Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 98 i Old Bike Australasia

Join the club I know this magazine’s ethos is heritage and nostalgia, but it’s also about continuing tradition. One such tradition began back in 1949 when Eric McPherson finished equal third in the inaugural 350cc World Championship. It took a further eight years before an Australian, Keith Campbell, became World Champion, again in the 350cc class. Then came Tom Phillis (125cc 1961), Kel Carruthers (250cc 1969), Wayne Gardner (500cc 1987), Mick Doohan (500cc, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998), and Casey Stoner (MotoGP 2007, 2011). And now we can add Remy’s name to that list after a nail-biting finish to a season where he took five wins in the Moto2 class. In doing so the Gardners became only the second father and son to take World Championships, after Kenny Roberts Senior and…

My first recollection of motorcycles would have been well before WW2. Mr Pura was a local insurance agent. He collected premiums regularly for life assurance from mother and travelled on his Ner-a-Car. He was still riding it in the early 1950s when he let me have a ride on it, which I did around Cammeray (North Sydney). My Uncle Bert and Aunt had a workshop in the backyard at Lakemba and Bert was involved in motorcycle repairs and tuning racing motorcycles. I stayed with them on a number of occasions in the 1940s and early 50s where I learned about motorcycle racing and riders of that period. I listened to talk about tracks such as Mt Druitt, Whynstanes, Wallacia, Vineyard, Bathurst and of course the Isle of Man. One racing…

In fact, Ducati’s history goes back to 1925 when Bruno Ducati published a book, La sciarpa azzurra. Racconti marinareschi (The blue scarf. Seafaring tales). The following year Bruno along with his brothers, Marcello Cavalieri and Adriano established a company called Società Scientifica Radio Brevetti Ducati (SSR Ducati), specialising in electronics, specifically related to radio. Over the next two decades until WWII, the company expanded producing radios, cameras, electric shavers, calculators, inter office communication systems, film projectors and even badges for Triumph motorcars. During WW II Aldo Farinelli designed a 4-stroke, 2-speed 48cc engine called the Cucciolo, ‘puppy’ or ‘little puppy’, for another Italian company SIATA. In conjunction with SIATA, Ducati produced the engine which was first displayed at the 1946 Milan Show, with Ducati eventually owning the rights to the…

An AJS man through and through In October, members of the Tamborine Mountain HMCCQ visited 91-year-old Albert John Simmons (AJS) who joined the club, becoming the second current local member in his nineties. HMCCQ president Ken Tocker says, “Personally, I believe this ‘event’ of current members, riding in, epitomises the friendship and camaraderie that motorcycle ownership is founded on.” Haydn Simmons, son of ‘AJS’ added, “Dad purchased his AJS 500 Single, rigid frame, brand new in 1950 after he returned from 4 years of service in the Australian Navy as a signalman. He served in the Navy at the end of World War two, and as a 22-year-old young man, fresh out of the navy, purchasing a new motorcycle seemed like the right thing to do. He had no idea…

Each of the brands had three main styles; rigid frame, rigid frame with front suspension, or front and rear suspension. Swingarms and torque converters came a little later. When they finally had reached their peak, the Japanese had entered the market and captured the hearts and minds, offering telescopic forks and gearboxes. Many of us started our riding journeys on minibikes including Classic racers such as Bob Garner, Michael Johnston, Mitch Mulligan, Mick Lendrum and myself. Brian Howard, one of the guys on our Facebook site, Aussie Vintage minibikes, was a paid junior rider at the Sydney Showgrounds where approximately 60/70 minibikes could be ridden around a typical road network. He started at the bottom and ended up head rider with his own bike. Bob Garner describes riding there as…

From its incarnation as the Stinkwheel Rally by John Finglas, the Twoies and Tiddlers baton was later passed to Ralph Roles who opened up the rally to include small capacity 4-strokes (Tiddlers). Ralph has had some recent medical issues that have put his riding temporarily on hold. Thanks go to Pine Rivers Area president Jeff Gordon who picked up Ralph so he could wave off the rally participants on the day. I went through last year’s photos and also felt the need to mention how I missed the late Dave Shipley on his bright yellow Vespa. Even though Richard Speck has moved from the area, he still created artwork for the traditional rally decals which Glynn Leitch had printed. The Club supplied raisin toast and coffee for breakfast and then…

Blessed with good weather and a COVID green light, the 2021 Don Nicol Memorial Sidecar Circus saw a very big roll-up at the HMCCQ Pine Rivers Clubhouse with around 28 outfits, and as many two-wheelers to do the marshalling. The rally was co-ordinated by sidecar stalwarts Lawrie Godde and Yvonne Mackenzie, the marshals were led by Phil Watson, with Glen Leitch as tail end Charlie and ‘Scruffy’ Patrick driving the recovery vehicle. The oldest machine was Kelvin Swayn’s 1928 Indian Chief with Dusting sidecar. Following the American Iron theme, Dave Morgan and Gillian Kerr rode their 1944 Indian Chief outfit while Des Higgins rode his Harley Shovel with Jack his dog in the chair. UK machines included a couple of Matchies from the ‘50s. These included a 1954 G80 with…

