Issue 114

Old Bike Australasia

For motorcycle enthusiasts, young and old.

Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Editor’s Letter
For most of us who are or have been involved in the organisation of one or two-day rallies or shows, it’s a thankless task and despite meticulous planning, little things go wrong. That’s why, for the third time, I have come away from the biennial Tas
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Old Bike Australasia
EDITOR Jim Scaysbrook OAM Email: scaysbrook34@bigpond.com CONTRIBUTORS Alan Cathcart, Gaven Dall’Osto, Gary Edgar, Stuart Francis, Peter Laverty, Russ Murray, Ron Murrell, Peter Shannon, Peter Smith, Nick Varta, Peter Whitaker. PHOTOGRAPHERS Gaven Da
Old Bike Australasia8 min read
Letters To The Editor
It’s a very small world. When I happened to mention I was to photograph a Horex for OBA to a work colleague (adventure biker and ex-Norwegian Richard Gjone) he replied that back in Scandinavia his late uncle (Magnus Dale) was a Horex enthusiast and h
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
RARITEE Best Letter
A great story by Peter Whittaker on Greg Kentwell in OBA 113, but I wish to correct the statement that Ove Fundin bought the ESO ridden by Jim Airey into Australia. This bike, and I’m sure others will realise, was the first one in the country and bou
Old Bike Australasia3 min read
Out In The Shed
People attending motorcycle rallies around NSW have no doubt got to know Linda Filewood and her partner Stephen Drinkwater. Linda is one of those people you usually hear before she is seen. She is extremely well liked and loves a chat, and is a very
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Pitstop Online closes
One of Australia’s last specialist motoring book sellers, Pitstop Online, closed its doors on 17th March, 2024. Pitstop began in Perth, WA where it operated a retail outlet in King Street, and became one of the largest outlets for books, DVDs and rel
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
One Raceway Boost To Historics
As well as staging the Australian Historic Road Racing Championships in November, the reborn One Raceway (formerly Wakefield Park) will also hold the 2024 NSW Historic Road Racing Championship from 9-11 August. This will probably be the first Open ra
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Old Timers Bounce Back
After an enforced layoff in 2023, the Motorcycle Old Timers Association of NSW will stage its 56th Annual Reunion dinner on Thursday 9th May, 2024. This is one of the longest-established get-togethers for the veterans, and always a popular event. For
Old Bike Australasia5 min read
Under the Chequered Flag
The legendary American Moto Guzzi tuner DR. JOHN WITTNER passed away last week at his Philadelphia home on February 15, aged 78. He had been ill for some months with cancer, and will be greatly missed by guzzisti around the world. Dr. John and I beca
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Winton Lost To Bikes?
The track’s owner and operator, the Benalla Auto Club (BAC), has been in discussions with Motorcycling Australia (MA) for several years regarding modifications required to maintain the circuit’s licence for motorcycle racing. This basically involved
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
FOMSA Steams Ahead
This year’s inaugural European Motorcycle Day was a success despite the hot weather. It’s reported there were over 250 machines on display and three times that calling in to visit. We estimate over 1,000 people visited the event over the course of th
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Something For All Tastes At Donington Auction
Newly established in a fabulous heritage building at the former hub of Sydney motorcycle racing, Amaroo Park, Donington Auctions is gearing up for a major Timed Online Auction from 20th May to 3rd June, 2024. Early consignments include a 1960 Moto Gu
Old Bike Australasia4 min read
A Star In Two hemispheres
When John Dodds departed Australia for Europe in 1966, he had reached the very top echelon of racing in his home country, but with meagre cash reserves and a used 500cc Manx Norton that had been purchased through a loan from his uncle, he knew he wou
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
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Old Bike Australasia5 min read
From Big Five To Oblivion
The origins of the Bianchi company stretch back to 1885, when Edoardo Bianchi opened a factory in Milan to initially manufacture bicycles, the first such fitted with pneumatic tyres. Soon came a pushbike equipped with a clip-on proprietary engine. In
Old Bike Australasia6 min read
