil, none at all. I only noticed it because I had stopped to take a photo, and I spotted oil dripping from its underside. And Suzuki 250s don’t drip oil.

It was then the patron saint of travellers, St Christopher, came to the rescue. Actually, it was a nice old guy in a caravan. Yes, a caravan. He spotted me sitting there by the side of the road

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looking like I was all out of answers, and stopped to help. Being a caravanner, he had spare bits and pieces galore. His van was an Aussie bloke’s backyard shed on wheels.

His brainwave idea was to take his St Christopher medal off his car’s dashboard and seal up my Suzuki’s leaky gearbox by Aralditing

“My Suzuki decided this was a great spot to drop its sump plug” the medal to block up the hole. It worked! He had some spare engine oil — and any old oil is much better than no oil at all — and his fix worked like a charm, all the way back to Sydney.

A few weeks later I eventually got around to getting a bike shop to insert a new helicoil thread and plug. I was almost sorry to see St Christopher go. He’d be my favourite saint if I ever become religious.

After that experience I decided I ought to learn a bit more about bike maintenance and repairs, enough to get by, but I knew I was never going to become an expert. And then one day I read the book, Phil Irving, an Autobiography.

Now if you don’t know who Phil Irving is, he’s the guy who designed the legendary Vincent 1000cc V-twin. Google him, he’s a great, great Australian all motorcyclists should know about.

As a young man in 1930, Phil and a mate rode a motorcycle sidecar outfit from Australia to England, via New Zealand and Canada.

It was an early JAP-engined 600cc HRD. As simple as can be, it was a side-valve single, hauling two men and hundreds of kilos of sidecar and camping gear across thousands of miles, only some of which were roads. They got there, but only because Phil Irving was the pillion passenger.

While the whole adventure is worth reading about, I couldn’t believe it when Phil calmly described keeping the engine going across Canada by regularly finding new pistons for it, but only after re-sizing each piston on a lathe so it would fit.

Later the engine completely lunched itself, so “with some sleight of hand with a couple of adjustable spanners I trued up the conrod”, wrote Phil. With another approximately OK, but with only one-ring piston attached, they were back on the road.

Phil Irving, what a guy to have at a roadside breakdown! I love the bit where, later on, he says, “We re-filled at the Shell depot and managed to locate an aluminium Harley piston … for future possible use.” As you do.

Phil got the bike to England, and on the strength mostly of his ability, but also his amazing long-distance feat, he was soon working for Velocette, before moving on to Vincent motorcycle design immortality.

And so, Retrobikers, next time you’re in need of a roadside repair, it’s unlikely that anyone with Phil Irving’s talents will be there to help.

Plan B is to learn the basics yourself. But if you’re desperate, maybe Plan C — good old St Christopher — might get you back on the road again. Good luck!

Ride Tasmania

DRAGONFLY CLASSICS

124 Evans Rd. Salisbury Qld. 4107

HIRE A CLASSIC

dragonflyclassics.com.au

NEW BIKES TRIUMPH BOBBER 1200

SNAKE CHARMER

Triumph’s factory custom is lower than a snake’s belly and packed with venom WORDS & PHOTOS GEOFF SEDDON

T

HE new Triumph Bobber was another of those bikes that I was hanging to try since spying the first photos a year ago. My tastes in the modern British stuff naturally lean towards the Thruxton, but I’ve also been a fan of rigid Triumph customs since I was a teenager. Yes, I know it only looks like a hardtail, but could the Bobber do for Triumph what the Softail did for Harley-Davidson?

First impression in the metal is how low it is, especially when you see it parked next to a Bonneville or any other normal bike.

Second impression is much the same when I ease myself into the saddle; if anything, it feels even lower, like stepping out of a 4WD Hilux into a 1964 Chevy Impala. I feel like the coolest kid on the block and I haven’t got out of the car park yet.

