ISSUE No.57
★ PHILLIP ISLAND CLASSIC ★ BURT MUNRO CHALLENGE ★
Matchless G45
Temperamental twin
Cotton Continental Café cruiser www.oldbikemag.com.au
BORN IN THE USA Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850
HONDA CB900
Twin Cam Classic TRACKS IN TIME:
Hawkesbury NZ
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BSA B33 500 1955. THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL MOTORCYCLE THAT HAS BEEN RESTORED IN THE STYLE OF A GOLD STAR AND IS A THIRD OF THE PRICE. VIN # BB33.6314 $10,950.00
1947 TERROT 125 FOUR STROKE SINGLE. FRENCH MADE, RUNS VERY WELL AND WOULD MAKE A RARE AND INTERESTING ADDITION TO ANY COLLECTION. VIN # 291279 $6950.00
A 1971 DUCATI 160 MONZA. THIS MOTORCYCLE RUNS WELL AND IS PERFECT FOR AN INTERESTING CAFE RACER BASIS. BE QUICK FOR THIS ONE VIN # DM160-25821.
1960 BSA A 10 GOLD FLASH 650. THIS IS A GOOD STRONG RUNNING BIKE AND IS GREAT VALUE FOR MONEY. VIN # DA10.13023 $9950.00
SUZUKI GS 1100L 1980. 24000 MILES. THIS HAS BEEN STORED FOR A WHILE AND IS A PERFECT BIKE FOR AN EASY CLEAN UP RESTORATION. VIN # GS1100LT0700368 $4950.00
HONDA CB900F 1981. BEEN IN STORAGE FOR A GOOD WHILE, NEEDS A GOOD CLEAN UP AND GET GO. WE VERY RARELY SEE THESE. GREAT POTENTIAL WITH THIS BIKE. VIN # JH2SC0104CM107538 $4950.00
MOTO GUZZI 750 AMBASSADOR 1970. GREAT RUNNING BIKE THAT HAS DONE 28000 MILES VIN # 15772 $10,950.00
ARIEL VB600 1954. VERY RARE SWING ARM MODEL IN LOVELY RUNNING CONDITION READY TO RIDE ON THE NEXT CLUB OUTING. VIN # 679 $9950.00
BMW R80GS 1981 A CLEAN EXAMPLE OF THIS SOUGHT AFTER MODEL. VIN # WB1034808F6363099 $6950.00
PANTHER 350 1952. A SWEET RUNNING EXAMPLE THAT IS READY TO RIDE AND ENJOY. THESE ARE HARD TO FIND. VIN # 1937 $9950.00
BULTACO 350 ALPINA. HERE WE HAVE A GREAT VALUE CLASSIC TRIALS BIKE VIN # B9900271 $2950.00
SUZUKI RV90 1973. A GREAT FUN MACHINE WITH THE BIG TYRES. BE QUICK FOR THIS VIN # RV90-58878 $3500.00
TRIUMPH 200 TIGER CUB 1958. THIS IS A TIDY RUNNING BIKE THAT WOULD BENEFIT FROM A FRESH COAT OF PAINT VIN # T20-37630 $4950.00
BSA B23 350 TOURER 1937. THIS IS A GREAT RUNNING LITTLE BIKE WITH THAT PRE WAR GIRDER FORK LOOK THAT IS SO SOUGHT AFTER. BE QUICK FOR THIS VIN # HB23.366 $8950.00
TRIUMPH T160 TRIDENT 750. THIS BIKE IS PERFECT FOR AN EASY RESTORATION. WE RARELY GET HOLD OF CHEAP T160'S SO BE QUICK FOR THIS ONE VIN # T160.XK00617 $7950.00
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WorldMags.net NORTON 750 COMMANDO FASTBACK 1970. THIS IS A STUNNING MOTORCYCLE FINISHED IN GLEAMING RED WITH SILVER. VIN # 138890 $18,950.00
KAWASAKI Z1000 1978. 14827 MILES. THIS IS LOVELY AND ROUGH AND RIPE FOR RESTORATION. BIKE KICKS OVER. A PERFECT PROJECT BIKE. VIN KZT00B-521423 $2950.00
HONDA CT110 1981 VERY LOW MILEAGE EXAMPLE OF THIS EVER POPULAR MOTORCYCLE. VIN # JH2JD0J08BS102393 $2950.00
KAWASAKI Z650 1977. 17063 MILES FROM NEW. PERFECT BIKE FOR AN EASY RESTORATION VIN # Z650B-513058 $4950.00
HONDA CB450 1970. A NICE CLEAN EXAMPLE AND JUST NEEDS A DETAIL AND GET GO. 16658 MILES FROM NEW. THE PERFECT BASIS FOR A CAFE RACER. VIN # CB450-4016454 $4950.00
HONDA CB350 1971 LOW MILEAGE BIKE 6636 MILES, THAT HAS BEEN IN STORAGE AND NEEDS A GET GO AND CLEAN UP. VIN # CB350-401899 $3950.00
HONDA CB360T 1975 LOW MILEAGE BIKE 6758 MILES. LOVELY BIKE WITH ORIGINAL; TOOLKIT AND HANDBOOK UNDER THE SEAT. PERFECT CAFE RACER BIKE. VIN # CB360-2204391 $4950.00
YAMAHA XS650 1974. ORIGINAL LOW MILEAGE BIKE 5795 MILES. HAS BEEN STORED FOR A WHILE AND NEEDS A GET GO AND CLEAN UP. VIN # 447-113314 $5950.00
YAMAHA XS650 1971. THIS BIKE IS VERY ORIGINAL AND ONE OF THE HARDER TO FIND EARLY MODELS. THIS BIKE RUNS AND RIDES WELL. VIN # S650-113564 $9950.00
YAMAHA YDS3 1966 TOTALLY ORIGINAL BIKE FOR RESTORATION. 18439 MILES FROM NEW. A RARE AND DESIREABLE PROJECT. VIN # Y26-17881 $4950.00
YAMAHA XS650 1980.17435 MILES FROM NEW. a VERY TIDY BIKE THAT WOULD BE PERFECT FOR A GREAT CAFE RACER. EASY TIDY UP. VIN # 2F0-218430 $5950.00
YAMAHA RD125 ORIGINAL TIDY EXAMPLE WITH ONLY 1247 MILES. A RARE FIND VIN # 507-010874 $2950.00
YAMAHA LS2 100 TWIN 1972. A REALLY NICE ORIGINAL EXAMPLE. BE QUICK FOR THIS LITTLE BEAUTY VIN # LS2-006378 $2950.00
YAMAHA HS1 90 TWIN 1970. 9669 MILES. A SUPER ORIGINAL EXAMPLE OF THIS COLLECTIBLE MODEL. VIN # HS1-307713 $2950.00
KAWASAKI Z400 TWIN 1978 12778 MILES FROM NEW. THIS IS A NICE TIDY EXAMPLE THAT WOULD ALSO BE PERFECT FOR A CAFE RACER. VIN # Z4-1078974 $4950.00
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contents • Issue No.57
58
22
COVER STORY 58 Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850 Cool cruiser FEATURES 22 Ron Robinson Never a dull moment 28 Cotton Continental Eye candy 34 Matchless G45 Temperamental twin
28
42 Honda CB900F Twin cam classic 50 Asahi 250 Nippon rarity 52 Tracks in Time Hawkesbury, New Zealand 64 The Nursery Hotel 68 DKW racers A tale of intrigue RACE & RALLY ROUNDUP 82 Island Classic
34
42
86 SA Historics 88 Burt Munro 92 HMCQ Run 94 Natureland Rally 96 Ross Rally 98 Phil Irving Concours 100 Velocette Rally WA
52
64
REGULARS 9
Old Hat Editorial
10 Blow your own Letters 14 Classic Cob From the shed 16 Buzz Box Old Bike news 76 Out & About Here, there & everywhere
68
102
102 Suitable Partners Moto Guzzi California 1400 Eldorado
104 Good Gear Worth buying 106 Eyes Right Reviews 108 Marketplace & Clubs Directory 113 What’s on 114 Edgar Jessop plus next issue preview
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WorldMags.net E D I T O R ’ S
L E T T E R
TM
Over the top NUMBER 57
EDITOR Jim Scaysbrook Email: scaysbrook34@bigpond.com Tel: (02) 4572 2226 (bh) Mbl: 0411 443444 PO Box 3188, Grose Vale NSW 2753 CONTRIBUTORS John Dalton, Gaven Dall’Osto, Bill Eales, Stuart Francis, Paul Garson, Peter Smith. PHOTOGRAPHERS Gaven Dall’Osto, Andre Deubel,John Fretten, Robin Lewis, Charles Rice, Sue Scaysbrook, Keith Ward. ART DIRECTOR Mat Clancy Emsee Publishing Design ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Luke Finn Email: lfinn@chevron.com.au Ph: 02 9901 6368 Mb: 0423 665 384 NATIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER Cameron Davis Email: cdavis@nextmedia.com.au Ph: 02 9901 6177 Mb: 0401 547 112 CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Carole Jones SUBSCRIPTIONS www.mymagazines.com.au Toll free: 1300 361 146 or +61 2 9901 6111 Post to Locked Bag 3355, St Leonards NSW 1590 CHEVRON PUBLISHING GROUP a division of nextmedia Pty Ltd. Level 6, Building A, 207 Pacific Hwy, St Leonards, NSW 2065 Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590 Ph: (02) 9901 6100 Fax: (02) 9901 6116 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER David Gardiner COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Bruce Duncan OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA is published by nextmedia Pty Ltd ACN: 128 805 970, Level 6, Building A, 207 Pacific Hwy, St Leonards NSW 2065 © 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed by Bluestar WEB Sydney, distributed in Australia by Network Services and Netlink in New Zealand. ISSN 1833-3249. The publisher will not accept responsibility or any liability for the correctness of information or opinions expressed in the publication. All material submitted is at the owner’s risk and, while every care will be taken nextmedia does not accept liability for loss or damage. PRIVACY POLICY We value the integrity of your personal information. If you provide personal information through your participation in any competitions, surveys or offers featured in this issue of Old Bike Australasia, this will be used to provide the products or services that you have requested and to improve the content of our magazines. Your details may be provided to third parties who assist us in this purpose. In the event of organisations providing prizes or offers to our readers, we may pass your details on to them. From time to time, we may use the information you provide us to inform you of other products, services and events our company has to offer. We may also give your information to other organisations which may use it to inform you about their products, services and events, unless you tell us not to do so. You are welcome to access the information that we hold about you by getting in touch with our privacy officer, who can be contacted at nextmedia, Locked Bag 5555, St Leonards, NSW 1590.
The remarkable story submitted by Peter North (see Out & About, page 80) concerning the intrepid exploits of his father Percy in scaling Barrington Tops on a 350 AJS in 1925 rekindled some less ancient memories for me; of a slightly similar personal ordeal in 1970. I was working at the time for John Harris, the irrepressible Honda and later Husqvarna dealer in Belmont, south of Newcastle. One weekend we decided on a spot of R&R in the form of an expedition to Barrington Tops on various trail bikes. From memory there were five or six of us including John himself, my brother Peter, local panel beater ‘Digger’ Mountford and one or two others. As we slithered our way up the icy slopes in constant drizzle and clouds laying so low you could almost chew them, we became separated and when some hours later most of us re-discovered each other, there was no sign of Digger. With darkness fast approaching we had no choice but to head for Dungog to seek a hotel for the night, whereupon the Search & Rescue people were scrambled. This was dangerous stuff; people perish up there in a region where winter temperatures of minus 10ºC are far from uncommon. It was too late to do anything but wait until first light, but unbeknown to us Digger had ridden right over the range to emerge on the Scone (western) side, where he had run out of petrol. After hoofing it for some distance he spotted a shed, which he soon discovered was occupied by a large number of extremely fierce dogs, each secured to the walls of the shed by a length of chain. And at the very end of the shed stood the prize; a can of petrol. Very carefully Digger crept down the exact centre of the shed, with slathering fangs gnashing within inches of his flanks, accompanied by a cacophony of yelping and barking. Gingerly grasping the precious can, he hoisted it onto his shoulder, precisely pivoted, and crept down the same perilous centre line and outside to freedom. By morning, rescue aircraft were buzzing about, searchers were swarming the peaks and trails, and Digger was in Scone – dry and hungry. His safe presence was quickly relayed to the authorities on the other side of the mountains and the search called off. It was not your average day of trail riding and it was 48 hours before we were once again all together. Adventurous yes, fraught with danger, also yes. Foolhardy? No question, but a mere bagatelle compared to the determination of the pioneers of yore. Now turn to Page 80 and you’ll have even more admiration for what Percy North achieved 91 years ago with a nowveteran motorcycle, a gallon or so of petrol and a few spanners. No wonder the newspaper report suggested “there was a large streak of insanity within the family.” JIM SCAYSBROOK Editor
OUR COVER Andre Deubel’s 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850. See feature story on P58.
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L E T T E R S
T O
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E D I T O R
Answer on the eights The photo (above) sent in by Brian Darby in “Blow your own” OBA 56 of the two Nortons (both number 8) is of my late father Clive Nolan, on the right, taken at Lowood 1950. He rode the Nortons for the Andersons who were the Queensland Norton distributors at that time. His teammate was Tony Edwards who you have already done a story on. I don’t know the person on the left I hope this helps. Wayne Nolan Mb: 0418 744 106
A 1912 LMC thundering along strongly in the 2012 Bathurst Easter Rally.
Lloyds alive I read with interest your article in the 1st November 2015 issue of Old Bike Australasia, page 14, under the heading ‘Out in the Shed-Laidley Swap a Good One’. In the article reference is made by Dennis Seng that he is only aware of one other two speed countershaft geared LMC (Lloyd) motorcycle in existence and that one being in New Zealand. In fact there are at least three complete two speed countershaft geared LMC bikes in New Zealand. All are year 1913 and I have two of them. The interesting thing about these three bikes is they are within five frame numbers of each other
Write a winner! Each issue, we’re giving away a pair of tough, stylish Draggin’ Jeans, valued at $249, for the Best Letter contribution. Don’t forget to include your name and address in case you’re selected. And why not have a look at the latest fashion range from the Draggin’ Jeans website at www.dragginjeans.net
(1453G, 1454G, 1458G) and probably were imported into New Zealand in the same container and have survived complete for 102 Years. Ian Bade New Zealand
Bankin books I am Dick Duckworth’s daughter and also have self-published a couple of history books. The 54 edition of Old Bike Australasia includes a letter from Paul Wells which mentions how hard it is to find copies of dad’s book about Ellis Matthewman Bankin. Feel free to tell any interested readers that I hold remaining copies. The price is still $35 plus postage. Carmel Taig Ph: (03) 9687 3269
ESO – the search for the truth I have read the updates on the ESO feature in OBA 55 and I find that the information is not correct. Chum Taylor won the 1966 Australian title on an ESO in an Arthur Hurst frame with a fuel injector. The motor was supplied by Fred Jolly in 1962. Chum should be credited as the man who ironed out the original problems. He found it had the wrong cams and he fitted an AMAL carb. I visited Chum in 2009 when he told me the story. Old Bike magazine number 5 page 42 confirms these facts in an article by Ken Duperouzel.
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Now we come to the Ove Fundin ESO. This was the first one in Australia imported by Fred Jolly in 1960 and ridden by Ken McKinlay and Ove Fundin in Adelaide. It was purchased by Bob Sharp in Rockhampton in July 1961. Bob then rode it at Sydney and Kembla Grange and took it to NZ in January 1962. After his injury he sold it to Jim Airey who then sold it to Greg Kentwell. Bob brought it back and it was ridden by Ray Sharp and then purchased by Bruce Gardiner. The original motor is in a frame owned by Bruce Gardiner’s son up in Queensland. Some where along the line the frame was changed and is now owned by a Sydney identity. The third point is the bike ridden by Jack Young and later Ken McKinlay was a later importation, this was also purchased by Bob Sharp. I researched all this recently on behalf of the Gardiner family. Tony Webb Speedway Workshop, Queensland
Au contraire! More on the E.S.O. story. Paul Watkins in OBA 56 states that Fred Jolly bought two speedway bikes and five engines in the first shipment in 1959. I have done some research on this subject and am certain that only one bike arrived in late 1959, the one in the photo in Fred Jolly’s back yard, shown in the OBA 55. I have met a former speedway rider from Rockhampton who was in Adelaide in late 1959 and saw and photographed the original bike. This was the bike ridden to the S.A. Championship victory by World Champion Ove Fundin on 16/12/60, and Ken McKinlay won the Victorian Championship at Tracey’s
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 11
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Chum Taylor with the fuel-injected ESO.
Sharp S45, and all components inside that engine had a factory etching showing the crankcase pairing number, including the cams, outrigger plate, and idler gear. The number on this engine was ‘13’. The engine number of the original bike is 447/1959, for all those people who claim to have that particular piece of history! I believe that a friend in Sydney still has the complete bike, though I have not confirmed this in the last ten years. Sadly pretty well all who did know the whole story have gone, but I am trying to correctly piece together this important milestone which changed the face of speedway forever. I detest hearsay being recorded in the media, as it soon becomes fact to the gullible public, and have written this to clear up some of the many misconceptions already raised. Barry Graham Townsville, Qld
speedway in January 1961. Ivan Mauger did not win the Australian Long Track Championship at Port Pirie on this bike as reported elsewhere in the media; the clutch fell off in the final! Ivan’s own books attest to this fact. This bike was sold on to Bob Sharp, who I witnessed have his first meeting on it at Townsville on 6/7/61, and Bob became invincible armed with this machine, selling it to Jim Airey after he lost his left eye. I believe that Fred Jolly did in 1962 import two bikes; one certainly for Mauger, the other unknown,
but possibly Jack Young, and the engines as stated in Paul’s story, and it was Chum Taylor, with one of Fred’s S45 E.S.O. engines fitted to a frame of his own making who won the 1966 Aussie title at Rowley Park. I have a problem with the story about the motocross cams being incorrectly fitted to the speedway engines, in that the S45 speedway engine had existed for over five years, and given the outstanding care in assembly, cam timing etc. it’s pretty hard to swallow. I worked on the Bob
The first ESO in Australia, engine number 447/1959, photographed in Fred Jolly’s back yard in Adelaide in 1959.
For more information contact: sales@raritee.com
The good old days Having avidly read Old Bike Australasia intermittently over the years, I’m finding it’s the magazine I gravitate towards on the library stands over the glossier, slicker and far duller new bike magazines (yes, it must be frustrating having occasional readers like myself who don’t buy the rag, but in defense, library copies do get OBA known and read). The new bikes are all so similar goes the common cry. It’s true, but just now retro bikes are finding their way; great to see the latest retro Guzzis, the Scrambler Ducati, Yamaha Bolt, even various Harleys and Indians. Now I have no real interest in the 50’s and older stuff, Italian design from later eras floats my boat. But now I’m starting to regard some of the late ‘80s Japanese bikes with, well, if not affection, then some slight nostalgia, along with lots of other people I suspect, ones who just saw RC30s as slightly exotic and even maybe just affordable at the time. But that is the nature of collecting, when we saw adverts for the exotica of the time, and on the road occasionally, we took them for granted. Even as a casual rider/reader, I remember the 1970s as just getting out and doing it, maybe because we were young then, least I was, and I suspect so were most of your readers too. David Fairburn Earlwood, NSW Thanks for the letter David. For your efforts you’re awarded with our Raritee T-shirt give-away. Maybe another collectible in time! – Ed ➢
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12 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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BLOW YOUR OWN Trevor Henderson aboard his G85CS-engined Dirt Tracker at St. Kilda, SA.
G80CS memories I really enjoyed the story in OBA 56 on the Matchless G80CS, a model that has always interested me. I recall coming home one Saturday evening around 1960 just as ABC TV was, rarely for those days, and in black & white, showing Dave Curtis on a G80CS giving a riding lesson to the BSA team in the British Scramble Championship. I’ve never owned a G80CS, but in the early 1970s I bought a new G85CS engine from the late Stanley Phelps (Stan Rodwell), which he sent out from UK in several parcels. The crankcase had no numbers stamped on it, suggesting it was taken from spare parts. I fitted it into a rigid Matchless frame to use in Short Circuit (Dirt Track) and Long Track events. First time out was the Morgan Mile, and after a poor start, the engine came on song, rapidly hauling in a BSA B50 until my hastily-made exhaust system fell apart. My next event was a Short Circuit, where its power characteristics were unsuitable on the tighter track, so I foolishly had the cams modified to “scramble” specs by the late Laurie Wilson. It was better for Short Circuit, not so Long Track. I raced it through to the early 1980s, when through family commitments I sold it to the late Jack Powell of McLaren Vale, who had a collection of engines, and it is still owned by his son Kym.
An unusual feature of it was that the spark plug, although vertical in the head, was not central, as the plug hole finished in the same place as the roadster with its angled plug. Did they have cracking trouble with the G80CS with limited metal between spark plug slot and valve seats? Finally, your story states that the G80CS engines still had only the bronze bush on the timing side crankcase. In the Pearson “Single Cylinder Matchless” book, by F.W. Neill (AMC Service Manager), it states, under “1956-60 Scrambles Engines”, “a large roller bearing in conjunction with a short bronze bush forms the timing side axle bearing”. Which is correct? I’ve had many happy times, on and off road, with AMC motorcycles. May they live on! Trevor Henderson Christie Downs, SA They certainly did have a problem with cracking cylinder heads on the “central plug” engines. The heads also suffered from poor gas flow from the inlet port angled to the right side, and many were welded up and re-machined as a “centre port” to permit a straight inlet tract, which also meant a direct passage to the centrally fitted air filters that were used on the later Metisse models. Regarding the timing side bronze bush, I believe this remained until the advent of the G85CS engine with the Norton gear-driven oil pump which replaced the old worm drive pump in heavily strengthened Bill Gough and his brother Allan with the mysterious double-engined bike.
Blow your own! If you’ve got something to say, why not write to Old Bike Australasia and get it out to those that might be interested. Send your letters to... Blow Your Own Old Bike Australasia PO Box 3188, Grose Vale NSW 2753 ph: 02 4572 2226 fax: 02 4572 2282 e-mail: scaysbrook34@bigpond.com Letters to Old Bike Australasia must carry the senders name, address and/or an email contact. By submitting your letter for publication you agree that it may be edited for legal, space or other reasons. The letters printed here do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the editor or staff of this magazine. Letters may be shortened or abridged to fit the space available.
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crankcases. In defence of this system, designer P.A. Walker told The Motor Cycle, “The use of a plain bearing is dictated by the method of oil transfer to the crankshaft assembly. The bush is heavily shouldered at the flywheel end to permit the use of a tight fit at this point, since a tight fit is impossible where the bush is cut away.” – Ed
The Gough double Triumph I am just wondering if anyone has ever heard anything about this bike (below) which was built maybe in Launceston, Tasmania in the late ‘40s? It is a horizontal twin built up from two 1938 500 cc BSA engines (992cc) and a BSA gearbox. Unfortunately the photos are not good enough to make out much more. Unofficially, it was put up against a Tiger Moth on Bakers Beach and the plane was level with it at an airspeed of 148 mph. A story appeared in the Launceston Examiner on January 31st, 1948. This states that it was built by Mr W. Gough and was clocked at 102.8 mph on Baker’s Beach despite finishing with a flat tyre. The aim was to break the Australian speed record of 127 mph. ■ Noel Saward Launceston, Tas.
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1976 Kawasaki KZ1000 She presents VERY well and has alloy wheels and an aftermarket 4 into 2 exhaust fitted.Great bike for club runs or a classic tour? #01015 $10,000. Call Richard – 0400 222 040
Trial and (more) errors Regarding your item Trial and Errors (OBA 56). I feel you have been misinformed in some areas. I agree there will be some who take advantage of the log book scheme as I have already experienced this. I am a machine examiner for the C&EMCC and like most of us not a qualified engineer. I have had over 50 years experience riding, repairing and restoring bikes. I feel I am well able to ascertain whether a bike is roadworthy or not. You state the club officers (machine examiners) role is basically to ensure the vehicles comply with the club plate rules. This is not true, if you look at the Historic Vehicle Declaration section 3, you will see we do in fact sign off that “The vehicle is in safe operating condition.” Yes, there are some club rules that are observed but safety is never compromised and we examiners thoroughly check all areas associated with the safe operation of the vehicle. Richard Ementon (via email)
1971 CZ 250 This bike has been tastefully upgraded for classic motocross, and features a Mikuni carburettor, plastic front fender and modern air filter. #01902 $5,990. Enquire sales@classicbikesdirect.com.au
1985 Suzuki GS1150 Showing only 20,245 miles from new, we’ll be servicing her prior to a new owner picking her up. #00532 $8,000. Call Richard – 0400 222 040
1975 Honda CB750F1
1967 Honda CB77 305 Here we have a beautifully restored - by our friend Dave - CB77 305cc, which we are proud to bring to the market. #47382 $10,000. www.classicbikesdirect.com.au
1985 Honda VT1100 Shadow Great spec with a discreetly water cooled engine, shaft drive with double disc brake front end for awesome stopping. #01551 $6,000. Call Richard 1300 734 826.
Enquire early – these are both popular and sought after. #12239 $9,200. Enquire today – 1300 734 826
1971 Ducati RT450 Scrambler
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This is a genuine one owner RT450 - we purchased her directly from the hermit owner! #55160 $7,000. Enquire sales@classicbikesdirect.com.au
Heron Heads
1975 Triumph Trident T150V
I thoroughly enjoyed OBA 55 but there is an issue I would like to comment on. The Moto Morini 3½ article mentioned that Cosworth used a Heron cylinder head in a Formula 1 engine; not true but the real story is more intriguing. Cosworth did produce a race-winning Formula 2 engine with a Heron head, called the SCA. However their chief designer’s frustration with gas flow issues inherent in the Heron head led him to design his new Formula 1 engine with a pent roof 4 valve head. The new Cosworth DFV was the most successful car racing engine ever built. The real twist to the story is that Phil Irving was so impressed with the simplicity and power of the Cosworth SCA engine that he incorporated a modified Heron head into the Repco Brabham 620 engine used by Jack Brabham to win the 1966 Formula 1 World Championship. Although the 620 engine was down on power compared to its rivals, it had a lot going for it; a beefy torque curve, good fuel consumption and light weight, and when fitted to the excellent Brabham BT19 chassis, was a race winner. However it was soon eclipsed when the Cosworth DFV emerged in 1967. Sam Heron was an inspired English engineer who spent most of his career working in America on air-cooled aero-engines. He invented the Sodium Cooled exhaust valve that was first used in the Wrights Whirlwind J5 that powered Lindbergh’s Trans-Atlantic flight. Regarding the story of the Zenith Gradua in the same issue, the theoretical advantages of a finitely variable gearing system are attractive, but the practical application usually falls short. The main problem with the Zenith Gradua system was the complicated and expensive way of moving the rear wheel, which when worn led to movement of the back wheel. A simpler more practical system was a fixed rear wheel allied to a jockey wheel belt tensioner (that could also act as a clutch) or a pivoting springloaded engine like a Raleigh Runabout. However the best arrangement at the time was the two speed, all chain drive arrangement on Scotts. Introduced in 1908, the foot-change gearbox with clutch and kick starter, was years ahead of the competition and good enough to win the 1912 and 1913 TT races, it continued until 1922. Stuart Francis Invercargill, NZ
1983 Honda CX650E Showing 40,224 Miles. Be quick to secure this one! #00458 $7,000. Enquire now – 1300 734 826
This example is showing only 10,774 miles and is very tidy throughout. #44213 $11,688. Enquire now by email: sales@classicbikesdirect.com.au
1977 Suzuki GT750B We've been lucky to have a few of these in such good condition recently and they have been snapped up - be quick to talk to us about this beauty. #78874 $12,640. Call Today – 0400 222 040
1973 Kawasaki H1 500 She has covered only 10,932 miles and presents very well – a very popular bike, so be in quick. #08886 $10,288. www.classicbikesdirect.com.au
1973 BMW R75/5 Only 2 owners form new and the last one since 1977! #02160 $10,700. Enquire now – 1300 734 826
1975 Honda CB400F Act quickly to secure this one – we’re not seeing many really good ones at the moment. #07056 $7,700. Enquire sales@classicbikesdirect.com.au
MODERN SERVICE
LMCT 10933
Call Richard Scoular today 1300 734 826 41A Jarrah Drive, Braeside VIC 3195 sales@classicbikesdirect.com.au
www.classicbikesdirect.com.au WORLD WIDE • Buying • Selling • Sourcing • Brokerage
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Goulburn Swap a resounding success Once again the Goulburn Classic Riders Club have conducted another successful motorcycle-only swap meet. This swap caters for motorcycle enthusiasts and has no bric-a-brac or other unworthy items on sale. A host of traders turned up and occupied some 254 sites on Saturday 16th, and to trade on 17th January. Light rain fell on the Saturday afternoon but the Sunday cleared for a great day and resulted in some 1,600 buyers attending. Profits have gone to the Collector Historical Society to assist in the erection of a monument in recognition of the first Australian TT in 1914. This swap is gathering a great reputation, so much so that traders come from far afield as Victoria and Queensland. One such Queensland visitor was Graham “Soapy” Sinclair. He had three machines for sale. The first was a 1913 New Hudson on which a deposit was taken and is yet to be collected by the purchaser. The other two consisted of a 1924 Southern Cross, which had been restored several years ago by well known Queensland identity Ray Owen. He also had a 1936 V Twin AJS which was also restored. These last two mentioned machines did not sell on the day and Graham can be contacted on 0418 711 405. He also had a very interesting front wheel which although several offers were made he declined to accept. However it proved to be a good attraction and talking point. This is a 10 and a quarter inch front brake with 4 leading shoes on each side. Graham tells me that it was made by Cerham Mackay Automotive (C.M.A.) in conjunction with Dave Degens of Dresda Triton fame. Degens had them fitted to endurance racing machines; in fact his bikes with these fitted won Barcelona 24 hour race in 1965 and again in 1970. Another trader had a partially restored machine for sale. This was a 1934 J11 V Twin BSA which
1913 New Hudson.
CMA front wheel.
1934 J11 V Twin BSA.
would make a worthy project bike for some enthusiast to complete. Not sold on the day but an inquirer did make the purchase the following day. The seller advised me that he had rebuilt the motor with new big ends, had chain cases and tool box made, new bushes and spindles for the girder forks as well as new bottom rails in the frame. He had been gradually undertaking this restoration for the
1924 Southern Cross.
past five or six years but decided to sell to assist in the purchase of a 750 Y13 V Twin BSA.
Swap Meet at The Barry Sheene Festival Of Speed On the 18th to the 20th March there is a lineup of great international Grand Prix riders from bygone years at the Sydney Motorsport Park, Eastern Creek. These include Chris Vermeulen, Graeme Crosby (always a crowd pleaser), Freddie Spencer, Kevin Schwantz and others. However, additional to these stars there is a Show & Shine which should draw interest, as well as a swap meet. The swap meet will mostly be trading on the Sunday morning from 6.30am. However I will be there from the Friday morning if anyone is seeking parts for British machines mostly from 1950 through to 1960. For further information contact Peter MacMillan on 0419 489 911 or email festivalofspeed2015@gmail.com ■ See you next issue, Pete
You can get in touch with Pete at...
cob.smith@bigpond.com or call (02) 6553 9442 after 7.00pm
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• BARRY SHEENE FESTIVAL OF SPEED • BROADFORD BIKE BONANZA •
Air lift for Sheene machines A fleet of hyper-rare and valuable motorcycles is en route to Australia in preparation for the 2016 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed at Sydney Motor Sport Park on March 17-20. The actual XR14 Suzuki ridden by Barry Sheene to win the 1975 Dutch TT and now owned by UK collector Steve Wheatman will be there, along with another Wheatman classic, the 1994 factory XR84 Suzuki ridden to several GP wins by Kevin Schwantz. From Luxemburg comes a 1984 Honda RS500R triple owned by Paul Galles to be ridden by Freddie Spencer, while Chris Vermeulen will be aboard a 1984 XR35 Suzuki, resplendent in Sheene’s DAF livery from that year. This machine is owned by Paul Edwards from Sydney. A 500cc Paton, owned by Peter Beugger is being airfreighted from Switzerland for BSFoS regular Maria Costello, while a contingent of 14 solos and 4 sidecars will be crossing the Tasman from New Zealand. Action begins with unofficial practice on Thursday, with qualifying and racing on Friday and a full weekend of racing featuring the Barry Sheene Memorial and the Legends Clashes with famous names on track. ■
Bonanza draws nearer While the standout attraction at the 2015 Penrite Broadford Bonanza at Easter will be the cavalcade of uber-rare Moto Guzzi racers, including the 1957 500cc V8, the social highlight of the PBBB for many is the Gala Dinner at the Broadford Memorial Hall on the Saturday night. After a hectic day on the Saturday the buzz is palpable as old friends meet up over a few drinks, finger food and then enjoy the always-excellent dinner by celebrated Goulburn Valley Chefs Bernard and Jill Hayes.
