2021 RETRO ISSUE / TURBO COMPARO / CAGIVA 500 / DUCATI HAILWOOD / RGB500 / GS1000S / TRIUMPH STREET TWIN / DEATH VALLEY
WE’VE GONE RETRO
Check out what we have for you…
80s TURBO COMPARO
CX500, CX650, XJ650 and GPz750
TRIUMPH STREET TWIN
It’s that good, we’re keeping it!
CAGIVA V593
Unobtanium! And we’ve ridden it!
DUCATI MIKE HAILWOOD REPLICA
Okay, wipe up your drool
SUZUKI GS1000S
Cooler than Cooley himself
SUZUKI RGB500
Bazza’s weapon
WHITE CLIFFS, NSW
The middle of nowhere
RIDING THE BOOT
Italy has so much to offer
PUB OF THE MONTH
Murray River pubs
DEATH VALLEY
Despite the name, you’ll live
TRAVEL EDELWEISS STYLE
The Bear gets something in the mail SO MUCH TO SEE AND DO Toodyay, WA
I REALLY DIG THE SCENE THAT’S HAPPENING NOW, I REALLY DO, BECAUSE THERE MIGHT BE A LOT OF BAD THINGS GOING ON, BUT IF OUT OF ALL OF THOSE BAD THINGS TEN PER CENT OF THE GROOVY PART OF IT STAYS, WOW...YOU CAN’T BEAT THATBruce Johnston
TECHNICAL
GREATNESS
NEWS
Always
RETRO
Remember
Quite
BEAR TALES
Small differences
NEW
More changes
BORIS
What is comfort
SIGNATURE
Editor Stuart Woodbury
Contributing Editor J Peter Thoeming
Sales Manager Ralph Leavsey-Moase ralph@ausmotorcyclist.com.au
Designers FriendsLoveDesign.com
Photographers Nick Wood Creative, Half Light Photographic
Contributors Robert Lovas, Boris Mihailovic, Chris Pickett, The Possum, Colin Whelan, Nick Wood, Bob Wozga
Australian Motorcyclist magazine is published by Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. 17 Weeroona Place, Rouse Hill NSW 2155. Phone 0412220680
This publication is copyright. Other than for the purposes of research, study, criticism, review, parody or satire and subject to the conditions prescribed under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without the prior written permission of Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. Opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent those of Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. No responsibility is accepted by Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd or the editor for the accuracy of any statement, opinion or advice contained in the text or advertisements. Readers should rely on their own enquiries in making decisions tailored to their own interest.
We encourage you to keep or recycle this magazine.
Going retro
IWAS SITTING HERE IN lockdown and thinking of good times gone by and how everyone I talk to longs for those good times to return. I’m sure in time they will, however what will that world look like, in light of covid? More checkpoints to pass if we want to travel overseas is surely one thing that will become ‘the norm’. It might even be that we have some kind of ‘covid passport’ for that overseas travel, and possibly, even to travel in our own country. Perhaps even to get into our local café or restaurant for a sit down meal. I don’t know about you but the way the so-called leaders of each State or Territory carry on feels like going from New South Wales to Queensland or Victoria (or wherever) is like travelling to another country altogether. Covid has divided us all.
So, back to those good times. As I was sitting at my desk I started to remember those funky and cool ads manufacturers used to run – mostly back in the seventies and eighties. ey always bring a smile to my dial so I thought we should run a bit of a retro issue – some road and race bike tests, with a rather rare mix to them
all. I also searched high and low to dig out some old school ads (the sexual innuendo is rife) and enjoy some great days of motorcycling. I hope you enjoy this little step back in time and have lots of smiles and laughs.
Our Pub of the Month writer, Colin Whelan has just released his latest book – Drinking in the Rivers. Colin was kind enough to send me a personally signed copy and one copy to give away. I’m not sure whether to give it away to the rst person who gets the crossword in issue #103 correct, or whether you guys and girls want to send in your best, “Drinking in the rivers” photo? Let’s do that. Take this in context – I’d want to see you and bike in a river with a smile on your face? Ever been that embarrassed? Send it in!
Back to Colin’s book. Published by New Holland you can grab your copy at nothingbutthepub.com . Enter ‘AMMbike’ in the discount box and score your Australian Motorcyclist 10% o the retail price. 350 odd pages of high-quality reading and great photos. It’s a must buy!
Enjoy!
Cheers, Stuart.
www.ausmotorcyclist.com.au
The KLR650 motorcycle is built to empower your passion to escape and explore. Dual-purpose capability allows the journey to go on-and-off-road, and a reputation for enduring reliability helps you focus on the adventure at hand. For decades, this legendary motorcycle has inspired countless stories from all over the world, and the spirit to make new memories continues to beckon today. KLR650 ADVENTURE STANDARD FITMENT:
Pirelli’s wide range of Diablo tyres just got bigger and better with their latest addition, the Rosso IV. This all-weather tyre caters for supersport, hypersport and naked models, offering fantastic performance to road riders of all levels. The 120/70/17 front and 180/55 and 190/55/17 rears are now available with plenty more sizes rolling in over the next few months. See your local Pirelli tyre dealer now. linkint.com.au
WIRES CROSSED UP
The Bear got his wires crossed when quoting the cost to charge the H-D Livewire. With the capacity of 15.5 kwh if you used the entire capacity it would cost $6.20 at .40 per kwh.
THE ANSWERS
You all want to know what the answers are to the crossword we featured in issue #103. Creator, Phil Church mentioned we missed adding number 3 in the grid, but that wouldn’t stop you now, would it. The answers are…in the picture.
TEASE ME
Triumph has teased a new higher-spec Speed Triple on its social media channels. Dubbed the Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR, the prototype model appears to have a bikini-style fairing and round headlight, indicating a modern-retro avour, maybe something similar to MV Agusta’s Superveloce 800.
LAP IT
On 10 September, 2021, a father and son team consisting of Millars Well Primary School Principal Weston Jackson and his super talented son the award winning actor, musician and all round top bloke Joel Jackson, will set o on e Lap; A Live Ride for Young Lives. An epic 45 day, 10,000km motorbike journey around the entirety of Western Australia in the name of raising funds and awareness for Telethon 2021.
In a time when we’re separated by border closures and restrictions, this adventure seeks to be a uniting cause to bring us together in support of young West Australians and their families. With 35 events across the State, e Lap is set to inspire and unite our state-wide
community through live music events, visits and fundraising events at Public Schools, activations at local gyms and visits to recognise local business who pledge donations. All ticket sales, donations, merchandise sales and fundraising e orts will go to Telethon. But if supporters can’t make it to events they can donate online and be a part of the ride to save young lives.
Benelli Australia is proud to be a supporter in conjunction with Major Sponsor Advanced Personnel Management and Accommodation Partner, Hawaiian. ank you to MotoMax in Perth for their assistance getting the boys on the road. https://my.fundraising. telethon7.com/fundraise-fortelethon/the-lap-a-live-ride/
A modern cruiser that represents the eternal essence of riding, making the rider one with the machine and the terrain, primed to soak in the surroundings. With classic contours and timeless design cues, the Meteor is a thoroughbred cruiser, ready for both the open highway and urban commute.
SMOKEY AND THE DARK HORSE
Shannons is giving motoring enthusiasts the chance to win two automotive icons – a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and a new Chief Dark Horse Indian Motorcycle! e prize includes 12-months Shannons Comprehensive Car and Bike Insurance and Shannons Roadside Assist. Plus $5000 cash for eligible Shannons Club Members. You could win up to a massive $110,000 in prizes!
How to enter:
1. Get an eligible quote to score one entry.
2. Take out a new eligible Motor Policy for ve entries.
3. And you can get ten entries if you take out a new eligible Home and Contents policy or have an existing Home and Contents policy. Made famous by the smash hit movie Smokey and the Bandit, the Trans Am on o er is a sympathetically restored le hand drive original.
BIG CHANGES
Featuring the iconic black paint with gold pinstriping, including the famous Firebird or “Screaming Chicken” bonnet decal. e car also features a shaker hood, snow ake wheels and automatic transmission.
e Chief Dark Horse Indian Motorcycle is the perfect blend of
CFMoto is moving leaps and bounds forward in the world of motorcycling with their KTM associated machines starting to filter into the market. The latest banger is the 700CL-X Sport. Check out the little YouTube vid to see its looks and high specifications - youtube.com/watch?v=fCEBp4Qr764
We can’t wait to sample the exciting new CFMoto range, which you will be reading about within these pages, soon.
NO GO
Super sad to report that due to covid restrictions, our New Zealand tour with Paradise Motorcycle Tours has been put on the shelf. We hope to get this going next year once things properly open back up! Watch this space, as they say…
old and new – a timeless design supplemented with modern technology and performance. Featuring premium gloss-black nishes, bobbed fenders, exposed rear shocks, steel welded tube frame and powered by Indian’s understroke 116 engine.
For full T&C’s visit shannons.com.au
BOOST OVERLOAD
FOUR OF THE BEST
The 1980s turbo race saw all major manufacturers produce a production turbocharged bike. Many were fails but a few were fantastic bikes and are now quite collectable. These are our pick for the best four.
Words – Jeff Ware
Photos - Keith Muir/Heather Ware
AH, THE 1980S. THE DECADE OF, Back To The Future, Night Rider, wild hair, crazy colours and the digital calculator watch!
As a motorcyclist and a huge fan of 1980s bikes the years that interest me the most are 1982 – 1984. Why? C’mon – the turbocharger era!
When graphics were crazy digital look-a-like fonts and dash displays looked like the screen of your calculator (or the one calculator shared in your office). The Japanese went nuts over forced induction and although they produced some wild and memorable machines the era came and went as fast as you can say ‘fuel pressure regulator’. It was only a few years before said manufacturers outgunned their own futuristic machines with naturally aspirated and less expensive models that were lighter and faster – plus better looking.
Despite all of this, there is no denying the coolness of a factory turbocharged motorcycle – of course, with the word TURBO well and truly prominent on the bodywork, “Your bike is turbo charged? Man, you are crazy.” And so the banter would go on… fantastic pose factor!
Then there is the style. Japanese engineers going nuts with Manga styled angles and forms, the wildest looking has to be the XJ650 Turbo.
Beneath the futuristic exterior, however, were basic engines – the CX series were pushrod (yikes)
twins while the GPz and XJ old air-cooled twovalvers. The XJ even remained carburetted – which, although basic, proved to make it the most reliable of the Japanese turbo bikes. The machine missing from my test is the Suzuki XN85. The Katana styled 673cc 246kg 85hp bike was an epic fail and the most unreliable and poorly selling turbo bike ever. It was slower than its GSX750S naturally aspirated sibling and heavier – plus a lot more expensive. It also used to break down all the time and the turbochargers would seize, with a replacement cost almost as much as a new bike! I had one for the test and it was there on the day – however, you guessed it, the immaculate example with only a few thousand miles on the clock broke down before I got to ride it. The
XN85, still failing 22-years on!
The Japanese manufacturers went about building their turbo bikes in vastly different ways, not wanting to copy the other. None were truly dedicated models but the Honda CX 500 and 650 could be considered the closest to a dedicated platform, despite being based on the original CX. Sounds confusing, I know, but a huge amount of testing and development went into the CX 500 and 650.
The engines were heavily modified and the 500 was the first ever bike with a dedicated computercontrolled engine management system and it worked well. The CX was fuel injected, as mentioned also a first, and had multiple sensors measuring boost, air flow, air
temperature, engine temperature, rpm, throttle position and crank position, camshaft position and load. The ignition and fuelling were both computer-controlled and there were default settings in place that could get the owner to a Honda dealership or home in a limp mode in just about any situation. This is, of course, an amazing achievement for the era and must have cost Honda serious bucks. As for the turbocharging system on the CX, it was less perfect than the GPz but much better than the XN or FJ. A basic principle in turbocharging is that intake air temperature needs to be kept as low as possible. This was a pre intercooling era, so alternatives needed to be found. Honda decided to front mount
the turbo between the V of the 80º cylinders, to take advantage of cool air. Of course, what the trade-off was is extreme heat generated by the turbo and thus a lot of hot air around the fuel rail and tank. Hot fuel can have as bad an effect on combustion efficiency as hot air does in a turbo system. Front mounting the turbo also reduces lag a little on the CX but header length dictates that it is not as effective as the GPz set-up.
The CX turbo draws through an oiled foam filter, not ideal and easily swallowed once deterioration sets in. From there is a long intake pipe to the turbo and on the compressed side another long turbo pipe leading to the plenum chamber, which is a plastic sealed airbox in this case.
The compressed air then needs to pass through yet another set of plumbing to the intake manifold and even through a set of reeds. No wonder there is lag! The set-up is not ideal but it’s not bad for the era and with the 650 there is much improvement – thanks to the extra capacity and compression ratio.
The Kawasaki is the only other front mount turbo set-up and was done very well, for a different reason and a more sensible one –to reduce lag. The shorter the turbo headers, the quicker the exhaust flow will reach the compressor wheel and spool up the turbo. The low and forward mounting
of the GPz turbo also allows the turbo to get cool airflow while on the move and the positioning of it means the cool air will carry the heat generated by the IHI turbo down and under the crankcases, past the back tyre and gone – away from the engine. A smart move by Kawasaki and to this day the spot where most turbochargers are mounted on custom motorcycles.
The GPz turbo is slightly larger than the CX and XJ units, so despite the shorter header length there is some lag simply due to the ultra-low compression ratio of the bike, the slow throttle response of the basic EFI and the diameter of the impeller in the turbo. Once it is spinning, however, there is no stopping the mighty GPz!
The turbo piping was also fantastic on the GPz. Very short –opposite to the others. From the turbo to the plenum chamber was a very short distance around the cylinder block. The wastegate was mounted to the turbo and vented via plumb back to the airbox
and the fuel rail was very close to the cylinder-head, with very short inlet manifold. All up it was a system that, for the era, was pretty much perfect. Not much could be done at that time to improve it.
The XN and XJ both have rear mounted turbochargers. Why? You have to wonder. I really don’t get it!
The tiny turbo was mounted basically where you would find your rear shock linkage on a modern bike. Behind the engine sump, around seven centimetres in front of the back tyre. It was like an automatic full-time tyre
warmer!
This spot was a fail and a half. The turbocharger got little to no cool air, in fact, it got hot air from the already overly hot engine. It was also an eternity before exhaust gasses reached the impeller to spool up the turbo as it was at the end of the collector pipe! Imagine, you open the throttle anticipating acceleration and have to wait all of that time before the turbo comes on boost.
The XJ’s turbo piping from the compressed side was routed up behind the crankcases to the plenum chamber and then mixed
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THE CX 650 IS A BLAST. IT IS FAST AND IT WELLHANDLES – PLUS COMFORTABLESO YOUTOURCOULD THE COUNTRY ON IT.
and distributed by four Mikuni CV carburettors, which had pressurised float bowls to prevent the forced air from basically blowing all of the fuel out of them.
On the intake side of the turbo was another restriction – a large airbox. It was a lose lose situation. Oddly, one side of the exhaust system on the XJ is fake and simply vents from the wastegate. It is actually a four-into-one not a fourinto-two!
As for the XN, Suzuki applied the same principles as Yamaha by adopting the ‘blow through’ system, only Suzuki did it much, much worse.
They must have been handing out free acid at the factory when Suzuki engineers agreed to mount the XN85 turbo – wait for it –behind the cylinders, on top of the gearbox/upper crankcase – insanity! It got zero airflow aside from superheated air from the cylinders! The exhaust headers had to wrap around the entire engine, come up behind it between the swingarm pivot point and the crankcases, just to spool the turbo up. It was mental!
From there the now super-heated intake air was compressed and fed to a plenum chamber via a giant loop around the left side of the bike. At
least the Suzuki had EFI though. But in turbo fail ratings it is a ten out of ten!
THE RIDES
A local bike collector and I got talking one day and soon realised he had all the Japanese turbo bikes in his collection. All were very original – down to OEM rubber – and most only had a few thousand miles on them. The bikes are here in Australia but originally hailed from the USA so are all US specification with US era tyres, lights and exhausts.
The test took place at 70North, a private 6km 22-corner tarmac proving ground I use for a lot of
my testing, as the bikes are not street registered here in Australia. Everything on the bikes was stock right down to the grips and levers. I really felt like I had stepped back in time. It was a dream come true for me, as I was a wide-eyed kid when these machines were turning heads and I remember how badly I wanted to ride one back then. Riding a turbo bike was equal in credibility to flying a fighter jet as far as I was concerned. So, the question is, how do these old beasts perform? Having not
long ago tested the Kawasaki H2 supercharged weapon, I had no power expectations, but I was more than keen to feel how the bikes performed compared to naturally aspirated bikes of the same era.
FULL BOOST
The first turbo bike I rode was the best looking one, the CX 500. The 500 was the first mass produced turbo motorcycle in the world. There had been limited run turbo bikes in the past but not a mass-produced model. It was also the first Honda to feature EFI, following Kawasaki’s lead, when it was released in 1982. Although the pushrod V-twin was an old design and had remained unchanged since 1977, it did have some benefits. It was liquid-cooled, had strong cases, produced strong torque by geometry and could help keep costs to a minimum.
Honda beefed up the internals including the crankshaft, reduced compression and fitted complex for the day EFI and a little 51mm turbocharger that was front mounted nice and close to the exhaust headers, with a single dump pipe looking very cool on the righthand side, exiting via a muffler with huge TURBO badge. The turbo location reduced lag and was a good
BOOST
move.
The CX 500 featured TRAC anti dive, airassisted adjustable rear Pro Link suspension and twin front rotors with two-piston floating calipers. I fire up the CX and it doesn’t miss a beat, idling away with a slight left and right chug as the big crank spins clockwise with the low comp pistons swinging off the end.
IT IS A ANDHANGINGHOOTON LETTING THE POOR OLD
SECATWISTCHASSIS AROUNDWEAVEAND
I hop on and familiarise myself with the 500. It is really comfy. A wide, soft seat with a tall screen and high ‘bars. The kind of bike you could ride all day long. It also has that Honda quality, with some nice touches around the dash area and good quality paint and graphics. It looks good, 30-years on. Clutch in, select first (no clunk) and off I go. I ease around for the first lap due to the age of the tyres (this one had reasonably new Bridgstones as opposed to some bikes in the test that had original rubber). So, once I get a feel for the brakes and tyres I actually start to push and I am surprised. This thing really goes pretty hard!
The CX 500 Turbo is peakier than I anticipated and once the turbo spools up (there is some lag) the power hits quite hard for a
short period of time before tailing off painfully, when the bike gets asthmatic.
Keep it spinning in boost, however, via the smooth and wide ratio five-speed gearbox, and you are rewarded with a torquey, punchy bike that offers the pull of a much larger capacity motorcycle.
The old school power delivery is fun – nothing, then ‘boom’ a quick rush that sees the skinny forks extend to full length and it really does make me grin as I lap around on the old beast.
The handling is the big surprise. Wow. For a bike that looks like a Moto-Guzzi on acid I can’t believe how well it steers and tracks
through a turn. Front-end confidence is high and I’m shocked. It seems Honda had their geometry numbers a step ahead of the other brands even back in 1982.
The brakes are also fantastic – another surprise.
