Old Bike Australasia

Old Bike magazine is a must for those who ride as well as the dedicated enthusiast and rebuilder, covering everything from Vintage to early 1980s bikes - marvel at the restoration of machines that could still sit proudly on the showroom floor. Each issue brings you the latest news and results from recent events, race reports and Rally Roundup, along with new and old bike news and reviews, readers letters, Club Directory, What’s On and much, much more.

Old Bike Australasia

EDITOR’S LETTER

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

My Black Knight

OUT IN THE SHED

Norton goes under? • On January 29th, 2020 it was announced that Norton Motorcycles has gone into administration after struggling to pay an outstanding tax bill and facing a winding-up order.

Bonanza set to boom at Easter • The 12th running of the Shannons Insurance Broadford Bike Bonanza kicks off 7am on Good Friday, April 10 and continues until 2pm on Easter Sunday April 12. This year’s theme, ‘American Iron’ will see a vast array of US-built machinery spanning almost a complete century, on display and on-track.

Hugh Anderson a Legend

Festival of Speed’s new look • The 2020 Festival of Speed will be held at Sydney Motorsport Park on 20-22 March 2020, promoted for the 14th year by Post Classic Racing Association of NSW. This year will celebrate our Homegrown Heroes – the riders that raced at world class level.

Townsville circuit launches

Barry Lack honoured

The rock-hopper returns • Back in grandad’s day, Trials, in either Observed or Reliability form, were big.

MV turns 75 • The iconic MV Agusta brand reached its three-quarter century on January 19, 2020.

Don O’Connor – NZ Order of Merit

Les Archer • One of Britain’s most successful motocross riders, LES ARCHER JUNIOR passed away on December 18, 2019 aged 90, in Spain, where he had lived since his retirement.

Vic Eastwood • VIC EASTWOOD, one of the great scrambles stars of his generation, has died at the age of 78 at his home in Kent, UK.

Colin Seeley • Champion sidecar racer, skilled engineer, entrepreneur, tireless worker for charity, COLIN SEELEY passed away on 7th January, 2020 aged 84 following a long illness.

Ken Dyne

Last lap for Last-Lap Kavanagh • With the death of Ken Kavanagh in his adopted home of Bergamo, Italy in November 2019, a chapter closes on the life and times of the most consistently successful Australian rider of the ‘fifties, notwithstanding Keith Campbell’s 1957 World title.

Let’s go scrambling …sort of • It’s easy to dismiss the CL72 (and its bigger-engined brother the CL77), as “just a CB72 with high pipes”. Not so. The CB72 was created to cash in on the new-for-Americans awareness of motocross, which of course had been around for decades in Europe and elsewhere, including Australasia.

A different spin

Catching up with an old friend • Back in the early ‘seventies, Yamaha decided it had to come up with a bike to be able to contest what was then the premier racing event in the world, the Daytona 200; 200 miles of pretty much flat strap racing. The development started in 1972, or there abouts and that bike, the 1973 TZ750A was the result.

Murray the maestro • Even at 82 years of age, Murray Williams shows no sign of slowing down. When I called to talk to him at his home in Adelaide, the ute was in the driveway, loaded with two BSAs (his ‘Black Star’ and his ‘Iron Star’) ready for an early get away the next morning to Macnamara Park, Mount Gambier, four hours away.

AHEAD OF THE GAME • Things pass as a blur at the breakneck speeds that are legally permitted on Germany’s Autobahns, but heading towards the city of Magdeburg on the 2 Autobahn a building looms large on your left. Emblazoned in giant orange letters is the word...