Biking legends: Meet Malcolm Newell - the man who put feet-forward motorcycles on the map

Of all the innovators who tried to make a success of ‘feet-forward’ motorcycles, none was more significant than Malcolm Newell.

Not only was he the chief designer behind the most famous ‘FF’ of all – the Quasar – but he also created the Phasar, promoted the breed via features in the mass media including Top Gear, while one of his Quasars took racing legend Phil Read to Buckingham Palace to collect his MBE.

Ever since biking’s beginnings as motorised bicycles there’s been an alternate view that ‘feet-forward’ machines, which combine the advantages of cars and bikes usually via a low-slung, feet-forward riding position, long chassis with either
hub-centre or leading link front suspension/steering and expansive bodywork, provided a better solution.

There was the Neracar in the 1920s, the NSU ‘flying hammock’ in the 1950s, and many more…