Laverda 1000 3C – Don’t touch me!
Story and photos: Jim Scaysbrook • Period photos: Lindsay McKay To find a motorcycle sold new in 1974 that is still in absolutely immaculate condition, just as it was when it rolled off the showroom floor, […]
Isle of Man TT
Velocette Model O: O what a feeling!
Story: Dennis Quinlan and Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Dennis Quinlan archives. Could the Velocette Model O have saved the company? It had everything going for it, but the timing wasn’t especially good. When Velocette decided to […]
G45 Matchless: The temperamental twin
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Keith Ward, Dennis Quinlan, Keith Bryen, Jim Scaysbrook “The G45 was very simply a touring motorcycle, anything but inspiring.” These are the words of Australian international racer, the late Keith Bryen, […]
Jack Findlay: Don’t call me Cyril
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Karel Zegers, OBA archives Mike Hailwood once told me that around the original 14 kilometre Spa Francorchamps circuit, there was no one better than Cyril John ‘Jack’ Findlay. That’s high praise […]
Tony McAlpine: The wild colonial boy
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Byron Gunther, Trevor Evans, Keith Bryen Wallace Anthony, or just plain ‘Tony’ McAlpine, died on the Queensland Gold Coast on September 26th 2005, aged 84. With his passing went perhaps […]
Tom Phillis: A bridge too far
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Charles Rice, Keith Ward, Tom Perry The feeling of disbelief that followed the death of Tom Phillis on the Isle of Man in 1962 was palpable. How could Tom, fast […]
Ron Robinson: Never a dull moment
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Keith Ward, Charles Rice, Ron Robinson, FoTTofinders. At the end of 1962, Ron Robinson was at the crossroads. He’d been racing in Australia since 1955, and had honed his skills to […]
Matchless Silver Hawk – Right idea, wrong time
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Brendon Thorne Many regard the ‘thirties as the most fruitful era in terms of motorcycle innovation. Brilliant designs flowed from almost every major British factory. But the events in Wall Street […]
Stevens – The before and after of A.J.S.
Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Jim Scaysbrook and the Stevens family collection. Wolverhampton is famous as the home of the AJS marque, but there is much more to that story, including an Australian connection. “This engine […]
Murphy’s Law: From Brisbane to Ballaugh on a BSA
Original title: Murphy’s Law • Story: Peter Whitaker • Photos: Peter and Julie Murphy At the time (1953) BSA trumpeted Kevin Murphy’s achievement as the first motorcycle journey from the Colonies to England. Not that it was […]
