OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA: 671960 KRTT 750 HARLEY-DAVIDSON
The long racing historyof this unique-to NZ
machine is well known, but what is intriguing is
the story of the owners, one of whom shot his
boss, while another was murdered on a remote
outback track in Australia. The final mysteries
are; who ordered a set of tuning parts from the
factory racing department and why did the
factory send two complete sets of tuning parts?
The first owner of the machine was Alf Groves
of Invercargill NZ, a contemporary of Burt Munro.
Alf was a complex character, a talented racer
and tuner who suffered from bouts of
depression and had a very quick temper
(possibly due to an accident on a Harley in the
late 1940s). Alf worked for “Tappers”, the local
motorcycle shop and Velocette agents. When
Tappers bought a brand new Mk8 KTT Velocette,
Alf was their only mechanic who could set it up
and get it running properly.➢