At the end of my 30-minute test I’m absolutely blown away. How can a bike that looks like this feel completely different?
I wander down to the next bike and fire it up – the mighty 1983 CX 650 Turbo, the bike that replaced the 500 after just 12-months.
The 650 is a bored and stroked version of the 500 with more compression (7.8:1 versus the 500s 7.2:1), a fatter front tyre, stiffer rear shock and a peak boost of 19psi from the 51mm turbo.
The chassis and bodywork are basically unchanged from the 500 aside from paint and graphics but the
example we have here is much more modern looking than the 500 in my opinion, thanks to the white and blue colour scheme.
I roll out of pit lane and onto the main straight, open the big 650 up and I’m instantly grinning!
The lag of the 500 is gone and the 650 reacts to throttle input much faster thanks to the increase in compression and EFI improvements. There is a strong, grin inducing, surge of power and with 100hp at the crankshaft this bike really is a quick thing. In fact, the front wheel comes up in first gear with a bit of a nudge and gets light on the gas in the first three gears. The gearbox ratios are revised on the 650 also and the entire package works so well.
The biggest surprise for me is how smooth the fuelling is. Modern bikes are less progressive on the throttle.
Like the 500, the 650 handles really
well (again, on modern rubber) and the brakes are impressive.
This is a machine that has been so well tested and developed – specifically for the North American market (the only place it went on sale – in part to help avoid the over 700cc tariff on Japanese imports that was successfully imposed after lobbying from Harley-Davidson).
The CX 650 is a blast. It is fast and it handles well – plus so comfortable you could tour the country on it. What an underrated bike that just slipped through the radar. A real jewel of a motorcycle.
The ugly duckling came next –the Yamaha XJ650.
Where the Hondas are high tech and highly equipped, the XJ is basic. Yamaha attempted to keep the astronomical price tag of a
turbo motorcycle down. However, the result is really a bike made from leftovers. A ‘Seca’ chassis (ouch), oil and air cooling (yikes) pressurised CV carburettors that actually proved more reliable than EFI and lastly, a turbo with light switch power delivery that caused the already bad chassis to get worse!
The Yamaha styling is also, err, well you can decide for yourself.
I hopped on the Yamaha and unlike the Honda CX 500 and 650, the Yamaha does not feel well developed, tested or thought about. The seat is thin, the ‘pegs low, the ‘bars awkward and the bike feels confused.
I start up the inline four and it idles away smoothly enough and is louder than the others with its one fake muffler.
I head off for my 30-minutes of fun and within a few corners I already know the bike is a fail. It handles like junk; the brakes are weak and the ride position
BOOST OVERLOAD
awkward.
On paper the chassis is similar specification to the GPz750 but in reality, it is quite different. The rear brake is a drum and the front brakes equally as bad as the Kwaka. With the little turbo mounted miles away from the cylinder-head the XJ suffers lag and being carburetted means, although the throttle action and application is smooth, the actual fuelling adds to the peaky nature of the bike. Oddly, the XJ is shaft driven, which makes no sense as it is supposed to be a sportsbike –and the shaft drive adds to the odd handling of the bike.
However, before you think I hate the XJ, let me tell you, there is something stupidly fun about a badly designed turbo system that is all lag then suddenly all power. It is a hoot hanging on and letting the poor old Seca chassis twist and weave around – in fact; the XJ650 Turbo is, if anything, one of the most grin-inducing motorcycles from the early 1980s – only for all the wrong reasons. The bike got slower as my test went on and the
engine and intake temperatures rose. By the end I think I was effectively cooking on the bike! Yamaha – what were you thinking? I headed into the test open minded but there was without doubt a favourite and it is no secret that the most successful turbo charged motorcycle to come out of the 1980s turbo boom is the famous GPz750 Turbo, Kawasaki 750 Turbo or ZX750E–depending on where it is!
Released in 1983 but developed from 1981 onwards, the 750 Turbo smashed all but the CX 650 out of the water with top speed and blew all of them away over the 1/4-mile with an incredible 10.71 recorded at the World Press Test by Jay Gleason. That is a fast time in 2021 let alone back then, and after riding the 750 Turbo I truly believe that it is capable of sub 11s. It’s an amazing bike!
With a whopping 112hp@8500rpm and big torque at 73.1ft-lbs@6500rpm, the 750 hauls and is great fun to ride.
The standard 750 was a great sportsbike and the Turbo retains
“THE
INCLUDINGSTYLING, THE PAINT, SETS THE 750 TURBO ABOVE THE OTHERS IN EVERY SENSE. THISMEANSBIKE BUSINESS.”
that great handling and the sleek looks, which are improved thanks to the Turbo spoiler. The engine got a deeper sump and extra oil scavenge pump as well as dedicated turbo headers and revised suspension. Geometry was raked out from 26º to 28º to make clearance for the front-mount turbo.
I hopped on the 750 and immediately felt the sporting heritage. It is low. It is long (a trend of the era) and sleek, with full fairing, clip-on ‘bars and rear set footpegs.
The styling, including the paint, sets the 750 Turbo above the others in every sense. This bike means business.
I head out on the 750 and crack up laughing in my helmet by turn one at the end of the long uphill front straight. This thing hammers! It really is quick for a 1983 model motorcycle. After riding almost every naturally aspirated and turbo charged bike from the era, then jumping on this at the end of the day, it is not dissimilar to how I felt riding the new Kawasaki H2. I’m blown away.
The 750 is laggy despite the front mounted turbo – but a lot of the lag is due to the ultra-low compression ratio.
Once the turbo starts to spool up, however, and boost comes on strong, the 750 Turbo takes off like crazy and revs hard all the way to redline – it just keeps on pulling gear after gear. I even got some wheelspin off some turns.
And just when I was buzzing with adrenaline from the mighty acceleration (for the era), the thrills increase as I try to stop the thing!
The 750 Turbo brakes are grossly inadequate as is front fork support and rear shock control. It doesn’t handle nearly as well as the CX 650, however, it absolutely hammers so that more than makes up for it!
I think the Kawasaki 750 Turbo will and should go down in history as one of the coolest bikes ever made – and Kawasaki has done it again with the mighty and manic supercharged H2. Let’s all hope we are about to experience another forced induction era from the Japanese – and that we can enjoy it without insurance or road tax penalties killing them off again.
Chassis: Tubular steel frame, Showa conventional forks with TRAC anti-dive, Honda Pro Link rear with Showa air pressurized shock, dual rotors with twin piston calipers (f) and single rear rotor, 100/9018in (f) and 120/90-17in (r), 220kg dry, 263kg wet weight, 20L fuel tank capacity
Chassis: Tubular steel frame, Showa conventional forks with TRAC anti-dive, Honda Pro Link rear with Showa air pressurized shock, dual rotors with twin piston calipers (f) and single rear rotor, 110/9018in (f) and 120/90-17in (r), 220kg dry, 260kg wet weight, 20L fuel tank capacity
Chassis: Steel spine frame, steel sub-frame, 36mm Showa conventional forks, air preload, dual Showa shocks with air preload plus rebound adjustment, dual 266mm rotors with single-piston calipers (f), single 200mm drum brake (r), 3.25 x 19in (f) and 120/90-18in (r) tyres, 235kg dry, 257kg wet, 19.5L fuel capacity.
Performance: 90hp@9000rpm, 60.25ft-lbs@7000rpm
Middle of Nowhere
WHITE CLIFFS, NSW
YOU KNOW HOW REAL estate agents are always going on about “location, location, location”? Well, location matters in other ways than just your choice of the next palatial residence you wish to purchase. Or should that be, as in my case, “you wish you could purchase”?
I had this brought home to me quite forcefully when I recently visited White Cli s. As one of Australia’s best-known opal mining towns – the others being Lightning Ridge and Coober Pedy – you would expect it to be a fairly major tourist destination. Yes, I know, bloody tourists… but they keep many an Outback town alive when otherwise
it might join the number of defunct ones. And White Cli s has some tourist attractions, too.
However, it isn’t until you compare it to the competition that you realise how few, and limited, those attractions are. I can’t talk about Coober Pedy because it’s been several decades since I’ve been there, but I recently visited Lightning Ridge and it’s like comparing Disneyland with Luna Park. Sure they both have rides, but that’s about all the resemblance. e Ridge is a booming tourist town, even in these bad times, while White Cli s kind of blinks in the desert sun.
Why the di erence? Well, I think it’s location and possibly location, location.
Lightning Ridge is just a few kilometres o three major highways. e Gwydir comes up from the coast while the Castlereagh is part of a convenient Outback loop which connects Brisbane with Sydney and Melbourne. e Kamilaroi Highway is another connection to Sydney. So travellers who want to see a bit of Australia other than the big cities and the heavily populated coast will quite likely pass not far from Lightning Ridge. Why not stop o ? at has allowed the town to grow into a sizeable settlement with several motels, a huge pub, an even huger licensed club as well as cafés and restaurants.
WORDS & PHOTOS THE BEAR
And it’s good to be here, after a hundred kliks of goats and roadkill!
The road is interesting mainly for the cloud formations.
Here is where you can have a troglodyte night in absolute comfort and mild temperature.
White Cli s, meanwhile, languishes a hundred kilometres north of Wilcannia on a road that has nothing to o er except roadkill and a chance to see some goats. Admittedly, Wilcannia is on the main Adelaide to Sydney highway but if the towns between Peterborough and Broken Hill are anything to go by, it’s a tough road to make a buck o . Most of the settlements are derelict; there is fuel
only at Yunta and Cockburn, on the SA border.
What am I saying, then? Is White Cli s a dump, not worth the hundred kay run from the Barrier Highway? Is it better to stop in Lightning Ridge and slip a few Oxford scholars into the club pokies? Well, no.
What White Cli s’ location does is keep away some of the more casual
“TOURISTS… KEEP MANY AN OUTBACK TOWN ALIVE WHEN OTHERWISE IT MIGHT JOIN THE NUMBER OF ONES”DEFUNCT
Relaxing is an activity that’s seen a lot of research and development at the pub.
The shop, which is also the servo, and the corner of the pub.
visitors, which means tourism does not make up such a huge part of the town’s income. The pub is more basic but more fun than an imitation of a Sydney suburban beer barn, and the accommodation is both cheaper and more interesting: there are two underground options, which I liked a lot, as well as the pub, which has very pleasant dongas. Actual evidence of miners working their plots is
everywhere and you can imagine the place when it was going strong.
The solar power station has been abandoned, but it was an important part of the development of solar power in Australia and the world. Even in its current state it looks interesting and kind of science-fictiony. The streets are mostly unsealed but the sand isn’t particularly deep. You can take a tour from the Red Earth Café. The lady at
the Outback Store is really nice, and there’s a stubbie house (doubling as an opal showroom), just opposite the pub! What more could you want?
Now just because I clearly like White Cliffs a lot does not mean that I don’t think you should stop off in Lightning Ridge if you get the chance. They both have things going for them. But don’t let “location, location, location” keep you away from White Cliffs. D
It doesn’t provide any power now, but the power station still looks at the sun.
The Underground Motel has an inside/ outside bar which is very pleasant.
One of the passageways at the Underground Motel, cut into the soft rock
TRIUMPH STREET TWIN
QUESTIONS I GET (ALONG with “how do I get your job?”, answer “you don’t want it”) is “why do motorcycles have more and more electronics and other complications?” Actually, that’s not what they really ask. What they say is, “why do bikes have all this crap on them?”
ere are several reasons, including taking advantage of improving technology, but the one that concerns us here is “because then the manufacturers can charge more”. at is not as cynical as it sounds. Costs go up all the time, shareholders want better returns and you can’t just keep jacking up prices without a defensible reason. But there are only three ways of making more money: build bikes more cheaply, charge more per bike or sell more of the buggers.
Triumph has moved production of most of its range to ailand; relative prices have been creeping up for a while as Triumph, too, adds electronics and trades on its original brand and growing cachet; and the Bloors have long known that the easiest way to sell more motorcycles is to slip a competitive model into an already popular category.
e rst attempt to do this was in 2000 with the TT600, initially designed in 1996. at four-year lapse gives us an idea of the amount of work that went into the engineering. When Triumph attempted to crash the world’s most competitive
PROJECT
motorcycle class, fuel-injected middleweights, with its first in-line fourcylinder 600 cc sports bike, all that work proved to be insufficient. The TT was a terrific bike until you rode it, when the choppy throttle and tentative mapping spoiled the party. Courageous try, no cigar.
But hey, there is an easier way than tackling a class in which most of the rest of the world’s motorcycle manufacturers have been battling it out tooth and nail. Why not slip that competitive model into a category that you created yourself, and effectively own? As long as the new bike does not cannibalise sales of your other motorcycles in the category too badly, that has to be an easy win. And if it can fend off a competitor at the same time, so much the better.
Lays and gemmen, welcome the Street
Twin. I know it’s not new at this stage, having been around for half a decade, but this is the first time I have had the pleasure of riding one. The Street Twin’s price (achieved partly by reducing the electronics) allows it to slide comfortably into the bottom end of Triumph’s twincylinder classic Bonneville range while simultaneously providing something of a defence against the upstart from India, Royal Enfield. It still costs a lot more than one of RE’s 650cc twins, but it is also considerably more sophisticated and offers far better performance and build quality while pulling the same heartstrings.
The Triumph Street Twin is the best-seller among the company’s classic twins, which also makes it the top-selling Triumph overall and the market-leading modern retro bike. How does the Street
Twin justify its success? Beware; my reasons are not going to match the usual rationale of this magazine. It’s not about the speed, or the handling.
Let’s start with the recognition that this is a beautiful motorcycle. It offers lots of historic Triumph cues like the way you can see through the bike, although the one I have always loved best – the sharp, greyhound-thin 1960s Bonneville tank –is not making an appearance. I have been tempted in the past to have a modern Bonnie tank cut and shut to match, but reducing the current tank’s volume doesn’t, in the end, make sense. The Street Twin goes some way in that direction by reducing tank volume to 12 litres to slim down its tank.
And weirdly enough, I just know that I would end up complaining about that. Some people, yours truly included, are
simply never happy. And the central weld in many of the old tanks might have eliminated the crimped base, but it never looked good. Do I digress? One tends to do that when one is getting involved and looking beyond the obvious. Back to the bike: the pipes are far better-looking than Triumph’s standard sausage mufflers and are reminiscent of a Norton.
The Street Twin’s good looks only become better as you get close. Little things just look right, like the way the gear change is tucked in to look less obtrusive; the elegant, slim handlebar controls; the shaped seat; and the instrument binnacle which makes it clear that the single dial is a deliberate and effective design choice rather than a cost saver.
The seat is still low at 760mm, the weight of 198kg dry is lower than a
Bonneville’s. Ergonomics are good, and this is one of the rare bikes where I am not tempted to fit handlebar risers. The seat is comfortable.
The clutch is pleasantly light, and gears snick into place audibly but easily, a notable improvement over older Triumph gearboxes. With this bike you do not have to wait until it warms up before you
THE TRIUMPH STREET TWIN IS THE BEST-SELLER AMONG THE COMPANY’S CLASSIC TWINS, WHICH ALSO MAKES IT THE TOPSELLING TRIUMPH OVERALL .
get a smooth gearchange. First gear is perhaps just a touch high, but you learn to deal with that. It might seem remiss on Triumph’s part to only give the bike five gears, but the spacing is such that fourth will do just about any in-town work, with fifth reserved for the open road.
The suspension, especially the KYB 41mm cartridge fork, does pass on the effects of Sydney’s endless potholes rather mercilessly, but it is no surprise that the factory has saved a few pounds or baht here. Suspension is often the sacrificial lamb when a price point has to be met. Handling is not adversely affected, at least within my riding range, and easy turn-in combines with stable freeway running. Braking is up to the current level of technology with a four-pot Brembo caliper on a single disc up front, and KYB twin shocks with preload adjustment prop up the rear.
The 900HT (High Torque) engine has been upgraded with lightweight components like magnesium engine covers, a lighter crankshaft, balance shafts and clutch. A 7.5kW increase in power takes output to 47.8kW at 7500rpm and peak torque remains with 80Nm at 3800rpm. The Street Twin is a pleasure to ride without tempting the rider to push on into license loss territory. The ride-by-wire throttle is very pleasantly direct and smooth.
I have been asked recently to comment on things like filter changes, and while I have not had time to change the oil and oil filter, I can tell you that the air filter change is a snack. I fitted a DNA filter in less than half an hour, and I’m slow.
Remember the old and everappropriate saying “if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?” If I like the Street Twin so much, why don’t I buy one? Well, I will. This very one, in fact. It is not going back to Triumph Australia. I am already planning how I will change it. Strange? Of course, but remember that that’s how relationships usually work, at least from the distaff side. Oh, and while I did consider – for just a moment – decking the bike out in Corona colours in “honour” of the pandemic, I remembered in time that I detest the beer almost as much as I do Covid.
Read more about my plans in the next issue. D
LOOK AT A MAP and you’ll see that Italy is shaped like a boot. ‘The Boot’ stretches about 1000km (air distance) in total. From an Australians’ point of view that might not be a particularly impressive number, but keep in mind that this boot-shaped Appenine peninsula stretches from the heart of the Alps all the way down to the center of the Mediterranean - almost halfway to Africa! And that is what makes Italy such an incredible (riding) destination. If you’ve spent a week or two in Italy and think you’ve seen it all… well, you’re wrong.
There’s many ways to ride Italy, but how about starting up high in the Alps, surrounded with more than 3000m high peaks, and then riding south towards the sea, just like rivers flow?
Adriatic Moto Tours has vast experience riding many destinations around the world, and this is just one of the amazing tours you can ride with us.
Roller Coaster in a natural paradise
If you left your hotel room window open to get some fresh air after you’ve
washed down the tasty dinner with a couple of bottles of white and red, and some “grappas” or “limoncellos” or whatever the ‘greetings from the house’ was, your room might be surprisingly cold in the morning. Even in July or August, the temperatures in Arraba or Corvara, where we usually stay, can drop down to around zero during the night. That answers why the guide suggested putting ski underwear underneath your riding gear for the next day. Once we had to postpone the morning ride to wait for a fresh three centimetres of snow to melt! In August! The road had dried, but the mountains around passes Giau, Falzarego, Pordoi, and Gardena were still covered with snow - what a fantastic day was that! Ah, that sharp, fresh air in the Dolomites, especially in the morning - that’s something I’d put in bottles and inhale on a hot, summer day in Ljubljana...
You’ll hear most people speak German in the area that they prefer to describe as Sued-Tirol instead of the North of Italy. And, we have to admit there are good sides of German or Austrian influence in the area: the roads are good, so are the infrastructure and
the hotels, and you won’t see a single piece of rubbish on the side of the road. The Dolomites are tidy.
And now a few words about the riding. Here are two things that make for a thrilling riding experience, not comparable to anything else: great roads that don’t allow you to rest much, and a fantastic environment that is simply stunning. Make sure you stop here and there to breathe in all the beauty. Also, make sure you keep rain gear in your top case at all times and plan your daily rides so you’re back in the hotel around 2 or 3pm. Afternoon showers are on the daily menu - even when a forecast doesn’t say so.
