Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 124 i Old Bike Australasia

Entries are now live on Ridernet for the 2025 Australian Historic Road Racing Championships at Broadford, Victoria. Event Coordinator Shane White says “Garages will sell fast so make sure you get your details in fast. Products available at entry include a motorcycle-specific first aid course provided by the Event Medical Team, a bespoke Competitor-only event T shirt and 3m x 3m Kings pop up Gazebos (limited number). Event planning is now complete, and we look forward to a bumper event in November, the event will definitely have a true National feel with entries from all states already confirmed. Camping remains free on the days in between the Southern Classic and the AHRRC. The event organiser will be co-ordinating with the promoter of the Southern Classic to ensure that those already…

The iconic round-case 750s were popular, but incredibly expensive to manufacture, and their days were numbered anyway because of the increasingly stringent US requirements which demanded a left-side gear shift, along with quieter exhaust systems. When engines are gagged like this, the most simple expedient to regain performance is the increase engine size, and that’s what Ducati did. The 860 engine was created by using pistons from the 450 single, but it was the styling that set it apart from its forebears. Ironically, the new 860 engine also ended up in the 900 Super Sport, which was very popular, alongside the 860GT and GTS, which weren’t. The 860GT had shown however, that there was an alternative to the traditional sporty-styled Ducati models, it just needed a bit of tweaking. There…

The first was the 90cc Colleda CO of 1954 – also the first Suzuki that qualified as a motorcycle rather than simply a bicycle with an engine attached. The single cylinder overhead valve engine developing 3PS was coupled to a three-speed rotary transmission. It was claimed to be the first Japanese motorcycle to be fitted with a speedometer as standard equipment. But by 1976 the game had moved on, and a technology war involving the Japanese ‘Big Four’ was in full swing. Large capacity four stroke bikes from Japan were no longer a novelty – they led the world in almost every respect. Honda had been joined first by Kawasaki and then by Yamaha (with a twin rather than another four cylinder), while Suzuki doggedly stuck to its two-stroke heritage…

Rex Patterson Tilbrook is well known for manufacturing sidecars and motorcycles in the Adelaide suburb of Kensington from 1947 to 1970. An account of his storied life and innovative designs was given in OBA Issues 18 and 19. But few are aware that he manufactured a single Tilbrook microcar, known as the Tricar, in 1953. During the early years of his business, Rex would conceive a new product or display as the highlight of his company’s trade stand at the annual Royal Adelaide Show. Famously, in 1947 he had his staff manufacture a motorcycle on the stand over the duration of the show, including all casting, welding and fabrication activities, then assembling it, with a start-up and ride away to much fanfare on the last day. Other years he would…

This journey began back in the 1970s when a group of teenagers met as Scrambles and Enduro competitors, all being members of the Motor Cycle Racing Club of Victoria (MCRCV). The subsequent 40-50 years of these mates riding together has woven together a lifetime friendship. August 1984 saw the group of seven mates set off, with their bikes in tow from Melbourne to Cairns. 4000km and 40 hours later they would arrive and finalise the trip preparation, a few days later they would mount their bikes and ride to the tip of Cape York. The group consisted of Noel Buck (Kawasaki KDX 175), Phil Colenso (Honda XR 350), Laurie Smith (Honda XR 350), Paul Taylor (Honda XR 200), Steve Hetherington (Yamaha Tenere 600) with Alan Willox and Steve Sadlier in…

It was spotlessly clean with brilliant lighting and a multitude of exotic machines with a short story placard included with each. The shop must have one of the biggest collections of books, diecast models, badges, signs and everything automobile related for sale. There is a long tabletop library of used magazines (including OBA) where you could spend the day reading for free if you wanted. The origin of this Tasmanian Museum goes back to the late Geoff Smedley who set up a museum joined to his workshop in 1987. It was to be closed in 1996 but a bunch of Launceston enthusiasts got together to form a ‘not for profit registered charity’ and they moved the museum to the Launceston city area. In 2019 they were forced out of the…

