A7s and A10s in Australia

[RichardL]

I was pondering what one of our Aussie members said a while back when I mentioned there being many A10s on eBay-UK one week, he saying, "the rest are over here mate" ("all covered in Vegemite," no, just my joke). It does seem to me that you Aussies are able to gather multiple bikes with no problem (like, "It's just down the road from you" or "I'm keeping three in my sister's attic").

So, I,m wondering if these bikes were not, in fact, perfect for getting around the long distances out back on and between sheep stations and such. In the UK travel distances are short and they have had an amazing rail system for a long time. In the US we have had, by comparison, very good roads for a long time,  cheap cars, gas and Harleys back then. Am I hitting on something with regards to why there  was such an apparently large per capita disparity in the number of bikes exported to Oz vs., say the US?

Richard L.

[Brian]

We do seem to have quite a lot of A10's here in AUS but I suspect there are a lot more in the UK, not sure about the states. They are a lot harder to find over here as we dont have the classic bike dealers to buy from. Just going through the ads in the back of one of the English classic magazines there are dozens for sale whereas over here if you wanted one it could take quite a lot of searching.

I am in South Australia and the police used A10's and then A65's, I'm not sure about the other states. This may explain why we seem to have a fair number of them although none of mine or my friends are ex police models.

Another explanation is that they are good bikes, well made and easily repairable and so have stood the test of time.

[trevinoz]

Apparently Australia was the major market for British bikes post WW2. Then they conquered the U.S. market and I would guess more bikes went there than anywhere else.
Here in N.S.W. the Police used A10s in 1951 and possibly '52, plunger of course. They then used them again in 1958. swinging arm Flashes this time. Most other years until 1970 Triumph was the machine of choice.
Up until about the mid 50s cars were too expensive for the average family and many people had bikes, motor or push, to get to work.
My father owned an ex military M20 and used to put my mother on the pillion seat with me between them and my brother on the fuel tank. He would be thrown into gaol in these enlightened times for doing such a dreadful thing.
Many of these bikes were just put into sheds when their day was done, as they were worthless, and forgotten.
Young blokes got hold of a lot of them and stripped any tinware that was unnecessary and thrashed them around the bush and paddocks and threw them back into another shed when they were buggered.
Over the years great numbers of these machines have been resurrected, a lot of the time with great difficulty because of the missing tinware.
Some enterprising fellows have imported many bikes from the U.S. over the last several years and these have been getting restored. Also some coming in from the Asian region.
I don't know that these bikes were good for getting about the outback. In fact the majority of Australians live in large cities and towns, big and small.