Shannons Insurance Broadford Bike Bonanza celebrates the Z1 2022 marks fifty years since the iconic 903cc Z1 arrived in Kawasaki showrooms and became an instant classic. To celebrate this milestone, organisers of the SIBBB are working on a fitting tribute to the Z1 over the Easter weekend. “We are confident of having a big display of up to 50 bikes featuring every model in the Z900/1000 series, right up to the 1983 Z1000R on display,” said Committee Chairman David White. “As well as the static display, the owners who take out an MA One Event licence will have the opportunity to take their bikes onto the track, which should be a very colourful sight. It is intended that a separate display will include a wide range of Z models from…

When Suzuki pulled out of Grand Prix racing at the end of the 1968 season, it looked like the end of a story that had begun with the company’s first works entries for the 1960 Isle of Man TT. In fact, with Yamaha following suit and Honda already out at the end of 1967, Grand Prix racing was heavily into survival mode. The days of World Championship domination by Suzuki in the 50cc and 125cc classes with riders like Ernst Degner, Hugh Anderson, and Hans-Georg Anscheidt were over as restrictions tightened on engine design and gearboxes in the smaller classes. Moreover, with costs escalating and motorcycle sales declining, the late ‘sixties were about diversification into other areas such as cars, especially for Suzuki and Honda. Yamaha at least had their…

Homeless was on his 1967 Moto Guzzi V7, with me on my 1988 BMW R100 and Tall Phil on his 2003 BMW GS. It had been a blissful winter’s journeying through Queensland’s South Burnett and Darling Downs, adhering to our modus operandi of backroads and loops (no road twice), our meandering kilometres taking in hills and dales, forests and lakes, tight mountain passes and wide sweeping plains. Brisbane was going into a COVID lockdown that Saturday afternoon, but we were already gone – cattle roads around Kilcoy, forestry tracks around Blackbutt, and rainforest wanderings on the top of the Bunya Mountains all beckoned. Saturday night was spent with old friends and old bikes at the welcoming and warm Cooyar Hotel, with a superb Sunday breakfast dished up by a smiling…

The event raised $4,225 to help fund vital research and support the PhD candidates of SAHMRI, assisting them to become the future leaders of health and medical research. Khalia Primer, a University of Adelaide PhD candidate researching the vascular complications of diabetes, will be benefitting from the funds raised by the Night of Champions. “Having access to cutting-edge technology means I can design the best possible experiments to help develop new therapies for diabetic complications”, she said. Khalia is based in the Vascular Research Centre at SAHMRI. Slow to heal wounds are the leading cause of non-traumatic amputations worldwide, and there are currently no therapies available that actively promote good healing. Khalia is developing new therapies that will help blood vessel-building cells survive better in non-healing wounds, so they can…

The following words are from Rick Gardner, President BSA Motorcycle Owners Association. “Welcome to the BSA Weekend and Dinner. We have had a few downgrades due to COVID restrictions, however the BSA Club Committee have held their ground and organized a firstclass weekend away, and yet still comply with the regulations. After a 7 day lockdown that lasted 3 months, we all deserve a chance to get out on our BSAs, enjoy the Victorian country roads, and meet our friends for a chat over a cool beer.” The weather looked ominous with the bureau forecasting heavy rain and I’ll admit I imagined riding in more interesting areas than the Geelong region. That said, the three of us headed off on our trusty BSAs for what turned out to be a…

Sadly with the COVID19 closing state borders and restricting the ability to hold the Vincent Clubs’ national rally we decided to defer the 2020 2021 rally yet again to 2022. However, for the sake of our SA members, and anyone who could attend, we decided to still hold a Vincent Get together in McLaren Vale over the same planned dates but reduced by a day. We had 35 participants in all. One of our Tasmanian Vincent owners was able to attend, complete with his Grey Flash replica, because he had been holidaying on the mainland with his wife, and a friend, since June. His bike had been left with friends in SA while they holidayed in the NT & WA so was collected prior to our Tuesday ride, bringing the…

John Marston was a pillar of civic society in Victorian England, as owner of the largest japanning factory in the Black Country. This was a local speciality comprising a form of Oriental-inspired metal finishing then popular for various household tableware and other metalwork. Marston was a keen cyclist, so almost inevitably he began building his own bicycles using his firm’s japanning treatment to impart a finished lustre to them. Apparently his wife Ellen saw one of his early bikes leaning against a wall with its polished frame glinting in the sunshine, leading her to suggest he called his bicycle – The Sunbeam. The name stuck, so Marston’s Wolverhampton factory was renamed Sunbeamland, and in 1877 he began making bicycles commercially, with an emphasis on high build quality, reliability and cleanliness,…