It’s got some go too, right from the first set of traffic lights. I’d told the guys in the bike shop this was my first ride on a new liquid-cooled 1200cc Triumph twin, and they responded by showing me how to turn off the traction control. The rear tyre already had a telltale strip 86

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down the middle that only comes from doing burnouts. You’ll enjoy it, they said.

I’ve been a critic of Triumph’s switch to offset 270-degree crankshafts, bemoaning the loss of that unique exhaust note that only comes from an old-school British 360-degree twin. I still miss it, but there’s no denying the new 1200 is a fantastic engine. This is the High Torque version, which places the power lower in the rev range where it’s more likely to get accessed. It has grunt aplenty right from idle, and is smooth and very powerful through to the 6100rpm redline, not that you’ll go there often. It sounds grouse, even with the standard mufflers, and is as soulful as any big twin I’ve ever ridden.

The Bobber is very tall-geared, pulling just 3000rpm at 110km/h in sixth, and it feels like even less. As the owner of Ducati and Norton twins of similar capacity, I can vouch that 90-degree V-twins always feel more relaxed than traditional two-up parallel twins at the same revs. The same applies here so I get it now.

The low seat and centre of gravity make the Bobber ideal for city living; it’ll lane-split feet-up all the way to work. The seat and riding

position are very comfy and the controls are well placed, which makes it an easy bike to ride. And I’ll admit I enjoyed checking out our reflection in shop windows; with rider aboard, the saddle-style seat and rear-end treatment look more vintage WLA than custom Triumph and we attracted a lot of attention wherever we went.

Escaping to the country, the Bobber surprised me with its versatility. You sit low enough to punt along reasonably comfortably at freeway speeds and that long wheelbase has the bike steering itself. Once onto more enjoyable winding roads, the steering feels slow initially as you tip into the corner, but then holds its line accurately. Another great thing about low seat heights is that you’re a lot closer to the tar whizzing by six inches below your boots, so corner speeds feel faster than they actually are.

Triumph has pulled off the rigid look so successfully I expected the Bobber to handle like a Softail, but the cantilever swingarm with monoshock under the seat is not dissimilar to the set-up on my Ducati. The back end performed very well, although my regular riding buddies reported it was weird watching the rear guard and taillight bouncing up and down when I was in front.

The forks look short because they are.

Triumph claims more suspension travel at the front (90mm) than the rear (77mm), but that’s not the impression I got chasing my mates on rough regional back roads. One of our favourites is the goat track from the NSW Central Coast out to Wollombi pub, which some have likened to a tarred motocross circuit. The front end took some big hits and struggled a bit, although it never shook its head nor lost its line. Riding at speeds more appropriate to the conditions, it was all good.

Cornering clearance is average for this style of bike, certainly better than some, but it’s obviously not a sports bike. (You could say the same about the brakes.) The hinged footpegs are first to touch down, which is a lot of fun, but less so the muffler shrouds and side-stand tang, which can nudge the bike offline if the suspension is compressed unexpectedly mid-corner.

Not that I would change a thing. The long super-low stance is what makes this bike so enjoyable to ride (and look at), so full credit to the factory boffins for making the Bobber steer and handle as well as it does.

I liked it so much I started to fantasise about buying one. Almost everything I own is ancient, so the idea of an old-style brand-new bike with riding modes, ABS, traction control and a two-

year unlimited-kilometre warranty has much appeal. Would I be able to tour it? Probably, it’s certainly comfy enough. Touring range is limited with a 9.1-litre tank, although economy was good on test at 4.1l/100km, which offers 200km if you hold your breath. The reserve light came on at around 160km. Carrying luggage might be a challenge, although no reason why you couldn’t craft up a WLA-like rack for the rear guard. Just don’t pack anything fizzy or scrimp on the tie-downs! And you can obviously forget about taking a pillion.

Not everyone will go for the looks, but that’s a big part of the Bobber’s appeal. Nor is it particularly cheap, with some serious competition around for the money. But if you are attracted to the style, my guess is you’d love the ride.

