Innehållsförteckning för Issue 47 från Retrobike

Classic Event WALCHA ROYAL CAFÉ "…RACING VINCENT SIDECAR TO SMALL ITALIAN MACHINES AND SOME VERY RARE EXAMPLES OF BRITISH MACHINERY…" THE WALCHA Royal Café is one of Australia’s top touring accommodation and eating spots for motorcyclists, and not just because it’s located near the Oxley Highway and Thunderbolts Way. It’s also because Toni Heaney, the genial owner of WRC, loves the bikes she has on display and the company of bike riding friends. That was how it came about that well-known classic racing enthusiast Ian Milton brought down numerous examples of his race and street bike collection for a big weekend at the café recently, displaying the bikes and talking about them to all comers — and plenty of people stopped by to have a look. Indeed, the post I…

Classic RideLAVERDA JOTA WHEN IT WAS first introduced to the world in 1976, the Laverda Jota became an instant hit. Faster than a Kawasaki Z900, supposedly better-handling than a Ducati 900SS, it was every young rider’s dream bike. It was certainly mine. Beautifully balanced lines, powerful 1000cc three-cylinder engine and an amazing exhaust note thanks to the 180-degree crank’s off-beat firing order! And, of course, it was the world’s fastest production bike. What could be better? The original Jota was a tweaked version of the earlier 3C. UK importers Slater Brothers fitted a factory cam and piston kit and modified the front geometry to make it more competitive in production racing. The factory then incorporated these mods on the 3C and called it the Jota. Arguments still persist about whether…

100 YEARS AGO the Austin 7 was released, a car which went on to become the British Model T Ford — affordable to the middle class, copied around the world and produced in massive numbers. It was powered by a 747cc four cylinder powerplant, one which Briton Bob Collier used to make a number of Bitza specials, including his final creation and the one restored by the Sammy Miller Museum I was allowed to ride. This was his sixth Austin 7-powered bike. The first was sold incomplete, a buyer so keen to get his hands on it he wouldn’t wait for Collier to finish it. The funds from the sale let him build the second though, which was successful enough but he wasn’t happy with the unsprung chassis. So the…

Custom Show BIKE SHED 2022 BIKE SHED at Tobacco Dock is established as Europe’s largest and most coveted showcase of custom bikes as well as a world-leading event of innovation. It was back in 2022 after the COVID lockdowns, with thousands of bike builders and custom motorcycle fans keen to be back at the London, England, show. With 495 exhibitors, this year’s show was one of the biggest ever and went down a treat despite the 30-degree weather — stupidly hot for London. Both amateur and professional builders had bikes on show, with over 300 machines on display for the 19,000 visitors who came to check everything out. The diversity of machines on display was breathtaking. Denver-based Ronin Motorworks showcased the Horibe Takeyasu, the Buell-based blockbuster from what could be…

Classic Ride HONDA CB500T TURBO I KNEW ALL ABOUT the turbo lag — I’d been reading about it for 40 years. It still surprised me. I’d cracked the throttle hard, but the small V-twin wasn’t about to be hurried on its way, at least not until the forced induction was ready to help. But when it did, boy, I knew all about it. Eighty-odd horsepower hasn’t been so much fun since the last time I rode a two-stroke. I wasn’t licensed to ride a Honda CX500, let alone the Turbo model, when it was launched in 1982. I was a pimply teenager riding to work in a fast-food restaurant on a moped, which was the only motor vehicle I was legally allowed to operate on a public street at age…

Custom BuildYAMAHA XVS650 THE NUMBER plate that was on this bike inspired the custom designs of this machine, one which started life as a tame, learner-approved cruiser, a Yamaha XVS650 Drag Star. “The numberplate when we got the bike started with 1KE, so we nicknamed it the Ike Bike... which led to sourcing a little Ike (from the TV show South Park) figurine as somewhat of a mascot for the build,” says Marijn Kuyken (better known as Billy) of Rogue Motorcycles, the Perth-based custom shop. “We then decided to give him pride of place on the bike, sitting him on a custom mount under the sissybar. We went a bit further and decided to utilise him for the brake/tail light, installing a Kellermann Atto Integral into his mouth to resemble…

HERE AT Retrobike, we love beautiful motorcycles. We’re not fussy about what factory the original bike emerged from, although we do, of course, have a soft spot for Ducati. And that soft spot comes from the sound,the feel, the performance and the style. Ducati motorcycles are usually beautiful. Ducati motorcycles simply don’t seem to age like other hot-shot bikes, and I’ll use the 916 as the most classic example of this. It's easily one of the most significant motorcycles ever manufactured and absolutely gorgeous. So we can forgive them the early Multistradas. It wasn’t quite 20 years ago that the first Multistradas broke cover. A new bike built off the success of the four-valve sport bikes and the very successful Monsters, the Multistrada was meant to be an all-roads tourer,…

Classic RideRICKMAN MÉTISSE TRIUMPH 650 BRITAIN’S ILLUSTRIOUS Métisse motorcycle marque was founded in the ‘50s by brothers Derek and Don Rickman — off-road aces and household names in Britain back then, thanks to BBC-TV showing the Scrambles racing in which they excelled every Saturday afternoon in winter. After achieving dirtbike dominance with their stiff, good-handling frames powered by British twin and single motors, they then did something comparable with road bikes. Rickman went on to briefly become Britain’s largest streetbike manufacturer after the demise of Norton first time around, and before John Bloor resurrected Triumph [see History sidebar]. The Rickmans’ creations not only represented a key stage in the evolution of the modern off-road bike, they also played a role in helping the Japanese manufacturers discover the black art of…

IT’S AN old shed, one which could have been a light engineering firm, bespoke manufacturer or machinery repair shop. Places like these have disappeared from the capital cities as real estate prices have soared – it’s even a little surprising to find it in Maryville, Newcastle NSW, a suburb once full of little workshops and the workers who ran them. These days it’s home to Speedgeek Motorcycles, where passionate motorcyclists build and repair bikes for themselves and their customers. On the day I visited for this story there were bikes from the 1960s to the modern day being worked on, from a BSA A65 to an almost new Royal Enfield being serviced. Beyond that there are repairs to broken bikes and maintenance of older machinery, customisation options and servicing of…

“I WANTED THE BIKE TO LOOK WELL-BALANCED, BRIGHT AND VIBRANT…" FOR RETIRED radiographer/sonographer Vic Summers, modifying and customising bikes came later in life — after age 60. He’d gotten into bikes firstly to commute, then for touring, then cruising. Now he likes to customise and this his latest, a bike he calls The Egyptian. Vic has owned everything from little trail bikes to Harleys, but it’s the list of BMWs which is longest — both K-series fours and Boxer twins, and he still has a soft spot for Harleys. This is Vic’s third K100 build. It started life as a 1988 K100RS. “I knew I wanted a more contemporary look than the classic vintage styling of the last one, but at the same time still wanted to maintain a little…