South of the Dolomites there are beautiful valleys and lakes (Como, Maggiore, Garda ...), and then south of these there’s the most boring (riding wise) part of the Boot - the Po Valley or Padan Plain. Flat and full of industrial cities (well, they have to make Ducatis and Ferraris somewhere!), with highways, filled with trucks that drive from Genoa to Trieste and from Venice to Milan and, well, let’s skip that, and ride the one and only, Tuscany!
La vita e Bella
The name says it all as ‘Tuscany’ became a synonym for the romantic hilly landscape. For the first-class cuisine. For, of course, wines. Prosciutto. Caffe. For enjoying life with all senses. And that is what you should do there: take some extra time not just for riding, but for exploring romantic cities that are filled with history and art. That’s why we take rest days in two cities next to each other: in Florence (you must have heard of it?) and Siena (you will hear of it!). On both ‘rest days’, we offer riding options, but opposite to the Dolomites, where we strongly suggest taking a rest-day ride, here I’d say: leave your bike parked and take the day as easy as it gets. First, a light
breakfast. Then take a walk in the old town, visit a museum or a gallery. Enjoy the second coffee downtown, with something sweet, a cake or a croissant, on the side. Buy yourself something nice - a silk shirt or a leather wallet/purse, something that will let you remember this day for a long time. Ask the seller for a lunch recommendation - ask where they go to have lunch (not where most tourists go). And as your bike is safely parked in a hotels’ garage, don’t order a glassorder a bottle. Hey, you’re on holiday!
No, you prefer riding? Good idea, too: join many locals on their joy ride from one to another romantic little town around the Chianti region - but don’t you even try to race with them!
Riders’ Paradise
After visiting the leaning tower of Pisa on the western coast (you can skip that in my opinion) it’s time for an overnight ferry to Sardinia. It’s still Italy (unlike its northern neighbor Corsica, which is French), but … it is different. Of course,
it’s an island. And, from a riders’ point of view, it’s a fu…, sorry, freaking great island. One of our guests from Australia described the SS 125 road, the old national highway that’s connecting the cities on the eastern side of Sardinia, as ‘the road of 1000 orgasms’. e chamfered edges of my boots were proof that the shape, angle, and surface of that road is a tyre and boot killer. It’s like a racetrack on an island and I admit I always have to hold myself back so I
don’t forget I’m still on a public road. I haven’t seen it all, but if you ask me for the world’s best riding location, my answer would be - Sardinia. Go there in April-May or September-October to avoid the summer heat and convoys of motorhomes, and make sure to have enough rubber on your tyres. ere is other fun stu to do in Sardinia when you get tired of it, too; sunbathing on the beach in Cala Gonone, with your feet being refreshed by waves from
HIGHLIGHTS
Riding on Sardinia, Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Siena, Leaning Tower in Pisa, riding on mountainous Corsica, Chianti region.
TOUR DATES
APR 24 - MAY 9, 2022
SEP 22 - OCT 7, 2022
the crystal-clear Tyrrhenian Sea, for example. Exploring mystical ‘nuraghes’, build by the Nuragic civilization between 1900 and 730 B.C. We’re talking about pretty old stones!
Godfather sure wasn’t hungry...
Southeast, ‘just’ across the Tyrrhenian Sea, there’s another island, geographically and politically also
Italian, but (again) very, very different from what we’ve ridden till now.
‘Sicilia’ is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and because of its location it was influenced from all sides: Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs… There are seven UNESCO world heritage sites on the island: the Valley of the Temples, the Roman villa, Mt. Etna - to mention just a few. The point is: there’s a lot to see and do in Sicily, while the riding itself can sometimes feel like an adventure ride. Why? Some roads are, well, not really perfect. Some are under construction (for years), some are closed (but then you can still sneak through on a motorcycle), and also the surroundings are not as tidy as, for example, the Dolomites. There
are riding highlights of course, like the road where the Targa Florio Road Race was held from 1906 (!) or the road to Sapienza Refuge ski area on the southern slopes of glorious Mt. Etna, and more.
For me, the highlight of the Sicily Tour is the food (and everything that happens around it). We always visit Sicily in spring or autumn, off the main tourist season, and that’s why a restaurant, where we’ve had lunch last time, might be closed. And when you’re a tour of 10-15 riders, this can be a little issue. No one likes to ride with an empty stomach, no one wants to spend time searching for a good restaurant, browsing Tripadvisor, making u-turns in narrow, steep streets on a hot, sunny day.
But let me tell you something: when in Sicily, don’t spend too much time searching for a ‘good’ restaurant with an English-speaking waiter. Just stop, tell or show (a gesture with a virtual spoon in front of your mouth is understandable even with your helmet on), then sit down and let them serve you. Take your helmet off, though. If nothing else is boiling in the kitchen, always say yes to ‘Pasta Alla Norma’, which is pasta with an eggplant-tomato-basil sauce, and when you’re lucky and there’s some swordfish in the fridge, go for “Rigatoni con Pesce Spada e melanzane”. Waitforget all about it! Just let them feed you and tell me later how it was. I guess there’s a chance of getting something ordinary on your plate, but after having
done the Sicily Tour numerous times, the cuisine didn’t disappoint one single time.
Well, yes, most of Italy is like that, but here you can feel and smell that you’re close to the origin of what you’re putting in your mouth - that’s why it all smells so great. And there’s the atmosphere; sometimes you’re enjoying lunch with local workers, then in the
same evening they come to play violin next to your table in, ah, one of the most romantic towns you can imagine - Taormina - on the east Sicilian coast, just above the Isola Bella beach - please, Google it, as there are not enough pages in the magazine to tell you just how good this place is. Otherwise, get ready to join our tour and live an experience of a lifetime! D
Adriatic Moto Tours’ options for riding “The Boot”
The tour that captures most of the mentioned places in the article, is AMT’s classic 16-day Tuscany Sardinia Corsica guided motorcycle tour. The name says it all: starting from Venice you’ll ride to Tuscany and the two islands, Sardinia and Corsica, visiting the famous Cinque Terre on the way back. If you want to skip Tuscany and do just a quick tour of the two islands, take a 9-day Sardinia & Corsica Riders’ Heaven tour. For all those interested in riding the passes, there’s a couple of options: Alps Adriatic Adventure (15 days), Top of the Alps (9 days), Western Alps Adventure (9 days), or Best of Eastern Alps (9 days). For extending the ride further south there are the South of Rome & Sicily Tour (15 days) or the Sicily Tour (9 days).
For individuals (or with pillion) who want to do it all, there’s an option of doing a self-guided tour where you tell us which places you want to visit and for how many days you’re going to live on the bike. So! You want to see it all and you’re asking how many days that would take? Honestly? A month will be just fine!
For dates, day-by-day info, photo and video galleries, and pricing visit adriaticmototours.com
Remember some of the cool and fun motorcycle advertising that used to be around? Well, we’ve searched high and low to find some of that coolness to give you a bit of a laugh. The sexual innuendo was rife! Enjoy…
Time Machine Time Machine GOOD TIMES!
When advertising was fun
Yay!
PERTH-
TOODYAY, WA
WORDS – STUART.
PHOTOS – VARIOUS
THIS MONTH’S MAP IS all about taking in your surroundings as you get to the various towns heading east out of Perth to Toodyay. Enjoy the ride, but also take time o bike. We all need a bit of relaxation at the moment!
PERTH
Is Perth the real, ‘sunshine capital of Australia’? Well, it just could be, since it’s claimed Perth enjoys more sunshine than anywhere else in this country. Just not right at the moment with record rainfall!
ere’s obviously lots to do in Perth and its surrounding suburbs. Art galleries, al fresco breweries (one run by e Bear’s nephew), relaxed neighbourhoods and epic events all live in perfect harmony. And with nearby wineries and even friendly quokkas there’s a bit of something for all tastes.
NOBLE FALLS
You’ll nd the falls about 5.5 kilometres outside the quaint country town of Gidgegannup, about half an hour from Perth. e 3.5 kilometre walk trail is waymarked from Noble Falls Car Park, opposite Noble Falls Tavern. Follow the
trail along Wooroloo Brook to the falls which are at their bubbling, tumbling best in winter and spring.
TOODYAY
You might as well split this ride into a two-dayer! ere’s so much to see
PERTH – TOODYAY, WA
PERTH – TOODYAY, WA
Heading east out of Perth, jump on Guildford Road to Middle Swan. Take Toodyay Road all the ‘yay’ to Toodyay!
Heading back from Toodyay, ride about a kilometre and turn le onto Northam-Toodyay Road and follow to just a er the silo art (almost impossible to miss), where you have the option to continue on the yellow route and turn right onto Great Eastern Highway heading back to Perth, or you can continue on the pink route by riding into Northam and making your way to Wellington Street, which then turns into Spencers Brook Road.
Once at York, jump onto Great Southern Highway and head back to Perth.
Distance –
Yellow route: 204km
Pink route: 136km (245km total)
Fuel –
Perth, Toodyay, Northam, York
and do at Toodyay! Check out the Newcastle Gaol Museum, Cola Café and Museum which is reported to have over 6000 pieces of Coca Cola memorabilia. Check out the night sky at e Space Place, see the miniature trains, Mill museum, or if you reckon you’re pretty handy, try yourself out at Hoddywell Archery Park. Of course there’s plenty of unique specialty shops and more cafes to choose from.
NORTHAM
Not only can Northam claim to be one of the earliest settlements in the Western Australian Central Wheatbelt area but, today, with a population of over 6000, it is the largest inland rural town which is not dependent on mining in the state. It is known for its vineyards, cafes and boutique shops and the popularity of hot air ballooning. e weather is ideal for ballooning and it is known for having very hot summers (so keep that in mind).
YORK
Very similar to Northam, York is home to great cafes, boutique shops, canola elds and if you fancy stretching the legs you can do the 1.5km Avon River Trail walk starting at the historic suspension bridge. D
FROM THE YARRA AND the Swan, and the Parramatta to thousands of almost always dry, parched courses of inland creeks and streams, to the failed experiments of the Ord, to the water the crime scenes of the Darling, the Warrego and the Menindee Lakes, our rivers have stories. Bloody good ones.
And the pubs and people along their banks have tales to match, and… spoiler alert... shameless plug… my new book, just released by New Holland, follows our greatest river, the Murray and documents the pubs and the people along the way.
is is the rst of three of articles on the best of ‘em.
Benambra Hotel
Don’t much matter which direction you’re coming from, the ride to this, the highest pub on the Murray, is up there with the best. Up from Bairnsdale (pause at the Bruthen Pub or the Little River at Ensay), south east from Albury (Eskdale or the Laurel at Mitta Mitta), or across from Wang (gotta stop at Bright’s Brewery) you’re going to arrive here with a smile on your dial. Just bring enough fuel to get out again!
And don’t arrive here thirsty before 5’ish. e pub is Johnno’s, owned by him and run by him. Run by him as his place and run how he feels at the time. And how he feels is that opening before 5.30 (ish) is pointless.
He also thinks it’s pointless replacing
the roof sign for Courage Beer (last sold in 1978) and one night I rocked up, he didn’t feel like cooking so tea was o . Across Gibbo Road (is there a more ockerly-named main street in the country?) there’s an old shop frontage for Slim’s Barber Shop. Don’t get excited about that either. It’s from a lm set – Red Hill – shot here in 2010 and, well, no-one could see any point in getting rid of it.
e pub has four rooms, most of which are sometimes available, but there’s also a massive backyard where you’re good to camp and even get under some sort of cover between the holes in the roof of the old bar, beside the old wall that’s half blown down, just across from the windmill base that’s lost its fan.
I had a decent time with Johnno and some locals. e ride to Benambra is extraordinary, the experience once you’re there is, well, memorable.
HIGHLIGHT: Ask the locals about their theories on the missing elderly campers.
RATING: 4out of 5 banjos
Up the glorious C545 through the guts of the Nariel Valley. Easy gravel in the middle twisty section then it’s right at the B400, through Corryong which I featured in issue 99 and a detour up to a pub that deserves rider support like few others.
e Tooma Inn
About 50 people in Tooma and when you take out those underage and the very elderly there’s not much of a reservoir for a publican to tap to keep a oat. e Council was smart enough to realise that and erected an amenities block across from the pub, and designated the creek bank as free camping.
e Tooma Inn’s only got 3 rooms for accommodation - and they’re comfortable, I’ve stayed in one several times – so the camping was a bloody lifeline for encouraging groups to visit and stay.
Trouble is, the landed gentry, at least one of whom had tried unsuccessfully to intimidate the publicans into serving his underage son, saw the welcoming of people – people like bike riders – as lowering the dignity of their village.
So they fought the Council, one even claiming to own the land concerned. But they lost and so threw their toys out of their well-appointed playpens and organised a boycott of the pub.
e pub’s now for sale, with or without a license, but few joints like this are moving in these times so when lockdowns allow, Trevor and Kris put out the welcome mat for travellers, especially riders.
is is a 5 helmet place. Run by good people who themselves ride. Stick it on your “Do Damn Soon” list.
HIGHLIGHT: Tap into some of the small town scandals
Bridge Hotel, Jingellic
Back to the river and then west for half an hour on the Vic side then cross back over, right around the oval with the excellent general store now on your le and you’re at a gem of a pub, right on the edge of the river and in full harmony with its locals.
e original bridge that gave the pub its name is long gone except for the
rusting pylons easily visible just o to the le as you down a quencher on the fabulous garden out front of the pub. ere’s free camping right beside the water but the pub has excellent if pricey cabin accommodation beside the main building. But nding rm footing for the bike stand can be tricky.
Very welcoming of riders and other out-of-towners, this place was a hub for crews during the res of early last year. Its ceiling is dotted with notes xed with chucked drawing pins of all denominations. ey’re harvested twice a year and bring in around 5 gures annually for good local causes. e pub’ll supply the drawing pins so give it a shot.
HIGHLIGHT: Track down Rex who’s known to ride around town on his mower and who has a new bridge named in his honour.
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When you head west from here if you’re not on a one-dimensional bike, take the River Road on the north side of the river. You’ll pass the historic and sadly missed Dora Dora pub on your right about midway along the 50 odd kms of friendly gravel. It’s never overly corrugated and more enjoyable than the excellent Murray River Road. en cross on the Wymah Punt and when you hit the main road, turn le . odd corrugated Wymah Punt main .
Granya Hotel (and Farm-stay)
is place was my PotM number 67. It wasn’t going well then, deserved better, but things ended up turning sour for Mick. e place cost him his marriage, his savings and his dreams, but then Garry from down river a bit rocked up and took over the lease in early Covid times.
Garry’s totally re-invented this pub. Whilst still retaining a true bush micropub feel in the bar and kitchen – all of
e deets
These are the pubs on the Upper Murray that, under current ownership, will give you the best welcome and services. Just make sure you ring ahead, especially in these pandemic times.
Benambra Hotel
Gibbo St, Benambra, Vic
T: 03 5159 9214 (only after 6pm ish)
Tooma Inn
9 Possum Point Road, Tooma
T: 02 69484012
FB: The Tooma Inn
Bridge Hotel, Jingellic
3149 River Road, Jingellic
T: 02 6037 1290
FB: The Jingellic Pub
Granya Hotel
Murray River Road, Granya
T: 02 6072 9563
FB: Hotel Granya
Bethanga Hotel
Bethanga Bay Road, Bethanga
T: 02 60264214
FB: Bethanga Hotel
Howlong Courthouse Hotel
46 Hawkins St, Howlong
T: 02 6026 5324
FB: Court House Hotel
Howlong Hotel
58 Hawkins St, Howlong
T: 02 6026 5255
FB: Howlong Hotel
which have been gutted and redone, it’s out the back in the paddock that constitutes the backyard that things have been revolutionised.
He subdivided the eld and brought in a pair of sheep, some cattle, chickens, (stay tuned, more are arriving by the week) and turned the place into a petting farm. en he xed up the two residences and turned them into full-on glamping accommodation.
Meanwhile the accommodation rooms at the front come in a combo of singles, doubles, twins and a bunk house and there’s undercover parking.
HIGHLIGHT: Keeping the alpacas at bay. RATING 4 out of 5 helmets
Bethanga Hotel
First time I had a brew and stayed here, the place was, yeah bugger it, ‘feral’ is the word. Way o the banjo scale. ere was a Labrador serving beers, a stool at the pool table so kids could get high enough to rip the baize with the well-worn cue tips, you could have
anything on the dinner menu as long as it was deep-fried, and the room was the coldest I ever su ered for my cra . en Garry – the same one from Granya - took it over. He wasn’t exactly a neophyte in the business. Bethanga was, he thinks his 15th ‘maybe 16th’ pub and like Granya, it was on its knees. But he saw the potential of the backyard which sloped down to the creek from the a ernoon-facing rear deck and he gured to back his long-held crazy idea of incorporating a petting zoo into a pub.
So, the fences came in, the pens
created and then two by two, the animals arrived: the rabbits, the alpacas, the miniature horses, the goats, the sheep, a few chooks. Unlike the Labrador behind the bar, these were (more or less) controlled and kept out the back. And then the word started owing out to bigger towns like Albury,
Wodonga and further a eld both sides of the border.
It went ‘gangbusters’. Booked out on weekend arvos for kids parties when the ankle-biters are each given a bag of food for their favourite beast and then leave their parents to enjoy the vibe and the new menu from the sun drenched deck.
is is a memorable pub. It no longer has accommodation but a lunch break here in a loop ride to Granya, Wymah, Bowna, Table Top and urgoona is a very hard day to beat.
HIGHLIGHT: Act the goat with real ones.
RATING: 5 out of 5 helmets
Not much of interest in Albury so to head west I reckon the B58 on the NSW side is the better option: out past Monument Hill (well worth a squiz and a Pikes Peak squirt), then the curves along the edge of the Murray wetlands and you’re on your way.
Howlong
Two very decent pubs here: the Court House which is a stunning old building in what I think historians call “Federation style” and the Howlong Hotel which is more in what I call “brick shithouse” style.
Inside both are welcoming, and comfortable. Neither has accommodation but they have great res in the cold nights, both run by hands-on publicans and both heavily involved in the community. Bit of rivalry between them, but no point in detailing internecine battles here.
Take your choice, I’ve seen plenty
provided engine and transmission, the R 50 donated the frame and running gear) turned out to be useful but never really ideal; for a start the Ural sidecar was too heavy. I didn’t build the perfect outfit until I matched a Yamaha Bolt to a replica Steib chair. Still, the Beemer outfit covered a lot of miles and was a lot of fun. I don’t seem to be able to find any photos, so you’ll have to settle for one of the Bolt.
RALPH - KTM SUPERDUKE / BMW R 1200 GS Split Decision
DRIRIDER
dririder.com.au
I owned both in the late 2000s and these bikes meant different things for
Touring 2 Panniers – $199.95
600D Ripstop construction featuring universal fit expandable soft side bags (18–31L capacity), Velcro fitting and attachment straps, extra side compartments, heat resistant base in case of accidental contact with the exhaust, includes PE boards for shape retention, equipped with rain cover and shoulder strap, anti–scratch non–slip material on inner side and reflective strip for night safety.
ANDY STRAPZ andystrapz.com
Avduro Panniers – $475
The name Avduro nods its lid to the mix of Enduro and Adventure.
Since their inception in 2003 Andy Strapz panniers have evolved in line with the demands of modern Adventure riders.
