Old Bike Australasia

Old Bike magazine is a must for those who ride as well as the dedicated enthusiast and rebuilder, covering everything from Vintage to early 1980s bikes - marvel at the restoration of machines that could still sit proudly on the showroom floor. Each issue brings you the latest news and results from recent events, race reports and Rally Roundup, along with new and old bike news and reviews, readers letters, Club Directory, What’s On and much, much more.

EDITOR’S LETTER

Old Bike Australasia • NUMBER 125

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

OUT IN THE SHED

Knucklehead hits 90

The 2026 Australian Classic Motorcycle TT

Finally: Solo Speedway at Sydney Motor Sport Park

AMHF honours Kel Carruthers

Bathurst 2026 entries open

Mike Tankard

Alan Bradshaw

Terry Gallaway OAM

Jeff Curley

THE FIRST LADY • How the daughter of Melbourne’s pioneer sidecar entrepreneur became the first Australian inducted into the American Motorcycle Association Hall of Fame.

A VANE ATTEMPT • German concept, Italian styling, Japanese manufacture. Suzuki’s RE-5 rotary should have had all the ingredients for success…

SHOOTING PEAS IN NEW ZEALAND • Harley-Davidson has produced many different motorcycles in a wide range of engine configurations over the past 120 years. One popular machine was the Harley Davidson ‘Peashooter’ road bike, built from 1926 to 1934. The single cylinder Peashooter formed the basis of a strong speedway backbone during the depression period as Australasia slowly headed towards dedicated cinder speedway tracks, and WWII.

FINAL FLING • The history of Bultaco is relatively short, producing motorcycles from 1958 to 1979 when industrial unrest and market pressure from the Japanese manufacturers saw the company in financial difficulties, eventually declaring bankruptcy. There was a short rebirth from 1980-1983 when the Spanish government offered some assistance, albeit with reduced production before the company finally closed its doors.

TWO-STROKE TAKEOVER • When Geoff Grocott and passenger Warren Sullivan won the 1972 Australian Speedway Sidecar Championship at the Sydney Showground, the face of this side of the sport changed forever.

GREAT GIFT IDEA • SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Carnell Raceway, Stanthorpe Qld. • Located at Stanthorpe, on the Granite Belt in Queensland, is a racetrack called Carnell Raceway. It is a short and challenging track about 900 meters long, incorporating a one eighth mile drag strip forming the main straight. Carnell Raceway was named in honour of Max Carnell, a local motor racing enthusiast, who sadly lost his life in a road accident on the town’s bypass.

THE RED DRAGONFLY • In 2025, Yamaha celebrates seventy years as a motorcycle manufacturer. The company that’s now one of the world’s most successful brands is still based in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu, which at one stage was home to no fewer than 44 motorcycle producers. Its first product was the YA-1, a machine that bore the influence of the German DKW, but was in fact bristling with Yamaha innovation. But more of the YA-1 a little later.

A YA-1 fan Stateside

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FUNNY FRONT END • Ever since engines were first fitted to bicycle frames over 130 years ago, front end formats have been the single most contested aspect of motorcycle chassis design. The girder fork was for a long time the default option globally, before the telescopic fork invented by Britain’s Alfred Scott in 1908 received hydraulic damping from BMW, whose 1935 R12 & R17 models were the first production motorcycles fitted with such a feature.

Old BIKE Out’n’about • Welcome to Old Bike Australasia Out’n’about – a forum of people, places, history and...