Historic Motorcycle Reviews and Features | MCNews.com.au

When Ceccato made motorcycles… 1961 Ceccato 125 4T GTS

Phil Aynsley — Fri, 03 May 2024 02:23:55 +0000

1961 Ceccato 125 4T GTS With Phil Aynsley Ceccato was founded by Pietro Ceccato in 1934 after he won the Italian Championship on a Rudge. Pietro was a qualified doctor who was working as a pharmacist before turning his hand to making motorcycles. The company he founded had first manufactured industrial items such as hydraulic […]

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The BMW R 100 RS changed expectations… permanently

Ian Falloon — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 01:39:49 +0000

BMW R 100 RS Ian Falloon When BMW released its ground-breaking R 90 S fifty years ago, it changed the popular perception that BMW motorcycles were staid, stodgy, and only suitable for wealthy geriatrics. That changed in an instant after Hans A Muth created a styling masterpiece, and the R 90 S was a real […]

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The motorcycle that started it all for BMW Motorrad

Ian Falloon — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 03:34:21 +0000

BMW R32 With Ian Falloon Although BMW’s origins go back to 1913, when Karl Rapp established an aircraft engine factory in Munich, it wasn’t until a decade later that they produced their first motorcycle. Since that time, BMW has produced singles, twins, triples, fours, and sixes, but the enduring layout has been the boxer twin […]

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Kawasaki H1RA – The bike that Rusty Bradley lost his life on at Daytona

Phil Aynsley — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 00:40:20 +0000

Rusty Bradley’s Kawasaki H1RA With Phil Aynsley Phil wrote a column quite a while back on Kawasaki’s first 500 cc GP racer, the H1R of 1970 (1970 Kawasaki H1R 500 Triple). Here, Phil thought we could look at the company’s follow-up model, the H1RA. Fewer RAs were built than H1Rs—about 10 and 60, respectively. Most […]

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Franco Ringhini’s 50 cc Racer

Phil Aynsley — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 23:22:34 +0000

Franco Ringhini 50 cc Racer With Phil Aynsley Franco Ringhini was an unusual combination of rider and designer who began his career at Guazzoni racing their 1965 50cc Matta. In subsequent years, he continued racing but also became the company’s main designer. Italy’s first rotary-disc 2-stroke was a Guazzoni. Ringhini’s designs were notable for having […]

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Retrospective – Ducati 999R – Not as pretty as the 916 series, but far superior

Ian Falloon — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 23:29:00 +0000

Ducati 999R With Ian Falloon The 999 replaced Ducati’s seminal 916 series for 2003. Pierre Terblanche was entrusted with the project and, as expected, the 999 retained many of Ducati’s trademark features but was purposefully long, low, and narrow to reduce frontal area. For the first time, a sports bike was ergonomically designed with the […]

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The history behind the Rickman Honda CR750

Ian Falloon — Thu, 07 Mar 2024 01:36:00 +0000

Rickman Honda CR750 With Ian Falloon When Honda released the CB750 it set a new standard for performance and reliability but for many enthusiasts the Honda was too heavy, and the handling not up to the finest British standard. But while the handling was perhaps not up to scratch, the Honda was totally reliable and […]

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Norton flew the rotary flag with their F1 JPS

Ian Falloon — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 00:15:04 +0000

Norton Rotary F1 JPS With Ian Falloon Although some manufacturers expended considerable time and cost on development, the Wankel rotary engine always struggled to find acceptance amongst the conservative motorcycle buyer. The first rotary motorcycle, the Hercules W2000, promised much but was never available in sufficient quantities, while the thirsty Suzuki RE5 arrived in the […]

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1960 BMW R 60 Plunger Restomod by Sydney’s MotoRRetro

Andrew Jones — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:45:18 +0000

1960 BMW R 60 Plunger Restomod By Andrew Jones It’s not uncommon for critics of custom motorcycles to dismiss the efforts of their builders as having taken the holy grail of the original factory design and messed with it to make it worse. Could it be that all the hard work and painstaking research originally […]

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Yamaha YZR500 0WC1 in feature pictorial

Phil Aynsley — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 02:16:46 +0000

Yamaha YZR500 0WC1 With Phil Aynsley The 1990 YZR500 0WC1 was the bike that Wayne Rainey won his first 500 cc World Title on. Compared to the previous year’s 0WA8, the chassis positioned the headstock closer to the rider and a lower castor angle was used. The motor saw an increase in power from 150 […]

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1947 Indian Chief – The motorcycle that almost saved Indian from going broke…

Ian Falloon — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 01:14:54 +0000

Indian Chief 1947 With Ian Falloon Although the original Indian company folded as far back as 1953, few makes of motorcycles still command such a dedicated following. Indian began in 1901 when George Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom launched Indian Motocycles (without the “r”) in Springfield, Massachusetts. The company was staggeringly successful and by 1911 had […]

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Paul Yaffe turns his customising hand to the R 18 Transcontinental

Motorcycle News — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 22:34:15 +0000

BMW Motorrad R 18 One Eight “C” BMW has unveiled yet another one-off custom R 18 and this time around the bespoke creation started out as an R 18 Transcontinental. Customising icon Paul Yaffe first got to know the R 18 Transcontinental over 10,000 kilometres of riding across America, including a return trip to Sturgis […]

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Triumph X75 Hurricane – One of Triumph’s most coveted triples…

