Retrobike Issue 45

Seddo has left the building. He’s passed the baton to me, and my aim is to build on what the editors before me have created, producing a magazine for lovers of retro, in all its forms — from heavily modified bikes like the Yamaha XV1000 Bobber on page 82 … which combines an XV750 chassis with GSX-R suspension … to the brand-new Royal Enfield Classic 350 (page 36) and Harley-Davidson Sportster S (page 8) to features on what generations-past rode, like the 1928 Indian Scout (page 72). “… customising after crash damage or in preparation for racing.” Add in some personalities like Rooth and McIlwraith and you’ve got Retrobike in all its glory. Talking of Rooth, he’s not getting a raise for all his fawning praise of me in this issue’s column ……

IS THIS really a Sportster? How could it be … liquid cooling, four-valve heads, even bloody Euro5 compliance. “... THE EARLY MACHINES SPAWNED THE RACING XR750 ...” The Harley-Davidson Sportster, born in 1957 and grudgingly updated as laws and consumer tastes changed, has never seen such a huge update. Until now all Sportsters were air-cooled 45-degree V-twins, and most models had a silhouette that could be confused for that original 1957 model, if only you squinted hard enough (and removed the back seat, and had one with laced rims, and ignored the disc brakes …). But not anymore. HOW DID WE GET HERE? In the mid-1950s Harley-Davidson was hurting. Lighter, quicker, better handling machines were being imported into the USA in huge numbers and Harley’s big twins were being seen by riders as unreliable, expensive…

BRENDAN JAMES has a plan — he wants to offer the world an Australian motorcycle. To get there, he bought up some of the machinery used to build Holden cars after the factory closed, put together a team and here’s their first effort — a retro styled single known as the TwoStroke. “When I was young, growing up in regional Australia, people were proud to say they owned an Australian-made car. And why not? Australia produced some of the most desirable sedans in the world at the time, and possessed truly world class engineers. While the Australian auto industry has since closed, both Australia and our New Zealand brothers and sisters continue to produce world-class engineers and machinery. Look in any of the large automotive and racing companies in the world, right…

PAUL LEWIS (aka the “Angry Ant”). The Former 500cc GP Skoal Bandit Suzuki works rider and multiple Australian and British Champion, Paul Lewis is the Chief Development Offi cer at SALT Motorcycles. “Brendan (James) told me of his vision — to design and build cool bikes here in Australia. He had already purchased ex Holden production line equipment, so the Aussie-built mantra was already humming. “Of course he needed help to bring his vision to reality. The right man for the job was Stuart Black, a motorcycle enthusiast and a guru of mechanical design. We had several designs and projects on the drawing board ranging from modern day takes of classic designs to new and ground-breaking ideas, which include our very own engines. These projects remain ongoing, and some you will see in…

ENGINE Liquid cooled 2-Stroke Single, eElectric sStart, fuel and oil Injected Displacement: 293.2cc Bore x stroke: 72mm x 72mm Power: 52Hp (38.8kW) @ 8500rpm Torque: 34.5 ft-lb (46.8 Nm) @ 7000rpm Transmission: 6-speed transmission with Rekluse Radius CX clutch CHASSIS KTM with SALT subframe Dry weight: 111kg Fuel capacity: 19L Front brake: 260mm disc Rear brake: 200mm disc Suspension: Front — WP Xplor Inverted (125mm)* Rear — WP Xplor PDS shock (130mm)* *Adjustable to customer specifications Seat height: Standard height is 830mm, though adjustable to customer specifications Front tyre: 110/90-19 Rear tyre: 130/80-18 BODYWORK Paintwork is buyer’s choice. Numerous carbon-fibre parts. BEST Aussie-made two-stroke cafe racer NOT SO GREAT Wheel sizes for track use…

“… BOTH CARBURETTORS ARE BETWEEN THE BARRELS.” WITH LOTS of parts in the boxes in his shed, a history of building interesting motorcycles and retirement time on his hands, Sedge Deste has built another amazing machine. This time it’s a bit of a Frankenstein’s Monster, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, some parts used the way you’d expect, other times not. “Everything needed restoring,” Sedge told me when I visited to shoot the machine. “It was in rough condition, which is why so much of it was here, waiting for a project.” The most recent Deste machine featured in Retrobike was a Suzuki T500 two-stroke twin, something radically different to this bike, but the man likes his large capacity V-twins as well as his two-strokes. So the…