Gran Turismo – or Grand Touring – is all about high speed, instant acceleration, and total comfort over long distances. The BMW K 1600 GT makes this vision reality. The most compact in-line six-cylinder engine ever seen in a production motorcycle delivers its output of 160 hp (118 kW) and 175 Nm of torque with an irresistible blend of brute force and refinement. For a limited time, BMW Motorrad is offering a bonus BMW Navigator V valued at $1,200 when you purchase a K 1600 GT from $34,490 ride away.* Book a test ride at your BMW Motorrad dealer or bmwmotorrad.com.au
Photographers Nick Wood Photography, Half-Light Photography
Contributors Robert Crick, Mike Grant, Jacqui Kennedy, Robert Lovas, Phil Gadd, Boris Mihailovic, Lester Morris, The Possum,Guy Stanford, Stuart Strickland, Michael Walley, Colin Whelan
Australian Motorcyclist Magazine is published by Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. PO Box 2066, Boronia Park NSW 2111 Phone 0412 220 680 or 0418 421 322
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.
EDITORSPEAKS
what’s he blabbing on about now?
Has the moon and/ or the sun changes its course? It seems that every second you listen to the news, someone has been murdered, or, it seems, someone has crashed a motorcycle! Is it the mainstream media beating up on motorcyclists once again, or is everyone falling off their bikes? I have no idea, but I can tell you one thing, it seems the Police is intent on cracking down on motorcyclists. That’s judging from my personal experiences lately, anyway.
Whenever I see a Highway Patrol car or motorcycle, they give you the “death stare”. Then pulling a motorcyclist (me) over for no reason, other than to have a chat and check me out. This is not something I’m happy about.
One particular motorcycle cop was unhappy that I got through the traffic lane filtering (at the 30km/h limit) and he got stuck with his wider, pannier’d bike. He decided to pull me over just to check my licence and carry on about the lane filtering rules. When I said to him, “Well, if you seem to think I was going over the thirty kilometre an hour mark, give me a ticket.” He backed down and mumbled something and half threw my licence back at me and said, “Don’t let me catch you again”. Hmm? Great job, “mate”.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have many Police friends. I was once a Police Officer too (in a past life), but offering yourself to create a bad image in the public’s eye when you simply got caught in traffic is not a good look. Lucky I really didn’t care what he was on about. When I mentioned this particular incident to a couple of my Police mates, they were disgusted and wanted me to tell them his name. I didn’t catch his name, because I was not interested in his carrying on, and he got the message.
Now, onto something a little more entertaining. Our last cover with the classy “hot rod pin-up” styled image has created a stir. On the most part, everyone has loved that we have tried a different cover and loves the classiness of it, but then there have been a couple who didn’t really get what we were trying to do by using this particular image. Issue #39 was about maintaining your bike and a small feature on CMS motorcycle parts in the Netherlands. CMS is where we got the picture from and they do these types of classy “hot rod pin-up” images each year. If you look back at the last few covers, we are trying different types of images. Australian Motorcyclist is not your run of the mill motorcycle magazine, we are different and that is the reason (we hope) that you are reading these pages. We give you what you can’t get in any other magazine in this country – a magazine that you will keep (or donate), not throw in the can after a flick through it. I think the best comment about the cover image of issue #39 was from Gordon Banks, via our Facebook page – “I normally donate my read mags to the rack at the doctors/ dentist/hairdressers. This one I’m keeping for the cover.”
Enjoy!
Cheers, Stuart.
GIGANTICUS v MINIMUS!
GRIZZLING FROMTHEBEAR
NOW WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?
Well, actually, I did. Sort of. Designer Yassin Gold from Hannover in Germany has come up with what amounts to Lego motorcycle customising. No, there aren’t any real plastic bricks involved, but what Gold has designed is a variety of modules which simply “click” into place on the bike. They are designed to use precisely the original mounting points, and join up with wiring and fluid lines to make the job of changing your bike as easy as possible.
“Anyone should be able to individualise their bike with a few moments’ work, as well as bringing it technically up to date if that’s what they want to do,” he says. “It will be quick and simple to swap over individual modules.”
BMW has supplied Gold with an S 1000 RR to try out his ideas, and is apparently following the work with great interest. Oh, and as for me… I suggested something like this quite a few years ago for the Buell Blast, before it was unveiled. Unfortunately what Erik built instead was the clunker that has now joined the Choir Invisible…
GO BIG OR STAY HOME
The load that French motorcyclists have to carry is increasing. As I understand it, anyone on the road in France has had to
carry a breathalyser for some time now – er, pedestrians and bicyclists excepted I guess. Since January of this year you can add a fluoro vest to that. I can imagine an increase in the sale of big touring bikes to hold this and all the other crap they will no doubt come up with. Remember the law requiring French riders’ clothing to have a minimum percentage of reflective material? Whatever happened to that?
OOH, CHEEKY
Like every other publication in the motorcycle industry we recently got a press release telling us how well MV Agusta is doing. However, the final sentence admitted that the company was also in the middle of a major refinancing. What the PR bumf did not say was that some suppliers have allegedly stopped deliveries of parts to MV.
While we’re on the subject of gene splicing – if scientists can put genes from a glowing fish into a carrot and create a self-illuminating fruit and vegetable stand (which they’ve sort of done) then why not cross a Honda Goldwing with a Zimmer frame? I can see a lot of sales potential here, especially if the radiator can keep a few cans of beer cold. (Photo: Tim Standen)
Is this a simple case of confusion – the inability by the factory to tell hands from feet – or is it more sinister? Is there, perhaps, a plan to create a race of truly ambidextrous motorcyclists who will be able to ride a bike with one pair of hands and, say, make rude signs at the traffic with the other? You never know with genetic modification as advanced as it is these days…
Giovanni Castiglioni, the boss at MV since the death of his father, denied a variety of rumours including one that the company is working on a project in cooperation with Moto Guzzi and Aprilia, and another that Mercedes subsidiary AMG would be increasing its 25 per cent holding in the company to save it.
One of my irreverent friends in the USA noted that “all they have to do is sell MV to Harley-Davidson again for a few million and then buy it back again for a dollar – for the third time!”
I asked one of the locals in Cuba what this sign means, and I think he said something like “beware of soccer players with triangular balls” but I’m not sure. I think the smaller sign has something to do with not putting your arse on the mural. Or maybe not.
Peter ‘The Bear’ Thoeming
STURGIS BIKE WEEK YOUR YEAR IS 2016!
Guided Tour • 7-14 August 2016 Star t - Las Vegas NV / End - Denver CO 12 Ride Days • RESERVE BY 1 JUNE
BEST of the WEST
Our adventure starts and ends in Los Angeles and includes Grand Canyon, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks
You’ll see the lowest AND the highest elevations in the US –282’ (86m) below sea level in Death Valley to 14,505' (4,421 m) at Mt Whitney
Plus a very special tour of Monument Valley, two nights in Las Vegas, Route 66, the Pacific Coast and much more
It’s not just Bike Week! Meet us in Las Vegas and spend twelve days riding through some of the most spectacular scenery in the American West. Feel the wind in your face and the steady rumble of your iron horse beneath you Each day the thunder builds, until we join over 500,000 of our new friends in Sturgis.
From there we climb to elevations over 4,350 meters before making our descent into Denver for the end of this incredible journey
Don’t miss the biggest motorcycle event on Earth!
Fourteen days of riding and memories to last a lifetime! G uided Tour • 23 Aug. - 7 Sep. 2016 Star t / End in Los Angeles 14 Ride Days • RESERVE BY 15 JUNE
Guided Tours • The best "no worr ies" Holiday available! Small groups, relaxed style and great roads every day Includes motorcycle hire, fuel, lodging, many meals, chase vehicle and an experienced staff
Self-Guided Tours • Your adventure, built on our exper ience Road Trip Auto Tours • For non-r iding Family & Fr iends Motor cycle Hir e • Competitive rates, round tr ip or one-way
GAME ON!
IomTT video game coming
Fancy yourself riding around the Isle of Man TT course? Well, how about doing it from the comfort of your own home! The Isle of Man Government Department of Economic Development has reached an agreement with leading French based publisher Bigben Interactive to exclusively produce, under global licence, a new motorbike video game dedicated to the TT Races, titled ‘TT Isle Of Man – Ride on the Edge’. The game will be released in 2017 and will feature many of the leading teams and riders, re-created digitally to accurately represent their team liveries and bike manufacturers. The game will be available for Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Gentlefolk, start your machines!
10 ONLY. HURRY!
Indian Scout Limited Edition
Take a standard Scout and give it some old-school highlights from the genuine accessory range. What you have created is this unique limited edition model.
the authorities that it’s a 1912 model… but don’t tell them we suggested it!
POSITIVE START TO 2016
The Scout LE features chrome wire wheels, a 1920s solo tan leather seat and a custom hand painted two-tone tank with the magic painted Indian warbonnet. Only 10 of this Scout LE have been produced. Priced from $20,995 ride away, with over $3000 in added value, the LE will be available only while stocks last. Obviously.
YES, IT’S NEW
Black Douglas 2016 Sterling Countryman Deluxe
This would have to be the new motorcycle that most faithfully replicates what is now a vintage motorcycle. Eh? Black Douglas has ‘revived’ the early 1900s style with the Sterling Countryman Deluxe. Available in 125 cc and 230 cc versions, with modern engines and gearboxes so you won’t have to run alongside to start them. Fancy buying one? Retail prices from 9480 Euros for the 125cc version and 10950 Euros for the 230cc, plus shipping. Contact Black Douglas and see if you can import one! www. theblackdouglas.com And of course see if you can register it. Hey, just tell
Motorcycle sales sailing along The motorcycle, all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and scooter market for the first quarter of 2016 was 1.6 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2015. These numbers include strong growth in off road (3.7 per cent), road (2.8 per cent) and ATV (2.7 per cent) segments of the market. FCAI Chief Executive, Tony Weber said that the figures provided a positive
start to 2016 for the motorcycle and ATV industry. Onwards and upwards! Oh, and maybe go and buy a few scooters, too, all right?
SMASHED!
Two world records in Dubbo Dubbo now has two world records under its belt after more than 1000 (1002) women and their bikes gathered
to claim the record held by the UK (of only 246!).
Organiser Debb Dagger was hoping it would be a success, but was super surprised with the turn out. The second record beaten was for the most women at a motorcycle meet, which stood at 681.
As well as breaking the world records, Ms Dagger said the event was also about raising a greater awareness of female riders. More information can be found at www.2wheelbabes.com
ON THE DOT
Horex Red Dot Award
The new Horex VR6 Black Edition was awarded the Red Dot, the international distinction for exceptional product design. Participants from 57 nations submitted a total of 5214 products and innovations for the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2016. Only products which set themselves apart considerably through their excellent design receive the soughtafter quality seal from the international Red Dot jury. The only thing us
Aussies need now is to actually get our hands on the Horex! Any importers out there?
AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE…!