User Friendly
Making its debut in 1983 as the semi-naked XJ900 (actual capacity 853cc), with a small bikini fairing and a very traditional looking air-cooled engine with the cylinders canted well forward, the 900 was just like the original and founding member of t
Old Bike Australasia5 min read
1932 Christmas Guineas
On Boxing Day 26th December 1932, members of the Sydney motorcycling community with the means to get there, converged on the western suburb of Prospect, just minutes from today’s Sydney Motor Sport Park. The occasion was the running of the Christmas
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
From Whence We Came
The Castrol Six Hour Race of 1983 – the final event to be staged at Amaroo Park before Oran Park took over – saw a wholesale reshuffle of what was considered to be competitive with a new capacity ceiling of 1000cc. Gone were the old monsters like the
Old Bike Australasia6 min read
Just Mad About the Fifties
Ron Murrell’s collection is spread between his house in inner Sydney (with six bikes) and his industrial unit in the northern suburbs. In the unit are around forty complete bikes, tons of components such as frames, wheels, engines, tanks and tinware,
Old Bike Australasia9 min read
The Bike That Almost Missed The Boat
The SL line began quietly enough with the SL90, a tweaked version of the by-then venerable 90cc OHC single that had already appeared in CB and CL versions. That was soon followed by a version punched out 10cc to become the SL100, featuring an all-new
Old Bike Australasia5 min read
A Garelli by Any Other Name?
I liked the look of it, though I’d not heard of a Rex apart from the early 1900s British machine and the ‘50s German one, so I did a bit of digging on The Net. My search revealed that this bike was in fact a Garelli imported from Italy in the ‘60s by
Old Bike Australasia3 min read
The Bullet ricochets
The new Bullet 350 shares the J-series engine, a long-stroke 2-valve air/oil cooled single with chain-driven single overhead camshaft, with the Meteor, Hunter and the Classic, which have been around for a couple of years, but the unit in the Bullet h
Old Bike Australasia4 min read
Flight Of The Damn Foole
I have fallen in love twice. Once was with a woman, the other was with an object. Well, others said she was inanimate, but they were not on intimate terms like me. I knew better. She combined the best attributes of supermodel and muscular female athl
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Old BIKE Out’n’about
Entries are now open for the Annual Downunder Jampot Rally to be held from 25-27 October at Victor Harbour, South Australia. Organised by the AJS Matchless Owners Club of Australia Inc the invitation is extended to all known AJS and Matchless motorcy
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Royal Enfield Project Origin
An additional highlight at the Australian launch of the new Royal Enfield Bullet 350 was the appearance of a motorcycle that has been faithfully re-created to celebrate the company’s 120-year history. An unknown number of this original 1901 model wer
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
A Pit Pictorial
Russ Murray’s race photographs grace these pages in almost every issue, but Russ finds as many interesting subjects in the pits as on the track. Here’s a sample of his observations from Mac Park, Mount Gambier, over Christmas 2023. Most people go to
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Gary’s FLASH BACK
This issue, not an image of vivid speed and daring feats, but rather a candid look at days gone by; in this case, the lull before the storm perhaps. Gary’s own shot comes from Oran Park on 11th June 1972, in the marshalling area for the Hazell & Moor
Old Bike Australasia4 min read
Weather Fails To Dampen A Great Event
The Burt Munro Challenge continues to attract large numbers of competitors and spectators to this laid back five-day motorcycling festival and rally. One of the Southern hemisphere’s major motorsport events, the diverse entries cover a number of disc
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Hard Work Pays Off
Promoted once again by the Post Classic Racing Association of NSW, the annual Festival of Speed, sponsored for 2024 by Bridgestone Motorsport, provided a weekend of close and exciting racing. 170 riders entered for the meeting, bringing with them wel
Old Bike Australasia4 min read
All’s Well That Ends Well
The closure of Pukekohe Park Raceway forced the NZCMR Register to find a new home for their annual Classic Festival, and Manfeild Circuit Chris Amon, in the North Island’s small Manawatu town of Feilding, got the nod. A new naming sponsor in ‘APS Com