This year’s Gala Dinner celebrates Yamaha’s 60th Anniversary and features omnipresent commentator Mark Bracks, who is going to ‘roast’ selected Aussie Superbike riders. No topic is off limits here! An auction of interesting memorabilia will take place, and two new recipients will be awarded Legends of Motorcycling status. Tickets are still available at $95 but don’t leave it too late to book as they ‘fly out the door’ closer to the event. Drinks are at bar prices. To be part of a night of fun, fabulous food and frivolity, fill out the generic PBBB Entry form from the Motorcycling Australia PBBB web site and scan and email it to the address on it. Tables of 10 will be reserved otherwise roll up with your friends for the best seating pick. Shuttle buses will run between the State Motorcycling Complex and the Hall from 6:30 until 7pm and 10:30 until 11pm. ■
Paul Galles’ Honda RS500R to be ridden by Freddie Spencer.
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Previous Legend of Motorcycling awardees Ted Goddard and Lindsay Urquhart flank retired MA CEO David White.
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• YAMAHA RACE PACKAGE • WHITE SHADOW • HISTORIC WINTON •
OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 17
BUZZ BOX
Winton hits 40
Little racers Yamaha has announced plans to launch a one-make race series aimed at newcomers to the sport, using a modified Yamaha YZF-R3. The Australian based Yamaha Racing Development team has produced a road race kit especially for this model that is designed to get the best out of the twin cylinder 321cc sports bike. The technical regulations are being developed by Motorcycling Australia in conjunction with Yamaha. Allowable modifications to the stock machine are minimal in order to keep costs down. Yamaha plan to offer the bikes and kits as a package at a bargain price that would be well under the cost of building an R3 race bike separately. Racers will contest a minimum of a five round series – as part of the ASBK winter 2016 series beginning in March – with practice, qualifying and three races over the event weekend. Prizes will be provided for each age group commensurate with
White Shadow tops Bonhams sale Set in the salubrious surrounds of Bally’s Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Bonhams hosted its most successful motorcycle auction to date with sales realising in excess of US $4.8 million. Topping the bill was the one-of-a-kind 1951 Vincent Series C White Shadow, so called because the engine unit is in bare metal rather than black. The unique machine is finished in Chinese red, which was used for a number of US-market Vincents. Spirited bidding came from around the world, including Australia, with the winning bid from Britain to the tune of US $434,000 – a new world record for a Shadow. The next five positions in the auction also went to Vincent models; a one-owner from new 1955 Series D Black Prince (US $164,500), a 1948 Series B Black Shadow (US $140,000), a 1951 Series C Black Shadow
the level of expertise and achievement with the ultimate prize slated to be a brand new YZF-R6. The race series is aimed at junior MX, dirt track and short circuit riders who want to try road racing but may be discouraged by the current expense of buying, building, and running a road racing machine. $7,900 buys a YZF-R3 in road trim and a race kit that includes fairing, Akrapovic exhaust, rear sets and lower bars, gearing, suspension mods a race stand and other bits. It’s a wonderful initiative from Yamaha and the little racer can even be purchased through YMF Finance over 12 or 24 months. This may be where the next Casey Stoner comes from! Full details can be found at www.yamaha-motor.com.au ■
The White Shadow goes under the hammer.
(US $137,000), and a 1954 Series C Black Shadow (US $125,000). Other notable sales were a 1977 MV Agusta 750 S America with just 41 miles on the clock (US $120,500), an SS80 Brough Superior with Matchless engine to SS 100 specification (US $120,500), and a rare US veteran, a 1910 Royal Pioneer (US $115,000). ■
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Australia’s oldest continually run Historic Meeting, Historic Winton, will take place for the 40th time from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th May at Winton Raceway near Benalla, conducted by the Austin 7 Club Inc. with assistance from the Historic Motorcycle Racing Association of Victoria. Two days of nonstop racing will feature over 400 historic racing cars and motorbikes from the 1920s to the 1980s. Celebrations will include anniversaries such as: 110 years – Austin and Lagonda, 100 years – Nash, 90 years – Penrite Oil, Pontiac, Bugatti Type 35 World Championship, and Daimler-Benz, 60 years of go karts, and 50 years of the Chevrolet Camaro, Holden HR, and XR Falcon. Displays will include Shannons Classic Car Park featuring car and bike clubs, Pre-1975 Classic Car, Bike & Historic Commercial Vehicle Show, All-Makes Historic Motorbike gathering, Historic Commercial Vans, Vintage Caravans, Classic Wooden Speed Boats, Vintage Go Karts, and Vintage Steam Engines, with spectator access to the Competition Paddock with fabulous old racing machines on open display. Tickets are Saturday $30, Sunday $35, weekend $55, pit $5, children 16 and under no charge. Enquiries: Noel Wilcox (03) 5428 2689 – Email: noelwilcox@rocketmail.com ■
WorldMags.net • URAL SIDECARS • AUSSIE PGM V8 • RED SCARF RALLY •
Ural takes it easy for 2016 Ural sidecars, manufactured at the world’s sole motorcycle/sidecar factory in Irbit, Russia, have established an enviable reputation for ruggedness and reliability, and for 2016 will be concentrating on the existing range, with detail refinements. The Ranger models are available in Sage Green or Asphalt Grey, and have new, more efficient starter motors, modified wiring harness, steering damper and throttle bodies, a new mapping for the ECU to suit Australian conditions, and new precision selector components for the gearbox. For full details contact Jon or Clare at Ural Australia on (02) 6778 7436 or email jon@imz-ural.com.au ■
The Ural Ranger in Sage Green.
Alan Cathcart corners the PGM V8 at Phillip Island.
Aussie V8 breaks cover Reputedly “the world’s most powerful production motorcycle” the Australian made PGM V8, made an appearance at the recent Island Classic in a paddock display and ridden on track by OBA contributor Alan Cathcart. The PGM came about through Paul Maloney’s meeting with engineer Clayton Stairmand in 2008, and the first engine started up in May 2009. The complete bike was ready in 2013. The 90º 1996cc 334 hp (249kW) V8 has five valves per cylinder with a Motec ECU and a sixspeed gearbox. The trellis style frame is made from chrome-moly tubing with the back section in CNC machined aluminium and the PGM weighs in at 242kg with fuel, water and lubricants. ■
Seeing red at Kiama The Illawarra Classic Motorcycle Club is going all out to ensure the 20th running of the popular Red Scarf Rally, Picturesque Black’s Beach, near the famous Kiama Blowhole, is the setting for the 20th Red Scarf Rally. to be held on 12th and 13th March, is a standout success. HQ is Black’s Beach, Kiama and Rally organiser Gordon Gregory says a mini expo will be a feature of the display. “The CBX Club, Illawarra CMCC, Trevor Jordan Motorcycles, Zuma, City Coast Motorcycles and Ron Sumskis from Steel City Motorcycles will all have displays, Shannon’s Insurance will be there, and Penrite has made some donations of lubricants. Former racer Wayne Clarke, who runs the Stay Upright School at Eastern Creek will be attending as well. On Saturday, Kiama Mayor Brian Petchler will formally open the event, and the rally will be led out by a police escort. Saturday night will see the dinner and presentation of awards, with OBA editor Jim Scaysbrook as guest speaker.” The rally has a choice of long or short runs on the Saturday departing 9.30 am, followed by a Show & Shine and award judging, with a scenic ride around Kiama and Jamberoo on Sunday morning. More details from Gordon Gregory on 0414 824923. ■
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6TH ANNUALL TRANS-TA ASMAN CHALLENGE
PIONSHIPS ROUND 1 AUST.. F1 & F2 SIDECAR CHAMP
ARADE LAPS SPECTA ATTOR PA
HOW & SHINE COM MPETITION SH
ANDS DE STA CLUB & TRAD RAD
Y SWAP SUNDAY A MEET
CHR CHRIS VERMEULEN N
JEREMY MCWILLIAM AMS MS
GRAEM ME CROSBY
FREDD DIE SPENC CER
KEVIN N SCHWAN A TZ
KO ORK BALLIN NGTON
STEVE PARRIS A H
K KEVIN MAGEE
MARIA C COSTELLO
SUZUKI XR 35 500cc
SUZUKI XR 14 500cc
KAWASA AKI KR7500
HONDA RS500
SUZUKI XR 84 500cc
KAWASAKI H2R 750
SU UZUKI RG GB500
YAM A AHA YZR 500cc
PATON 500
188TH – 220TH MARCH 2016 Y MOTORSP STERN CREEK SYD DNEY PORT PARK, K, EAS ARK PORT PA FOR TICK w.barrysheeene.com.au oor email: fesstivalofspeed2015@gmail.com ON VISIT www NFORMATTIO KETS AND IN WorldMags.net
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• RE HIMALAYAN • ALLEN SMITH’S Y2K • BENALLA MOTORCYCLE TOUR •
New ground for Royal Enfield The Himalayan represents the biggest step yet for the burgeoning Royal Enfield brand – a brand new motorcycle that owes nothing to the venerable Bullet singles that have been produced for decades. Powered by a new LS 410 engine, the Royal Enfield Himalayan is a universal motorcycle that the makers say, “paves the way for a purer, non-extreme and more accessible form of adventure touring in India. In fact, its extremely capable off-road capabilities make it adept for riding through potholed urban jungles as it does for treacherous mountain trails” Built on a rugged duplex split cradle frame designed and developed by Harris Performance, the Himalayan features long travel mono shock rear suspension with a linkage, and 220 mm ground clearance. The Himalayan is powered by a completely new overhead camshaft 410cc engine that delivers high torque and usable power at lower rpm. Designed for low maintenance, the engine can go 10,000 kilometers between oil changes. A 15 litre fuel tank provides a long range of approximately 450 km. Luggage mounting points, for hard panniers, soft luggage and jerry cans are integral to the motorcycle’s design. A simple instrument cluster keeps track of speed, direction, ambient temperature, travel time, service intervals and multiple trip distances. Royal Enfield Himalayan comes fitted with dualpurpose tyres, with 300mm front and 240mm rear disc brakes. Available in two colour options—Granite and Snow, the Himalayan will be made available in Australia, with dates and prices announced soon. ■
Allen Smith’s helicopter-engined Y2K achieved US$115,000 in Las Vegas.
Viva Las Vegas The Australian Motorcycle Museum at Haigslea in Queensland, was operated until its closure in early 2015 by Allen and Lorraine Smith. For many years Allen, with the assistance of his son Michael imported machines and parts from various overseas locations. In some instances these motorcycles which were newer than 1989 had to be imported under a special ‘Museum Display and Exhibition Category’ and were thus not available for sale here. This necessitated those machines being re-exported and the USA was a logical destination, with the recent Las Vegas auctions being the largest motorcycle auction in the world. January 7th, 2016 saw the Bonhams Auction in Las Vegas with some 250 motorcycles for sale, followed later that day and continuing through 8th and 9th with the Mecum auction also in Las Vegas with 750 bikes on offer. Allen offered 32 machines of which 28 sold. Those sold included a Y2K Turbine motorcycle with a helicopter engine which sold for US$115,000, which is heading to the Barber Museum in Alabama. He also achieved a good price for a 1922 Indian Power Plus, unrestored and best described as in “barn find” condition which sold for US$37,000. Michael Kiernan, a long-time friend of Allen’s sold a 4-cylinder Henderson for US$165,000 which was the highest price achieved at this particular auction. Allen tells me that to be able to sell a machine at these auctions the owner has to be present. Motorcycles that do not reach the reserve price are parked nearby and a deal can be made between the owner and any interested buyers. These auctions start early morning and run well into the evening. Allen says he purchased 21 motorcycles at the auctions and they are heading for Australia, some for his personal collection and some for sale here. Amongst these are a Benelli 750 Sei, a first model GT750 Ducati, an Indian Velo, Bimota SB3, a V7 Sport Moto Guzzi, and a Rocket 3 BSA. He has been approached by a representative from Bonhams Auctions in the UK and they are interested in having some of his machines offered for sale at their Stafford Auction. Allen also has some other machines coming from Japan which will be available for purchase in the coming months. Interested readers who might wish to contact Allen can do so on 0434 005103 or email him at mcmuseum@gil.com.au ■ (from Pete ‘Cob’ Smith)
Tour Benalla On Friday 27th May 2016, Benalla & District Classic Car & Motorbike Tour takes place, assembling 9am in front of the Benalla Art Gallery, situated in the Benalla Botanical Gardens. There are no gravel roads and Red plate vehicles are welcome. The tour concludes with a ‘Shine & Show’ display. For further information, phone Lindsay Thomas on 0429 356 156, email: historicwinton@hotmail.com ■
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Under the Chequered Flag After a long illness, ERIC HINTON passed away on 17th December, 2015, aged 81. The second son of Harry Hinton Senior, Eric, named after Harry’s great friend Eric McPherson, was destined to follow his father’s footsteps, or wheel tracks, and began racing in 1952. His elder brother Harry Junior had begun racing two years previously, but suffered a serious leg injury in 1952 which kept him out of the sport for some time. In the meantime, Eric blossomed as a rider and in 1955 won his first national titles, the 350cc and 500cc Australian TTs at Southport, Queensland, while only 20 years of age, riding the ex-works Nortons previously raced by his father. That result gained him selection for Australia’s 1956 Isle of Man TT team, along with Keith Bryen and Barry Hodgkinson. The selection came with a £200 grant, payable in two installments, before and after the TT, plus a further £150 to return to Australia at the end of the season with racing bikes. Eric bought a van from Jack Ahearn (who was under suspension as a result of the 1955 Dutch TT “riders’ strike”), and scored some good results prior to the TT. When holding fifth place, his 350 Norton broke a conrod and the subsequent crash put him in hospital briefly. More crashes punctuated the latter half of the season before he sailed for home. For 1957, he and Harry Junior sailed to Europe together, and at the TT Eric finished a brilliant fifth in the Junior behind four works machines. Back in Australia at the end of the season, the Hinton brothers cleaned up the Australian TT at Phillip Island, with Eric taking the 500 title and earning himself a further Isle of Man nomination. Before leaving for Europe, Eric contested the Easter Bathurst meeting, where he won the Senior race. Although he scored more good results at the TT, including seventh in the 250cc TT on his NSU, the prospects of a works ride seemed as distant as ever.
Eric Hinton at Longford, Tasmania in 1959, where he won three Australian TTs.
While Harry Junior wintered in UK, Eric again returned home. He was sailing back to Europe for the 1959 season when word reached him that his brother had been critically injured in a crash at Imola in northern Italy. Leaving the ship at Genoa he dashed to the hospital but Harry passed away on the same day. With little in the way of funds, Eric’s only option was to complete the season, earning enough for the return trip. His first son Peter was born in November 1959, and his second, Anthony, in March 1961. For the next six years, Eric stayed in Australia, racing a variety of machines. However the urge to race in Europe was still there and in 1965 Eric and Kate and their two young children were off again, with a pair of Nortons. This time, the youngest of Harry Hinton’s sons, Robert, came along as well, and found work as passenger for the German sidecar rider George Auerbacher. For the next five years, the family travelled the length and breadth of Europe, wintering in England. As his Nortons became progressively outdated, Eric rode
On Saturday, January 2nd, the Historic Motor Cycle Racing Register of SA lost JONATHON GUTTE, a popular and enthusiastic member for 16 years, as the result of an accident at the South Australian Historic Road Racing Championships at Mount Gambier. Jonathon had started his racing with us on a Suzuki 250 Hustler in Period 4, and I recall him briefly leading his class in the 2006 Australian Titles, also at McNamara Park. He then joined the popular Period 5, 250cc class, opting for a Yamaha RD250LC as do the vast majority in this event. Always up at the sharp end, he had previously been a recipient of the Yellow Jacket awarded to the winner of the RD250LC Cup, and was on pole for his last race. Jonathon was a Podiatrist in his working life, and a devoted family man. The accolades from his work colleagues showed he had won the respect of all who knew him. Our thoughts are with his wife Lisa and daughters Jemma and Katie. Rest in peace, Jonathon, taken too soon at 55. ■ (from Danny Ahearn)
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Bultacos, a temperamental Kawasaki A1R 250, and finally a TD2 Yamaha. After the 1969 season the Hintons returned to Australia, this time for good. By now Robert was racing solos successfully, and soon Peter and Tony were on the tracks as well – the third generation of the Hinton motorcycle racing dynasty. Eric continued to race spasmodically in Australia, including partnering Ron Toombs in the 1970, 1971 and 1972 Castrol Six Hour Races. He also built and prepared engines for Robert, Peter and Tony, including a threecylinder 500cc Yamaha achieved by grafting an extra cylinder onto a TZ350. Eric developed Parkinson’s Disease some years ago and suffered a stroke in 2014. His funeral was held at Castlebrook Lawn Cemetery in Sydney on December 22nd, 2015 and was attended by many of his former racing colleagues. Eric will be remembered as not just a hugely talented motorcycle racer and part of arguably this country’s greatest such dynasty, but a man of benevolence and humility. A true gentleman. ■ Jonathon Gutte. Photo Leon Hill
22 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
RON ROBINSON
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Never a dull moment At the end of 1962, Ron Robinson was at the crossroads. He’d been racing in Australia since 1955, and had honed his skills to the point that he had been offered support to race at the Isle of Man in 1963 – the fulfilment of a lifelong dream.
With the ex-Alan Trow 500 Norton in 1964.
Nearing 30 years of age, he figured it was now or never. He’d had a successful season, winning the 350cc event at Hume Weir and the same class at the fast and dangerous public road circuit at Longford, Tasmania. But late in that same year, he had undertaken a tour of New Zealand for a race series – four events in each island – and he had been made a tempting offer by none other than Burt “World’s Fastest Indian” Munro. “I went over by boat and my bike went as my work tools”, recalls Ron. “The last race of the series was at Teretonga, at Invercargill at the bottom of the south island. I won a race there and I met Burt Munro and he invited me to try out his Indian at Oreti Beach. It was the test machine with no streamlining. There was a black line down the centre of the sand and
Story Jim Scaysbrook Photos Keith Ward, Charles Rice, Ron Robinson, FoTTofinders. they said, ‘Just follow that. Don’t watch where you’re going, just watch the black line’, so that’s what I did. It only had three gears, and no brakes, and they had to push me until I was doing about 120 km/h until I could pull away from the pushing vehicle. So then Burt put the engine in the other chassis with streamlining and we took it out on the Monday and with stopwatch timing they reckon I got it up to just over 300 km/h in the end. I only weighed 62 kg. Burt was pretty impressed with that and he said to me, ‘Come to America with me and you can ride it, we’ll set a world record’. I thought pretty seriously about this but neither of us had much money. I would have had to put money in it, and also walk away from my plan to race at the TT, so in the end I decided on Europe.” He took with him a 500 Manx Norton that he had
purchased in Melbourne. It was an ex-works 1954 short stroke model that had been raced by top rider Alan Trow. It was almost complete – one vital missing component being the cam box. Ron contacted the Norton factory and was told they would build up a cam box and bring it to the Isle of Man in time for practicing. It was intended to be a short exercise – maybe a couple of years simply to satisfy the urge to experience the ‘ big time’. However, it would be 42 years before Ron returned to his native Melbourne, and only then because his mother had passed away and he needed to settle her affairs. That trip back to Melbourne would change his life, and not for the better. It was the 1955 Victorian TT at the public roads circuit at Little River, ➢ RIGHT Aboard the G45 at Symmons Plains, 1960.
Working on his 7R AJS at Darley, circa 1958.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 23
RON ROBINSON
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24 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
RON ROBINSON
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between Melbourne and Geelong, where Ron had made his racing debut, aboard a well-worn bronze head KTT Velocette. That machine gave way to an equally well-used 7R AJS, on which Ron contested his first Bathurst meeting in 1958. The 7R, an early 1950s long stroke model, was well outclassed and Ron decided he needed some more competitive equipment. Driving to Queensland, he purchased the 500cc G45 Matchless that had been imported by Markwell Brothers in 1955 and raced by Royce Nixon. While up north, Ron contested the Queensland TT at Lowood, a former airfield circuit near Ipswich and twice finished second to Kel Carruthers on his Vincent Comet-engined Norton. As Ron discovered, while it was fast, the G45 had a deserved reputation for unreliability. “The main problem was the exhaust cam profile, which was too radical. It had triple valve springs which put too much pressure on the seat, and it used to snap the mounting pillar in the head. I welded up these pillars, changed to double valve
Coming off the bridge at Longford on the G45 in 1960.
A change of pace. On a 300cc Lilac twin in 1960 in the Darley Production Race.
springs and re-profiled the cam, and I had no more trouble. I could go to 9,000 rpm with no trouble.” He also dug deep into his savings and arranged for Olympic club mate Ron Miles to buy a brand new 350cc Manx Norton in England and bring it home for him in 1960. “I worked for Eddie Thomas, who had a speed tuning shop in Caulfield and we had our own cam grinder. I put a 500 Manx carb on the 350 Manx and made my own cams with extreme overlap, which was necessary to run the big carb. It was very quick in the high range.” Although he was listed as A-Grade in Victoria, the Bathurst organisers accepted his entry for the Junior Non Expert Division 2 at Easter 1961, and he simply disappeared, putting nearly half a minute between himself and second place at the chequered flag. “That Norton was a fabulous bike, I should have kept it and taken it to Europe with me. But I had a new one on order so I let it go to Ron Angel. When I got there the factory said they couldn’t deliver, so I
Leading Kel Carruthers’ 25-4 Honda at Mallala in 1960.
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was in a panic. Then I met Mike Hailwood at Doll’s guest house in Shepherd’s Bush (London) and he told me where his last 350 Norton was – it was a Bill Lacey tuned bike – so I went up to Durham (north east coast) and bought it. Mike took me out to Brands Hatch and showed me the way around. In the race it rained and six of us fell off.” At the Isle of Man TT he took things conservatively, finishing 34th in the Junior and 33rd in the Senior. As it turned out, the promised cam box for the 500 arrived scarcely in time for the final practice session on the Friday. “I had qualified for the 350 and 500 races on the 350 Manx and it was very quick, a good running motor. I just changed the numbers and went out in the 500 sessions. Then on the last practice on the Friday afternoon I finally rode the 500, boy that thing was quick.” His first race in Europe was the 1963 Belgian Grand Prix, but he looked like failing to qualify, and says that Jack Ahearn put him in his van and drove around the circuit many times to show him the line. “If Jack hadn’t shown me the way, I would never have got the hang of that track. I finished 32nd, and 8th the next year. His first win came in September at Laxenburg, near Vienna. Despite crashing in the earlier 350 race, he came through the field to win the Senior by 9 seconds from local riders Eddie Lenz and Rudi Thalhammer. Another win came at Zolder, Belgium in the 350cc class, with second in the 500 on the G45 Matchless he had also purchased in England. The results led to an offer from the Budapest club to compete in their races around a street circuit, which came with certain conditions. “They wanted the local champ, Georges Kurucz, to win the 500 race, and we would share the money equally. I won the 350 and could have done the same in the 500, but I hung back to let him win. I had an ex-works G45 Matchless then, and I was going to make sure he worked hard for the win, but I locked the front wheel and dropped it and broke my collarbone. This was a real handling problem with the G45 and I was going to change the steering head
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 25
RON ROBINSON
Showing nice style on the 350 Norton at Victoria Park, Ballarat in March 1961.
angle to stop it doing this. The Budapest club wanted my G45, but under the Communists this was tricky, so we did a deal. They had a 7R and so they altered the numbers because I needed to get out over the border with the same stuff that I’d brought into Hungary, so the club put the G45 engine and frame numbers on the 7R and painted the tank like the Matchless and I took that out instead. When I got back to Vienna I received a letter from the doctor who looked after my shoulder which said ‘Please don’t come back to Budapest because they will put you in gaol’. Somebody squeaked. I went back after the communists were gone and nobody said anything!” Ron’s wife, Magda, whom he met in Melbourne, was Austrian, so he based himself in her home town of Vienna where he attracted the attention of Hans Hess, who had a successful carpet business and who agreed to sponsor him. “Hans went to the casino in Vienna and won enough to buy a 305cc Honda CR77 production racer, as well as a CR72 250. At one meeting on the Salzburg autobahn, I was easily leading the 250 race when he hung out a sign saying ‘motor defect’. This puzzled me because the bike was flying and then I realised that I had gone out on the 305 instead of the 250, so I dropped back just out of the major placings. Hans reckoned he could persuade Honda into selling him a 500 class bike, but he went to the casino again and this time he blew 140,00 Dm, so that was the end of that.” His racing ambitions received a jolt – literally – in 1966 when he was hit by a car; the injuries putting him out of racing for a while. At the end of the 1955 season, Ducati had invited him to test ride their 4 cylinder 125 at Rimini. The test went well, but Ron suggested modifications needed to be made to the chassis as the steering head needed repositioning. “When Ducati invited me back for a second test on the modified 125, I had a hassle with the ACU of Victoria over my licence renewal so I ended up taking out a German licence. I was preparing to fly from Vienna to Bologna. I went out to the transporter, I had my new German licence, and I was getting my
bag with my leathers and gear out to fly to Bologna, and I’m locking the transporter door when a hoon came round the corner out of the main street and into the side street too fast and ran over me and split my head open. I had fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, and my hand was messed up, but the biggest problem was that I lost my memory. It took a long time for my memory to come back and doctors were worried I had a blood clot in my head and were frightened to operate so I couldn’t race.” It was a major setback for his promising career, which had also seen him test ride works 50cc and 80cc racers from the Yugoslavian Tomos factory, as well as several rides on 125cc and 250cc Bultacos. “My German sponsor Hans Hess was doing concreting work in Iraq at Hillah, 100km outside Baghdad, so I used to go down there with a big Mercedes truck and pick up loads of cement and act as mechanic for their machinery. When we needed spares he would just put me in an aeroplane and fly me back to Germany – the machines were operational 24 hours a day. Hans had contracts to build an extension to a military clothing factory and looked like getting the contract to build the runway for a new military airport. Then we found out that Iraq was about to go to war against Iran and all the Germans and Italians working there pulled out. It was while I was out there in the heat that my memory came back.” With his injuries healed and memory returned, Ron stepped back into competition, riding 250 and 350 Aermacchis with some help from the factory. In an effort to keep the Italian singles competitive, he took his ideas on chassis design to the Rickman Brothers in England, who constructed a frame to his specifications for his 350 engine. “We took the Aermacchi with the Rickman frame – un-plated in bare metal – to Thruxton and tested it, and it went very well so we pulled it apart and had the frame nickel plated and I took it back to Germany.” But the two-strokes were coming and Ron could see the writing on the wall. He purchased an air-cooled Suzuki TR500 twin from multiple German Champion Lothar John, and this ➢
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TOP Heading for victory at Bathurst in 1961. ABOVE On the 350 Norton at Longford, Tasmania in 1961. BELOW Ron (right) congratulates winner George Kurutz in Vienna. BOTTOM Ron (left) enjoying a victory lap at
Laxemburg, Austria.
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RON ROBINSON
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ABOVE Ron’s TR500 with local mechanic. RIGHT Racing a TD2 Yamaha in 1974.
was soon joined by a 250cc TD2 Yamaha. “Every time I raced the Suzuki at Hockenheim it would burn a hole in a piston and we couldn’t work out why. Lothar had made the heads himself and they were sand cast and were porous and the sand holes would glow, so going through the pine forest in Hockenheim with more oxygen in the air it would burn a hole in the piston. I’d led several times at Hockenheim on this 500, I had it going real quick.“ By now, Ron had set up in business for himself in Vienna, selling Ducatis and duty-free Triumphs imported from England, which he flogged to the US servicemen stationed in the area. He branched out into café racer equipment, importing big quantities of accessories like fuel tanks, exhaust pipes, rear set footrests and seats from Paul Dunstall. The business boomed, and he began supplying agents, having much of the Dunstall-inspired gear made locally, as well as English-made control cables which he bought by the thousands. “I was supplying Austria, Germany, plus Padua and Milan in Italy. I had a Ford Transit van that I put a V6 in with a hot cam and three double Weber carbs, and a Zepher gearbox with overdrive. I could cruise at 200, blow a Porsche off. I was going back and forth to England via the south of France, where all the perfume is made. I’d buy the perfume in big 2 litre bottles, and then I’d buy hundreds of little decanter bottles and stash them away in the transporter and take them to England with me and some of the wholesalers in Birmingham would buy it from me and decant it for the customers’ wives. It was good business.
ABOVE Ron at the bottom of Bray Hill during the 1966 Junior TT. BELOW On the TR500 at Hockenheim, 1974.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 27
RON ROBINSON
LEFT Ron on the TR500 Suzuki at Nurburgring in 1972. RIGHT On the 80cc WMS (Willi Metscher Special) in 1985.
Customs officers in Belgium would get their bottle of whisky, I would stop in a motel and write invoices and send those to my customs agent in Vienna. The customs officers on the border would get a box with a thousand tea bags in it. I had the rackets going!” Ron eased off racing and opened a business in Manheim in 1973, but later became involved in a German series for 500cc Four Stroke bikes. “You could ride anything as long it was a four stroke under 500cc. I had a friend from BASF Chemical works who entered me on a VF500 Honda twin. It was quick but the others all had streamlining and I didn’t. I rode that up to the end of 1996. In that 500 class I tutored a couple of riders and one of them won the championship”. By now Ron was 63, but as enthusiastic as ever when it came to motorcycles and making them go faster. At Manheim he had a small business working on Porsches, superbikes and Honda turbos. He continued his nomadic existence by escorting, and sometimes driving, heavy military vehicles in northern Europe. The work involved moving gigantic equipment across the continent, which had to be done at night to avoid traffic and logistical problems by day. The work was tough and the hours long – he says he still has trouble sleeping normal hours after doing all-nighters for so long. “I did over a million kilometres at night – the authorities wanted you off the roads in the daytime. An English company would ring me and I would meet them at Aachen on the Dutch/German border. I had a telefax in the car and put the papers into the fax to my boss – I
operated on the move. I escorted tank transporters and convoys from ‘96 through to 2006.” Australia seemed a very distant memory by late 2006, when he received the news that his mother had passed away in Melbourne. Temporarily (he thought) closing his business in Manheim, Germany, Ron headed home to sort things out. “When I came home that was only going to be for a few weeks to organise my mother’s affairs because I had to get back to my business. I stayed a bit longer because I’d lent some money to somebody. I had a rally Porsche 924 Turbo 932 in storage and the people were away so I bought this Ducati 905 Paso. I was doing a bit of diesel generator servicing and I’d just take my tools and jump on the Ducati”. While visiting Phillip Island, Ron took the Ducati from Cowes to the bay side town of Rhyll – a narrow road that had once formed part of the motorcycle grand prix road circuit in the ‘twenties. “A wallaby jumped out of the scrub and hit me fair in the hip, which was badly broken. It just knocked me off the bike and the police could find no traces of the wallaby, so I don’t think they believed me – but I had the bruising.” The injury had severe repercussions, with complications arising which needed extensive and expensive treatment. “The doctors said that the bruising on the leg was likely to cause a blood clot if I flew back to Europe. I got some very bad advice and had incorrect drugs prescribed which have caused me no end of pain and problems. It is my greatest disappointment in life that I can no longer ride motorcycles.” Due to this strange twist of fate, the accident was to signal the end of his time in Europe. Had it not been for an errant wallaby, Ron may still be racing, or at least riding in Historic events. Or he may have returned to his adopted home of Germany and continued his business interests – he was never short of an idea for a money-making scheme. These days Ron’s mobility is severely restricted but he is occasionally to be seen at events like the Broadford Bonanza, and always enjoys a chat about his racing
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days in Europe, the bikes he has had a hand in developing, and the characters that he met over half a century travelling the length and breadth of Continental Europe. ■
TOP Last lap. Ron on the VF500 Honda on which
he contested the German Formula 500 series. ABOVE Rob Robinson, with his characteristic
cheeky grin, in 2015.
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COTTON CONTINENTAL
Cotton Story and Photos Jim Scaysbrook with assistance from Michael Turner.
Candy
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COTTON CONTINENTAL
For a period in the ‘sixties, Cotton motorcycles did quite well in Australia; not as roadsters but in scrambles, road racing and occasionally trials trim. ABOVE Derek Minter with the Cotton Telstar on which he achieved considerable success, including the British 250cc Championship.
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COTTON CONTINENTAL
Alan McBeath’s Cotton Cougar, one of the first to be imported to Australia.
The marque itself had an illustrious history from its beginnings in 1919 in Gloucester, UK. Mr Frank Willoughby Cotton, a lawyer who was better known as Bill, had been a trials competitor pre-WW1, and apparently acquired the rights to a motorcycle that had been given the unfortunate name of Sudbrook. Cotton’s visual signature was the triangulated steel tubular frame for which Bill took out a patent. This connected the steering head to the rear axle via four straight tubes, producing a very rigid frame. The promise shown by early versions was vindicated when Stanley Woods finished fifth in the 1922 Isle of Man Junior TT on a Blackburne-engined version. The following year, Woods and the Cotton won the Junior TT, and business boomed for Cotton as a result. Output rose to around 1,000 units per year but when supplies of engines dried up, the factory eased out of motorcycle production, having done little in the way of development work, and with the range looking rather obsolete. Cotton filed for bankruptcy in 1940 but was able to continue in general engineering as part of the war effort.