• 9-10 August 2025 – Wooli, NSW This year we relocated the Rally Base to Wooli in Northern NSW. We had a choice of accommodation at The Solitary Island Resort, Wooli Hotel Motel and Wooli River Lodges. 53 Triples arrived for the three days of riding around the Clarence Valley area. Entrants came from South Australia, Victoria, NSW, ACT and Queensland. The weather was not the best with rain every night, however it cleared up for all our rides. Friday’s ride was to Sedgers Reef Hotel at Iluka – 168km return. The bikes were lined up for judging on Saturday morning. This display attracted a large number of spectators before our main Rally ride to our lunch stop at The Golden Dog Hotel Glenreagh – 240km return. Saturday Night’s Presentation…

• 13 July 2025 – HMCCQ Pine Rivers Clubhouse, Strathpine, QLD Despite being very cloudy and nippy a large crowd of outfits gathered at the HMCCQ Pine Rivers clubhouse ready for the Don Nichol Memorial Sidecar Circus. It was lovely to see the regulars but more encouraging were the first-timers joining the ride. Around 20 outfits this year but unusually, only one canine passenger accompanied Harry Howarth who is a regular on his 1959 BSA A7 with Steib sidecar. Sidecar stalwart Yvonne Mackenzie led the outfit group with her Ural and husband passenger (David). Clive Dodd and Terry Hentschel were also on Urals. The older outfits included Bill Dawson and his 1939 Sunbeam with Dusting sidecar. First-timer Phil Ariel unveiled his 1939 Ariel outfit. What do you do with an…

With new faces involved in the organisation, planning for the 2026 Bathurst Easter Tour is well under way. Entry forms will be available from early December for the eight-day riding feast through the countryside around Bathurst, which runs from Sunday 29th March to Sunday 5th April. After fifty years at the helm, the Vintage Motorcycle Club has stepped aside, and the local Bathurst Motorcycle Enthusiasts Club is stepping in to assist in the running of the famous event. Entries will again be co-ordinated by Clyde Ikin on 0401 773 042 or by email at Bathursteastertour@gmail.com. For 2026, the Tour will be based at the Bathurst Showground, which will also host Happy Hour from 4.30pm each day with free drinks. The traditional Hot Dogs at Carcoar Dam on Monday and Hot…

Where it all began America’s first motorcycle company was the Hendee Manufacturing Company, which had been manufacturing bicycles since 1897. The pushbikes were called ‘Silver King’ and ‘Silver Queen’; gentlemen’s and ladies’ models, before a name change to ‘American Indian’. The names were later shortened to ‘Indian’. By the end of the century, bicycle racers used the slipstream of motorised pace bikes to attain higher speeds by reducing wind resistance. Oscar Hedstrom, a pushbike racer, designed one of the motorised pace bikes used by cyclists. In 1900, after seeing Hedstrom’s tandem pacers, Hendee invited Hedstrom to join him and develop a motorcycle for mass production. Hedstrom designed and built the prototype in four months, completing the project on 26th May 1901. It was a 260cc single-cylinder engine producing 1.75 hp,…

There’s a school of thought that adheres to the dogma that an old bike found should not be restored but gotten up and running, ridden and dubbed “original”. I don’t belong to that school. Quite simply, my eye would be assaulted, and my sensibilities mightily offended every time I stepped into the garage and saw said bike rusty, dented, chipped, faded and generally neglected. I can accept the description of such a machine as “unrestored” or “as found” but I can’t concur with the descriptor “original” because it sure didn’t leave the factory or dealer showroom in that condition. And therein lies my point. When I first spied the Rex for sale on the Net, the owner’s sales spiel included the remarkably honest summation: “Still can’t get it to run…

The Tasmanian Automobile Club (TAC) was formed with a 50/50 membership of car and bike owners written into the constitution. At that time cars were mainly owned by doctors, lawyers and other men from “the top end” of town who employed a chauffeur to do the driving. Bikes were owned by the likes of travelling salesmen and men needing transport to get to destinations other than the corner store. 120 years later the 3rd oldest club in the world is still going strong. A dominant part of the early years was the club advising governments and councils on all things relating to road use and rules. Club members would take council approved direction sign boards out and place at relevant intersections in the local municipality. The club had a major…

The revolution, if that is not stretching the point too far, began with Owen Greenwood’s Mini – itself highly unorthodox and for a while, the scourge of the grid as it became increasingly competitive and ultimately banned. As the name suggestion, the engine for Greenwood’s machine came from a Morris Mini – actually an 1071cc unit from a Morris Cooper S. Greenwood, who operated a motorcycle shop in Loughborough (Yorkshire), built his device over the winter of 1963/64, using not only the Mino engine, but the main sub-frame as well, onto which was bolted a tubular chassis. A 5-speed Carlotti gearbox was used. Controversially, it had not three wheels, but four, and a steering whee instead of handlebars. According to the regulations, wheels spaced less than 8cm apart were classed…

