Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 87 i Old Bike Australasia

Isle of Man Minister for Enterprise Laurence Skelly said in a statement, “This is obviously a conclusion that we didn’t want to reach but unfortunately when all factors and advice are considered, we felt it was important to make an early decision to provide clarity and certainty for race officials, fans and sponsors, as well as the competitors themselves.” Peter Maddocks, Chairman of the Manx Motor Cycle Club which organises the races said, “Although we were confident that we could provide the officials, the situation around other key personnel, such as marshals and medical personnel could not be guaranteed. Additionally, the availability of event critical contractors and whether the infrastructure and equipment could even reach the Isle of Man in time is another area of great uncertainty. Although we are…

One of the several self-made men from humble backgrounds who in the 1960s-70s powered Italy’s post-WW2 resurgence from derelict battleground to thriving economy, Morbidelli’s life story was a rags-to-riches saga worthy of Hollywood. He was born in 1934 into a poor family living off the soil in the Marche region of Italy, and began work aged 16 as an apprentice fitter in a factory repairing woodworking machinery for the furniture industry, one of the two engineering specialties of what became his home town of Pesaro, on the Adriatic Coast south of Rimini. The other? Motorcycles – it’s the home of Benelli. This helps explain Giancarlo Morbidelli’s passion for motorcycle sport which he pursued from a very young age, even after starting his own machine tool company in the late '50s…

As far back as 1926, Ulrich Maisch began producing accessories and parts for bicycles under the Maico name (formed from the words Maisch Company) at a small factory at Poltringen near Stuttgart. He also operated a 24-hour car servicing centre. By 1931 Maico had expanded to include complete bicycles and lightweight motorcycles powered by 98cc and 118cc Ilo engines. But with the rise of the Nazis and the onset of WW2, the factory’s production was nationalised and converted to the manufacture of aircraft components, with almost the entire production going to the Luftwaffe. By now Ulrich’s two sons, Wilhelm and Otto, were in charge, and the business was operating from a new, larger factory at Pfäffingen-Tubingen, also in the Swabia district. Remarkably, given its proximity to the manufacturing centres of…

Motorbikes have been a part of both their lives from the moment they could reach the pedals or double up with dads and brothers. One went down the path of racing, the other just enjoyed the speed and freedom a bike gave him. They knew each other from the motorbike circle of mates they both frequented and being young everything revolved around bikes, parties, sex and drugs. Then as life does, things change and families and work became the focus point in both their lives. They both still had a motorbike in the shed but as the years passed it was more a fleeting dream than a reality. Now both in their late forties Chris and his partner Beth built just up the road from Mac and Debbie and it…

The main visible differences are the seat, handlebars, the lack of a bikini fairing, and er, that’s about it. Engine, frame and suspension are identical with the Café, so performance wise, what we said last year stands. The W800 in this guise is the same pleasant and functional motorcycle, and anyone who still yearns for his or her old Beeza twin or ex-copper Trumpy would do well to seek a test ride as soon as possible. There’s so much old school in this motorcycle, not least the 360 degree firing order, which today, with the almost universal adoption of the vee-twin style 270-degree crank, makes the W800 unique. It certainly sounds unique – the exhaust note is more of a buzz than the other twins around today, and despite all…

Michael Rock, one of the two business partners of Vintage Steel, senses my bewilderment. “They’re rejects,” he says, as he pulls out a couple of samples. “See here, if you hold this up to the light you can see it has a couple of scallops.” I look closely and can see several shadows that signal some slight indentations in the guard; nothing that a bit of bog won’t fix, I think to myself. He hands me the other guard. I can’t see anything wrong with it, so he turns it upside down and points out the rolled edge. I can see it’s a little uneven and, while it’s barely noticeable, I get it; it has to be right. Vintage Steel started manufacturing replica mudguards for veteran and vintage motorcycles about…

American bikes were out in force for this year’s Indian Harley Club Two-day Rally, with a great range of bikes on the road and drawing lots of interest from spectators and participants. Considered one of the state’s premier events for old bikes, the rally is always eagerly anticipated by enthusiasts. This year’s rally didn’t disappoint and was one of the best yet, with almost 200 entries received. Close to 40 of these were Indians and Harley Davidsons. To cater for the variety of machines, riders could nominate either a short or long course. The weather was perfect; slightly overcast on the Saturday, with clear skies and the temperature warming up on the Sunday. Saturday’s short course took the riders east of Bunbury to Donnybrook, for a break at the Vintage…

