Kawasaki H2: Maligned triple is a true classic
From our Old Bike Archives – Issue 99 – first published in 2022. Story: Peter Laverty • Photos: OBA archives. Many regarded the 750cc H2 as merely an abrogation of the hair-raising H1 500, but […]
Warren Willing
Ron Grant: The Pan Pacific Series 1972
From our Old Bike Archives – Issue 90 – first published in 2020. Story: Peter Laverty • Photos: Robin Lewis. Flamboyant London-born American Ron Grant tamed the beastly TR750 Suzuki to claim Australia’s first international […]
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 […]
Stuart Avant: So close to stardom
From our Old Bike Archives – Issue 64 – first published in 2017. Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Rob Lewis, Phil Hall, Stan Shephard. Christchurch-born Stu Avant had talent to burn, but having a good time was equally […]
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 […]
Z1 Kawasaki: New York steak… well done.
It was late 1972 when the Z1 arrived in Australia, initially in very small numbers. But the Z1 story had begun almost six years previously at Kawasaki’s Akashi factory in central Japan; the task being […]
Gregg Hansford: Talent to burn
The Gregg Hansford versus Warren Willing battles define the ‘seventies period of Australian motorcycle racing. Yet despite prodigious skill, both left careers unfulfilled… for different reasons. Story: Jim Scaysbrook • Photos: Rob Lewis, Michael Andrews, Warren […]
Len Atlee: Quite a career
Towards the end of the 1960s, a group of callow youths from the south of Sydney, though somewhat intimidated by the stories they’d heard, decided to take the plunge and ride their shiny new Japanese […]
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 […]
