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News July 2024
Farewell Graeme,
July 25
One of the real characters and
contributors in the world of motorcycling in Australia,
Graeme Laing has passed away at age 86.
Graeme was a gentle voice of enthusiasm
and sanity in the industry, where he worked as a senior
manager. He and partner Bunty were lynchpins of the
high-profile Sandringham Motorcycle Club in Victoria for
decades, while Graeme himself was an enthusiastic racer.
His son Scott summed up Graeme's career:
"He raced from 1955 until around 2000
on a variety of machines. He was Victorian state manager
for Suzuki (Melbourne Motorcycle Company) in South
Melbourne, and then Victorian state manager for Yamaha
in Mulgrave until around 2005. He was also heavily
involved in the Sandringham Motorcycle Club for over 60
years."
Pic by Robin Lewis
Nabiac run, July
24
We're in sunny Nabiac, NSW, today to see
some 1989 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix memorabilia
handed over and installed in the National
Motorcycle Museum. And to cruise through the massive
displays.
The first pic is just a taste of what's
on offer...we'll soon unwrap more with a feature and
interview with owner Brian Kelleher (second pic).
Meanwhile the third pic is Roger
Lawrence pointing to the monogrammed shirt organiser
and ringmaster Bob Barnard wore for the event. Both he
and Barnard donated a selection of memorabilia that
you won't find anywhere else.
Benelli six
coming up, July 22
Meet one of those bikes that hasn't yet made it into our shed, but is very high on the shopping list: Benelli's 750 Sei six from the 1970s – in this case a 1978 example.
It's part of a
September auction being set up by Donington in
Melbourne (Australia). No details yet, though the estimate
is Au$25-35,000 (US$16-23,000, GB£13-18,000).
You can preview
the auction, here.
See some of the bikes that are
resident in, or have passed through, our fleet.
The Honda of
happiness, July 21
We're always delighted to see a simple
and happy image of a motorcycle, particularly when
it's in a brochure or ad. Like the one for this 1971
Honda CB750-Four K1.
The K1 represented the biggest
production run for the series – a monumental 77,000.
We have a run-down on the production numbers in our model
profile.
Solid buys at UK
auction, July 20
The UK's National Motorcycle Museum
generally runs a couple of auctions a year to clear excess
stock and the most recent event proved to be a happy
hunting ground for anyone looking for a sharp deal.
For example the 2006 Ducati
Paul Smart replica shown above had 45,000km in
the odo (unusually high for this model) and went for
Au$13,800 (US$9200, GB£7130).
See our
Ducati SportClassic range profile.
Meanwhile a reasonably tidy-looking
1976 BMW R90S in smoke gray went for just
a little more at Au$14,500
(US$9700, GB£7495).
See the
full auction catalogue.
Spotted: NSU
collection, July 18
A small clutch of rare NSU motorcycles has emerged from a country shed and will soon be on sale in Victoria, Australia...see the story here.
Millyard crank,
July 17
British mechanical maestro Allen
Millyard has published another two episodes of his
Norton V8 Nemesis build – now we're up the crankcase,
conrods and liners. Enjoy...
Freddie's Guzzi,
July 16
Cast your mind back...who's that with the Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000? Yep, it's none other than GP legend Freddie Spencer, who famously won the 250 and premier 500 world championships in the same year – 1985.
In fact he was near-unbeatable that year, which he began
by winning the Daytona 200, plus the 250 and Formula 1
classes at the same meeting.
The pic is a still from a Facebook video
where he's talking about racing a Moto Guzzi early
in his career.
It's a promo for the Classic
Superbikes Museum in Gifhorn, Germany.
See our Moto
Guzzi Daytona 1000 profile.
Pack your bike,
July 15
Young Dave Milligan of international
motorcycle tour company Get Routed reckons he has a few
spots available for 2025, taking your bike to New Zealand,
and the UK. He's also running a tour to the Isle of Man
TT.
Here's what he has to say:
I
have shipments going to New Zealand in January, from
Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne at $2855 return per bike.
Most
clients are planning on attending the Burt Munro
Challenge in Invercargill then doing a lap of NZ
before the return shipment on March.
January
through to March is the best time to visit NZ on a bike
as that's when the Summer is at its best. There
are still places available: Brisbane two spots, Sydney
five spots and Melbourne six spots. There will only be
one container from each.
I
also have shipments going to the UK in February, from
Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne at $4985 return per bike.
I do
have bookings out of Sydney and Melbourne. Six of
them are coming with me to the Isle of Man TT and then
touring Europe for up to five months. The rest are
simply touring Europe for three or six months. I have
two TT spots still available.
I
can be contacted via dave@getrouted.com.au or
tel 0412 689 849.
(Pics: burtmunrochallenge.co.nz,
iomttraces.com)
Low-flying roadster:
BMW M 1000 R, July 14
BMW's decision to build a roadster around a full-house S 1000 RR powerplant produced a spectacularly good toy...see the story and video, here.
Flashback:
Goodwood Revival 2014 – the fast and the quirky, July
12
If
you want a full-on historic motorcycling event
that's both fast and quirky, go to the UK. We
were digging around in the archives recently and
up popped a gallery from the colourful and
hugely entertaining Goodwood Revival...from a
decade ago.