Retro Specs ENGINE TYPE Liquid-cooled SOHC eight-valve vertical twin with 270-degree crank POWER/TORQUE 76hp @ 6100rpm/106Nm @ 4000rpm CAPACITY 97.6 x 80mm for 1200cc COMPRESSION RATIO 10.0:1 INDUCTION Sequential EFI CLUTCH Wet, multi-plate GEARBOX Six-speed FINAL DRIVE Chain CHASSIS Tubular-steel twin-cradle main frame with cantilever swingarm UP FRONT KYB 41mm forks; single 310mm twinpiston Nissin brake; laced 19in rim DOWN BACK KYB monoshock; single 255mm single-piston Nissin brake; laced 16in rim TYRES Avon Cobra (made in England!)

SEAT HEIGHT 690mm DRY WEIGHT 228kg FUEL 9.1 litres; economy 4.1l/100km WARRANTY Two years, unlimited km PRICE $19,990 rideaway (NSW) CONTACT www.triumphmotorcycles.com.au ISSUE #29

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NEW BIKES MV AGUSTA RVS#1

BRAVE NEW WORLD MV Agusta builds a factory ‘neo racer’ WORDS GEOFF SEDDON PHOTOS GIGI SOLDANO

W

E’VE made it our rule here at Retrobike not to run stories on new bikes we haven’t ridden, but rules are there to be broken when a bike like the MV Agusta RVS#1 comes along. There’s nothing retro about it either, but when it comes to factory ‘neo racers’, this one is as custom as they come.

Having said that, we have ridden a few modern-day MV Agustas over the past 20 years and we are familiar with the MV DNA; none is for the faint-hearted. They are hardedged street bikes, always ready to go, skittish thoroughbreds that can mock ordinary riders but are revered by the fast guys.

MV Agusta has impeccable history. The company started building small-capacity motorcycles in Verghera, Italy, not long after WWII, mostly to fund its racing ambitions.

The company won its first 125cc world championship with Cecil Sandford in 1952, then five more with Carlo Ubbiali. It also won four 250 World Championships between 1956 and 1960, and 10 350 Championships between 1958 88

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and 1973. But it was the 18 500 Championships between 1956 and 1974, 17 of them on the trot with riders John Surtees, Gary Hocking, Mike Hailwood, Giacomo Agostini and Phil Read, that made the world take notice.

With the passing of patriarch Count Domenico Agusta in 1971, the factory lost its focus. Despite winning a few more championships and building some very desirable, rare-as-hens'-teeth 750cc road bikes in the following years, it eventually went into hibernation.

Enter Claudio Castiglioni, who also has impeccable history. He started building Cagiva motorcycles with his brother Gianfranco in 1978. So successful were they that they purchased Ducati in 1985 and turned that company around before selling Ducati to Texas Pacific Group in 1996. The reborn 900SS and game-changing 916 were both developed and released on Claudio’s watch.

Cagiva also purchased the naming trademarks to the dormant MV Agusta brand in 1991 and, once free of Ducati, relaunched

MV Agusta with the 750cc four-cylinder F4 in 1997. The marque has been in continuous production ever since. Although ownership changed a few times due to financial pressures, Claudio remained at the helm for most of the time and ownership eventually returned to the Castiglioni family, now with Claudio’s son Giovanni at the helm.

In 2017, MV Agusta teamed with its design arm, Castiglioni Research Centre, to form a custom division — Reparto Veicoli Speciali, or RVS — producing hand-built specials. It was a big call for a company whose everyday models are hardly mass-produced or commonplace.

According to Giovanni Castiglioni, the brief for RVS was to produce “unique bikes in terms of equipment, quality of component construction, design and performance”. First off the line is the RVS#1, based on the 800 Brutale.

It is powered by a tuned 800cc DOHC 16-valve engine making 150hp at 12,800rpm, the most powerful triple MV has ever produced.