• 3 August 2025 – Lakeside Park, Qld. Even though Phil left us in June 2024, his legacy lives on and is still embraced by many, which was made obvious by the turnout for the Phil Beaumont Lakeside Memorial Ride. This was the second memorial ride and it was very fitting that it was to Lakeside Park (previous known as Lakeside Raceway) where many of the racers Phil sponsored cut laps, as did he. The direct family (Gene, Hannah and Ellen) joined many of their extended family and friends at the event which attracted around 100 motorcycles. The ride leader was Paul Grice who gave the briefing at Phil’s old premises at 39 Allison Road, Bowen Hills where we all gathered to start the ride. Phil worked in the industry…

• 5-6 July 2025 – Warwick, Qld The Warwick area of the Historic Motor Cycle Club of Queensland hosted the 31st annual Frostbite Rally again at the Allora Showgrounds. We are noticing that with more and more of our traditional Frostbite attendees seemingly now being within the pleasantly retired fraternity, we are seeing patrons turn up as early as Thursday and setting up camp with many more arriving throughout Friday. Several groups gathered together to participate in local impromptu rides, exploring the region during this period prior to the beginning of the rally on Saturday. This year we were blessed again with beautiful weather throughout the entire weekend. The mystery ride on Saturday afternoon took a large number of riders on a country cruise over to Clifton where we called…

What became known as the People versus Giggleswick occurred when a handful of silvertails succeeded in having an injunction passed to shut down the local speedway, Spagforth Stadium, just down the road from the fabled Spagforth works in Giggleswick. The promoter at that venue, Herbert Spagforth, knew the bigger the racket, the bigger the gate, and he encouraged riders to modify the exhaust systems of their machines to produce a cacophony like no other. Music to some ears, discord to others, including several affluent and influential local residents. At first Herbert dismissed the complaints, enlisting the benefaction of his famous star speedway rider Edgar Jessop who had plenty of influential associates of his own. Herbert even made a very public show of regular cash donations from gate takings to the…

Spot on I appreciated Craig McCulloch’s article about the Yamaha TRX 850 in OBA Issue 123. He was certainly right about the manufacturer they were imitating at the time being Ducati and I thought you might be interested in the thoughts of an owner of both. I bought my TRX, a 1999 build, as a run-out deal from Frasers in 2001 and paid 11K which was great value as the other contenders for my cash ranged from about 13K (Suzuki Bandit) through 16K (Yamaha FZ1) to 18K (BMW R1100S and Honda VFR). The Ducati 750SS is a 2001 and was bought a few years ago almost by accident and I am lucky enough to be able to keep both. It had about 45,000kms on it and was only $5K. The…

After months of discussions with administrators KordaMentha, it was announced in early August that the publically-listed company MotorCycle Holdings Limited (MCH) had acquired the majority of the Peter Stevens stores, while the Joe Rascal Group will take ownership of four key Victorian dealerships – Harley Heaven in Dandenong, Ringwood and Melbourne, and Peter Stevens Ducati in South Melbourne. Motorcycle Holdings Ltd, owners of Motorcycle Accessories Supermarket, Team Moto and Cassons, have acquired seven stores across Australia to add to the more than forty dealerships they currently own. These sites comprise Peter Stevens in Dandenong and Adelaide, Harley Heaven in Sydney, Penrith, Perth and Adelaide, and Savage Motorcycles in Perth, making MCH the largest motorcycle dealer group in Australia. According to the administrators, these developments will save the jobs of around…

In the 1920s, Tommy Benstead, who was born in the inner-Sydney suburb of Leichhardt in 1896, was the hottest thing on two (or three) wheels. His career actually commenced in 1916 when he joined the Newtown Bicycle Club, an obvious move considering it was full of the best racing cyclists in the state, and young Tommy had taken employment with Turner Bros, cycle agents, in George Street, Sydney. It wasn’t long before he hankered for more speed, and was loaned a Turner-JAP by his employers, which he took to Goulburn for a 33-mile (53km) road race. Despite being held in a deluge that left parts of the course awash, Tommy came home the winner. This encouraged him to buy a Harley-Davidson in 1917, and soon after he joined the Harley…

