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News March 2025
Zed
legend, March 19
Is there any chance the
creators of Kawasaki's Z1 900 understood how enduring
the model would prove to be?
See the
1972 road test from Classic Two Wheels.
Plus our
Kawasaki Z1-R profile.
Ducati's
first sports bike, March 18
We reckon this is one of the
prettiest motorcycles you'll come across – a 1950
Ducati 60 Sport.
It was an enormously important
machine in the early history of the company.
According to The Ducati Story by Ian Falloon, "It
was the first real Ducati motorcycle," and
followed on from a successful line of clip-on
engines and mopeds. Of course it led to much
greater things.
Classic Avenue in the USA has it on the market. Bidding is at Au$4900 (US$3100, GB£2400) with a day to go.
See Ian's piece
on another early single, the 125 Sport.
New
injection for V8 Norton, March 17
The inimitable Allen Millyard has made another major step forward with the Norton Nemesis V8 rebuild, making up a one-off fuel injection system using Honda CBR600 throttle bodies and a bespoke ECU. See the video at his YouTube channel.
Reminder:
Get to the
All-Brit, March 16
The apparently
inexhaustible BSA Motorcycle Owners Association in Vic
is once again hosting the All British Rally, on its
traditional Anzac Day weekend.
This is a major highlight on the annual riding calendar, attracting hundreds of bikes which takes over the town of Maldon on the Saturday morning, effectively turning into a giant motorcycle show.
The rally itself is at a large campsite in nearby Newstead (close to Castlemaine in Victoria).
One of the highlights is entrants
go into the draw for the gate prize, which is a
(of course) British motorcycle. This year it is a
circa 1999 Triumph 955 Sprint ST, a model that
happens to be a really capable all-rounder.
Follow
this link to book your ticket.
We have a couple of rally
pictorials online:
See our Triumph Sprint ST 1050 profile.
Suzuki
star, March 15
All hail the mighty 1979
Suzuki GS1000S, complete with Wes Cooley livery – a
replica of the machine that established Suzuki in the
'superbike' game and went on to give it traction in
the world of performance street bikes. This is one
we'd love to have in the shed, though good examples
are elusive.
In the meantime, you can
see our feature on the closely-related GS-G
series which links to the highlights of the
Cooley, Baldwin and Crosby superbike heydays.
Not
a great time to sell, March 14
A recent auction via
Collecting Cars has highlighted that selling a
late-model high-end motorcycle has some risks.
Ducati's Panigale V4 Superleggera
was arguably at the top of the performance bike
heap when it was launched back in 2021. Production
was 500 units and getting a set of keys would have
cost you Au$150,000 (US$94,500, GB£73,000).
This example, with just under
3200km (2000 miles) on the odo, sold for
Au$91,000 (US$57,300, GB£44,300).
See the Ducati stories on a
Features page.
Laverda
legend at auction, March 13
A 1974 Laverda 750 SFC – one of the legendary hard-edged
sports bikes of the era – is coming up for auction.
Author Ian Falloon once owned this example and has used
the sale as an opportunity to talk about the breed. See the story via
his thoroughly enjoyable Substack feed. We can
recommend subscribing.
See the auction
listing at Bring a Trailer.
See our 750 SFC
feature, also by Falloon.
Cafe
Racer Nirvana, March 12
Buying this 2016 Triumph Thruxton 1200 R has turned out to be a great decision. See the story here.
Random
rarity: SIS Sachs V5, March 11
Here's our random rarity
for the day, a beautifully-restored 1975 SIS Sachs V5
Sport from Portugal.
It was recently offered by Classic
Avenue in the USA and went for Au$3600 (US$2250,
GB£1800). See the
listing here.
Speaking of unusual bikes, see our story on
the museum that recently moved from Peterborough to
Mannum in South Australia.
David
vs Goliath – round 2, March 11
The day Geoff's Harley killed a giant road sweeper – see the story here.
Supercharged
Speed Triple, March 10
Looking for something to
liven up the shed? This supercharged Triumph Speed
Triple 1200 out of the UK claims 400 horses, is
street-legal, and is for sale at a hefty Au$113,000
(US$71,000, GB£55,000). See the story
at Bikeexif.
Saturday
cruiser or bruiser? March 8
After spending the best part of a day wrestling with a project in the shed and scoring the whole effort as a nil-all draw, it was time to go and play in the traffic. And what better way to wind down than with a heavyweight cruiser?
Our Kings Mountain 2009
Indian Chief Vintage has the distinct advantage of
starting as soon as you look hard enough at the
button, and being an undemanding ride with plenty of
character to keep you amused. Some days, that's all
you want.
Other days, you need the
angle grinder of the fleet – namely the MV Agusta F4
Nero.
What are they like to own? We're
now heading into our tenth year of stewardship of
the Indian. See the
update we did back in mid-2023.
And you
can read our much-updated story on the MV
Agusta, here.
Hero
Honda V-twin, March 7
Today's random brochure: Honda
VTR1000 SP-1. Honda's superbike homologation
special proved the company was no slouch when it
came to building fast and sexy V-twin road bikes.
See our
profile on the series.
Last of the bevels: Ducati MHR
Mille
, March 6
Was the final bevel Mike Hailwood
Replica the best of the line? Ian Falloon reckons
it was a great ride and certainly the most
reliable, but wasn't perfect. See the
story here.
New-fangled
tourers – 50 years later, March 5
Back in 1975, Honda
launched what was then considered to be an innovative
behemoth of a machine – namely the GL1000 Gold Wing.
With its liquid-cooled boxer four engine, it was seen
in part as an exercise in one-upmanship over the likes
of BMW with its air-cooled boxer twins.
In Australia, the GL1000 retailed
for Au$2595 (US$1625, GB£1270) while the BMW R75/6
of that year was priced at a comparatively steep
Au$2875 (US$1800, GB£1410). If you wanted the
bigger engine in the R90/6, you were up for $3045
(US$1905, GB£1490).
Among the six bikes in our
exercise yard today were these two, a GL1000 and
R75/6 both celebrating their 50th birthday.
You can
see the story on our R75 right here;
We also
have a profile on the GL1000;
And the
story on our 50th anniversary ride down the east
coast of Australia.
Guzzi's
big tourer, March 2
It's 1975 and Lester Morris is testing the big
new Moto Guzzi 850-T for Two Wheels
magazine: "As indicated,
the
performance of the big iron is very impressive indeed.
Long distances can be covered at high speeds for hours
on end, and with no deleterious effects upon machine or
rider.
"It is doubtful if many motorcycles would see the thing
off in a sustained point-to-point burst for its handling
is also of the highest possible order, if a little
harder to get used to than many machines with more
'normal' design features."
See the full
story at Classic Two Wheels
And our Moto
Guzzi Daytona 1000 profile
Millyard's
Nemesis, March 1
Allen Millyard's latest Facebook post on the Norton Nemesis V8 he's restoring: "I’m really pleased that the Norton V8 is now starting and running a lot better with no oil, coolant or fuel leaks or smoke.
"John McGuinness commented after one of its many
start-ups at the Motorcycle News London
show that it 'sounds a bit retarded'.
"So I’ve just checked the static timing setting using the laptop programming software and found the ignition timing was 10 degrees retard across the entire rev range!
"Easy fix by simply changing a number in a box on the screen! Can’t wait to start it and hear the difference."
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