Great Aussie Motorcycle Tours
Those who have been to one of Paul Riley’s Skillmaster training courses will know how friendly and enjoyable his company can be. Paul has now set up Great Aussie Motorcycle Tours, and will be conducting guided motorcycle tours of our big brown land via bitumen roads. The tours will be over various lengths. If this sounds like a lot fun to you (as it does
to us), contact Paul at either www. greataussiemotorcycletours.com or www.skillmaster.com.au
WIN BIG, FOR LITTLE KIDS
His and Hers Monster RaffleThe Steven Walter Children’s Cancer Foundation
For the first half of 2016 The Steven Walter Foundation has a ‘His and Hers
Monster Raffle’ with 6 fantastic prizes up for grabs, so there’s bound to be something to please everyone. Tickets are just $5 each with a minimum purchase of 4 tickets online.
• 1st Prize Ladies yellow & pink diamond dress ring valued at $18,875.
• 2nd Prize Ladies diamond stud earrings valued at $4344.
• 3rd Prize Honda generator valued at $1999.
• 4th Prize Honda Blower valued at $599.
• 5th Prize Honda Brushcutter
valued at $399.
• 6th Prize Ladies Citizen Eco Drive watch valued at $275. Buy large and win to help this great cause. Visit www. stevenwalterfoundation. org.au/raffle/
THROUGH THE FILTER
NSW Lane Filtering Update Lane filtering in NSW has been legal for quite a while now and you may be interested in the amount of tickets that have been handed out by Police. Thirty-one penalty notices were issued for lane splitting in 2015. A fairly high rate, but this will always happen when a new road rule is introduced and is ‘flavour of the month’ with the boys in blue. Up until the end of March this year, only 10 penalty notices have been issued for lane splitting and sadly, one rider lost his life while lane splitting, which was identified as the cause of the crash.
As much as these figures are quite low, riders still need to be vigilant to obey the lane filtering rules, says Christopher Burns, Chairman of the Motorcycle Council NSW. If you’re unsure of the road rules surrounding lane filtering, visit http://roadsafety. transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/ motorcyclists/lanefiltering/
VISION AND DETERMINATION BUILT THE BRAND, QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE ARE ITS HALLMARKS. INTO EVERY STITCH OF HONDA’S OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE GOES THE HONDA REPUTATION OF QUALITY AND EXCELLENCE.
HONDA HERITAGE COLLECTION APPAREL NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE AT HTTP://MERCHANDISE.HONDAMPE.COM.AU/ OR YOUR LOCAL DEALER.
Is It really that tIme of year agaIn!
y ep, get ready to rug up on your ride S
compiled by Stuart Woodbury
It seemed like the hot weather would never end this past summer. Sadly the warmer days have faded away but that doesn’t mean you need to stop riding! In fact there are always loads of “winter” riders who have the nous to know that all you need is another layer of clothing. But of course proper winter riding gear is better. Heaps better.
In these pages you’ll find winter gear for those cooler times on and off the bike. Every distributor was invited to contribute (free) but not every one was enthusiastic enough to get us their info, so if they’re not here - think about whether you should be handing them your dollars!
In the next issue of Australian Motorcyclist, seeing that you’ll be in the right gear, we tell you where to have fun riding in the cold months, in part two of our winter special feature.
Thumbs up in the snow! But where’s my bike gone?
HELD BIKER FASHION
www.heldaustralia.com.au
COLD CHAMP GLOVES$250. SIZES S-3XL
Goatskin leather palm and Taslan polyester construction with leather detailed back, 3M Thinsulate thermal
lining and thermal plush fleece on back of hand. Gore-Tex waterproof, windproof and breathable membrane, tunnel retention strap, velcro adjustment at wrists and cuffs, visor wipe on index finger and Gore-Tex X-Trafit grip technology. Whew!
TAMIRA LADIES TOURING JACKET$490. SIZES DXS- D3XL
Ladies’ waterproof motorcycle jacket from Held fitted with soft 3D SAS-
Tec shoulder and elbow armour and a removable waterproof, breathable and thermal lining. Take out the lining and you have a superb summer touring jacket with plenty of air vents. Convenient and ready for all riding conditions with multiple¬ outer pockets, and available in four colours: Black-white, Red-white, Grey-orange, Grey-black.
AEROSEC TOP JACKET 2 IN 1 WATERPROOF
So fresh to the market we didn’t have the price and sizes in time for publication. This amazing new technology from Held gives you the freedom to truly buy only one jacket for all riding conditions. The jacket is
highly vented for that desirable coolth in summer riding but it is also waterproof for summer riding and reasonably warm for most winter riding. The difference is that the waterproof, windproof and breathable liner, made of the Held-Tex 2in1 membrane, is not removable, it simply transforms with the zip of a zip! Amazing, huh! We can’t wait to try one for ourselves!
RJAYS www.rjays.com.au
ICE LORD GLOVES - $89.95. SIZES XS-4XL
100% A grade drum dyed leather, 100% waterproof, 100% breathable with 3M Thinsulate thermal insulation liner,
suede over pointer finger for wiping water off your visor and a double Velcro closer around the wrist and cuff. Cool. No, warm.
Keep yourself warm, dry and comfortable in all conditions. Using Thermolite fabric to provide warmth and comfort without weight, even when wet. Thermolite is a lightweight fabric
that provides heavy-duty performance for extreme conditions as well as everyday activities. Don’t be caught out in the cold again!
STORM NECK TUBE - $19.95 – ONE SIZE FITS ALL
Micro-Fleece lined for extra warmth and comfort for the neck and lower facial areas.
Available in a huge range of sizes, this jacket from Rjays has all the features
you’ll want or need, including a power skin membrane, which is100% waterproof and 100% breathable, and a removable quilted liner. Available in five colours.
POLAR CONTROL II GLOVES$69.95. SIZES – XS-3XL
The all new Polar Control II glove is a great fitting winter glove with
HONDA GENUINE MERCHANDISE Your local Honda Dealer or online at merchandise.hondampe.com.au/
HONDA HOODIES – VARIOUS PRICES, SIZES AND EIGHT DIFFERENT DESIGNS!
If you want to be toasty warm off the bike and look super stylish, Honda has their extensive range of vintage inspired hoodies to choose from. All Honda hoodies are made from super-
new styling but keeping all the comfort and versatility that you love in an Rjays glove. Made from A-Grade drum dyed leather and nylon construction with double stitched reinforced palm, Hipora liner for added comfort and warmth, 100% waterproof and 100% breathable and a hard knuckle and extra padding across the top of the fingers.
soft microfleece lining for warmth and Stuart can vouch for their warmth, having stood in freezing conditions and being warm as toast wearing a Honda hoodie! Even if you’re smarter than he is and don’t stand out in freezing conditions, these will be worth checking out.
Pants AeroSec Base Art. 6663
Jacket AeroSec Top Art. 6641
HONDA RACING SOFTSHELL
JACKET - $130. SIZES - MENS S-3XL, WOMENS 8-16
Stretch poly/fleece backed outer fabric jacket featuring a Tricot front body lining, which provides a layer for extra warmth; windbreaker collar, windbreaker rubber sleeve cuff tabs, sleeve tech pocket, waterproof zips on pockets, waterproof front zip closure, custom Honda zips and trims and embroidered logos.
HONDA RACING JACKET$199. SIZES – S-3XL
Padded lining, showerproof jacket that has a fleece lined comfort collar, windbreaker front, adjustable cuff tabs, custom Honda zips and trims and embroidered logos.
While RainOff overgloves keep hands warm and dry, the real upside is that riders can wear lighter gloves all year round. Don’t wait for it to get wet before using Rain-Offs, they are amazingly efficient at keeping hands
warm. Even if you have waterproof gloves, RainOff overgloves stop them “wetting out” and taking ages to dry.
Keeping warm is not about bulk but efficient layers and the best first layer is superfine Merino. Have you ever
seen a sheep freezing? Andy Strapz Thermalz have been a staple of the Aussie bike scene for over a decade. Made from superfine, itch free, Merino in Melbourne. The fabric is very stable, extremely resistant to pong, pilling and is machine washable and best of all, WARM!
BMW MOTORRAD Your local BMW Motorrad dealer or www.bmwmotorrad.com.au
HEATUP VEST - $370. $140 CONTROLLER. SIZES – XS-3XL
This lightweight vest fits underneath all BMW Motorrad jackets (and other jackets), and keeps the wearer toasty warm in chilly weather. The heating
elements are positioned according to the specific needs of motorcycling, while the vest’s settings can be adjusted via the optional controller.
This functional undersuit has what it takes: the high-tech material PCM (breathable, washable and can be ironed) ensures an optimised temperature balance. Its effectiveness comes
from aerospace research: Paraffin microcapsules react to changes in body temperature, and store or release heat as required. This helps regulate unpleasant fluctuations in body temperature. It is perfect for outside temperatures between 5 °C and 15 °C.
HARLEY-DAVIDSON –Your local H-D dealer, or www.harley-davidson.com.au
Men’s FXRG TRiple VenT sYsTeM swiTcHback leaTHeR jackeT
Midweight cowhide leather features panels that zip off to create a mesh jacket with a polyester mesh body lining. Removable zip-out full-sleeve
waterproof liner with two-way zipper interior storm flap, which includes a removable zip-out full-sleeve warmth liner featuring thermal reflective technology with stretch side and under-sleeve panels and extended cuffs with thumbholes, plus lots more great features.
woMen’s FXRG swiTcHback RiDinG jackeT
100% nylon oxford construction that features panels that zip off to create a mesh jacket with polyester mesh body and sleeve lining. Removable zip-out full-sleeve waterproof liner with two-way zipper. Interior storm flap which includes a removable zipout full-sleeve warmth liner featuring thermal reflective technology with stretch side and under-sleeve panels
plus extended cuffs with thumb holes, plus lots more great features.
Men’s ciRcuiT waTeRpRooF GaunTleT GloVes
Features include waterproof, cowhide leather with insulated tricot lining, ergonomic thumb and 45 degree pre-
curved fingers with padded palm and comfort seams, goggle/visor wiper and roller buckle wrist strap and single-hand draw cord cuff closure.
woMen’s leaTHeR FXRG GloVes
100% cowhide leather and exclusive waterproof Gore-Tex liner. Comfort grip on fingers and reinforced soft knuckles with gel-padded palm and stretch fleece cuff. Built-in rubber squeegee to wipe moisture off helmet
face shield. Adjustable closure, 3M Scotchlite reflective material piping and Harley-Davidson FXRG graphics.
Men’s HiGH Tail colouRblockeD
Hi-Vis Rain suiT
Jacket features waterproof 100% nylon ripstop and polyester mesh lining. Hood folds into neck flap. Storm-flap zipper front with hook-and-loop tab closures. Elastic cuffs with adjustable tabs. Bungee cord and toggle hem. Two zipper hand-warmer pockets. 3M Scotchlite reflective material piping for additional visibility. Pants feature waterproof 100% nylon ripstop. Heat-
resistant textile shields on lower inner legs. Elastic waist. Stirrups. Removable suspenders. Leg side zipper to knee. Storage bag included.
woMen’s skull Rain suiT
Jacket features waterproof 100% oxford nylon with polyester mesh lining body and sleeve lining. Reinforced shoulder, elbow and knee.
Zip-off bungee cord and toggle hood folds under collar. Two-way zipper front with hook-and-loop storm flap. 3M Scotchlite reflective material piping,
panels, and graphics on sleeves, front, and back. Pants feature waterproof 100% nylon with heat-resistant shields on lower inner legs and anti-slip traction on seat. Full-leg two-way zipper with hook-and loop storm flap.