I always had a soft spot for 250cc two strokes after purchasing a Montesa King Scorpion trail bike back in 1972 and I enjoyed it immensely until 1976 when I developed other interests and the poor old thing spent the next 45 years under my mother’s house. Once back into motorbikes the King Scorpion was quickly restored into a good-looking runner and still is almost 10 years later. After the trail bike resto, I really wanted to get hold of a Bultaco Metralla for a road bike for my old age, when the larger four stroke machines in my growing collection became too heavy. But an affordable Metralla in reasonable condition did not present itself when I was looking, but an ad appeared in Just Bikes magazine around 2018 for…

Promoters were trying many ideas to bring the crowds back after the post war boom. Sidecars and midgets were tried but not the answer. The dyed-in-the-wool British fans regarded speedway as solos and teams; sidecars were merely an added attraction. The Carletons were not the first and certainly not the last to try. Colin Walter Carleton was born in Yerongpilly, a Southwest Brisbane suburb on July 28 1928. His elder brother Alan John Carleton was born on January 26 1926. Just before the outbreak of WW2 Col and Alan purchased a Velocette in pieces from Pop Lunn who had a garage in Yeronga. Pop’s son Billy had ridden at Davies Park and was in the party of Queensland speedway riders who ventured to China in 1931. The post war period…

In a week beset with weather woes, numerous program changes saw the final event in the Classic TT, the Senior, reduced from four to only two laps, with Irishman Mike Browne the winner by just 0.268 seconds. In the final practice session, Browne had lapped at an astounding 112.984mph. Browne was aboard the remarkable pushrod-single cylinder machine based originally on a Norton ES2, built and developed over many years by New Zealander Peter Lodge. In a dramatic race, early leader John McGuinness retired after one lap with a rear tyre puncture, leaving Browne ahead. However he admits that he almost blew it after misreading a signal board on the final lap. “I read it wrong at The Gooseneck and thought it said P1 + 10, and I really rolled off…then…

In issue 122 we presented a selection of photos from Gary Reid’s collection, all depicting photographers seemingly ignoring imminent danger or violent death while seeking that classic snapshot.…

• 16 August 2025 – Galston, NSW The Velocette Display Day was held on a day blessed with plenty of warm sunshine, tempered with some cool breezes. Fagan Park is a large public reserve, previously a farm, with many historic displays of farm life. The Friends of Fagan Park made us very welcome, with morning tea and lunch provided at a modest cost. About 40 people attended, mostly from the Velocette Owners Club. Another large group, all riding, was the Norton Owners, led by their impresario, Ben Woolven. We got underway at 9 am. Most stayed until after lunch, sitting at the tables, in animated conversation, and enjoying each other’s company. The most photogenic Velocette, a 1954 MAC, was ridden and displayed by Graham Foy. Chris Roberts and his son…

• 26-27 July 2025 – Pitt Town, NSW The weather forecast for Saturday said continuous rain. Wrong. Although the roads were still a bit wet from an overnight dousing, the day was almost perfect and dry with clear blue skies. A rider entry of 98 was pretty much on par with recent years, although some of the early classes were a bit thin and there were no starters in the 1948-1955 category. A sign of the times I suppose. This year’s route began as usual at the Pitt Town Sports Club, taking the riders out to the traditional morning tea stop at the historic Ebenezer Church on the Hawkesbury River, a rip that include a ferry crossing of the river. Here judging took place along with the scones and hot…

• 18 May 2025 – Tooborac, Victoria The Association of Motoring Clubs’ (AOMC) held their National Motoring Heritage Day (NMHD) that aimed to promote and display Australia’s strong motoring heritage. To support the AOMC and the NMHD, the Classic Motorcycle Club of Victoria (CMCCV) in conjunction with the Bendigo Historic Motorcycle Club (BHMCC) coordinated a motorcycle display and lunch at the Tooborac Hotel & Brewery. For all those that rode to Tooborac, the prevailing early morning temperature was only a couple of degrees above zero and a max of 14 for the day – with only blue skies above – a great day to be motorcycling. To ensure we had a patch of bitumen out the front of the Tooborac Hotel to park the bikes on, a few members arrived…