OK, lets look at some of the inconsistencies & perceived inaccuracies in the press articles of the day & since.
There are numerous incidental ones like "Brian Mitcheson made his 360 perform creditably" (he never owned/raced a 360/400/405) & "early in 73 RL wheeled out the first production Alron" (ie 250 'real Alron', but it was early 74). These can likely be passed off as oversights, but there are more serious ones which appear to be "trying to create an image" but which cast doubts on the credibility. eg:
"RL's men will assemble them". Word from the west is that there were no "men" or "factory". They had a couple of employees at the retail shop ("headquarters"), but it seems the only "men" at the Jandacot shed ("factory") where the bikes were slowly assembled were RL himself after-hours (he spent most of his day at the retail shop apparently), & a fitter from the nearby airport (also after hours) who 'bent a few tubes & welded a few brackets' & probably made the frame for the blue bike featured in 5/74 TW.
There is one pic of the "production line" & another of the "factory at Jandacot". You'd think it would be safe to assume that the "production line" is in "the factory". ie same building. Trouble is, its hard not to conclude that the pics are of/in diff buildings. One is brick & trimdek walls (perhaps a garage attached to his house ??); the other is a corrugated iron shed (said to be the "factory at Jandacot").
In 6/73 frame jigs were said to be "now being made by a Perth civil engineering firm", but in 11/73 we have the "first ever shots of the 250 enduro prototype" - still in a Sprite frame, not even w engine plates yet.
The 400s were said to have had "development in WA by works rider Ron Johnston". You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that they were rebadged Sprites developed in UK, tho they may have had a diff aircleaner as was claimed.
There is a big-deal made in 11/73 of the drama involved in getting "this special tube" & a suitable pipe-bender to bend it for the 250 frames, but in 5/74 the first production "real Alron" is said to be made of "a bit heavier" tubing cos "we couldn't get the right tubing in time".
"Sprite will ship to the Alron works at the rate of about 15 a month initially of the 405 machines". Well...dreams are free I suppose & you might as well dream big.
"He planned an initial run of 10 (250) machines & then 40 a month for 3 mths to test demand". Ditto
Compare the following 2 statements from the same article: "The registerable machine gave way to the pure off-roader in the face of heavy demands from WA cattle stations". cf "RL had to cater for his biggest market. And that meant the WA enduro enthusiast". Which is it? the cattle stations or the enduro enthusiast? And how big was the WA enduro scene/market at the time? The guys who rode the "development bikes" in WA competition don't remember any Alrons in competition (MX or enduro) apart from their own. Still more, a later report from RL's father Syd states they sold "30 250s, all MX except for three road/enduros". So many contradictions! Tall stories??
And "heavy demand" ??
Even years later, the questionable statements continue:
"The first two pre-production prototypes (250s) winning the WA enduro championship in 72".
It seems none even existed in 72. See above where the 1st pics of the incomplete prototype 250 appeared w a splash in 11/73. Mitch came close to winning the championship one year on an Alron but fell short.
"Front forks by Marzocchi" - yeh, right!!
"the 405MX...w Sprites copy of Husq engine mounted in the Australian frame & w Australian auxiliaries". Hmmm - they're all sprite frames.
"At the time, Alron operated three retail shops in Perth". Their one shop was at 3 diff locations, but apparently they never had 3 retail shops at once.
Since Rickman (which they were now importing) didn't make a 250 enduro, "we went ahead & created a local Metisse model of our own - a road registerable Montesa MX-based model w a wide ratio gearbox & built about 30 of them". No pic of such a model has ever appeared. None of those 3 guys I spoke to had ever seen or heard of it, incl their east coast dealer who sold a lot of Rickmans for them.
"The once busy Alron factory... fell silent". Was it ever busy? See above
"Alron had their own in-house welder who built the frames from Cr-mo". Ditto.
I remember there being a lot of skepticism back in the day about this venture. For me, its more than skepticism now.
Now for a little that does appear to be the truth:
Of the 400/405s it was stated "The kindest way of looking at the Sprite venture is to say it didn't work. They were... troublesome. Part of the bother stemmed from casual assembly in England, but trouble seemd to follow trouble... It didn't take long for the Sprite's general bad reputation to spread". And my guess is that very few sales followed. Thus, "there is now (11/73) a continuous line-up of about half a dozen Alrons under construction in the factory" - cos the 400s weren't shifting/selling, it seems to me on accouint of their bad reputation. (the 250s hadn't been built yet). Mitch says their gearboxes were soft, as if the metallurgy &/or heat treatment wasn't right, or at least wasn't consistent as there are some reports that some 400s were OK. My guess is that Mr Hipkin didn't have the QC at the foundary up to scratch.
And: "Rickman were building wonderful bikes which simply took care of my problem... They gradually took over from our own Alron bikes". ie The Alrons didn't die cos of lack of dealer interest/support as he claimed in the press, but in Mitch's words cos he lost interest when he saw what Rickman were producing & he realized he couldn't match it.
So how many were built? Apart from the blue bike in TW (& VMX #7), the "development bikes" ridden by Roger Weir in MX (a 400 & a 250) & by Mitch & Graham Sully (250s) in enduros, Brian Clarkson sold a handful (as best he remembers, a couple of 400s & a couple of 250s) & bought his own 400. That amounts to only about half a doz of ea. It doesn't mean there weren't more, but... we have our doubts. (But lets hope our doubts are proven wrong)
Currently I know of 3 x 250's in existence & a few 400s & Mark has indicated traces of a couple more 400s & perhaps another 250. If you have one or know the whereabouts of one, pls speak up.