Those Finns know how to deal with the worst of the road. Rukka suits with Gore-Tex three-layer laminate are the way to go when the going gets tough: extremely resilient and completely
waterproof, even the outer material doesn’t get soaked in continuous rain. In addition, the Energater suit offers maximum wearing comfort and top abrasion resistance thanks to stretch inserts and Armacor reinforcements. The jacket and pants also feature waterproof pockets, ventilation zippers and a thermal lining with Outlast. A high-end suit when you only want the best.
RUKKA “OUTLAST” UNDERWEAR - $86 EACH (SHIRT AND PANTS).
SIZES – S-3XL
Rukka Outlast underwear is available as separate shirt and long johns. Outlast is a very thin underwear layer, very comfortable to wear directly on the skin. The elasticity means the garments have a tight, body-hugging fit and adapt to the wearer’s motions. Should the temperature within the protective apparel rise, the underwear layer will cool. If the temperature sinks, it has a warming effect. The result is a pleasant micro climate beneath the protective
clothing that helps you concentrate, for those final touches of riding enjoyment.
Ideal for the cold season – the “Vigleco” is a warm motorcycle glove that is completely waterproof, creates a pleasant micro climate, is not too bulky, makes
for a first-rate feel on the grips and has a double cuff which prevents rainwater from entering the sleeves of the jacket.
DAYTONA TRAVELSTAR PRO CE
BOOTS - $575. SIZES – 38-47
Travel Star GTX Pro CE is the more protective touring boot that Daytona offers. Until recently, their Pro range wasn’t really offered to the public; it tended to be supplied almost exclusively to the police and Special Forces, but now anyone can buy them.
The Travel Star Pro is an upgraded and enhanced version of a standard Daytona Travel Star boot, with full CE approval.
Enhanced safety comes from a robust ankle protection system and special open-cell foam padding. The shins are protected with upgraded inserts padded with latex. The sole is reinforced and, like all Daytona’s boots, has a hot-dip galvanized steel inlay - not to mention the Gore-Tex membrane with a waterresistant cowhide leather outer.
Flat rate shipping of only $50US to anywhere in AU/NZ Mustang’s Heated Deluxe Touring seats feature detailed automotive-inspired stitching with a 16” wide front bucket that sits you at the perfect angle for long-distance comfort. For all-day back support, add a matching driver backrest that is easily adjustable and quickly removable (seat includes a
built-in driver backrest receiver). The comfort of the 13” wide passenger seat can be enhanced with the addition of a matching wrap-around passenger armrest that fits perfectly with the Tour-Pak.
Note: All Mustang heated seats come complete with a wire harness that hooks to the accessory port in front of the battery.
SUPER TOURING SEAT WITH HEAT FOR H-D 2008-16 FL TOURING - $846US
Flat rate shipping of only $50US to anywhere in AU/NZ Mustang’s one-piece Super Touring
seat provides the rider and passenger with the fullest, most comfortable seat possible and sits the driver 1.75” further back than the stock seat. Features a 19” wide front bucket for the driver and a 14” wide passenger area. Receiver for a matching driver backrest is built into the seat; backrest sold separately. (Seat will fit with handrail but does not accept the stock or Mustang driver backrest kit.) Seat also available with black or chrome studs.
ULTRA TOURING SEAT WITH HEAT FOR 1997-07 FL TOURING - $795US
Flat rate shipping of only $50US to anywhere in AU/NZ
Mustang’s one-piece Ultra Touring seat provides the rider with an 18” wide front bucket and a 15” wide passenger area.
The seat is contoured to better clear the saddlebag lids and is split to accept the stock or Mustang driver backrest kit. Seat also available with chrome studs.
BULL-IT JEANS www.cassons.com.au
SR6 HOODIE - $249.95. SIZES – XS-2XL
A soft knitted fleece with a brushed back, 100% cotton outer, which features a micro climate inside, 1mm of airflow using Covec structure and cool mesh
liner, keeps you warm when it’s cold and cool in the summer with a water repellent finish. For protection there’s 100% internal coverage of Covec impact abrasion prevention layer and the jacket
comes with multiple outer pockets, including a phone pocket and genuine YKK locking front zip.
12.5 oz Mid blue denim with a grunge faded wash, 100% cotton outer, featuring multiple pockets, Bull-it bronze
and silver embroidered sleeve logo, detachable grey cotton hoodie, genuine YKK zippers, micro climate inside –1mm of airflow using Covec structure and cool mesh liner, keeps you warm when it’s cold and cool in the summer, Covec thermal barrier inside – prevents heat transfer from road friction and offers a water repellent finish.
DAINESE www.cassons.com.au
STRANDON GORE-TEX JACKET$1399.95. SIZES – 48-56
Designed for long-distance touring, Strandòn incorporates all Dainese know-how in terms of ergonomics and functionality, combined with a distinctive style and great attention to detail and quality. With Gore-Tex Pro waterproof and highly breathable membrane laminated to the high strength fabric and Dragon elastic fabrics inserted, this jacket has cowhide inserts on elbows and
back and offers exceptional ergonomics due to numerous fit adjusters. Wide air inlets on the chest and back with Gore Lockout closure, thermal lining and removable double collar, as well as a removable external collar for optimal management of the body’s microclimate as temperatures change.
SCOUT EVO GORE-TEX GLOVES$299.95. SIZES – S-2XL
Specifically designed to offer excellent riding comfort on long trips in all weather, these gloves keep your hands dry and warm with breathable,
Merino Wool Thermalz – Topz and Pantz
Thermal Sleeping Bag Liner
Headliners, Balaclava, Nekz Now proudly made for Andy Strapz®
Avduro and Expedition Pannierz
Honda CRF1000L aFRiCa Twin
r eady for t H e H unt!
It’s been a long time comin’. But the hype and expectations have been huge, so is the all-new Honda CRF1000L Africa Twin going to be able to satisfy them?
The original Africa Twin with its rally roots was the XRV 650, released in 1989. It was the adventure bike to do it all, the ‘big brother’ of the ever popular Honda Transalp with upgraded longer travel front and rear suspension, more ground clearance and a modified 650cc V-Twin engine – all designed by Honda Racing Corporation (HRC). Sadly, it was never
sold new in Australia but a few people rode them here overland, and a few others just imported them privately.
The image of the Africa Twin was that of unbeatable adventure – Paris Dakar type rallies and hard core offroad riding.
But that was then. This is 2016 and an all-new Africa Twin is available in Honda dealers’ showrooms. It’s bigger, but is it better?
There are three models available – a non-ABS, ABS (the model featured here) and a DCT (double clutch) “automatic” model. Prices range from
$15,499 - $16,999 and $17,999 plus onroad costs respectively.
Housed in the new frame of the Africa Twin is an equally new 1000cc parallel twin, which draws heavily on Honda’s off-road race experience with the CRF250R/450R and CRF450R Rally competition machines (as used in the current Dakar Rally). The new parallel twin uses the same four-valve Unicam head design to keep it compact. A lightweight cast camshaft – using the same materials as the CBR1000RR Fireblade - operates the valve train and twin spark plugs per cylinder.
Words Stuart Woodbury Photos Half- l ig H t P H otogra PH y
Stuart is wearing a Shoei ADV helmet, Held Carese II jacket, Held Sambia gloves, Held Torno II pants and Sidi Way Mega Rain boots.
HONDA HAS MADE THE ALL-NEW AFRICA TWIN ONE OF THE BEST… ADVENTURE BIKES ON THE CURRENT MARKET
Strong torque and linear power add up to instant response throughout the rev-range. To top this off, the exhaust note is strong and powerful. Would it ever sound the biz with an aftermarket slip-on!
A 270° phased crankshaft gives the power delivery a distinctive character as well as delivering excellent feel for rear wheel traction. This is something I really found useful in the dirt – the Africa Twin can be driven (ridden) hard out of turns thanks to the tractability of the parallel twin and its firing order.
The engine is especially compact in height, which contributes to excellent ground clearance (250mm) – another prerequisite for a true adventure machine. It also uses clever packaging of componentry to both dynamic and aesthetic effect. The water pump is inside the clutch casing, and the water and oil pumps are driven by a shared balancer shaft. Further reducing engine size is the lower crankcase design, which stores the oil and houses the pressure-fed pump. Also, having the water pump housed inside the engine means that dropping the Africa Twin out in the dirt will not stop you from continuing on your journey because you haven’t ripped open vital engine components which would stop you in your tracks.
Connected to the engine is Honda’s slick six-speed gearbox. It uses the same shift-cam design as found on the CRF250R/450R to ensure
positive changes. An assist slipper clutch manages the drivetrain on deceleration and downshifts, making for smooth clutch lever operation. It’s not until you ride a Honda (any Honda) that you get a genuine feel for what a silky smooth gearbox feels like. The very first time I got on the Africa Twin, my first comment to The Bear was about the gearbox and how you don’t know just how good a gearbox can be until you’ve ridden a Honda.
Fuel consumption is quite good. With a mix of city, country and offroad riding, I achieved 5.7L/100km. This gives you a theoretical range of 329km from the 18.8 litre capacity, which is good. Keep in mind that you’ll normally use more fuel out in the dirt. I suspect that bitumen touring will see this consumption come down to around 5.1L/100km taking you out around 370km.
Suspension is adjustable for spring preload, compression and rebound damping both front and rear and the stock settings are balanced and compliant. There is no excessive dive or tendency to bottom out as with some of the other adventure bikes on the market. In sand, and crossing ruts, it did a great job of absorbing impacts without wallowing – and this is all on the ‘road’ tyres.
It might not have the fancy electronic set up that some other manufacturers have, but that has made no difference to the way the Africa Twin handles off-road. It does, however, affect how good it could be on bitumen. I will admit that it took me a little while to get used to riding the Africa Twin on the tar. The front does feel a touch vague with the large and skinny 90/90/21front tyre, but I was riding it more like a smaller wheeled road bike, not what is essentially a big motocross
bike. It is more ‘motocross-like’ than most of its competition and needs to be rear-wheeled steered to make the most of the handling. I’m pretty sure that if you fitted a set of knobby tyres you’d find the Africa Twin a dirt eating delight – one that is perfect for our big brown land. This is me getting down to the nitty gritty, but if you ride the Africa Twin in a more relaxed mode (and not in ‘test mode’ the way I have to, so I can let you know what it’s like) it does soak up rough roads very well. ABS and traction control, both of which offer different modes for different conditions come standard on this, the ‘ABS’ model. ABS is switchable at the rear wheel only and is easy to turn off with its own dedicated button to the right of the instrument panel. With the very road-biased tyres, I found the front ABS to be generally unobtrusive, where many ABS systems falter.
Traction control has four settings: Off and 1-3. Level 1 is quite sporty, allowing slides and some front wheel lifting and only intervening when things have gotten pretty far along; level 2 will keep the wheels in line but allows the tiniest amount of rear spin; and level 3 is an overprotective nanny. It’s worth noting that as with the rear ABS button, traction control has its own physical button behind the left side bar control block, so there’s no fishing around in electronic menus to select the desired settings – a great thing indeed! And you can cycle through all the settings on the fly. Ergonomics have been very well thought out. The seat is comfortable over short and long distances and the width/reach to the tapered bar is just
1. Crash bars are standard. 2. Spoked wheels have tubes and the centre stand is standard, also. 3. Hello horsey! 2.
3.
