Retrobike

IF I was to invent my dream job, it would be to edit a motorcycle magazine. I’ve been obsessed with both magazines and motorcycles since I was a teenager. If I could fill the magazine with the same bikes that inspired me then, even better. Back in th

WE ARE massive Harley Sportster fans here at Retrobike. What could be more retro than a model introduced in 1957 that with only one major update — the Evolution motor in the mid-1980s — has remained in continuous production ever since? Park a 1957 mo

COMPILE a list of the world’s most beautiful motorcycles of all time. Now compile a list of the world’s fastest in their day. How about the most exclusive ever, the most collectable, the most desirable. Chances are a Brough Superior SS100 is on all o

AFTER a gap of 80 years, Brough Superiors are once again available for sale Down Under through Brough Superior Australia in Brisbane. Homologated for local use, three models are available ranging in price from $110,000 for the SS100 and Pendine Sand

BORN FREE is not only a famous 1966 movie about releasing a lion cub raised in captivity into the wild, it is also the name of one of America’s top custom motorcycle shows with a particular focus on choppers. Held in Silverado in the Santa Ana Mounta

RETROBIKE has been lusting after an MV Agusta Superveloce since its show debut as a prototype in 2018 and public release in 2020. It was love at first sight, and to our eyes this is one of the sexiest bikes of the new millennium. Was I not an arthrit

FEW bikes scream engine as much as Honda’s CBX1000, on sale from 1978 to 1982. Six cylinders, six carburettors, six header pipes and 24 valves — if ever a model deserved the appellation motorcycle, it’s this mother. It takes balls to ride one fast, l

IT’S HARD to remember a more successful product launch than that of Royal Enfield’s 650 twins in 2018. From out of nowhere, the Continental GT 650 and Interceptor 650 attracted almost an instant cult following driven by their classic Britbike styling

ROYAL Enfield has been encouraging custom shops everywhere to do their thing with original Enfield models, many of which have appeared in Retrobike over the past few years. The factory has now built its own custom project, dubbed the SG650 Concept, w

A LITTLE over 30 years ago, Honda released Japan’s most exotic and expensive production motorcycle yet, the NR750, also known as the RC40. The big news was the eight-valves-per-cylinder, oval-piston V4 engine, derived from the exotic NR500 GP racer.

BRISBANE’S Phil Rowe sure has broad tastes in motorcycles. Sharing shed space with modern sports bikes like his Aprilia RSV1000R and Suzuki GSX-R1000 and SV1000S are a classic 1950 BSA B33 and an ever-growing number of hand-built Yamaha customs. Regu

MOST riders customise their bikes. It may be as simple as rim tape, an aftermarket exhaust, adding some carbon-fibre to replace the plastic or fitting new parts like brake lines or engine covers. Most of this is off the shelf. There are some who even

KAWASAKI released the 900cc Z1 in late 1972 to claim the title of the world’s fastest production bike, succeeding the Vincent Black Shadow which had held the title for nearly 25 years. The Kwaka Nine, as it was soon dubbed, was as strong as it was fa

REGULAR readers of Retrobike could be forgiven for never having heard of Yamaha’s YZF-R15, a popular learner-legal motorcycle powered by a liquid-cooled fuel-injected 150cc (155cc since 2017) SOHC four-valve single. Made in India, there is nothing re

THE Indian-built YZF-R15 is a pint-sized clone of Yamaha’s #1 sports bike, the 200hp YZF-R1, at least in its appearance, and has been a popular model throughout Asia since its release in 2008. Powered initially by a liquid-cooled 150cc SOHC four-valv

IT IS hugely ironic that Kawasaki, at the forefront of street bike performance ever since the 1969 release of its H1 Mach III two-stroke triple, should have started life on two wheels by building a better British bike. For that’s what the OHV paralle

THE lifeblood of magazines like this are the people who build the feature bikes, sometimes as part of a professional team or more usually toiling away in a backyard shed. More power to you all.

I PUT the book down. I've had more time for reading lately and love of reading has been a lifelong constant. So I did a little life audit on the subject. No, not books, constants. It's been happening more, as if 'summing up' can help a bloke work out

THE photographer emerged from the long grass with his camera and its enormous telephoto lens around his neck, and shouted to me “that was good, Jamie, but could you hang off the bike a bit more?”. “Don’t listen to him, he’s a wanker,” said my road-te