When Frank Cotton retired in the early 1950s, the cash-strapped remnants of the company was sold to Pat Onions and Monty Denley who renamed it E. Cotton (Motorcycles) Ltd. Only the frames were made in-house and were no longer the traditional triangulated design, being a normal single loop cradle. The first model from the new concern was the Vulcan which used the 197cc Villiers 8E engine/gearbox unit. The motorcycles were fairly unremarkable, competing with similar offerings from DMW, Norman, Ambassador and Sun, as well as the AMC models Francis Barnett and James. As well as the Villiers engined versions, in 1955 Cotton produced a model called the Cotanza powered by an Anzani 250cc two-stroke twin with rotary valve induction. The following year, the Vulcan appeared with the 9E Villiers engine and four-speed gearbox, while the Cotanza’s Anzani was upped to 322cc. A Villiers twin model was added for 1957, and a year later the range adopted the new leading link front end with the flagship model being the 250cc twin Herald and the virtually identical 324cc Messenger.
1961 COTTON CONTINENTAL
Specifications ENGINE
Villiers 2T two-stroke twin.
BORE X STROKE
50mm x 63.5 mm
CAPACITY
249cc
COMP. RATIO
10.0:1
POWER
17hp at 5,750 rpm
CARBURETTOR
Villiers 25mm
IGNITION
Flywheel magneto
GEARBOX
4 speed
FUEL CAPACITY
2.75 UK gallons (12.5 litres)
WHEELS
Steel rims with Grimeca hubs Front: front 180mm Rear: 160mm.
TYRES
Front: 3.00 x 19 Rear: 3.25 x 19
WEIGHT
280lb (127 kg)
Not a bad looking unit, the 2T. Note the position of the ignition switch.
Fibreglass cowling encases the headlamp, speedo and switches.
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WorldMags.net Tank badge mirrors the company’s patented triangulated frame.
However a renaissance of sorts occurred when Cotton saw the emergence of a market hungry for 250cc competition models – a market dominated by the London Greeves firm, with DOT and James also eager for a share. Cotton’s fortunes rose as a result of employing talented scrambler and trials rider John Draper, and later the brilliant road racer Derek Minter. On the new Telstar model, powered by the Villiers Starmaker engine, Minter won the hotly contested British 250cc Championship, as well as the Castle Coombe 500 mile race on a basically similar Cotton Conquest. Out in the colonies, the Cotton name first appeared on the local scrambles scene when talented lady racer Jill Savage immigrated to Australia in late 1961 and settled in Melbourne. Jill had successfully competed in scrambles and in the International Six Days Trial on Greeves machines, but had been spotted by Draper and offered Cottons for the 1961 season. She brought two Cottons – a trials bike and a scrambler, both using the Villiers 33A engine – with her to Australia, and with encouragement from Denly and Onions she and her soon-to-be husband Allan McBeath set up a business to import the motorcycles, with agents in most states. Jill’s father Len was actually a motorcycle dealer in Farnbrough, UK, so the business was not exactly new to her, although she continued to work as a draughtsman in Melbourne, riding her Cotton trials bike to work. The first model imported was the Cougar scrambler; fairly typical of the British style of the day with Cotton’s own leading link forks and a Villiers 33A engine. The new machines found their way into the hands of many of the country’s top riders, including West Australian Bob O’Leary who won the 1963 Australian 250cc Championship in Brisbane. The Cougar soon gave way to a much-improved
model, the Cobra, which used the new Villiers Starmaker engine in a new frame, although still with the leading link front end. Ridden by the likes of Geoff Taylor, Graham Batholomew, John Burrows and Matt Daley, the Cobra scored numerous successes, including the 1964 Australian 500cc Championship, in Taylor’s hands. But like the other once-dominant British makes, Cotton’s days were numbered and Husqvarna, CZ and Bultaco soon owned the scrambles market. On the local road racing front, the Telstar enjoyed its own run of success, especially when a six-speed gearbox was added. Kevin Cass, Len Atlee and John Dodds in particular did very well, with Cass and Atlee continuing to race the Telstar when they went to Europe in the ’sixties. Off the tracks however, there was very little in the way of Cotton presence in Australia, with only a handful of privately imported road machines making their way here. That’s why the featured machine, a 1961 Cotton Continental, is indeed a rarity in these parts. Cotton, and other companies, were hard hit when Villiers ceased motorcycle engine production, and were forced to look elsewhere. The Italian Minarelli engine, initially 175cc and later enlarged to 220cc, was chosen
for the trials and enduro models, named Cotton Cavaliers. The company soldiered on until 1980, by which time its sole output was the 250cc Rotax tandem twin road racer which appeared as both a Cotton and an Armstrong. Continuing financial problems forced Cotton to move from its traditional Gloucester base to Bolton, Lancashire, in 1978, but the end was near. In the end, Armstrong took over the company and the Cotton name was consigned to history. Today there are a number of Cotton owners’ clubs around the world with the best-known – the Cotton Owners & Enthusiasts Club – being located in the UK. The club has an international membership, publishes its own magazine (“Cotton Pickins”) and stages a rally every year at the Gloucester Folk Museum.
Pick of the Cotton crop? This was the rather cliché headline bandied about upon the release of the Cotton Continental in October 1960, just in time for the Earls Court Show in London. When the 1961 range was announced, Cotton cutely avoided naming the new model, saying only that it would be ‘new and exciting’. The Continental certainly was new, in that it ➢
Semi-dropped ‘bars were all the rage with the early ‘sixties café racer set.
Where would the British motorcycle industry have been without Villiers?
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COTTON CONTINENTAL
Alloy casting enclosing the carburettor keeps the usual two stroke muck out of sight.
Armstrong leadling link front end was supplied to a number of British manufacturers, including Norman and Ambassador, but Cotton added their own touch with a tubular loop running around the rear of the wheel.
featured a completely redesigned frame – a far cry indeed for the old triangulated job. The frame was of full duplex design in Reynolds tubing, with the twin front down tubes passing horizontally beneath the engine to pick up the base of the single seat tube and lower sub-frame members. The seat tube continues forward to form the upper of the two tank rails. The rear section of the frame was welded rather than bolted to the forward section, with the pivot plates for the swinging arm placed as far apart as possible for maximum stiffness. A centre stand was standard equipment, with a lifting handle on the nearside. The dual seat hinged upwards from the front to give access to the battery and tool kit. At the front was the now-familiar Armstrong leading link fork, modified by Cotton with a loop running around the rear of the front wheel – a feature developed on the successful Cotton Cougar scrambler. This was more important than it may have seemed, as the standard Armstrong forks were known to twist badly, and the Cotton design was later picked up by others, including DMW. Twin Armstrong units controlled the rear end. A fibreglass shroud concealed the midriff section, with a small fibreglass cowling and Perspex screen up front to give a slightly sporty appearance when combined with the semi-dropped handlebar. Miller electrics were used. Inside the cowling sat the headlight shell, with a Miller ammeter and Smith speedo, as well as the headlight switch. Steel was used for the 2.75 gallon fuel tank. Early models used Italian Grimeca hubs with cable-operated brakes – the 180mm front featuring an air scoop – but these were later replaced by the British Hub Company’s Motoloy units. The rear hub incorporated a cush drive which
Pictured at the 2015 New Zealand National Rally, Robert Eunson’s 1929 Cotton/JAP (centre) with the famous triangulated frame.
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was actually developed by Cotton themselves, with vanes cast into the hub to engage with a rubber moulding attached to the rear sprocket carrier. Power came from the ubiquitous long stroke Villiers 2T twin cylinder two stroke engine, which had been around since 1956. The engine was unusual in that each barrel had its own crankshaft, separated by a central disc in the crankcase holding a central bearing, with a roller bearing on the magneto side and a ball bearing on the drive side. The version used by Cotton was specially fitted with high compression cylinder heads and modified pistons, raising the standard 2T 8.2:1 to 8.7:1, or 9.4:1 on the Continental Sport. Even the standard job, developing 15 hp at 5,500 rpm, was good enough for a 75 mph top speed. A Deluxe version was offered from 1963 which had valanced chromed mudguards and a larger Villiers S25 carburettor. When Villiers ceased manufacture of the 2T engine at the end of 1963, Cotton switched to the 4T, which developed 17hp and used a Villiers flywheel magneto. The 1960 version of the Continental was finished in red and black; a décor that had been synonymous with Cotton for many years, but in 1961 the model was offered in a sky blue. The model remained in the range until 1967, but the sale of Villiers to Manganeze Bronze (who then amalgamated the company with their existing Norton/AMC and ceased supplying engine units to other manufacturers) finished off the Continental as well. ■ Thanks to CLASSIC STYLE AUSTRALIA, 34 Peninsula Blvd, Seaford Victoria 3198 PH: (03) 9773 5533 for the opportunity to photograph their Cotton Continental.
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MATCHLESS G45
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Temperamental twin Story Jim Scaysbrook Photos Keith Ward, Dennis Quinlan, Keith Bryen, Jim Scaysbrook
“The G45 was very simply a touring motorcycle, anything but inspiring.” These are the words of Australian international racer, the late Keith Bryen, describing his mount for the 1957 Isle of Man TT – a works-supplied and fettled version of the twin cylinder production machine.
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MATCHLESS G45
Australian Ernie Ring on the prototype G45 in the 1952 Senior TT.
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MATCHLESS G45
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The G45 Matchless was a hybrid of the chassis from the AMC company’s successful 350cc AJS 7R, fitted with a highly-tuned and modified version of the 500cc pushrod twin Matchless G9 engine. The concept for the G45 was rather surprising from the beginning. Given the success of the AJS 7R since it first entered limited production in 1948 as a welcome option to the Manx Norton for the 350cc Junior class, it had long been expected that Associated Motor Cycles (owners of AJS and Matchless) would simply bore and/or stroke the single overhead camshaft 350 to produce a 500cc version. In fact, several enterprising privateers did exactly that to come up with capacities ranging from around 370cc to just over 400cc. The limiting factor on the 7R was the long bolts securing the head and barrel to the crankcases – the spacing of which limited the diameter of the cylinder sleeve which protruded into the crankcases. The AMC factory may well have considered the idea of a ‘big 7R’ but instead decided to fit the G9 twin engine, with its three-bearing crank and separate barrels and heads (meaning one half of the engine could be dismantled without disturbing the other). The factory’s reasoning behind the decision was that the G45 would provide publicity for the company’s 500cc twin (sold as either the Matchless G9 or AJS Model 20). Inside the AMC Race Department at Plumstead, London, a 1951 7R chassis was adapted to take the twin-cylinder engine. On the prototype G45, entered simply as a Matchless and raced to 4th place in the 1951 Manx Grand Prix on the Isle of Man by Robin Sherry, the deeply finned barrels were cast in aluminium alloy, as were the heads, with the four rocker boxes (also with horizontal finning) in electron. A forged steel crankshaft with shrunk-on
ABOVE The ‘Production’ G45 displayed at the 1952 Earls Court Show in London. This machine still had the 21/20“ wheels and the early style bolt-through petrol tank which were not used in the 1953 models sold to the public.
The needle-roller cam followers developed especially for the G45 engine.
flywheels and a racing profile camshaft was fitted. The cam followers had roller ends operating on needle roller bearings carried by hollow spindles, with short two-piece alloy push rods. 10.0:1 high compression pistons, larger valves and triple valve springs completed the package. Sherry was lucky to finish the Manx GP, as one of the pillars supporting the rockers broke on the final lap, although he limped to the finish. This form of failure would
Queensland Matchless agent Fred Markwell (left) hands over the new G45 to Royce Nixon in 1954.
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become commonplace on the G45 – many engineers reckoning that the rocker failures were caused by the camshaft’s fierce design, necessitating the use of extremely strong valve springs. The special alloy pushrods also gave trouble, and valve float resulted in the collets jumping off the valves with subsequent disastrous results. The rest of the engine, including con rods, oil pump, timing gears and main bearings were all standard G9 items. The engine was also not as straightforward a fitment to the 7R chassis as AMC may have liked. In order to line up the primary chain with the existing magnesium Burman close ratio gearbox as used on the 7R, the twin cylinder engine had to be mounted off-centre in the frame by around one inch, giving the bike a slightly lop-sided appearance when viewed directly from the front. The frame was also modified on the left side, below the swinging arm pivot, where the lower frame rail had to be cut and cranked inwards to clear the left side exhaust pipe and megaphone. On Sherry’s Manx Grand Prix machine, a single carburettor was fitted, mainly due to the problems associated with fitting twin carbs under the standard 7R fuel tank. This soon gave way to twin carbs mounted on long inlet stubs with the fuel tank scalloped out under the rear section to provide space. The prototype G45’s next major outing was at the 1952 Isle of Man TT, where it was ridden by Australian Ernie Ring, who battled with clutch problems before crashing on the fifth lap. At this time, the AMC factory’s efforts in the Senior class were still focussed on the complex DOHC Porcupine twin, and the G45 received little attention. Ring did much of the development work on the G45 (assisted by West Australian George Scott), as well as test riding the AJS Porcupine, mainly at the Snetterton circuit north of London. Later in 1952, the G45 was trotted out again for the Manx Grand Prix, and this time it won in the hands of local Derek Farrant, who established new race and lap records. It was a popular, if somewhat controversial win, as the Manx GP rules strictly banned factory ‘works’ models or prototypes. AMC argued that the G45 was actually just a ‘customer’ 7R with a G9 engine, so the result stood. The success encouraged AMC to exhibit the G45 at the Earls Court Show in November 1952, with the announcement that a limited number would be produced for 1953 at a price of £366 including UK purchase tax – a hefty £93 more than a 500cc Manx Norton. Officially, the
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MATCHLESS G45 Keith Stewart scored the first Australian victory for a G45 at Mount Druitt in September 1954.
Allen Burt at Mount Druitt on the first of two G45s he owned.
Four G45s after the 1955 New Zealand TT at Mangere. Left to right: Bill Collet (2nd), Len Perry (6th), Peter Murphy (1st) and Leo Simpson (5th). Selwyn Burt mono-wheels his G45 over a bridge on the Cust Circuit near Christchurch in 1955.
G45 produced 48 horsepower at 7,200 rpm, and woe betide the rider who exceeded that rev limit! As displayed at the Show, the G45 had 21-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels – the same as the 7R – but by the time production commenced in 1953 (with the engine number series beginning at 100) these had been changed for 19-inch front and rear. The most obvious change to the production versions was the use of the new frame with the engine cradle tubes much closer together, so that the exhaust pipes now sat outside the down tubes. It was the season-opening meeting at Silverstone in April 1953 when the first of the new machines was delivered to eager UK owners. Two months later, 12 examples started in the 1953 Senior TT, but all bar three retired – most with valve gear problems. At the TT, which opened the 1953 World Championships, Ring again rode the ‘prototype’ G45 but once again failed to finish. For the following Dutch TT and Belgian Grand Prix, the AMC factory provided Ring with an AJS Porcupine for the Senior class, and agreed to loan ➢
RIGHT Keith Conley at Mount Druitt in 1955. Although his association with the G45 was brief he scored several victories, including the Victorian TT at Fishermen’s Bend in October 1954. BELOW Keith Stewart’s brand new G45 on arrival in Sydney in 1954.
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MATCHLESS G45
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Tasmanian Peter Ricketts’ G45 at Ballarat in 1958. LEFT (TOP TO BOTTOM) George Colley at Mount Druitt on the ex-Keith Stewart G45; Bob Brown on the cobblestones at Sachsenring, 1955; Derek Farrant heads for victory in the 1952 Senior Manx GP. The machine is the factory prototype, fitted with 21-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels. Ron Robinson at Symmons Plains in 1960 on the G45 originally imported by Markwells in Brisbane.
the G45 to George Scott. In his first ride on the twin, Scott amazed everyone by setting fastest 500cc time in the non-championship race at Nurburgring, Germany, although he retired with clutch trouble in the race. At Tubbergen in Holland, George had pushed the unfancied Matchless into second place on the final lap of the 500cc race. Attempting to pass fellow Aussie and future 350cc World Champion Keith Campbell, he lost the back end (which was coated in oil from a split oil tank) and crashed heavily, knocking himself unconscious. The completely wrecked Matchless was delivered back to the factory in London in three pieces and scrapped. For 1954, G45 production was stepped up a notch and a number were exported to Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. A few were even rebadged as “AJS 10R” and supplied to the AJS agent in Venezuela. Around five went to New Zealand where they were ridden by Len Perry, Selwyn Burt, Peter Murphy, Bill Collet and Leo Simpson. It was in New Zealand where the G45 probably scored its major successes, which included twice winning the New
Zealand Grand Prix at Mangere. At least one went to Western Australian for Peter Nicol to ride, one to Tasmania for Peter Ricketts, one to Queensland to be purchased from Markwell Bros by Royce Nixon, and two to NSW Matchless distributor A.P. North which were sold to Keith Conley and Keith Stewart. Both these riders achieved considerable success, although Stewart’s machine was severely damaged in a crash at Mount Druitt in May 1955. Stewart’s injuries was severe enough to force him to retire from racing, and the G45 was sold to George Colley, who rode it as a solo for a while before converting it to an outfit, which was ridden by Brian Thomas, with Colley in the sidecar. The machine still survives in Sydney. In early 1955, Victorian Matchless agents Milledge Brothers imported a G45 which was sold to Tasmanian Bill McGregor. Around 1960, Victorian Ron Robinson acquired the ex-Royce Nixon G45, which he rode quite successfully until he left for Europe in 1963. In addition, several well-used examples came back from overseas with Bob Brown, Allen Burt, Ritchie Thompson and possibly others.
Jack Saunders with the G45 now owned by Ray Armstrong in the pits at an Historic meeting at Amaroo Park in the late 'seventies.
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WorldMags.net RIDE Ritchie Thompson on his battered G45 at Bandiana, Victoria in 1957.
NEW ZEALAND
The G45 ridden by Keith Bryen in the 1957 Senior TT was the final incarnation of the model. AMC had finally been persuaded to abandon their universally despised ‘Jampot’ rear suspension units in favour of Girlings, but in other respects the G45 was basically unchanged from its 1953 specification and hopelessly outclassed against even the production Manx models. Having raced Nortons for his entire European career to that point, Bryen was highly unimpressed with the G45, which in its 1957 form was reputedly putting out 52 horsepower at 7,400 rpm. The cylinder heads had been slightly redesigned for 1956, supposedly giving better gas flow. Estimates vary, but most experts agree that less than 80 G45s were produced between 1953 and 1958, the final year for the model. In 1958, Matchless finally did what it should have done in the first place – produce a ‘big’ 7R which appeared in the TT that year in prototype form, ridden by Australian Jack Ahearn. The G50 was further developed over the next six months by Ahearn, Harry Hinton Junior, and John Holder, and went into limited production for the 1959 season. When local star Bob Brown made the move to Europe in 1955 along with his mate Allen Burt, the pair purchased a new 7R AJS and G45 Matchless each. Burt was badly injured at the TT and spent almost a year recovering, but Brown quickly established himself as a fast, safe and consistent racer, and at the 1955 Dutch TT, scored a brilliant fifth place in the Senior race. Two months later, Brown brought his G45 home second in the Ulster Grand Prix, with Kiwi Peter Murphy behind him. This was ever to stand as the best solo result ever achieved by a G45 in World Championship competition (although Pip Harris finished third in the 1955 Isle of Man Sidecar TT). The G45 featured here – engine number 209 – was the machine originally owned by Bob Brown, who collected it from the factory in London in early 1955. Brown raced the G45 for the 1955 season and ➢
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With the suspension bottomed out, Keith Bryen attacks Bray Hill during the 1957 Isle of Man Senior TT.
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40 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
MATCHLESS G45
WorldMags.net LEFT Australian penny fitted by Bob Brown in place of the usual Matchless badge on the drive side crankcase.
Twin Amal GP carbs.
Like the 7R AJS of the period, the G45 uses a magnesiumcase Burman gearbox.
Rocker boxes are cast in magnesium with distinctive finning on the front.
ABOVE The original oil tank had been hacked about to hold a battery. RIGHT Just how far the engine is
offset to the right can be seen in the head-on shot.
continued with it for the 1956 season, where his mechanic was Allen Burt, who recalled replacing the exhaust valve countless times after it had shed its collets. At the end of the 1956 European season it was brought back to Australia and left with Ross Pentecost – who was closely connected with the Matchless brand in Sydney and had a small business buying and selling bikes and spares – to be sold. It took a while to unload, and Pentecost rode the G45 a few times before it finally found a new owner. After passing through a number of hands it was acquired by Jack Saunders who at one stage fitted a Triumph engine and later raced it in in the early days of Historic Racing in Australia. Shortly before Jack Saunders died in 2012, the G45 was sold to Queenslander Ray Armstrong, a man with a strong passion for the model. Jack was not known for his immaculate presentation, and the G45 was certainly looking its age by the time Ray acquired it. The bike was completely dismantled and while Ray tackled the restoration of the cycle parts, the engine was sent to David Blomfield for a total rebuild. “David lives in the mountains near Mudgeeraba and with all the bushfires, I was extremely nervous until I got the engine back,” says Ray. “It was more than just a rebuild. Jack had the bike on coil ignition so I had to get the correct magneto as well as an oil tank. To fit the battery for the ignition, Jack had cut a rough hole in the oil tank and the tank couldn’t be reused. The rear frame had been hacked about to fit conventional rear units, rather than the Jampots which have clevis mounts top and bottom,
Seat has zipper compartment to hold spare spark plugs.
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Ray Armstrong with his pair of G45s.
so that had to be fixed. But there were some good points – like the rims which are the original Dunlop alloy, very rare. Genuine G45 petrol tanks are also rare – they have an identifying number stamped on the filler neck – and they are different to a 7R which not many people know about.” Since completing the restoration of G45/209, Ray has acquired G45/197 – the ex-Elmer McCabe model with its distinctive ‘Porcupine’ style pannier fuel tank. He also has another one –frame number G45/2011 – disassembled but with enough genuine parts to complete a full restoration. “I get requests all the time to sell these parts, but I am reluctant to do so because they tend to end up being used for the wrong bikes. There are plenty of G45s around that have been cobbled up using G9 engines, 7R frames and other incorrect bits, and I want to prevent that sort of thing happening if I can.” However, Ray says he is prepared to part with one or both of the complete bikes, for the right price. “We’re only custodians after all, and there are things I still want to do, so if I got the right offer I would sell.” Ray can be contacted on 0439 831 171. ■
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42 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
HONDA CB900F
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 43
HONDA CB900F
Twincam
From virtually owning the big bike market from 1969 to 1972, Honda steadily divested itself of the crown as the ‘seventies rolled by. Initially under fire from the Kawasaki Z1, further erosion came in the form of the Suzuki GT750 and the all-new GS750 as well as revised 900 and 1000cc versions of the Kawasaki four. When Yamaha’s XS1100 joined the ranks, Honda’s 750 was looking very ancient indeed. Honda meekly countered with the CB750F1 of 1977; a face-lifted version of the long serving SOHC two-valve four, but by and large it was received with yawns rather than yelps of delight. Clearly, it was time to bury the king and confront the enemy with a new weapon and marketing strategy. That strategy, in order to not just remain competitive but to give the media something to talk about, needed to encompass the rapidly emerging technology that characterised the latter stages of the air-cooled era. Four valve heads were nothing new to Honda; in fact their successful racers had employed this feature for two decades. It wasn’t so much the technology, but producing it at an affordable price – so vital in a price-driven market like this one. Slide back to December 1977, when a handful of trusted journalists were invited to Japan by the Honda Motor Company to witness the unveiling of the company’s most adventurous production motorcycle yet – the six cylinder CBX1000. The jaw-dropping power plant had been designed by Soichiro Irimajiri – the man responsible for the allconquering works 250cc and 297cc six cylinder racers, as well as the 23,000 rpm 50cc twin and the five-cylinder 125. Yet for all the headline grabbing achieved by the CBX, it was anything but a runaway best seller. The buying public perceived it as big and cumbersome, and expensive. And while the CBX is a story in itself, the six was in fact just the first of the new generation from Honda that would soon include an all-new 750 and then a 900. The cylinder head of all three models shared the new four-valve combustion chamber (actually not that new, having been introduced on the XL250 single as far back as 1971) with centrally positioned spark plug and a Hy-Vo chain running up the centre of the engine to the exhaust camshaft, with a second chain from the exhaust cam driving the inlet camshaft. However in the CBX and both the new fours, gone were conventional rocker arm, with valves operated by buckets and shims bearing directly on the camshaft. Downstairs, the alternator sat on the right side of the crankshaft with the CDI ignition on the left. The basis for this engine – in four cylinder form – had been well proven in the Honda RCB Endurance racers. Designed for the FIM Coupe d’Europe Endurance series, these engines used the original CB750 dry sump bottom end and at first displaced 915cc, then 941cc, 997cc and finally 998cc, with four valves per cylinder and double, gear-driven overhead camshafts. They also used Honda’s Comstar wheels which had the hubs and rims joined by a pair of five-spoke pressings, riveted together. ➢
Story Jim Scaysbrook Photos John Fretten, Jim Scaysbrook, Rob Lewis
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44 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
HONDA CB900F
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Mike Hailwood on my CB900F at Adelaide International Raceway during the 1980 Advertiser Three Hour. We were called into the pits to fix the loose number plate!
ABOVE The tell-tale oil slick shows the path of Tony Hatton’s CB900 into the rock wall after a conrod broke during practice for the 1979 Castrol Six Hour. ABOVE RIGHT Dennis Neill took
pole position for the 1979 Castrol Six Hour Race on the Team Honda CB900F. RIGHT Tony Hatton in his winning ride in the 1979 Bathurst Unlimited Production Race.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 45
HONDA CB900F
RIGHT Individual air caps appeared on the forks for 1980, and were linked by a rubber hose on the following model. BELOW RIGHT Big rectangular tail light was a Honda feature across the range in the late ‘seventies’.
The first of the new DOHC fours seen Down Under was the CB750K, or KZ, which had similar styling to the CBX, but with four separate exhaust pipes finishing in megaphone style silencers. However there was an all-new styling trend about to be unleashed; an angular design which blended the tank, side covers and rear seat base into an integrated unit. This was carried through the range from the CB250N up to the CB900. The CBX had been on sale for around a year by the time Honda released the CB750F and (in Europe and not the USA), the CB900F. The 900 shared the same 64.5mm bore with the CBX, while the 750 was square at 62mm x 62mm. Externally, the 750 and 900 were almost identical, save for the standard oil cooler on the larger model. Something else the fours shared were fairly average forks and brakes, and a swinging arm running in nylon bushes that quickly developed play at the pivot and did nothing for the overall handling. To Honda’s credit, both these issues were fairly quickly addressed. For the 1980 model year, the frame received needle roller bearings (as on the Suzuki GS models) and the forks were beefed up. The frame of the CB900 was quite conventional, with the right side bottom frame rail bolted up and easily removable to allow the engine to be easily taken out of the frame. The front brakes were also quite unremarkable, given the rapid development in this area at the time. The calipers used a single, fixed inner pad with a
single floating outer pad, clamping onto 276mm stainless discs. Honda’s Comstar pressed aluminium wheels graced all models, and drew justified criticism for their lateral flexing and inability for the rims to withstand decent jolts. Even in the simple process of changing tyres, the wheels could distort unless treated with extreme care. Honda’s subsequent answer was to reverse the components that made up the wheel – turning the ‘spoke’ sections outwards for greater torsional rigidity. It seemed to do the trick and looked better too. Of the three new-generation multis, the middleweight of the trio, the CB900F, or Bol D’or as it was also known in Europe and Australia, became the favourite, with its broader spread of torque and higher power output over the 750. Unlike the 750, which needed around 5,500 on the tacho before it began to operate, the 900 would pull strongly from as little as 3,000 rpm. It sold so well in Europe that the Americans were soon clamoring for the model to be released in the States, but it took until 1981 for Honda to acquiesce. The original model 900, the CB900FZ, had conventional forks that were not adjustable for either spring pre-load or dampening. In 1980, the
second iteration appeared as the CB900FA, with individual air caps on each fork leg, and ‘reversed’ Comstar wheels. On the subsequent CB900FB, fork tube diameter increased from 35mm to 37mm and the air fork caps were linked by a rubber tube, and a second –much heavier – model, the CB900F2B, featured a half fairing with leg shields similar to the final version of the CBX1000. Produced from February 1982 to February 1983, the CB900FC and F2C sported a new version of the Comstar wheel which used three crescent shaped ‘spoke’ pressings on each side. Fork diameter was up to 39mm and Honda’s new TRAC dual piston brakes, which used a form of anti-dive, appeared. The following year’s FD and F2D models were basically identical except for black-chroming on the exhaust system. ➢
For the 1980 model year, the frame received needle roller bearings (as on the Suzuki GS models) and the forks were beefed up. WorldMags.net
46 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
HONDA CB900F
WorldMags.net At 300mm, the rear disc looks huge, and is heavy. Note the rivets that secure the ‘spokes’ to the rim on the Comstar wheels. LEFT The much criticised single piston brake caliper.
From any angle, a fabulous looking engine.
When the CB900 finally made it to USA for 1981, it featured a rubber-mounted engine, 39mm airassisted front forks, and a wider rear rim on the Comstar wheel. The latter was a criticism that lasted throughout the non-US CB900’s production – the narrowness of the rear rim severely restricting the use of new generation tyres.
An eye on the track When the CB900 hit Australasia, it was immediately snapped up by the Production Racing set, and was ready in time for the 1979 Australian Grand Prix meeting at Bathurst. The Unlimited Production Race was set to be a memorable encounter between the new Suzuki GS1000, the gargantuan six cylinder Kawasaki 1300, and the CB900, and the race itself turned out to be a classic. As Garry Thomas slid and bounced the big Kawasaki around, Tony Hatton stayed tucked in behind on the CB900, benefitting from the considerable slipstream created by the 1300. On the final lap, Hatton pushed his way past
over the mountain and with a particularly spirited run down the Esses, managed to create a sufficient gap to hold the advantage to the chequered flag. Six months later came the all-important Castrol Six Hour Race at Amaroo Park, and no fewer than ten CB900s were entered. In practice, Hatton’s machine broke a conrod (not an entirely uncommon occurrence with these engines when pushed hard), throwing him off heavily. Hatton’s broken fingers forced him out, and with a fresh CB900 procured, John Warrian was drafted in to ride with Ken Blake. In qualifying, Dennis Neill took his CB900 around in 57.7 seconds to secure pole position, but his chances of a race win evaporated when he tangled with Ron Boulden early in the race. But it wasn’t just Production Racing where the new 900 was being eyed. Several notable tuners, among them Peter Molloy who had an enviable reputation as an engine builder in the car side of the sport, used the new model as a basis for serious runners in the Superbike category, which was now
LEFT Footrest position gives a slightly ‘rear-set’ riding position. RIGHT With a total of seven damping settings and five spring pre-load options, the choices are many. FAR RIGHT Oil filter is a snug
fit between the exhaust pipes.
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included in the Australian Unlimited Road Racing Championship, previously the domain of the TZ750 Yamaha two-strokes. Sydney dealership Mentor Motorcycles engaged Molloy to build a CB900-based racer for young charger Wayne Gardner to ride in selected rounds of the 1980 championship. The series reached its conclusion at Melbourne’s Sandown Park, and in difficult conditions, Gardner scored the first four-stroke win in a ARRC race – an achievement which did not go unnoticed by Honda executives in the pits.
A resurrection John Fretten ran the workshop for Honda dealer Col Evans in Blacktown, and always had a soft spot for the CB900. As well as Production Racing the similar CB750F, he built himself a CB900-based Superbike using many Honda RSC parts. “I loved that bike,” he says. “It was quick, reliable, and handled beautifully. What more could you want?” He also recalls that the standard models, of which he sold plenty through his ➢
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48 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
HONDA CB900F
WorldMags.net LEFT Switchgear was completely revised for the new model, with the choke lever on top of the left switch. ABOVE The CB900 received an oil cooler, while the CB750F did not.
dealership at Blacktown in Sydney’s western suburbs, were not without their shortcomings. “The first model had fairly ordinary suspension and the brakes weren’t much better. The rear end wasn’t so bad, but with so many possible spring and damping settings for the rear shocks, it was hard to know what actually worked best. On the other hand, there was no adjustment on the front until they brought out the air caps on the second model. They never really fixed the brakes until they went to the twin-piston calipers later, which were the same as on the CB1100F and were quite good. The motors could give trouble too, particularly if they were ridden hard. Cam chains were prone to wearing out, and they even broke rods occasionally. But overall, the 900 was an amazing bike and very quick. They’d do a genuine 130 mph at places like Bathurst.” Since his retirement from the motorcycle trade, John has surrounded himself with all sorts of ‘projects’, several of which have been featured in OBA. Along the way, he ended up with a very tired old CB900FB which had been hand-painted black. “It just sat in my shed while I did up all these other bikes, and I really had no intention of restoring it. But when I’d finished all the others (‘the others’ include a TX750 Yamaha, RC30 Honda, VF1000R Honda and a Suzuki RE5) I thought I would give the 900 a bit of a birthday.” John’s work is fastidious and with absolutely no compromises as to quality or originality. The bike is the second model, fitted with the reversed Comstar wheels and the individual air caps for the forks. Vitally, he managed to find an original exhaust
system – one of the hardest items to source when restoring any of the Honda ‘fours’ of this era – although there are now after-market replica systems available in Australia. The deep, lustrous chrome plating was done by Swift Electroplating in Silverwater, Sydney, and the paintwork by nowretired Ron Keed while the decals for the fuel tank and side covers were created by Dan Murdoch. Starting involves the simple procedure of thumbing the choke lever mounted on the top of the left side handlebar switch and letting the engine warm up until it settles into a regular rhythm. With all the chains inside there’s a fair amount of rumbling and the clutch does have its own piece of music happening when not engaged, but overall the sound is purposeful, accentuated by the deep purr coming from the twin mufflers.
