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Old Bike Australasia magazine Issue 10
Classic Cob Out In the Shed
Big Pete ‘Cob’ Smith is a regular figure at swap meets around the country and a bloke with his finger firmly on the pulse of the classic scene.
Honda CX500
30 years after its launch, Derek Pickard retraces the career of Honda’s most unusual motorcycle and explains why such an innovative design was ditched after a brief but successful career. Warren Willing
The sickening crash in the 1979 North West 200 not only ended Frank Kennedy’s life, but the racing career of Warren Willing, former Australian Unlimited Champion and, with Gregg Hansford, the golden boy of the sport Down Under. Despite his dominance in Australia, a number of factors, mostly financially-related, had continually stalled Warren’s efforts to break into the international big-time. Swedish History Reborn – 1934 Husqvarna Factory TT Racer
With all the buzz about stem cell replication of body parts and cloning (not to mention Jurassic Park), it shouldn’t surprise us that the DNA of frozen Siberian Mammoths and Swedish Huskies are now being coaxed out of extinction. The Husky in question however is of the two-wheeled rather than four-legged species, specifically the near-legendary 1934 Husqvarna 500cc Factory TT Facer.
I remember Ken Rumble
A personal recollection of a champion.
The Whiting – An Aussie V-4 from 1919!
Saville Whiting Esq., of Melbourne, was dissatisfied with the handling and comfort afforded by pre-WW1 motorcycle design. He had been a motorcyclist since 1905 and felt that a proper chassis should be complete with springing front and rear to be able to cope with the rutted tracks that passed as roads, at least in the Antipodes.
Snapshot of the common ride
Less than a year after it opened, The Australian Motorcycle Museum, based at Haigslea, 45 minutes west of Brisbane, has already outgrown its premises.
The Empire Twin
With apologies to Val Page
BSA V-twins are not exactly revered for their technical brilliance. That’s why Doug Fraser decided to make his own. Rare Bavarian Beauty – BMW R5 SS
BMWs were not particularly common in Australia in the 1930s, with our entrenched tastes for British and American brands. But down in Geelong, it was a different story, thanks mainly to the efforts of L. F. (Frank) Pratt.
Moorebank Sydney’s Scrambles Centre
In the early post-WW2 years, the now-densely populated southern and western suburbs of Sydney were dotted with scrambles courses. But even in those days, the march of urbanisation was constantly reducing the areas available for motorcycle sport.
Going Sideways German-Style
Geoff Nuske spent 37 years as a technician with the PMG and its later incarnations. For thirteen of those years, from 1972-1985, he was stationed at Gove in the Northern Territory, where he noted that there were “lots of blokes making and spending big money, lots of Japanese and European motorcycles, both on and off-road, but not motorcycle shop”.
Price: $11.50 each (Including postage & Handling)
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