Uli Cloesen
Bike Writer
Tranz Alpine Scooter Safari
The biannual Tranz Alpine Scooter Safari is a test of endurance , with participants traveling 150 miles through near-freezing temperatures on cityscooters. It crosses New Zealand's South Island, from Christchurch to Hokitika....
American Rider July 2023
More, see PDF
Matariki Vintage Bike Show - A New New Year Holiday In Middle Earth.
New Zealand celebrated its newly created annual holiday last June honoring Matariki, A Maori name for a cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades, which rise in the Southern Hemisphere sky in late June and mark the start of the Maori New Year. June 24 has hence become the country's first indigenous public holiday.
American Rider February 2023
More see the PDF.
Something to chout about.
A "Chout" is an Indian Scout fitted with a V-Twin Chief motor, a fairly common crossbreed during the early days.
Read more about Rob McIntyre's Indian Chout.
American Rider September 2022.
Complete story in PDF file.
Bianca Bonner - Racing The Past Into The Present - American Rider August 2022.
Bianca Bonner makes her livingas an electrician by day, but after hours and on weekends, she has oil in her blood. "I have been brought up around motorcycles," said Bonner, a resident of Craigieburn in the Australian state of Victoria.
Full story in PDF file.
Sabiston Seitenwagen aus Neuseeland.
Gespannveteran Alastair Sabiston ist mittlerweile 80 Jahre, er kann auf ein bewegtes Leben zurückschauen und gibt uns einen Einblick in seine Welt der Beiwagen und Motorräder. Mein Berufs-leben
begann damit, dass ich bei Dunedin
Engineering als Monteur und Dreher eine Ausbildung durchlief. Mehr im PDF-Dokument.
Bis in die 198oer war er der größte Seitenwagen-hersteller in Down Under.
Haast Eagle - Der Kiwi-Adler - Februar 2022 Klassik Motorrad
Spätestens seit Burt Munro und John Britten wissen wir, dass man im fernen Neuseeland ein besonderes Verhältnis zu schnellen Motorrädern pflegt.
Aber es ist schon ein Akt besonderer Versessenheit, mit einer von Haus aus braven Mota Guzzi V 35 auf Hochgeschwindigkeits-Jagd zu gehen.
Mike Noonan am Ziel seiner Träume. Geschwindigkeitsrekord in Bonneville/USA,
und das mit einer betagten 350er Moto Guzzi.
Mit Brief und Siegel, samt amtlicher Erinnerungs-plakette. von der American Motorcyclist Association. 124,114 Meilen pro Stunde erzielte Michael Noonan mit seiner V 35 auf dem Salzsee in Bonneville, das macht in deutschen Kilometern pro Stunde deren 198,5824. Nicht schlecht für eine kleine V-Twin Guzzi.
Die ganze Geschichte im PDF Dokument.
Brass Monkey Rallye Neuseeland - November 2021
Seit 40 Jahren findet die legendäre „Brass Monkey Rally“ am langen Queens-Birthday-Wochenende in Neuseeland statt. Dieses Jahr am 5. Juni 2021. Es ist das größte Motorrad-Wintertreffen auf der Südhalbkugel. Uli Cloesen war bei der 40. Ausgabe dabei.
Allerdings haben die Organisatoren beschlossen, die Veranstaltung vor allem wegen der hohen bürokratischen Hindernisse einzustellen. Hinzu kommt: Die Gründungsmitglieder sind in den letzten 40 Jahren auch nicht jünger geworden.
Bericht auf Seite - 2 -
bikerider new zealand magazine - April 2020
A visit to the Barber Vintage Museum, Birmingham USA
MUSEUM MAGIC
To say it in advance, the museum is fantastic. Anyone who has even an ounce of motorcycle enthusiasm in his body feels like a child in a toy shop. George Barber had earned his fortune in the
dairy trade and started collecting motorcycles in 1991, which has led to more than 1700 bikes in the collection.
Barber also came in contact with English motorcycle world champion John Surtees, among others, when he was looking for MV Agusta motorcycles for his collection. An ex Surtess Seeley Matchless is also part of the collection in Birmingham. > See PDF
www.motorcyclistonline.com - January 26, 2020
We report from Europe’s largest café racer bike and sprint race scene -
Glemseck 101
https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/news/europes-biggest-cafe-racer-and-sprint-racer/
The Glemseck 101 began in 2005 as a fun motorcycle event and morphed since into Europe’s biggest party for lovers of café racers and old-school sprint racing.
Read more ->
bikerider new zealand magazine - January 2020
THE BSA LOWE FLYER
A belated tribute to Kiwi home builder Don Lowe and BSA motorcycle development.
BSA was tasking Bert Hopwood in the fifties to develop new, visually and technically innovative motorcycle concepts. Said engineer doesn't really need any introduction in classic motorcycle
circles. Any Norton buff will know, that Hopwood penned the firm's legendary Dominator paralleltwin post World War II.
He joined BSA in May 1948, then the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer, to take on
the role of its chief engineer. Eager to pump new blood into BSA's product range, Hopwood sketched in 1949 a 250cc horizontal cylinder single with short overhead camshafts, simply coded the MC1 .