My own experience If John has a soft spot for the 900, so have I, having owned two in my time – a first model silver CB900F and a third model black CB900FB. The original bike I bought primarily to race with Mike Hailwood in the 1979 Adelaide Three Hour, where we managed to run out of petrol not once but twice. We also had a third unscheduled stop after being black-flagged for a loose number plate – bugger! Even worse, both Mike and I had trouble keeping the alternator cover off the deck on the right handers, with the result that it stopped charging and the bike ground to a halt with a flat battery just after we had taken the chequered flag. A few weeks later at Bathurst I experienced some serious problems with the Avon Roadrunner
The editor's brand new CB900F in early 1979.
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tyres in practice and switched to Pirellis for the Arai Three Hour Race on Easter Saturday. This was a decision taken with only minutes to spare and unfortunately the Pirelli tyre fitter managed to buckle the Comstar front wheel in the process – something I quickly discovered on the opening lap of the race. Instead of a Three Hour Race, it became a three-minute race for me. The silver CB900 became my ride-to-work bike thereafter and I loved everything about it except the front brakes. This was not merely a lack of braking performance; the calipers would grind and squawk incessantly until it was finally discovered that the mounting lugs on the fork sliders had been machined incorrectly from the factory – I could hardly believe Honda was capable of such a thing. It was Honda dealer Ric Andrews who discovered the fault, but rather than attempt to fix it, he convinced me to trade it in on a new CB900FB. Rick always was a super salesman. Although I never raced the second 900, it was a lovely machine, and even had half-decent brakes! ■
1980 HONDA CB900FA
Specifications ENGINE
Four cylinder air cooled DOHC fourvalves per cylinder. Chain driven camshafts. Five plain main bearings with plain big end bearings. Wet sump.
BORE X STROKE
64.5mm x 69mm 902cc
CARBURETTORS
Four 32mm Keihin CV.
POWER
95hp at 9,000 rpm.
TORQUE
77 Nm at 8,000 rpm
TRANSMISSION
5-speed gearbox with chain final drive.
ELECTRICAL
CDI ignition, 12v 260 watt alternator, electric starter
SUSPENSION
Telescopic front fork with air adjustment. Showa FVQ shock absorbers with four-way damping adjustment and five position spring preload.
BRAKES
Front: 2 x 276 mm discs Rear: Single 297mm rear disc.
WHEELS/TYRES
Front: 2.15 x 19 rim, 3.25 x 19 tyre. Rear: 3.25 x 19 rim, 4.00 x 18 tyre.
WHEELBASE
1536mm
DRY WEIGHT
244kg
FUEL CAPACITY
20 litres
TOP SPEED
129 mph (207 km/h).
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50 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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1952 ASAHI FA-II 250
Thefirstofmany
TOP Asahi was one of many
companies to use a rising sun logo. BELOW Factory catalogue photo.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 51
1952 ASAHI FA-II 250
If you’ve never heard of an Asahi motorcycle, you’re not alone.
Drive side with neat alloy primary chaincase.
Japanese-made Amal carburettor and bowl.
Upsidedown forks!
Pilgrim pump delivers the lubricant. Mitsubishi generator. LEFT Fuel gauge is just visible
under old Perspex on fuel tank cap.
Asahi beer, yes, and not a bad drop either. However it would appear that apart from the name, bike and beer have nothing in common. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan Inc., the Asahi AA was the first mass-produced motorcycle in Japan, manufactured from 1933 to 1939. These models used a pressed-steel frame with rigid rear end and girder forks and 40,000 were built during the pre-war period. The Society says “This model cannot be found in public museums, because it was considered so commonplace that it was rarely preserved.” Further research shows that the company, Miyata Seisakusho) began as a gun manufacturer in 1892 and in 1913 began producing a copy of an early Triumph which was sold mainly to the Tokyo Police.
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There’s a resemblance to the British Panther there somewhere.
The post WW2 models, produced from 1952 to 1965, were called FA-II; a 250cc side-valve not unlike a Panther, developing 7.6hp at 4,200 rpm. This example was imported by Sydney-based classic specialists Old Gold Motorcycles (02 4574 2885) and is now owned by local collector Peter Brown. ■
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HAWKESBURY ROAD RACES, RENWICK NZ
Battle of the Bridges TOP RIGHT Syd Jensen, AJS 7R – 1953 Inaugural National Senior and Junior Race Winner. MAIN Bruce Woodley skims the hay bales in 1981.
Hawkesbury Road Races, Renwick NZ I decided that as a former competitor and long-time motorcyclist I would like to return something to the sport that has been (and continues to be) a large part of my life. A recent article in OBA on the road racing circuit at Cust in NZ prompted me to write a piece on another Kiwi circuit which although popular, has long-since become defunct. Story Bill Eales Photos Ron Hebberd, Mike Sinclair, John Woodley, Brian Hopping, Ian Dawson.
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TRACKS IN TIME HAWKESBURY
The popularity of motorcycle racing accelerated during the post-war years due to young people seeking to enjoy a society with fewer restrictions. There were no circuits built, so local clubs took the initiative and arranged for racing meetings to be held on closed-off public roads. These “roads” were little more than unsealed, dusty gravel tracks but this did little to deter the riders who took to these circuits with great enthusiasm – some on racing machinery, others on their road bikes with home-grown modifications, all in the search for speed. As road racing became more popular, there were many dedicated motor racing circuits built in NZ and Australia. As a result of the transition to these purposebuilt venues only a few true “road” racing circuits remain which were used regularly – the Isle of Man (IOM) is obviously the most well-known of these. The Mount Panorama circuit at Bathurst is one closer to home, although motorcycle racing was discontinued there in the ‘80s as a result of a heavy-handed approach to crowd management. However, there were several just “across the ditch” in New Zealand; one of which was in the Marlborough district at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. The story of the Hawkesbury circuit needs to be told so that its contribution to motorcycle racing is not lost. During research, I came across very little documented history of this racing circuit so I began to compile a small piece
from some personal experiences. However, subsequently I have managed to make contact with office-bearers of the Marlborough Motor Cycle Club (MMCC) who have been good enough to put me in touch with Mr Ron Hebberd, a past President of the club and motorcycle shop owner who still resides in the Marlborough district. Ron has very kindly permitted the use of material from his excellent book entitled “Motorcycle Clubs of Marlborough” and I’d like to acknowledge Ron for his significant contribution to this article, as well as to the MMCC who organised a wide variety of racing events, including the Hawkesbury road races, throughout the district for many years. The Hawkesbury circuit was first raced on in 1950; this was an unofficial event where riders from the Nelson and Marlborough Motorcycle Clubs were invited to compete on an unprepared, gravelled track formed by 4 country
roads. These were Hawkesbury Road, Kennedy’s Road, Brookby Road and Dog Point Road which roughly formed a 4.6 mile rectangle, not far from the small town of Renwick – itself set in the heart of the Marlborough district which is now world-renowned as a leading wine producing region. Riders who were competing in the 1950 Easter NZ Grand Prix at Cust later that year used this inaugural, informal meeting as a preliminary test of their machinery and skills. This first race was won by a Nelson rider, Ted Baumfield on a 350cc BSA, with Ray Anderson (also from Nelson) second on a 500cc Norton, and local rider Les Gibbons on a 500cc Triumph in third place. Official NZACU-sanctioned road race meetings were held at Hawkesbury every two years from the first National Class Event in 1953 until 1962 when it was decided to run the event on an annual ➢
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ABOVE Riders lined up on Brookby Road prior to the start of the first race in 1950: (L-R) Wally Greenem (Nelson), Kevan Freeth (Blenheim), Ted Baumfield (Nelson), Les Gibbons (Blenheim), Ray Anderson (Nelson). BELOW LEFT Dick Adams using
an Allis Chambers tractor to tow the old country broom to sweep the road before it could be oiled. BELOW Tom Brown and Jim Flowers spraying the road with waste sump oil.
54 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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TRACKS IN TIME HAWKESBURY
At the 1972 meeting; Mike Sinclair, followed by Dave Ellis and Reg. Ingram, all on TR500 Suzukis over one of the hump back bridges.
John Woodley on his Yamaha TZ350A coming out of Walsh’s Corner in 1973.
basis. However, as only a few riders competed in the 1962 event and because of the effort involved in organising the event, racing was not held there again until the 50th Jubilee of the MMCC in 1971. The event continued annually from then until the use of the circuit was discontinued in 1983. Unfortunately, the Hawkesbury racing circuit suffered a fate similar to that of the Mt Panorama circuit at Bathurst; it was similarly condemned because of the unruly and uncontrollable crowds of spectators that descended upon the local township after the race
250cc Production riders coming into Coleman’s Corner: 13 Dave Moore (Christchurch), 114 Martin Wood, followed by Alan Ramage and Richard Kock, all on water-cooled RD250LC Yamahas.
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meeting. The Blenheim Police could not handle the situation and the MMCC President at the time, Fred Schroder, said that the club would not hold the races as a goodwill gesture to stop the trouble in town afterwards. Some of NZ’s most talented riders (as well as some less so, but no less enthusiastic) competed at Hawkesbury in a full calendar of events. Riders who featured in the top places in the early days were Syd Jensen and Tommy and Kevin McCleary. British machines such as AJS, Velocette, Matchless, Norton and BSA were raced there and were dominant until the ‘70s. More recently Dale Wylie, Rodger Freeth, Robert Holden and locals such as John Woodley, Paul (Stan) Corbett/Stu Forbes (sidecar) and Ross Cunningham were prominent on the “podium” riding machinery from the “Big Four” from Japan: Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki. Others who competed at Hawkesbury included Gary Boote, Paul McLachlan, Stu Avant, Bob Haldane, Ken Fletcher, John Wood, Owen Galbraith, and Lou Murray/Russ Anderson (sidecar). A number of top local riders who were very competitive were Bruce and John Woodley, Bob Uddstrom, Neil Smith and Colin Verry as well as local top sidecar teams of Hugh Lasenby/”Nod” Hartnell and Chris Moller/”Lofty” Johnston.
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TRACKS IN TIME HAWKESBURY
ABOVE The author powering out of Blue Gum Corner during the 1974 race meeting. LEFT The author landing
after “take-off” from the Seven Oaks Bridge. Photos – Brian Hopping
Back Straight Brookby Corner
Collies Corner
Hawkesbury
Colemans Corner Seven Oaks
Jones’ Bend
Iron Bridge
to Blenheim
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k Par Car
m
Walsh’s Hairpin
d tR ht oin P aig g Str t Do n Fro
hei
Pit a Are
Bluegum Corner
len
done entirely by MMCC volunteers including stalwarts such as Ron Hebberd and Graeme Varcoe with assistance from locals including Tom Brown, Eric Fairfield, Dick Adams and Jim Flowers. This was carried out in the middle of the night for the first three meetings until it was decided that it could be done in the daylight over the weekend before the racing. Besides, tractors didn’t have lights back in those days and someone had to sit on the bonnet with a torch! ➢
B to
The racing was done on very narrow, country roads with spectators scattered around the circuit, watching from various vantage points in paddocks and on hillsides. A task which was necessary back in the early days of dirt/gravel road racing was the oiling of the road to reduce the dust (a hazard to spectators as well as riders). This required grading and sweeping of the road prior to spraying of the surface with waste oil collected from garages. This was a huge task and was
Hawkesbury Circuit Lap Distance: 7.4 kilometres
56 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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TRACKS IN TIME HAWKESBURY
LEFT Paul McLaughlan leading John Woodley in 1979.
ABOVE Action from 1979: Paul McLaughlan (309), Trevor Discombe (24) and John Woodley (6). BELOW Glenn Williams with his Z1R Kawasaki in 1981.
The circuit was eventually fully sealed and with the modern racing machinery available, race speeds increased and lap times improved significantly as a result. The circuit had some quite long straights and there were some pretty high speeds achieved; attention to braking points was paramount as there
was little runoff and all sorts of things to avoid should anyone be unfortunate to “lose it” (trees, barbed wire fences, power poles and bridges to mention a few). There were some accidents at Hawkesbury but none more serious than at the 12th annual road races in 1976 when five riders were badly injured due to “excursions” off the track. Three of these riders suffered very serious injuries requiring extended hospitalisation. Local rider Ross Cunningham, on his TZ700 Yamaha, clipped the hay bales at the Hawkesbury Bridge and received serious back injuries; sidecar rider Lew Murray and his passenger Russ Anderson were also badly injured when they departed the track along the back straight and finished up in some willow stumps. The locals were hard to beat – possibly due to some local knowledge of the circuit? They often took the opportunity of putting in a few unofficial “practice laps” prior to the race meeting; it was not
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unusual to see some of them take a detour around the track perhaps after work at the local RNZAF Base Woodbourne or at the weekends to polish up their lines (at legal speeds of course). As an airman based at RNZAF Base Woodbourne in 1974 with (finally) a competitive machine (1973 H2A 750 Kawasaki) and a little riding experience, I competed at Hawkesbury in several races including the Hawkesbury Open Trophy Race, Open Production and B grade Open Racing events. One exciting point on the course (for riders and spectators alike) was through the “dipper” coming out of Blue Gum Corner where it was almost impossible to keep the front wheel down under acceleration – not that the H2 was all that reluctant to lift its head, of course. Another “interesting” section was along the Brookby Road where a highspeed (100MPH +) bridge crossing was followed by a sharp right-hand bend then a left-hand sweeper. It was quite important for the front wheel to be back down on the black stuff before the peeloff into the right-hander! I collected my first racing prizemoney cheque at the 1974 meeting (4th in the Open Production race – and I still have the cheque for $2-00). I couldn’t believe it when I pulled up after the race; there were only 3 bikes in front of me – everyone else must have fallen off! This circuit helped to hone the skills of a number of NZ riders who went on to greater things. Some of these were John Woodley and Vince Sharpe (fellow airmen) and Robert Holden – all of whom gained international success in various classes at many venues. Robert demonstrated his considerable talent at Hawkesbury and other circuits in NZ and became a top contender at the IOM before his untimely death as the result of an accident in practice there in 1996. John continues to participate at the top level in racing with a focus on classic machinery; he competed at many race events across Australasia and in the European Circus over the 70s and 80s where he distinguished himself despite injuries and some mechanical issues which plagued him. Vince was a force to be reckoned with in the now-defunct Open Production Class races in NZ and
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TRACKS IN TIME HAWKESBURY
ABOVE LEFT John Woodley accepts the laurel wreath after another Hawkesbury success. ABOVE RIGHT First corner jostling in
the Production Race 1981 with Bob Toomey (57), Glenn Williams (9), winner Vince Sharp (7), and Robbie Dean (56). RIGHT Suzuki poster extolls success in 1982.
Australia and he featured in the inaugural CocaCola 800 at Oran Park. He continues to be very competitive and was runner-up in the Period 5 Unlimited at the 2015 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed at Eastern Creek. Another up and coming rider back in the ‘70s was Ken Weal – another fellow airman. In 1975 Ken was unbeatable in the Open Production races at Hawkesbury when he thrashed the latest batch of 4 cylinder, 4 stroke Japanese super-bikes on a ’73 H2A 750cc two-stroke triple. He even gave the guys something to think about in the Open Racing Class events! Ken’s bike was “in dock” at the time so he borrowed a mate’s machine. With a well-prepared bike and a slightly raised final drive gear ratio, Ken was electrically timed at 131 mph at the fastest part of the circuit. As it happened Ken used to live in a farmhouse with some other “troops” and his route to/from work at the base encompassed the circuit. His local
knowledge of the circuit would have been quite handy – I’m sure! Sadly, this circuit (which in its day was quite unique in its layout and length, in New Zealand at least) and others like it are no longer in use and their glory has since faded. This is a result of the much more powerful machinery and the higher risk to riders and spectators, requiring stringent safety measures which have made it increasingly difficult to obtain road closures. The Hawkesbury Road Race circuit played an important part in motorcycle racing in New Zealand; it is regrettable that its time has passed, along with other great racing venues such as Levin, New Plymouth, Napier, Lady Wigram, Ohakea, Gracefield, Porirua and Bay Park in New Zealand as well as Amaroo, Oran Park and many more in Australia. However, it is pleasing to see that others have also seen fit to share their stories and thus revive memories of these circuits. ■
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MOTO GUZZI ELDORADO 850
Armchair ride Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850
Moto Guzzi wouldn’t be around today had it not taken the gamble to tool up for their big capacity V-twin which emerged in 1967 as the V7. Story Jim Scaysbrook Photo Andre Deubel, Fiona Wolf and Jim Scaysbrook
And the V7 itself may not have lasted long had it not been enthusiastically adopted by law enforcement agencies in Italy and particularly USA. Of course, the Guzzi v-engine had its origins not in a motorcycle, but in a three-wheeler designed primarily for military and civil use; hence only 20hp at 4,000 rpm. With a bit of work, that basic engine, reduced from 754cc to 703cc, became the V7 which first appeared at the Milan Show in late 1965. In the States, Moto Guzzi had a smart marketing team at Mike and Joe Berliner’s off-shoot the Premier Corporation, and legend has it that a couple of V7s were sold to the California Highway Patrol for $1 each for the purpose of evaluation. Evaluation against the traditional Harleys, that is. The men in uniform lapped up the Italian twins, which were better in virtually every respect than the Milwaukee iron, and sales rolled in, initially from the Los Angeles Police Department and soon from other states across the country. Pretty soon the 703cc and the later 757cc versions were tooling around everywhere, bedecked with sirens, extra lights, and special fittings for their workaday use. Moto Guzzi claimed the motorcycle would cover at least 100,000 kilometres without needing major servicing, and the shaft drive was certainly a big factor in this. Along with the police market, the Guzzis found a growing audience with the touring set, and the aftermarket accessory trade leapt upon this as well. The 750 V7 Special was marketed in the US as the Ambassador (Berliner’s choice of name, as was the Eldorado) – a four speeder with plenty of torque and reasonable handling. The sales momentum that continued to gather encouraged Moto Guzzi to go a step further, punching out the Ambassador’s dimensions to 844cc via a longer stroke, higher compression pistons, and with a 5-speed cluster sourced from the V7 Special added – hey, presto, the Eldorado (marketed in Europe as the 859 GT) which took its bow in 1972. The engine mods resulted in a 4hp boost to 64hp, not huge on paper but very noticeable on the road. The Eldorado sold well – reportedly around 5,000 a year for the three years of production, at a time when Moto Guzzi desperately needed the capital. The 850 managed to eat into the market previously shared by two major players; Harley-Davidson and BMW, but the Eldorado had several desirable features that the marketers exploited well. It was considerably lighter than the H-D, and faster than the BMW, and at $1,985 when it was introduced into the US, ➢
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 59
MOTO GUZZI ELDORADO 850
US ad for the new Eldorado 850 from 1972.
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60 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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MOTO GUZZI ELDORADO 850
cheaper than both. It also had shaft final drive – a most desirable feature for tourers that had been heavily expounded by BMW. Shortly before the model’s end – to be replaced by the 850 T – the front end was changed with revised front forks and a single disc front brake. The subsequent 850 T3 sported twin front discs and a single rear disc. Moto Guzzi had given plenty of thought to the practicalities of the 850 in both workaday (police) and touring modes. The mudguards are deep and wide and do an admirable job of keeping water away from the rest of the bike and notably the rider. The battery is a substantial 30 amp/hour job designed to easily cope with the effort required to electrically crank the engine into life. This occupies a fair amount of midriff space, but there are still a couple of toolboxes for spanners and other odds and ends.
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Local legend Our featured model, Andre Deubel’s 1972 Eldorado, is such a stunner that Australian distributors JSG used it as a backdrop for their recent launch of the all-new California and Eldorado 1400 models. Andre was born in Germany but has lived in Australia for 20 years to pursue his career as a cinematographer. “I literally tossed a coin to decide whether I would work in film or become a motorcycle mechanic,” he says. Film won, and he has since worked on features, documentaries and television commercials, but his passion for bikes remains undiminished, with a nice collection of Moto Guzzis that includes a Period 4 racer based around the V7
WorldMags.net that Jack Findlay rode at the 1972 Imola 200. His Eldorado was a US model that came to Australia in 1985, but at that point the fun begins. “When this guy brought the bike in from the US, he pulled it completely apart – right down to the bare frame – and never did anything with it. I bought it as the bare frame and all the rest in six milk crates. I paid $1,000 per milk crate, but these 850s are now quite rare. The earlier 4-speeders are more plentiful and cheaper, but they’re not as nice to ride. These are the best ‘rides’, with the five speeds – the four speed was a really clunky gearbox. I have also modified the front forks to improve the damping and used progressive rate springs. Ikon made up some shocks for me with a black body and chrome spring, so all of these things combined really make for a surprising ride! You wouldn’t believe how this thing handles through corners, and once you get on the cam with a bit of air flowing through you can feel how it wants to go.
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I think it has 70 horsepower at the crank, and that’s good for an old ’72 touring bike.” Under the front timing cover is the belt-driven Bosch generator, with the camshaft below that, gear-driven to the crank, with the oil pump at the bottom, also gear-driven. For cost saving, later models went to chain and tensioners in the timing chest. The arrangement keeps the weight, and centre of gravity, as low as possible. “For the rebuild, I worked from the crank upwards. I balanced the crank but left the capacity at 850, and I ported the heads myself with some helpful advice from Sprintcar legend Ivan Walker, who also balanced the cranks for me. I changed the carbs from 29mm to 30mm square slides and matched the inlet ports to suit and also reshaped the ports. The ports from the factory are shocking – the castings are very rough with a hump in the inlet tract. When all that is cleaned up they flow a lot better, especially with the hot cam that Barry Jones in Melbourne made for me. ➢ ABOVE Andre Deubel’s 1972 Eldorado, is such a stunner that Australian distributors JSG used it as a backdrop for their recent launch of the allnew California and Eldorado 1400 models.
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62 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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MOTO GUZZI ELDORADO 850
Lafranconi mufflers make sweet music.
Everything is in place to take a dual seat but Andre prefers the solo saddle. Snappy side covers hide the electrics and air filters.
Ignition switch sits under neat hinged cover. Wixon panniers were made in USA and sold through Moto Guzzi dealers.
Timing chest is a feature of the front of the engine.
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The old barrels have chrome plated bores and when the chrome flakes off it goes all through the engine and does a lot of damage. The barrels were wrecked so I replaced those with Gilardoni Nikasil plated barrels which are available off the shelf in Italy.” “A couple of extra things that I changed; normally there are two extra cables running from the chokes on the carbs to a lever on the handlebars and it doesn’t look very nice, so I got rid of this choke mechanism and converted the Dell’Ortos to the individual toggle mechanism just by drilling them out so you can put the plungers in – much neater. Normally the twist grip has a single cable running into a splitter box under the tank but it is stiff and not very smooth in operation so I converted it to twin cables, still with the correct looking Tomaselli 2C type twistgrip.” Andre also changed the air filtration system from a bulky dry paper unit that sits in a metal box in front of the battery, to a smaller but more efficient K&N unit. “It’s hidden away so you don’t see it anyway, and this one works better.” He has also completely modernised the electrical gadgetry, with a digital regulator and relays on most other components. He also replaced the wiring harness. “I wanted to use this bike, not just look at it, so I wanted to be sure the electrics were perfect so I didn’t get stuck miles from anywhere.” The paintwork was done in Newcastle by Allan Edwards, with the original swirling pin stripes on the tank, mudguards and the panniers. Fortunately the original chrome plating on the fuel tank was quite OK and did not have to be re-done – always a tricky and costly exercise. The 22.5 litre tank is a very sensible size for a tourer, capable of over 300km between fuel stops. The bags are actually an original item by Wixom Brothers in California that were sold through US Guzzi dealers. “To me, the bike looks like
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MOTO GUZZI ELDORADO 850
Front brake has been meticulously fettled and works well. 30mm square slide Dell’Orto carbs replace the original 29mm.
ABOVE Original owner’s
handbook. BELOW Andre aboard
his Eldorado.
Ready to roll.
an early ‘sixties design, not ‘seventies. It has a sort of art deco feel to it.” “The brakes weren’t that good, although they had a lot of weight to stop, but I had Dave Blissett machine the drum and fit the shoes to suit, and then Conwire made up a much stronger brake cable to the right length and that improved the braking enormously. Once you’ve got a few extra horses out of the engine it shows up the handling, so that way the suspension and braking improvements make this bike really rideable. The mufflers are original Lafranconi but these are the ones the police had in the States. They were more free-flowing than the ‘pea-shooter’ mufflers which had quite a small outlet, and for an extra bit of noise I took the baffles out as well.” Andre began the restoration in late 2011 and finished it in May 2014, and it has since won Best Guzzi at the 2014 Guzzi Rally, Best Italian Motorcycle at the Ducati Concours, and again best Guzzi at the 2015 Guzzi Rally. Andre is now dividing his time between working as a cinematographer and restoring/customising old loop frame and Tonti frame Moto Guzzis for a living. He can be contacted via email: andredeubel@me.com.
In the saddle My ride on the 850 was brief, but enough to convince me that this is a well-sorted motorcycle – the product of a fastidious and knowledgeable owner. The policestyle single saddle, which Andre favours as much for looks as for practicality (“I don’t ride with a pillion, so why not, and I think it is more comfortable than the dual seat”), is – well – firm, but it is nicely contoured and holds you in position. Twist the ignition key, car style, (no button here) all the way around and the engine bursts into life and immediately settles into a very regular chuff-chuff at revs that barely register on
Locally made Ikon shocks look the part.
the tacho. “That ignition switch is my most favourite feature on the whole bike,” Andre says proudly. “At the time, Guzzi was still a government owned factory and they pulled stuff from everywhere. This ignition switch came from a Fiat 500. There’s always a bit of variety with the Italian stuff from this period and some bikes came with a little rubber starter button on the handlebar.” Rock the gear lever back and first gear engages audibly, slide out the clutch and with minimal revs, the Guzzi glides away. Andre’s ‘tuned’ Lafranconi megaphone mufflers emit a very pleasant rasp, and I take his advice and let the revs rise towards the ‘red line’ of 6,500 before changing up. From 5,000, the engine begins to really sing – evidence of Andre’s attention to porting and the warmed up camshaft – and we’re soon motoring along at a pleasant lick, although the route is blighted with speed bumps and other urban nasties. The front suspension copes well with the traffic-calming devices, and the front brake is more than adequate to haul down the bike’s 260odd kg. The gearbox really is quite pleasant to use, not at all clunky as you may expect with a bigflywheel job like this, and I quickly settled into the ride. The handlebars are a bit on the high and mighty side, but that’s the nature of the concept. Surprisingly, nothing seems to scrape as I cranked the Guzzi through the corners, and extra ground clearance is one reason why Andre opted to fit larger section 120 tyres. He also reckons the standard section tyres look too small under the voluminous mudguards. All too soon the experience was over, but I can see how Andre found no issues whatsoever in jumping on the 850 in Sydney and riding to Melbourne (and back) for the Moto Guzzi Rally just a few weeks previously. This is a comfortable, well-mannered motorcycle with plenty of power and refined manners. ■
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1972 MOTO GUZZI ELDORADO 850
Specifications ENGINE
844cc, air-cooled 90-degree V-twin
BORE X STROKE
83mm x 78mm
COMP. RATIO
9.2:1
IGNITION
Battery and coil
CARBURETION
2 x 29mm Dell’Orto VHB
FRAME
Duplex tubular cradle
DRY WEIGHT
261kg
FUEL CAPACITY
22.5 litres
OIL CAPACITY
3 litres
POWER
64hp at 6,500 rpm
WHEELBASE
1473mm
WHEELS
Front: light alloy rims, 3.50 x 18 tyres Rear: 4.00 x 18 rear tyres
BRAKES
Front: twin leading shoe Rear: single leading shoe
TOP SPEED
180 km/h
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64 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
Nursery Hotel Story John Dalton
John Dalton is a long-time The Nursery Hotel in Onchan (near Douglas) was built in the early 1800s and was owned by the resident of the Isle of Man. Spittle family. It was originally a house (Birch Hill Here he recounts a story all-but House) for the head gardener, a Mr Peter Polind. it became a hotel, the grounds around the lost in the annals of time. Before house were used as a garden nursery, hence the eventual name for the hotel. The house and grounds were later sold to brewers, Castletown Ales, and the house converted to a 12-room hotel. The buildings behind the hotel were used as workshops at TT and Manx GP times by many individuals and teams, including the Velocette works team. Castletown Ales was later bought out by Herron and Brearly who
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continued to run the Nursery as a pub, but under their ownership the managers changed quite frequently. The hotel was closed down in 1988 when a new pub called the Archibald-Knox (named after a local artist) was built in front of the Nursery. In 1959 when Honda first entered the TT, they stayed at the Nursery, bringing their own food and a cook. As the Ultra Lightweight TT was held on the shorter Clypse Course (which ran through Onchan) rather than the Mountain Course, the location was ideal. Honda brought with them four Benly Super Sport motorcycles which were fitted with 150cc barrels and pistons rather than the standard 125cc,
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 65
NURSERY HOTEL, ISLE OF MAN
ABOVE & OPPOSITE John Dalton’s photo taken in 1992 of the boarded up Nursery Hotel and VJMC visitors’ 1964 Benlys. BELOW The Honda team at work in the grounds of the Nursery Hotel in 1959.
The race bikes without engines are RC141 models which have had their 2-valves per cylinder engines removed. With new 4-valve engines fitted, they would be re-classified RC142. One of the RC142s was raced by Taniguchi.
their reasoning being that the extra capacity would help them climb the mountain to Creg ny Baa. This was the first time that these models had been seen outside Japan and they caused quite a stir. The team bikes were five RC141 models, with DOHC twin cylinder engines, six speed gearboxes, dry clutches and Keihin flat-slide carburettors. Two motorcycle reporters of the time, David Dixon and John Griffiths, were lucky enough to be given a test ride on the Benlys. They both gave the bikes glowing reports in their motorcycle papers of the day. Interestingly Steve Griffiths, the son of the late John Griffiths, is now a motorcycle trader
specialising in finding rare parts for the Honda Benly Super Sport model which was produced only from 1959-1964. Steve is a very helpful chap and has helped me find parts for my own Benlys. None of these 1959 TT practice machines are known to exist. At the time the bikes were also used as runabouts during the TT week. In the photographs of the Benlys, taken by ex-racer Jeff Bain, it shows the air scoop fitted to help cooling for the rear of the engine. These bikes had aluminium alloy fuel tanks, alloy rims, front mudguard, tool box cover and battery cover. The hubs and brake plates were made from magnesium alloy. By 1961 the ➢
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1959 Honda team riders autographs in Roy Moore’s album.
66 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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NURSERY HOTEL, ISLE OF MAN
ABOVE Air scoops fitted to help cool the rear of the cylinders on the 1959 TT practice Benly. LEFT John Dalton with Naomi Taniguchi.
fuel tank had been changed to steel and through the years some of the other parts also changed but the bike retained its racing lines to the end in 1964. Three years ago I was living just half a mile from the former Nursery Hotel and I worked for Manx Glass who are the biggest glass company on the island. A work colleague at the time was Mr Roy Moore who is a well-informed and welcoming voice on Manx Radio for the Manx Grand Prix. Roy mentioned that when he was a young lad he collected autographs from TT racers and had in one of his books some of the Japanese racers from the 1959 TT. In 1959 the Nursery Hotel had two paths up to it. The longer path was never used and had a closed gate at the end. Early one morning a race bike was started up. Two young boys lived across the road from the hotel and went to investigate this motorcycle noise. They saw the bike being warmed up and then ridden up the long path at quite a pace, but with leaves and moss on the unused pathway the rider came to the closed gate at speed, hit the brakes, and down he went. This was Honda’s first crash in the Isle of Man, and the boys who witnessed the event were none other than Roy Moore and Geoff Cannel, who became the “voice” of the TT and member of the House of Keys (Manx Parliament). During TT week in 1992, I held a Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club get-together in the grounds of the closed and boarded-up Nursery Hotel. I took a photo on that day of three Honda Benly Super Sports bikes belonging to members who had come to the site. Quite a few VJMC members came to the Nursery Hotel on that day. Late in 1992 the local Shoprite chain bought the hotel and its grounds, which was fenced off and knocked down in 1993 and the plot covered in tarmac. In 1999 a new store was built on the site. It is a pity that Honda could not have had the
foresight to buy the hotel from the Isle of Man with their blessing and turn it into a tourist attraction/ museum as Honda’s first step to the TT races. In 2009, as part of Honda’s 50th anniversary in the Isle of Man, one of the team’s original riders – Naomi Taniguchi, who finished 6th in the 125cc TT, earning a Silver Replica – was staying at a hotel in Douglas with friends from Japan. I had ridden my own CB92 Benly Super Sport to the hotel and Mr Taniguchi came out of the hotel to view the bike, so I asked him (through an interpreter) if he would like to ride by CB92 for a lap of the Clypse Course. He replied that he would be happy to do so, and had brought along his leathers and helmet. I accompanied him on my C72, and Mr Sakamoto who is Editor in Chief of Yaesu Publishing in Tokyo took photos of the lap. At 73 years of age, Mr Taniguchi kept himself slim and fit so he can still ride motorcycles. What a TT week for me in 2009 – priceless, but the Nursery Hotel in 1959 was the place to be to see the new Honda racers and the start of it all. ■
Naomi Taniguchi reacquaints himself with the TT course in 2009.
