Sprite-UK/American Eagle-USA /Alron-AUST

[firko]

It is quite common for sidecar motors to be offset

True but I bet they don't have that 5 degree tilt though.

If that frame is the one and only in house Aussie made frame, surely they would have jigged off one of the other OSSA powered genuine Sprite fastback frames. If they did, can it be assumed that all of the OSSA Alrons had the same badly aligned engine or did the anonymous Jandakot framemaker get it horribly wrong?

Below: Frank Hipkins own thoughts on the piece of shit.
"The alron fast back sprite frame with a ossa eng,Wot a F-in mess we have never rapped engine plates round frame tubes the foot rests have been cut off and moved back it is a joke, Mark i have been the Aussie forum & the forks & hubs are not REH, They are Sprite made  at Spite Alloys Ltd from 1969 you can tell by the front legs Sprite forks no guard braketts on the out side look at pic,s again"

[Tossa]

There was no anonymous framemaker.  From what dad told me the alledged frame maker was the brother in law Allan Hayes, who the family got into the country as a so called "welder"

From what dad said all the Ossa motors were offset, but he never had a problem with his as the drive line was supposedly perfect.  As said in my last thread, he beleives the only one where the re-jigged the frame to fit perfectly was the blue bike, as that was the start of the non exixtent line of Bikes

[firko]

From what dad said all the Ossa motors were offset, but he never had a problem with his as the drive line was supposedly perfect.

I think I'm missing something here . Your dads bike was a Sprite frame I'm presuming with the mounts welded in locally? I just can't fathom how VMX60s bike operated and how it's taken nearly 37 years for the dodgy engine alignment to be noticed . There's no way sprockets and chains would have lasted or even stayed on for long enough to get from A-B without bailing out. Every time the bike would hit a bump under load the chain tend to want to come off. No wonder Alron went bellyup. This is all going to help make my Alron chapter in the book an even better read.

On that subject...Is Ron Lyon still on the planet and if so, does anybody have any clues to his wherabouts and contact details? It's time I got his thoughts on this....the real story, not the bullshit he fed Ray Ryan and the Aussie press and public of the day.
 

[VMX247]

[quote
On that subject...Is Ron Lyon still on the planet and if so, does anybody have any clues to his wherabouts and contact details? It's time I got his thoughts on this....the real story, not the bullshit he fed Ray Ryan and the Aussie press and public of the day.
 

I think I mentioned this before that I've been told by an old vmxer that Ron Lyon is somewhere in Perth,not in the bike scene anymore and not that easy to track down.

From page 8 aad 9...maybe somethings are left buried
Quote:there are some shady things floating around that neither of us is going to repeat here but just adds to the credibility saga.

Quote;The lives of Ron and Al lyons can only be described as a bit bazaar, and I don't want to express what occurred in this forum as it is a bit shady, JC would know where I'm coming from and I believe that he is still investigating.
cheers Alison

[EML]

Firko you are right of course- a 5 degree tilt is not good but Popeye says he goes 'full' tilt so it's not a problem on the Wasp
I seem to recall that Bob Johnson (motor mouth- the comentator) had something to do with the Alrons so you could ask him what he knows.

[Tossa]

Firko, Yes Dads bike was a sprite frame and was offset.  he's says he never had a problem with the chain at all.

How did they get away with it, they never sold a bike.  The only bike built where they modified the frame to fit the Ossa motor properly was the blue "enduro" bike.  The only real Alron

As Alison says the live and times of the Lyon family is a bit bizarre, and couldn't be told on here.  I know JC has spoken with my father several times, and what he knows is a real eye opener.  I can't recall give his contact details to you mark, so if you want them PM me

[firko]

Firko, Yes Dads bike was a sprite frame and was offset.  he's says he never had a problem with the chain at all

The offset isn't an issue, many bikes have offset engines...it's the tilt that I'm talking about. As long as the rear and front sprockets are parallel ..no problem but a front sprocket running 5-10 degrees skewiff to the rear can't work for long before something gives.  Perhaps the bike did precious little work and was retired because of the problem?? The photos show a bike that looks like it's done some work though. A mystery.

[Tossa]

Sorry mark i used the wrong wording, yep everything was at an angle and worked, he says they were all like that, how many few there really was.  I thought the bike that VMX60 was showing the photo's of was my fathers, but then again i could be wrong, so many photo's of so many bikes

[VMX60]

Tossa
The photo is of Dads bike for sure confirmed by JC via Dads ID
Your right about the chain line looks spot on no sign of any chain damage on the cases at all
Also to know it was a Alron made in Perth
Thanks again Tossa

[GMC]

28 pages, thats too many for me to look back through to see if this has been put up before.
November 73 Australian Motorcycle Rider





The caption for this one said...
The Alron is oviously a willing slider and Brian Clarkson artes it one of the best handling machines he has ever ridden.

[firko]

Brian"Clarko"Clarkson is one of the real characters of Aussie motocross. Note the #1 plate indicating that he was the Aussie 500 champion at the time. He won the Sunraysia Desert Rally on a TM400 (I think) and was one of the original batch of vintage mortocrossers on his Metisses back in the 80s. Nobody has lived life harder than Clarko and unfortunately it's caught up with him. He's not sailing too well these days with a burned out liver and other problems. Vern Grayson rang me just before Christmas to tell me that Brian was sinking fast but he's still hanging in there. A few of us are going up to see him in a couple of weeks. Being one of the toughest blokes I've ever met, I reckon he's got a few laps in him yet.

[VMX247]

Great new info GMC -thanks 
Is Brain Clark's ride in the above pics ,the same Alron that Dean Rowe sold at CD4 for 13k..? 
Looks alot like the same to me (noting the fastback frame) oh and the CZ front hub  ? plot thickens 
cheers

[firko]

Brian Clarksons Alron and the one Dean Rowe sold are two different bikes, I can be pretty sure of that. Brians bike was stolen from his shop in 1974 and never recovered. All Alrons had fastback frames Alison. I'm not sure of the CZ wheel reference though The bike in the photo has the stock Sprite hub.

[VMX247]

All Alrons had fastback frames Alison
.

yep just quoting off the back off the photo I have    .the CD4 Alron photo is on page one, if anyone wishes to have a gander. 

So other than the blue one, there is the CD4 ex Dean Rowe Alron ....2 definite
anymore whole Alrons that we have missed 

Whats this front hub please..

[VMX60]

Last count from JC

2 400 restored
2 400 rollers
1 400 missing lots of bits
TOTAL 5

3 250 OSSA complete

The blue bike is a 250 ossa that hasn't been found 

cheers