BIKETEST
right. The foot peg height/position is relaxing and the rubber inserts can easily be removed for more grip. The seat is quite tall at 870mm, but this can be adjusted down to 850mm. It could still be a problem for some shorter riders as the seat is flat on the top and the rear rack is wide, possibly making it hard to swing your leg over when getting on and off. If 850mm is not low enough you can get an accessory low seat which takes the seat down 30mm and if the seat isn’t high enough, you can get a high seat which takes it up 30mm!
The rear rack is top box ready and the side panels are pannier ready – a great inbuilt feature, seeing that I suspect most owners will fit panniers and/or a topbox in due course.
The list of other accessories available includes topbox, panniers, high screen, upper and lower deflectors, comfort pillion pegs, slipon, fog lights, 12V socket, heated grips and wheel stripes. The only thing missing that I think Honda needs to offer, is cruise control.
My only real gripe with the Africa Twin is the instrument panel. It looks extremely nice and modern with all the information anyone could want, but on a sunny day it is near impossible to read with a tinted visor. If you can live with that or get used to it, great. The Bear had less trouble
than I did, so normal-size people might be happy enough.
Honda’s engineers spent a lot of time wind tunnel testing the screen on the Africa Twin and it was interesting to note that it buffets your head with a road full face, yet is stable with a peaked adventure style helmet.
Riding the Africa Twin at night shows that the headlights (on high beam) work nicely out on dark back roads. Additional spotlights can be fitted to the standard crash bars if you need some eye melting light at night.
While we had the Africa Twin, a lot (and I mean a lot) of people came up to me and wanted to talk about the bike, even while I was stopped at traffic lights.
The main question I was asked is, “how’s it go on the dirt?” And as I’ve already mentioned, it is just like a big motocross bike, so Honda has made the all-new Africa Twin one of the best (especially for the money) adventure bikes on the current market. We are looking at getting an Africa Twin with a set of knobbies so we can really give it a workout off road, but this new model is already living up to the “Africa Twin” name. The wait has been worth it.
BRAKES: Front, twin 310mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 256mm disc, dual-piston switchable ABS caliper.
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 5.7 litres per 100km, premium unleaded
THEORETICAL RANGE: 329km
COLOURS: CRF Rally / Tricolour / Silver
VERDICT: WORTH THE WAIT
The original beast from 1989.
LIGHTWEIGHT FOLDING BIKERZ CHAIR
» Small enough to take with you on any ride!
» Weighs only 940g and holds up to 120 kg.
» Folds into a bag measuring 38 x 10 x 12cm (52 x 50 x 65cm when opened).
» Almost assembles itself with self-locating shock cord technology
TYRE REPAIR KIT
All stored in this neoprene bag
» A multi-tool to remove the offending object from your tyre AND to trim the plug after you’ve fixed your puncture.
» A Dynaplug ® Ultralite repair tool including 4 plugs.
» Three CO 2 canisters.
» An inflation tool.
MINI JUMP STARTER
Don’t let yourself be stranded with a flat battery!
This little lithium jump starter is pocket-sized, light, packs a real punch and will easily tuck into a tank bag, top box or pannier.
Our mini jump starter comes with a recharging plug suitable for both BMW (merit) sockets and normal car type accessory sockets. Comes in a compact bag with all accessories including USB port and cable so you can recharge your phone, ipad or GPS.
The EC5 adapter can be connected to the Jump Starter and then to the Pocket Pump so there is no need to attach the Pocket Pump to the battery terminal if you have the Jump Starter!
OUR BEAR IN HAVANA
THE BEAR WENT ON A “CLASSIC CUBA” TOUR WITH EDELWEISS BIKE TOURS
We must not let these harsh times destroy the warmth in our hearts… Che Guevara “
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Did you know that a Cuba Libre is just a rum and Coke by another name? It tastes a lot better than the Australian version, though, because it’s made with the outstanding Cuban rum… rats, got myself sidetracked in the very first sentence.
Cuba is like that. Things are done with a twist. Of lemon or lime, in the case of the Cuba Libre… aargh, sidetracked again. “An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with fools,” said Ernest Hemingway, a man famously fond of both Cuba and drink and, they say, hard to disagree with at the best of times.
Let’s see, you have two separate currencies you have to work with, convertible pesos (CUC) and Cuban pesos (CUP) which are worth onetwenty-fourth of a CUC and not used by tourists because you would need a wheeled shopping trolley to cart around the price of a Cuba Libre. And the local bikes with sidecars far outnumber the solos. And those slick ‘50s American cars you see in all the magazine photo spreads about the place are really there, but not entirely what they seem, either.
There are more things than the rum, the money, the bikes and the cars that make motorcycle trips to Cuba… interesting.
Arguing against it is the fact that the quickest flights I could find to Cuba took 32 hours and according to my internet searches, there didn’t seem to be any bikes to rent; only small scooters. In the end it was only the fact that my old friends at Edelweiss Bike Travel run tours there that made me consider it seriously.
Austrian-based Edelweiss calls itself the World’s leading motorcycle tour company, and you can see why when you open their website - www. edelweissbike.com.
Faced with the lack of local bikes to rent for their tours (I promise you that you don’t want to rent local bikes even if you can, unless you’re keen on clapped-out Eastern European two-strokes), they braved Cuban bureaucracy and now have permission to send their own bikes over there
from Europe for the northern winter. That means you’re guaranteed to have quality machinery to ride; you can choose between BMWs, Harleys and Triumphs.
Not that bikes were the only reason that I was glad I’d placed myself in Edelweiss’ hands. Cuba, at the moment at least, is full. There are so many people from all around the world who want to see it before it “changes” (read “before the Americans come”) that hotel rooms are hard and occasionally impossible to find. Edelweiss has overcome that problem in some places by renting casas particulares (well-equipped b&bs – don’t call them casas peculiares the way I kept doing, or you’ll get some very, er, peculiar looks). These are terrific, as you’ll read below, and give you a chance to meet locals on a completely stress-free level.
And here is where we come to the crux of the matter. I have always judged motorcycle tour destinations
on the riding they offered. Not necessarily on smooth surfaces and not necessarily through wonderful scenery, but it was still the riding that mattered. Not so (much) in Cuba. The locals and the society they have built are the key attraction in Cuba, for me and for most others, I think. And apart from Shanks’ Pony, a motorcycle is the perfect vehicle for experiencing this literally amazing country and its people.
“My Mojito in the Bodeguita del Medio and My daiquiri in the Floridita“ ernest heMingway
Smokin’
Arriving in Havana is pretty much the same as arriving at any Third World airport, except that it was nearly midnight when I got there – on the same day that I had left home, 32 hours before. Another major difference, and I hope the persons of the female persuasion who read this
will forgive me, is that the attractive, neatly uniformed female Customs and Immigration officials wear sheer but attractively patterned black stockings with their tan uniforms. This adds a weirdly erotic air to the proceedings, and was enough to keep me entertained until I had been processed and was on my way out the door.
I was in a Lada cab and on my way to my hotel almost before I knew it. The ride there, I must admit, was a bit… hmm, we seemed to travel a lot of dark back roads with appalling surface. I was almost wondering if I was going to end up down a dark alley, with a moustachioed, machete-wielding bandido grinning “Welcome, Señor… we hav’ bin waiteeng for you…” Nothing of the sort happened, of course, and I was delivered safely if a little shaken. Later I discovered that just about all roads in Havana have crap surface and useless lighting. One thing I
HIGH ALPINE TOUR
HIGHLIGHTS
★ Munich
★ King Ludwig’s Castle
★ Stelvio Pass
★ Dolomites
★ Grossglockner
★ optional day trip to Venice on the rest day
EC May 26 - Jun 02
HS Jun 26 - Jul 03
HS Jul 17 - 24
HS Aug 06 - 13
HS Sep 03 - 10
EC Sep 21 - 28
EC = Economy, HS = High Season
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do like very much is the big digital readouts which tell you how much longer you have to wait at the red lights. Top idea.
Next morning, a walk around the old city, Habana Vieja, showed that lots of Cubans, old and young, female and male, really do smoke cigars. It also showed me a lot of happy people; even the ones queuing three deep at a window to buy bits of a pig that was lying, extremely cut up (sorry) on the windowsill. They were cracking jokes, laughing, puffing on fat cigars and generally looking anything but the downtrodden masses that some of my reading had warned me about. I had been warned about scams,
too, and the first of the scam artists didn’t take long to identify me as a mark. Where was I from? Oh, Australia! Wonderful! Kangaroos! Did I want to see the bar where Che Guevara wrote Fidel’s speeches? Sure I did, and there it was, a little table and on it a small typewriter, at the back near the toilets.
I noted that the Cubans say baño, bath or bathroom, like the Americans.
I duly admired the bell hanging over the table that was apparently rung whenever Che was in attendance, so the people could come and talk to him. With constant interruptions he wouldn’t have got far writing Fidel’s speeches, I
thought, especially when Fidel, like so many dictators, was prone to giving speeches that required listeners to bring not only lunch but also dinner and a midnight snack. Then came the crunch – if I would go with him and his wife to a particular cigar shop, they would get – not money! – but milk coupons for their babies. How could I resist?
Well, as it happens… I told him that I didn’t smoke. But seeing we were in a bar, would he and his wife like a drink? Yes, of course. We parted friends.
That “where are you from” conversation starter did eventually get on my nerves. I resorted to saying “New Zealand”, and when that
didn’t work very well (“All Blacks!”) I defaulted to “the Cook Islands”. That worked.
Scams are rare, though, and pretty naïve; chances are you will have been warned against any of them anyway. Cigars or rum may be cheaper at this special shop, for example, but chances are they will also be poor quality. And today will not be a special once-a-year festival day anywhere in Havana, or anywhere in Cuba.
Something that does not happen in Cuba is the mobbing by packs of kids that’s so common in other Third World countries. In Cuba, they’re at school or doing homework. This is no “normal” Third World country;
Cuba has the highest literacy rate in the world. And even President Obama conceded that his country and the rest of the world have something to learn from the Cuban public health system.
“There was music in The cafes aT nighT and revoluTion in The air“ BoB dylan, Tangled up in Blue
Revolution in the aiR, check.
Whoever wrote that there is no advertising in Cuba simply wasn’t looking. There is plenty of it, but it’s all for the Revolution. The trouble is that this revolution is 50 years old and is showing its age. Infrastructure
desperately needs investment and people in Havana survive only because they get handouts from their relatives in the USA – or so I’m told.
With a tax rate of 80 per cent on earnings (from tourists) that’s entirely believable.
As seen on TV, a lot of cars appear to be ’50s American monsters, as often as not fitted with Russian diesels to keep them running, and with passengers holding the doors shut. There are literally hundreds of them around, and some of them are in beautiful condition. Those are very much in the minority, though, and serve as transport for tourist excursions in Havana. Most of them are rusty clunkers fitted with those
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Russian diesels, but they perform a vital function as line taxis all over the island.