Navigator Mini Tank Bag
Magnetic – $59.95
of bikes outside both and with good reason. Check out the convicts’ thumbprints in the chimney bricks of the Howlong Hotel’s replace.
600D Ripstop construction featuring a non–slip anti–scratch base, strong magnets for secure holding, includes waist strap and is sized at 180x130x30 –great for carrying phone, wallet, money and/or cards.
HIGHLIGHT: This is no gee-up. Get your photo taken by the staff in the bar of the Courthouse. Do it! Ask! They’ll sit you in a traditional spot and you’ll remember the experience.
RATING: 5 out of 5 helmets D
Made in Australia from their tried and crashed, 17oz Aussie, Dynaproofed canvas, they are packed (pun intended, sorry) with new approaches to the existing features.
The basics of the pannier bags remain unchanged from those Andy made for himself all that time ago. If it ain’t broke…
Although the basics stood the test of time and Aussie riders, that doesn’t mean the nice little extras can’t be tweaked and improved such as what you’ll find with the Avduro.
Scoota Bagz – $74
A small courier style, shoulder bag with an external flap. A very neat size to carry on the bike.
Get it now!
TO GET YOUR COPY of Drinking in the Rivers, head to nothingbutthepub. com and follow the prompts. When you get to the discount coupon, enter AMMbike to get a 10% discount, which’ll take the price to under a slab of frothies. Use the saving to buy a beer. No point in you being parched too!
me and my riding. Both bikes I bought without test riding, and placed an order prior to their arriving in Australia. It’s proof that marketing hype works! Both represented freedom in every sense -performance or travel, wheelstanding or chugging through the countryside. Both were instrumental in consolidating their brands in their respective markets.
Designed to fit an A4 sized file, Andy’s Scoota Bagz are constructed from 1000–denier (jargon for bloody tough) Korda nylon with waterproof backing and brown oil–less oilskin, a combination of both!
e 2010s
Functional and handsome enough for everyday use the Scoota features two external pockets with dividers under the front flap and inside the bag, rear–mounted handle, angled shoulder strap for optimal comfort. And a rugged two–inch side–mounted release clip for helmet–on removal.
STUART – BMW R 1200 GS Water-Cooled Magic
Let it be known, BMW have pretty much always held amazing new bike launches and the introduction of the
Classic Classic RACER RACER
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 500CC twostroke GP racer ever built? The Cagiva V593 is certainly that…
This world famous Cagiva V593 belongs to huge motorcycle fan and avid collector, Steve Byrne. The bike holds pride of place at Steve’s bar with Andrew Pitt’s world title winning ZX-6R.
When Steve heard that Paul Feeney, (then the importer of MV Agusta in Australia) was selling this V593, the one John Kocinski won the US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in 1993 and the Australian GP on in 1994, Steve just had to have it. Naturally, when Steve offered me a ride, I didn’t hesitate to say yes, I could not get on a plane quick enough.
I think this is the first time I’ve felt true fear of a motorcycle. The bike is invaluable and has a lot of important history. Cagiva entered Grand Prix racing in 1990 and had to battle against the ultrarich Japanese manufacturers that had seemingly unlimited budgets in days when expenses and rider salaries were peaking. Still the small factory with the big heart pushed on and eventually, against the odds, rose to the winner’s podium. Some believed the odds of their winning a world title were more than just likely, vhad finances not restricted progress.
Eddie Lawson gave Cagiva their debut victory on a drying track in the 1991 Hungarian Grand Prix. Lawson left Cagiva before he retired from racing, but other stars were drawn to the passionate Italian team, with Randy Mamola, Mat Mladin and Doug Chandler also riding for the marque at one stage their careers.
But it was the determined and highly talented John Kocinski who gave Cagiva the most
champagne, winning at Laguna Seca in what was to be the final grand prix in the USA for 12 long years. After completing the season on the updated V594, John finished the 1994 championship in third position but sadly that was the end of the line and Cagiva went broke.
THE RIDE
I’m pacing around nervously as the bike gets warmed up by the legendary Dick Smart, as it is probably the most expensive bike I may ever get to ride. Daryl Beattie obviously picked up on my panicked pacing. “Just stay relaxed and ride it normally. It’ll just feel like a superbike, only faster and lighter. Watch those carbon brakes until they’re up to temp.” Daryl Beattie, along for a ride, reassures me in that weird way a surgeon reassures you before cutting your chest open with a hacksaw, “Keep an eye on the temperature too and watch the powervalves, they seem to be jamming up a little at 9500rpm”.
The next minute I’m being pushed
down pit lane by the ex-Mick Doohan GP mechanic, just like the professional racers you see on television. I let the clutch out and the V4 fires into life. The racer comes out in me almost straight away. I’ve already got my knee down by turn two.
The first run down the back straight of Queensland Raceway I short shift and load the bike up, holding the throttle open in third gear to clear it and after a few coughs the digital tachometer suddenly screams past 9500rpm. I can feel my shoulder joints pulling apart as I shift at 12,500rpm before grabbing the brakes for turn three, they felt just like normal brakes in that moment because they are still cold. Out of turn three I feed the throttle on slowly to lean the engine out a little and get through that rough patch at 9000rpm. Again, the engine clears its throat and I’m struggling to hold on, let alone keep the front wheel down. All I can feel is wheel-spin then the front wheel lifting. This thing hammers. I’ve never felt acceleration like it, not even
on a turbo or a World Superbike or drag bike.
I’m cautious through the two lefthanders on my first time around but I feed it on a little on the short straight before turn six, just to get a feel for the power delivery. Onto the chute for the first time the engine coughs again but once it clears, the bike explodes in a surge of acceleration and shifting through the ‘box via the electronic reverse-pattern quick-shifter delivers a feeling like no other. Nothing feels like this – no four-stroke could be this exciting.
I feel like the Cagiva GP500 has knocked 20 years off my age. I squeeze the Brembo front brake lever at the end of the straight. One finger is all it takes but I have this picture in my head of the rotors suddenly getting up to temperature and locking the wheel before I can modulate the pressure. But soon I’m trail braking into corners, and I’ve got the hang of feeding the power on progressively out of the turns. I can’t believe how much the concentration
this bike requires is sapping from me.
The tyres are up to temperature now and with more confidence in them, I’m pushing the Cagiva further and further on its side every lap. But I’m more than aware that I need to stand the bike up as much as possible before opening the throttle. Make no mistake, this ain’t no proddie or 600. Wind it on mid-corner and I’m going to be flying pretty high.
The chassis is ultra-stiff and the bike is so light. You’d really have to have an intimate relationship with the machine and a lot of laps under your belt to decipher full confidence from the feedback. Once you knew the bike, though, it’d be a brilliant talker. In my short session I was just relying on my past experience with slick tyres and knowing how far to push them at my very moderate pace.
The rear Ohlins GP-spec shock is predictably stiff and, to be honest, probably in need of a service after sitting around for so long, especially with my weight on it. The front suspension action is firm but nowhere near what I’d imagined. In fact, the machine is riding the nasty bumps at Queensland Raceway quite well, with the exception of getting air over the bumps at the end of the main
straight.
The session is coming to an end and my dream is almost over, just as I start to get smooth and comfortable, I put in what I feel are a few half decent laps about as quick as I could go on a stock 1000cc road bike.
Not surprisingly the V593 feels better the faster I go and on the last lap I do just what Daryl said. I ride it like I’d ride a normal bike running into the turns fast, standing it up and winding it on harder and taking it right through to 13,000rpm, 1000rpm short of redline. On the last lap I feel like I’m detached from the world. Like I used to feel when I was on a hot lap and in my ‘groove’ in my racing days.
No bike has made me feel like that since I stopped racing and I don’t think anything else ever will. I think I’m in love. I ride back into the pits and hop off the bike feeling eerily calm and sedate. The 1993 Cagiva V593 represented the pinnacle of the Italian firm’s 500cc Grand Prix competitiveness. It was passion and drive that got them there. Sadly that World Title was not meant to be as they ran out of money soon afterwards, during the following season on the V594 version, the last of the GP500.
World Champion John Kocinski talks
Sitting down with the legendary John Kocinski, I got to learn more about the bike that had a short-lived life in GP racing but a longlived legacy. John spoke about the team’s passion and excitement that surpassed the want to make money out of the sport, which is what motor racing should be about.
JW – It has been said that this was the bike that turned Cagiva from also-rans to almost wins and if you didn’t take the ride Cagiva would have pulled the pin. What is your take on that?
John Kocinski – Yes, it is probably true, but a lot of my greatest memories have been when I rode for Cagiva. It was a company of great passion.
JW – When you think back on
the V593 and V594 and the results, particularly the wins you achieved on the bike how do you feel?
John Kocinski – It is one of my greatest accomplishments to win on a machine that no one else other than Eddie Lawson has won on. It was heartbreaking when Cagiva could not continue in 1995 because we were so close to having a machine that could win a World Championship.
JW – How much of the work, in development terms, was done when you arrived at the team?
John Kocinski – Obviously, there had been work done, but it was far from complete.
JW – What were the strengths and weaknesses of the V593 and V594?
John Kocinski – The strengths were the agility and steering. The weakness was the power band.
JW – Was this motorcycle capable of winning the title?
John Kocinski – Yes, most definitely.
JW – Were you keen to stay on for 1995 if the team had survived?
John Kocinski – Absolutely. I loved the team, the engineers, I had great mechanics. It was just a matter of making some small improvements to the power delivery and handling.
JW – Daryl Beattie said that overall he rates the bike well and that both yourself and Eddie Lawson proved that it is a reasonable motorcycle. But were you guys over-riding
to compensate for lack of performance or was the bike really that good?
John Kocinski – No matter what machine you ride there are always issues. But definitely in, 1994, the machine was the best it had ever been. I think the results say the same.
JW – What did it for you with 500s – the challenge, the acceleration, the adrenaline or the fear?
John Kocinski –That’s exactly what does it, I think, for everyone. The challenge, the acceleration, the adrenaline and fear.
JW – Give us one word that sums up the Cagiva.
John Kocinski – Passion.
500c Legend, Daryl Beattie Chat
CATCHING UP WITH EX 500 GP racer, Daryl Beattie after his laps on the Cagiva, it’s safe to say that he’s hooked again despite not riding a 500 GP bike since he retired back in 1997. There were some similarities between the motors on the Cagiva and his old Yamaha but the frame was a new experience for Daryl. “That’s the most fun I’ve had since I retired in 1997,” declared Beattie as he tried to wipe the smile off his face after leaving blackies all over Queensland Raceway on the V593 Cagiva GP500.
“That’s the most laps I’ve done on a track for years. I’ve only done those commentating laps at Australian Grand Prix but as soon as I left pit lane all the memories of 500 GP came back. Nothing beats a 500.” Admitted Daryl, “I felt good on the bike, and it all started to come back to me.
“I remember this bike well and always wondered what it would be like to ride. It feels similar engine-wise to the Yamaha I rode in 1994 but it handles better. It’s really sweet and the carbon brakes are just awesome when you haven’t used them for a long time”.
Daryl says he always knew the Cagiva was a competitive machine in the right hands, “The King (Eddie Lawson) did a lot for Cagiva and Kocinski had some good results on the bike. There’s no doubt that it had more potential, so it is a shame that this was the second last one.”
“It feels really good to ride a race bike again. You just can’t beat the way they steer, stop or accelerate. The thing just wants to wheelstand in every gear. Unreal... I’ve gotten a taste for it again, so I’ll have to talk Mick (Doohan) into coming out to some ride days with me”! D
Specs
1993 CAGIVA GP500 V593
POWER: 195hp @ 12,600rpm
TORQUE: 75.5ft-lbs @12,000rpm
WET WEIGHT: 130kg
FUEL CAPACITY: 21 litres
ENGINE: Liquid-cooled, 80-degree V4, twin crank, two-stroke, 56 x 50.6mm bore x stroke, 498cc, two twin-choke 36mm electronic power-jet flatslide Mikunis, crankcase reed-valve induction, pressurised airbox, titanium expansion chambers with carbon-fibre mufflers, electronically controlled cylindrical power valves – five transfer, three exhaust, electronic ignition with programmable advance curve linked to throttle opening, exhaust powervalve and carburettor power jet, NGK plugs, single plain piston ring pistons, needle roller small-end and roller big-end bearings, straightcut gear to clutch from right-hand end of lower crank
GEARBOX & CLUTCH: Six-speed cassette-style,
ten possible ratios for first and fourth, seven for second and fifth, nine for third and sixth, drum selection, electronic quick-shift, dry multi-plate, seven friction and six steel plates, six springs
BRAKES: Twin 320mm carbon-carbon front rotors, Brembo fourpiston monoblock calipers and Brembo radial mastercylinder, Brembo pads, single 190mm carboncarbon rear rotor, Brembo twin-piston monoblock caliper, Brembo pads
WHEELS & TYRES: Ferrari hollow-section carbonfibre wheels, 3.5 x 17in, 6.0 x 17in, Michelin slicks
PRICE: Over one million dollars!
From top: Huge titanium triple clamps and carbon forks were reportedly worth over two million large! Powervalve servomotor located on the headstock. Twin crankshafts were similar to the YZR500. Note tiny ignition pickup
WORDS – KARL WEBSTER
PHOTOS – CHRIS PICKETT AND KARL WEBSTER
Karl Webster’s passion for Ducati ran deep. Funds were tight but he decided to make a replica of the bike that inspired a replica. A tangle of words maybe, but the finished result is a delight.
In 1978 the buzz in the UK and around the world with road racing fans was Mike Hailwood’s return from retirement. This wasn’t any return though, Hailwood would be back at the Isle of Man, where he was a god. And it wasn’t a few months either, it had been 11 years since the great man had retired, when Honda had pulled the pin on racing.
Aman like Hailwood, a man who embraced risk for reward, couldn’t sit still for long so he went car racing instead. A massive crash put him out of that game and he moved to New Zealand with his family to open up a business. A dabble back in bike racing had Mike thinking he could go back to the game that made him a household name in the UK. Noone really thought he could succeed, except maybe Hailwood himself, but history shows he won the Formula One TT, with his Sports Motorcycles Ducati 900SS based bike exploding its engine as he crossed the line for the win. The great man was back!
AN IMPRESSIONABLE YOUTH
“I guess it was when I bought a Ducati sew-on badge at a swap meet that I became a fan – it was the logo, the dual line font, the name. I’ve been in love with Ducatis ever since,” says Karl Webster, the builder of the bike you see here.
The 47-year-old was a mere stripling when he saw his first Ducati Mike Hailwood Replica. He recalls, “I was 19 and was an avid motocross rider. I was on a trip to the beach, down the Great Ocean Road, when I spotted a guy hopping onto an MHR. Then he started it up! The barely muffled sound from the bevel twin cylinder engine joined the sew-on patch to start a lifelong obsession with the Ducati marque, and the Mike Hailwood Replica.”
But along the way Karl got
sidetracked with a bit more off road racing and tearing up the roads on race replicas like a Suzuki GSX-Rs, Yamaha’s R1 and a Kawasaki ZXR750. A big ‘incident’ on a remote beach in South Australia while riding a Yamaha YZ426 saw Karl out of action for a number of years before the biking bug bit again. This was in the form of a Ducati 1098, and after years of watching Carl Fogarty, Troy Corser and Troy Bayliss racing Ducatis in WSBK, the experience of 1098 ownership only strengthened Karl’s bond with Ducati. “I turned this into a Xerox replica, of the bike Corser was racing. It looked great because as a sign writer I had the skills and the gear to make it happen. KTM even asked me to do the same to some of its unsold RC8s. I redid them in Red Bull livery
and they looked fantastic,” said Karl.
THE MHR BECKONS
“All this helped me get my passion back for bikes,” explained Karl. “So I started looking for a MHR. I saw five on eBay but they were all around the $20,000 mark. I had 15K, so I took a chance and put a bid on all five, but had a mixed response from the owners. They were all polite but they were all a firm ‘No’,” added Karl.
It was back to the drawing board for Karl, but then three months later one of the owners came back to him and said that if he had the 15K he could have the bike, but only if he was there by midnight that same day. Karl says, “Thing was, I’d spent some of the cash and only had 14 grand left. I spoke to my partner, grabbed the kids, jumped into my pickup and hit the road, cashed up and pumped up. “On the way there we checked that it wasn’t stolen and to be honest I was expecting it to be rough, even though it looked good in the pics.
“We got there at 11.30pm and the bike was great. You could tell it had been loved, I loaded it up without even riding it until the next day. Thankfully it rode beautiful. I was blown away by
how good it was, not just the condition. It was comfortable, smooth and so solid – even the gearbox was slick to shift. I did many road trips on the bike that summer. Even compared to the 1098, I loved the MHR. It gave me a different outlook on riding, I didn’t have to rush anywhere, just enjoy the bike for its beauty, its sound and the way it made me feel. I was getting older and didn’t have to prove anything to my mates, it was perfect.”
RACER REP TIME
But a dodgy oil filter started the road to TT glory. Karl explains,” the shop sold me the incorrect oil filter, one for a Laverda apparently, but when I revved the bike the oil filter basket blew out, spewing oil everywhere. There was no issue with the engine, just oil everywhere, but I decided right there to build the bike I wanted to, a replica of Mike Hailwood’s 1978 Isle of Man TT winning bike, the bike which inspired the run of Mike Hailwood Replicas like mine.
“Many believe Mike to be the greatest rider that has ever lived and I wanted my bike to be the ultimate replica of his TT winning machine. I
became obsessed, and I was lucky my close friend who works on all my bikes became equally obsessed, and we agreed the bike should remain road registered.”
Karl’s pace took on a ferocity only a man possessed with the modifying gene can relate to. Karl amassed plenty of detailed photos of the bike. His bike was quickly torn down to a bare frame and instead of getting the frame powder coated, Karl decided the it should be painted, as it was done back in the day. The frame was lightly sandblasted and the paint basically fell off it as the frames were not undercoated by the factory. All of the colours of the original TT bike came from a Castrol oil tin so that’s what sign writer Karl did. The wheels were chemically dipped and a fresh coat of Ducati gold applied, but with a touch of a matting agent to dull the effect. Karl says,” my mate is a gun hand with the spray gun so I never question what he does, and it looks a treat.”
A tank/seat unit was sourced from Italy, as was the screen, fairing, rear sets, clip-ons and the beautifully crafted exhaust, itself a fairly faithful replica of the one used on Mike the Bike’s TT winner. It has a very different look to
it than the usual exhaust seen on bevel drive Ducatis, and a very different note too. Many other bits were purchased for the project, usually after hours spent on the internet to find suppliers of the old parts needed. Even though the fairing was for race use only, the bike was to remain registered. “I got a four-inch kit car headlight from the UK but my mate laughed and told me to bin it, and then rang his mate Jim who builds race replicas himself. “He suggested a Honda CBR250RR import light, and another mate Todd, who builds racing yachts, cut a hole in the fairing and constructed the channel and mount for the light. He did a great job on it, and then we found out the kit car headlight I bought was originally off a ride-on mower. I’m glad that never went on the bike,” said Karl.
As the project went on Karl became even more obsessed, replicating other parts seen on the original machine, touches builders often forgot or don’t see. These included vents on the side of the fairing and vent holes cut into the bottom of the belly pan. “Todd made a glass fibre seat base with bolts, and I had the seat itself upholstered in the same
sticking pattern as Hailwood’s bike. We reinforced the underneath with carbon fibre so it would take a rider’s weight, as you can see from pictures of the original bike if you look carefully enough.
