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News April 2024
Flashback: an
afternoon with Kate, April 29
The sun is out and Kate the Katana was making weird real
or imagined noises...it sounds like a recipe for a good
afternoon. See the story
here.
See our 2020
Hayabusa & Katana feature.
Double Douglas,
April 27
Spotted by Rob Blackbourn at today's All British Rally
gathering in Maldon (Vic), a home-built double-engined
Douglas. Note the custom disc brake front end. Nice work!
See the Douglas
Dragonfly review at Classic Bike Guide.
See our All British Rally galleries: from 2019, plus 2022.
Trivia challenge, April 26
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The parts trivia challenge (above) from last weekend got a few people going, with a few guesses coming close and a couple of picking the solution. It is a recent addition to the fleet, a 1993 Moto Guzzi Daytona 1000.
More on this bike soon. In the meantime, here's our feature on the model.
Saddle buddies,
April 26
Trivia question for the day: what do a 2024 BMW R 1300 GS
Triple Black and an American market 1975 Honda GL1000 Gold
Wing have in common?
Weirdly, the
seating position. The handlebar to rider seat height
measurement is near-as-dammit identical, as is the
handgrip-to-rider-saddle centre measurement, and the
rider saddle to rider footpeg. Maybe those designers,
nearly 50 years ago, were on to something...
Watch this
space for more on the Bimmer and another variant – meanwhile,
here's the factory page;
See the
latest on the Gold Wing in the shed.
Imola Ducati
Auction, April 25
One
of
just seven surviving Imola Ducati 750SS is hitting the
auction circuit with Gooding & Co, in a sale running
May 8-17.
The
historically
important V-twin is expected to fetch Au$1-1.15
million (US$650-750,000, GB£520-600,000).
Darwin for sale,
April 25
We've decided to put our Darwin GS on the market. A quick
recap: we bought this 2001 BMW R1150GS in Darwin mid last
year simply so we could have a nice long 4000km (2500
mile) ride back to Melbourne.
Of course we have two 1150s and one needs to go – see the ownership story.
Find the ad for the Darwin bike on bikesales.
Collector 996
hits $111k, April 24
A new-old-stock 2000 Ducati 996SPS, showing just one mile
on the odo, has sold in the USA
via Bring a Trailer for Au$111,000 (US$72,000,
GB£56,000).
The hugely inflated price can be put down to the
perfectly-preserved out-of-the-crate condition of the
machine, which is the proverbial catnip for investors.
Nevertheless it's a remarkable result given 1780 of the
type were made and this is number 1653.
By way of contrast, a 2001 Ducati 996R sold via Iconic
in the USA last year for Au$66,000 (US$43,000,
GB£34,500). This was number 81 of a more exclusive club,
with just 500 made. It had 3100 miles (5000km) on the odo.
Before you rush to put your own 996 on the market, bikesales
lists seven from Au$15,500 up to Au$32,000
(US$10-21,000, GB£8-17,000). The top price is for the
996SPS shown above, in a condition that suggests careful
checking and a claimed 15,000km (9300 miles) under its
wheels.
See our story on
the Ducati 996SPS Pista
Mystery bit,
April 21
Mystery bit for the week – something to keep you
motorcycling savants busy. Nice clocks and what are they
from? We'll confirm the answer next weekend, here and in
our email newsletter.
You don't get our newsletter? Sign up here –
it's free!
Flashback:
Kawasaki turbo, April 20
It's the 1980s and the big four Japanese makers have had a crack at the idea of turbo motorcycles with varying degrees of success.
When we finally stumped up our own cash for one, it was a Kawasaki GPz750E. See the story here.
And our Turbo
Kings overview of main players, here.
(Pic by Stuart Grant)
Charley run, April 20
If you're a fan of the Long Way Round video series that kicked off in 2004, and arguably helped make adventure touring mainstream in our riding culture, this might appeal.
Charley Boorman, who did the original epic with then more
famous side-kick Ewen McGregor, is signed up to act as
host/figurehead a tour in Australia, among other places.
The Australian version heads from Melbourne to Sydney,
via Tasmania, a 10-day trip of some 3000km. It's not
cheap, but if you have spare cash we suspect it could be a
lot of fun. The folk running
it say they can include bike hire in the event.
Popular BSA,
April 18
A big claim from BSA using the endorsement of ISDT champion Fred Rist. The gent had an impressive track record and a colourful life. See the brief historical piece from Classic Motorcycle.
Flat eight from
China, April 17
Chinese vehicle manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM) is
expected to reveal two new motorcycles at this month's
Beijing Auto Show, running flat-eight DOHC powerplants in
what would appear to be a one-upmanship tactic over
Honda's flat six Goldwing.
See this report
at carandbike.com.
The models are expected to be a 'Wing-like tourer plus a cruiser along the lines of a Valkyrie.
The news has come about thanks to what appears to be some deliberate leaks ahead of the unveiling. Among the material is a series of technical drawings of the powerplant with underslung transmission and shaft final drive. There is no confirmation of engine capacity, but somewhere around 2.0lt would seem likely.