Alternatively, there are rusty Ladas disguised as taxis. These look as if they came out of the factory already equipped with rust patches. Maybe they did. Rust repairs commonly consist of duct tape, stuck over the holes and painted a dull orange to match the body colour.
The other common vehicle is the FSM Niki, a Polish-built version of the Fiat 126 described on a website here in Australia as “a car that took almost a decade to get to its claimed top speed of near 100km/h and couldn’t stop if it ever did get there”. A friend from one of our car mags was less charitable; he called it “the worst car in the world”. It looks as if the most modern car generally available is either a rare VW Beetle smuggled in from Mexico or a Chinese-built Geely, probably fitted with brake pads made from old insulation material. No, that’s not fair, that was the Chinese-built Chery.
Motorcycles at least are rugged and reliable, with two-stroke, sidecarequipped 350cc Jawas and 250cc MVs dominating the traffic. An occasional elderly turquoise Ural, also fitted with a sidecar, leavens the motorcycle mix. Many of these have single carburettor conversions, for obvious reasons; the original flat slides don’t work when it gets hot. And it does get hot in Cuba. The most modern bike appears to be the 100cc Suzuki, rare except parked outside the Secret Police headquarters. Riders mainly appear to wear (fortunately) empty ice cream containers for helmets.
MUSIC IN THE CAFÉS AT NIGHT, CHECK.
All of which makes Cuba sound like a warmer version of the old East Germany, with better transport. After all, even Cuba – poor as it obviously is – was saved the Trabant, although they do have some outrageous plastic taxis. East Germany was a Communist state and was almost exactly the same size as Cuba, but that’s pretty much where the similarity ends. The most obvious difference, apart from the lack of broken-down two-stroke Trabbies
the side of the road, is the Cubans. They are open, racially mixed, cheerful, dress in bright clothes and play music wherever and whenever they can. In short, they enjoy their life.
Cubans are serious party people, something made easier by this propensity to play music – even kids in the street have instruments, often made from tomato tins – and the general availability of cheap rum. The beer is a bit more expensive but the two national brews, the lager Cristal and ale Bucanero, are international quality. Top this with young women who look like Caribbean beauty queens and young men with all the grace of their Spanish/ African ancestry and you’d have a party anywhere.
It would help, admittedly, if the bands wouldn’t play “Guantanamera” every time they spot a tourist. This is sort of like the reverse of Preservation Hall in New Orleans, where the band will happily play almost any request for a couple of bucks, but demands $100 or more for “When the Saints go Marching In” because they’re sick of it.
Music is not only ubiquitous but also local. I don’t recall hearing any current numbers from America or Europe, either live or recorded. “Cuba,” one smiling gentleman told me, “has enough music of its own.” Hallelujah. Oh, and there are many female musicians, sometimes in girl-only bands and sometimes playing with the boys, but never just as eye candy.
hey, let’s Ride
Bike handover was smooth, at a disused airfield not far from the city where Edelweiss stores all of its bikes. Ours were all ready, well prepped and looked after except for slightly twisted forks on mine, which we fixed easily. We took 5th Avenue for our departure from Havana. Unfortunately, motorcycles are not allowed on 5th Avenue because 5th Avenue is where the embassies are and is therefore reserved for
flash folk. It isn’t respectful to ride a bike there, but you can drive a crap Russian car. How that works is beyond me. Even more unfortunately the GPS that our guide Milan was using kept steering him back to 5th Avenue. A policeman on one corner politely but firmly sent us off in another direction, and then another cop chased us on his Yamaha Virago 250 police bike and delivered a firm but polite lecture on the subject. That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the tour. The police were polite and firm and we did more or less what we wanted to – but politely. It is hard to imagine that Cuba is an iron-fisted dictatorship when you get along so well with the cops and see them getting along the same way with everyone else. As for the secret police, the closest I came to them was nearly photographing their downtown Havana headquarters. I was stopped by a policeman waving his finger like the Soup Nazi in Seinfeld and gently but firmly repeating “No photos!”
“The Castro regime assigns 20 security agents to follow and monitor every foreign journalist,” reckons American right-wing publication Frontpage Mag, allegedly according to “Vicente Botin, who reported… from Cuba for years.” My bunch of 20 must have been absolute masters of disguise…
But back to the ride. After a relatively short day, we stopped for the night near Viñales at a pleasant, spacious and clean – Cuba is remarkably clean - hotel which had a pool and all the other facilities you’d expect to find in a quality motel in Australia. The food was presented as a buffet, like most of our meals on the trip, and (also like most of our meals) consisted mainly of roast chicken and roast pork with a reasonable selection of vegetables and a diabetic’s nightmare of desserts. In the morning we headed off to see some caves, a lookout complete with a six-piece band, a tobacco plantation and some effortless cigar rolling, sadly not on the thighs of virgins, plus some other stuff. It was a top day, relaxed and easy. Well,
until the riding was augmented by an excursion along the north coast on one of the worst roads I’ve ever sampled. To be fair, this was optional and we were warned. We also quite enjoyed it anyway with the exception of the small group of Harley riders. When everyone else is on BMW GSs or Triumph Tigers, Milwaukee suspension does suffer by comparison. Generally riding is easy; there’s little traffic and what there is, is polite. Road rules are simple and quite often actually obeyed.
Roast chicken!
The following day took us back north-east to the outskirts of Havana and then south-east to Australia. Seriously. Nobody really knows where the name came from but this sugar town is important because Fidel directed the Cuban response to the Bay of Pigs invasion from here. Maybe the place was so small that the Mafia, who were supposed to kill him, couldn’t find it.
So far our ride for the day had been on freeways, but now we turned off onto a main road, the 122, to Playa Larga or Long Beach. It was, too, and a beautiful one. The resort where we stayed in comfortable, roomy cabins was right on the beach and separated from it only by a line of coconut palms. Like almost all Cuban tourist facilities, it looked as if it had slipped into genteel poverty over the years, with broken items not replaced and scuffed everything the rule of the day. But once again, it was spotlessly clean.
As a tourist, and let’s face it that’s what even motorcycle travellers are in a place like this, you are insulated from the shortages that can make life difficult for the locals. But we were reminded of them when we stopped for coffee, several times. It was necessary to stop several times because coffee was off the menu everywhere; there was no electricity for the cappuccino machines… Playa Largo had plenty of power. Hannibal, our local guide, organised dinner and we walked across the road
into the heart of a real Cuban village – I say real because it was brightly lit, noisy, aromatic (but not unpleasantly smelly), cheerfully colourful and full of music. We ate roast chicken in a small restaurant that managed to get even the tired among our party into a, well, party mood. Man, those Cuba Libres might just be rum and coke but hey… three or four of them turn even aged bears into party animals. When the band played Guantanamera even I was up on my back paws and groovin’ away.
The next day started a bit slowly, and though the Bay of Pigs Invasion museum in Playa Giron was closed for “improvements” like maybe a roof, we did stop and admire Fidel’s own tank. He hit an American ship with it. With the cannon, like. Or was that the tank in Havana? Highlight of the morning was a large sinkhole in the limestone of the coast, filled with beautifully cool and clear fresh water and flitting with impressively coloured fish. If you’re in the area make sure you stop for a swim. It’s near Punta Perdiz.
Lunch was in Cienfuegos in just about the only tourist trap we encountered on the entire trip, but the food – roast chicken and roast pork, with some (roast) seafood and fruit – was terrific. The place was just touristy in atmosphere and prices, but we had a waiter who I swear could have been Manuel’s understudy in Fawlty Towers, which made up for a lot. He said that his name wasn’t Manuel, but they used to have a waiter by that name.
“If you feed people just wIth revolutIonary slogans they wIll lIsten today, they wIll lIsten tomorrow, they wIll lIsten the day after tomorrow, but on the fourth day they wIll say ' to hell wIth you! ' “
nIkIta khrushchev
Cuba, si?
Cubans, no see. You don’t see Cubans in these kinds of restaurants, except for the wait staff. I heard Spanish being spoken at several of the tables,
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but our guide Hannibal laughed and pointed: Argentinian. Bolivian. Spaniards. And so on. No Cubans. They simply can’t afford it. In an economy which is run more with vouchers than with money, and which suffers all sorts of shortages with amazing equanimity (try to buy a spare part for a car some time) they stay cheerful and positive, as well as showing no sign of envy when a tourist walks past waving a camera that would cost them their entire life’s earnings. If they could buy it at all, that is.
Of course they are fed revolutionary slogans, and I can well imagine that the Bay of Pigs invasion would have revived a few fears about being taken over by America, and especially the Mafia. This awareness of the colossus to the north is everywhere in Cuba in the revolutionary slogans on walls and billboards. It is almost non-existent in the people, who place crossed Cuban and American flags in their taxis (when they’re not crossing their flag with a Canadian one) and occasionally even wear American flag t-shirts.
I’m always tempted to sum up: roads, food, people, whole countries. In the case of Cuba, that’s too difficult for me. All I can say is that as far as I can see the place and its people are impossible to dislike, and very easy to like. The people are bright and obviously well-educated and completely lack the look of dull acceptance that you see all too often in the Third World. They even make up for the dud roads.
We spent a free day in Trinidad, which has a reputation as a wellpreserved colonial city and was well chosen by Edelweiss. I stayed in a casa particular with a rooftop veranda off my room and a fridge full of beer, available on the honour system. While Milan took those of the group who were keen on riding a bit of dirt off into the surrounding hills, I wandered around town to get more of a feeling for Cuba. Two places in town were garlanded by different types of queues. The bank had what I consider a more or less normal
queue, which was kept that way by numbered slips of paper handed out to the waiting throng. The telecoms office, on the other hand, had a typically Cuban queue outside: a semicircular bunch of people all pushing against the doors. I saw one young but substantially built woman charge into the crowd only to be gradually slowed like a galleon in full sail tackling a tidal rip. She did make it halfway to the door. The crowd was hoping to get a go at one of the three or four computers inside with internet access.
Oh what a tangled w eb Internet access, yeah. Often unavailable, always as slow as a wet weekend up the Wallagaraugh, even in expensive hotels. Generally just not worth worrying about. Send a postcard instead. Oh, right, I sent a staggered half dozen of them by airmail more than a month ago… and none have arrived. Yet.
Trinidad actually is a pretty town, but here’s the thing: Arequipa, in Peru, dates from roughly the same time as Trinidad. The difference is that the arcades of its park-like squares hold art galleries, shops offering all sorts of goods and cafés with a wonderful variety of food and drink. Trinidad offers dust and a few straggling trees, along with that mobbed telecom office. Arequipa is rich, Trinidad is poor. And there is the tragedy of Cuba. But Arequipa also has beggars and Trinidad doesn’t, and there you have the tragedy of Peru.
We left Trinidad and found ourselves in quite a different world from the flat plain and irregular hills of the coastal limestone country. Beautiful steep and jungle-covered hills, nearly a kilometre high, form a huge nature reserve called Topes de Collantes which looks as if it stretches halfway to Santa Clara. The road is mainly pretty good, by Cuban standards, and offers some terrific corners. Just keep an eye on the ‘waves’ in the tar caused by trucks and the potholes caused by trucks
and every other form of transport. Back on the plain, Santa Clara is especially associated with Che Guevara because he led the attack on the city which gave the Castro forces their final victory. Despite the huge statue on its roof, his mausoleum is nicely scaled and laid out and looked after respectfully. Any sidearms enthusiast will find it fascinating. The displays centred around Che’s command train are nicely done and looked after, too. I liked being able to admire his very own anti-aircraft gun. This place is a huge contrast to Tito’s train which is rotting, covered in graffiti, abandoned in the forests of what was once Jugoslavia.