“We searched high and low for good pics and I found a tachometer that looked just like Mike’s, and I drew up a bracket for it on my CAD program to mimic the one on Mike’s bike too. A lot of work went into this piece alone, filing and so on, and then I fitted small LEDs for turn signals, the oil light, high beam etc,” said Karl.
The sand blasting, cleaning and painting continued, with hours spent poring over photos of the original race bike to ensure Karl’s bike would be as close as possible to the original in detail including the oil breather tank under the seat, and the front fairing mount that holds the instruments. “I spent untold hours researching the logos, stickers and graphics so they would be perfect. Even more hours went into copying the stickers and fonts to get the right size. They are on file now too, so I can replicate them if need be,” said Karl. By now the parts were coming
Seat options include rider and pillion backrests, gloveboxes and Corbin’s exclusive heating & cooling system known as “Fire & Ice”. Check out our website to see what options are available for your motorcycle
A man like Hailwood, a man who embraced risk for reward, couldn’t sit still for long so he went car racing instead.
together and the excitement was growing. Body panels were prepped for paint and it finally went on. Most of the work was done in house. The motor was bench mounted into the frame, with the forks and swing arm added. Then came the brakes, carbs, wiring and so on. The carbs: “the rear one needed a straight intake manifold which came from Old Racing Spare Parts in Italy, as did many of the body parts,” explains Karl.
Everything fitted well right from the start except for the belly pan which was too narrow for the 1983 electric start dry clutch engine. The team didn’t bat an eye lid, they simply cut it down the middle and added five inches to it. Fairing mounts were then crafted in alloy. All of the parts not used were put aside, the original tank, seat, fairing, exhaust, wiring loom, instruments and so on. The build continued but time was short as the team wanted to debut the bike at the 20th Island Classic, only weeks away.
Karl says, “I can’t explain the feeling as the final bits went together. My mate was the real master, I was only the coffee
I was 19 and was an avid motocross rider. I was on a trip to the beach, down the Great Ocean Road, when I spotted a guy hopping onto an MHR. Then he started it up!
wench for the final run to the flag. He makes it look much easier than it is.
We are both very proud of what we achieved and we arrived at Phillip Island with the bike looking magnificent and sounding amazing through the tuned length pipes.”
Perhaps fittingly, John McGuiness, the TT legend who was racing for the British team in the Island Classic, signed the bike’s tailpiece. Later that year McGuiness rode a replica of Hailwood’s 1967 Diamond Jubilee Honda 500/4 race winning machine, to celebrate Mike’s win. McGuiness loved the bike and so did another motorcycle enthusiast, affectionately known as ‘Tangles’.
“I saw the bike at the Island Classic,”
said ‘Tangles’. I was amazed at the quality of it, and the number of people crowding Karl and the bike was mindblowing.
“Then I happened to be at the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed a couple of years later and ran into Karl, who told me he was selling the bike. I just had to have it, and owning it has been fantastic. Whenever I take it out I get stared at, and when it’s parked up everyone wants to touch it. “I love riding it too, it’s easy to ride and different to my other bikes, which I like. The build quality is superb and I have all the original parts sitting on the shelf if I ever want to put it back to original, but somehow I don’t think I ever would, it looks so fantastic as it is,” ‘Tangles’ added. D
Owner profile
Name: Tangles
Locality: Newcastle
Age: 50
How long have you been into bikes?
For about 20 years, when my sons got into dirt track. What other bikes have you owned? Kawasaki Vulcan, 1976 Triumph Bonneville, 1989 Suzuki GSX-R1100. I still have them.
What other bikes would you like to own?
My mate has a Ducati 851 I’d love to get but he won’t sell it to me.
What interests you other than motorcycling? Family, golf and travel.
Specifications
Bodywork: One piece glass fibre tank and seat unit. Aeronautical fuel cap.
Racing fairing and belly pan. Original MHR front guard
Mechanicals: Standard 900cc bevel drive engine with 40mm carbs.
Dry clutch.
Standard wheels and forks, Koni shocks. Suzuki GSX-R ignition. Veglia racing tacho.
Tuned length racing exhaust.
Ancillaries:
Custom rear sets. Verlicchi clip ons.
HERE’S A FREE TIP for the national parks people responsible for Death Valley: tell potential visitors that it’s just like going down into a mine – without the claustrophobia!
A friend who was working in a copper mine told me once that when you’re going down into the Earth – way down - it’s as if you pass through discrete layers of temperature, getting hotter and hotter as you get lower. e feeling is exactly the same as you descend from Owens Lake to Panamint Springs, and then from Towne Pass into the valley proper. You may not be able to see the layers, but you sure can feel them, even in spring.
e e ect even makes the air feel progressively thicker, and seems to slow your re exes until you feel as if you’re moving through clear molasses. Drinking a lot of water is the obvious defense against this, and I put away a litre straight in the little Panamint Springs shop. It didn’t seem to make much di erence.
Not that it was even all that hot. e thermometer at the Stovepipe Wells ranger station called it 45 degrees, and I’ve been a fair bit hotter than that right here in Australia. But I was de nitely in a daze by the time I got to the station. I suspect the scenery and the name have something to do with it…
e name is actually a bit of a PR triumph (see box). e scenery, however, is truly spectacular. You know how people are always saying that Australia’s deserts are “the bones of the Earth” because the land is so old and worn away? Well,
the far younger Death Valley looks like the Earth’s biggest piece of open heart surgery.
e enormous masses of rock expose their strata like esh that’s been cut by a, uh, a really big scalpel. Not a sharp one, because it’s all rather jagged, but a big one sure enough. Death Valley’s mountains are naked, of course – there is almost no vegetation, certainly not on the slopes – but they look more than naked, they look visceral. Umm… I’m not making this sound especially attractive, am I, unless you’re rather more seriously into major surgery than you really ought to be. Blame me, not the scenery. It is in fact wonderful – big and brutal and overpowering, but wonderful. And it’s interesting looking across Rainbow Canyon to… wow, is that the road? It looks more like a scratch…
Like all deserts, Death Valley can have the most amazingly clear air which makes it very di cult to work out the scale of what you’re seeing. No, that’s not an exceptionally shiny aluminium rubbish bin lying on its side, there by the road across on the other side of the valley, it’s a full-sized Airstream camper…
Riding into Death Valley is a snack. ere are well maintained tarred roads in from Lone Pine in the west (the way I came in this time), from Tonopah in the north and Las Vegas in the east. From the south you can sneak through between two huge patches of the Mojave Naval Weapons Centre from Ridgecrest, and if you come that way, you’ll pass a turno to Ballaarat. A ghost town near Post O ce Springs, this was named a er the Australian town (with one fewer ‘a’) by returning
DEATH VALLEY DAZE
miners. See, who said the “cultural” flow was all one way?
The valley, along with the adjacent Panamint Valley, also has quite a good network of smaller tarred roads, but if you don’t like dirt, beware – many of them finish as gravel tracks. The back roads are still generally in pretty good condition, even if they are dirt. Let me put it this way – all the ones I have sampled are better than, say, the Sandover Highway.
It’s only about 85 miles (say 135km) from civilization at Lone Pine (several nice-looking bars) to civilization at Stovepipe Wells (the Badwater Saloon). There is precious little civilisation along the way, saving the minor exception made by the abovementioned Panamint
Wells shop and servo. It seems further, partly because after the Darwin turnoff the road constantly twists and turns down and up the valley walls and partly because you find yourself rubbernecking at the ever-present impressive views. It wasn’t especially busy, either. I coasted for nearly five miles at one stage with the engine off, enjoying the quiet. Not that the standard exhaust system on the Honda Fury I was riding is loud.
Stovepipe Wells village looks a lot more like a mining camp in the Pilbara than like a village, but the accommodation is clean and the air conditioners might wheeze, but they work. There’s a pretty useful general store across the road, too, with a couple of petrol pumps next to it. Here’s a
useful tip – automatic petrol pumps in US national parks take international credit cards, unlike all the other pumps I tried in all of California. That can be useful if you’re trying to fill up out of hours, the way I was when I left in the cool of the following morning. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
After a welcome cold shower, I made my way over to the Badwater Saloon where Crystal dispenses some excellent dark lager brewed by… err, well, I can’t remember, maybe it was a bit too excellent. It was certainly strong, but I don’t recall where it came from. The evening was pleasant, chatting with a few of the locals and an English couple who had rented a Harley in Las Vegas and were riding to San Francisco in easy 200-mile stages. The bloke was retracing a bike trip he’d made back in the early 1980s – about when I first visited –and we compared notes on what had changed in the intervening quarter century.
Not much, we agreed.
Except that the beer is much, much better. The jalapeno poppers were okay, too. These are de-seeded jalapeno peppers, filled with cheese and spices
and crumbed and then, naturally, deep fried. They go well with beer, and I had them for dinner.
The night sky, which I sampled on my walk back to my room, is very big, very clear and very beautiful.
I got away just after dawn and rode through the remarkably crisp and cool morning air to Furnace Creek. This is a much bigger settlement than Stovepipe Wells and offers a variety of accommodation, not just motel rooms. It seemed quite crowded and very cosmopolitan after the sparseness of my overnight stop, and I wasn’t at all sure I liked that. It was good to get back out on the road.
A small group of riders passed me while I was taking a photo of the old traction engine by the side of the road, all wearing bandanas rather than helmets. Call me conservative if you like, but I can’t get used to that anymore. On second thought, don’t call me conservative.
Nomen est omen (not)
As Clement Salvadori points out in “Motorcycle Journeys through California and Baja”, published by the now sadly defunct Whitehorse Press, death was not really a major feature of the valley.
“Indians lived cheerfully in and around the valley for thousands of years, having the good sense to stay away during the summer; a number of reliable springs provided water for man and beast. In December of 1849 some California-bound emigrants tried to take a short cut through the valley, and 27 wagons came down Furnace Creek Wash, with several families and a group of bachelors who called themselves Jayhawkers. Camp was made, a discussion was held, and they figured they were well and truly lost. The group began to split up, some going west, some south, and some just staying until help would come. Eventually everybody made it safely away from the valley, except for one Jayhawker who died walking out.”
But “Death Valley” sure makes the place sound more intriguing than “Well and Truly Lost Valley, bugger it”, doesn’t it?
e Honda Fury, despite its e ectively non-existent luggage capacity, is an excellent bike for this kind of riding. You sit upright, in a relaxed position and with a good view all around. e bike has plenty of power to climb and overtake, but it doesn’t encourage you to ride fast the way some sports tourers do. e electronic fuel injection coped perfectly with the changes in altitude. Despite the fat rear tyre the bike handles well – but only on tar. e previous day I tried to get out to the viewing area at Father Crowley Point over quite a rugged dirt road with lots of big rocks and small, loose gravel. I made it halfway before I came to my senses and turned around, no mean feat in itself. e long wheelbase and fat rear tyre combined with the substantial lever of the extended forks to make the Fury very unhappy on that kind of surface. But that’s not what choppers are for. ey’re for traversing deserts on two-lane blacktop, and that’s just what I was doing, very happily, past Zabriskie
Point. It’s not a natural feature, by the way, it’s made up of heaps of tailings from the borax mines. Borax, by the way, is a component of many detergents and cosmetics, and is even used as an anti-fungal compound for breglass and as an insecticide. Clem Salvadori recommends seeing Zabriskie Point by moonlight, and one day…
Breakfast was in the pleasantly homey little café next to the Amargosa Hotel (and across from the Opera House) at Death Valley Junction, and then I headed south to Shoshone. is is a typical desert road which follows the Amargosa “River” valley and is quite spectacular in places.
Little more than a service station with a shop, a motel and a bar across the road, plus few dozen houses, Shoshone was nevertheless a welcome sight. It was getting hot again, and I topped up on fuel for the bike and water for me. I think we both took about the same amount. e impressive desert scenery and scarcity of settlement continue
pretty much all the way to Baker where you’ll nd a huge Greek restaurant (I kid you not) and access to the freeway system.
It was time to leave the back roads and get some miles under my belt; if you want to do that in the US you’d better be prepared to use the freeways. My plane was leaving the following day and I still had stu to do in Los Angeles. Next time I’ll do Death Valley justice and spend a few more days there. e place de nitely deserves it; got to see Zabriskie Point in moonlight, I’ve never even been to Scotty’s Castle, and Crystal’s dark lager is worth revisiting too.
It might be called Death Valley but both Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells are quite lively, in a frontier desert sort of way. I recommend it. D
The facts, ma’am
Death Valley is easily accessible by bike from Los Angeles and Las Vegas. In winter it’s not quite so easy from San Francisco, because the most direct route – via Yosemite Valley and Tioga Pass – is closed by snow. You need to go south, through Bakersfield. The best times to visit are spring and autumn; winter is okay, although it gets really cold and there can be snow around. In summer it is just like visiting Uluru. Hot, dry and enervating. A lot of people recommend March as ideal; I was there in the middle of June and it really was hot. Still okay, though, for someone used to Central Australia.
TE HAYABUSA OF THE late ‘70s and early ‘80s was the mighty GS1000S. It is still a good bike these days as I found out on a recent test of this mint unrestored, ‘unofficial’ Wes Cooley edition… I say unofficial Wes Cooley edition because Suzuki never actually marketed or named the bike a ‘Wes Cooley’ edition. It was simply a blue and white S version that happened to closely resemble the colours of the AMAwinning Yoshimura machine. In fact, crazily, the bike was originally released only for the European market, but as soon as US dealers saw it there was demand, as you could imagine. It’s claimed that just over 1000 went to the USA in 1979 and 1980, roughly one for each Suzuki dealer, the rest staying in Europe.
The 1979 GS1000S quickly became the sought-after GS version for the sportier
rider, with some updates over the GS1000 and GS1000E including more ground clearance, an 18in rear wheel, 28mm Mikuni’s over the 26mm ones on the other models, stiffer suspension, a bikini fairing, lower handlebars and a clock in the S version dash. The main standout, however, was the awesome blue and white paint scheme, which was quickly and inevitably tagged the ‘Wes Cooley’ replica.
In 1980, the S copped an electronic ignition, getting rid of the points, as well as bigger carburettors again, a racier-shaped seat, revised airbox, slotted brake rotors, a new master cylinder and different shaped larger megaphone mufflers.
Both models are hard to come by now. Both are also still, to this day, a bloody awesome motorbike, as I recently discovered.
This unrestored showroom condition 1979 GS1000S belongs to Luis Gallur,
an avid collector in Sydney who has over 100 bikes. He purchased this one from the USA from the original owner. It is cared for, along with all of his collection, by Dudley Lister at Dudley’s Motorcycles, Wyong, NSW. Incidentally, I did part of my apprenticeship as a bike mechanic with Dudley as head mechanic back in the early 1990s. The bike has under 16,000 miles on the dial and is absolutely mint original aside from the tyres, fitted for safety’s sake more than anything else. The bike was in storage for decades and obviously well looked after and preserved, as it is rust, corrosion and fade free. Looking over it is like stepping back in time to when I was a kid wideeyed and wandering through the Suzuki dealership not far from home. I was more interested in the free stickers and RM80s I suppose but I do remember big road bikes with lots of shiny chrome.
The first big road bike I ever rode and the very first four-stroke was a 1980 GSX1100. It was massive compared to my TZR250. I was 17, on my restricted licence and I convinced my boss to let me take it home from the shop one arvo. My boss was Len Willing, Warren Willing’s brother and a legend 500 racer here.
He was pretty loose and he let me take it. I will never forget the feeling of opening the throttle and the rear wheel spinning in the rain on the slick wet road, spinning up through the gears past the shop. I still smile when I think about it - my first experience of torque and wheelspin on a road bike. Oh, and I haven’t forgotten the bollocking I got from Len when I arrived at work the following morning (he heard me spinning up the road, Tuggerah Straight). I spent the day sweeping up and taking morning tea and bloody lunch orders and the rest of the week changing tyres.
The GSX was a monster to me but a few years later my friend Kris Smith (RIP mate) bought a mint, and I mean mint, 1979 GS850G. I loved that bike and spent many a weekend chasing him around on my FZ750, often with Helmut (RIP) on what is now my RG500 as well.
The GS850 was still a cool bike and was a kind of sports tourer or touring version of the GS1000, although I never understood why it wasn’t a 1000. Instead, the bike was a mix of GS1000 chassis and running gear, softened up for touring, with a big-bore GS750 engine. It was only available with shaft drive. Still, an awesome bike and at the time I was really keen to ride a proper GS1000S, particularly a Wes Cooley one, although I had never seen one in the flesh.
Kris traded his GS in for a purple GSX-R 750N, and I reckon by 1995 none of my riding mates had UJM’s anymore; it was a new era of watercooling and fluoro graphics.
Fast forward to now and I’m the same teenager inside trapped in an ageing body, (only reminded of my age recently when many bikes I still consider fairly new are eligible for classic road rego), still with a thing for big Suzuki motorcycles and in particular those in the blue and white colours. My dream collection
would be a blue and white RGV250M, RG500, GSX-R750F, GSX-R750M, GSX-R750T, GSX-R1100G, and GS1000S. Imagine those lined up near the beer fridge?
Of course, I can only dream. At least I have ridden all but the GSX-R1100 and I own an RG500.
THE RIDE
Of course, when the opportunity came to ride this GS1000S, an original 1979 at that, the first one, I was totally stoked. It was definitely one I had been waiting for.
The bike is stunning in the flesh. It is the grandpa of the GSX1100, GSX1400, GSX-R1100 and Hayabusa, and the most handsome of the lot. It is also the nicest to ride, to my surprise.
First of all, the GS is not for the faint of heart or inexperienced as at over 220kg dry, it is a heavy beast. However,
once on the go the weight falls away. The seat is low, wide, and soft by today’s standards but was sporty in 1979. The tank is long but narrower between the knees than it looks, while the ‘bars feel slightly lower and are a sportier, an almost flat, bend. The distance from the rubber ‘pegs to seat is sportier than other GS models to give more ground clearance, but the bike is still mega comfy. Perched high and wide on the massive bikini fairing are humungous mirrors and the dash is trick for the day but also big. Overall, though, it is a proper muscle bike/superbike riding position.
Firing the old girl up was no problem, some fresh fuel, drain the carb’s, charge battery and a few cranks on the starter and the big four-cylinder eight-valve beast fired up and amazingly, quickly settled into a smooth idle off the choke. It could
have been pre-delivered yesterday.
Being the first ride in years, the clutch was a tad stuck and grabby but after a few miles it freed up and gear selection became smooth and notch free. Really amazing.
Being that my real job is testing the latest modern bikes and has been for almost two decades, it doesn’t take me long to judge a bike and I’m instantly impressed with the GS. The engine is silky smooth with near spot-on carburetion, and the throttle is lovely, no snatch at all. The gearbox action is like a knife through butter, the exhaust note from the twin megaphones nice despite being the asthmatic USA version, there is a slight intake note and everything feels great. It pulls like a train straight off the bottom and although, not surprisingly, flattens out up top I can see that by 1979 standards this would have been awesome. Maybe not the top-end of a Kwaka or even the Honda but definitely a more refined ride and much more useable, power there when you need it.