Kaye Ernest Donsky, far better known by his sobriquet Kaye Don, was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1891, to Polish parents. Educated in England, Kaye was more interested in motorcycles than academia and gained employment with the Avon Rubber Company in Melksham, Wiltshire, using his first pay packets to acquire a motorcycle. Avon of course was closely connected with the motorcycling scene, both as a supplier of a large range of road and off-road tyres, and later for its highly successful road racing tyres which scored extensive success at Grand Prix level. His ambitions on both fronts were interrupted by the First World War, and he joined the Royal Flying Corps where he trained as a pilot. At war’s end he resumed his interest in motorcycling, but after acquiring a…

To be fair, all the Japanese companies were testing the water with outsized offerings around this time. Suzuki had the GV1200GL, an 82-degree 1165cc V-4 sold as the Madura in USA. Kawasaki’s entry was the ZL900 Eliminator, a transverse four of 908cc, while Honda’s entry was the VF1100C Magna, another V-4 with 90-degree angle between the cylinders. And then there was the V-max, the most expensive of the quartet by quite some margin ($5299 in USA, 1986), the only one with a five instead of six-speed gearbox, and the meanest and most powerful of the lot. Yamaha didn’t exactly start with a clean sheet of paper when the V-max was conceived. It had the Venture, a very Harleyesque cruiser that appeared in 1983 using an all-new 1198cc water-cooled 70º V4…

It was a totally original bike, fitted with a rear rack made in London by Craven, with one of their fibreglass top cases to suit. On my next visit, I collected the Norton and spent a few days breezing around the place. It certainly was a pleasant machine to ride, with a wonderfully smooth engine, although not particularly powerful. Many say that this 500cc motor was the best of the Norton twins; with each subsequent capacity increase they became grumpier and vibrated excessively. This one had a particular aversion to having the lights switched on, which would cause it to misfire violently. My mate Lindsay ‘Duck’ Walker was also in the country, visiting the Avon Tyre people (for which he was the Australian agent) in Bath, so I decided a…

Gary Reid has delved into his archives from 1972, and the 1972 Castrol Six Hour Race marked the track debut of the new Ducati 750 GT. Two were on the grid; the #8 machine entered by Ron Angel Tuning for Ken Blake, and the #18 entered by Fraser Motorcycles for Gordon Lawrence and Graham Gates. Blake circulated with typical consistency to finish third in the Unlimited class, but the Fraser entry was disqualified after a post-race strip-down by scrutineers revealed the engine had received much more than a “light hone”. The first Ducati 860 had been born!…

After the disappointment of 2020, when Covid forced the cancellation of the event, the Barossa Vintage Collingrove Hillclimb was back again in 2021. Border closures meant no interstate entries, so nine motorcycles and 31 cars made several attempts to get a class win, personal best or just improve on the previous runs. We had one more bike than in 2019, which would have been two had Dave Lomman’s WLA Harley not refused to fire. As in 2019, it rained all day, although times for those who had ridden here a fortnight earlier when conditions were ideal, were mostly under a second slower. Best bike time of the day was by Geoff Kelly (500 BSA Gold Star) with 43.41 seconds, 1.75 quicker than the 750 BSA that won at the previous…

Just four days after regional NSW was opened up (for fully vaccinated people), the diehards from the VMCC gathered in the Central West for the much anticipated Annual Rally, albeit a year late. As if the pandemic had not tested everyone’s resolve, then the elements intervened, with constant rain leading up to the weekend. This discouraged some prospective riders from making the trip from Sydney. Still, despite the downpour on the Friday, around a dozen of the old bikes trundled out of Orange for a short ride to Lake Conabolas for lunch and a chance to explore an old pump house. The constant rain had played havoc with the already dodgy road conditions, and yawning potholes kept everyone on alert. Mercifully, Saturday dawned bright and sunny, with proceedings commencing at…

When the proposed 2021 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club National Rally in October at Bendigo Victoria was postponed until March 2022 due to Covid, many Queensland members had already taken annual leave to attend. So it was decided to have a Queensland get together for those people. The Monto Muster was born. The event attracted quite a lot of interest even though it had only a few months lead-time with members attending from the Gold Coast to Mackay and many places in between. The Albert Hotel was the main location for accommodation and meals. The Monto Caravan Park had all its cabins booked out with both the Grand Hotel and motels accommodating the visitors, the Saturday morning bike display being held in front of the hotel in the huge centre parking…