“Yes, sir. Very good, sir”, the Spagforth personnel would mutter, tugging their forelocks with due punctilio. Yet, the guvnor was undeterred, and strove incessantly for fresh ideas and production innovation. He had long admired the work of Antonio Meucci, who had claimed to have invented the telephone two years before Alexander Graham Bell, and had also written a paper on a wireless version. With the advances in such technology in WW1, Sir Carruthers began to envisage the tremendous advances (and considerable fortunes) that could be achieved should wireless transmission, rather than fixed cabling, be possible between telephone handsets. With his fertile mind abuzz, the guvnor set about assembling a task force for this project, working under the highest levels of security; bearing in mind poor Meucci’s misfortune in reputedly having…

Balmy in Bathurst I’m just going crazy here in Bathurst; stuck at home (over Easter) when in other years we would all be riding in the Bathurst Rally. So I went to the rally ‘start line’ at 10am on Easter Sunday morning to take a photo. Maybe you can compare it to other years to show the effects of COVID 19. I enjoyed Bob Rosenthal’s story (OBA 85) on being reunited with his TZ750 very much. It reminded me of a TZ750 that was on the road in Sydney in the late ‘seventies (‘The Yazaki’). I wonder where it is now? Don Sinclair Kelso, NSW I remember seeing the ‘Yasaki’ at Motocross, Blacktown, the Honda shop run by Col Evans and Roy East. I didn’t take much notice of it…

The Australian Historic Road Racing Championships set down for 20-22 November at McNamara Park, Mount Gambier, are still on schedule. With restrictions gradually easing, the organising club is optimistic that the event will take place as scheduled, and has been pressing ahead with major improvements to the picturesque country circuit. “As this is an Australian Championship, the final decision (on whether to proceed) will be up to Motorcycling Australia,” says club president Alex Trnovsky. “At this stage we continue to have things in place ready to go should it all work out in our favour. The clubroom extension and disability access toilet is continuing and we’ve recently planted over 250 trees along our new viewing area. We aim to have all these facility improvements finished in time - the only…

Organiser Judy Bayer says, “The rally will be at the same place (McLaren Vale Motel & Apartments) and the new dates are Monday 20th September to Friday 24th September, 2021. We are not sure what is happening with the 40th Anniversary of the Bay to Birdwood but the annual run for next year would be 26th September, so the Sunday after our rally.”…

Genuine ex-works racers are thin on the ground, especially Suzukis, which were usually consigned to the crusher on completion of their racing life. The factory triple cylinder water cooled TR750 (officially code named the XR11), as opposed to the various home-brewed examples that today sparsely populate the grids of Classic Races around the world, are rarely seen in action as the spare parts for these dried up long ago. The TR750, internally, had many unique components, particularly in the bottom end of the engine, and in the transmission. Two TR750s are known to survive in Australia, and one (a later 1975 model) in New Zealand. The example featured here has a particularly poignant Australasian history, but more of that later. TR750: the real story Formula 750 racing was all the…

The SS125 sprang from the Japan-only CS125, which, with a power output of 13hp at 10,000 rpm, was a less powerful 125 twin than the 15hp CB92 Benly Super Sport, to give it its full title. The word Benly means ‘convenient’ in Japanese, and that’s a fairly apt description for the spirited 125 twin that took the lightweight (or Ultra lightweight) world by storm from the moment of its introduction in 1959. The CB92 was a top performer straight out the crate, and responded extremely well to performance tuning such as the factory racing camshaft. It provided a reliable and fast clubman racer for the 125cc (Ultra Lightweight) class and instantly swept the venerable BSA Bantams from the leader boards. But the CB92 was a cobby-looking machine, with typically Japanese…

The 11th Britten RYAN MCNAUGHT, aka The Brickman, is one of only 14 LEGO Certified Professionals in the world, and the only one in the Southern Hemisphere. Based in Melbourne, Ryan and his team have built some of the largest and most detailed LEGO brick models, and have built models for LEGO offices around the world. One of The Brickman team’s latest achievements is a full-sized Britten V1000 from LEGO bricks, which Ryan says was a real challenge. “Like the other two life-sized motorcycles we have built, we started with the wheels, working around a central vertical support to keep the model vertical and safe for transport. The front wheel was built separately first, including the detailed disc brakes. Next came the body of the bike, built around the steel…