Handling-wise, the GS1000S does nothing extraordinary but, then again,
I reckon it does everything well. Like the engine, the chassis offers a broad performance platform. Nothing stands out as exceptional but also there are no disappointing surprises. The ‘bars, footpeg position, firmer (for the day) suspension, addition of modern rubber and definitely the bikini fairing give the bike a sporty feel and as I started to get a bit more confident and upped the pace on the GS I was blown away by how hard this thing can actually be punted. Yep, it wallowed, it weaved, it kicked back, and it bottomed out but man, it made me feel alive and it let me know where it was at, with no hint of spitting me into the bushes without warning. Not like a modern, rigid, superbike. The brakes, however, take a lot to get used to. They are of course below par even by 1979 standards and need a mega squeeze! (You need to warm up the wood pads first, Jeff! Ed). They work if all three calipers are used and a heap of engine braking, but it is all part of the fun.
Cruising on the bike is equally as satisfying, it is so plush and comfy I reckon I could ride it all day. Pillions
would be in heaven and to be totally blunt, there are bugger all bikes that could give the overall use and reliability of a GS these days, no wonder most of ones people own are high mileage. They beg to be ridden and have loads of character, particularly with the blue and white.
I really enjoyed my ride on the GS1000S and if I could I would definitely have one in the garage for a daily rider. With the reliability of aircooling, roller-bearing mains and bigends, shim over bucket valve actuation, fabulous oil distribution, beefy clutch and gearbox and over-engineered chassis mean the GS1000 will virtually go forever so a low mile unit may still be in the 100,000km range these days but that is nothing to be concerned about really.
The only issue is a well-known one, the first model S had the non-grooved brake rotors and they didn’t work in the wet!
You would be nuts to ride a Wes Cooley S in the rain anyway, so who cares? What a bike. What a legend. What a ride! D
SUZUKI GS1000S
ENGINE: 997cc, air-cooled, DOHC 2-valves per cylinder four-cylinder four-stroke, fivespeed gearbox, wet clutch with cable actuation, 28mm Mikuni VM carburettors, 70 x 64.8mm bore x stroke, 38mm IN, 32mm EX valves, points and twin coil ignition, 90hp@8000rpm.
CHASSIS: Single backbone thin wall mild steel frame, twin shocks and conventional forks, dual front rotors with twin-piston calipers (f), single rotor with twin-piston caliper (r), 19in and 18in mag wheels, 232kg dry.
PERFORMANCE: 217km/h-plus
WORDS/PHOTOS – PICKO AND PAUL EDWARDS
THIS RGB500 MIGHT HAVE been built partly to pay homage to one of the most popular Grand Prix stars but it will not be sitting in silence for evermore. Many racers over the years have been paid homage by fans who built replicas of the machines raced by these heroes back in the day. Whether they be actual race bikes or road going replicas, the passion is the same. Countless hours and more money than the builders wish to acknowledge go into these mechanical marvels.
An admirable example of such a bike that we saw at the 2016 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed was Paul Edwards’ RGB500.
‘Woody’ as he is known to most people, is
no stranger to race tracks, having campaigned a Kawasaki 400 for many years. More importantly, he was the man who kickstarted the career of numerous current road racing stars, including Mike Jones, Matt Walters, Josh Hook and Jack Miller. All these young riders, and many more, started their road racing career in the Motorcycle Road Race Development Association (MRRDA) series, and the MRRDA series would not have got off the ground in the first place had it not be for the efforts of Paul.
We thought we’d let Paul tell you about his RGB500, and how it became a tribute to one of the most popular GP riders the world has ever seen.
Bazza’s Bazza’sbanger banger
THE WHY
“I saw Barry many times when I was a youngster in the UK at circuits like Brands Hatch, Donnington and Silverstone,” said Paul. “I was actually there at Donnington for his last professional ride in 1984. I also travelled to Assen and Spa regularly to cheer for Number 7. “I’ve been thinking about this bike for some years now, but around 2012 I had an opportunity to swap one of my Kawasaki 400 race bikes for a Suzuki RG500 Gamma. The Gamma was crash damaged but I didn’t really care as I wanted to turn it into a Sheene tribute.
“Of course I couldn’t afford a ‘proper’ Sheene bike but I also realised after looking at the project long and hard, that the road based RG500 just looked like my dream, which was to
have a replica of Sheene’s bike, the very 1984 Mk9 that he rode for the last time at Donnington.”
ON THE TRAIL
“We decided the engine from the Gamma was good but the frame was too short. After a lot of hunting around, I found Steve Wheatman in the UK who ended up selling me a frame and swingarm that Barry used in 1984 from Padgetts in the UK. My friend Mick Burgess had found me some Dymag wheels and other bits and bobs, so we had a bike coming together. Steve Wheatman then got in my ear about putting a Gamma engine in that chassis and put me onto a bloke called Tony Skinner, who knew a Roger Morgan in Dural who might have an engine. We went to see him and there in his garage was this
1982/3 RGB500 Mk7 complete and very original. I told Roger I couldn’t afford the whole bike and it would be criminal to take the engine out of that bike. Roger then made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I think he wanted to see it running on the track more than money, so now I had a bike that had been sitting in a garage for 15 years and needed restoring... so here I was with an ex-Sheene chassis and a pile of mk9 bits minus an engine, and a complete and very original Mk7 RGB500.”
WHAT TO DO?
“This bike is 100 per cent original,” said Paul. I’ve still got a road RG motor sitting at home in the garage with a dry clutch, close ratio gearbox and ported to 32mm carb intake sitting next to the ex-Sheene chassis. The ex-
Sheene chassis includes a set of forks, triple clamps and brake calipers made by Nigel Everett from the UK. Nigel made them to the same design from which he made them for Barry in 1984. He is also sending me across the 32mm carbs which he made for Barry as well. Fingers crossed at the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed I will have both Mk7 and Mk9 Sheene bikes together.”
COMPARISONS
“The factory race motor is actually way simpler than the road motor. It really is 2-stroke simplicity at its best,” continued Paul. “No fancy stuff to mix 2-stroke oil and petrol, wet clutches or airbox! The major visual difference though is the gearbox is mounted high with the gear selector shaft exiting above the final drive
shaft. This of course means that you can’t change the gear selection pattern. It’s race shift or race shift… that made life interesting for both myself and Chris Vermeulen; we both prefer to use road pattern. Mind you I think Kevin Schwantz does as well... best we leave that one alone.”
SPECIAL PARTS
“With the genuine ’83 bike, the only thing we had troubles with were the water pump housing, which was too corroded, and part of the gear lever which was cracked. Stu Avant found us a new water pump housing from Germany and Dudley Lister made up a new gear lever. With the Mk9 bike, the tank has been the most interesting part of the puzzle. If you
“I saw Barry many times when I was a youngster in the UK at circuits like Brands Hatch, Donnington and Silverstone.”
look at Barry’s bike which was owned by Randy Mamola before him, it has the Suzuki S and the gamma logo embossed into the sides of the tank. There were only three of these made and Steve Wheatman has them. There was no way he was going to part with the tank, but god bless him he sent me the only unpainted one to copy. Yep we’d not met at that point but he
Bazza’s Bazza’sbanger banger
sent me this priceless tank around the world on the basis that I am a fellow enthusiast and a promise that I would return it.
There is not a tank maker in the country who could duplicate it without cutting it up, so we’ve had it 3D scanned and returned the tank to Steve. Now we’ve just got to work out how to turn that 3D scan into the required item. “I did look at buying a MK9 engine from a bloke called Theo in Holland, but that would have ended up costing me as much as the complete bike I bought from Roger. I think Theo still has the engine and Steve Wheatman is still trying to get Theo to see sense on the price.”
ON THE TOOLS
“Dudley Lister and Craig Hallam from Dudley’s Motorcycles Service and Performance did all the mechanics on the bike,” said Paul. “Everything except the bodywork. The body went off to my good friend Mark Brigden of Brigden spray paints in Condobolin. It’s a long way from Sydney, but I know that ‘Briggo’ would not settle for anything less than perfection. He went to so much trouble to find the right blue it’s not funny. I asked Steve Wheatman if there was an official colour and he told me that I needed to speak to the bloke that painted all the Suzuki GP bikes… ’John the Paint’. Not being
able to find ‘John the Paint’, we found a Suzuki blue that looked right only to find out that no one had it, so working with PPG, Briggo came up with a combination that is spot on.
The final touches were added by Greg Oxley of Oxley Graphics in Sydney as he took old photos of Barry’s bike and with a few hours of reproduction, matched the stickers.
WHY THESE GUYS?
“Craig Hallam is an old friend from racing 400s. He had known Dudley Lister for a long time. He told me of Dudley’s past as Stu Avant’s mechanic
when Stu was racing RG500s against Barry Sheene in the early ’80s, so there was only one place I was going to go for the mechanics. I met Briggo through Jeremy Crowe, who I met through Broc Parkes. Briggo did all the paint for Jeremy and when I helped Jeremy out a bit, Briggo offered to help me and he’s been painting my bikes ever since. As for Greg, to be honest I can’t remember how I met Greg, but he’s been doing all the stickers on my bikes for as long as I can remember. All these guys you can count on to do a top-class job and that comes out in the finished article in the Mk7 restoration.”
Bazza’s Bazza’sbanger banger
Special Thanks
Roger Morgan for selling me the bike, Dudley Lister for the mechanicals, Craig Hallam for helping out all the time, Steve Wheatman for trusting me with his irreplaceable fuel tank, Andrew Smart from Ricondi Leathers for the replica gear, Mark Brigden of Brigden Spray Paints in Condobolin for the amazing paint job, and Greg Oxley of Oxley Graphics. And of course I have to mention Stu Avant, Mike Sinclair, Paul Treacy and Chris Vermeulen for all their help at the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed.
HIGHS AND LOWS
“There was never really a point when I thought, ‘this is all too much’, especially the MK7 as I was rushed to get it restored in time for the BSFOS. Finances have been the biggest issue. I’ve effectively put a second mortgage on my house to do this. “But I’ve had so many highs. Seeing the bodywork all painted up nearly brought me to tears. It made it all very real. Going up to Dudley’s and seeing the bike run for the first time in 15 years certainly brought a tear to the eye. I still have to go into my garage to go and look at it, as its still all very surreal.
“Both the Mk9 and MK7 projects have cost me about the same so far which is extraordinary and a huge thanks to Roger Morgan for selling me the bike in the first place and Dudley Lister who spent endless hours on the restoration and only charged me a fraction of what he should have.
“Everybody involved knows this is a labour of love and I don’t have endless finances. I think to be fair to everyone I won’t talk about finances, just that I’ve already been offered twice what it cost me by two people, but neither bike is for sale. Emotionally there has been no cost, it’s been just sheer
joy in meeting some amazing people, sharing some amazing stories and an indescribable feeling riding out on the finished bike with no less than Steve Parish after he asked me to show him around Eastern Creek as he’d never ridden the track before, yes I was on a genuine RGB500 Mk7 in Sheene colours showing Steve Parish the lines around Eastern Creek…. well bugger me”
APPREHENSION AND AMAZEMENT
“The bike is unbelievable to ride,” said Paul. “It is so tight and crisp. I was waiting for the bike to try and kick me off, but what I got was power and stability. You open the throttle and it just goes, front wheel wanting to lift and an awesome surge of power. Being a 2-stroke there is no engine braking so I was a little worried about whether the simple brakes would provide enough stopping power, but there was no worry there as well.
“I was very pensive at first, especially as it was race shift and I was racing my 400 that weekend as well which is road shift. I got to grid up for a Legends ‘race’. Tipping into Turn 1 I found myself riding around the outside of Freddie Spencer, which was wild. Watching Jeremy McWilliams, Kevin Magee, Kevin Schwantz, Steve Parish and Freddie Spencer tip into Turn 2 right in front of me was so awe inspiring that I nearly gave Freddie Spencer an RGB enema as I was working off my 400 braking marker and not what was happening in front of me. I stuck with them through Turns 3 and 4, then nearly lost the front trying to go for a dash up the inside of Freddie between 4 and 5. At that point I remembered I was with legends and I am certainly not one. Those four corners on that bike will live with me forever. I backed off and was happy to just be riding the bike.
“We did have a couple of issues with the bike over the weekend, but with Dudley flat out working on the Egli Vincent for Cam Donald, Stu Avant, Mike Sinclair and Paul Treacy stepped up and set about sorting everything out. Just read those names again. We are talking mechanic gods of 2-stroke racing. Stu is one of the nicest and funniest blokes you will meet. Sit him
Specs
down and put a beer in his hand and I could listen to the stories all day. And with Mike and Paul it was well worth having problems with the bike, just to see these guys go to work and hear the banter. Just the nicest blokes around and for them to put the effort in that they did, which included Stu lending me bits from his spares for his RGB, was simply awesome. I am so grateful for the whole experience. The major part that Stu had to lend me was an ECU. Mine was not the best. I’ve had to give Stu back the one he lent me and send mine off to my nephew in the UK to repair. Chris (my nephew) is a BMW mechanic in the UK and specialises in auto electrics and reckons that he can fix it. I think I might have found another one I can buy… still waiting.”
TRIBUTE GEAR
“The leathers were made for me by Andrew Smart of Ricondi Leathers. I’ve known Smarty for a while and when I told him what I was doing and that I really would like a set of Sheene replica leathers, Smarty come up trumps. We ran out of time to get the same badges on them that Barry had, but that is being sorted now. Greg Oxley helped out with a Sheene tribute helmet as well. Instead of Barry’s ‘Daffy Duck’ we used the Woodpecker logo I’ve used since I was nicknamed Woody.”
ENGINE: 1983 Suzuki MK7
RGB500. Square four-cylinder 500cc two-stroke, with a 54mm x 54mm bore and stroke. 110 horsepower.
Standard RGB500 magnesium race carburettors, and standard RGB500 expansion chambers. Dry clutch.
CHASSIS:1983 Suzuki
RGB500 tubular steel chassis, standard square section and braced swingarm. Standard alloy RGB500 wheels.
BODYWORK: Standard RGB500 bodywork painted in Barry Sheene colours. All levers, footpegs, dash, electronics are all standard Suzuki RGB500.
THE ‘OTHER’ BIKE
The MK9 story continues, added Paul. “I spoke to a bloke recently that has an RGB500 motor that he might want to sell, which I may or may not use in the Mk9 depending on the price. If it’s too expensive, we will shoe horn that Gamma engine into the Sheene
frame… but that’s another story. “My leathers and helmet are all done as a sign of respect and admiration for a man that was more than a great bike rider. I know he did so much for others and was such a character that you could do nothing more than admire him. I feel truly blessed to be able to own the bike and through the process get to meet his very good friend Steve Parish and his son Freddie Sheene.
“I think the last word should go to my friend Chris Vermeulen, who honoured me by doing some laps on this bike. Here’s what he thought of it.”
“I had so much fun riding Paul’s 500cc GP bike at Sydney Motorsports Park for the BSFOS,” said Chris. “It’s the oldest race bike I have ridden but have to say I was so impressed with the way the bike turned and how much feel it gave, it was also very nimble. I just had to add some seat foam so I could bend my dodgy knee enough to get on the peg! They are a little more-tricky in the power delivery to ride than modern 4-strokes with electronics so you have to keep your wits about you especially if you want to spin or slide it out of turns. But when you get it right it’s so much fun and even better when you can do it with Spencer, Schwantz, Parish and McWilliams.”
1983 SUZUKI MK7 RGB500
WHEN THE FAT
envelope thumped onto my desk, I turned it over and saw the Edelweiss logo. A single thought flashed through my head.
You sure know how to hurt a bloke.
The 198-page catalogue in the envelope was the 2022/23 Trip Collection, Edelweiss’ listing of the many tours they run on eight continents: the usual ones plus Zealandia and Icelandia. Ah, did you not know that geologists, wild and wacky crowd that they are, have claimed that there are sizeable continents around Unzud and Iceland? They are underwater, of course, which is why this comes as news to many people including me. I had always thought that to be a continent you had to be, at a minimum, above water but
apparently not.
A group of geologists hit the headlines in 2017 when they announced their discovery of Zealandia which even has a name in the Māori language, namely Te Riu-a-Māui or The Body of Maui. I don’t know how geologists can claim to have discovered it when Māori already had a name for it – why didn’t the geologists just ask? – but there you go. Indigenous people ignored again. By the way, it seems that 98 percent of Te Riu-a-Maui is underwater. Imagine the motorcycling potential when the current two percent is so good! Icelandia, on the other hand (I am not making these dumb names up) is apparently a “Texas-sized continent” which the locals did not know about.
I understand that Edelweiss tours
stay above water at all times, except for the occasional river crossing on one of their “Unpaved” tours and that has certainly been the case when I have been on tour with them.
But much as I have enjoyed Edelweiss tours, their sucker punch with this catalogue really hurt. Since I live in Australia, presumably like you, and it looks as if I will be resident in Australia for quite a while, the catalogue seems to dangle nuts and berries in front of this little Bear that I will not be able to reach.
But just perhaps it is not as bad as it looks.
I might be stuck within five kilometres of home at the moment, never mind not being able to leave Australia, but indications are that
Australia in Cuba.Who knew?
Our bikes, parked while we sightsee
our borders might well open by the first quarter of 2022. They’re saying Christmas, but I think it’s wise to add a couple of months. Get vaccinated now and make it happen earlier.
After doing five Edelweiss tours over the years, I know what I am missing, so I have signed up for a Japan tour in early April of 2022, in the pitiful hope that our government will let me go and not make me isolate in hotel quarantine for a fortnight when I get back. You don’t need to worry about losing the payment for your tour, because if you book a 2022 tour before October 21 this year, you get $250 off, and you can cancel cost-free up to a couple of months before the tour starts. Booking code is EBB2022.
You know what you get for free with every booking? You get dreams…
I should explain my connection. I get to go on Edelweiss tours as a kind of supernumary when there’s a spare bike, and I don’t pay for the tour. Everyone
else gets to choose their bike, while I get what’s left. That’s not a problem, although I have ended up on a Ducati Monster on the sometimes rough roads of an Eastern European tour and an Africa Twin on sealed roads in the Canaries, both of which were available because – guess what – nobody else wanted them. I do not get paid.
I think the tours are outstanding. While every one is different, formed by the environment in which they take place, they are all well organised with motorcycles in top condition and a commendable choice of routes, accommodation and meals. The guides are knowledgeable and thoroughly pleasant, and I’m sure it’s rare that they both end up in gaol the way ours did on the Iceland tour. All a mistake.
Am I hanging out for another Edelweiss tour? Does the bear… er, is the Bear keen? Yes he is. With a bit of luck, I’ll see you in April 2022 on that Japan tour. I’ll be the one on the weird leftover bike… D
Edelweiss Bike Travel
Check out the offers (there are many more than that Japan tour) on www.edelweissbike.com, see www. facebook.com/edelweissbike or drop them a note at worldtours@ edelweissbike.com to ask for your own copy of the catalogue. If you really can’t wait, ring them on +43 5264 5690 3. Note that they are in Austria, not Germany.
Pillions are accommodated.
It’s fun to tour with other riders.