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Kiwi TT star Bruce Anstey tries out author John Dalton’s CB92 at the 2014 TT.
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68 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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Fear and loathing at Lobethal The DKW racers and a tale of intrigue.
Story Jim Scaysbrook with input from Eric Williams, Peter Shannon, Nev Stumbles. Photos Graeme Osborne, Eric Williams, Keith Ward, Howard Loveder, Glenn Saunders.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 69
DKW RACERS
LEFT Ewald Kluge, German Champion
and DKW works rider. ABOVE Baron Klaus-Detlof von Oertzen.
When German champion and DKW works rider Ewald Kluge arrived in South Australia in late 1937 with his wife for a series of appearances to promote the DKW brand – part of the giant Auto Union corporation – there was a third member of the troupe that in some circles, drew more attention than the famous 27-year-old rider. Baron Klaus-Detlof von Oertzen accompanied the
MAIN Les Fredricks on the
‘Number Two’ bike at Lobethal. Note the alloy shrouds covering the carburettors.
Kluges on the trip to act as interpreter, but was immediately under observation as a possible enemy agent with sympathies to the Nazi Party. When the brands of Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW – all based in the Saxony area of Germany – amalgamated in 1932 to form Auto Union, Von Oertzen, who had been Sales Director for Wanderer, was appointed to the board, where he later became chairman. It is said that Von Oertzen suggested the four-ring symbol that became the overarching emblem for the new group and which is still used today on Audi vehicles. However the increasing tensions in Germany did not sit well with Von Oertzen, and in 1935 he wisely decided to migrate to South Africa with his wife Irene (who was Jewish), where he set up in business importing the DKW saloon cars. He also managed to bring a brace of the incredible Auto Union Grand Prix cars to South Africa for promotional races at Cape Town and East London. Ever the energetic businessman, Von Oertzen also began eyeing Australia as a potential market, and was highly instrumental in arranging the Kluge visit. Local authorities began closely observing the movements of the Baron and Baroness, noting that they made contact with many Germans while in Australia (certainly not that difficult in South Australia with its large German population), and that large amounts of money – around £11,000 – were being deposited into his bank account. It was later alleged that he was dispersing funds to individuals and groups and that he was listed in the accounts of the Treasurer of the Nazi Party of Australia. He was also accused of photographing strategic installations and trying to arrange for parts of the Australian coastline to be filmed from an aircraft. ➢
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70 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
DKW RACERS
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ABOVE (L&R) The engine of the Number One
Kluge machine, with the supercharger operating through a rotary valve. LEFT Mysterious ad for DKW road racer that appeared in March 1939.
As a prominent German motor sportsman, Kluge was obliged to join the N.S.K.K. (National Socialist Motor Corps) which had links to the Nazi Party and operated from 1931 to 1945. “Aryan qualities” were a requirement for membership, as was adherence to the Nazi doctrine. Kluge wore the NSKK insignia, which incorporated a swastika, on his leathers. Meanwhile, back to the real story. Baron Von Oertzen arrived in Melbourne in November 1937, where his wife had been holidaying for the previous two months. He brought with him a DKW cabriolet which used a 20hp two-stroke engine with front wheel drive which he believed could be produced locally. The couple left almost immediately for Perth where they held talks with trade officials regarding sales for DKW. He explained that he hoped that the currency flowing out of Australia would be compensated by the purchase of Australian ‘wool and raw materials’ by Germany. “We have no gold,” he explained, “and we must try to balance our trade if we are to carry on business on an equitable basis.” The Kluge entourage set up camp in Adelaide in preparation for the races at the 14-kilometre Lobethal road circuit on 27th December, 1937. Roughly triangular in shape and completely bitumen sealed, the circuit ran through the towns of Lobethal and Charlestown, and had an interesting combination of fast corners and straights with elevation changes thrown in for good measure. The
Ewald Kluge, Baron Von Oertzen and Mr Green, the Victorian DKW agent, in Canberra January 1938.
DKW team was actually under covert scrutiny from British amateur driver Alan Sinclair, who was also an MI5 agent and was in Australia to compete in the car Grand Prix at Lobethal, and much was subsequently made of this cold war tactic. Local press reported that the van driven by Von Oertzen containing the bikes and gear was adorned with swastikas, but this was actually the NSKK insignia.
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The DKW machinery consisted of three 250cc machines, all finished in silver/cream and all based on the split-single layout designed by Ing. Zoller. The engine used tandem bores with a common combustion chamber and articulated connecting rods. A third piston was contained in the horizontally-mounted supercharger which attached to the front of the crankcases. All three of the bikes
WorldMags.net differed slightly in specification, according to Eric Williams who would later own one of them. “Kluge’s bike had a gear or chain-driven crank forward of the main crankshaft with a vertical pumping cylinder (supercharger) and an across-theframe gear-driven rotary valve on top, with two Amal Fischer Vergasser carburettors feeding into it, then to the front split-single cylinder. The second bike (which was raced by local Les Fredricks at Lobethal) had horizontal forward-facing pumping cylinder with two carbs under streamlined teardrop shrouds, feeding into it then to the front split-single cylinder via reed valves. Both had ‘pistol grip’ fuel tanks with separate oil tank and pump, with swinging arm/plunger rear suspension and full width hubs. The “practice bike” (hereafter referred
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The “Practice Bike” foreground, and the repainted SS250 at the 1940 Geelong Speed Trials.
RIGHT Frank Pratt on the new SS250 in 1939. FAR RIGHT Ted Groves on the “Practice Bike” at Phillip Island, 1940.
to as such) was a 1936 model with horizontal forward-facing pumping cylinder with ‘upside down’ piston increasing crankcase capacity and crankcase compression, with two side-mounted carbs feeding rear split-single cylinder as per a conventional two stroke. This bike also had a pistol grip tank, petrol/oil lubrication, a rigid frame and girder front suspension controlled by rubber bands. Auto Union had always argued that as the pumping cylinder was an integral part of the engine they were technically not supercharged.” Visually, the three bikes could be distinguished by their rear suspension. Kluge’s ‘number one’ machine and the second bike ridden at Lobethal by Fredricks had curved tubular rear sub frames with swinging arm suspension working inside plunger style spring units. The spare bike had a rigid frame. At Lobethal, the raucous DKWs ran riot, with
Fredricks (who was competing in his first road race, although he was an accomplished speedway and scrambles rider) following home Kluge for a 1-2 finish in the 250cc event in a race time just short of one hour. The 350cc race was run concurrently and Kluge took out that as well after an entertaining dice with Frank Mussett’s Velocette until the British machine expired on the final lap, much to the delight of the huge German spectator turn out. Two weeks later, on January 5th, 1938 at what was known as The Weatherboard Circuit at Learmonth, north of Ballarat, Kluge took over the number two bike as Von Oertzen did not want to risk the rotary valve bike in the dusty conditions, while Fredricks rode the practice bike. The track was dirtsurfaced in its entirety, and the pair had little difficulty in the races. Kluge described it as “a well organised meeting but the roads were atrocious”.
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On 14th January, 1938, the DKW squad was in the Australian Capital Territory where Kluge set up an Australian 250cc record of 94.25 mph for the flying quarter mile on a stretch of The Federal Highway in Canberra, just eclipsing Tom Jemison’s previous record. He wanted to attempt the flying one mile record as well, but this had to be cancelled owing to rain. On 31st January, 1938, the DKW team was at Phillip Island for the Victoria TT on the dusty 6.5 mile road circuit. Again, the 250cc Lightweight and 350cc Junior events were run concurrently, and Kluge again led home Friedrichs in the smaller class, but could finish only third to the Velocettes of Mussett and Don Bain in the Junior. ➢ Start of the Lightweight TT at Phillip Island in 1940, with Ted Groves (11) on the Practice Bike and Frank Pratt (14) on the SS250, still in its black décor.
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WorldMags.net Laurie Jamieson on the “Practice Bike” at Woodside in 1947.
Following Phillip Island, both ‘race’ bikes were loaded onto a vessel in Melbourne and returned to Germany. Eric Williams says archive footage of this exists, which destroys the myth that one or other of these special machines remained here. What is certain is that the practice bike with the rigid frame remained in Australia. By this stage Geelong dealer Frank Pratt had secured the DKW agency and placed orders for the new ‘works’ replica 250cc production racers (the SS250) that were to be available later in 1938. Von Oertzen gave permission for Pratt to retain the practice bike on the provision that it be returned to Germany once the production racers arrived. Eventually, one of the new SS250 racers did arrive at Geelong, painted black and red, and just to confuse matters, Pratt had this redone in the works silver décor. This had the swinging arm/plunger rear suspension, but with straight, instead of curved tubing to the spring boxes. It also had a conventional, rather than ‘pistol grip’ fuel tank. Pratt raced the SS250 at Phillip Island in 1940, while Pratt’s usual sidecar passenger, Ted Groves, rode the rigid frame bike. By 1939, with the threat of war imminent, port authorities were deliberately delaying the refuelling of German ships, perhaps in the hope of confiscating them. Kluge had actually agreed to return to Australia for the Bathurst races in 1939, but that trip was cancelled as tensions increased. Curiously, Sydney firm Hazell & Moore ran an advertisement in the March, 1939 issue of The Australian Motorcyclist advertising a ‘practically new and never been used for racing’ ‘Real Road racer Super Charged Twin Two-Stroke DKW’, which ‘cost nearly £300, now available for only £120’. To further muddy the waters, a full page story
Bill Day on Sturt Street, Ballarat in 1947 on the Practice Bike.
At Woodside in 1948, Albert O’Hara on the ‘Practice Bike’.
Bob Elsbury dicing with Norm Osborne on the SS250 at Ballarat, 1947.
appeared in the June 1939 issue of the same publication, stating that the Sydney firm Eric Moore Pty Ltd had secured the DKW agency and that a big shipment was due in the second half of 1939. This shipment was supposed to include the latest versions of the SS250 racer, but whether any actually arrived is doubtful. The publicity also stated that Kluge would return to Australia for a series of races including Lobethal in December 1939 and Phillip Island in January 1940, bringing with him “three genuine ‘TT’ DKW motors… which will be left behind in Australia and will appear at Bathurst next Easter (1940) ridden by one of Australia’s most famous TT riders”. Not surprisingly, given the declaration of war on 3rd September, 1939, none of this subsequently occurred*. Kluge, who had sensationally won the Lightweight Isle of Man TT in 1938 (only the second
LEFT The Practice Bike
at Fishermen’s Bend, August 1948 when it was ridden by Norm Osborne. RIGHT Laurie Jamieson on the SS250 during the Australian TT at Nuriootpa, 1949.
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‘foreigner’ to do so) was called up for military service and as a sergeant, was stationed at Leipzig at the School for Army Motorisation. In 1943 he was released from this role to enable him to work in Auto Union’s test department, but after the war, the Russians denounced him as a Nazi and imprisoned him until 1949. Although he resumed racing for DKW in 1950, Kluge suffered a serious accident at Nurburgring in 1953 which finished his career. He died from cancer in 1964. During the war, the Von Oertzens fled to Java, but were captured and interred in separate prisoner-ofwar camps. Post-war, Oertzen wasted no time in setting up in business again in South Africa as the importer for Volkswagen, and arranged for his Melbourne friend Lionel Spencer (Regent Motors) to become the Australian VW agent.
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Norm Osborne with the SS250 at Bonnyvale, near Queenscliffe, Victoria, circa 1946.
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LEFT Charlie Lack on the SS250
in Darwin, around 1954. BELOW The SS250 in the pits at
Bathurst in 1958, when it was ridden by Alan Saunders
Eric Williams says he was told by Don Bain, “someone in Queensland brought one (a DKW racer) out from Germany for his outboard racer, but its weight and lack of revs (the split single only revved to 4,700) made it more suitable for the proverbial anchor, and he’d scrapped the rest!” When racing began again in Australia in 1946, so did the confusion surrounding the DKW racers. Certainly, the Kluge practice bike was in operation, ridden at various times by Jack French and Bill Day and later by the Jamieson brothers, Bill and Laurie. It also appears that the SS250 imported by Pratt was also raced frequently, firstly by Frank Pratt himself at Phillip Island in 1940, and later by Laurie Jamieson at Nuriootpa in 1949, by Pratt’s business partner Norm Osborne, and many others. It is thought the SS250 went to Darwin in the early ‘fifties where it was raced by Charlie Lack. Around 1956, the SS250 surfaced again in a typically unusual series of events. Allan Saunders from Albion Park, near Wollongong NSW, was working at he Tullawarra Power Station with a chap named Arnie Coglan, who hailed from Newcastle. Both were keen clubmen racers (Allan had won the Senior B Grade at Bathurst in 1954 on his Triumph Tiger 100) and Coglan happened to mention that he had a racing 250 that he wished to sell, conveniently housed at the time at nearby Dapto. “I thought that I wouldn’t mind a 250,” recalls Alan Saunders, “because the Lightweight class at the time was pretty competitive. Arnie said this was an ex-works bike, a DKW, and I paid him one hundred pounds for it, which was a fair bit of money at the time. Doug James, who was a very successful pre-war racer and owner of a motorcycle shop in Wollongong told me that I would have trouble with fuel, because the DKW team that came to Australia (Kluge) had a chemist to mix the fuel which was done immediately before a race. Doug also said that he
thought I wouldn’t be able to race the DKW in the 250 class because it was supercharged, but I thought I’d give it a go – they wouldn’t put me in gaol would they? The first meeting I did on it was at Mount Druitt and Doug was right – it blew a piston. I wrote to DKW to see if I could get a piston but hey couldn’t help, although they did give me some tuning information. The bike sat around for some time until I got in touch with Sid Willis, and took the barrel and the damaged piston to him. Sid made a piston and also some blanks, which I still have. During the time it was out of action I considered pulling the motor and gearbox out and putting something like a JAP in to use on Short Circuit. I’m
At Bathurst in 1959, A. Saunders aboard the 20-year-old SS250.
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glad I didn’t because the DKW motor would probably have been thrown out.” With the engine back together, Allan Saunders entered the DKW for Bathurst in 1958. “Practice was on Friday and it was running fairly well, but the race was Saturday morning and it was a typically misty Bathurst day and it just wouldn’t rev out, it was way too rich.” Eventually Alan got the DKW running reliably, using a 16:1 petrol/oil mixture using Castrol R as recommended by the DKW factory. He raced ➢
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WorldMags.net LEFT Crankshaft and front ‘pumping cylinder from the “Practice Bike” during Eric Williams’ painstaking restoration, early ‘sixties. RIGHT Studio shot of the Practice Bike following Eric Williams’ restoration.
BELOW Keith Bryen on Eric
William’s DKW in 1977.
BELOW Eric Williams’ bike at Amaroo Park in 1977 when it was ridden by Keith Bryen.
Les Fredricks on Eric Williams’ bike at the Lobethal Reunion in 1988.
it at Mount Druitt and again at Bathurst in 1959, finishing tenth in the Lightweight TT. Thereafter the DKW, now 20 years old, lapsed into retirement and is still in Allan’s possession. The Kluge practice bike ended up back in South Australia where it eventually blew up while being raced at Sellick’s Beach. The sand and salt had not been kind to the electron-alloy crankcases either. “I fluked catching the then-owner short of cash and
The Practice Bike during the time when it was owned by Steve Hazelton in Goulburn.
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bought it in a fairly bad state,“ says Eric Williams. “As a mid-level competitor lacking the benefit of trade contacts it took a while before finally getting it going. Jack French had bought it after the war and later came over with the engine and frame numbers and photos, confirming it was Kluge’s practice bike.” After a lengthy restoration, the DKW was ridden at Historic events by Williams, as well as ex-Moto Guzzi works rider Keith Bryen at Amaroo Park and by South Australian star Bill Horsman at Adelaide Raceway. Fittingly, a 78-year-old Les Fredricks demonstrated the DKW at the 1988 Lobethal Reunion, forty years after its first appearance there. The DKW was displayed alongside Juan Manuel Fangio’s Mercedes Grand Prix racer at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Adelaide, and attracted some tempting offers (one of more than $120,000) which Williams considered. “I thought about it for about a year, then the stock crash hit and I finally sold it for less than half what I’d been offered to Steve Hazelton (in Goulburn, NSW)”. Hazelton held onto the bike for around 20 years, but finally sold it in 2013. “I really wanted to keep it in Australia,” Steve told me last year, “but I had very little interest (from Australia) when I advertised it. So in the end, I accepted a sale overseas.” Thus ended the Australian saga of a tale that has grown in depth and degrees of distortion for more than 75 years. ■
WorldMags.net Just in case. Spare Lodge R49 plug is carried under the seat.
Large capacity radiator towers over the forward facing compressor.
ABOVE AND BELOW The old racer is ready to fire
up, according to owner Alan Saunders.
BELOW LEFT Identity revealed! Under the silver
exterior of the SS250 owned by Alan Saunders is the original black and red paint, as delivered to Frank Pratt. RIGHT Allan Saunders with the DKW he has owned for sixty years.
*FOOTNOTE: A story that gained some traction over the years had Kluge contracted to race at Bathurst in 1939. Some reports said that he actually set sail from Germany but the ship was turned around in Cape Town and returned to Hamburg. Another report said the machine Kluge was to ride – a 1939 works spec DKW – did in fact arrive in Sydney and was delivered to King’s Motors in Chatswood, whereupon it was spirited away and not seen again. LES FREDRICKS: In researching this story, I encountered various spellings for Les Fredricks' surname, including Friedrichs, Freidrichs, and Fredericks. However in the official program for the 1937 Lobethal meeting, his name is spelled Fredricks, so that is what is used throughout this story.
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WorldMags.net Welcome to Old Bike Australasia Out’n’about – a forum of people, places, history and happenings.
A Trimanx in Port Kembla MAURICE AUSTIN, who has supplied many lovely period photos to OBA over the years, has sent this curious photograph which came to him from sidecar legend Alec Corner. The motorcycle is obviously the marriage of an alloy Triumph Tiger 100 engine and gearbox and a Manx Norton rolling chassis, topped by an ultra large TT-style sign written fuel tank. But the curious part is the ute in the background, on the door of which is the inscription “Kevin Cass. Port Kembla.” Maurice says, “This was taken in shadow on a simple basic 127 camera and is very poor. Believe me it has been worked on for some time to get even this result. Do you know if this was Kevin’s machine?” Ed: My answer is I don’t think so, at least I can’t recall Kevin having a machine of this type, but perhaps a reader may have more information? ■
Lamont collection LEFT A Billy Lamont Players card. BELOW Billy Lamont in action at
the Sydney Sports Ground Speedway.
gets a good home Last October, an extensive collection of trophies and memorabilia from the late pioneer speedway star Wilfred “Billy” Lamont, was auctioned by Mossgreen in Armadale, Victoria. One of the enthusiastic bidders attending that auction was passionate speedway memorabilia collector, historian and museum advocate Ash Suttor. Ash and his wife Margaret operate the popular Ash’s Speedway Museum in Bathurst, NSW, and were successful in securing several of the main items at the Lamont auction. These include a silver trophy from Davies Park Speedway (Brisbane), a Brass winged red helmet trophy awarded in 1931, a magnificent Silver helmet trophy from the same year, a Sterling silver ashtray from the final test match England versus Australia, Wembley, 1930, a plaque to commemorate England versus Australia test matches 1932, a decorative winged sculpture which he won in Buenos Aires in 1930, a medallion awarded by the Hunter Region Sporting Hall of Fame, and seven photo albums. Lamont began racing at West Maitland in his native Newcastle in 1924 at just 16 years of age was one of the original troupe of riders to go to England where he went on to captain the Australian side in Test matches. He also won the unofficial World Title in Paris in 1931 and raced extensively in South America. Ash’s Speedway Museum houses the largest collection of speedway memorabilia in the southern hemisphere and is open on Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. ■
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WorldMags.net Looking for Lady Wigram
Bill Eales, who contributed the story in this issue
Harrisville happenings 2016 is a big year for Classic Scrambles and Vintage Motocross at the Harrisville circuit, south west of Brisbane. Col Metcher, from the Brisbane Motorcycle Club, says the club will promote the National Classic Motocross Championship on the weekend of June 18/19, and the event will also celebrate 25 years since the inaugural VMX event at Dargle in Sydney 1991. On July 23/24 BMC will stage the National Post Classic Championship for Evolution to Pre-1990 MX bikes, incorporating Round 3 of the Ash’s Spoked Wheelz Vintage Triple Crown of Motocross. For all enquiries contact Col Metcher by email at cmetcher@bigpond.net.au ■
ATTENTION collectors Here’s a rare opportunity to acquire a set of Old Bike Australasia magazines from issue 1 to 50. All are in mint condition and are part of a deceased estate. Asking price is $500 and enquiries should be made c/- the editor on 0411 443444 or email scaysbrook34@bigpond.com. The collection is located in Sydney and free local delivery is possible or freight can be arranged at additional cost. ■
on the Hawkesbury circuit in New Zealand, is in the process of conducting a similar exercise on the Lady Wigram Trophy races, held at what was originally Sockburn Airport, later RNZAF Base Wigram in Christchurch. He is looking for programs, memorabilia, photos or just personal recollections to assist in the compilation of the story. Bill is based at Nowra NSW and can be reached via email at William.Eales@ defence.gov.au or by phone at (02) 44243144. ■
Stalkie’s Worm A recent addition to the excellent motorcycle display at the National Motor Racing Museum at Bathurst is this “as raced” outfit once campaigned by the late Brian “Stalkie” Holmes, who passed away in 2013. Best known as a racer of many different sidecars, Stalkie began his racing career on solos and in the early 1970s took the plunge to race in Europe. He found the competition tough, and like most of his countrymen, was perennially short of cash. Back home, he continued to race solos but gradually shifted into the three-wheeled scene. Inevitably, he moved onto a Honda CB750 powered sidecar which he raced with some success at Amaroo Park and Bathurst, where his best result was a third in the 1984 and 1987 Fourstroke Sidecar races with Geoff Rowe as passenger. Brian was a regular competitor in the summer races in New Zealand, and in 1974 took out the prestigious Marlboro Series on the Honda, defeating NZ Champion Gordon Skilton. In the latter stages of his career Brian progressed to a TZ750 Yamaha and finally to a monocoque outfit powered by a Suzuki GSXR1000 engine. After Stalkie passed away, this outfit was rescued from his home in Sydney by Ross Hannan, who sponsored Brian in the early ‘eighties. It represents the era of the ‘worm’ outfits – so called because they ‘wriggled’ through corners due to the extreme length of the wheelbase. ■
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 77
OUT’N’ABOUT
G50s snatched Regrettably, there has been yet another brazen robbery involving rare classic motorcycles. In preparation for an up-coming auction of a large proportion of his fabulous collection, well known historic racing personality Ken Lucas was having the bikes photographed at his property at Wangaratta in early January. When Ken and photographer Colin Rosewarne took a break, the felons moved in and quickly made off with two Matchless G50s. Colin Rosewarne said, “Yes, sad but the case with the ever-growing prestige/rare thefts now is that they are targeted, well planned and executed with, in many cases, a pre-booked crate and flown out of the country within hours of being stolen. Massive Asian collections pay big bucks and sadly equal a one-way ticket. Funnily enough, there are many extremely rare bikes there that they didn’t touch, so somebody must have been chasing a set of G50 bookends.” Victoria Police are investigating the theft, and urge anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au ■
Ken Lucas with one of his G50s.
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Fresh blood stirs Velo fellows From Colin Hanger: The Melbourne branch of the Velocette Owners club of Australia is not now known as a riding club. These days the members, who like all of us are starting to get on in years and have done the “riding everywhere thing” many times before, are quite content to just turn up at our local monthly meetings to catch up with likeminded members. In fact it’s like a men’s shed without the tools. Most also belong to other clubs so if they want to ride they just join along with what the others have perfected. Enter a new, fresh, young enthusiastic member – Scott Arnold – who wants to ride his recentlyrestored MSS. He has read in our club magazine about how the other states have started to get out on their girder fork models. Our riders don’t want to set land speed records (although one of our members currently holds the record for the Worlds Fastest Velocette – over 180 mph) they just want to blow out the cobwebs every so often and prove to themselves that they are still up to it. So Scott has started to organise short rides, usually starting early on a Sunday morning before Mr Plod has set up in the hills, and all are welcome. Our latest ride met outside Eltham, which is the gateway to the best part of interesting country riding near Melbourne, for a morning’s ride to explore the back roads between there and our final destination
Back onto the road after coffee at Kinglake. Main catalyst for the ride: Scott Arnold’s freshly restored MSS.
of Kinglake. The slower speeds were an advantage as the recent stormy weather had left the roads littered with wet leaves, mud and bark everywhere. There were no corner marshals, tail-end Charlies, back-up trailers (well you don’t need them when you are riding a Velocette) emergency phone numbers or grand pre-organised routes...just a few people going for a Sunday ride. We started with a MK 3 LE, a KSS, 4 rigid MSSs, a 1934 Norton, Venom Clubman, a sprung MSS, a GS BMW and an MG Midget. It was interesting to note that when we got to Kinglake the greatest interest was shown, by the other early morning riders on push bikes, in the LE. One chap fawned over it and had a photo taken of himself on it so he could show his dad, who may have mentioned them in the past. The usual questions of where were they made – France – Italy? A coffee and cake then back on the bikes for a slightly different route home, with some saying
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where they would peel off along the way. It was all over by lunchtime which left the afternoon for other things. I returned from it with plans to re-Redplate the 1937 MSS in time for the next ride. ■
Indian offspring Noel Saward in Tasmania has sent these photos of a mini-Indian, spotted at the recent Ross Rally. He says the bike is “a miniature version of an early Indian Ace 4 Cylinder, totally handmade from various bits and pieces of ‘junk’. The attention to detail is incredible, even down to the hand-made tiny hexagonal green Splitdorf spark plugs. Some of the ‘junk’ used was from clocks, vacuum cleaners & push bikes, along with scrap wood, ice-cream containers and even an old ‘Vicks’ nasal inhaler tube. It is a non-runner, but a very clever build. Apparently the builder has made lots of miniature things, including various bikes and cars – he must have a lot of time and patience!” ■
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80 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
OUT’N’ABOUT
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Barrington Tops National Park is a rugged wilderness, the highest point being Brumlow Top (1586m, 5203 feet). A record low temperature of 17ºC has been recorded at the summit. Because of the altitude, low cloud and dense fog, numerous aircraft crashes have occurred since 1945.
Many OBA readers will be familiar with the firm
The conquest of Barrington
of A.P. North – NSW Matchless distributors located at 62-64 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney. The company’s founder, ‘Percy’ North was an adventurous rider in his younger days, and in 1925 created history by scaling the rugged Barrington Tops, 200 km north of Sydney in the Hunter Valley. The Sunday Times of October 4th, 1925 reported, “ On Monday, Barrington Tops was climbed from the Dungog side, a feat which has never been equaled in the history of motorcycling. The machine was a 2.7 hp standard side valve AJS and the rider was Mr. Percy North, of Dungog. Barrington Tops has been reached from the Scone side by two cars and a motor cycle, but never has this range been attempted from the Dungog side. The local residents considered it absolutely impossible, and when North spoke of his intended attempt, he was scoffed at, and a number of people even went so far as to say that there was a large streak of insanity in his family.” Beginning at noon, Percy crossed several creeks, then camped for the night. His first major obstacle came early the next morning, when “a root 18 inches high blocked the only possible track”. For two hours he tried to get his machine over the root, but the effort exhausted him and with darkness descending he was forced to seek water and again bunk down. “He secured his bike with a rope to prevent him sliding down the mountain, and made himself as comfortable as possible by making a bed out of tree ferns. The next morning he again attempted the root, and after two hours’ struggle got across. This meant that it had taken him six
hours to go five yards. The track was 18 inches to 2 feet wide in places, with a sheer drop of several hundreds of feet on the lower side, but he kept on and at last came to the Tops.” Eventually he reached Carey’s Peak, about two miles from the summit, but a fierce blizzard closed in, flooding the swamps and forcing him to ferry the bike across by cutting branches from trees. The sanctuary of Edward’s Hut, on the Scone Side, was reached just in time. North told the media, “The standard AJS behaved in a manner which defied description…and had not been touched by a spanner…not a spoke was broken or bent. The next morning I decided to go on, but the cold had locked the wheels of the machine together, and I was forced
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ABOVE Percy North during a road trial in the 1930s. LEFT An advertisement placed in Sydney papers by P&R Williams to commemorate Percy North’s achievement.
to walk to the nearest phone, a distance of 18 miles.” NSW AJS distributors P&R Williams made much of the remarkable feat, and of the performance of the motorcycle, which used just 1½ gallons of petrol and 2 pints of oil. His friendship with the Williams brothers later enable him, with their recommendation, to secure the Matchless agency for NSW and go on to become a very successful trader in post-war years. ■ Thanks to Peter North, Percy’s son, for supplying this information.
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ABOVE LEFT Owner Peter Rutins with an un-plated Norton “peardrop” silencer. ABOVE The Dickensian Factory. BELOW RIGHT Peter in the Outwards Goods department with a Velocette Silencer.
Armour Motor Products
Pipe dreams Story and photos Stuart Francis
Tucked away down a narrow alleyway in the back streets of Bournemouth (a quiet UK South Coast seaside resort) is the world’s largest manufacturer of Vintage and Classic motorcycle exhaust pipes and silencers. Started in 1972, Armours has gradually grown into the premier supplier of motorcycle exhaust systems. They also supply a wide range of other restoration products like control levers, cycle thread nuts and bolts; the list goes on. With over 400 different exhaust pipes and silencers available, Armours ship over 1000 exhaust pipes and silencers a month to customers around the world. The seeming chaos of the despatch area and the hundreds of tea chest storage bins belies a very controlled, efficient system. The bulk of the exhaust pipes and silencers are HD (High Density) chromed steel with about 5% of the output in stainless steel. They can also supply unplated items, make pipes and silencers to patterns, and provide a fitting service at the factory. The Dickensian factory and shop, employing 8 and a half people, smelling of ground steel, welding ozone and forming oil, equipped with only a small number of power tools, pipe bender and welding equipment, produces excellent replicas of original equipment. All of the exhaust pipes and silencers are made in-house and are copied from good patterns. HD chrome items are shipped to a specialist plater 200 miles away, the nearest that could meet the company’s exacting standards. High turnover items for popular machines are made in large batches and shipped straight off to the plater; low volume items are still made in reasonable batches but only a few are sent off for plating, the most expensive part of manufacture. Production takes about six weeks with plating taking the greatest time. A few exhaust pipes come with fitting instructions like the WLA Harley Davidson system supplied with an overlong rear pipe that has to be trimmed to fit. Most of the exhaust pipes and silencers can be supplied in Stainless Steel except for those that require stamped shapes. They also make stainless steel systems for 1970s and 1980s BMWs, Guzzis and Ducatis. They do not make pipes and silencers for Japanese machines as the subtle year-on-year changes and double skin construction are impossible to replicate. Despite being overloaded with day-to-day production they still find time to develop new pipes and silencers. Recent additions are pre-war Panther 100 and Panther 50 pipes and silencers, Triumph TSX silencer, a Coventry Eagle silencer, and a universal, strippable, silencer for smaller 2-strokes. The owner, Peter Rutins, introduced a new website armoursltd.co.uk last year which has proved a great success, possibly too successful as they are struggling to keep up with orders. The big issue for antipodean customers is the shipping cost - being large and heavy, inevitably it is going to cost. Peter has tried many shippers to get a better deal but keeps coming back to Royal Mail as they provide the best service. If you are visiting check the website for opening times. ■
ABOVE LEFT A universal, strippable, silencer for small 2-strokes. LEFT A Coventry Eagle silencer.
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2016 Island Classic • 26 January, 2016 – Phillip Island, Victoria
Brits keep the gold Report Jim Scaysbrook Photos Jim Scaysbrook and Russell Colvin ABOVE Beau Beaton thrilled everyone except the UK team with his storming rides on the new Irving Vincent 1300. RIGHT Paul Smart completed several demonstration laps on a Imola 200 replica Ducati.
Although the team failed to win any of the four races, the UK squad was once again dominant at the 2016 AMCN Island Classic. Beau Beaton, on the 4-valve Irving Vincent, blasted to victory in the first two 6-lap encounters, narrowly edging out UK star Jeremy McWilliams on both occasions, despite giving away around 15 km/h in top speed. A DNF stopped Beaton in the third heat, but young Jed Metcher, on the T Rex Harris Honda, stepped up to take the win and repeated the dose in Sunday’s final race. The Australian challenge came apart when Shawn Giles and Cameron Donald both suffered engine woes and failed to finish two of the heats. The depth of the UK side showed, with consistent performances by Conor Cummins, John McGuinness, Ryan Farquhar and ex-pat South Australian
Victorious again. The UK squad celebrates with a glass of Pimms.