It comes complete with a ‘track’ kit including a titanium race exhaust, which helps pare mass back to a featherweight 160kg dry. Yep, 150hp and 160kg! Four riding modes were specifically developed for the RVS#1, the most aggressive labelled ‘hoon’. We just made that up, its name anyway, but you get the drift.

The engine unit hangs off a small steel trellis frame with the swingarm supported by machined alloy side-plates unique to the RVS#1. Forks are 43mm Marzocchi upsidedownies, adjustable for everything and with the stanchions anodised for low friction. At the rear, a Sachs monoshock, also adjustable for everything, is mounted on a progressive rate linkage.

MV Agusta was an early adopter of cast wheels back in the day, but the RVS#1 goes even older school with Kineo laced rims on alloy hubs, 3½ x 17-inch up front and a proper six-inch-wide 17 at the dusty end. The spokes

are powder-coated black, as are the rims, albeit machined with alloy reliefs. Front brakes are ever-so-cool 320mm Braking Sunstar Batfly rotors gripped by radial four-piston Brembo calipers, while a twin-piston Brembo bites into a Wave steel disc down back. Brake and clutch fluid reservoirs were machined from billet aluminium, all of it matched with custom hydraulic hoses. Rubber is the coolest custom Pirellis money can buy, MT60 RS at each end with a whopping 180/55 coping with the grunt.

Styling is perfect ‘neo racer’; it looks like it just stepped out of a high-end European custom workshop like Diamond Atelier ("Follow The Leader", Retrobike 28; "Play Hard", Retrobike #26), which is why you’re looking at it here.

The 16.5-litre fuel tank was machined to accept titanium inserts and the seat reworked to include honeycomb stitching. Equally impressive are the details, with custom CNC-machined parts almost too numerous to list; rear-view mirrors, brake and clutch levers, indicators, numberplate holder, footpegs and brackets, and mounts for the headlight and instruments.

Reparto Veicoli Specialis are built to order and no-one is talking price; if you have to ask,

you can’t afford it. That includes everyone here at Retrobike, but it sure is a good-looking motorcycle and we have zero doubt it would go like the clappers and handle even better.

Retro Specs ENGINE Liquid-cooled four-stroke inline triple; DOHC, four valves per cylinder; 79 x 54.3mm for 798cc; 13.3:1 comp; ride-by-wire engine management system; electronic quick-shift, up and down; wet clutch to six-speed gearbox, chain final drive; 150hp @ 12,800rpm CHASSIS Tubular-steel main-frame with machined alloy swingarm supports; 43mm Marzocchi USD forks, twin 320mm floating discs with radial four-piston Brembos laced to 3½ x 17in laced aluminium rim; alloy single-sided swingarm, Sachs shock on rising-rate linkage, twin-piston Brembo caliper on 220 rotor and 6 x 17in laced rim; Pirelli MT60 RS tyres DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1380mm; dry weight 160kg; fuel capacity 16.5 litres BOTTOM LINE Don’t ask, you can’t afford it ISSUE #29

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READERS’ ROCKETS 1957 HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER

THE HOLY GRAIL

Tony Bianco searched all over the world for a 1957 Sportster, only to find one in his backyard WORDS & PHOTOS GEOFF SEDDON

E

ARLY Harley-Davidson Sportsters are thin on the ground, even in the US. Made in their tens of thousands today, total production run for the first model year in 1957 was just 1983 bikes, plus a small batch of XLAs for the military.

Police forces and other government agencies purchased a significant number of the remainder, with relatively few making their way into private hands.

Tony Bianco has been a Sportster fan since leaving school in Sydney in the late 1960s. “The Honda Four had just come out and it was a 750,” he says. “The (new) Triumph Trident was a 750.

The Harley Sportster was a 900. Bigger is always better and the Sportster was the biggest bike you could get. I used to read everything I could on them.”

Tony bided his time riding Nortons and Triumphs until learning in 1974 that HarleyDavidson was planning to move the Sportster’s four-speed gear lever from its proper place on the right-hand side of the bike, where it had always been (as on British bikes too), to the left.