An Edelweiss lunch
U S E D & A B U S E D
Finnish, fogging
Quality finnish
Rukka Shield-R Riding Suit
Jacket $1940, trousers $1340
Finnish humour is kind of dry. “Did you know that 40 percent of car crashes in Finland involve reindeer?” –
“Well, they shouldn’t let them drive.”
It’s no wonder then that Rukka motorcycle clothing, which is designed in Finland, is dry as well. And not just dry the way most other riding suits are dry, courtesy of a zip-in waterproof
liner. Rukka’s Shield-R suit is dry from the outside in. Let’s see how they do that.
Remarkably, it is quite simple. Rukka just makes the suit out of one hundred percent breathable, wind- and waterproof Gore-Tex Pro 3-layer with Armacor, a seriously abrasion-resistant material constructed from 700-denier Cordura and Kevlar; every fourth thread is Kevlar, woven like tartan. The materials are the most up-to-date available for this kind of use. They are then laminated to abrasion- and
tear-resistant Cordura shell fabric. Together, the materials leave the suit breathable and rainproof.
Extra protection from the rain comes by way of adjustable hem and sleeves with velcro tightening, zippers and waterproof Gore-Tex inner cuffs as well as a soft neoprene collar.
The suit has breathable Rukka Air protectors for maximum active and passive safety. The Rukka D3O Air XTR back protector meets EN 16212:2014, Level 2 while Rukka D3O Air XTR shoulder and elbow protectors as
well as hip and knee/shin protectors meet CE Norm EN 1621-1 2012, Level 2. The chest protector is attached to one side and slips into a locating loop on the other.
A variety of sizes is available, and Australian importer Innotesco (innotesco.com.au) will make sure that both the pants and jacket are the right size for you. In my case, I swapped the jacket they initially supplied from my (possibly optimistic) measurements for a larger one, which was spot on.
Rukka’s AirCushion System on the inside of the pants’ seat reduces condensation, acts as a climate buffer and makes long rides more comfortable. Meanwhile, on the outside, Keprotec Antiglide stops
sliding over the seat. There are ventilation openings on the chest, sides, sleeves and the back of the jacket, and the pants have them on the front and back of the thighs.
The pants have a connecting zipper for the jacket, an adjustable belt with press button closure and braces. I have never thought of myself as the belt-and-braces type, but I will happily make an exception in this case. The braces mean that I do not have to cinch the belt up quite so tight. Leg bottoms are adjustable with zippers and Velcro, and there are various stretch panels and heat/ abrasion resistant leather patches. The pants add two waterproof pockets to the jacket’s four.
Now, how do you feel about new technology? Like most people, I am impressed by the advances I read about. Unfortunately, they often prove to be less than practical and never see everyday applications. When I first read about Outlast while it was being developed for NASA, I thought it sounded ideal for motorcycle clothing. But it also seemed a bit too weird to ever make it to the marketplace.
Rukka not only saw the potential, but applied it. Outlast utilizes phase change materials that absorb, store and release heat for optimal thermal comfort. The materials are “microencapsulated” into, er, micro capsules and protected in a polymer shell forming a fabric that is sewn into Rukka’s clothing next to the skin. As the skin gets hot, the heat is absorbed, and as it cools, that heat is released.
“Outlast® technology will proactively manage heat while controlling the production of moisture before it begins,” says Rukka. Does Outlast work? It is a little hard to tell because I have not been able to
ride much (thank you, COVID), but I think so.
All of this makes the suit thoroughly comfortable, safe… and heavy. For my 180cm, 95kg body the suit weighs 7.5kg. That’s still not the heaviest riding suit I have worn, but it’s getting up there. On the other hand, it is especially comfortable; it feels almost as if it had been fitted to me and stays that way when I sit on the bike. I have tried it on my BMW F 750 GS and on my Kawasaki Turbo, in other words both sitting upright and leaning forward, and it, er, suits me fine either way.
A basic test that many people fail to try in things like motorcycle clothing is… how does it perform if you’re just walking around, or sitting on a café (I wish) chair? Because it fits well, with the help of the various stretch panels on the sides, upper back and arms, it is almost as comfortable as ordinary, everyday clothing. There is no sense of being trapped in stiff textiles. Unless you live under equally draconian lockdown provisions, you have no idea how much I look forward to taking the Shield-R for a good, long, multi-day ride. It does everything I have asked it to do exceptionally well, including keeping me dry on a run of a couple of rainy hours.
This Rukka suit has impressed me, as you can probably tell. There are very few other riding suits that I would expect to last as long, and as effectively, as the Shield-R. If you take care of it I would expect it to last indefinitely, and there is only one other suit on the market about which I would say that. In appearance, comfort and… dare I say it, elegance the Rukka Shield-R suit is well out in front of the field. I will report back in a couple of years. Stay tuned.
I’ll leave you with another Finnish joke. “My wife has started smoking in bed. Not cigarettes. Fish.”
Innotesco contact details are: 0414 814 194 (Australia), sales@innotesco. com.au (Australia and International), sales@innotesco.co.nz (New Zealand). PT
More ways than one
Fogstop
Price $15.40 (20 wipes per box)
There is an alternative to having a Pinlock insert in your visor to stop fogging and that’s, Fogstop from the awesome crew at Rocky Creek Designs – rockycreekdesigns.com.au. Fogstop is available in two version – wipes or ‘shammy’. I was lucky enough to grab both and used the wipes inside the visor of my Pinlockless Shoei GT Air II helmet. I was also lucky enough to get a very foggy morning riding to a photoshoot recently. It was the kind of morning where your visor would have you seeing 5cm in front of you, well, maybe a couple of metres.
LOL! It took me a few minutes to wake up to the fact there was no fogging happening and when I did realise I was breathing heavy onto the visor and trying to get it to fog, but nothing! Awesome! I have been after a product like this for years!
Not only is Fogstop great for inside your visor but if you normally wear glasses and now that we have to wear masks most places, use Fogstop to stop that annoying fogging of your glasses and sunglasses!
Once the family saw that I didn’t have any fogging, there was a line up to get their glasses Fogstopped too. Next up I’ll be using Fogstop on my Oakley adventure goggles, so if you want to stop fogging up and see where you’re going (pretty important I guess), jump on and grab either the wipes or shammy from Rocky Creek Designs and see the light, or is that, road? SW D
W H A T S A Y Y O U ?
WE LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU, the letters are among the most keenly read parts of the magazine. Please try and keep letters down to no more than 300 words. We do reserve the right to cut them and, you do need to provide a name and at least your state, if not, town or suburb. Please address letters to contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au or Australian Motorcyclist Magazine, 17 Weeroona Place, Rouse Hill NSW 2155. All opinions published here are those of the writers and we do not vouch for their accuracy or even their sanity.
LETTER OF THE MONTH
ANDREW WINS THE Motul Chain Pack this month as he has some interesting things to say about electric and achieving better fuel economy out of a petrol engine… Send me your mailing address, mate.
Cheers, Stuart.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS?
Hi,
I agree with the article Electric Vehicles of any kind is just smoke and mirrors.
I sent the (below) attached email to the NRMA editor. Strangely didn’t hear back from them. ought you might be interested.
I have a few ideas I’m working on to make my 96 Yamaha Vmax faster and use less fuel. Already have the fuel usage on a trip down to 4.5 litre per 100 km including some twisties! Great magazine.
Regards
Andrew Goodwin
NRMA LETTER
Hi,
I’ve been an NRMA member for nearly 40 years. is is the rst time I’ve been compelled to write to the editor.
Topic EV future!
e worlds gone mad on this.
Yep, it is marginally greener than fuel burning vehicles, yep EV 70 % of EV power still comes from burning coal to make the electricity.
EV is unsustainable hype!
Consider this.
If I run 1 EV vehicle to and from work each day about 60 km and 1.2 hours the amount of electricity needed each day is double my daily household consumption in KW hrs. Basically my power consumption will be triple what it is today.
is is without any other EV usage added in!
We have 2 cars so this will be worse in reality. As it would be for most households, I think NRMA has some statistic on average number of vehicles per household if 1.5 the houses fully EV on average would consume 4 times their current daily usage of electricity.
On the power generation side, the state of NSW has closed 2 coal powered power stations. Around 30% of demand. e gap has been lled by residential solar, commercial solar, wind farms, some industrial energy recovery programs etc.
ere are no large power generation plants planned!
e normal electricity demand is increasing with electrical and electronic consumerism and population growth, and based on energy sector predictions without EV NSW will start to have brown outs and black outs on regular basis in a few years’ time.
It is not just EV cars but buses, trams, earth moving and mining equipment all jumping on the EV gig. ese vehicles use huge power!
So, if more people go to EV and the government push it, NRMA push it etc.
How are we going to generate 3 to 4 time plus the electricity to sustain this?
ere is no plan or answer so as I said at the beginning EV is unsustainable hype!
Some insight.
When do people charge up their vehicles?
Overnight!
So, we will see the night time electricity rates progressive increase as this will be the new future peak consumption period if 3 to 4 times the total daily household power is need overnight to charge EV.
Many country wide area electricity grids struggle today and have resorted to installing top up gas turbine generation plants. ese are less green than a coal burning power station! Seems to be one solution is electrical storage and use later.
Lithium batteries in huge quantities for storage and use in EV are not good. ese materials are toxic. If they overheat, they explode and burn as intensely as magnesium and you cannot put them out with any form if re ghting equipment they will burn until there is nothing le . Creating huge toxic clouds.
Some large Mining equipment have lithium battery packs in excess of 3 tonne with millions of individual cells. Teslas have nearly 1.5 tonne of lithium on board, have you seen one of these babies burn until there is nothing le ! - search YouTube. e solution is higher density living. Travel less distance. When travelling use a self-powered vehicle or walk. is is the only way to use less net energy and improve climate change.
EV is unsustainable and dangerous hype!
Total madness!
Regards Andrew Goodwin
Hi Andrew,
Yes, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for vehicles.
I’m not surprised you didn’t hear back regarding your letter.
Keep me updated on your ideas as it could help other readers as well. 4.5 out of a VMAX is bloody good!
Cheers, Stuart
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WHAT SAY YOU
to improve my biceps
SERIOUSLY?
to improve my biceps
Hi Harry,
to improve my biceps
Hi Harry,
GOODLY
Hi Harry,
I’m sure your legs look fine to the ones that care…your family. As for your bike not being a very good exercise machine, you better get an adventure bike and do some hillclimbs, that will get the muscles burning! - Cheers, Stuart.
I’m sure your legs look fine to the ones that care…your family. As for your bike not being a very good exercise machine, you better get an adventure bike and do some hillclimbs, that will get the muscles burning! - Cheers, Stuart.
I’m sure your legs look fine to the ones that care…your family. As for your bike not being a very good exercise machine, you better get an adventure bike and do some hillclimbs, that will get the muscles burning! - Cheers, Stuart.
COVID 1
Stu, What the hell is up with Boris? He used to have a bit of fun in his columns, but lately all he sounds like is a grumpy old man at a retirement village. He seriously needs to take a step back and bring out the laughter again, or does he have haemorrhoids – there’s cream for that, just saying. Sure, he has his, “I’m tough” image to uphold, but everyone has a bit of laughter in them, as he used to. Regards, Simon Maroochydore, QLD
COVID 1
Dear Stuart,
COVID 1
Dear Stuart,
GETTING TECHNICAL
Dear Stuart,
Hi Stuart,
Clearly there is a lot of economic downturn as a result of COVID19 and it is further impacting on car sales and I would think motorcycle sales (which I think have been down anyway pre Covid19).
Clearly there is a lot of economic downturn as a result of COVID19 and it is further impacting on car sales and I would think motorcycle sales (which I think have been down anyway pre Covid19).
Braidwood. Purpose to ride, have a social get together and have some food whilst out. Now, no such trips.
as the HP is a bigger number but it is on 0.746% the value of a Kw. I hate having to reach for the calculator to try and work out what you are talking about, just ‘give us the facts man!’
I feel that it must be time to harass you again! In a good way of course.
There is nobody much on the roads in the ACT except those who by necessity have to go out for work or food and essentials.
Clearly there is a lot of economic downturn as a result of COVID19 and it is further impacting on car sales and I would think motorcycle sales (which I think have been down anyway pre Covid19).
Hi Stuart, Firstly, great mag, love it each month. The Kawasaki Versys 1000 S you reviewed in the last issue (97) was great. I was looking at the electronic suspension version last year but you have just sold me on this new model. Not only is it cheaper, which is great for keeping things happy with the “boss”, but as you mentioned you’d be hard pressed to really notice the difference between the two. I like the grey paintwork as well, let’s see how the “Highly Durable Paint” goes in real life. Regards, Mark, QLD
There is nobody much on the roads in the ACT except those who by necessity have to go out for work or food and essentials.
There is nobody much on the roads in the ACT except those who by necessity have to go out for work or food and essentials.
GREAT STUFF
I have been managing to use the bike for essential trips within the confines of the ACT border but that is a big change from our weekly ride group where we would usually ride out of the ACT to, say, Goulburn or Boorowa or Yass or
I have been managing to use the bike for essential trips within the confines of the ACT border but that is a big change from our weekly ride group where we would usually ride out of the ACT to, say, Goulburn or Boorowa or Yass or
1/ I feel that I must take you to task with your ‘mixing’ of current standards in relation to the now obsolete. Luckily, I am bilingual in such matters being a fully quali ed design engineer. Two Wheels magazine ‘fell over’ due to 2 shortcomings, (A) a narrow-minded editor who didn’t appear to know what he was aiming for and (B) his inability to ‘sort out’ his mechanical standards. You seem to be falling into the web of “B”! (you de nitely don’t come under the (A) heading)!
Braidwood. Purpose to ride, have a social get together and have some food whilst out. Now, no such trips. I know there has been panic in terms of buying up of products like loo paper, tissues, hand sanitizer, pasta, canned tomatoes and other products. This panic buying has been ridiculous in my opinion and created a problem of store supply where there was no need to stockpile goods at home. I note that the news reports say that a small supermarket group Drake’s has refused to buy back 150 x 32 roll packs of toilet paper and 150 x 1 ltr sanitizer. I am GLAD they refused a refund as the individual concerned was having about 20 people chase these products and then he attempted to re-sell on E-Bay. Serve the bugger right for being a scungy individual!
Braidwood. Purpose to ride, have a social get together and have some food whilst out. Now, no such trips. I know there has been panic in terms of buying up of products like loo paper, tissues, hand sanitizer, pasta, canned tomatoes and other products. This panic buying has been ridiculous in my opinion and created a problem of store supply where there was no need to stockpile goods at home. I note that the news reports say that a small supermarket group Drake’s has refused to buy back 150 x 32 roll packs of toilet paper and 150 x 1 ltr sanitizer. I am GLAD they refused a refund as the individual concerned was having about 20 people chase these products and then he attempted to re-sell on E-Bay. Serve the bugger right for being a scungy individual!
I know there has been panic in terms of buying up of products like loo paper, tissues, hand sanitizer, pasta, canned tomatoes and other products. This panic buying has been ridiculous in my opinion and created a problem of store supply where there was no need to stockpile goods at home. I note that the news reports say that a small supermarket group Drake’s has refused to buy back 150 x 32 roll packs of toilet paper and 150 x 1 ltr sanitizer. I am GLAD they refused a refund as the individual concerned was having about 20 people chase these products and then he attempted to re-sell on E-Bay. Serve the bugger right for being a scungy individual!
2/ you had a reader’s letter recently which I found interesting; it was to do with recycling tubes as tie-downs.
Hi Hugh, Thanks for the kind words, although I don’t think the shiny paper would go too good as shit paper. LOL!
Cheers, Stuart.
I still use tubes with my alloy rims as I discovered long ago that out in the bush if you buckle a rim a tubeless tyre is not always happy about reseating and sealing on the buckled object. Despair is a profound experience when a long way from salvation!
BORIS
reasons for the daily figures of these deaths, however this pandemic of COVID 19 is not normal and as you would know has the potential for totally overwhelming the hospital and medical resources of all countries. I am not aware of any cancers etc you can catch from shaking someone’s hand or touching contaminated surfaces. So, comparing normal worldwide deaths to COVID19 deaths is like trying to compare apples and oranges.
reasons for the daily figures of these deaths, however this pandemic of COVID 19 is not normal and as you would know has the potential for totally overwhelming the hospital and medical resources of all countries. I am not aware of any cancers etc you can catch from shaking someone’s hand or touching contaminated surfaces. So, comparing normal worldwide deaths to COVID19 deaths is like trying to compare apples and oranges.
reasons for the daily figures of these deaths, however this pandemic of COVID 19 is not normal and as you would know has the potential for totally overwhelming the hospital and medical resources of all countries. I am not aware of any cancers etc you can catch from shaking someone’s hand or touching contaminated surfaces. So, comparing normal worldwide deaths to COVID19 deaths is like trying to compare apples and oranges.
All the people dissing Boris “Get a Life”. Don’t read it, you know where it is. Last page! Ignore it!
I assume you are aware the tubes are usually made from butyl which is a fairly sti compound and makes it fairly easy to seat a tyre on a rim. Tubes are also still available in ‘rubber’ which is a very ‘elastic material and tends to ‘stretch’ and rather than seat the tyre tends to just stretch over the opening. A very di cult prospect to seat a new tyre with.
Which type of tube was your writer advocating?
Cheers,John Hardisty Tewkesbury
I felt your editorial came across as dismissive of the seriousness of Covid19 and smacked a bit of self-centredness in highlighting the inconvenience it has caused you. I like bikes and riding too, but many people have had to alter travel plans etc for the greater good.
I felt your editorial came across as dismissive of the seriousness of Covid19 and smacked a bit of self-centredness in highlighting the inconvenience it has caused you. I like bikes and riding too, but many people have had to alter travel plans etc for the greater good.
I felt your editorial came across as dismissive of the seriousness of Covid19 and smacked a bit of self-centredness in highlighting the inconvenience it has caused you. I like bikes and riding too, but many people have had to alter travel plans etc for the greater good.
Hi John, anks for your letter.
Don’t ruin a top read because of one page, personally I love his column (even though I feel he has a firm grip on his nether region). Be a boring read if we succumb to the lowest common denominator. No name provided
I have been managing to use the bike for essential trips within the confines of the ACT border but that is a big change from our weekly ride group where we would usually ride out of the ACT to, say, Goulburn or Boorowa or Yass or
I haven’t enjoyed a bike mag like this since the old Two Wheels that as a kid I’d eagerly pedal my pushy to the newsagents for every month and read every page once I got it home. I love all bikes and respect anyone
I should remind you that the current mechanical standards quote POWER as Kw and TORQUE as Nm. Now it may look good quoting HORSEPOWER with Nm
All that said, I think your quoting of figures of the people that die daily from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mozzies and murders is an unfair comparison! Yes to date the total numbers of COVID19 deaths World Wide would be exceeded by a week’s worth or less perhaps of the
who shares the passion, regardless of their ability or choice of machine. So, I have subscribed, to most of the magazine, but thanks for the spare shit paper at the end :)
All that said, I think your quoting of figures of the people that die daily from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mozzies and murders is an unfair comparison! Yes to date the total numbers of COVID19 deaths World Wide would be exceeded by a week’s worth or less perhaps of the
All that said, I think your quoting of figures of the people that die daily from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, mozzies and murders is an unfair comparison! Yes to date the total numbers of COVID19 deaths World Wide would be exceeded by a week’s worth or less perhaps of the
Hugh Jorgan
486 322
I think that all the media reporting though is worrisome for Australian people as it is repeated and repeated and like the bushfires you do not get a break from it. Every time you turn on the T.V, look at Facebook, listen to the radio it is in your face or ears.
