Table of contents for Issue 20 - Spring 2015 in Retrobike

ABSA Gold Star kicks into life first stab and sends a ripple through the crowd. It sets off a wave of different sounds as others follow suit; airhead boxers, a couple of Guzzis, some Ducatis and a bunch of retro Triumphs, including one that engaged in a valve-bounce contest with an XJR1300. We called it a dead-heat rather than see a dead engine. The call had been put out by Perth Café Racers for all bike owners to smash the silence and simultaneously start their machines. And with that, Rumble in the Valley was born. The noise of laughter replaced the noise of singles, all varieties of twins and a gaggle of Japanese inline four-cylinder engines reaching for their redlines while remaining stationary. Cheers and applause from many in the…

FOR a drinking club with a motorcycle problem, Club Laverda Queensland punches way beyond its weight. Their annual Concours at Cleveland Showgrounds is one of the best attended outdoor bike shows in the land, with a crowd of around 5000 making their way through the gates in 2015 to ogle a diverse bunch of more than 200 motorcycles. A feature that distinguishes it from other shows is a strong trader and club presence, as well as plenty of tucker, a cracking live band and a dyno comp that never ran out of machines willing to be tested. The weather held off, just, to make a great day out. By definition, a Concours d’Elegance is a different pair of underpants to a regular custom or historic show, with the emphasis on…

THROTTLE Roll is a hoot, a massive morning group ride from Sydney to Wollongong, then back to an iconic inner-city pub for an afternoon and night of live music, good times and custom bikes stacked three high on the walls. There is nothing else like it in the country. By my reckoning, around 500 motorbikes assembled early Saturday morning on the Princes Highway at Tempe for the run through the Royal National Park to Stanwell Tops, where the mob regrouped before heading further south over the spectacular Sea Cliff Bridge. Then it was back up the hill at Bulli, cafe racers to the fore, before heading back to the Vic Hotel in Enmore for the main festivities. The ride attracted a broad cross-section of riders, not just the usual hip…

YOU never really know what life is going to dish up some days, even when you’re fairly sure you do know what’s in store. Recently, while I was downing some liquid heart-starter for breakfast, the email pinged and the message said my three-day work gig was postponed for a week. Start next Monday, not this one, sorry. Then the weatherman on the radio said “three days of perfect weather ahead, sunny, 24 degrees … ” And so there I was, at 7am certain I was going to be earning money but bored out of my brain that day, and by 10am I was on my Guzzi heading north, getting away from the city for a while. It was like I’d found a $50 note lying on the footpath — I…

WHEN Herschel Smith from Sydney’s northern beaches decided to return to motorcycling after a lengthy spell doing other stuff, he was keen to pick up where he’d left off. “I had a 1972 Ducati 750 GT when they first came out,” he says. “I was a student and bought it as a wreck; it wasn’t hard to fix. I remember my first ride and thinking, bloody hell, this is terrific! I’d had Hondas before that. “I rode it into the ground over the next four years, then sold it after I finished uni. I got out of bikes, married, had kids. So I hadn’t owned a bike for more than 30 years when I got back into it in 2011.” Herschel bought a 620 Monster to test the waters and…

FROM its inception almost a decade ago, Deus Ex Machina has been all about setting the style of custom bikes, not following it, so it was anyone’s guess how their take on the new BMW R nineT would turn out. We’ve learned to expect the unexpected from the House of Simple Pleasures but few could have anticipated anything as left field as this. “The R nineT has been fettled by some of the world’s best production houses since its release in late 2013,” Deus’s Carby Tuckwell says. “When BMW Australia asked if we’d be interested, we jumped at the opportunity. The bike is already a modern classic so the challenge was intriguing. “Custom bikes can often sacrifice function for style and we wanted this to be an everyday motorcycle. We…

IN RESEARCHING this story, I came across a YouTube clip on another Hazan Motorworks custom, in which the narrator describes art as the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. One glance at this Sportster shows Maxwell Hazan is an artist. He aims to build just a few bikes per year — initially in New York, now in California — and follows his own muse. He starts with an idea that pleases his eye, then works out how to make it work, and work his art does as the photos attest. Max was an interior designer when he was laid up for many months after a serious dirt bike accident. Recovering, he amused himself by fitting a small 200cc engine…

