Retrobike

IF LAST issue was our six-cylinder special – we ran two, a Honda CBX1000 and Kawasaki Z1300 – then let’s dedicate this one to the mighty two-stroke. These days mostly confined to chainsaws and the like, two-stroke engines were a mainstay of motorcycl

SOME people are good at picking their parents, like Melbourne’s Scott Gercovich, the creator of this tough urban bruiser. “I’ve had a passion for all things two-wheeled since I got my first bike, a Honda Z50R, when I was about five,” he says. “But of

THERE are many reasons why this UK-built café racer hits our buttons. It’s powered by an air-cooled Ducati, always a good start. The design is innovative and elegant, and the metal craftsmanship outstanding. And it was all built at nights and on week

WE HAVE featured a couple of Jim Mott’s specials over the years, the first a Suzuki Bandit-powered XR69 tribute in issue #27 and then a brutal 1145cc GS1000 roadster in issue #32. Trading as Hand Made Racers, the prolific 60-year-old Brisbane bike bu

RIDING motorcycles up steep hills has been a popular form of motorsport for the best part of a century, none more so than in the heartland of the United States. By the 1930s, stripped-down Harley and Indian V-twins were sporting extended rear ends to

WE ARE big Harley Sportster fans here at Retrobike. To our minds, it is the ultimate retro, having been in continuous production since 1957. Immediately identifiable by its parallel pushrod tubes – each running off its own gear-driven single-lobe cam

MOTORCYCLES are many things to many people, a heady amalgam of freedom, engineering, adrenalin and style. But it’s not every day that motorcycles are considered purely as art. That all changed in New York in 1998, when Charles Falco and Ultan Guilfoy

FRANCESCO Tutino is the proprietor of Francis Von Tuto Moto Works. He is a 36-year-old Italian motorcycle mechanic who has spent the past six years building custom bikes in Brisbane, initially for himself and then for others. Sometimes for both. “The

NORTON motorcycles aren’t the first things that come to mind when thinking about New York City. But the great metropolis is birthplace to some of America’s finest Commandos, courtesy of ‘Whitworth servant’ Kenny Cummings and his NYC Norton workshop.

UNIKAT Motorworks has been operating in Wroclaw, Poland, since 2013 and has built over 100 custom bikes in the years since. Many have been featured in Euro print magazines and international blogs, garnering awards including CafeRacerTV’s Best Build 2

SWISS motorcycle engineer Fritz Egli, now 83, is an icon of café racer style and performance. Creator of the legendary Egli-Vincent V-twin from the mid-1960s, he also built race and street specials around Vincent singles and all manner of hot rod Jap

WHEN Fritz Egli became the Swiss Royal Enfield importer in 1992, all the bikes were first treated to what he called a ‘Swiss Finish’, a process that entailed completely dismantling the engines and gearboxes, removing any inherent glitches, then rebui

THIS stunning Ducati 848 café racer was built in the home workshop of Jérémie Duchampt in Béziers, a southern region of France equally famous for wine making and bullfighting. So no surprise it blends intoxicating looks with brutal performance in equ

CLASSIC air-cooled small-capacity multis provide big bangs for modest bucks. Easy on the wallet and even easier to ride, they often handle better than their grown-up siblings while still delivering smooth performance and that rip-snorting exhaust how

FOR FANS of 1970s off-road racing, when ‘Maico-maniacs’ like Adolf Weil, Åke Jonsson and Willy Bauer gave Husqvarna, CZ and the Japanese factories the hurry-up in international motocross competition, it’s often a surprise to learn that the West Germa

Got a portfolio of memories you’d like to share with Retrobike readers? Contact the editor at seddo900@gmail.com MOTORCYCLISTS have more fun than normal people. Just ask John Rooth, who would know better than most and whose photographic library we’v

• Premium 1.0 – 1.1mm Waxed Cowhide Leather construction. • D30® LP1 CE Level 1 shoulder and elbow armour pre-fitted. • Perforated leather panels with highly breathable mesh lining. • Premium YKK® zippers used throughout. • Manufactured to meet or e

IT LOOKS like the wheel has turned full circle. "Interested in a regular spot in Retrobike, John?" Maybe that should be two wheels have turned full circle. For 34 years, I've had something in an Aussie motorcycle magazine somewhere on a regular basis

AS I was the owner of the bike with the most comfortable pillion seat, an R100 BMW, I was given the awesome responsibility of taking John’s sister, Jen, as my pillion on our short country ride. As it turned out, I don’t think I was really the best ch

FOR the past 10 years or so, I’ve been re-building and customising some of my favourite bikes I had in my younger days,” says Brisbane IT specialist and hobby motorcycle engineer, Phil Rowe. “Back in those days I couldn’t afford to customise my bikes