The same year, Doug Hele also transferred from Norton to BSA and was subsequently given free rein by Hopwood in 1950, to turn the MC1 concept into reality
as the template for a possible range of new sports roadsters. But Hele had other ideas and developed the prototype more in line with a racer, with the view of restoring British glory on the
racetrack, such as hunting Moto Guzzi's dominant singles in events like the Lightweight TT on the lsle of Man.
- more in PDF file attached -
Words: Uli Cloesen - Photos: Steve Green, Kevin Eagle Archive, Uli Cloesen, Sammy Miller Museum
Robe dell'altro mondo.
Nel 1949 il famoso progettista inglese Bert Hopwood, allora direttore tecnico BSA, aveva disegnato una rivoluzionaria gran premio con motore bialbero orizzontale a quattro valvole radiali di 248,5 cc (70 x 64,5 mm). Che messo al banco aveva dato 34 CV a 10.250 giri, potenza allora da primato anche per il campionato del mondo. Siglata MC1, la moto con questo motoreera stata provata anche dal grande Geoffrey Duke, che ne aveva detto piuttosto bene. I dirigenti della BSA pretendevano però che esordisse vittoriosamente al Tourist Trophy, che nei primi anni Cinquanta vedeva nella classe 250 la supremazia delle Moto Guzzi, con potenze appena sotto i 30 CV.
Hopwood, come logico, si era opposto a questo diktat, non potendo matematicamente assicurare la vittoria, la disputa era durata a lungo (dando tempo alla NSU di entrare in scena con mezzi molto
competitivi), poi Hopwood aveva cambiato casacca, approdando alla Norton. Così la moto era stata accantonata e non scenderà mai in gara. Oggi è visibile al museo di Sammy Miller a New Milton, UK.
Passano tanti anni e succede che in Nuova Zelanda un appassionato e pilota di nome Don Lowe vede per caso
qualche foto della MC1, se ne innamora follemente e decide di costruirne una replica, visto che l'originale
resta saldamente ancorato al suo paese. Naturalmente rinuncia al motore, troppo complicato, e lo sostituisce
con un Gold Star, inclinandolo a 22°. Ma riesce a riprodurre la ciclistica quasi al 100%, come si vede dal
confronto con l'esemplare del museo. Portata ripetutamente in pista dal suo stesso costruttore, la MC1,
definita Sperimentale, non manca ogni volta di polarizzare l'attenzione come altre sue estrose realizzazioni
tipo la monoruota con motore Suzuki 50.
ULI CLOESEN (FOTO DI STEVE GREEN E KEVIN EAGLE)
bikerider new zealand magazine
Glemseck 101 - Custom Mania
The city of Stuttgart in South-West Germany is sometimes referred to as the 'cradle of motoring' and considered the starting point of the worldwide automobile industrie. Not only is Mercedes Benz based there, but is is also the home of Porsche, the automotive parts giants Bosch and piston builder Mahle.
But, we talk about motorcycles. Read more
Rod Coleman - ein neuseeländischer Rennfahrer und seine Karriere
Rod Coleman war der erste Siegfahrer aus Neuseeland in Europa. Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über seine bemerkenswerte Karriere:
Motorcycle Sport & Leisure, UK
Kiwi Coast to Coast - Scooter Safari, Issue 680, May 2017
Two Wheels Magazine Australia
Panther Tales, Issue APR 2017
Classic Bike (UK)
Burt Munro Challenge, Issue March 2017
Bike Rider Magazine (NZ)
Anthony Wilding - Tennis Star and Motorcycling Pioneer (September 2015)
Bike Rider Magazine NZ, Issue SEP 2015
Published in English
Victoria Aero (December 2015)
Bike Rider Magazine NZ, Issue Dec 2015
Published in English
Chris Gordon's CGR500 V8 (January 2016)
Bike Rider Magazine NZ, Issue 139, Jan 2016
Published in English
To Infinity & Beyond - Red Dirt Girl BMW (October 2016)
Bike Rider Magazine NZ, Issue October 2016
Published in English
Two Wheels Magazine (Australia) Issue July 2016
Indian Chout
Published in English
Klassic Motorrad (Germany)
Indian Treffen - Interview mit John Munro (Juli-August 2015)
Publiziert in Deutsch
John Britten - Neuseeeländischer Superbike Konstrukteur (Mai-Juni 2015)
Publiziert in Deutsch
Motorrad Gespanne (Germany), Ausgabe /Issue 151 – Jan-Feb 2016
Italienische Heldensagen - Laverda Renngespann (Laverda Racing Sidecar)
Morini Körbchenschwenker
Ausgabe 158, März 2017
Sidecar Traveller Magazin (Germany), Ausgabe 24. Februar 2016
Anthony Wilding - Den Tennisschläger im Gepäck - Portrait
Sidecar Traveller Magazin (Germany), Ausgabe 29. Dezember 2016
Rainbow Racer
Motorräder aus Italien MO Magazin Sonderheft (Germany), Ausgabe 21, Frühjahr 2016
Frau Adlers Neues Minikleid - Neuseeland Guzzi V7
MO - BMW Motorcycles - Magazine (Germany) Issue July- September 2016
BMW Trikes in the UK