Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 57 i Old Bike Australasia

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Burt Munro Challenge 2015 • 26-29 November, 2016 – Invercargill NZ 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…

2015 Ross Rally • 22 November, 2015 – Ross Showground, Tasmania 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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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. 1961 COTTON CONTINENTAL Specifications 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…

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. The post WW2…

The Nursery Hotel in Onchan (near Douglas) was built in the early 1800s and was owned by the Spittle family. It was originally a house (Birch Hill House) for the head gardener, a Mr Peter Polind. Before it became a hotel, the grounds around the 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 continued to run the Nursery as a pub, but under their ownership the managers changed quite…

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!”…

2016 Island Classic • 26 January, 2016 – Phillip Island, Victoria 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…

HMCCQ Combined Areas Breakfast Run • 11 January, 2016 – Mt Glorious, Qld. 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…

Phil Irving Concours • 22 November, 2015 – Ferny Cove Qld. 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 overcast but it didn’t seem to deter the exhibitors nor…

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…

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…

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…

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 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…

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…

2015 SA Historic State Titles • 2-3 January, 2016 – McNamara Park, Mt Gambier 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…

20th Natureland Club Rally • 26 November 2015 – Hat Head, NSW The Natureland Classic 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…

Velocette Good Companions Rally 2015 • 8-15 November, 2015 – Swan Valley, WA 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,…

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,…