Among
the guests were Australian rider Bob Rosenthal
and Kiwi contemporary John Woodley. They were
there to race historics in an event that proved
to be appallingly fast – so much for growing old
gracefully!
Woodley,
by the way, is facing some serious health issues
at the moment and could do with some help – see his
crowd-funding page.
Harleys, guns
and passports, July 11
In today's episurd of the Beattie
files, young Chris meets the gun-toting definition of
a colourful character. See it here.
Custom Bucket
Bag, July 11
The effervescent Andy Strapz
has decided to create custom versions of his
courier-style Bucket Bag. Here's what he has to say:
We offered our monthly newsletter
subscribers the opportunity to have their Bucket Bag
custom-made. Because we can. Now we're making FB
followers the same offer.
There are three choices of our CS12 heavy canvas body
colour; red, black and drab green. Mix and match the
flap and outer pocket, which will be leather on these
one-off bags. Clips, webbing and zips will be black.
All you have to do is list the three
components (body, flap and pocket) and the colour
options you'd like in an email to info@andystrapz.com with
the subject line: Bucket... I'll do it!.
We'll send an invoice for direct deposit and make them
up when we have a few sorted.
Include all the following info:
I'd like...
Body colour:
Flap colour:
Outer pocket colour:
Your Name...
Town/City/Suburb for freight
calculations:
And yep, AllMoto
is having a crack, in our racing colours...
Buying a private
import, July 10
The good folk at bikesales recently asked us to stitch together some advice on buying a recent import like this first-edition Suzuki Hayabusa, whether you take the DIY route or do it through a professional.
As we point
out in the story, looking at overseas markets means
you have access to a much bigger pool of toys. See it here.
See our
Suzuki GS1300R Hayabusa resources page
Litre day, July
7
Today the exercise yard at Chateau Guido was occupied by a couple of the litre bikes: the 1993 Moto Guzzi Daytona and 1981 Honda CBX1000 Prolink. The Guzzi is very Italian with weird ergonomics and a delightful engine.
We're due to do a story on this bike...soon. In the meantime
here's a profile on the model.
Meanwhile the Honda is big, heavy and comfortable, with a hackle-raising snarl from the inline six. We've published a feature on this bike, which you can find here.
Eclectic
auction, July 6
Slattery in Adelaide has an eclectic
mix of bikes coming up for auction. It includes an
early Yamaha R1, a couple of early Hayabusas, a couple
of Honda CBX750 variants that weren't offered in the
local market, a BMW K1, a couple of MV Agustas, and
more. See it here.
Nemesis build
update, July 6
Allen Millyard's YouTube series on the rebuild of the
Norton Nemesis V8 prototype has become compulsory (or is
that compulsive?) viewing at AllMoto. This
episurd, he's doing a trial build of the bottom end to
make sure some critical components are working. See it here.
GP memories, July 6
Does anyone out there recall the ground-breaking and epic
1989 Australian GP at Phillip Island? Believe it or not,
that was 35 years ago. All this time later, local rider
Roger Lawrence and event creator/organiser Bob Barnard
have dug out a heap of paraphernalia from the event, such
as the shirt shown here, which is soon to be donated to
the National
Motorcycle Museum in Nabiac.
It's happening on the morning of July 24, so if you've
been looking for an excuse to visit, there it is...
See the AMCN
retrospective on the event.
Heavy metal Saturday, July 6
It's been a day for getting a couple of the heavyweights
out of the shed: one of our 1975 Honda Gold Wings, and the
2009 Indian Chief Vintage.
We finally got to use the oddball Honda timing window we
bought a little while ago, and now have a smooth-running
flat four, hopefully ready for the big ride we have
planned for next year. More on all that,
here.
.
Meanwhile we have hopefully cured an oil leak from the
primary drive case on the Indian, which desperately needed
a run after a lay-off of several months. More on this
bike, here.
Super Cub flash
mob, July 5
With the news that Honda is ceasing
production of the Super Cub 50 now that it can no
longer meet emission regulations, we were alerted to this fun 2017
Vietnamese ad for the legendary step-thru.
Enjoy...
Of course the model was remembered for decades in the
west for being part of the 1960s You meet the nicest
people on a Honda campaign out of the USA.
See the cinema/TV
commercial compilation from that era.
See the Spannerman
story on his example, at Info Moto.
Speaking of legendary early Hondas, see our CB72 and CB77 Super Hawk profile.
Flashback: Speed
Triple tales, July 4
A couple of
years back we adopted a first-gen Triumph Speed Triple
900, which was the pick of the T300 series Triumphs
when it came to looks. See our story
on it here.
Plus the
period test from Classic Two Wheels.
Big Suzi
all-rounder, July 2
Okay, we'll admit it – Suzuki's
GS850/1000/1100G series holds a special place in our heart
here at AllMoto. Big, boofy, and basically
bulletproof, they have one of the most comfortable
motorcycle seats ever invented and these days qualify as a
classic that will cross the country without fuss.
This circa 1980 example has had a
cosmetic freshen-up, including paint, rechromed headers
and fresh mufflers made to the original pattern. Located
in South Australia, it's on the
market via Facebook at $10,500 (US$7000, GB£5500).
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