Ron Boulden: Quick. Smart.
From our Old Bike Archives – Issue 88 – first published in 2020. Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Michael Andrews, Jeff Nield, OBA archives. The first time I met Ron Boulden he was working at […]
Amaroo Park
John Surtees: Il grande John
From our Old Bike Archives – Issue 65 – first published in 2017. Story: Jim Scaysbrook “Speed is not something you find, you’ve either got it or you haven’t.” – John Surtees The Italians called him “Il grande […]
Honda VF750FD: Time for a change
By the late ‘seventies, Honda’s venerable across-the-frame four was looking a bit tired, at least in marketing terms. Inside the world’s biggest producer of motorcycles, it was time for a change. A V change. Leaving […]
Honda CB500: Petite four
Story and photos: Jim Scaysbrook Straddle a Honda CB750 today and it seems like a nice compact package, certainly not overly large by current standards. Yet when it was released in 1969, the media applied […]
Suzuki GSX1100: Four-valve flyer
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Sue Scaysbrook “The fastest standard motorcycle in the world”. That’s not a bad opener in any sales pitch, and it came at a time when motorcycling was all about speed, power […]
Honda CBX 1000: The wide one
Story and photos: Jim Scaysbrook • Technical assistance: Jim Merrick, Tom Battison. Faced with stiffening opposition from all fronts for the title of King of the Road, Honda went for the coup d’état. December 1977. […]
Bryan Hindle: One quick chemist
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Merv Whitelaw, John Hiscock, Rob Lewis, Dick Darby, Greg Heath, Ken Duperouzel. Is there a stereotype motorcycle racer? If so, Bryan Hindle probably would not have fitted the bill; teetotal, […]
1972 Ducati 750 GT: Another beauty from Bologna
It seems everyone was building 750s in the early ‘seventies, but few were as pretty as this one. Story and photos: Jim Scaysbrook • Original photos: Michael Andrews and Jeff Nield. By the time Fabio Taglioni’s […]
Peggy Hyde: Rebel with a cause
Unfazed by reputations, officialdom, or rules, Peggy Hyde showed that gender is no limiting factor in motorcycle racing. Talk to Peggy Hyde today and it is immediately evident that little has changed in her approach […]
1984 Yamaha RZ500: Short-lived sensation
“Hanging on the wall in my garage, I had this photo of Richard Scott on the RZ500 in the 1984 Castrol Six Hour Race. I looked at it every day for years and then I thought, I’ll have to find one […]