“It was going the way of Japanese bikes,” he 90

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says. “I was devastated.” So he put his money where his passion was and bought a brand-new 1974 model (by then 1000cc) from NSW Harley distributor, Burling and Simmons. “It was the perfect bike — the styling, the look, the noise and sound — it could do anything. I started it,

gave it a handful of throttle and lifted the front wheel eight inches off the ground! It sold me, I was in love.”

More than 40 years later, Tony Bianco is still getting around on Sportsters, although he has owned more than 100 other bikes in the intervening years, including two Vincents, a Brough Superior and countless Triumphs. He returned to his early love nearly a decade ago with a 1977 model, then another ’74 soon after, both purchased within a month of each other in the United States for less than $4000 a pop.

“The exchange rate was high and the US market was depressed,” he says, so he pounced, as did a lot of canny Aussie collectors at the time. Both bikes were in original condition with low miles, and this time around he’s held on to them. “I thought, now I need to look for a ’57, but they only built so many, and finding an original one was getting harder and harder.”

The Sportster was born in 1957 when Harley added overhead valves to the unit-construction side-valve KH models introduced in 1952.

“People knock Harleys but there was a lot of innovation in them,” Tony says. “Triumph didn’t go to unit construction until 1963 and Nortons stayed pre-unit right through to the end.” The original model was relatively lightly tuned, with small valves and low compression suitable for parade and escort work, and so as to not overly tax a bottom end originally designed for side-valve power. But the potential of the OHV motor was soon obvious to private

ISSUE #29

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READERS’ ROCKETS 1957 HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER

“People knock Harleys, but there was a lot of innovation in them”

buyers and the factory responded with the more powerful XLH and XLCH models in 1958, which makes the 1957 XL Sportster even more special and collectable today.

Starting to wonder if he’d ever find that holy grail, Tony’s fortunes took a turn for the better six years ago when a friend noticed a local private Harley collection was coming up for auction with Shannons. And yes, it included a 1957 Sportster, albeit modified as most of them were.

“I thought it was worth putting in a bid and I was overjoyed to get it,” he says. “It had a bobbed guard and seat, drag pipes and ape-hangers but it was largely complete. The frame was original and the engine was basically untouched. It still had the original tank and the tinware around the headlight nacelle, which is almost impossible to get.”

Tony is a genuine one-man garage band when it comes to restoring or modifying motorcycles, although on this occasion he owes much thanks to HD Development in Melbourne for their sound advice and access to a world of hard-to-source new old stock and replica parts. Especially helpful was their assistance in locating the original tank badges that were 92

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unique to the 1957 model. Apart from that, Tony does the lot, from rebuilding engines to bead blasting and paint. He even does his own chroming at home. And should all else fail, his day job as an aircraft engineer building and maintaining crop dusters gives him access to all the machinery, technology and high-tensile steel he needs to get any job done.

Some critics say the ’57s are more fragile than later models, but Tony doesn’t buy into that.

Anything of that age didn’t have the metallurgy or machining technology we take for granted today, he says. Instead, the inevitable variations in tolerances were largely countered by the careful measuring and matching of components during initial hand assembly on the production line, so they were usually pretty good out of the crate. It was often later in workshops where any factory part would do that the seeds of unreliability were sown, he says.

No chance of that here and Tony is justifiably chuffed with the result of his hard work, not that he’s quite finished. “Only the (16-inch) rear rim is non-standard,” he says, although he has recently sourced the correct 18-inch rim to replace it. Oh, and the horn is from an XLA

military model, albeit from the same year.

So what is it about Sportsters?

“Riding one is a very tactile thing,” Tony says.

“You can feel and see everything. You can reach down and adjust the carburettor and feel the heat off the engine. It makes you feel like you’re part of the bike, not just sitting on another machine. The bike becomes an extension of yourself, like it’s part of you.

