Retrobike RCBE #22 AUTUMN 2016

“Jack had left his Vincent at home and was riding his Ducati F1. Yes, at 90 years old!” SOME of you might remember Jack Taylor from issue 18. Late last year, I attended his 90th birthday party at Pie In The Sky on the Old Pacific Highway north of Sydney, along with a few hundred others, including NSW Central Coast classic bike stalwart Col Graham. Col was riding a 750 Atlas, one of many Nortons in an impressive collection of British bikes we’ll bring you next issue. Meanwhile, Jack had left his Vincent at home and was riding his Ducati F1. Yes, at 90 years old! He likes the electric start, he says. For those of a certain age, motorcycles keep us young. It doesn’t take much physical strength or…

“COMPACTNESS WAS A KEY POINT THROUGHOUT THE BUILD, KEEPING EVERYTHING REALLY TIGHT AND MINIMAL. WE WENT THE WHOLE HOG WITH THIS ONE” ALEC Sharp and Rafe Pugh build custom bikes in rural Norfolk on the east coast of Great Britain, just over the ditch from Europe. In mediaeval times, the fertile plains of Norfolk were the centre of the English universe, evidenced today by ancient architecture on every corner which gives it the air of a place that time forgot. In later times, its flat country proved ideal for aviation and during WWII, Norfolk became the launching pad for swarms of RAF and US warplanes doing their grim best to defend the realm. The two young craftsmen acknowledge this rich history by calling their modest works Old Empire Motorcycles, and…

“EVERY MOTORCYCLE IS BUILT TO THE SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS OF EACH CUSTOMER AND TAILORED TO HIS OR HER NEEDS” BROUGH Superior, founded by George Brough in 1919, was the manufacturer of the world’s fastest, most desirable and most exclusive motorcycles of the pre-WWII era. Only 3000 were made before the company ceased production in 1940 with the onset of war. Holder of the two-wheeled World Land Speed Record for much of its 21 years, the ‘Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles’ built its reputation on unrivalled performance, dazzling looks, competition success and clever marketing. Brough (rhymes with 'rough') did not resume production of motorcycles after the war, but that’s all changed under the direction of its present owner Mark Upham, the Austrian-based Brit who acquired the company in 2008 and has since been busy…

“THE CITY SEES NECK TATTOOS AND BEARDS AND PREPARES FOR THE WORST, BUT THIS IS SUCH A MELLOW CROWD” LONG deserted beaches with hard-packed sand have been used for finding out who could go the fastest since the early years of the 20th Century. In Australia, Sellicks Beach in South Australia was probably the most famous, hosting the long-running Speed Trials over a two-mile track from 1913 to 1953. In the USA, it was Daytona Beach in Florida; it not only conducted land speed events but also circuit racing on a mixture of tar and sand from 1936 until the famous banked speedway opened in 1958. Apart from occasional reenactments, beach racing was an almost forgotten chapter of motorcycling history and then that movie came out. The thrill of watching…

RONNIE Fiala and his Ducati cafe racer are well-known on the Sydney motorcycling scene. The Ronster is an active member of Sydney Cafe Racers and one of the team behind the fast-growing Sydney Ducatista. He gets to all the runs and events and, let’s face it, it’s not like his bike doesn’t stand out in a crowd. Superleggera, as Ronnie calls it (‘superlight' in Italian), was constructed a few years ago by Sydney custom shop ShedX, one of a series of bikes built from unloved Ducati touring models, in this case a 1999 ST2. “Neil and Jim at ShedX have the balls to build bikes that others won’t,” Ronnie says. A longtime Harley guy, Ronnie was toying with the idea of a Ducati but it was his buddy and workmate…

“BETTER TO HAVE AN OLD BIKE BACK ON THE ROAD IN ANY FORM THAN A MUSEUM PIECE SITTING IN A SHED” LINDSAY Jennings went back to the first hot rods and bobbers of the late 1940s for his inspiration in building this custom Triumph Thunderbird. “They were just trying to make their cars and bikes go faster and the ‘look’ evolved from there,” he says. “All the mods were done in the back shed by the owner and his mates; they were pretty rudimentary. There wasn’t too much in the way of bling or fancy engineering.” And so he decided to follow suit, restricting himself to what he already had in his shed and doing as much work as possible himself. “I built it with an arc welder, a 100mm…