Sometimes on these trips I come across things I find hard to believe, even when I see them with my own (admittedly pretty average) eyes. The road out to Cayo Santa Maria is one of them. It runs more or less straight out to sea for nearly 50 kilometres; not as a bridge but as a causeway with small bridges every 10km to allow natural water circulation. It was built over 10 years beginning in 1989 and presents a rare opportunity to ride a PTW where you’d normally be on a PWC. Naturally the sea is very shallow.
There are three or four resorts at the ocean end of the road, and we stayed at the Memories Paraiso Azul – yet another somewhat faded resort, but an “all inclusive” one with a wonderful beach. Not that I saw the beqatch… arl ingluzif minz just dat ingludding Kuber Libries… hic. Hey, playz dat Gwantana… Guannata… Grunterna… you know. Playz it nooow…
“Motorcycle tours ain ’ t Motorcycle tours.“
the Bear
a nd h O me again
Naturally enough we rode back to the coast next day, some of us with our store of Panadol exhausted. Fortunately the first 50km was more or less straight…
A couple of days later we were back in Havana, returning our bikes
to the disused airstrip where we had collected them. Nobody had dropped a bike or scratched one otherwise, and the handover went smoothly. Just a quick word of praise for Edelweiss: they made the most of Cuba’s obvious limitations and made it possible for us to experience what must be pretty much a unique society these days. Er, well, yes, there’s always North Korea but I’m not lining up for a ride there. No matter who organises it.
I have been on three tours with Edelweiss now and, interestingly enough, have enjoyed each of them for slightly different reasons. Apart from the riding itself, my main memories of the Pyrenees tour will always be of the historic places we explored; the Norway tour stands out for the scenery; and Cuba will stay with me for the people. Oh, and for the 36 hours in planes and airports before I got home, of course. I’ll leave you with a quote from Fidel. Please note that he said this in 1973… “The US will come to talk to us when they have a black President and the world has a Latin American Pope.”
Operator, give me information…
Even if you don’t remember Manhattan Transfer singing “Operator” you will know the importance of information, and of a good operator. Several tour operators offer both, along with a choice of destinations. Taking all three of them into account I am happy to recommend Edelweiss to anyone. Their standards are high, they seem to manage to make the most and pick out the best of their destinations and you only need to look at www.edelweissbike.com to see the range of destinations they offer. And they’ve been doing this for more than 30 years. I went to Cuba and took part in this tour as a guest of Edelweiss Bike Travel. =
Harley-DaviDson Cvo Pro street Breakout
u nlea SH your inner bea S t!
Words Stuart Woodbury
Harley-Davidson’s Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) produces custom, limited edition versions of standard H-Ds each year. Usually, they also choose different models to be the ‘special ones’ to get the CVO treatment. Standard fitment in every CVO model is the Screamin’ Eagle 110B cube V-twin, which punches out healthy amounts of power and ground stomping levels of torque. The particular model we tested here, the Pro Street Breakout, is a custom vehicle ‘designed’ for the drag strip. Low and long with a seriously fat rear tyre and a flat drag bar so you can
Photos Half- l ig H t P H otogra PH y
" LOW AND LONG WITH A FAT REAR TYRE AND FLAT DRAG BAR SO YOU CAN HOLD ON TIGHT RIPPING DOWN THE QUARTER MILE ”
hold on tight ripping down the quarter mile. If you like that sort of thing. If not, you can just show the bike off. It’s worth it.
I still remember the first time I got to ride a CVO Harley. It was back in 2008 and the Softail Springer was the bike with the bling and mumbo. If you see a pic of the CVO Springer, it doesn’t look all that special, but in real life you get to see the show quality paintwork and the many details built into the bike by those magicians at CVO.
The same is true of the Pro Street Breakout. It might look like Batman is ready to wheel his goodness out into the world with the dark-style attitude and muscular theme, but as with the CVO Springer, the Pro Street Breakout cannot truly be appreciated until you see it in the flesh. Show quality paint is on every panel and the ‘wood grained’ style inlay on the tank and rear guard, which looks more like balls of fire is ever so smoothly integrated into the overall paint. And what might look like straight black paint in fact has an ever so faint silver sparkle added to it, which you can only see in bright sunlight.
CVO has introduced a new finish to the Pro Street Breakout and that is the Smoked Satin Chrome which is featured on the handlebar, exhaust, pushrod tubes, side covers, cylinder head covers, instrument dial and some other small bits and pieces. I like this new finish and hope that it makes its way onto other H-D models down the track.
As with all CVO bikes, the Pro Street Breakout gets custom wheels. ‘Aggressor’ five spoke wheels painted gloss black mount a 240mm wide rear tyre and a 19 inch front – the 19 inch rather than a 21 inch front for better handling.
The muscular Screamin’ Eagle Twin Cam 110B engine with aggressive looking heavy breather intake features
a high-performance clutch to launch you off the line fast. The “raceinspired seat” as H-D calls it helps to keep you on the bike in the light of such fast acceleration off the line. The forward controls are not so far forward that they lift your feet off with the hard acceleration, rather they allow you to keep them planted and get that left foot changing up through the smooth 6-speed gearbox. The only downside to the forward controls is that they sit very low. Any hard cornering, which the Pro Street Breakout is quite capable of doing with its well damped inverted forks up front and strong monoshock in the rear, will tear up those custom footpegs. If you don’t mind grinding, you’ll enjoy mixing it with more fancied bikes around the bends.
For the first time, a Dyna has been fitted with twin front discs. They give the Pro Street Breakout masses of stopping power which is certainly needed with so much acceleration. It’s also the first time I’ve found the front brakes on an H-D to work extremely well.
Having ridden many H-Ds over the years and now the latest from CVO, I can see where your money goes for the higher purchase price. The quality of the suspension, the smoothness and power of the engine and even the smoothness of the gearbox are very noticeable when riding the CVO. And that’s before you look at the quality of the paint, the custom wheels and the other CVO-only details.
If you want to further bling up your CVO, there are always plenty of H-D accessories available in “The Bible” – Harley’s huge accessory catalogue. You can even make that 110B thumper become an extreme tyre shredder with further engine enhancements from Screamin’ Eagle.
I lived with the CVO Pro Street Breakout for a couple of weeks and really came to like it. If only I had the money to buy one! But even then, there is only a handful of this model coming to Australia, so I would have to hurry to stump up the 43k or so. Get in quick! This dark American musclebike is waiting for you to tame it. =
SPECS
Harley-DaviDson CVO PrO Street BreakOut
PRICE: $42,495 (ride-away)
WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance
SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 8000km or 12 months
ENGINE: Air-cooled V-twin cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 2 valves per cylinder
BORE x STROKE: 101.6 x 111.1mm
DISPLACEMENT: 1801cc
COMPRESSION: 9.2:1
POWER: N/A
TORQUE: 151Nm @ 3500rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate clutch, belt final drive
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 5.89 litres per 100km, premium unleaded
THEORETICAL RANGE: 320km
COLOURS: Starfire Black/Starfire Black, White Gold Pearl/Starfire Black
VERDICT: BLAST OFF!
Stuart is wearing an Rjays CFK-1 carbon helmet, Segura Retro jacket, Dririder Stealth gloves and Draggin jeans.
YOU’RE NOT KIDDING, ARE YOU?
KIDMAN WAY, NSW WORDS COLIN WHELAN
JERILDERIE
This is a town living for all it’s worth on its connection with Ned Kelly who popped by with his mates in 1879. Kelly didn’t write his ‘Jerilderie Letter’ in the town and he sure didn’t wear his armour helmet here, but that doesn’t stop the town from using irrelevant images of Ned’s safety gear.
The police station at the east end of town even has almost a dozen motifs of this foreign helmet worked into its architecture. (When I was there photographing the downpipes a cop who’d been in town for 12 months came out and questioned me… he was totally unaware of the significance of their shape!)
In three days in Jerilderie, Ned and his mates relieved the Bank of £2000, chopped down the telegraph poles, locked the police in their own cells and booked up the cost of shoeing their horses to the police. They held more than 30 hostages while shouting the bar and burned the mortgages held in the bank’s safe.
There’s three service stations in town but all only sell 91 and 98 (plus diesel). There’s no 95 anywhere in the place and the nearest you’ll get 95 is at Coleambally, 68km up the Kidman. For any issues with your bike, Jerilderie Motorcycles at 24
Southey St are the people to see. www.jerilderiemotorcycles.com.au
There’s three pubs but all are on the very truck-busy main street so if you’re seeking a quiet night’s sleep you may want to think other places.
Colony Inn Hotel 26 Jerilderie St, T: 03 5886 1220
Jerilderie Hotel 60 Jerilderie St T: 03 5886 1370
Royal Mail Hotel 22 Jerilderie St T: 03 5886 1224
The very well stocked IGA is opposite the Jerilderie Hotel on the main drag and it’s got plenty of parking out front.
COLEAMBALLY
The Coleambally Irrigation website has the tagline: “Coleambally Irrigation - a clever company with clever farmers working in close collaboration with the community and the environment” and the town has that real community feel. It’s off the highway (just turn at the big old scoop in the well-kept park. They like brolgas here and the sole pub is the Brolga Hotel Motel (T: 02 6954 4009). The Roadhouse on Kingfisher Ave sells 91 and 95 (and diesel). A couple of very nice parks in town (and at the turnoff) plus a top little public swimming pool at the back end of town. There’s also a bottle shop and a Friendly Grocer in the town centre.
DARLINGTON POINT
A ferry was built across the Murrumbidgee in 1881 but the Punt Hotel wasn’t built until 1925.
Outside the pub you’ll likely see signs advertising for customers, “No experience necessary”. Well, I’ve tried to get a drink in this place twice and both times the attendant figured I should wait ‘til she’d finished chatting to her mate, or that I should hang on ‘til she’d finished with a phone call that rang after I was at the bar. Pity, because it’s a pretty little pub.
A much better bet is the Darlington Points Sports Club at the south end of town: Really friendly service, good Chinese restaurant and a schooner of Gold is $4.30. It’s open from ten each day but there’s no food on Mondays.
The Caravan Park is just north of the river bridge and the public river beach is here also, just keep to the right after you turn for the CP. This is a great river beach for a swim, but there’s no free camping here. If you’re after a free spot, (there’s a top selection and they are beautiful) do what I did and drop into the mini-mart just opposite the pub and stock up on some provisions. Ask Ernie how to get to the free
www.hemamaps.com.au
KIDMAN WAY, NSW
The Kidman Way is supposed to be designated the B87 and it stretches for 640km from Jerilderie to least Bourke. If you’re heading from Melbourne up to Darwin or FNQ, this is going to be the most direct route. It leads from the lush irrigated river country of the MIA through the dry flat plains of mid-western NSW to the harsh red plains of the outback. If you’re connected with the country, it’s never boring. And it’s got a fair sprinkling of good towns, pubs and places of interest.