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Glen Richards. Paul Byrne top scored for the Irish team which finished third in the standings ahead of USA, with a depleted NZ team trailing in fifth place. The meeting began on a wet and grey Friday, and the International field stayed in their garages, with Qualifying to be decided over a single session first thing Saturday morning. It was drizzling when the riders ventured out and Beaton managed to put the Irving Vincent at the top of the time sheets before the session was redflagged after NZ rider and champion yachtsman Grant Dalton decked his Suzuki and broke a wrist. The oil spill from the crashed Suzuki brought down another four riders and necessitating a lengthy delay for the clean up. Just prior to this, UK’s Ryan Farquhar exploded the engine of his Harris Yamaha and the team flew into action
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RACE REPORTS ISLAND CLASSIC Tom Bramich on the 500 Paton – winner of the 500 Post Classic and equal winner of the Phil Irving Trophy.
Star turns: Jed Metcher leads Jeremy McWilliams in race three. The pair finished as equal top scorers in the International Challenge.
Unlimited Forgotten Era (Minor) winner Robert Young.
to change the unit before the first race. This further added to the UK side’s dark mood as they vocally challenged the ‘spirit’ of the Irving Vincent entry. Considering several of their team were equipped with 4-valve FJR1300 Yamaha engines of at least 1984 vintage, the grumbles were seen by some as the pot calling the kettle
black. Indeed, the unique rules for the Mitchelton Wines International Challenge are a mystery to many. Despite the damp start, Saturday dawned fine, with clear skies for the remainder of the weekend. Apart from the International Challenge, the programme contained a wide variety of classes, some thinly supported, others full to overflowing. As usual
the Post Classic and Forgotten Era classes had bulk entries and provided thrilling racing. This year, Sidecar classes were back on the card after being dropped in 2015 due to lack of entries. Owner Max Hooper managed to entice the dynamic duo of Andre Bosman and Dave Kellett back onto the Suzuki GSX1100 outfit that they raced to great effect in the ‘eighties,
ending the domination of the Yamaha TZ750s. The meeting also marked the debut of the stunning new Irving Vincent outfit piloted by Barry Horner and Chris DiNuzzo. Condobolin rider Neil May and local Tom Bramich added their names to the prized Phil Irving Perpetual Trophy, both taking double class wins on the weekend.■
The meeting marked the debut of the sensational new Irving Vincent 1300 outfit piloted by Barry Horner and Chris DiNuzzo.
Back on their original Combo Suzuki, Andre Bosman and Dave Kellett showed they had forgotten little after four years absence.
Top Forgotten Era Sidecar crew Anthong Vrdolijak/Corey Forde on the Steve Bayliss Suzuki.
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Phil Irving Trophy co-winner Neil May on his 350 Manx Norton. Neil won both 350 and 500 Classic classes.
84 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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RACE REPORTS ISLAND CLASSIC
As always, Cam Donald gave 100% but suffered machinery woes.
Tasmanian Brett Simmonds took out the New Era 250 on his Yamaha.
Steve Martin was a model of consistency all weekend, finishing as 3rd-top scorer. Aaron Morris took out the New Era F750 class on his OW01 Yamaha.
Scott Campbell had to hold off father Malcolm to take out the New Era F750.
Ray and Amanda Smith, Post Classic Sidecar winners.
Results: Island Classic (Class winners) BIKE
TEAM RESULTS
Bernie Summers
Kawasaki KX125
1 United Kingdom
693pts
1=
Jeremy McWilliams, UK
Tait Coghill
Honda RS125
2 Australia
594
1=
Jed Metcher, Australia
156
Stacey Heaney
Kawasaki G4E
3 Ireland
421
3
Steve Martin, Australia
148
250cc CLASSIC
Darrell Bailey
(Ducati Diana
4 America
355
4
Conor Cummins, UK
140
250cc FORGOTTEN ERA
Russell Fairbairn
Cotton EM34
5 New Zealand
289
5
John McGuinness, UK
133
250cc NEW ERA PRODUCTION
Ryan Young
Honda NSR250
6=
Ryan Farquhar, UK
132
250cc NEW ERA
Brett Simmonds
Yamaha TZ25
6=
Glen Richards, UK
132
250cc POST-CLASSIC
Murray Seabrook
Yamaha TD3
8
James Hillier, UK
119
350cc CLASSIC
Neil May
Manx Norton
9
Beau Beaton, Australia
118
10
Craig Ditchburn, UK
115
CLASS
WINNER
125cc FORGOTTEN ERA 125cc NEW ERA 125cc POST-CLASSIC
350cc POST-CLASSIC
Glenn Hindle
Maxton TR3
350cc FORGOTTEN ERA
Lachlan Hill
Yamaha TZ350
500cc CLASSIC
Neil May
Manx Norton
500cc FORGOTTEN ERA
Tom Bramich
Paton
500cc NEW ERA
Joe Akroyd
Kawasaki ZXR 400
500cc POST-CLASSIC
Tom Bramich
Paton
NEW ERA FORMULA 750cc
Aaron Morris
Yamaha OW01
CLASSIC SIDECARS
Garth Francis/Paul Kenny
Norton
FORGOTTEN ERA SIDECARS
Anthony Vrdoljak/Corey Forde
Baybuilt
POST-CLASSIC SIDECARS
Ray Smith/Amanda Smith
Honda
PRE-WAR
Stan Mucha
Indian
UNLIMITED CLASSIC
Garth Francis
Norton Atlas
UNLIMITED FORGOTTEN ERA – Minor
Robert Young
Ducati
UNLIMITED FORGOTTEN ERA – Premier
Cameron Donald
Macintosh Suzuki)
INVITATIONAL P6 OPEN
Peter Ward
(Yamaha FZ750)
NEW ERA FORMULA 1300cc
Scott Campbell
Honda RC30)
UNLIMITED POST-CLASSIC
Dean Oughtred
Honda CR750)
PHIL IRVING TROPHY
Neil May and Tom Bramich
INDIVIDUAL – Ken Wootton Perpetual Trophy 156
ABOVE 250 Post Classic winner Murray Seabrook sweeps through The Hayshed on his 250 Yamaha.
ABOVE Mounted on a Kawasaki ZXR400, Brit Joe Akroyd took out the 500 New Era class.
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Rediscover the past on one of our classic bikes from the 70’s or find out if the stories your old man used to tell you were anything like the truth.
Based in the foothills of the Great Divide at Everton Victoria, CLASSICS ON ALPINE is your gateway to some of the best motorcycling country Australia has to offer. Hire the fabulous Honda 4 or Kwaka 9, cruise the alps on a super smooth GT 750 Suzuki or take a “metric Triumph”, the XS 650 for a spin. As well as a great range of hire bikes we also offer repair and restoration services for classic Japanese motorcycles. Open 8.30am to 5.00pm.
2167 Great Alpine Rd, Everton, Victoria Ph: 03 5727 0589 Em: info@classicsonalpine.com.au
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RACE REPORTS SA HISTORICS
Period 3 700cc winner Keith Campbell on his ESO Special.
To combat the strong cross-winds, P3 500 winner Jack Wright ditched the bottom half of his fairing.
Chris Pash on his very quick T500 Suzuki.
2015 SA Historic State Titles • 2-3 January, 2016 – McNamara Park, Mt Gambier
Sad end to SA titles Mount Gambier was again the venue for the SA titles, yeah the 2015 titles getting run in 2016. All this because of the way that Christmas falls. Next year it will be run in 2016 and 2017! Report Danny Ahern Photos Rob Lewis
Following running the national titles the Register wondered how things would shape up, but as is the case, the love affair with the event, the venue and time of year saw a real healthy take up of competitors, with about 115 competitors. The program had all riders entered in a minimum four events for their motorcycle, with many opting to cross enter to get more rides. The 4 rides all counted towards the championship. Of course as has been the case with the Register for so many years, we had the Ken Blake Memorial to run as well as the Bob Jolly Memorial and the Tour de LC Cup for the 250 LC brigade. The week preceding had been wickedly hot, but come practice Friday things had settled down to temperatures in the 20s. Many took the option to practice on the Friday. In the first session Richard Metcalf had a nasty spill off his Bultaco when it seized on him at the end of the long straight. Richard’s injuries include a broken pelvis and he will be slowed down for some while. Unfortunately this was a start to a trend over the weekend with more than the usual amount coming to grief. Saturday morning saw good cool weather, albeit quite windy. Two rounds of qualifying took up the
morning and Saturday too saw many coming back on the trailer. The spectators were building up well and the Mt Gambier Club-run canteen had sold out of stuff for cooked breakfast and soon found themselves in a similar position come lunch time. The event was definitely heading to be as they say bigger and better than ever. The very first race saw Stan Mucha on his Indian create a new Period 2 track record, knocking some 1.07 seconds off the previous best time. 23 bikes took to the grid in the combined 350 /700 Period 3 race. Two 350 bikes were in the top 6 with Greg Watkins running third on track on his wonderfully prepared 350 Manx. The Period 3 Unlimited was the close racing many thought it would be with good dicing between Joe Ahern, David Trotter and his dad Darren. Darren only got to do one of the races run having damaged his wing in the 500 race. Whilst David was very quick on the 1200 JAP he was 2 ½ seconds off Jack Wright’s record set on the Trease Harley in 2014. Seventeen bikes were on the grid for the 500 Period 3 race but unfortunately a rush of blood by local track expert Darren Trotter saw him come unstuck at turn one. Miraculously only he came down, but
After a crash on Friday, Simon Cook was forced to borrow a left boot and undertake a major rebuild that included re-lacing the wheels. LEFT Peggy Hyde (left), currently a bit worse for wear, with author and OBA contributor Sally-Ann Fowles.
it shattered a field that would have put on a show and a half. Jack Wright showed a clean set of heels and shot away. Good racing was to be seen in the combined 250/350/500 Period 4 with plenty of good dices. Keith Campbell was victorious overall on his 350 in the second leg after Chris Pash spun out on turn one on lap two, maybe succumbed to the pressure that Peter O’Neill was putting on him with his immaculate Suzuki 500. The big capacity Period 4 &5 bikes ran with the Period 5 350’s. The regular stakeholders were at the front as always, with Simon Cook placing 1st in the P4 class, which was a handy
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comeback following a rare off on Friday after his rear tyre deflated; Mick Moloney doing the same on his Period 5 bike. The Register’s club secretary, Chris Hayward, showed all the 350 lads how it’s done being victorious on his lovely prepared TZ 350. Once again, the sidecar turnout was plain disappointing with just 2 Period 4 outfits taking to the track and 3 Period 3s. The 250 Period 5 field was a cracker with 23 starters, all RDLC’s apart from Kris Rowen’s immaculate TZ250 and Andrew Bannerman’s air-cooled RD. Nathaniel Wilson showed all and sundry the way around, his chief pit helper was well pleased. Yep, one Mal Pitman is his pit bitch and he takes it all as serious as when he fettled at Grand Prix level. Mal is Nathaniel’s father-in-law if you are wondering how he gets the help. Having said that, Mal is so helpful to many with good sound advice and a better club patron the register could not wish for. Second and third place were taken by Brett Metcalf and Jonathon Gutte.
WorldMags.net Graeme Wagland ponders the gremlins in his 1200cc JAP.
Results: SA Historic Titles (Class winners) CLASS
WINNER/BIKE
Period 2
Stan Mucha – Indian
Class C
Wayne Fary – Triumph
125cc
David Short – Morbidelli
Period 3 250cc
Jonathon Houston – Motobi
Period 3 700cc
Keith Campbell – ESO Special
Period 3 350cc
Greg Watkins – Norton Manx
Period 3 500cc
Jack Wright – Norton Manx
Period 3 Unlimited
David Trotter – JAP
Period 4 250cc
Peter Heles – CZ
Period 4 350cc
Keith Campbell – Honda CB350
Peter 4 500cc
Peter O’Neill – Suzuki TR500
Period 4 Unlimited
Simon Cook – Honda CB750
Period 5 250cc
Nathaniel Wilson – Yamaha RD250LC
Period 5 350cc
Christopher Hayward – Yamaha RD350LC
Period 5 500cc
Colin Heather – Honda XL500
Period 5 Unlimited
Mick Moloney – Suzuki GSX1100
Period 4 Sidecars
Neville Lush/Martin Scott – Kawasaki H2
Period 3 Sidecars
Garth Francis/Paul Kenny – Norton Atlas
Sadly for many race 13 on Saturday became the last race of the day and in fact the weekend, it was the last race our club member Jonathon Gutte will ever be in. A freak run of events following the start of the second Period 5 250 race saw a huge domino effect following Jonathon and another rider touching handlebars out of the start, culminating in Jonathon falling and in total 10 bikes involved in a pile up within a hundred metres or so of
the start line. Injuries to Jonathon were serious and he passed away at the hospital. R.I.P. Jonathon, you will be missed by all your racing friends. All in all a horrific way for an event to finish up. The mood on Sunday morning was sombre, almost spooky. The racing fraternity pulled together helping do what had to be done, supporting one another and in reality showing what a great bunch of people we all enjoy our passion with. ■
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RACE REPORTS BURT MUNRO CHALLENGE
Pre 63 winner at The Bluff Hill Climb, Graham Peters on his 500cc BSA Gold Star.
Burt Munro Challenge 2015 • 26-29 November, 2016 – Invercargill NZ
A decade of The Burt Report Stuart Francis Photos Shaun Waugh Over the last 10 years The Burt Munro Challenge has evolved into a four-day motorcycling festival that takes over Invercargill in the very south of the South Island, New Zealand. Now one of NZ’s major motorsport events, the laid back event attracts over 260 competitors and over 10,000 visitors, including an increasing number of Australians and Europeans.
The racing covers six disciplines; it kicks off on Thursday with NZ National Hill Climb championship and Super Cross later that day, Beach Racing on Friday, Circuit Racing and Speedway on Saturday and culminates in Street Racing on Sunday. The city takes on a whole new atmosphere during the Burt, it’s not just about the racing as there is a host of supporting events adding to the party atmosphere. A four day motorcycle rally, attracting over 1500 people, is the core of the non-racing activities, with a number of social events. The Southland Vintage Car Club held a motorcycle exhibition with 60 machines on display, featuring Harley Davidsons this year, but with a host of other machines, ranging from a 1902 Ariel to 1983 Norton Rotary. The Bill Richardson Truck Museum (in the final stage of a multi-million dollar rebuild)
was opened especially for the Burt with over 1500 visitors. Indian Motorcycles held a major publicity event displaying its new models at E Hayes and Sons hardware store (home of the Burt Munro Indian). The place was packed every day, with hundreds of visitors admiring the Indians and Hayes’ own collection of 30 motorcycles and vehicles. Not to be outdone McIvor & Veich, the Dunedin Harley Davidson dealer, had the new 2016 models on display at the motorcycle exhibition. Racing covers fifteen classes from Pre 63s with Girder Forks to Super Motards and Formula 1, with the eight classes for Vintage, Classic and Lost Era machinery attracting a very diverse range of entries. BEARS racing was reintroduced this year and Sidecar racing was back. The big change this year was the Sunday Street Racing
moving into the suburbs of Invercargill, with the city council (one of the main sponsors) closing a number of roads to create a roughly rectangular circuit, with sweeping bends, fast straights, a chicane on the back straight, an excellent pit area and good access for the public. With an event this big it is impossible to cover all the races in detail so the following are some impressions of four days of fantastic racing. The Hill Climb is a tortuous 1.4km public road that winds up the side of “Bluff Hill” with large drop offs and rock faces, a few short straights, a small stream and several challenging corners. The fastest time of the day was 46.64secs set by Tony Rees on his Open Class Honda CBR 1000. Graham
Replicas of the Burt Munro Indians created for the feature film, on display at The Bluff.
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Peters on his 1958 BSA Gold Star won the Pre-63 class (55.41 secs). The Honda NZ Super Cross Championship is held just outside of Winton (30km north of Invercargill). Racing was cancelled after qualifying, as a storm blew in from the Foveaux Strait. The riders instead put on demonstration laps for the large crowd and there was an awesome display of Motorcycle Dirt Drag Racing. Beach Racing was held Oreti beach, the scene of many of Burt Munro’s record attempts. A 1 mile circuit around two marker posts ½ mile apart is laid out just below the high water mark. The racing is very different with all kinds of motorcycles out there, from road based machines, Moto Cross, Super Motards and Long Track Speedway machines competing. Two very distinct cornering styles emerged, the Moto Cross boys favoured slowing down and taking a tight line around the post, whilst the speedway riders favouring broadsliding though on a wide sweeping line. One of the replica machines from the “World’s Fastest Indian” film was blasted up and down the beach. Teretonga, on the outskirts of Invercargill, is the venue for the circuit racing with 4 lap sprints races around the 2.6km “B” shaped track. The weather added to the drama of the event alternating between torrential rain and bright sunshine, allied to a very fast drying track had the racers on more modern machines swapping between dry, intermediate and wet ➢
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RACE REPORTS BURT MUNRO CHALLENGE
Kevin McLoud’s highly original pair of AJS racers at the Invercargill Street Races. Bill Bieber on a 1934 500cc KTT at Invercargill during one of the Girder Fork encounters.
Francie Winteringham tackles The Bluff hill on her 50cc Rudge TT Replica.
Indian chose the occasion to display their 2016 models at E Hayes & Sons. Immaculate style from Chris Swallow at Teretonga on one of Phil Price’s KTTs.
Neville Mickelson & Mark Thompson on their Matchless G12 at the Invercargill Street Races.
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RACE REPORTS BURT MUNRO CHALLENGE
Phil Price’s impressive Team Velocette. Rhys Wilson blasts his Rudge Ulster up the Bluff Hill.
Cloud Craig-Smith gets everyting out of his MkVIII KTT Velocette at Invercargill.
Les Cooper’s 1981 Harley Superglide 1340 prepares to do battle at Teretonga.
tyres. Sidecars raced on the circuit for the first time, and once John Blaymires & Charle Bilby shot off into the lead on their Moto Guzzi Le Mans outfit, the rest of the field had a great race, particularly Neville Mickelson & Mark Thompson on their indecently quick Matchless G12. The re-introduced BEARS provided great racing with, Triumphs, Aprillas, Ducatis, an MV Augusta, a BMW, a Harley Davidson and a Buell on the grid. The new Street Racing track was a great success, racers liking the flowing
track and spectators enjoying the view. Arguably the best races were the Pre 63s with Girder Forks dominated by Phil Price’s superb collection of original Velocette racing machines, with two really close races between Chris Swallow (the eventual winner) on an immaculate 1946 350cc KTT MKVIII Velocette and Cloud Craig-Smith on a 1949 350cc KTT MKVIII Velocette, with Bill Bieber on a 1934 500cc KTT Velocette snapping at their heels. The final event was the speedway on Sunday night, postponed from the
A Dirt Drag Racer at E Hayes & Sons.
VCC Motorcycle Exhibition Guest of Honour John Munro (Burt’s son) with a 1902 Ariel.
previous night due to track problems, a full meeting was run capping off an excellent 2015 Burt Munro Challenge. The Munro Family Trophy, for competitor of the year, was won by Doug Wood (a Kiwi living in Australia), who has competed every year; most recently on his Yamaha FZR 400 in the Post Classic pre 89 class. It is sights and sounds of the event
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that remain in the memory, like Paul Riley’s Honda 500-4 replica on full throttle, Chris Frisken’s 1941 Indian Scout accelerating hard away from the first corner, and the Super Motards pack charging up to the first corner. To get a real feel for the racing, and atmosphere visit the Burt Munro Challenge Facebook page, great on-board videos and a host of photographs. ■
WorldMags.net From on-road cruising to off-road dirt munching, from fine tuning the performance of your bike to arranging insurance for it, Northside Motorcycles has grown to become the market leader in motorcycle sales and service for a wide range of bikes. It’s a reputation we are particularly proud of, especially since we are ourselves passionate about all forms of motorcycles. We understand your needs because everyone involved in the store is into racing as well as all other types of motorcycle riding. This understanding is backed by an extensive range of motorcycle accessories and a team of factory trained technicians. We now sell the whole Husqvarna and Triumph range so come in and check them out.
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Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club Like your bikes Classic and Oriental? Join the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club – one of the fastest-growing bike clubs in Australia!
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If you have a Japanese bike that’s 15 years old or more, the VJMC is the club to join. The VJMC is a national club with more than 20 regional groups active in major cities and regional centres. The club runs weekend rides, social events, displays, swap meets, technical sessions and other activities. Benefits of membership include: • Regular activities with other VJMC members in your area • Quarterly, full-colour online magazine • Subsidised attendance at the annual National Rally • Eligibility for historic registration or club permit schemes operating in most states For membership forms or more information, visit our website....
www.vjmc.org.au The VJMC – fostering the preservation, restoration, riding and enjoyment of ownership of classic Japanese motorcycles.
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Bob Barlow adjusts the back wheel on his beautiful 1929 500 cc Norton CS1. The old timers were out in force.
HMCCQ Combined Areas Breakfast Run • 11 January, 2016 – Mt Glorious, Qld.
Bikes for breakfast Report and photos Gaven Dall’Osto
The first HMCCQ event for each New Year is the Combined Areas Breakfast Run and I always look forward to the ride. After navigating the dangers of family gatherings, too much food and drink and no serious riding over the Christmas New Year period, it’s great to dust off the bike and catch-up will all the other club members. The event has also become popular with the general public who come along to see the array of historic bikes on display. Members come from as far as Dalby, Kingaroy, Sunshine and Gold Coast to the Red Cedar Picnic Area, Mt Glorious. It is a great spot to
gather with a large open paddock surrounded by trees and having toilets and picnic shelters. Again a few dedicated Club members came early to secure the facilities and setup the barbie, urn etc. Barry Deeth had booked an overnight stay at the Somerset Dam camping area so the veteran and vintage owners could ride to the venue over terrain more suited to their power and braking systems. There were at least 20 veterans and vintage bikes on display which was fantastic. The other areas organised small riding groups from their location. The main advantage of this type of
ABOVE Brad Goostrey reunited with his old 1970 BSA 650 Thunderbolt. RIGHT Eclectic mixture from The Land of the Rising Sun. BELOW LEFT Rare Italian:
racy red Moto Guzzi Falcone Nuovo with all the touring gear.
event is that you can stay as long as you like and spend time talking looking over the bikes, whereas on most other runs you spend riding and don’t get a chance to meet new people nor converse or do some serious study of the motorcycles. The weather was perfect and the grass was beautifully mown this year; the work of some dedicated members who bought out their mowers especially for the event. There were easily 300 bikes or so that made the journey and none were disappointing. Graham Bull had his 1915 748cc AJS, Model D, fall back to 1 cylinder and it was discovered that a pick-up had dislodged from the magneto. Given the
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difficulty to refit the pick-up properly he and his ride buddy referred to the Aussie roadside repair handbook. A tree branch of an appropriate shape, diameter, length and elasticity was plucked from the roadside. One end was placed on the pick-up and then woven between the engine and frame and locked in position. Perfect insulation and heat resistance, still in place on arrival and looking good for the journey home. A bevy of other concourse quality bikes was present as well as many with their original paint and well used patina. Well done to the worker bees of the combined areas for mowing, organising and catering for a truly wonderful event. ■
WorldMags.net Classics, customs, cafe racers, restorations & Classic Cafe. All manner of mechanical and electrical services required by the motorcycling enthusiast.
NOW Cafe OPEN
Over 117 years combined experience at your disposal. Run by enthusiasts – for enthusiasts
42 Winbourne Road, Brookvale, Sydney Ph: 02 9905 4755 Email: trev@surfside.net.au Web: www.surfside.net.au www.facebook.com/SurfsideCustomsClassics
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RALLY REPORTS NATURELAND
Chat time at Sherwood Hall.
20th Natureland Club Rally • 26 November 2015 – Hat Head, NSW
20-up for Natureland Report and photos Norma Flint
The Natureland Classic
Jim Power takes avoiding action on his 1962 BSA A10. Colin Brenton’s 1949 AJS about to fall victim to a pothole.
Motorcycle Club’s 20th annual rally was a terrific success with participants enjoying a brilliant couple of days riding on the Mid North Coast. The weather turned in our favour on Friday after a couple of very wet days. It was a relief to wake up to blue skies and sunshine with around 120 visitors from other clubs registered for the rally. The Friday run is gaining popularity and is now an integral part of the rally. This ride is usually a midday jaunt along local roads meandering the back roads between
Crescent Head and South West Rocks with scenery that’s hard to beat. This year some 80 riders participated travelling from Hat Head beside picturesque Kinchella Creek before turning towards Smithtown and then taking Summer Island Road into South West Rocks. Everyone congregated at Back Creek where a new café has gained popularity with locals and visitors alike. A delicious cuppa and slice of cake fortified participants for the return journey to Hat Head. Saturday was a cracker of a day with everyone raring to head off.
Awards CLASS
OWNER
BIKE
Pre 1930
Ken Hoad
1927 Indian
1931-1944
Phil Haythorn
942 Harley-Davidson
1945-1954
Kim Carothers
1951 BSA Golden Flash
1955-1964
Robert Campbell
1959 Velocette
1965-1974
Clyde Ilkin
1972 GT750 Suzuki
1975-1985
Warren Walmsley
1976 Moto Guzzi
Most Original
Hayden Kelly
Matchless
Oldest Bike and Rider ages combined
Col Schuman
1950 BSA B33
Longest Journey to rally on a Bike
Col McAndrew
1975 Triumph Trident
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 95
RALLY REPORTS NATURELAND Stephen Murphy, 1974 Norton Commando.
ABOVE Alan Edwards on his 1976 Honda CB750F1.
Sylvia Lewis, whose husband Ron ran the first rally, flagged everyone off. Saturday’s route took in Belmore River, Crescent Head, Kempsey and Euroka before heading west to Sherwood where morning tea was catered for by the Hall Committee. Those country folk sure know how to put on a spread! With everyone fed and watered the ride continued west past Willawarrin to Bellbrook where the judging and lunch provided a chance for everyone to talk bikes. After the recent rain the countryside was dazzlingly verdant and the Macleay River, that meanders through the valley all the way back to South West Rocks, was in full flow. Anyone able to take their eyes off the road for a few seconds appreciated the scenery. By the time everyone got back to Hat Head they had traversed around 200 kilometres. Thankfully all completed without mishap and only a couple of bikes having to avail themselves of the breakdown trailers. A great selection of bikes participated from as early as a 1927 Indian ridden by Ken Hoad who took out the 1st prize in the Pre 1930s category. It’s always terrific to see these old bikes still going strong especially those in original condition like Hayden Kelly’s Matchless. He won the trophy for the most original bike in the rally. Some of the later model Japanese entries from the seventies and early eighties looked better than when they came out of the showroom and were a credit to their owners.
150 people sat down to dinner on the Saturday night at the Hat Head Bowlo and were treated to a hearty meal accompanied by the usual raffles and prize giving. Sunday morning proved a little inclement with the riders deciding to opt for the farewell brunch rather than brave the conditions. See you next year – same time, same place, November 4-6. ■ For more information contact: Norma Flint of the Natureland Classic Motorcycle Club (02) 6566 5439 or email: norma@flintmarketing.com.au
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LEFT Phillip Kendrigan,
1972 Honda CL450. BELOW Enjoying the sunshine at Bellbrook.
96 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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RALLY REPORTS ROSS RALLY
Indians? Take your pick.
2015 Ross Rally • 22 November, 2015 – Ross Showground, Tasmania
Show time in Tassie Report Noel Saward Photos Coral Saward
The Vintage Motorcycle Club of Tasmania hosted its 30th anniversary of the famous Ross Motorcycle rally on Sunday 22nd of November. My wife and I took the journey late Saturday afternoon to set up camp on the showground to meet other club members and exhibitors with vans, utes and trailers loaded with bikes ready to be displayed in the morning. We spent many hours looking at and talking bikes before resting, to be up early to watch the continuous stream of absolutely stunning motorcycles arriving on the Sunday morning. The amount of previously unseen bikes to Ross this year was amazing, including unrestored barn finds, freshly restored, unfinished or just new to the event. Some of the barn find and original unrestored bikes included Velocette ‘Noddy’ LE, V-twin
Matchless, V-twin BSA, Malvern Star Auto cycle, a stunning 1930 D Model Harley Davidson complete with the original tools in the toolbox and a totally original one-owner 1950 Triumph Thunderbird with sidecar box. Most of the paint was gone, but it was still in perfect running order as most spectators would watch in awe as various riders took it for a test on the grounds. There was also a 1929 Triumph and sidecar which took many spectators for a ride in the ‘chair’ throughout the day. A breathtaking display of exotics included a red Vincent with valanced guards which I haven’t seen the likes of before, Vincent Black Shadows, Indians including the 4 cylinder Ace, H.R.D. and BSA V-twins, Brough Superior, F.N. etc didn’t seem to overshadow the huge display of the
People’s Choice winner: Ron Fellows’ 1910 F.N.
‘30s era bikes or the brilliant veterans. These included the famous 1910 F.N. with Wicker sidecar which has travelled half way around the world and featured in the new book, “No Room For Watermelons”, and I believe it is embarking on another huge journey soon.
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As what seems to be the ‘norm’ recently, there were a humongous amount of assorted make Japanese motorcycles restored to perfection. Some of these were of quality second to none and much praise must go to the restorers. Also in vast numbers were ‘50s through to mid ‘70s
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 97
RALLY REPORTS ROSS RALLY
BSA Lightning picks up a rosette. Hmmm. Nice patina.
ABOVE Modern Triumph gets the café racer treatment.
Best British: Peter Bender’s 1938 H.R.D. twin.
LEFT Ron Fellows fires up his
much-travelled F.N.
Triumph and BSA marques, most of which also had outstanding restoration work. The amount of early competition bikes is on the rise, along with restored dirt bikes which included a concourse Honda SL100. There was also a Honda Mini-Trail which had more money spent on it than I could imagine, but it was a real ‘standout’ in the crowd. Also of interest was one outstanding exhibit which created a lot of amazement, head scratching and disbelief all day from the crowd; one clever man’s miniature replica of an early Indian Ace 4 cylinder which he hand built entirely from scratch from basic household junk (see Out & About this issue). It was a non-runner, but when it was compared to an original full size Indian Four, the attention to detail was amazing, absolutely fantastic and we hope he brings more next year. After looking at the photos in this
story, you may feel sorry for the judges, (Ken Jupp, Ken Dunne, who came all the way from Cobar NSW for the event, and yours truly) as the amount of outstanding restorations makes this a very hard job to take on and being the 30th Anniversary there were more categories and new from this year, some judges’ encouragement awards. There was a vast amount of bikes all worthy of prizes, so bring them back next year and it may be your turn to be a winner. Much praise must go out to all VMCCT members, (especially Howard Burrows) who have worked hard to keep this event running for the past 30 years, all who helped on the day, the judges of course, all the sponsors, stall holders, exhibitors and spectators, as without them this spectacular event would not be what it is today. We hope to see you in 2016 for our 31st anniversary Ross Rally on 27th November. ■
Awards CLASS
OWNER
BIKE
Veteran to 1918
Ron Fellows
1910 F.N.
Vintage 1919-1930
Mark Lesek
1928 Indian Scout
Post Vintage 1931-1949
Wally Ingram
1937 Scott Squirrel
Early Classic 1950-1964
John Rettig
1950 Triumph 6T
Modern Classic 1965-1973
Neville Foggo
1966 Matchless G12csr
Modern 1974 to present
Owen Smith
2005 Triumph Thruxton
Original
Keith Tattam
1930 Harley Model D
Japanese
Garry Drew
1981 Suzuki 1000S
European
Paul Dickson
1930 Moto Guzzi Sport
British
Peter Bender
1938 H.R.D.
American
Jim Taylor
1947 Harley Knuckle
Restored
Paul Dickson
1966 Honda CB450
Dirt Bike
Mark Stephan
1973 Honda SL100
Custom
Adrian Quinn
1966 Harley Shovel
Outfit
Geoff Anderson
1942 Harley WLA
Race
Brendan Dale
1969 Jawa Solo
Best in Show
Andrew Von-Stieglitz
1952 Vincent
M.Witzerman Memorial
Daryl Cooper
1976 Kawasaki Z900
Judges Incentive
Anthony Dickson
1962 Triumph T120
Peoples Choice
Ron Fellows
1910 F.N.
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98 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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RALLY REPORTS PHIL IRVING CONCOURS
1972 Honda CB350 Four in the Historic ‘70s category.
Glorious 1935 495cc Sunbeam 95R in the Competition Category.
Gavin Gonsal’s rare sandcast 1972 Ducati 750GT.
Phil Irving Concours • 22 November, 2015 – Ferny Cove Qld.
The perfect marriage Report and photos Gaven Dall’Osto.