GWM owns several automotive brands, including Great Wall, Haval, Tank and Ora. So far there has been no announcement of a motorcycle brand name.
Chance encounter
– John Surtees, April 17
Ian Falloon, in a post to his Retrospective web feed, recalls a chance encounter with motorcycle and F1 world champion John Surtees. It gives a warm insight into the person behind the victories – see it here.
Brits, Italians,
books and bits – auction results, April 16
British
and Italian motorcycles were flavour of the week
at the recent Donington classic auction, while
project bikes, books and bits found a strong
audience
Honda hunt,
April 14
Honda motorcycle range, 1971. Have you owned or ridden any of them?
It was an interesting time as the 450 twin was on the road to being phased out, while the might CB750-Four, in K1 guise, sold an incredible 77,000 that year – it's biggest ever.
Rare retro:
Kawasaki 650-RS, April 13
You can be forgiven if you've never seen one before – a circa 1972 domestic model Kawasaki 650 twin, based on the old Meguro/W1 platform.
See the W1/2 backgrounder from Old Bike magazine, published by Shannons.
Final weekend
for classic auction, April 13
The Donington classic auction in Australia is in its
final days, finishing up tomorrow afternoon, with some
sorely tempting toys on offer. See our 10-bike
preview.
Casey Stoner
bank-buster & UK bargains, April 11
A recent major auction by Iconic in the UK threw up a weird mix of results, revealing a patchy market, including a former Casey Stoner team Ducati GP7 (which we highlighted last month) that failed to sell. See the story here.
Montesa –
today's random brochure, April 10
You have to love the model names!
See the 1966
Cycle World review of the Impala Sport 250.
Laverda auction,
April 9
This 1981 Laverda Jota 1000 sold through
Collecting Cars last night for Au$25,000 (US$14,000,
GB£11,000).
The model was the last of the 180-degree-engined Jota
line and it's interesting to see the marque gaining strong
interest, even though it's long out of production despite
several attempts at revival.
See the Jota 1000
review at RoadRunner
Norton Nemesis
revival, April 8
Hugely ambitious, to the point of being delusional,
Norton's much-promoted Nemesis 1500cc V8 project of the
late 1990s resulted in the construction of a prototype
which these days belongs to the UK's National Motorcycle
Museum.
A couple of decades down the track, the bike has been
handed over to creative engineer Allen Millyard to restore
and get running properly – something only someone with his
unusual skill set could undertake with any degree of
confidence.
So far, he has produced a series of three
YouTube videos on the project revealing some
spectacularly complex and obtuse design elements.
See the quick Motorcycle Specs backgrounder on
the Nemesis.
Millyard, by the way, has built some exceptional one-offs
over time, including a Kawasaki Z1-based
V8.
See our Norton
Commando profile
(Nemesis pic via Tony Hisgett, Wikimedia
Commons)
Ducati 916 –
defining an era, April 6
Author Ian Falloon looks back at
his very early encounters with the Ducati that
would redefine the marque – the 916. See the story here.
Two, three, four and six pots for
the collector, April 5
Vincent, MV Agusta, Ducati, Triumph, Honda and more catch our eye at the current Donington sale...here are the highlights.
Kawasaki Mach
III, April 4
One of our all-time favourite brochure shots – 1973 Kawasaki H1 500 Mach III.
See the period
road test at Classic Two Wheels.
Flashback: Red
Zed, April 3
A quick spin on the Kawasaki ZX-12R a couple of days ago reminded us of just how much fun it is – it's at risk of becoming a favourite. Here's our wrap from late last year.
Electric
GoldWing challenger, April 3
Emerging Thai electric motorcycle maker Felo has shown off a GoldWing-sized electric tourer prototype called the Tooz, claiming a range of 720km (450 miles). See the story at New Atlas.
Dream run, April
2
We tripped over this 1960 ride impression of the then new Honda Dream C72 250, conducted by The Motorcycle in the UK on the Isle of Man circuit.
The tester rated it as a civilised ride with a few
practical features, though the performance of the
not-quite-run-in engine was scored as average. This model
was about a month away from entering the UK market,
distributed by Maico.
Donington
Auctions has an example up for sale at the moment,
with an estimate of Au$3000-4000 (US$2000-2600,
GB£1500-2000).
Donington
auction begins, April 1
Donington Auctions in Melbourne has
opened bidding for its classic motorcycle auction. Among
the lots is this 1969 Triumph T100R Daytona 500, a US-spec
model which would appear to be in running condition with a
lot of recent work done.
It carries an
estimate of Au$14-17,000 (US$9-11,000,
GB£7-9000).
See the Motorcycle
Specs data and backgrounder.
Single spin,
April 1
A great way to round out the Easter long weekend: taking
Cousin Russell's old Yamaha SR500 out for a spin. A
delightful low-stress ride. (Ben Galli pic.)
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