The annual gathering of Ténéré Tragics celebrated its tenth anniversary with a fun-packed five-day adventure ride in the picturesque Victorian countryside. The 2020 Gold Rush Run welcomed the appearance of the all-new Ténéré 700 adventure twin (see OBA 85 Suitable Partners) and invited a host of celebrity riders to join an 88-strong crew for the auspicious event. Kicking off in the Victorian coastal resort of Lorne, the Tragics were treated to an adventure bike training session from Yamaha legend and regular Tragic Stephen Gall. Later that evening Gold Logie winning TV star and racer Grant Denyer snuck in after Dancing with the Stars finished filming in Melbourne. Denyer is a keen adventure rider and needless to say, his appearance in small Victorian townships caused a stir among the middle aged…

Velocette Owners Club of Australia Keith Canning issued a statement to VOCA members on 30th April which said, in part, “Those members who have attended these rallies would realise the amount of work and planning that goes in to making a successful weeklong event. Under the present conditions of restrictions, it is impossible to undertake any of the critical work that needs to be done. “It is now that normally the organisers would be calling for ‘Expressions of Interest’ and a deposit so that they can get fairly accurate numbers which enables them to arrange and negotiate pricing. Unfortunately, at this time with all the restrictions, it is impossible to even commence. Added to that, all the accommodation and attractions are closed. No one is sure when they will open…

Robert ‘Orrie’ Salter Long-time sidecar campaigner ROBERT ‘ORRIE’ SALTER passed away in March at his home in Queensland. He had recently suffered a broken hip in a fall and failed to recover from surgery. Salter, who owned a motorcycle shop at Bexley in Sydney’s south, raced sidecars for decades but came to prominence when he purchased the ex-Bob Mitchell Norton which at that point (1958) was acknowledged as the finest racing sidecar in Australia. He took the Norton to England and competed in the 1960 Isle of Man Sidecar TT, and when he returned to Australia he brought with him a genuine BMW Rennsport racing sidecar on which he competed at Phillip Island on New Years Day 1962. After the BMW was sold to Stan Bayliss, a long line of…

Neville Joseph Doyle was born at Bairnsdale, in the East Gippsland district of Victoria, in 1937. He attended a local state school and after completing High School undertook a Motor Mechanics Apprenticeship with Marshal’s Garage. In those days it was a 5-year course where one had to be competent at everything that would normally be required of a mechanic, including welding and other skills. Neville’s first bike was a BSA Bantam before upgrading to a 3T Triumph as his ride-to-work machine. His employer allowed him some of the business floor space and he began to sell Triumphs, and after his regular working hours he undertook building engines for race boats, cars and motorcycles. He tells me that this was also to his employer’s benefit as he gained additional knowledge and…

Everything has to start somewhere, and in the case of Meccanica Verghera Agusta, it began with the humble 98cc model, christened simply MV98. The path that would lead the world famous company to 37 Motorcycle World Championships for Manufacturers, 38 Riders’ Championships and 270 Grand Prix victories, was forged in war-ravaged Italy in 1943, when things were going from bad to worse. The wealthy and affluent Sicilian Agusta family had been in the transport business since 1907; not road transport, but air. The first Agusta aircraft, the biplane AG1 glider, was designed by Count Giovanni Agusta in 1907 and made its maiden flight three years later, when it was towed into the air behind a car at Capua Racecourse. The manufacturing centre of Italy was not in the far south…

For all the weekend the weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold with the sun shining each day. Friday’s shake down run to Talbot left the caravan park at 5pm; a nice little run to the hotel there and straight back on the main road with 40km covered. On Saturday we had a short regroup near Newstead and then rode to Guildford for morning tea. Then onward through Vaughan to Chewton to see a 1922 Henderson 4 Outfit and hear an excellent talk by Castlemaine local, Ken Pollock who displayed all the patterns and numerous engine castings for 4 cylinder Hendersons. This was followed by a short run through Castlemaine to Maldon for lunch. The ‘homeward’ leg was via a back road to Carisbrook for a regroup and…