“And while the nostalgia thing is coming back into bikes, there’s a 60-year lineage with Sportsters. They never stopped making them.

Park a 2017 Sportster next to a ’57 and you’d go, that’s the same bike.”

Retro Specs ENGINE Air-cooled four-stroke 45-degree unit-construction V-twin; four single-lobe camshafts, OHV, two per cylinder; 76.2 x 96.8mm for 883cc; comp 7.0:1; dry sump; single Linkert carburettor; chain primary drive to wet clutch and four-speed gearbox; chain final drive; 42hp @ 5500rpm CHASSIS Twin-cradle tubular-steel chassis with bolt-on sub-frame; telescopic forks and singleleading shoe drum brake laced to 18in rim; twin-shock swingarm with single-leading shoe drum brake laced to 16in rim (stock 18in) DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 1448mm; dry weight 224kg; fuel capacity 16.6 litres BEST Timeless style and sound; 60 years not out NOT SO GREAT Early girls are hard to find

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READERLAND OPINION PAGE

KNUCKLE DUSTER #1

BRILLIANT cover, what a stunning bike!

I’m into Japanese bikes and don’t normally go for Harleys, but that one is beautiful.

Nellie Stewart

KNUCKLE DUSTER #2

I BOUGHT my first copy of your magazine because of the Harley on the cover. I am restoring a ’38 Knuckle motor that I acquired 30 years ago. I thought I’d get some tips but it was a new S&S engine, so not much help!

James Beardon

FOURPLAY

JAMIE McIlwraith is spot on with his piece about four-speed gearboxes ("Enough Is Enough", Retrobike #27), apart from one slight point. You should still be able to motor through a town at 60 kays without changing down; my '74 Norton Commando does without any problems. It's great getting through a town and just rolling the throttle on without changing down. Bring back the big grunty motor and four-speed gearbox, it's the only way to ride!

Pete Young

COUNTRY COUSINS

IT was a good article on Steve Doherty from Orange Classic and Cafe Racer and well deserved ("Orange Country Customs", 98

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COUNTRY COUSINS

FOURPLAY

RIDDEN NOT HIDDEN

FRIENDLY COP

Retrobike #28). You might like to know he’s built a few more since then, including a Suzuki RE5 rotary.

Keith Watts

RIDDEN NOT HIDDEN

INTERESTING to read your editorial about not cocooning rare classic bikes in glass cages. Getting them out and about means they can be enjoyed by everyone, not just the lucky owners.

Tony O’Connell

sixes and the Yamaha V4 two-strokes are still wonderful, even after 50 years!

I am assuming it’s the same Jamie McIlwraith writing for you today, so if you have his address, I’m happy to burn copies of both and mail them to him, no charge!

I’ve also included a photo of me when I was with the NZ ‘Ministry of Transport’. I rode bikes for 13 years from 1972, then transferred to patrol cars for a combined service of 38 years. Not all coppers are bastards!

Don Raynes

FRIENDLY COP

THIS morning I was re-reading an old copy of Streetbike from 1993, which I’d kept for the story on John Britten. It also had an article by Jamie McIlwraith in which he tells about the “great 1960s period of motorcycle sport”, the Honda fours and sixes, and the Hailwood vs Ago races of that era. He had a vinyl recording of some of the Isle of Man TT races, but not the LP with Mike on the Honda six.

I attended the TT in 1966 and 1967 and have both of those Sound Stories LP records. As I listen today to those amazing engines, I feel the hair on my neck prickling and tears come to my eyes as I think of all the riders no longer with us: Mike the Bike, little Bill Ivy, John Hartle, Helmut Fath, Renzo Pasolini and many others. The sounds of the screaming Honda

WIN RAZZO JEANS! To encourage your feedback, we’ll pick one letter (Don Raynes this issue) to win a pair of Drayko Razzo riding jeans, valued at $289!

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

(Retrobike magazine) on Facebook.

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