VICTORIAN brothers Ken and Barry Horner are the can-do kids of Australian road racing. Well known for the astonishing success of their Irving Vincent race bikes – created from scratch in their Hallam machine shop – the opportunity to compete at the world’s premier historic race presented a fresh challenge. The Goodwood Revival is Lord March’s annual re-creation of the Way It Was, attracting star riders to compete in front of 85,000 spectators on externally authentic machines. The bikes get just two races. Since 2008, the cut-off date has alternated between pre-1954 and pre-1967, the latter’s 500cc limit making it the preserve of short-stroke Manx Nortons, Matchless G50s and MV Agustas. The earlier period has a 1000cc limit, literally tailor-made for Vincent twins, but reliability and handling problems had always…

OVER the past year or more, we have covered a great variety of information and restoration tips for a number of different types of restorations. There’s the absolute 100-point, must be all original and look brand-new type of build, which is what most of us think of and aspire to when it comes to restoring a motorcycle. Then there is the compromised restoration where we are trying to keep it as close as possible to the original machine, but never quite get there; perhaps the decals, seat material or tyres can’t be obtained anymore, so you have to go with the next best thing or something close. Finally there is the barn-fresh find that would be almost criminal to restore in the normal sense. You don’t want to strip and…

THE Star Bolt is Yamaha’s take on Harley-Davidson’s cheap and cheerful 883 Sportster, and it immediately found a similar market amongst younger riders. For 2015, Yamaha has released its C-Spec (for Cafe) variant complete with clip-ons and rear-sets. It sounds daft but works so well I suspect we’ll soon see Harley return the shout with something similar. Other changes are limited to new tank graphics, R-Spec piggyback shocks as standard, fork gaiters and a cool rear solo seat cowl. Although the cowl is removable, there are no pillion pegs so she or he will have to buy their own bike. Relative to the low seat, the clip-ons are set high and wide, with the reach more akin to a sports tourer than a sports bike. One could say much the…

IT WAS “the sound of that evil triple” that first attracted Craig Johnston to the world of high-performance air-cooled two-strokes, in particular this stunning 1976 KH500 Kawasaki cafe racer that he has owned for almost 20 years and affectionately calls Kermit. “I bought it in 1996 from a mate of mine who had cafe’d it previously but had to sell it due to other commitments,” Craig says. “It was in this basic layout but a bit rough around the edges. I rode it for a few years and it was always a blast with its raw power delivery and sometimes interesting handling. But then things started breaking and, being pretty much pre-internet days, it was near impossible to find parts for it locally. “So I parked it in my father’s…

THE 1970s and early 80s were the golden era of production racing and there was no greater production race in the world than the Castrol 6 Hour. Held at Amaroo Park, a narrow rock-walled 1.9km track north-west of Sydney, the event attracted our best racers, large crowds and widespread television coverage. It was the ultimate test of bikes anyone could buy new in the showroom and was an immensely prestigious race to win. Kawasaki dominated the early years with five straight wins from 1972 to 1976, the last four with the Z1. BMW, Yamaha and Suzuki then had their turns in the sun, but poor old Honda couldn’t win a trick. After taking out the second Castrol 6 Hour with the CB750 in 1971, the best they could manage over…

WHITTAKER Specials. Sounds like a shop but it’s not; it’s just a Facebook page and a sticker that Simon Whittaker puts on all his bikes. The Canberra bus driver is a prolific custom bike builder, turning out a couple of highly creative and detailed specials each year, every one of them a Honda. “I seem to be always thinking about the next project when I’m driving around in the bus,” he says. “I picture the finished bike, the paint scheme and all the little details and parts in my head. I try for a different style each time and then set about making it a reality. “These smaller twins are perfect for me as I’m into vintage bike rallies and shows; most of the VVCMCC and Canberra Café Racers runs…

MENTION the word motorbike to some and it means death and disfigurement, but to others it means the best fun you can have with your clothes on. And of course 100 other things somewhere in between those diametrically opposed viewpoints! I was scanning Faceplant the other day and came across a rant by one of our American cousins that basically stated that bikes were toys, okay for the weekends, and that if one crossed his path he’d pay due care. But heaven forbid that we motorcyclists should have the ordacity to sully his path during the week, in which case we were fair game! It was time we all grew up and bought cars, he reckoned, which by his logic made it our fault if we got skittled. I was…

A MOTORCYCLE trip with mates must be one of life’s best experiences. I have done many over the years, experiencing just about all the highs and lows. As I sit here in the workshop, I reflect on how important it is to prepare both bike and rider for such adventures. Some blokes will fill the tank, throw 15kg of gear on the back and blat off into the unknown. They may get away with it, but if not, a ruined trip will surely be the result. A checklist for preparing your bike is a great idea. Modern bikes don’t need as much care as the classics with their fuel injection, belt and shaft drives and so on, but there are still important checks to be made. As I’m currently riding…