Ian Falloon — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 00:28:35 +0000

Triumph Hurricane With Ian Falloon Nowadays the factory custom is taken for granted as an integral part of mainstream motorcycling. Harley-Davidson has almost made it an art form, and nearly all other manufacturers have followed suit. Yet it was BSA that pioneered this now successful concept, with Craig Vetter’s strikingly styled X75 Hurricane of 1973. […]

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Suzuki GT750 – Suzuki’s two-stroke triple

Ian Falloon — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 22:54:21 +0000

Suzuki GT750 With Ian Falloon Considering Suzuki’s success over the last thirty years with their GSX-R-series of four-cylinder Superbikes, it’s hard to imagine that back in 1970 Suzuki only produced two-strokes. And when they decided to enter the Superbike war, up against the mighty Honda CB750 and wicked Kawasaki H2 triple, not surprisingly Suzuki decided […]

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The Velocette Thruxton was a bike out of its time

Ian Falloon — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 22:39:43 +0000

Velocette Thruxton With Ian Falloon It’s difficult to imagine a contemporary motorcycle manufacturer introducing a new motorcycle arguably already thirty years out of date, but that’s what Velocette did in 1965 with their Thruxton. The new Velocette model had more in common with 1930s racing bikes than the then current wave of British parallel twins, […]

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The pinnacle of Triumph’s Bonneville 1968-1970

Ian Falloon — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 19:14:25 +0000

The pinnacle of Triumph’s Bonneville 1968-1970 With Ian Falloon A great wine, such as a Grange Hermitage or Chateau Lafitte, will always have a vintage year; that particular year where the weather conditions were just perfect, and the grapes at their peak. The same can be said about certain motorcycles, and the 650cc T120 Triumph […]

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Bimota DB1 – The bike that saved Bimota from bankruptcy

Ian Falloon — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:25:03 +0000

Bimota DB1 With Ian Falloon During the 1980s Bimota had a reputation as one of the world’s leading specialist frame builders. Alongside providing World Championship winning racing frames for the Harley-Davidson and Yamaha two-stroke twins, Bimota also produced frames for Honda, Suzuki, and Kawasaki engines. It wasn’t until 1985 that the first all-Italian Bimota appeared, […]

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Kawasaki KZ1000-S1 Factory Replica Superbike

Ian Falloon — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 21:55:07 +0000

1982 Kawasaki KZ1000-S1 Factory Replica With Ian Falloon Although Yvon DuHamel won the first “Superbike” race in the U.S., an exhibition race at Laguna Seca in 1973 on a Yoshimura Z1, it wasn’t until 1975 that production racing became popular in the U.S. That year Dave Aldana won the Heavyweight Production race at Daytona, with […]

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Wayne’s Lap of Italy on the KTM SMT – Part Three

Wayne Vicko — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 21:48:56 +0000

Touring Europe on the KTM 890 SMT – Part Three San Gimignano to Mattighofen With Wayne Vickers See Part One | See Part Two | See the KTM 890 SMT Review here (link) Day Eight San Gimignano – Castellina – Greve – Florence – Santa Lucia – Ratticosa Pass – Monzuno – Pianoro – Verona Map Link […]

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Honda’s CB1100R | Redefining the ’80s Superbike

Ian Falloon — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 19:24:15 +0000

Honda CB1100R With Ian Falloon Honda has never liked losing, but during the 1970s they were forced to lick their wounds in production racing. Although the CB750 four was the landmark motorcycle of the era, Kawasaki eclipsed it with their Z1 in 1973. And when Honda retaliated it was either too much, or too late. The […]

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Wayne’s Lap of Italy on the KTM SMT – Part Two

Wayne Vicko — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 19:16:22 +0000

Touring Europe on the KTM 890 SMT – Part Two Grindelwald to San Gimignano With Wayne Vickers See Part One here (link) – See the KTM 890 SMT Review here (link) Day Four Grindelwald – Lauterbrunnen – Susten Pass – Locarno – Como – Bellagio – Sarnico Map Link (~400 km, seven and a half […]

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Wayne’s Lap of Italy on the KTM SMT – Part One

Wayne Vicko — Sat, 23 Dec 2023 10:49:16 +0000

Touring Europe on the KTM 890 SMT – Part One Mattighofen to Grindelwald With Wayne Vickers See the KTM 890 SMT Review here (link) It’s funny how things can come together sometimes. I was going to be in Romania for a short time and figured it would be an ideal opportunity to do a bit […]

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Speedway stars of the century – Jason Crump

Motorcycle News — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 23:42:12 +0000

Jason Crump Paul Burbidge recently caught up with Aussie Speedway legend Jason Crump. With three Speedway GP World Championships and a joint-record 23 Speedway GP victories to his name, Australia’s greatest-ever speedway rider is one of the most decorated stars of the SGP era. Crump’s 10 straight seasons in the world’s top three from 2001 […]

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Moto Guzzi Works Gambalunga 500 (Long Legs)

Phil Aynsley — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 01:10:22 +0000

Moto Guzzi Gambalunga 500 With Phil Aynsley In 1946 the Gambalunga (Long Legs) was developed from the privateer’s Dondolino and was the first Guzzi to use a long stroke, rather than oversquare motor (its name was a reference to this). The 84 x 90mm bore and stroke were employed to reduce the forces on the […]

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