It was good to see the Phil Irving Concours back after the previous event was cancelled due to issues with the venue. The organisers, HMCCQ, found a new address at the Brisbane Tramway Museum at Ferny Grove – the perfect marriage of two historic modes of transport. The museum had a beautiful grassed area for the bikes, with tram tracks running on the perimeter. Various eras of historic Brisbane trams ran back and forward all day and a ride could be had for $2. Great for the oldies and kids and the bike guys were seen studying the trams as were the tram guys our bikes. The weather was
The prestigious Phil Irving Trophy – reflection courtesy of Jeannene Mould.
overcast but it didn’t seem to deter the exhibitors nor the viewing public. 60-odd bikes were entered and I was especially surprised to see an abundance of entries in the veteran, vintage and sidecar categories. I personally was also pleased that my other club (Ducati Owners Club of Qld.) had decided to combine their November Breakfast Run with a visit to the Concours post-breakfast at the Flying Nun, Samford. DOCQ members with old bikes in the garage took the opportunity to dust them off, ride and enter them in the Concours. Trophy presentation went well with event organiser, Ian Stone and HMCCQ president Ross Rieschieck handing out the trophies. The major prize was sponsored by Shannons Insurance who had a representative on site to make the presentation. The coveted Phil Irving Perpetual Trophy was won by Harold Dewar for his immaculate 1914, 350cc Douglas. Congratulations to the trophy winners, the HMCCQ and the Tramway Museum for a fantastic and successful day. The new venue with historic trams I think worked very well and hopefully it’ll be back there next year. The bikes on show were exemplary which was tough for the judges (to who we give thanks) and I’m sure Phil Irving himself would have looked down with pride on the event that bears his name. ■
Gaven Dall’Osto’s immaculate AJS Model 20 twin in the Post War Category.
Winner of the Outfit Category, Lars Glerup’s 1954 Nimbus with Acap Jet sidecar.
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100 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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RALLY REPORTS VELO RALLY
MAIN Velos on display Whiteman Park. BELOW Karan Cuzack, Graham Argall with PC Dave Morse ready to party.
Velocette Good Companions Rally 2015 • 8-15 November, 2015 – Swan Valley, WA
Velos in the Valley Report Keith Canning Photos Colleen Canning
Ninety-five Velo enthusiasts from all over Australia as well as from Germany, New Zealand and the USA met for our week long annual rally. The venue was the Swanleigh Camp and Conference Centre at Middle Swan in the Swan Valley near Perth. It was a perfect setting as it offered good accommodation, great food and plenty of room to spread out and enjoy ourselves. Also situated nearby are many fantastic wineries, chocolate factories, cheese and olive stores and craft breweries. Members from the eastern states chose various ways of getting
themselves and their bikes there. Some drove and trailered, some rode. Both the Victoria and Queensland Centres sent shipping containers full of bikes over on the train, choosing to fly themselves. One couple even caught a sea cruise and stepped off in Perth. This is the eleventh consecutive week-long annual Good Companions Rally and demonstrates how successful this format has been for our club. The rally kicked off on the Sunday with the usual unpacking, unloading and moving in along with renewing old friendships and making new ones. Then a welcome dinner on Sunday
The local butcher in York tries a Velo for size.
night to enlighten all of what was in store for the week. Rides radiated each day from rally headquarters, Monday to Friday, taking us on some good bike roads as well as viewing in some excellent scenery. Places visited were York, Toodyay, Avon Valley, Kalamunda including the famous Zig Zag Road, the Perth dams and much more. One stop was to the Vintage Motorcycle Club of WA clubrooms where they treated us to morning tea and a look at their members spares scheme and storeroom. The weather
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was warm to say the least and the pool was very popular along with a cold drink or two. On Saturday we visited Whiteman Park and displayed the bikes before returning to Swanleigh to load up and make ourselves ready for the Presentation Dinner and dancing. Many of us dressed in ‘60s clothes for the dinner and partied well into the night. Costumes were very good and some members were very hard to recognise. They literally let their hair down. Over the week of riding we had a
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 101
RALLY REPORTS VELO RALLY
ABOVE Club magazine editor Dennis
Quinlan on a borrowed Guzzi. RIGHT Dominic Brown from SA waits ready to roll. BELOW Ken Vincent at speed on his ex IoM 1929 KTT. LEFT Richard Blackman on his Thruxton. BELOW LEFT Alan Morris NSW on his Dodkin Thruxton.
couple of breakdowns, but most bikes proved reliable. Always interesting is seeing and being part of the afternoon maintenance as each rider cleans and adjusts things ready for the next day. All this work is usually done with plenty of advice by onlookers with a drink in hand; very entertaining and relaxing. Congratulations to the WA centre for putting on such a brilliant well organised rally. A true team effort. The next Good Companions rally is in the Gippsland in Victoria and we only have a year to wait. ■
Awards TROPHY/AWARD
RIDER
BIKE 1929 KTT
The Sid Willis Trophy – Best Presented Rigid Framed Velocette.
Ken Vincent WA
The Roley Walker Trophy – Best presented RS Framed Velocette.
Gary Ryan SA
1956 Venom
The Les Diener Trophy – Best Lightweight Velocette.
Ted Rippey NZ
1958 MAC
The Cammy Trophy – Best Overhead Camshaft Velocette.
Ken Clarson QLD
Mk2 Cammy springer
Ted Carey Shield – Velocette Rider who rode the longest distance.
Geoff Ingram VIC
Velo MSS
Keith Howard Award – Entrant who best rode their Velocette “in the spirit of the manufacture’s intentions”. Richard & Karen Blackman
Thruxton
ACU Gold Star – Best presented ‘Non Velocette’ attending the Rally.
David Thorn NSW
Triumph 5TA ‘Bathtub’
Keith Hamilton Award – Youngest rally entrant who rode a Velocette.
Annette Albrecht SA
1951 MAC
Bertie Goodman Award – Award to recognise someone who has “put in some extra effort” to the club.
Keith Jiggins WA
Velo Fellow Award – Recognising members for their effort and service to the club.)
Doug Farr Vic
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M O T O R C Y C L E S
F O R
T H E
M A T U R E
R I D E R
Moto Guzzi California 1400 Eldorado
Breezing along with the breeze Test Jim Scaysbrook Photos Sue Scaysbrook
The US Cruiser market, while not exactly what it once was in terms of volume, still accounts for a considerable number of motorcycles each and every year. Moto Guzzi wants its share and the Eldorado is the tool it plans to use. At 1380cc, the 90-degree donk is the largest v-twin manufactured in Europe, with a six-speed gearbox off the back and shaft drive to the rear wheel. The massive, flexibly-mounted power plant is cooled not by water but a combination of oil and air, and
shoves out an under-stressed 96hp at 6,500 rpm. There’s an impressive array of gadgetry, including cruise control, 3-stage traction control, with a choice of three engine maps: Tourismo, Veloce, and Pioggia (rain). Chassis-wise, the Eldorado has
received a tweak over its stablemates, with asymmetrical triple clamps that produce an extra 1 degree of rake (to 33Âş). Combined with the 16 inch wheels, this results in 144mm of trail, and Moto Guzzi says this gives a much sharper steering response (over the
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California Touring model which uses 18 inch wheels). Braking is amply controlled by Brembo 320mm floating discs with 4-piston radial callipers at the front and a 282mm fixed rear disc with Brembo floating 2-piston calliper, both with standard ABS.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 103
MOTO GUZZI CALIFORNIA 1400 ELDORADO
In terms of styling, there’s certainly a family resemblance that harks all the way back to the 1972 850 Eldorado, only bigger, much bigger. At 329kg ready to roll, this is no skinny teenager. It’s heavy, and it’s wide. At the front end, a very distinctive head light (Moto Guzzi called it ‘gem-shaped’) provides the illumination, with a big, round instrument that not only gives you the usual information on speed, revs, warning info and so on, but links via Bluetooth to become first best mates with your mobile phone. So, let’s climb aboard. Actually, flop in would be more accurate, since the seat is only 740mm off the ground, and there’s even a 20mm lower option. I like the seat. It’s wide and very supportive, and the big, swooping handlebars are in the right place to complement not only the seating position, but the cruiser styling. The engine throbs into life, as
leisurely as a tug boat, and choofs away from side to side while you pull on your gloves. The 1400 will virtually idle away from standstill and gears are engaged almost inaudibly and smooth as silk once you learn to take your time with the changes. Brakes are excellent, especially given the weight they need to haul down. There were no motorways in my schedule, just plenty of Blue Mountains country roads, which are not noted for their smoothness. The Eldorado goes around corners without complaint and tracks well and true, the front forks seemingly swallowing the ripples without undue fuss. The rear was somewhat of a different proposition. Compression damping, which is not adjustable, is certainly on the stiff side, and the spring pre-load, as received, was too heavy. While this would not be an issue on smooth roads, it certainly is on country stuff.
On my second ride, Mrs Editor came along to handle the photography. She’s a seasoned passenger, is Mrs Editor, and I value her opinion, not being much of a pillion myself. Let’s just say she was not entirely thrilled, making the objective comment that the relationship between the fairly meagre seat (pad) and the forward-mounted pillion footrests placed undue load on one’s posterior region. The rather harsh rear suspension, already noted, also came up for comment. Food for thought here, if the Eldorado is to be used two-up for any length of time. I wonder if there is an electrically-adjustable suspension model in the planning? If cruising is your cup of tea, the Eldorado will certainly stand out from the herd. That big, throbbing twin will gobble up the miles uncomplainingly, and the quality of appointments cannot be faulted. Just watch out for the potholes. ■
Moto Guzzi California 1400 Eldorado
Off-the-shelf ENGINE
90º v-twin, SOHC 4 valves per cylinder, air and oil cooled.
CAPACITY
1380cc
BORE X STROKE 104mm x 81.2mm COMP. RATIO
10.5:1
POWER
71kW (96hp) at 6,500rpm
TORQUE
121 Nm at 3,000 rpm.
FUEL/IGNITION Electronic Multipoint sequential injection, Magneti Marelli IAW7SM. Ride-by-wire 52mm throttle body. TRANSMISSION 6 speed gearbox, singledisc clutch, helical gear primary drive, shaft final drive. FRAME
Tubular steel with elastickinematic engine mounting system.
SUSPENSION
46mm front forks, twin rear shocks, both 120mm travel.
BRAKES
Front: 2 x 320 stainless steel floating discs, Brembo radial 4-spot callipers. Rear: single 282mm stainless steel fixed disc, Bremo floating calliper with 2 pistons.
WHEELS/TYRES
Spoked on alloy rim Front: 130/70R18 Rear: 180/65B16.
ALTERNATOR
12V 550W
LENGTH
2445mm
SADDLE HEIGHT 740mm
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KERB WEIGHT
329kg
FUEL CAPACITY
20.5 litres (inc. 5 litres reserve)
RRP
$24,000 Ride Away
NEW
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PRODUCTS
FOR
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Segura Retro Leather Jacket – a real softie In issue 54 we previewed the revival of one of the iconic names in motorcycling clothing, Segura. Recently, the opportunity to actually test one of the products has come our way, and mighty impressive it is too. Our jacket is the Retro Leather, and it’s made from just about the most supple leather imaginable. OK, they’re no longer made in France, but these days, that matters not a whit – every aspect of the garment oozes quality. I love the understated appearance – reminds me of the famed Bates gear from the US that was all the rage in the ‘sixties. The Retro comes in a choice of six colours, each with contrasting arm stipes and a stripe across the back; black/white, black/yellow, blue/white, brown/beige, red/white, and the one I have, Camel. Without losing its neat shape (you could wear this anywhere, not just on the bike), the Retro Jacket has protective EC armour in the shoulders and elbows, a fixed mesh lining with removable thermo lining, and inside and outside pockets. Sizes range from small to 2X-Large, and at $649 RRP this is exceptional value. Distributed by Ficeda www.ficeda.com.au (JS)
Easy-off Tank Bags The main bugbear of tank bags has always been the need to remove it to fill the tank. The new Oxford QR solves this and can be taken on and off in seconds, thanks to a Quick Release (QR) Mechanism. The userfriendly One-Touch lock-on system securely attaches the bag in place via the special fuel tank ring which replaces the stock ring. The One-Touch release mechanism easily clicks off with one swipe of the thumb and re-attaches with zero fuss. These bags are available in four size capacities (4L, 15L, 20L & 30L) to fit most make of bikes. All feature waterproof zips, rip-stop nylon, the larger bags come with carry straps supplied, backpack straps and a roll top waterproof internal bag that ensures items remain dry, regardless of the weather. A handy see-through top section on the tank bags is ideal to keep a map, or even iPad, visible and safe from elements when you are on the go. You can update the existing bag with a compatible QR base, then choose the compatible QR Tank Ring mechanism adaptor for your motorcycle. QR TANK BAGS: Oxford X4 RRP$169.95 Colours: Black, Blue, Red Oxford X15 RRP$189.95 Colours: Black, Blue, Red Oxford X20 RRP$199.95 Colours: Black Oxford X30 RRP$199.95 Colours: Black, Blue, Red Tank Rings Suzuki, Triumph, Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha RRP: $29.95 INSET LEFT The QR bag underside
Find out more about the Ficeda Oxford Tank Bags and Tank Rings, or to find your nearest Ficeda dealer go to www.ficeda.com.au
showing the user-friendly One-Touch lock-on system securely attaches the bag in place via the special fuel tank ring which replaces the stock ring.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 105
GOOD GEAR
Looking for adventure Shinko and Heidenau tyres, imported by Bruce Collins Enterprises, are now available to suit popular adventure bikes like the BMW R1200GS and Ducati Multistrada.
Shinko offer two styles, the E705 Adventure Block (left) and the E804/ 805 Big Block. The former are H rated (210 km/h) and are designed for 75% road/ 25% off road riding, with excellent wet weather adhesion. Fronts come in a range of sizes for 17, 19 and 21 inch rims, with the rears available in 17 or 18 inch sizes. The E804/805 is a more aggressive pattern with a 40% road/ 60% off-road bias. Fronts are available in 19 or 21 inch and rears in 17, 18 or 19 inch. Full information can be found at www.shinkotyres.com.au
German company Heidenau has been in the tyre business for many years and has as well as its own brand, developed tyres for several other major companies. The Heidenau K76 right) is an Adventure/Dual Sport tyre for on-road or light off-road use, with wide-spaced blocks and a compound to suit dry or wet weather riding. The K76 is available in 19 or 21 front and 17 inch rear in a variety of sizes. The Heidenau K60 and K60 Scout is a range that is more suited to off-road conditions, in three front and five rear patterns and sizes. For pricing and more information, call Jackson Collins on (03) 9645 2919 or see www.bce.net au
Contortionist ratchet From GearWrench comes the Quarter Inch Drive, Compact Multi-Function Ratchet (MFR) dual-flex head – designed to get you into those awkward spots that ordinary ratchet wrenches can’t. MFR can be locked into 7 different positions and unlocked for angled access. With a slim-line quarter inch drive on one end and a quarter inch hex bit-driver and holder on the other, the MFR will save you time. The GearWrench thumb-wheel allows the user to start and turn loose fasteners with serious speed and accuracy. The MFR has exceeded torque requirement standards, set by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Alongside the Flex-Head and the thumb-wheel are plenty of features; a 72-tooth count, quick release drive tool retention, and a full polish chrome finish. Available now in two different sizes and as a part of a kit. ¼” Drive Compact Multi-Function Ratchet 5-¾” – RRP $69 ¼” Drive Long Multi-Function Ratchet 12” – RRP $78 43 Pc. ¼“ Drive Multi-Function Ratchet Set – RRP $179 (Set Includes: 81018 Compact Ratchet, 81019 Long Ratchet, 4” 1⁄4” Drive extension, 1/4” Drive Sockets: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13mm, Screwdriver Bit Box with 30 Pc.
For more information on the entire range of GearWrench products head to www.gearwrench.com.au
Rain dancing When the weather decides to take a turn for the worse, IXON’s brand new R8.1 Rain Suit will keep you dry from top to toe. The IXON Rain Suit features a stylish offset zip, which stops water pooling around it. Elasticised cuffs are one of the IXON’S primary characteristics; they prevent moisture from slipping up your legs or arms. This is coupled with an elastic waist, which helps shape the suit, creating vectors that funnel rain down and off it and reduces the “parachuting” effect of similar suits. The suits’ material combination of vinyl and polyester encourages the rain to slide right off. There are also connection straps for shoes, a handy external pocket and quick fastening Velcro on the bottom legs. IXON R8.1 RAINSUIT RRP $89.95 – SIZES: XS-3XL The new IXON wet weather range is available through all good motorcycle retailers. To find more information on the IXON range or to locate your closest retailer visit www.ficeda.com.au
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R E A D I N G
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W A T C H I N G
Racing Line
Chris Carter at Large By Chris Carter & Richard Skelton 240 pages soft cover ISBN: 978-1-845840-91-4 RRP: $39.99 Published by Veloce Available from Pitstop (1800 622 422) and Autobook World (02) 9231 6713 Chris Carter has been around motorcycle racing in one capacity or another – journalist, announcer, broadcaster, TV producer and promoter – for more than half a century. This book is a series of reflections and pen portraits of the people and places that have occupied those years. A self-effacing and diffident sort of chap, Chris admits to being, well, plump all his life, and to being a life-long communist. Neither of those things need affect us, but may explain why he says he has always been the brunt of practical jokes. Personally, I abhor practical jokes and jokers, since the object is to embarrass and make people appear foolish. It’s also why inveterate practical jokers such as Steve Parrish come in for quite a swipe in this book, because Carter is not afraid to tell it like it is. He has his favourites, people he clearly adores, and others not so: Barry Sheene, ‘altogether not a nice person’, Gary Nixon, ‘not my kind of human being’, Eddie Lawson, ‘tremendously arrogant’, Michael Doohan, ‘a sour, uncooperative person’, and what he calls the Blazer Brigade that now control much of the sport. Chris began his itinerant life in the early ‘sixties travelling to motocross meetings on the Continent and behind the Iron Curtain with future World Champion Jeff Smith, and he has collected endless stories, some of them quite hilarious, over the years. He found the nomadic existence far more stimulating than his home patch of Derby in the English Midlands, and he has been a fixture in Europe, the USA, and places like Macau (where I met him in 1979) ever since. The book is an entertaining read with some interesting insights into who, and what, makes the world of motorcycle sport go round. JS
British motorcycle racing in the golden age of the big single By Bob Guntrip 232 pages hard cover ISBN: 978-1-845847-93-7 RRP: $49.99 Published by Veloce Available from Pitstop (1800 622 422) and Autobook World (02) 9231 6713 London born Bob Guntrip has been an Australian resident for 35 years, during which time he had spells as editor of, and contributor to, several local magazines including Revs, Australian Motorcycle News, and more latterly Cycle Torque. Guntrip originally set out in 2012 to write a book about his hero Bob McIntyre, killed at Oulton Park in 1962, but soon found himself chronicling a tribute to “the giants of my youth” – hard riding men like Derek Minter, John Cooper, Mike Hailwood, Peter Williams, Bill Ivy, Dave Croxford, Peter Williams and Alan Barnett. The primary focus, as the sub-title suggests, is on the British big bangers in the 350cc and 500cc classes, but the book strays into other areas too, such as what the Brits called Production Racing, and naturally includes the Italian multis from Gilera and MV Agusta. There is a fascinating selection of largely original photos throughout; many from Bill Snelling’s fabulous FoTTfinders library, from Australian historian Dennis Quinlan, and from Elwyn Roberts in UK. Most of these shots I have never seen before. There are some interesting character portraits, but the bulk of the book is successive seasons’ accounts of the racing that took place. If you followed the frantic world of the British short circuit ‘scratchers’ in the ‘sixties you’ll find this an entertaining read, because it was a time of colourful characters and closeness of competition that is rarely seen today. And the noise, that was pretty good too. JS FOOTNOTE: Most of our review titles come via local distributors and we encourage readers to support the retailers noted with each review.
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All British Rally BSA Motorcycle Owners Association Inc. All British Rally – PO Box 2400 Oakleigh, Vic, 3166
Friday 22nd to Monday 25th April 2016 To be held at
OLD NEWSTEAD RACECOURSE
Gate Prize BSA 500 Royal Star
The BSA Motorcycle Owners Association has run the All British Rally annually since 1977. It’s the biggest rally for British bike enthusiasts in the Southern Hemisphere! This years event is to be held again in Newstead, Victoria, at the Old Newstead Racecourse. Owners and aficionados of British Motorcycles, families and friends are all welcome.
Gates open 12pm Friday 22nd – Book Online/details: Vendor stalls available. Please call... Andrew 0402 840 018 or Roy 0415 040 294
www.bsa.asn.au
• To avoid having to pay $65 on the day please be sure to Pre-book Online Early... www.bsa.asn.au • $60 Prepaid or $65 at the gate. • Saturday lunch, rally badge & gate prize draw, limited to pre-paid entries only • Camping Only (strictly British Bikes Only inside the camping grounds) • Toilets and showers on site • Organised rides • Maldon ride Saturday morning • Live band and bonfire Saturday night • Old movies screened • Trophies Presented Sunday Morning • Food and beverages available on siteincluding Alcohol (at bar prices) • Official Merchandise sales • Campsite Security patrols • Zero tolerance for non paying attendees (this only increased the cost for everyone else) • No glass or attitudes please!
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W H A T ’ S
O N
W H E R E
W I T H
W H O
This is a free listing for all clubs and organisations, as well as a free directory of up-coming rallies and other events. E-mail details to: scaysbrook34@bigpond.com ★ Denotes new or modified listing.
Adler Owners Club
Bombala Bike Show Committee
Restoration advice & information freely available. Australian Rally held every two years. Contact Don Littleford, Toowoomba, Qld. Ph: 0746 141 207 Email: littleford@palmlake.net.au Web: www.adlermotorcycles.com
Meeting 2nd Wednesday month at Bombala RSL Club, 6pm or visit www.bombalabikeshow.com.au. Contact Sam Dyer (Publicity Officer) Em: contact@bombalabikeshow.com.au or Ph: 0459 311 997 – PO BOX 298, Bombala NSW 2632
AJS & Matchless Owners Club (Aust) Inc.
British Motorcycle Club Tasmania. Inc.
Australian section of the AJS&MOC Ltd. Spares scheme, machine dating, library, technical advice, International monthly journal. Contact Dave Baker, 03 9786 4063. www.downunderjampot.com
Promotes restoration, preservation and use of British manufactured bikes of all ages. Club runs, monthly meetings, Club magazines. Enquiries to: Secretary, British Motorcycle Club Tasmania c/-Post Office, South Hobart, Tasmania 7004. Web: www.britishmotorcycleclubtas.com
Albany Vintage & Classic Motorcycle Club Inc. Concessional licensed Club catering for older and newer bikes. All types of rides and events to enjoy. Ssecretary (08) 9845 1278 or PO Box 429, Albany, WA 6330. www.avcmc.iinet.net.au
Antique Motorcycle Club of Australia Inc Founded 1987, caters for motorcycles made prior to 31 Dec, 1930. New members welcome. Sec: Frank Staig, 0432 693 242, 2 Mulcahys Rd, Trentham, Vic. 3458. www.antiquemcc.org.au
Australian Ariel Register Inc. Members receive a quarterly magazine. Annual National Rally. Sec. (02) 62420495 www.australian-ariel-register.com.
Australian CX500/650 Register Also caters for CX400, GL500/650/700. Over 900 members to share knowledge, rallies held in various states. Contact Les Francis lees.francis@bigpond.com Web site: www.australiancx.asn.au/forum/index.php
Australian RD & RZ Owner’s Register Not a club, no fees, just a register to help locate parts or bikes, get together with other owners etc. Messages circulated via a private email database. Contact Ray Birchall 0429 353 683. Em: raybirchall@bigpond.com
Australian Speedway Riders’ Association Welcomes current or past solo and sidecar riders/passengers, support crew members or enthusiasts. Our aim is to promote goodwill and camaraderie in a social environment and the preservation of speedway history for future generations. Contact Bill Powell (02) 9583 2706 or www.asra.info
Barossa Valley Classic Motorcycle Club Inc BVCMCC is a social group sharing a common interest in preserving and riding classic motorcycles. Meetings at RSL Hall Tanunda 8pm first Wednesday month except January. Contact PO Box 490 Nuriootpa SA 5355 or www.bvcmcc.org
Bendigo Historic Motorcycle Club Inc. Promoting the use and restoration of Veteran, Vintage and Classic Motorcycles. Regular Club runs, Rallies and motorcycle -only Swap Meet, First Sunday in December. Meet at Llanelly Public Hall 11.00 am 3rd Sunday of each Month. Secretary Rex Jones 03 54414473 or rexyjones@bigpond.com.au
Best Feet Forward Group Members in two states – interested in any feet-forward machine including scooters. Ken Butler 03 5678 2245 em: Kenneth_butler@bigpond.com
BMW Airheads Downunder (B.A.D) For Aussie and Kiwi owners of the Type 246 and 247 boxers affectionately known as ‘Airheads’. Register your bike at: www.rter.co.nz/Airheads/index.html or www.rter.co.nz/ Aussie_Airheads/index.html; Em: russellc@rter.co.nz
British Singles Motor Cycle Club Inc With an interest in all British & Euro bikes meets 2nd Monday month at 1485 Old Cleveland Rd. Belmont Brisbane 4153. PO Box 771 Nanango 4615. Ph: Darryl 0403212545 or B.C. 0411222484 Em: triumph120@hotmail.com
British Motorcycle Owners Assn. of Mackay Inc. Monthly meeting 2nd Sunday of month 9.30am at Mackay Aero Club. Club Rides 3rd Sunday of month. Correspondence to President or Secretary PO Box 591, Mackay Qld 4740.or Email: admin@bmoa.org.au Web: www.bmoa.org.au
British Two Stroke Club of Australia Sec: Andrew O’Sullivan. 21 Mathison Circuit, Churchill, Victoria 3842. Em: atosullivan@bigpond.com. Ph: (03) 5122 2337. For those interested in British two strokes but open to any brand of bike. Monthly runs in Baxter/Frankston and Bendigo areas. Bi-monthly meetings & newsletter. Victorian Roads Red Plate approved.
Broken Hill Veteran, Vintage and Classic MCC Rides every Saturday, leaving Aquatic Centre 12 noon. Visitors welcome. Sec: Allyson Verburgt 08 8087 3299.
BSAMCC of NSW Inc PO Box 4023, Homebush South, NSW 2140. Secretary Em: secretarybsamccnsw@gmail.com. South Coast Branch: PO Box 3323, North Nowra, 2541. Mid North Coast Branch: PO Box 169, Lake Cathie, NSW, 2445.
BSA Owners Club of Queensland Inc. PO Box 714 Runaway Bay Qld., 4216. Meet 9am at the Coomera Roadhouse Café, 7/11 Service Station, Whitewater Way Coomera, 3rd Sunday of month. Contact Sec. Fred Jupe Em: bsaoc.qld@gmail.com or call 0418 381 934.
BSA Owners Association Inc. Membership is continually increasing and the scope of the Club’s activities grows proportionately. All information for joining is available from the Secretary, PO Box 2400, Oakleigh, 3166 or www.bsa.asn.au
BSA Owners Club of South Australia Inc. Meetings & social events for members from Adelaide, country and interstate. First Tuesday of the month at CCC Club Rooms, Glandore Community Centre, Clark Terrace Glandore. Club Ride the following Sunday. Annual Rally in October/November. Secretary c/o PO Box 380, Plympton SA 5038. Email at contact@bsasa.org.au
Cancer Research Advocate Bikers (CRAB) raises money for cancer research. Victorian chapter known as Mornington Peninsula Hermits & conducts meetings & rides 1st Sunday each Month. Club approved by Vic Roads for club permit scheme & looking for new members. Website: www.crabhermits.com – Email: crab_mcc@hotmail.com Phone: Ross 0418 325602.
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Cairns Motorcycle Restorers Club Incorporated Established 1979. 50+ members. Meets first Sat. each month. PO Box 6560 Cairns Qld 4870. Secretary Greg Wilson, (07) 40558802. www.web.aanet.com.au/cmcrc_album
CBX-6 Owners Club of Australia Inc. 2517 Dedicated to the preservation, restoration, promotion and enjoyment of the Honda CBX 1000 6 cylinder motorcycle. Secretary, 6 Edward Corrigan Close, Woonona NSW. Visit www.cbx6.com.au.
Central Coast Classic Motorcycle Club Inc. Restoration, preservation and use of old motorcycles. Meetings at Ourimbah RSL Club 4th Tuesday each month. Club rides every Sunday and Wednesday leaving 9.30 from Macdonald’s Tuggerah. For info call Denis on 0243 631 656 or Paul on 0410 617 881.
Central Coast Vintage Motor Cycle Club Caters for motorcycles 30 years and older. Regular veteran, vintage and classic runs. Exclusive runs for veteran and vintage motorcycles. Tech. assistance and restoration help. Meets 7.00pm on 3rd Tuesday of the month at Conference Room, The Entrance Leagues Club Bateau Bay NSW. Enquiries: Allan (02) 4396 7187. Email: www.ccvmc.info
Clarence Valley Historic & Enthusiasts MCC Meetings 1st Tuesday of month South Grafton Ex-Services Club 7pm. Monthly social rides for classic & modern bikes last Sunday of month plus annual Grafton Classic Rally held last weekend August. Contact Geoff Meller 0266493357 or Terry Ryan 0266493382 tjryan50@bigpond.com
Classic & Enthusiasts MCC Meets 4th Monday of month at Rydalmere Public School, John St. Rydalmere NSW at 8pm. Historic plates for bikes over 30 years old. Moderns also welcome. Call 02 9639 7017 or www.cemcc.org.au
Classic & Enthuiasts MCC Inc – Albury/Wodonga Meets 8pm, 4th Tuesday of every month at the Wodonga RSL Club. Secretary Katrina Dutton Ph: 0407 208 414 or Em: katrina.dutton4@bigpond.com
Classic & Enthusiasts MCC – Illawarra Branch NSW Meets 8pm 2nd Monday every month at Keiraville School, 286 Gipps St. Keiraville. Lester Hamilton (02) 4229 4003. lesterhamilton@bigpond.com
Classic Italian Motorcycle Association of Australia Italian makes no longer in production and Italian motorcycles over 30 years old. Call: Bruce (Syd): brw450@bigpond.net.au or 0404 873 034, Garry (Syd): 0414 916 101 or Ian (Melb): (03) 9866 8529. www.cimaa.asn.au
Classic Motorcycle Club of Victoria Inc. Catering for all 25 year and older bikes. Meets 8pm third Wednesday month at Sturgess Hall, Chatfield Ave, Deepdene (Balwyn). Monthly Sunday, midweek and weekend runs throughout the year. Information at www.classicbike.com.au
Classic Owners Motor Cycle Club Inc. SA Meets 7.30pm 4th Tuesday month at James Nelson Hall, Woodville Centre, Woodville. Rides on last Sunday of month. For retired members, rides on the first Wed and third Tues of each month. Active Moped section. Comprehensive members library. New member enquiries: Secretary c/o PO Box 642, Plympton, SA 5038. Email rosco.35@bigpond.com.
Classic Scramble Club Inc. Dedicated to the Golden Era of Scrambling, catering for scrambles machines from ‘60s to Pre-75. Based in Victoria. Contact Ross Martin 0416 132150.
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OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA : 109
CLUB DIRECTORY & MARKETPLACE
Club Laverda Queensland
Inverell Motorcycle Restorers Club Inc.
Our passion is Laverda, our goal is to share the good times. Meet 1st Tuesday at Lord Stanley Hotel, East Brisbane. www.clublaverdaqld.com. PO Box 5399 West End, Qld 4101.
Qld. 900 members & 14 areas catering for restoring and numerous events on club calendar. Contact: The Hon. Secretary, PO Box1324 Fortitude Valley, Qld 4006. www.historicmotorcycle.org.au
Coalfields Classic & Enthusiasts Motorcycle Club
Historic Motor Cycle Racing Register of SA
Meets first Monday of the month at the Tattersalls Hotel, Greta, NSW. Ph Gary 4938 7352.
Meets third Thursday each month at MSA Office, 251 The Parade Beulah Park, SA. Trevor Henderson. Ph: 08 8384 5284 or email: secretary@historicmotorcycleracing.org.
Coffs Harbour & District Motorcycle Restorers. Encouraging preservation of motorcycles 30 years/older. Meet 3rd Thurs/mh 7.30pm, Sawtell Bowling club, Lyons road Sawtell. PO Box 4248 Coffs Harbour Jetty 2450. Ph: 02 66534532.
Dry Lakes Racers Australia Next meeting 11am, 10 October 2010. Note new venue: Highway 31, 743 Sydney Rd. Brunswick. All welcome. Contact Cled Davies Ph: 03 54433432 Mb: 0419 581 854 Em: daviescled@hotmail.com
Ducati Owners Club North Coast Operate a Historic Register for eligible Italian motorcycles. Phone Ross on 0403 69 8188 or www.docnc.org.au
Meets 4th Tues. month at Inverell RSM Club, 7.30pm. Social ride 2nd Wed. month meets at McDonalds 9.30am. Annual Rally in April. Contact President 02 6722 2729 or write PO Box 324, Inverell, 2360.
Historic Racing Reg. M/cycles & Threewheelers Ltd Meets 2nd Wednesday at Western Suburbs Aussie Rules Football Club, Hampton St, Croydon Park NSW. For racing machines built prior to December 1962. Annual Historic Race Meeting for machines up to 1973 with support rides & m/c swap meet. Restoration help & advice. Ph: (02) 9624 1976.
Historic Motorcycle Racing Assoc. of Vic. (HMRAV) ‘The Heart Of Historic Racing’. Meetings bi-monthly 2nd Monday, Mitcham Angling Club, 11 Brunswick Rd. Mitcham Victoria, 7pm. Web: www.hmrav.org Ph: Doug (03)59 689 395. Em: enquiries@hmrav.org
Dedicated to American made motorcycles manufactured before and including 1966. Monthly rides and weekenders. President: Mike Jolj (08) 9295 4360 Secretary: Glen McAdam 0438 229 957. PO Box 184 Tuart Hill, WA 6939.
