BMW R5 SS – Rare Bavarian beauty
BMWs were not particularly common in Australia in the 1930s, with our entrenched tastes for British and American brands. But down in Geelong, it was a different story, thanks mainly to the efforts of L.F. […]
Bikes
MV Agusta 750S: Appointment with royalty
As far back as the early 1950s, little MV road racers were seen in Australia, albeit in very limited numbers. The SOHC 125 singles and the later DOHC models were very competitive for a short […]
1972 Laverda 750 SFC – Tangerine dream
In 1999 the Guggenheim Museum in New York staged its now iconic exhibition, “The Art of the Motorcycle”, and in the series of machines from the 1970s, the Laverda 750 SFC was a standout, not […]
Steve Roberts – Tin basher to the stars
You would be hard-pressed to find anyone more comfortable with life than Steve Roberts, a man who has had a hand in more successful projects that you would think possible. For someone who arrived in […]
Suzuki GT750: Suzuki’s big wet triple
For six years, Suzuki defied conventional wisdom when everyone else was going four-stroke. What the release of the Honda CB750 in 1969 created was not so much of a rush as a stampede, for this machine […]
A blast on the Britten
There can be few, if any, two-wheeled creations that stir the loins like the Christchurch-built Britten V1000. Even when sitting still and silent, the machine boils with menacing beauty – it simply oozess panache. Even […]
Velocettes in Antarctica
I guess it would be impossible today; taking any motorcycle to the Antarctic, let alone an older, likely oil-leaking one. But, it has been done, not once but at least twice in – 1961 and […]
Honda C71Z – Rarer than rare
For most of us, Honda’s racing history begins with their 1959 incursion at the Isle of Man, where they swept the 125 class and carted off the team award. But that effort was as a […]
Kawasaki 650 W2 SS – Roast or sukiyaki?
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but underneath the BSA-inspired veneer, the Kawasaki W-series twins had plenty of original thinking… From the time the Edward Turner-designed Triumph Speed Twin stopped British Motorcycle Show-goers […]
White knight – Kawasaki Z1B
By the mid 1970s, the Castrol Six Hour Production Race was the biggest thing in Australian motorcycle sport. It had grown like topsy from an argy-bargy affair in 1970, to a heavily trade supported, nationally-televised […]