Interview: Matt Machine

At the recent Deus V-Twin Festival I had the pleasure of chewing the fat with renowned Australian bike builder Matt Machine. Not only is he a friggin talented bike builder who has built some of the most outstanding bikes in the Southern Hemisphere, but he is also an established architect. Is there anything he can't build? I wanted to find out more about this humble recluse and luckily he was up for answering a couple of questions:

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background? 

I'm an architect that has always wanted to be a carpenter, or a builder, or a boiler maker, or something else other than that so I could use my hands and make things. I live in the bush in south New South Wales with my wife and our dog and our cows and our landscape and our weather.

Does living on a farm help your creative process?

It almost is my creative process...you cant help but be inspired by the need to be real with whatever you do, to be direct with your decisions, and committed...thats living in the bush.

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Vintage Motorcycle Ads

If this website was around in the 1960's, we'd be featuring an army of beautiful women straddling motorbikes on just about every single page. The site would be filled to the brim with them. Before 'political correctness' was ever invented, the motorcycle industry loved to target males (sorry ladies) using some good old fashioned 'sex sells' tactics. They'd usually do it with headlines filled with sexual innuendo and many, MANY beautifully seductive women. Women that stared you in the eye and said "Purchase this fine motorbike and you will find yourself swimming in a ocean of pre-feminist, lose-moraled women in see-through clothing without any buttons."

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1930 Norton CS1 TT

When the original Norton CS1 was released way back in 1927 it pretty much blew the socks off everyone. On its first race it won the Isle of Man Senior TT and also set the fastest lap time. This thing was like a superbike before the word even existed.

Marcel Schoen from the Netherlands is lucky enough to own the pictured 1930 CS1 TT. "It belonged to my late uncle and has been in the family for more then 50 years" said Marcel. Over the past few months Marcel has been busy rebuilding this classic motorcycle. He gave it a complete check over, new 20" tires were fitted, the magneto was rewound and many original nuts and bolts sourced. It has a special 3 speed gearbox type N103, Webb 650 forks, the engine is a hybrid between a W.Moore and A.Carroll design.

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Norton Featherbed Commando

After a chance encounter with a Featherbed framed Commando powered café racer, Canadian Jean Des Rosiers blood started pumping again and he quickly realized he wanted to build something similar. Luckily, Jean had a few parts in storage "I had a featherbed frame, a complete front wheel including a Suzuki front drum brake, a transmission, the front forks, the rear shocks, a bit of money and lots of time" he says. Jean sent us a six page document telling us about his motorcycle history and some details about this Norton project. This is the edited version:

I had a Featherbed frame (the one from the '68 Atlas) stashed deep in my brother’s basement in which I had plans to install an Ariel 500cc single, that project was put away when I raised my family.  Even though it was almost complete, the thought of building a nice Atlas and better still an Atlas café racer was in my mind from that day on.

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Raider Motorsports SR "Norton Manx"

Just a quick update - those of you who enjoyed the Raider Motorsports/Moz Rissman article we posted recently might be keen to hear some news concerning the latest creations from the Coffs Harbour shop.

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1959 Twin-engined “Tri2ton”

Chins off the floor, guysPeter Andrews isn't a guy to do things by halves. For us mortals, just owning an authentic Triton would be more than enough of our prayers answered, but Pete decided to go just that little bit extra. Well, 100% extra to be precise. He's not only got himself one of the world's sweetest cafe racers, but he's gone an added an extra damn engine.

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Webb's Classic Motorcycle Auction

It's that time of year again when Webb's auction off some of the worlds most beautiful vintage and collectable motorcycles. With a catalogue that is sure to make Billy Joel and Jay Leno weak at the knees – although looking at some of the price guides, you don't have to be a celebrity to afford them. Judging by last years results their will be a few bargains to be had. Here's how Webb's describe the collection:

"The machines offered in this catalogue continue to reflect Webb's passion for things well made. From the humble to the extraordinary, all are designed for the motorcycle pilot. The collection is significant because it offers a select pedigree of race machines that have been conceived by the very best minds in their fields." 

If you have some spare coin and room in your garage, the auction takes place on October 5 in New Zealand and overseas bidders are more than welcome. There's also a diamond motorcycle chain which would make the perfect gift for the fussiest woman. [Thanks Deus]

Imaginary Garage - 1929 Norton Café Racer

Written by Andrew Jones (AKA Pamberjack)

If you're anything like me, the bikes you lust after tend to go through phases. My current obsession is English bikes from the 20s and 30s so I've been doing a lot of thumbing through Google images and drooling over various Matchless, AJS, and Vincent collectibles from the era. Yesterday I found myself daydreaming about customising something from this era, but shrugged it off as pointless – like tweaking a Jean-Michel Basquiat or re-recording a Joy Division album.

Then I thought, "what would a café racer from the 1920s look like?" Whether it be a real custom with a bike from that era as a starting point, or maybe the product of some parallel steam-punk universe where café racers somehow kicked off in the 20s rather than the 50s, it would surely be an amazing combination.

So, armed with the above 1929 Norton 500 Single "Flat Tank" image, I cranked up Photoshop and pushed some pixels. First, remove the excess parts to save weight. No need for clip-ons; the bars are already pretty low. Ditto with the ride height. Add a headlight (an option in the 1920s, I think), trim the mudguards, and wrap the exhaust in tape. Finally, my take on a sprung saddle-meets-café-racer humped seat. Patent pending.


And Voilà! My imaginary 1929 café racer. I'm open to suggestions for more mods to the bike - or maybe a whole new project. Only rule is that it has to be an interesting or unexpected combination of styles or eras. See if you can stump me...

1936 M30 Norton

This stunning M30 International 500cc motorcycle was recently sold by John De Kruif from the Norton site unusually named Rapid Hare. He bought the bike as a "basket case" and we love how John describes the build: "Restoring was not that difficult. The engine was rebuilt by Stu Rogers and you drop the engine parts at his place, wait for one and a half year, collect and fit. Many of the other parts are similar to abundantly available 16H items that can be made to fit with a little work. What's left is very careful assembly. It's not an original bike but then again, very few Inters are". You might be wondering why he sold such a beautiful machine? Well, like a lot of motorcycle enthuisasts he ran out of room in his garage and moved it into his house for a little while "where it spent a few happy years next to the television", he then ended up buying a vintage flat tank OHV Norton so this beautiful Inter had to hit the road. To read the full story and to check out a couple more pics check out John's Norton blog.