Griffith Classic Motorcycle Club Meets 3rd Thursday at Griffith Exies Club, 8.00 pm. Currently 200+ members. Club runs 1st & 3rd Sundays each month. Contact Brian (Hoppy) Hampel 0409 624 716.
Hastings Valley Motorcycle Club PO Box 5444, Port Macquarie NSW
Highlands Classic & Enthusiasts Motor Cycle Club Catering for rides of vintage & classic motor cycles as well as members with newer bikes who just like to ride with a group of like-minded people. We have RTA authorisation for the issue of historical plates, based in the NSW Southern Highlands. President Kevin Roberts, PO Box 693, Moss Vale 2577. Website: www.highlandsclassicmcc.com.au
Highland Restorers Club Yungaburra Qld. Meet every Sunday morning at the Whistlestop Café Yungaburra. Qld. Contact President Ph. 0417 707 693 Em: don.sheppard@ipac.com.au
Historical Motorcycle Club of QLD Inc. All aspects of old motorcycling through SE and Central
For all Indians 1901-11, meetings last Tuesday in month. Runs 1st Sunday. Sections in every state including NZ. Secretary: PO Box 2264 Werribee, Vic 3030. www.ironindian.com.au
Kawasaki Z Owners Club, Qld Meet 1st Tuesday of month (ex January) at Motorcycle Sportsman Club Crosby Rd, Albion, Brisbane Qld. Ph: Beno (President) 0411269980 Em: zownersqld@hotmail.com; www.zownersqueensland.com; Post: 92 Coomera Springs, Upper Coomera 4209 QLD.
Kawasaki Z Owners Club Victoria www.zowners.com.au P.O.Box 96 Brunswick West Victoria 3055. Meets 3rd Tues. month 7pm, Fairfield-Alphington RSL, Railway Place, Fairfield. Monthly social rides, all welcome. Sec: Mb: 0400 052 598 Em: sec@zowners.com.au
Illawarra Classic Motorcycle Club
Early American Motorcycle Club
Iron Indian Riders Association of Australia
Meets last Monday every month at Warilla Sports Club, 54 McGregor Ave Warilla 2528. Caters for motorcycles and cars 30 years and over. Regular runs and our annual Red Scarf Rally. Extensive library and reasonable membership rates. Contact the Club Secretary Barbara Jents Ph: 0410 566 369 Em: icmc.club@gmail.com. PO Box 94, Oak Flats, NSW 2529
Indian Harley Club (Bunbury) Inc. Founded 1971 for owners of all makes. Meetings second Tuesday of month, Bunbury Motorcycle Clubrooms, Shrubland Park, S’West Highway, Bunbury, WA 6230. Sec. Faye Carn, (08) 9797 1709 or ihcbunbury@gmail.com Website: ihcvintagemotorcycles.asn.au
Indian Motocycle Club of Australia Inc. Meet 3rd Wed. Feburary, May, August & November. Call Conor Murphy, PO Box 1015 Ashwood 3147 Mb: 0415 581 060
Indian Motorcycle Club of Western Australia Dedicated to the restoration, preservation and use of Indian motorcycles. Monthly ride, monthly magazine. Meet 3rd Tues of month Wireless Hill clubrooms 6 Hickey St Ardross. Facebook Indian Motorcycle Club of W.A. President Murray Morell (08) 9332 8826 email mjmorell@optusnet.com.au
Indian Owners Register of New Zealand Annual rally and quarterly Club magazine. Contact President James Chambers ,04 2323260, redtonto@clear.net.nz Website www.indianmotorcycleclub.co.nz
Levis Motorcycle Register of Australasia Contact Les Thomas, 3 Brigalo Court, Keysborough, Vic 3173. Email: brigalo@optusnet.com Phone: (03) 9711 5692
Macquarie Towns MC Restoration & Preservation Club Formed in 1981 to promote and foster the restoration and preservation of motorcycles 10 years and older. Meetings second Monday of month 8pm. Pitt Town Uniting Church Hall, Bathurst St, Pitt Town. Contact: Secretary MTMRPC, PO Box 4254, Pitt Town NSW 2756.
Monarchs Motorcycle Club (Victoria) Established in 1965, with currently 200+ members. Meetings: Moto Cafe, 611 Nepean Hwy, Carrum. 8pm 2nd Tuesday of month except July, (AGM) and December. Active club in touring, rallying and promoters of 3 annual rallies; Sidecar, Dargo High Plains and Domino. Also member/family club events. Victorian Club Permit Scheme. Website: monarchs.net.au
Moto Guzzi Club of Qld PO Box 1159, Fortitude Valley Queensland 4006, Australia.
Moto Guzzi Club of Victoria Social sips first Wednesday every month Leinster Arms Hotel, 66 Gold St., Collingwood, Vic. All welcome. Club runs, meetings, Magazine and Spaghetti rally. Contact Neville Briggs 03 9528 6989 or www.motoguzziclubvic.asn.au
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CHRIS SQUIRES
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Ph: 02 9153 9700 Mb: 0412 915 397 www.suncoasthydrablast.com.au
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110 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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CLUB DIRECTORY & MARKETPLACE Motorcycle Enthusiasts Club Gold Coast
Norton Owners Club of NSW Inc.
Thursday & Saturday morning rides for modern & classic bikes. General meeting, last Wednesday of each month at 238 Mudgeeraba Rd, Mudgeeraba at 7.30pm. For annual & monthly events & rides see our website www.mecgc.club or contact President on 0400 818801 or 07 5502 9509.
Meet 1st Friday each month 7.30pm Leichhardt Rowing Club, Glover Street Leichhardt. Regular rides. Help with Norton matters. New 961 owners welcome. Visit www.nocnsw.org.au or email nocnsw@gmail.com or call Ben 0405 539587 or Tim (02) 9489 0450 for more info.
Natureland Classic Motorcycle Club
Norton Owners Club of Victoria Inc.
P.O. Box 417, Kempsey NSW 2440. President: David Flint 0416 200 023. www.naturelandclassicmotorcycleclub.org.au.
Established 1981. Meets 2nd Wednesday of month 8pm (except January), Oakleigh Bowling Club – Melways 69F6. Regular rides & events, bi-monthly magazine, membership open to all Norton enthusiasts. Ph: (03) 9723 4440 www.victoria.nortonownersclub.org
Newcastle Classic Motor Cycle Club Inc Meetings 8.pm at Club Macquarie Argenton last Tuesday each month. Correspondence to The Secretary NCMCC.Inc., PO Box 134 Boolaroo NSW 2284.
Newcastle Vintage Motorcycle Club Inc. Est 1965. Meets first Wednesday of month at 7.00 pm, South Newcastle Rugby League Club, 46 Llewellyn St, Merewether. PO Box 3094. Most runs are on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the Month. Mid week runs on Wednesday. All machines 30 years of age or older. Secretary Bruce Turner – Ph 0411 026 274.
Panorama MCC Inc. Veteran & Vintage Group Meets first Tuesday night of each month at 7.00 pm at the City Bowling Club in lower William Street, Bathurst. Greg Donald 48 Miriyan Drive, Kelso 2795. Ph:02 63317290 Mb:0439111608 Em: gdonald@internode.on.net
Panther Owners Register Australia Quarterly newsletter, help with parts. Membership $5 per year to cover postage. Call David at floozie2@bigpond.net.au
New Imperial Owners Association
Port Macquarie Classic Motorcycle Club Inc.
Aust. branch of UK New Imp Owners Assoc. Advice, help & encouragement to owners and breeders. Quarterly newsletter, technical support. Contact John Ferguson, PO Box 94, Rosanna, Vic, 3084. Em: alsaust@iinet.net.au Mb: 0408 320 511
Open to all owners of bikes 30 years of age or over with all makes and models welcome. The club’s aim is to encourage classic bike restoration, preservation, and registration. Regular rides and social functions with family membership encouraged. Meetings held at the Settlers Inn, on Hastings River Drive, Port Macquarie on the second Tuesday of the month. For information contact John Butler 02 65826878 or 0419485493.
New Zealand BSA Motorcycle Owners Club Wellington meetings 1st Tuesday of month at the Parrot & Jigger, 477 Hutt Rd Alicetown, Lower Hutt 7pm. Auckland meetings 2nd Wednesday of month Northcote Tavern 37 Queen St Northcote 6.30pm. President Ashley Blair (04)239 9642 ashleybsa@xtra.co.nz; Web: http://bsa.org.nz
Queensland Early Motorcycle Sports Club
Pres: Ian (Mac) McKercher. 10 Houghton Cres, Redwoodtown, Blenheim 7201 NZ. Ph: +64 3 577 7238 www.jampot.co.nz
Promotes road racing for motorcycles up to and including Period 6 New Era 1st January 1983 – 31st Dec 1990. Meets Motorcycle Sportsmen clubrooms 35 Crosby Rd, Albion, Brisbane 7.30 pm 2nd Tuesday of month except January. Visitors welcome. Contact president Gene Lopeman (07) 54957810. www.qemsc.com.au
Northern Classic Vintage and Veteran MC Club
Rickman Metisse Register
A small, Sydney based club for those who wish to restore, register and ride Classic, Veteran and Vintage Motorcycles. Contact Phil Ward on 0422 988794.
Open to owners of all Rickman models, aims to promote awareness, camaraderie, locate spares etc. Contact John Matthews 02 9565 1226 or 0403 394940. Victorian contact Rod Menzies 0419 575518 rrws@bigpond.com
New Zealand AJS Owners Register Inc.
★ Northern Rivers Classic Motorcycle Club
Newington Hotel, Stanmore Rd. Sydney. Perth: first Tuesday Woodbridge Hotel, Cnr East & Water St, Guildford 7-7.30pm. Brisbane ride – Bill Borg 07 3396 1519. Membership covers the costs of the NSW Historic Royal Enfield Club.
Russian Motorcycle Owners Association (R.M.O.A.) Est. 1979. Fostering the love of old and new motorcycles from the Russian states. Meetings held online, bi-monthly newsletters, annual magazine and two annual rallies, the Canetoad Rally and Weabonga Rally. Secretary: Ph 07 4697 8232. Email: russianowners@gmail.com
Shoalhaven Classic Motorcycle Club A family orientated club for classic and modern classic machines. RTA recognised historic club affiliated with the motorcycle council of NSW. Family days, barbecues, club runs, weekends away, annual bike show & technical advice. Meetings first Sunday of month at 9.30am Bomaderry Bowling Club. Call 4443 8501 or 4421 8810.
Singleton Classic Motorcycle Club Inc. Meetings first Thursday each month Singleton RSC club, Castlereagh St, 7.30 pm. Info, Daniel: 0265731050 after 7pm or PO BOX 255 Singleton NSW 2330.
South Grafton Ex-Services Motorcycle Club Meetings held 2nd Monday of the month at South Grafton Ex-Services Club 7.30pm. Social rides, emphasis on Vintage, Veteran & Classic bikes. Contact Club Captain Terry Ryan on 02 66493382 or email: tjryan50@bigpond.com.
SR500 Club Australia Open to SR500 and siblings (400, XT, SRX, TT etc.) and like riders. Melbourne based but Australia-wide club providing information, rallies, newsletters and monthly meetings in Melbourne. Contact info@sr500club.org or web www.sr500club.org or Andy on 0418361810
Stevens Register Help and advice for anyone with a Stevens motor bike or three wheel van (not A.J.S). built between 1934 and 1938. Contact David (02) 9600 9894 or go to our website at.... www.thestevensproject.co.uk – under ‘Stevens register’.
Tamworth & Districts Antique Motor Club For motorcycles & vehicles older than 30 years. Call: Peter on 02 67656085 or PO Box 5045, Sth Tamworth, NSW 2340.
Meets Clunes Community Hall 2nd Tuesday month 7.30pm. Club rides most Sundays. President: 0428 869 889, Secretary: 0418 242 044. Website: www.nrcmcc.org
Road Race Association of Townsville
Taree & District Classic & Vintage Motorcycle Club
Meet 1st Wed. month, 17 Yarrowee St. Garbutt, Townsville. Ph 0422248607 or 0409499526 Em: admin@rrat.com.au
Norton Motorcycle Club SA Inc
★ Royal Enfield Club of Australia Inc.
Rides, social events. Meet first Monday of month (except January or public holidays) Velocette Clubrooms, 74 Drayton St, Bowden, Adelaide. Rides every month. Contact: Con Desyllas (Pres), Ph 8352 5050. Web: www.nmcsa.org
Enthusiasts/owners are invited to join at www.recoainc.com or send SSAE to PO Box 4075 McKinnon VIC 3204. Ph 0411 770 225. Melb.meets last Tues/month, 8pm, The Racecourse Hotel, Caulfield. 0411 770 225. Sydney – 7.30pm first Tues,
Meet 3rd Tuesday of month 7:30pm Airport Tavern Hotel, Lansdowne Rd Cundletown. Catering for all makes, models for historic registration, regular mid week and weekend rides, annual rally. Contact PO Box 978 Taree 2430 or email: tdvcmc@gmail.com
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PAUL GOFF CLASSIC ELECTRICAL SPECIALIST QUARTZ HALOGEN BULBS & LEDS Brighter replacements for pilot, indicator, stop/tail and different headlights from 1920s onwards. Daytime riding lights from £4.00.
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112 : OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
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CLUB DIRECTORY & MARKETPLACE The 59 Club Australia Inc.
Veteran Motorcycle Competitors Assoc. of SA
Vintage Motor Cycle Club Of Australia (NSW) Inc.
Official branch of the 59 Club London. Open to anyone interested in classic bike or café racers. Regular rides, meetings and activities. VicRoads approved for red plate permits. Post Classic race team. National President: Shadow 0416 838 565, Qld: Roy 0410 574 127, WA: Sparra 0415 622 585, Vic: Drifter 0418 207 794. Postal address: P.O. Box 8064, Burnt Bridge, Croydon Vic 3136. www.the59club.org.au E: the59clubaustralia@hotmail.com
Monthly social luncheon, Annual General Meeting and Annual Dinner only. Must have held an ACU licence 25 years or more prior to joining. Meets 1st Tuesday of month at Morphett Arms Hotel for lunch 11.30 – 1.30pm except November – 2nd Tuesday. Contact Nip Kuerschner 08 83903990. Mobile 0418854565. nipper@nipper.net.au
Meeting third Wed. month. Veteran Car Club Hall, 134 Queens Rd, Five Dock. Established 1955 for machines up to 1947. Monthly events & newsletter. Annual Vintage and Veteran Rallies. Spares and Library. Ph: (02) 9624 1262. Email: vmccnsw@hotmail.com
Veteran, Vintage & Classic MCC ACT Inc, Canberra
Regular runs, meetings/activities. PO Box 110, Lindisfarne, TAS 7015 or Ph: Keith Tattam (03) 6272 1976 or David Moore (03) 6248 1538.
The Historic Competition Motorcycle Club of WA Dedicated to preservation and usage of all historic road racing motorcycles and sidecars. Sec. Mick Tesser. PO Box 568, South Perth W.A. 6951. www.historicracing.asn.au
Monthly rides & annual rally. Meets 8pm 1st Thursday each month at Spanish Australian Club, 5 Narupai Pl, Narrabundah ACT. Visitors welcome. Write PO Box 3127 Manuka ACT 2603 or www.vvcmcc.org
Veteran Vintage Motorcycle Club of NYP
Established 50 years. Club runs, library, historic registration, swap meets, monthly magazine ‘Smoke Signal’. Meets second Tuesday of month at Payneham RSL at 8pm. Web page www.vvmccsa.org.au. Contact phone – 0409 514 213.
Catering for all types of motorcycles regardless of size, style or age. Meets 3rd Thursday of month, except December, at our clubrooms Drain Road, Kadina SA 5554. Email: veteranvintagemccofnyp@gmail.com, http://veteranvintagemotorcycleclubofnyp.webs.com
Townsville Restored Motorcycle Club Inc.
Vincent HRD Owners Club NSW Section Inc.
The Veteran and Vintage Motor Cycle Club of SA
Meets 1st Wed. every month at Basque Association Hall, Sabadine St, Aitkenvale. PO Box 1016 Aitkenvale, QLD 4814 or call Hedley Cooke (07) 4779 7495 or John Alexandrou on (07) 4773 4332.
Tweed Heads Motorcycle Enthusiasts Club Inc. Meetings 7 pm (NSW time) 1st Monday month (If it falls on a Public Holiday then it’s the following Monday) Tweed Heads Bowls Club, Cnr Wharf & Florence Street, Tweed Heads. (Function Room). Telephone 0400 871 699. For club and ride info visit www.thmcec.com.
Velocette Owners Club Centres throughout Australia. Spares scheme, national rally, technical advice, club magazine, club runs, meetings & events, all for $25 per year. Call Peter Underwood,Ph: 02 9651 1793
Veteran & Historic Motorcycle Club Ltd For restoration & riding motorcycles of all makes over 30 years old. RMS concessional historic registration available. Mid-week & weekend rides, social outings, weekends away & rallies. Meet 7.30pm 3rd Thursday each month at Rydalmere Central Bowling Club, Park Rd, Rydalmere NSW 2116. PO Box 366 Kellyville NSW 2155 E: veteranandhistoricmcc@gmail.com
Vintage Motorcycle Club of Tasmania
Vintage Motorcycle Club of Victoria Inc. Founded 1964, caters for m/cycles manufactured prior to Dec.31, 1942, also military use in WWII. Meets first Thurs. month at 8pm in VDC Clubrooms, Factory 8/41 Norcal Rd, Nunawading 3131. Melway 48G11. Membership enquiries John Street 0417 558 214.
Vintage Motorcycle Club of WA Inc.
Runs, rallies, social events, club permits, newsletter. Meetings – Last Monday of the month (except December) 8pm at Concord RSL, Nirranda St, Concord West, Sydney. Email: newsouthwales499@voc.uk.com or PO Box 1565, Macquarie Centre, NSW, 2113.
585 members and 1300+ motorcycles. Short runs to full days, rallies, tours, hill climbs, annual swap meet, static displays, restoration info. Meetings 8pm, 1st Wednesday of month cnr Hale Road & Tonkin Freeway, Wattle Grove, Motor Club Complex, WA website www.vmccwa.com Ph: 0487 799007. PO Box 2171 Clarkson, WA, 6030 Em: vmccowa@westnet.com.au
Vincent HRD Owners Club Victoria Section Inc.
Williamstown Motorcycle Club Club
Runs, rallies, social events, club permits, spares, newsletter. Meetings first Friday even months 8.00pm Ladies Lounge, East Malvern RSL, 9 Stanley Grose Dr. East Malvern. Email: victoria499@voc.uk.com or PO Box 79, Monbulk Victoria 3793. Phone Delia (03) 9752 0803
Vintage Enduro Riders Inc. (VERi) conducts non competitive vintage enduro (vinduro) events for pre 1985 trail and enduro bikes. Events for registered and unregistered bikes, with emphasis on fun. Secretary Peter Drakeford 0422 299 003 or John O’Brien on 0457 844 512. Em: verivinduro@gmail.com Web: www.verivinduro.com.au
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club Australia Preservation and enjoyment of classic Japanese motorcycles. All marques welcome, active calendar, 20+ branches. Contact PO Box 254, Modbury North, SA 5092. Email: vjmcmembership@gmail.com or ring Mick Godfrey 0401 196 922.Website: www.vjmc.org.au
Fun social riding. All welcome, any type of bike. No attitudes. Club Meetings: First Tuesday of month (ex January), 8:00 pm, Customs House Hotel, 161 Nelson Place, Williamstown, VIC, 3016 Contact: Sandy (President) 0418 389 791 or Anne (Secretary) 0412 899 265. Email Address: info@wmcc.org.au Website: www.wmcc.org.au
Yamaha XS650 Club of Australia Inc. (NSW) Several Club rides per year and all members receive a bi-monthly Club newsletter. Currently 230+ members across Australia and internationally, with active presence in each Australian state. Club Secretary Ph: 0404 082 953 Em: secretary@xs650.org.au Post: PO Box 115 Rooty Hill NSW 2766 Website: www.xs650.org.au
Yorke Peninsula Vintage, Veteran & Classic MC Inc Meetings 2nd Thursday each month at clubrooms, Yorketown SA. Club outings 3rd Sunday each month. Treasurer Les Schwab PO Box 131 Yorketown 5576. Ph: (08) 8852 1834 or Leon Hall (08) 8837 3226
ATTENTION CLUB SECRETARIES – Club Rally stickers FREE! Here’s a win-win idea. Every rally rider should have a small headlight sticker on his or her bike, and it is something that is important to us at the magazine because it helps us identify who’s who when it comes to sorting through photographs prior to publication. To save you, the Club Rally Secretary, the trouble of having these printed or hand-writing them, we’ve done it for you! These snazzy stickers measure (100mm x 70mm) so they fit easily onto a headlight without covering the whole thing, and come in sheets numbered 1-250. All you need to do is email the Editor at scaysbrook34@bigpond.com with your details and we’ll organise a sticker a pack to send to you, free of charge, in plenty of time for your next rally.
FOR SALE
1981 Honda 250CL Scrambler
For less than $25 per week you can reach the largest audience of bygone bike enthusiasts in Australia and New Zealand. Rare find – 15,666 original km. Second owner, very well kept and stored – $7,500 neg. Email: escapeoutdoor@telstra.com
Contact LUKE FINN 02 9901 6368 WorldMags.net
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A FREE EVENT LISTING FOR CLUBS & ORGANISATIONS
Send your event details to Em: scaysbrook34@bigpond.com – SECRETARIES PLEASE NOTE – Because of our lead time for printing, please ensure your listing is received at least four months prior to the event.
MARCH 2016 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club National Rally 4-6 March, 2016 – Canberra ACT. Headquarters Capital Country Holiday Park (02) 6230 3433. Enquiries: VJMC.Rally@gmail.com
Classic Master of Mac Park and Motorcycle Only Swap Meet 5-6 March, 2016 – Mount Gambier Motor Cycle & Light Car Club Inc SA. Details Lesley Baker (08) 87250163 email: sec@macpark.org website: www.macpark.org
Maleny Motorcycle Swap 12-13 March, 2016 – Sunshine Coast Historical Motorcycle Club of Queensland Entry $5, Swap Site $5, Camping $5 per person. Indoor sites available. Gates open 12 noon Saturday and 5am Sunday. Food Court open from 12 noon Saturday. Contact Allan 07 54573449 allan.briais@bigpond.com
Illawarra Classic Motor Cycle Club Red Scarf Rally 12-13 March, 2016 – Based at Kiama on the NSW South Coast. For more info contact the organising secretary Barbara Jents on 0410 566369 icmc.club@gmail.com
Test ‘N Tune weekend, Queensland Early Motorcycle Sports Club Inc. 12-13 March, 2016 – Carnell Raceway, Stanthorpe. Come & Try Day Sunday 13th March. www.qemsc.com.au.
Indian Harley Club (Bunbury) Two Day Rally 12-13 March 2016 – Bunbury Motorcycle Club, Bunbury. 8:00 AM open to Indian Harley Club members and members of vintage/historic motorcycle clubs. Machines ridden must be over 25 years old. Info: Glenda Patterson 0417 018 225 or Murray & Sharon Rudler 08 9731 5406. Online registrations John Presland 0410 088 057 https://ihc.wildapricot.org/event-1731161
The 34th Harold Parsons Memorial Ride 19 March 2016 – Starting at Maffra, Victoria Presented by the Maffra Sale MCC – first held 1981. The ride is an arrowed course of about 170km and has long been a favourite of riders of older, slower bikes. Modern bikes also welcome. Morning, afternoon tea & lunch included in entry fee. Presentations at the end of the ride. Entries close 11 March. Late entries incur alternate conditions. Entry forms available online. Google Maffra-Sale MCC or contact Peter Abikhair Em: peteaba18@aussieb.com.au or Peter Tanner Em: nattepeter@southernphone.com.au
Annual NZ Mail Run Rally 19 March 2016 For more information contact organiser – Jim Lord – Em: hbcmcmailrun@gmail.com
Veteran Car Club of Aust (Tas) Inc Northern section Swap Meet 20 March, 2016 – Willis St Council Car Park Launceston next to National Automobile Museum of Tasmania. Start 9 AM $10 per site contact Ken Watts 0411 404 560 ah.
25th Anniversary All-Indian Rally 25-28 March 2016 (Easter wknd) – Maleny Showgrounds, Qld. All Indian riders and their families invited. Roll-up Friday and casual ride on Friday afternoon followed by a free ‘meet and greet’ BBQ.
Saturday, long & short ride. Sunday morning field events and display followed by a ride to lunch stop. Sunday night, presentation dinner with auction afterwards. All rider entries get a free T-shirt. Meals only $10 per head. Information & entry form, email: allindianrally@optusnet.com.au or call Lars Ph 0422 611 806.
Pernrite Broadford Bike Bonanza 26-27 March, 2016 – State Motorcycling Complex, Broadford, Victoria Gates open 8-5pm, spectators $30 ($50 for 2 days) Riders $80$110-$160. Contact Peter Drakeford (03) 9684 0515 email: pd@ma.org.au Web: www.ma.org.au
2016 Historic Interclub Race Meet 28-29 March, 2016 – Carnell Raceway, Stanthorpe Qld. Queensland Early Motorcycle Sports Club Inc. www.qemsc.com.au
APRIL 2016 HMRAV 2016 Victorian Historic Road Racing Championship 2-3 April, 2016 – Broadford, Victoria This is the weekend after the Bonanza so why not make a holiday of it and come along to both!
Vintage Motorcycle Club of Victoria Inc. Motorcycle Only Swap Meet, 3 April, 2016 – National Steam Centre, 1200 Ferntree Gully Rd. Scoresby Motorcycle & Car parking available, food & drinks on site, Gates open 6am, Swap sites $15 per site, entry $5 per person, No brica-brac, No dogs. Info - Brian Tyler 0411 556 755 or Neville Babb 0419 750 956.
Port Macquarie Classic Motorcycle Club Classic Motorcycle Show 10 April, 2016 – Settlers Inn, Hastings River Drive, Port Macquarie 10am – 2pm. Entry fee $5 per bike, restricted to Classic Bikes 30 years of age and more. Unregistered racing or dirt bikes can also enter if over 30 years of age. Public entry by gold coin donation with profits to a local charity. Good number of trophy categories as well as best in show. The Settlers Inn have full Bistro facilities and motel type rooms for overnight stays. Information please contact John Butler on 02 6582 6878 or 0419 485 493.
Inverell Motorcycle Restorers Club Inc 24th Annual Rally
Vincent & Velocette Rally 29 April – 1 May, 2016 – HQ at Moss Vale Village Caravan park, Willow Drive Moss Vale NSW Ride on Saturday starting 9.30, dinner Saturday night at Moss Vale Services Club. Short ride Sunday. Contact Jo Wenden 0423 205288 email j.wenden@bigpond.com (Vincent Club), or Rod Moore 0407 333840 email rodmor@westnet.com.au (Velocette Club).
MAY 2016 Sunbeam Rally 19-22 May, 2016 – HQ: Big 4 Caravan Park, Wagga Wagga NSW Organised by Coffs Harbour and District Motorcycle Restorers Club, Contact Daryl Post (02) 69223358 or 0418 217778.
Coffs Harbour Restore & Ride Rally 27-29 May, 2016 – Sawtell Caravan Park, Sawtell NSW For bikes 30 years & older. Contact Rob Popplewell (02) 6653 4532 repopplewell@bigpond.com
JUNE 2016 Brisbane MCC Vintage Motocross 18-19 June, 2016 – Harrisville, Qld. Best of British festival and 25 years since the first VMX at Dargle NSW. Contact Colin Metcher: cmetcher@bigpond.net.au
JULY 2016 Coffs Harbour Veteran & Vintage Car Club 2016 Swap Meet 17 July, 2016 – Coffs Harbour Show Ground, NSW All cars, motorcycles and Bric a Brac invited. Gates open 6am. Sites $15, entry $3. Set up Saturday after 4pm only. Overnight camping $15 (toilets and power but no showers). Enquiries and bookings to Gary Wedd 0407 234 991, A/hrs 6-8 pm only or Secretary Hal – Email: hal.murray@bigpond.com
Qld. Early Motorcycle Sports Club Inc. Bill Chill 30-31 July, 2016. Carnell Raceway, Stanthorpe. Qld Details at www.qemsc.com.au
Macquarie Towns MRPC Annual Rally. 30-31 July, 2016. Two days of great rides through the Hawkesbury district of NSW. Information: Contact Garry Appleyard (02) 9838 9709.
SEPTEMBER 2016
15-17 April 2016 – Inverell Pioneer Village. A great weekend for Vintage, Classic or modern machines. Contacts: Peter 0427 286 547 or Judy 0427 208 114. PO Box 324, Inverell 2360 NSW.
BSA/Norton Gathering
Veteran and Vintage MCC of South Australia Inc 60th Anniversary Rally. 17-22 September, 2016 – HQ Clare Caravan Park, SA Website: vvmccsa.org.au/60th-anniversary-rally Email: vvmcc60th@gmail.com Phone 0497 292850. Post: 3 Marchant St, Kensington SA 5078.
17 April, 2016 – Road Warriors Café, Mt White north of Central Coast Vintage Motorcycle Club Sydney Annual Swap Meet 10am – 2 pm. Food and drink available. Will video for YouTube. Info: Ben 0405 539 587 (Norton Club) or Victor 0408 286 434 18 September, 2016 – Doyalson Wyee RSL Club car park, Pacific (BSA Club). Photos of previous gatherings at www.nocnsw.org.au S Support Bowel Cancer C Hwy Doyalson. Australiaa to help save liv ves No bric-a-brac, no dogs, glass, no overnight camping. Catering and a to improve the t health and no w wellbeing of peo ople The Monarchs Outfit Rally bytLions Club, cancer gates open 5am sellertoday 6am lookers, sites $15, lv gw living with bowel . D Donate o ate today! 23-25 April, 2016 – Caters Beach, on the Murray (approx. lookers $3. Ph: Allan (2) 4396 7187, Ron (02) 4390 4838 10km from Strathmerton, North of Shepparton). Lord of the Lake Usual awards, plus a few unusual. $20 will get you a badge and raffle tickets. Supplies can be obtained at Strathmerton. Drop 23-25 September, 2016 – Lakeside Raceway, Kurwongbah, Qld. toilets and a $2 shower in Strathmerton. Call Pete. 0466 318 393. Open to all Historic classes Period 2-6. (Period 5 & 6 500cc and below only). Enter at qldraceways.com.au/lord-of-the-lake, phone 1800 7223 9297.
HELP SAAVE V LIVESS
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Preview
The Drink Tank The life of a professional motorcycle racer is not all beer and skittles. In Edgar Jessop’s case, there was also wine, brandy, spirits, champagne and all manner of fortified liquor, for example. Edgar wasn’t much of a beer drinker anyway, and he never played skittles, since this involved exercise and fresh air. As well as his duties
Norton 650SS Top twin?
Enfield Continental GT Pocket rocket
Bert Flood One-eyed wonder Old Bike Australasia No.58 available on newsstands from
promoting the Spagforth brand through his skill and derring-do on the race tracks of the world, and his role as a brand ambassador, which involved a non-stop whirlwind of official functions, vice-regal engagements and socialising with fellow celebrities, Edgar was obliged once a year, to attend what Sir Carruthers Spagforth termed his Think Tank, which was known unofficially amongst the company brass as the Drink Tank. Rather than conduct this weeklong brainstorming session at the drab and dreary Spagforth Works in Upper Giggleswick (which is listed as number four in the areas of the world’s highest rainfall, just behind Cherrapunji, Tutendo and Mawsyram – even the local Giggleswick Duck is almost extinct through drownings), the guvnor would arrange a chartered Pullman locomotive to take directors, wives, concubines and a small army of footmen, chefs, sommeliers, coiffeurs, valets, masseuses and eunuchs to his summer lodging, Chateau de Porchop at Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera. Upon arrival guests took a Between courses, directors and distinguished guests are entertained at the annual refreshing Cleopatra Bath (in Spagforth Think Tank held at Sir Carruthers Spagforth’s modest weekender at donkey’s milk, scented with Saint-Tropez. Edgar Jessop, fourth from bottom left, appears to be contemplating lavender, honey, nutmeg and some post-dinner activity of his own. Burgamot Oil) before adjourning to the terrace overlooking the Cote d’Azur for pre-dinner cocktails. By day, the directors and advisors, of whom Edgar was one, would concoct and debate marketing strategies and new model ideas, few of which ever proceeded beyond that night’s repast. Indeed, the Drink Tank was responsible for such aberrations as the Spagforth Sybarite, a hybrid motorcycle/caravan that incorporated a double bed and Jacuzzi, the Spagforth Salamander which was powered by a clockwork mechanism pendulum which required winding with a massive key before it would commence operation, and the Spagforth Churn; an improbable contraption that vibrated so badly it was eventually sold to Kraft for making processed cheese. The Drink Tanks lasted only a few years, not specifically because they comprehensively failed to produce anything remotely worthwhile or practical, but because of the devastating toll on the directors, many of who required extensive medical treatment for liver ailments, acute crapulence, and sexually transmitted diseases. ■
28 April, 2016 WorldMags.net
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