And with Sir Sid Kidman’s birthday on May 9th, I figured this is a good time to share some tips of this none too busy highway.
If you’ve come up from the south from Shepparton Way and Finley, and you’re done in Jerilderie, head noreast out of town on the Newell for 15km and you’ll see the left turn for Coleambally and Griffith and this is the start of the Kidman.
Jerilderie to Coleambally 69km
Some of the straightest stretches you’re going to find. This farmland has been laser levelled but it probably didn’t need much help. Irrigation means flat land and flat land means straight
TEAR-OUT MAP #40
bitumen. Eventually a bend to the right sees you at the metal brolga welcoming you to Colly.
A bit down on the right you’ll see a tree filled park with a monster mine shovel and you turn around this and head into the town. To rejoin you’ll need to retrace your path.
Coleambally to Darlington Point 31km
Easy straight-ahead riding through irrigated farmland and keep your eyes out for farm plant on the road. Four kilometres south of Darlington Point you cross the Sturt Hwy in one of those bloody zig-zag highway intersections. Take it carefully and then it’s just a couple of sweeping curves into town.
Darlington Point to Griffith 35km
Look right as you cross the Murrumbidgee and you’ll see the beautiful town beach with its access road beside the van park entrance. Continue north for about 300 metres and then follow the highway left. This is the greenest part of this road with irrigated fields on both sides most of the time until an almost surreal Sikh temple signals you’re at the Burley
Griffin designed town of Griffith (so you know there’s gonna be roundabouts!)
Griffith to Goolgowi 51km
Head west on Banna Ave, the main drag which is also the Kidman Way and you’ll get to the big roundabout at the western end of town. Exit around the Shell Servo (as if you’d gone straight ahead) then follow the Kidman as it weaves out of town. An immediate change to the scenery. Gone are the green irrigated crops and it’s now dryland farming and a bit of grazing. You really get the feel you’re leaving the easy country behind. Make sure you have a full tank of fuel when you leave Griffith as it becomes less reliable from here.
Goolgowi is on the junction of the MidWestern Highway and to get to the town, hang a right at the roundabout onto the MWH then you’ll see the pub on your left. The general store is two streets north on Stipa.
Goolgowi to Merriwagga 22km
A quick squirt though increasingly hardening country to a memorable motorcycle pub which you get to by turning right before you get to the silos and then hanging a left onto Fingal. COLLECT THEM ALL
camping areas. He’s a top bloke who can do with the business and he’ll direct you to the riverside where you can stay for 48 hours.
The Coolibah Café back on the main drag opposite the Punt Hotel is a decent place for caffeine and a bite.
GRIFFITH
If you can look past the more shameful periods of its past, this can be an enjoyable town. Plenty of places to kick back and sample (legal) local produce. The old Clock Restaurant has gone and been replaced by Zucco but for mine the best place is Il Corso on Banna, though a couple of mates prefer La Scala. If you’re hanging for ice-cream, Bertoldo’s Bakery at 324 Banna has great gelato but kinda ordinary service.
The pubs though are pretty ordinary for accommodation… nothing unique or magnetic but there’s a bunch of clubs to choose from. I reckon the best is the Exies on Jondaryan Ave where the prices are good and the food’s always been excellent. (Don’t attempt the lamb shank unless you’ve not eaten for a month!)
Griffith Motorcycle Centre in Burrell Place is your best bet if your ride is playing up; www.griffithmotorcyclecentre.com.au T: 02 6962 4677
The memorial to Donald McKay is on the centre strip of Banna at the corner of Jondaryan and is worth a check out. The servos here are all on the Banna and serve all grades of fuel and the IGA is off Yambil which is parallel and one south of Banna.
GOOLGOWI
On the intersection with the B64 or Mid Western Hwy, if you’ve never enjoyed a drink whilst in a barber’s chair, this would be a decent place to stop. The Royal Mail has pub style accommodation for $45 a single or $55 for a twin room and serves lunch and dinner 7 days. If you’re fronting up with a larger group, it’d be best to ring ahead. (T: 02 6965 1406) There’s also a motel on the west end of town on the B64.
Some fuel at the general store around on Stipa St but possibly best not to rely on it being open.
MERRIWAGGA
Thankfully the parking meter out front of the Black Stump Hotel still has 20 minutes on it, so pull up, relax and head inside to the tallest bar in Australia.
Lynn Ro has had the lease for the last 2 years and she’s just visible behind the 4ft 4in high bar. (I’ll give you a hoy when metrics reach out here!)
The myth is that it’s that high because the stockman used to ride in on their horses and drink still saddled but, well, it’s a good story. The way Lynn Ro’s partner, Jeremy explains it, another theory is that the pub was built at the same time as the railway line was being put down. The fettlers were a pretty wild bunch so the publican built the bar(rier) tall to stop ‘em jumping it! And it’s called, the “Black Stump” because they claim the original black stump was some 20 miles to the west of here on the north-south TSR. Back
in the late 1800’s, so the story goes, Barbara Blaine, a stockman’s wife was preparing the evening meal while her husband was out checking the bullocks had quietened for the night. When he returned, the wind had blown the fire onto his wife’s dress and killed her. Blaine described his wife’s ashen body as resembling nothing more than a ‘black stump’. There’s a memorial to Barbara Blaine out on the stock route but again I’m not giving directions! If you’re interested and have a vehicle that can handle a bit of sand, get into the pub, slide some cash over the high bar for a refreshment and ask Jeremy for a mud map of how to get out there.
There’s half a dozen other black stumps in the country, most notably at Winton but this is the only one that doesn’t involve a cut down tree.
There’s three rooms in the pub each with a queen and a single bed and more beds out back in the shearers’ quarters. A bed’ll set you back a paltry 35 bucks but if you’ve arrived on two wheels, you’ll get your first drink free when you check in!
That’s what I call motorcyclist friendly!
If you want to throw a swag you can do so in the beer garden and pay just five bucks for use of the showers. Just maybe the best pub on the entire Kidman Hwy.
Next month we’ll get you the rest of the way up the Kidman to the Qld border.
SMOOTH ON A SILK
COMPILED BY THE BEAR
…get back to where you started from. Well, Jojo, you might even be able to get back to somewhere you’ve never been, namely the saddle of a Silk. Yes, RetroTours in the US has one of those, as well as a terrific selection of other classics. See www.retrotours.com or drop them a line at retrotours01@yahoo.com .
We’re seeing more and more specialised tour operators springing up, and RetroTours in Pennsylvania was one of the earliest. Joel Samick runs the operation, and he sent us their most recent newsletter – here’s an edited version.
Unfortunately you’ve missed Midstate Madness on May 7-8, unless you can make arrangements to get over to the eastern US in a real hurry. I’ve included it anyway to give you an
idea of Joel’s offerings.
“This will be a small group with daily mileage totals under 170 miles,” he writes. ”The roads are absolutely top notch; I promise you will love it. In addition there are some funky off-bike activities including the Shoe House, Prudhomme’s Ragin’ Cajun Cafe and a paddle wheel ferry boat ride. And that’s just the first day! Sunday will include a run down
Retro is the new black in the US; this fire truck is at the Maker’s Mark distillery.
TOPTOURSANDTOURING
one of Pennsylvania’s best roads and a hot home cooked meal back here in Kennett Square. Choose your bike and start the season right with this RetroTour.
“Regarding the Seven Springs ride—you can opt to ride from here (300+miles each way/two spaces left) or make your own way to the Motorcycle Classics Magazine “Ride ‘Em, Don’t Hide ‘Em Getaway” and enjoy the use of a RetroTours classic bike. Participate in two 100 mile group rides including a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwaters. Seven Springs is a first class luxury resort that your significant other would love. The event includes breakfasts and a banquet-like dinner with guest speakers. See www. motorcycleclassics.com (click on ‘events’) or www.7springs.com .”
Believe me, I’m really hanging out to go on one of the RetroTours, if only to ride that Silk. I used to have one, and I still miss it.
SHORT ADELAIDE TOURS ON BENELLI BN600Rs
Don’t have much time? We lead one-day or shorter tours on some of the best roads in the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula. Hire exciting BN600R Benellis.
Visit www.radtours.com.au and click on the TOUR LOCATIONS button.
SUCK IT AND SEE
There’s plenty of time to book for this MotoAdvenTours ride in Romania; the nine day tour fires up on the 3rd of September in Bucharest.
“Let us take you back in time to the enigmatic country of Dracula,” says Hana from MotoAdvenTours. “Heading north from Bucharest the scenery changes dramatically as we enter the Carpatian mountains. In the deep forest hides the mysterious castle of Count Dracula, which we visit before arriving to our destination, the historical town of Brasov. Our passage through the north of Romania takes us past picturesque Monasteries and through the Bicaz Gorge before we reach the heart of Transylvania. Remote forest roads will take us south to the true paradise of every motorcyclist, the Transalpina road!
“Our rest stop after the breathtaking riding day is Sibiu, the home of the
Can’t get much deeper than some of the canyons in Romania. / Technology
Czech Hungary Tour
famous Red Bull Romaniacs, extreme enduro series competition. But the best is yet to come! The Transfaragasan road will take your breath away!
Zigzagging and hair pinning through the Faragas Mountains, this 100km drive is not for the fainthearted but truly an unforgettable experience. The best way to end this memorable tour.”
Drop Hana a line at info@motoadventours.com or see www.motoadventours.com for more information and other tours.
CHANGE YOUR LIFE
“The first time I went to India, I really did not know what to expect,” writes Phil Freeman from MotoQuest, at motoquest.com. “I felt an element of trepidation. After spending 30 days there, scouting out a route for our tours, I realized one thing: Once you have been to India, you compare all of your motorcycle
you wondering. It can warm your heart while leaving a poignant trail of memories.
“Riding in the Himalayas on a Royal Enfield is another exciting aspect of the journey. You are back in time, in a land far, far away and it cannot be more evident than when you transition back to your daily life.
“To an outsider, life in India may seem chaotic. But there is a generosity and openness there that transcends cultures.
adventures, then India might be your style. It is not for the faint of heart, nor the weekend warrior. It will take you out of your element and place you at the pinnacle of your abilities to adapt. You have no choice. This is India!
“The highest motor-able pass in the world awaits those who dare to take the challenge. The altitude, rough terrain, and Spartan conditions are not easy. Then again, you are not there for that.
travels to there. It is NOT for the Sunday driver. India is an explosion of the senses, on all levels. It will challenge you physically and mentally. It will leave
“The higher you climb in the Himalayas, the further you step back in time, and the closer you come to the fundamentals of any culture. The faces, temples and peaks of the Himalayas draw out in you a timeless nostalgia of the history of human kind.
The riding is simply epic, and you will never be the same. If you are into rugged challenges and world-class
“I invite any rider who thrives when they are outside their comfort zone to join us in India. Do it for the sake of challenge - the kind of unforgettable adventure that will stay with you, ingrained, for the rest of your life. We double dare you to ride India. It will change your life.”
Hmm, well, yeah – every time I’ve been to India (three times so far) I can’t wait to get out of the place, and when I’m sitting in the plane seeing the Subcontinent drop away below me I can’t wait to go back. Go figure; but I think Phil is pretty right with his comments.