BORIS 2
I assume you’re talking about Boris’ RS660 test? He does mention horsepower, however if you look in the specs panel (about 15cm away), which I wrote, it quotes the kilowatts. I will always quote kilowatts and newton metres, unless they’re not available – for example, Harley-Davidson never give out the kilowatts of their bikes. Or it could be a classic bike when
I think that all the media reporting though is worrisome for Australian people as it is repeated and repeated and like the bushfires you do not get a break from it. Every time you turn on the T.V, look at Facebook, listen to the radio it is in your face or ears.
I think that all the media reporting though is worrisome for Australian people as it is repeated and repeated and like the bushfires you do not get a break from it. Every time you turn on the T.V, look at Facebook, listen to the radio it is in your face or ears.
I try to reduce my listening/reading/ watching to once or twice a day to keep up with developments - more than that is
I try to reduce my listening/reading/ watching to once or twice a day to keep up with developments - more than that is
I try to reduce my listening/reading/ watching to once or twice a day to keep up with developments - more than that is
Stuart, I don’t always agree with what Boris has to say but I am well aware of how he writes to get a reaction. As for the couple of blokes that sent letters in the last issue, I think
HP gures were quoted – I could run those, but might also change them to kW. If you did want to get technical, the correct way kilowatts is abbreviated is, “kW”, not, “Kw” as you have in your letter.
In terms of which type of tube the reader was referring to…he didn’t go into that much detail. I can only assume he means any type of modern motorcycle tube available at most bike shops.
Hope this helps, mate.
Have a great week. Cheers, Stuart
BLOODY FLIPPERS
Hey mate
Just having a laugh to myself as I noticed you’ve worn out your boot slider in 54 pages in #103. Looked pretty good at the start of the Busa review, not so much by the time you climbed aboard the Street Glide! Maybe the lean angle device is really a boot wear indicator haha. Great read as always, especially in lockdown. Cheers, Col
Hi mate,
Hope all is well.
LOL! Yeah, bloody big feet get in the way sometimes. Haha!
You know what they say…big feet…big hands.
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Have a great one. Cheers, Stuart.
TOUR OPERATOR DIRECTORY
SENDING CHOCOLATES AND FLOWERS?
Could you please nd Colin’s birthdate and inform him as I feel he has gone above and beyond by researching all those pubs and maybe damaged a few brain cells. (Aug 21 issue)
ps: love Pub of the Month. Regards, Je Skinner
Hi Je ,
I’ll see if he’ll release this top-secret information to the public. I’m sure I’m risking my life by asking, but will do it just for you. Haha! See how we go. Cheers, Stuart
THE QUESTION IS ASKED…
Hey Stu,
Hope you, Peter and Ralph are all doing well under the circumstances you’re all having to live with atm, I just renewed my subs for 12 months but I must ask, is it time for Boris to move to a magazine more suited to his style and attitude? I have read and purchased his rst book and seen his writings for years, I have met and spoken with him the last time I saw you lads at the Sydney motorcycle expo by Troy Bayliss (yes that long ago), but every issue including the latest it’s not enjoyable to read his column. Just my opinion, enough is enough... anyway all the best and hopefully one day we will have the freedom to move around the country as we used to be able to do.
Sincerely, Morry D
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CENTRAL OTAGO
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– Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Europe and Thailand www.imtbike.com tours@imtbike.com
The guide to the stars - The who’s who in the zoo of motorcycle travel worldwide is what you’ll find here. We’ve travelled with many of them and know them all, so they come highly recommended. In alphabetical order, they are:
ROMANIA MOTORCYCLE TOURS – Europe www.romaniamotorcycletours.com office@romaniamotorcycletours.com
SOUTH PACIFIC MOTORCYCLE TOURS – New Zealand www.motorbiketours.co.nz office@motorbiketours.co.nz
TEWAIPOUNAMU
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SMALL DIFFERENCES B E A R T A L E S
MOST MOTORCYCLISTS
get on pretty well. But there is one thing that divides us, and it’s not dirt bike riders against road riders or BMW owners versus Ducati fans.
It is the divide between HarleyDavidson owners and everyone else. Sometimes the former group is seen to include cruiser bikes in general, but even then, the immediate perception is of the Motor Company’s customers. at is not an unreasonable simpli cation, seeing that almost all cruisers (except Indians) are copies, in one way or another, of Harleys even if they don’t wear the badge.
Most of the animosity comes from the non-Harley riders. I prefer not to go into details of the many faults of which Harley owners nd themselves accused because that would probably take the rest of this column, but much of it can be summed up by saying that they are “not real motorcyclists”. e reasons are mostly spurious, including things like the lack of ground clearance and loud pipes of the bikes and the tendency of riders to wear outlandishly decorated clothing.
Harley riders do not have a similar, easily summarised opinion of the other group. It is easy enough to say that “they ride rice-burners” but that neither describes everyone in the group, nor is it an easily understood criticism. What is a rice burner, and why is it a disgrace to ride one?
On the one hand, then, it is not easy to summarise an overall objection to the other group, even if one cared to – and it is far from clear that many Harley riders care enough to criticise in the rst place. But many non-Harley riders also have loud pipes on their bikes and dress in outlandish riding gear.
Leaving limited ground clearance as the only true di erence between the groups sounds a bit silly, but wait a moment. It may be enough to explain the animosity.
e late Christopher Hitchens, in an
article for www.slate.com called ‘ e Narcissism of Small Di erences’ written ten years ago looked at “the sudden spasm of violence between the Uzbek minority and the Kyrgyz majority in Kyrgyzstan recently,” and noted that “many commentators were at a loss to explain why the two peoples should so abruptly have turned upon one another.”
Hitchens noted that “several reports stressed the essential similarity — ethnic, linguistic, cultural — between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek populations,” but he wondered if that in itself might be the explanation. He continued by examining several other such outbreaks of communal violence, and the reasons given by either side for their hatred of the other.
He thought that this is one of the great contradictions of civilization, although he discovered a term for it produced by, of all people, Sigmund Freud who rst called it “the narcissism of small di erence.” Freud wrote that “It is precisely the minor di erences in people who are otherwise alike that form the basis of feelings of hostility between them.”
ere are many examples, such as Sri Lanka, where “it takes a long time to notice that Tamils are prone to be slightly smaller and slightly darker than the Sinhala majority, [but] it is somehow the most important
information that either population possesses.”
We can nd plenty of such examples, although the genetic di erence between human beings is so small that, “If we were dogs, we would all be the same breed,” in Hitchens’ summary. And yet, “we manage to nd excuses for chauvinism and racism on the most minor of occasions and then to make the most of them. is is why condemnation of bigotry and superstition is not just a moral question but a matter of survival.”
Motorcycling is under attack from many fronts, ranging from citizen initiatives to ban it because of annoying loud pipes to medical suggestions that riders take up an inordinate number of hospital beds. Let’s try to overcome the narcissism of small di erences and defend ourselves, together.
Who has the louder pipe? Certainly this bloke does!
N E W B I K E P R I C E S
ADV TOURING
G 310 GS
ost prices exclude dealer and on road costs, however some are ride away – ask your local dealer for the best possible price!
APRILIA
www.aprilia.com.au ROAD
Shiver 900 ABS
Dorsoduro 900 ABS
Tuono V4 1100 RR
Tuono V4 1100 Factory
SCOOTERS
BENELLI
F 750 GS
F 750 GS Tour
F 750 GS Low Susp
F 750 GS Tour LS
F 850 GS
F 850 GS Rallye
F 850 GS Rallye X
F 850 GS Tour
F 850 GS Low Susp
F 850 GS Rallye Low Susp
F 850 GS Tour Low Susp
F 850 GSA
R 1250 GS
R 1250 GS Rallye
R 1250 GS Rallye X
R 1250 GS Exclusive
R 1250 GS Spezial
R 1250 GSA
R 1250 GSA Rallye
$8090
$13,590
$17,305
$13,840
$17,005
$17,990
$18,390
$22,305
$21,805
$18,240
$18,640
$21,505
$TBA
$23,490
$24,940
$29,890
$28,140
$31,390
$25,490
$26,390
R 1250 GSA Rallye X $31,590
R 1250 GSA Exclusive
R 1250 GSA Spezial
SCOOTER
C 650 Sport
C 650 GT
BROUGH SUPERIOR
broughsuperioraustralia.com.au
SS100 (Euro3)
BMW
G 310 R
$30,790
$30,540
$14,150
$14,990
$105,000
SS100 (Euro 4) $110,000 Pendine Sand Racer
001
CAN-AM (BRP)
can-am.brp.com
Ryker
Spyder F3
Spyder RT
CF MOTO
www.cf-moto.com.au
ROAD
R 1250 R HP
R 1250 R Exclusive $26,065
R 1250 R Spezial $26,765
R 1250 R $22,540
R 1250 RS Sport $28,215
R 1250 RS Exclusive $27,215
R 1250 R Spezial
R 1250 RT $32,290
R 1250 RT Sport
R 1250 RT Elegance
R 1250 R Spezial $34,215
K 1600 B $36,490
K 1600 B Grand America $44,695
K 1600 GT $36,490
K 1600 GTL $37,990
ADV SPORT
F 900 XR $19,835
S 1000 XR $27,975
S 1000 XR Carbon Sport $29,290
650NK SP
www.ducati.com.au
$13,799
NEW BIKE PRICES
Chief Dark Horse
Chief Bobber Dark Horse
Super Chief Limited
Chief Vintage Dark Horse
Chief Vintage
HONDA
$4599
NSS300A Forza $7999
HUSQVARNA
www.husqvarna-motorcycles.com/au
*All Husqvarna prices are ride away ROAD
Vitpilen 401 $7875
Svartpilen 401 $7875
701 Supermoto $18,795 ADV TOURING
701 Enduro $18,795
INDIAN
www.indianmotorcycles.com.au
*All Indian Motorcycle prices are ride away CRUISER
Scout Bobber
$19,995 Scout $20,995
Scout Bobber Twenty $21,495
$25,995
$27,495
$29,995
$33,495
$33,995
Springfield Dark Horse $35,495
Springfield $35,995
Chieftain Dark Horse $38,495
Chieftain Limited
$38,995
Chieftain Elite $49,995
Challenger Dark Horse
$39,495
Challenger Limited $39,995
Roadmaster Limited
Roadmaster
KAWASAKI
www.kawasaki.com.au
ROAD
Z125 Pro KRT
Z400
$41,995
$42,995
$4090
$6799
Ninja 400 $6899
Ninja 400 SE $7149
Z650L
Ninja 650/L Grey
Ninja 650/L Black
Ninja ZX-6R 636 KRT
W800 Café
W800 Street
$10,499
Z900RS $16,499
Z1000 $15,999
Ninja 1000 SX $16,999
Ninja 1000 SX SE $17,199
ZX-10R $26,000
ZX-10RR $42,000
ZX-14R $22,099
Z H2 $23,000
H2 SX SE $29,300
CRUISER
S
S SE
S Café
ADV TOURING
Versys X 300 SE
Versys 650/L
Versys 1000 S
www.ktm.com.au
*All KTM prices are ride away ROAD
PEUGEOT
www.peugeotmotorcycles.com.au
*All Peugeot prices are ride away
SCOOTER
Tweet 125
$3590
Tweet 125 Pro $3690
Django 150 $4790
Belville 200 RS $5290
Metropolis 400 $13,490
ROYAL ENFIELD
www.royalenfieldaustralia.com
*All Royal Enfield prices are ride away ROAD
Meteor 350 Fireball
$6540
Meteor 350 Stellar $6840
Meteor 350 Supernova $7240
Bullet 500 $7890
Classic 500 $8190
Classic 500 Chrome $8390
Interceptor 650 Classic $8640
Interceptor 650 Custom $8840
Interceptor 650 Chrome $9140
Continental GT 650 Classic $8840
Continental GT 650 Custom $9040
Continental GT 650 Chrome $9340 ADV TOURING
Himalayan 410 $6540
SUPER SOCO
www.supersoco.com.au
*All Super Soco prices are ride away ROAD
TC Café Racer
$4990
TC Max alloy wheel $6990
TC Max wire wheel $7290
SCOOTER
CUX
$4490
CUX Special Edition Ducati $4990
SUZUKI
www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au
ROAD
GSX-S125 $3490
GSX-R125 $4490
DR-Z400SM $9390
GSX-R600 $14,990
SV650 $8990
SV650 LAMS $9190
GSX-S750 $11,790
GSX-R750 $15,990
GSX-S1000 $15,190
GSX-S1000F $16,290
GSX-S1000 Katana $17,490
GSX-R1000 $21,990
GSX-R1000R $25,490
GSX1300R Hayabusa $27,690
CRUISER
Boulevard S40 $7990
Boulevard C50T $11,190
Boulevard M109R $19,790
ADV TOURING
DR650SE
V-Strom
V-Strom
V-Strom 1050
$16,490
V-Strom 1050 XT $18,990
SCOOTER
Address
SWM
www.swmmotorcycles.com.au
ROAD
Gran Turismo
Silver Vase 440
Gran Milano 440
SM 500 R
SM 650 R
ADV TOURING
Superdual
TRIUMPH
www.triumphmotorcycles.com.au
*All Triumph prices are ride away
ROAD
Trident 660
Street Triple S 660
$2820
$7490
$7490
$7990
$8990
$9490
$9990
$10,990
$14,900
Street Triple RS $19,800
Street Twin $15,890
Street Scrambler
Bonneville T100
Bonneville T100 Black
Bobber
$17,990
$17,300
$17,300
$20,590
Bonneville Bobber Black $22,100
Bonneville T120
Bonneville T120 Black
Speedmaster
Thruxton
Thruxton R
Thruxton RS
Speed Twin
Daytona Moto2 765
Tiger Sport
Speed Triple RS
CRUISER
$19,990
$19,990
$22,100
$21,100
$23,990
$25,390
$20,350
$28,990
$19,800
$25,290
Rocket 3 R $29,990
Rocket 3 GT $30,900
ADV TOURING
Scrambler 1200 XC
Scrambler 1200 XE
Tiger 900 GT & GT Low
Tiger 900 Rally
$22,500
$23,990
$20,950
$21,990
Tiger 900 GT Pro $24,150
Tiger 900 Rally Pro $24,750
Tiger 1200 XRx $26,600
Tiger 1200 XCx $28,200
Tiger 1200 XRt
XCa
TFC
TFC
$29,990
B O R I S
WORDS BORIS MIHAILOVIC
COMFORT IS CLEARLY SUBJECTIVE
THERE MUST BE something
I’m not getting about the concept of “comfort” on a bike. Here’s what I understand it to be:
I consider a bike to be “comfortable” if, after a long 800-1000km day in the seat, I can walk unaided into the pub. I’m not limping, I don’t need to lie down, I don’t have a headache, my back isn’t in spasm, and my kidneys aren’t pumping blood-coloured piss into the bowl. You know, the normal human definition of “comfort”.
But it seems I have misunderstood the concept.
Not too long ago, I pulled into Grey Gums on the Mother Putty. I had been out schooling myself on the new Hayabusa – which, as a superduper-hyper-sports-tourer (or whatever wretched pigeon-hole some people push it into), ranks pretty high on the comfort scale.
A very fat, limping, bearded chieftain waddled on over. His cheap-shit leather vest was made of several cows, and was ablaze with all the required patches these outlaw wannabes like to sport.
My brain, as it does in these circumstances, immediately started checking off the patches in order to classify him on my never-ending ladder of Contemptible Idiots What Need Punching…
LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES? Check. DILLIGAF? Tick. FREEDOM BROTHERHOOD RESPECT? Yep. CAUTION: DOES NOT PLAY WELL WITH OTHERS? Oh, hell, yes. BAD ASS BOYS RIDE BAD ASS TOYS? Afraid so. There was even his nickname stitched above his massively fat man-boob. So he sat high on my ladder.
He nodded at me. I nodded back. I always return serve.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding at the Hayabusa this time. “I dunno how you can ride those things. Bloody uncomfortable, they are.”
I took a deep breath. Sometimes, I just walk away. And sometimes I don’t. It’s always a lottery. His ticket won him a prize on this day.
“Oh, you’ve ridden one then?” I asked.
“No,” he shook his great bearded head.
“Then how would you know if it’s comfortable or not?”
He blinked a bit. This was suddenly not going as he might have expected. “I’m happy enough on me Harley,” he explained. “Most comfortable bike in the world.”
“You ever ridden any other bikes?” I asked.
He hesitated a bit. This is what happens when you say dumb shit and get called on it.
“Ahh…no…but…” he started, then stopped as I moved in closer so I would not have to raise my voice.
“Stop talking for a sec,” I said. “I’m going to explain something to you.”
He blinked, so I went on.
because you’re using it as a shockabsorber. The ones on the bike have only about two-inches of travel. So your back is absorbing the bumps when the shocks run out of travel. And you’re fat and you’re weak, and that’s not helping. How old are you?”
“Fifty-five.”
“You’re five years younger than me then.”
He looked bewildered for a few awkward seconds, then he blustered up a touch.
“You ever ridden a Harley?” he demanded.
“I have ridden all the Harleys,” I said evenly. “I’ve owned rigid stroked Shovels, Evos with air-suspension, and since 1998, I have ridden pretty much everything Harley has made and allowed the press to review.”
That didn’t leave him any place to go, so he just stood there silently, looking at the ground.
“I can fix your back-pain,” I said to him. He perked up a touch.
“Harleys have some of the worst suspension ever fitted to a motorcycle. It’s rubbish, front and rear. Like their brakes. Close your mouth. I’m not finished. And on top of that shit suspension, you park your 300-pound arse, feet forward, and use your weak and ageing spine as a shock absorber. If you sat with your knees bent and your feet under you, your legs would stand in for the shit shocks. But you sit on your spine. You have back-pain, right?”
suspension, you park your 300-pound absorber. If you sat with your knees
“Sell your Harley and buy yourself a Triumph, or a BMW, or any number of Jap bikes, just as long as you are seated upright, and not wallowing backwards like a harpooned whale. I’d suggest you get to a gym on a regular basis, and maybe look at drinking less piss and swallowing fewer pies, but that’s a different conversation – and I’m not your mum, and I don’t really care all that much. Just buy a bike with proper suspension. Your back issues will certainly get better.”
“But…but, I love me Harley,” he stammered.
proper suspension. Your back issues will stammered.
shocks. But you sit on your spine.
He nodded.
“Your back hurts
“Your back hurts
“And I love smoking cigarettes, snorting coke, and bouncing strippers on my knee. But I don’t do any of that anymore because it will kill me.”
Then I pointed to the Hayabusa.
And it certainly was fair enough. D ladder.
“That might kill me, too,” I grinned. “But only if I’m stupid. And stupid, as you’ve just found out, is a leading cause of pain, suffering, and ultimately death.”
“Um…yeah, fair enough,” he muttered.
Photo by Barnabas Imre
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