Retrobike

RIC STEELE of MotoMAX in Perth is passionate about what he describes as ‘pure motorcycling’ — bikes which aren’t trying to be something they’re not. It’s a philosophy which led him to racing 250cc GP bikes. “Although a dying class, I loved the fact i

SEDDO is away ill, although he did most of the work on this issue before he handed it over to me. He’s a bit crook and needs some time off, but he will be back. Geoff ’s a legend in Australian motoring publishing, having worked on, started and grown

ONE of only 1200-odd made, this machine could be considered the first of the factory customs, something pretty common these days. It was based on the BSA Rocket III, a bike which was years late coming to market and sold poorly, being priced close to

THERE'S a new breed of racer competing these days — those who grew up in the 1980s and love the bikes from the era. They were out in numbers at the 2020 Island Classic, Phillip Island’s iconic Australia Day weekend event. Twenty-twenty saw the 27th r

DARYL Villanueva is a citizen of the world, born in the Philippines and growing up in Hong Kong, Australia, Malaysia and the United States, where he studied graphic design in Los Angeles. He worked as a designer in the advertising industry in Dubai,

DUCATI built its versatile little Scramblers for 14 years until the mid 1970s, although Australian fans of the marque would hardly have known it; very few were ever imported. Built in 125, 250, 350 and 450cc, these early dual-purpose Italian bikes we

BACK in the late 1960s, two-stroke motorcycles were commuters and inexpensive machines aimed at the budget conscious, not enthusiast riders. Then Suzuki released the T500. A 492cc two-stroke twin, the T500 proved larger-capacity two-strokes weren’t j

THREE years ago, Mal ‘Mick’ Garfarth ordered a pair of Sterling Autocycles after seeing news of the new machines in Australian Road Rider. He’d fallen in love with the style and decided buying one for his brother Stu and one for himself was the go, a

IN 1984, Alan Cathcart outclassed the whole field at the Daytona Speedway Battle of The Twins on the Ogier Laverda, causing somewhat of a stir. Race officials demanded the engine be stripped and measured to make sure the Laverda was only at the speci

A LAST-minute decision to join the Motorcycle Expeditions ‘Eagle Hunters’ tour saw me in a flurry of paperwork and emailing like a machine to prepare for an adventure across Mongolia. I had to organise flights before I could even apply for a visa. Th

SWISS style house Gannet Design and legendary Italian manufacturer Moto Guzzi go together like cheese and pasta, with this their fourth collaboration to be featured in Retrobike over the past five years. The first was possibly the most ambitious, a d

PUSHBIKE racing on banked wooden tracks known as velodromes was massively popular in Europe and North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Very early motorcycles, little more than pushbikes with crude engines amidships, were employed to

IT IS a cliché to say that there’s nothing new under the sun, but so often in motorcycle development that’s all too true. Consider the single-sided swingarm on the 1950 Moto Guzzi Galletto, conceived 30 years before ELF patented such a feature and so

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WE’VE all heard people say that figuring out something “isn’t rocket science”. Well, I’ve got news for you! Two-stroke motorcycles — and especially their expansion chamber exhaust pipes — really are rocket science, and I’m going to tell you about the

The Chelsea quilted leather jacket cuts a contemporary silhouette with its stretch ribbed side panels while retaining comfort and manoeuvrability on the bike. The Chelsea’s distinct zipper detailing provides a modern contrast against the classic leat