In a post above I mentioned Arthur Forecast. Arthur was alive and well on Boxing Day 1983, when he attend the traditional gathering of members of the Vintage Motorcycle Club of Victoria. At this event, well known VMCV member Dave Dumble chatted with Arthur, and later put pen to paper and wrote an article for "Exhaust Notes", April 1984:
"If anyone wondered who the nattily dressed elderly gent at our Boxing Day P.S.M. was, his name can be found on page 124 of the James Flood Book of Motorcycling in Australia. Aspendale, February 7th 1925, winner of the Open Solo event: A. Forecast (Douglas).
"Arthur Forecast is a many talented man - motorcycle racer, ham radio operator, cinema projectionist, and even now, in his eighties, he makes custom CB radio aerials for truckies and 4WD freaks. I met him a few years ago when Alan Bruce asked me to deliver a couple of books. Nice to meet up again especially as Arthur brought along a clutch of photos which he let me copy."
Dave went on to describe the RA, including the brakes which "Arthur remembers as not being up to much".
He also comments on something that I've alluded to above:
"Riders had an enviable arrangement with the Melbourne Douglas agent in those days, whereby the agent [Dave suggests Milledge Bros., but it was actually Turner Bros.] supplied the bike and the riders kept any money they won."
This photo, from Arthur Forecast himself, via Dave Dumble in 1983, shows Arthur sitting on his RA Douglas in 1925, probably the bike on which he won at Aspendale. Stub exhausts, but otherwise much to the usual specification.
Leon