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
The Biggest Bathurst Yet
Had it not been for the intervention of Covid, this would have been the 50th running of the popular Easter Tour which began in 1974 under the auspices of Don Liddle OAM. With the enforced year off in 2020, 2025 will celebrate that milestone half cent
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Beauties by Bass Straight
Strong wind and threatening skies didn’t deter the large crowd for the 2024 Sea Road Motor Show put on by the Devonport Rotary Club. The motorcycle section was as usual well looked after by the Vintage Japanese Motor Cycle club with even more exhibit
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Dodging A Cyclone
As club president Ray Walsh said in his briefing to riders on Saturday morning, the second running of the Tiddler Rally almost didn’t happen. As early arrivals were setting up at Rally HQ, Shoalhaven Caravan Village in Nowra, the temperature dropped
Old Bike Australasia4 min read
Forty Years In The Making
The Rally moved to South Australia this year, to commemorate forty years since the first time we had been in a show as a new club. That event occurred in March 1983 in the Rundle Mall Adelaide. That show had been organised by the M.R.A.S.A. The rally
Old Bike Australasia3 min read
A Damp Day Out
If you want rain, plan a swap meet. A perfect example of altering the weather by magic is the annual Maleny (aka Ma-rainy) swap. Amazingly, it was still very well supported by both sellers and buyers. The Sunshine Coast area of the HMCCQ also put tog
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Sights And Stunts At Ulverstone
Held in beautiful sunny conditions, the show was again a great combination of indoor trophy contenders and outdoor dis-plays, from the line up of patron bikes on the concourse to static displays from motor cycle clubs. Two vastly different performanc
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Another Lap Of The Apple Isle
Held every two years, the Tassie Tour is eagerly awaited by those lucky enough to join the ranks for a 12-day feast of fabulous roads, wonderful scenery and camaraderie. The 2024 Tour drew 117 entries on bikes built between 1926 and 1970, the most po
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Rule Britannia
The 2024 All British Day held at Echunga (SA) Showgrounds was the 40th Anniversary of this popular event, and perhaps one of the best attended judging by the crowd. There were, in addition to the motorcycles, British-made cars, trucks, tractors, and
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Hot Times In Brisbane
The HMCCQ again mustered up a fine collection of historic motorcycles to compliment the annual Caboolture Heritage Village’s Australia Day celebration. The display grew to 36 motorcycles and included the Villages’ resident Walcott motorised wheelchai
Old Bike Australasia3 min read
New Products For All Bikers
Staying warm and dry is a prerequisite of most motorcycle apparel in a climate such as ours for many months of the year, so is staying cool and safe. The Velotura jacket from Macna is just such an item. This model features large 3D mesh panels front
Old Bike Australasia3 min read
A Worldly Effort
Holding a European Motorcycle Day at which FOMSA magnanimously (albeit with tongue in cheek) allowed Britain to rejoin the EU for the day, enabled the “Best of British” motorcycles to stand side by side with the best motorcycles made in the “Iron Cur
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
Reading And Watching
By Alan Cathcart 152 pages hard cover Published by Motoitaliane Price: Euro 45 plus postage To order: https://www.motoitaliane.it/prodotto/7512/ This is an unmissable book for all Guzzi fans and motorcycle lovers in general because it tells the roman
Old Bike Australasia2 min read
A Missionary’s Position
That story went on to explain that the Spagabode was to be built on the platform of the (highly unsuccessful) Spagforth Reflux light lorry. The prototype Spagabode was exhaustively tested by Edgar Jessop and deemed suitable for production, only to fa
Old Bike Australasia3 min read
What’s On
CLUB SECRETARIES: Because of our lead time for printing, please ensure your listing is received at least four months prior to the event. Email your event details to… scaysbrook34@bigpond.com 30th Anniversary of the Indian Motocycle Club of Australia
Old Bike Australasia1 min read
Next Issue Preview
Almost unbeatable in Oz The harder they fall One for the (off) road? Old Bike Australasia No.115 available on newsstands from 6th June, 2024 www.oldbikemag.com.au ■

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