Velocette Sportsman: Sent to the colonies
With Velocette in its death throes, a small batch of bespoke 500s escaped before it was too late… Hall Green, Birmingham in 1969 was not a happy place to be. The spectre of the ill-fated […]
Bikes
Triumph X-75: A short-lived Hurricane
Conceived and developed in total secrecy and funded out of petty cash, the bike that eventually ended up as the X-75 Triumph Hurricane has become one of the most influential designs in motorcycling history. BSA […]
Rated XR – Harley-Davidson XRTT
If there is one enduring image that defines the XRTT, it is of the unassuming Californian Cal Rayborn serving it up to the Brits in the Trans Atlantic Match Race series in 1972. Not only […]
Liberty Yamaha – The Australian Yamaha
Designed in Australia and built in Japan. This is how the press cuttings of 1960 described the Liberty Yamaha Ranch model which was derived from the 1959 Yamaha YDS1 250cc sports motorcycle. Designed and manufactured […]
Chesterfield Superbike Series: Part 2
From a wobbly start, the Chesterfield Superbike Series had rounded off the 1973 season in a big way, and Chesterfield took little convincing to continue their involvement. The original ‘5000’ tag disappeared for the simple […]
Chesterfield Superbike Series: Part 1
These days, the term Superbike has slipped into the language as a definitive term just like Biro or Hoover. It proliferated in Europe and particularly America in the mid 1970s, but make no mistake, Superbike […]
Honey, I shrunk the Goldie!
We have met Phil Reeves before in the pages of OBA. He’s the chap with the insatiable appetite for BSA Bantams, to the point that his shed now holds around 35 examples of the little […]
Spin Doctors: The Rotary Valve Cylinder Head
The rotary valve cylinder head has been around longer than the motorcycle, falling into, and out of favour on a regular basis. There’s a school of thought that says this system offers so many advantages […]
On yer bike, Constable.
Mal Grant turns the clock back more than a century to trace the introduction of the motorcycle to the Victorian Police Force. The story of Victoria’s police involvement with motorcycles can only begin with an […]
SD900 Ducati Darmah: An Alsatian in Tiger’s clothing
Friday night was pub night back in the seventies and early eighties. Our watering hole was the Old Commodore Hotel at Blues Point (North Sydney) where a bunch of us with a common interest in […]
