Classic Bike March 2021

Welcome A MAN OF MX EXCELLENCE IT’S ALWAYS SAD to hear when a motorcycling legend passes – and never more so than the death of Joel Robert who, in his prime, was one of those tough motocross guys who seemed utterly invincible. It was August 1971 when I saw the Belgian hero for the first time in action at Dodington Park, near Old Sodbury, in the 250cc British Motocross Grand Prix. I was 16 years old and it was one of my first big solo trips out of the local area on my not-so-trusty BSA C15 SS80 (the chrome-sided tank and mudguards earned it a Sportsman tag!). I say ‘big trip’, the journey from my home near Devizes to Old Sodbury was just under 40 miles – but it seemed…

IT’S ALWAYS SAD to hear when a motorcycling legend passes – and never more so than the death of Joel Robert who, in his prime, was one of those tough motocross guys who seemed utterly invincible. It was August 1971 when I saw the Belgian hero for the first time in action at Dodington Park, near Old Sodbury, in the 250cc British Motocross Grand Prix. I was 16 years old and it was one of my first big solo trips out of the local area on my not-so-trusty BSA C15 SS80 (the chrome-sided tank and mudguards earned it a Sportsman tag!). I say ‘big trip’, the journey from my home near Devizes to Old Sodbury was just under 40 miles – but it seemed like a big deal back then, especially…

Classic World Izzy Whizzy... ... this is what American youngsters used to get busy on in the 1950s. The Whizzer was a cheap-as-chips two-wheeler – a teen favourite pre-dating a certain 50cc Yamaha that captivated the UK’s youth in the ’70s PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY MARGERUM SPORT WAY WE WERE OBITUARIES YOUR CLASSICS LETTERS For American teenagers in the late 1940s and ’50s the Whizzer was a route to motorcycling, much in the same way the Fizzie was to the teenagers of Britain in the 1970s. The first Whizzers appeared in 1939, originally as an engine kit that could be bolted to a Schwinn-style cruiser bicycle frame. The Model D Bicycle Motor, as it was known, cost $54.95 and was produced by a Los Angeles-based company called Breene Taylor Engineering Corporation,…

SPORT WAY WE WERE OBITUARIES YOUR CLASSICS LETTERS For American teenagers in the late 1940s and ’50s the Whizzer was a route to motorcycling, much in the same way the Fizzie was to the teenagers of Britain in the 1970s. The first Whizzers appeared in 1939, originally as an engine kit that could be bolted to a Schwinn-style cruiser bicycle frame. The Model D Bicycle Motor, as it was known, cost $54.95 and was produced by a Los Angeles-based company called Breene Taylor Engineering Corporation, who also made aircraft parts. Only 1000 of the Model D kits, with a roller drive system, were produced in the first year, being superseded in 1940 by the Model E, with an alloy head and redesigned camshaft – but neither the Model D or E were…

The field hurtles into Turn One at the start of the 1971 Daytona 200. It was the age of the superbike and motorcycling was riding a huge wave of interest Stateside at the time, with manufacturer support for the race at an all-time high. The American philosophy of ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ was never more prevalent and the works team entry for the race was huge. BSA and Triumph had five riders, each on triples. Harley-Davidson fielded six of their iron-barrel XRTT V-twins – plus four really top-class privateers. There was an emerging two-stroke presence, too (all still air-cooled bikes) with Kawasaki fielding eight works or semi-works riders on 500cc triples, Suzuki with four on the 500cc twin two-strokes and Yamaha with seven riders on 350cc twins. And while…

Classic World SPORT Daytona 200, March 1971 Hail, hail, the gang’s all here – the works teams turned out in force 50 years ago PHOTOGRAPHY: BAUER ARCHIVE The field hurtles into Turn One at the start of the 1971 Daytona 200. It was the age of the superbike and motorcycling was riding a huge wave of interest Stateside at the time, with manufacturer support for the race at an all-time high. The American philosophy of ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ was never more prevalent and the works team entry for the race was huge. BSA and Triumph had five riders, each on triples. Harley-Davidson fielded six of their iron-barrel XRTT V-twins – plus four really top-class privateers. There was an emerging two-stroke presence, too (all still air-cooled bikes) with…