AllMoto's Motorcycle Investor mag

 

allmoto logo

Motorcycle Investor mag

Subscribe to our free email news

News July 2024

Go for a ride, July 31

royal
              enfield one ride

Royal Enfield is telling us all to get out there for a ride on September 22, if you own one of its products. It seems as good an excuse as any...more here.

royal enfield kx 1937

See our feature on the spectacular 1937 Royal Enfield KX V-twin.

Flashback: How to shoot your motorcycle for an ad, July 30

honda gold wing

Good pics can make a big difference when it comes to selling a motorcycle. Here's how to get them...

Maintenance? It's a cinch! July 28

honda
                cb750-four engine

Today's Sunday read, from the legendary Mr Smith:

The Immutable Laws of Mechanics always prove an almost insurmountable obstruction and tend to propel me toward the abyss of psychological collapse. To illustrate, let me tell you all about what happened when I attempted to change the oil filter on my new cycle, Rhonda the Honda...see the full story at Classic Two Wheels.

More Honda resources on our feature page

Pic by Ben Galli

Ducati 750 GT – time machine, July 27

ducati 750 gt

We've jumped back to 1998 and this 1971 Ducati 750 GT (at top) is up for sale via classified mag Just Bikes for Au$9990 (US$6600, GB£5000). What's it worth now? See our entry in Time Machine...

Farewell Graeme, July 25

graeme
              laing by rob lewis

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."

Graeme was sometimes notable for his quirky choice of mounts and riding gear. One of the bikes which made him a little famous was his super-fast Suzuki step-thru. See the AMCN review on that bike.

Pic by Robin Lewis

Nabiac run, July 24

nabiac national motorcycle museum

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.

nabiac national motorcycle museum

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).

nabiac national motorcycle museum

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

benelli
              six

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).

See our 750 Sei profile.

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

honda cb750 k1

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.

Plus, see the K1 in our shed.

Solid buys at UK auction, July 20

ducati paul
              smart replica

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.

bmw r90s

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 our R90S profile.

See the full auction catalogue.

Spotted: NSU collection, July 18

nsu

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

Freddie Spencer
              Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000

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

Dave Milligan

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.


burt munro
              challenge

 

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.


isle of man tt

 

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.nziomttraces.com)

 

Low-flying roadster: BMW M 1000 R, July 14

bmw m 1000 r

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

goodwood revival motorcycles

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.

goodwood rosenthal and woodley

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!

See the gallery, here.

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

dave
              barr

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

andy strapz
              bucket bagz


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.

andy strapz
              bucket bagz


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

suzuki hayabusa gen 1

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

moto guzzi daytona

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.

honda
              cbx1000

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
              motorcycle auction

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.

slattery
              motorcycle auction

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

aust gp shirt

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

honda gold
              wing

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.

honda
              gold wing

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.

indian
                chief vintage.
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...

honda
              c50

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.

honda cb72

Speaking of legendary early Hondas, see our CB72 and CB77 Super Hawk profile.

Flashback: Speed Triple tales, July 4

triumph speed triple

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.

triumph speed triple brochure

And our profile on the model;

And the T300 series profile;

Plus the period test from Classic Two Wheels.

Big Suzi all-rounder, July 2

suzuki
              gs1000g

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).

suzuki
              gs1000g

See our GS-G series profile.


News archive

-------------------------------------------------

Produced by AllMoto abn 61 400 694 722
Privacy: we do not collect cookies or any other data.

allmoto logo

Try our books...

Travels with Guido book


youtube

YouTube

Instagram

Instagram

facebook

Facebook

Email newsletter

Archives

News archive

Features

Our Bikes stories

Travels with Guido columns

Contact

About AllMoto

Email me