A selection of “sprinklers”. Firefighting in India is multilingual. / Heavy transport relies on camelpower, not horsepower.
This reviving pub on the Burley Griffin Way rated in the top bracket of 3 helmets on our scale and over 180 on our value scale where anything over 100 is good. I’ll be headed back there in a couple of months because I know Eric and Cheryl are going to do good things here and it’s going to get even better.
Light Horse Hotel
337 Albury St, Murrumburrah T: 02 6386 2210
CHARGE!
WORDS/PHOTOS COLIN WHELAN
So anyway I’m on the deck of the pub in Murrumburrah enjoying my “end of the day’s ride” chardy when, at 14.56 a ute pulls up.
The driver’s a squat, neatly dressed 50ish bloke who looks like an ex-rugby prop who’s looked after himself. He jumps out, comes up the stairs, fixes on me and says, “You must be Colin.”
THE LIGHT HORSE HOTEL, MURRUMBURRAH, NSW
“Which means you must be Carl, and you’re 4 minutes early.”
This is Carl Valerius and he’s got the tallest family tree I’ve ever heard of: Reckons he can trace it back to Marcus Valerius Corvus, a Roman military commander around 300BC. I tell him to pull up a pew though with that pedigree he probably deserves a curule seat!
But it’s not his ancestry that caused
me to give him a buzz and come down from Sydney for a chat. Carl’s a sculptor and the Light Horse monument across the road from the pub is his work.
Ten seconds into chatting it’s obvious Carl’s a man of passion. His eyes have the fi re of a forge and as he talks his arms are never still. You know immediately this is a bloke with stories, with history, with tales
PUBOFTHEMONTH
and, no doubt, with his share of friends and not-so.
The sculpture consists of two life-sized bronzes of early members of the Light Horse; one remains nameless while the other is William Bradford. There’s also a light box diorama of an action scene and then down the back there’s Carl’s sculpture of old Bill the Bastard. Bill was the army’s Phar Lap and Archer rolled into one. An equine colossus with strong body, strong heart but even stronger will, a pretty much unrideable Waler who was shipped to the Middle East with the 1st Australian Light Horse in October 1914.
One of his minders on the trip out was a horse-lover, author and poet who, having been knocked back in his efforts to be sent to Europe as a war correspondent, wangled a position as ‘honorary vet’. His name was ‘Banjo’ Paterson. The same Banjo Paterson who went to primary school 25km east of here at Binalong.
Paterson had been a war correspondent during the Boer War and it was there that he hooked up with another journalist and aspiring politician named Winston Churchill. Paterson couldn’t quite work the Pommie out but seemed to respect him just a little more once he found out, as he later wrote, that “Churchill and his cousin, the Duke of Marlborough, each drank a big bottle of beer for breakfast each morning.’
“Bill the Bastard’s an interesting story,” says Carl, “and you should get hold of Roland Perry’s book about him.” I say I will for sure.
We finish our drinks and head over to the sculptures. Carl’s not
“THE LIGHT HORSE HOTEL IN MURRUMBURRAH IS A PUB RETURNING TO ITS ROOTS AND SETTLING COMFORTABLY INTO ITS CULTURE AND HISTORY ”
The Kidman Way
Backtrack to the Outback along Australia’s legendary highway, The Kidman Way. Whether you are riding solo, or with a group, you’ll find our historic towns friendly and accommodating. Enjoy every attraction and slice of history, from Ned Kelly and General Sir John Monash, to the beautiful Murrumbidgee waterways, lakes, national park scenery and wildlife, fine wines and dining and fabulous riding roads.
There’s never been a better time to Backtrack to the
and we look forward to giving
super happy with Bill; it depicts the epic carry by Bill of five injured and retreating diggers but Carl reckons that after finishing it he found a pile of info that showed him it was historically inaccurate and besides, he wishes it were life-sized!
But why here? What’re these testaments to a horse that served at Gallipoli and Palestine and to men who fought in the Boer War doing in the middle of some of the finest sheep and wheat country of rural NSW?
To find that out I leave Carl and point the Tenere a dozen kilometres west then onto some narrow back road bitumen and a short dirt track to the glorious station home of Wal Bradford, grandson of one of Carl’s bronze soldiers back in Murrumburrah.
Wal meets me out front of his elegant modern homestead, gets me to slip the Formas as no shoes have ever touched the gleaning blackbutt floors, asks if I’d like a brew and gets me to sit down at his dining table.
As Wal makes us a cuppa I check the table. It’s an old wool classing table, a big one, probably measuring four metres by two and with the rollers covered by a massive sheet of thick glass. It’s bloody amazingly beautiful. Wal’s granddad was the local butcher. Each day he’d slaughter one cow, two pigs and five sheep,
bleed them off into the local creek and then load the carcasses onto a bed of fresh green gum leaves in his horsedrawn dray. The meat’d then be covered with more green eucalyptus to keep off the flies. He’d walk beside ringing his bell and the housewives would come out, order a cut and watch as it was sliced from the carcass, weighed and slipped into a paper bag. Paddock to plate meant a journey of no more than 800 yards.
Wal’s father opened a butcher shop on the main street and the gorgeous deep blue friezes of sheep and cattle are still on the façade of the old premises a couple of doors up from Carl’s sculptures.
In 1897 John Mackay from Wallendbeen up the road, with government permission, advertised the creation of the 1st Australian Horse with the aim of sending them to the Boer War. Eighty young keen blokes turned up and 60 were accepted with William Bradford, the Murrumburrah butcher being number 15.
We know that because Wal still has the original inscribed rifle bucket presented to his grandfather.
In 1995 Wal Bradford and his late wife, Sue, along with Lorraine Brown who still runs the tourist information office out of her shop up at Harden,
formed a commemorative Light Horse Regiment which has since grown from strength to strength in this area of its birth over 100 years ago.
All of which brings me back to the pub!
The reason I came down here was because a few weeks before I was over at Wallendbeen hanging with Groover and he told me that the Commercial Pub back in Murrumburrah had new owners who’d changed the name of the place.
He took me over the road from his pub to the war memorial with its inscription saying it’d been donated by Donald Mackay*, the grandson of the bloke who’d founded the 1st Australian Horse.
“The 1st Australian Horse became the 1st Aussie Light Horse Brigade and it all started around here. That’s why,” Groover explained, “they’ve renamed the Commercial over there The Light Horse Hotel.”
So I thank Wal Bradford for his time and his generosity of spirit and head back to the Light Horse where it turns out it’s the first day for a management team.
Ashley and Rob, the new owners have snagged Marulan natives, Eric and his partner Cheryl to manage
the place and when I get to the bar, Cheryl hands me a book.
“A bloke came in and said this was for you.”
It’s Roland Perry’s story of Bill the Bastard and’s been left by Carl who’d zipped home, found it and dropped it for me. Ah the country!
It’s not long before Cheryl heads out the back for a framed photo of her own. It’s from 1915 and shows her grandfather and three grand uncles in military kit before they headed off to Egypt with the 1st Light Horse.
“We were looking for a life-change and’d checked out pubs down as far as the Victorian border but this one just seemed a perfect fi t. Ashley and Rob wanted their pub to embrace the history of the town and my family were part of that history.”
Eric was tired of life as a driver of oversize long distance rigs and he (along with son, Robert) jumped at the chance to take on their fi rst pub.
Cheryl can’t wait to apply her “feminine touch” to the rooms and
the common room but what’s already there is way above average.
All 11 rooms are spacious, have electric blankets, ceiling fans and screen doors and mine had good power outlets to recharge all the rubbish gizmos you might travel with. Some rooms have TV’s which I think is needless and Cheryl reckons she’ll be streaming the rooms between one-nighters and longer stayers like fruit pickers and contractors so riders will most likely not have a telly in the room. If that’s a minus for you, you probably won’t have read this far anyway!
Turn up on your own and a room’ll cost you 45 bucks. A twin room with a mate’ll set each of you back 35 whilst a quartet of you in the room with 4 singles works out at 30 each.
My bed was super comfortable and despite it being slap on the BGW, no traffi c noise disturbed my beauty sleep.
The common room is stocked with all you’re going to need for a basic
cereal and brew breakfast. The full sized fridge has a freezer capable of taking half a dozen hydration bladders and the instant coffee is Moccona.
There’s no separate male/ female toilets but the hot water is at good pressure and seems to be endless.
There’s two lock up sheds out back which can house up to 8 bikes and there’s ample smoking and non-smoking areas out back and on the front deck which luxuriates in the afternoon sun.
The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner except for lunch Monday and Tuesday.
The bar is a bit dominated by the racing commentary but Eric and Cheryl are aiming to make this a family hotel that makes families welcome so the volume is likely to be faded down a bit as they turn up the connection with the town’s connection with the Light Horse Brigade.
Discover the legend that is Bourke
Nestled in a spectacular natural setting with award winning gardens the Back O’ Bourke Exhibition Centre is a magnificent complex showcasing Bourke’s incredible history. Immerse yourself in the past, bringing to life the story of the West – Outback New South Wales. Engage in stories of early exploration, local bushrangers, poets, outback legends and conflicts.
Take in the ambiance of the mighty Darling River by enjoying a leisurely paddleboat cruise on board our very own PV Jandra.
Whilst in town don’t miss the chance to view the fully restored Crossley Engine in the Wal Mitchell Wharf Precinct. The Crossley engine is started at midday on week days during the tourist season.
Be sure to visit the Back O’ Bourke Information Centre to pick up one of our famous “Mud Maps” self-drive and walking tours brochure. The staff at the centre will assist you to ensure you make the most of your stay in Bourke.
The Light Horse Hotel in Murrumburrah is a pub returning to its roots and settling comfortably into its local culture and history. It’s in the hands of caring owners and committed managers. It’s good now and it’s going to get better.
When you drop by, don’t waste your time just jawing with your ride buddy. This one very friendly and those blokes at the next table might not be descendants of a member of the 1st Aussie Horse, and they might not be famous sculptors but I bet they’ll welcome you and they have stories and tales to enrich your day. Light-horse, iron-horse at the end of the day we’re all here for the ride!
Carl the Maestro
*(This is not the fella that the Mafi a murdered in Griffi th a coupla hundred km west.)
Great
A few weeks after staying at the Light Horse I get a call from Carl and he’s excited. Bugger it! He didn’t have the funding but he’d decided to make a life-sized, historically accurate Bill with the 5 Aussie soldiers. Halfway through him telling me he’d already started on the head on both the horse and Shanahan the bloke in the saddle, I stop him to say I’m coming down the next day.
When I get there he’s well advanced on the Bill’s clay head, already finished the plasticine bust of Shanahan and he’s even more hyper and excited, more passionate than usual. He could afford the moulds but not the final bronze castings so I rang the Bear and got the contacts of a hard core member of the motorcycle riding mafia.
Brendan Nelson is boss of the Australian War Memorial and he put me in contact with an avenue for possible funding which I followed up. Maybe, just maybe, this riding network of which we are all part of, will facilitate the funding of Carl’s life-sized Bastard and that’s something of which all us bastard bikers can be proud! (Great work, Colin! Ed.)
Cobar Heritage Centre and Information Centre COBAR’S HISTORY UNDER ONE ROOF
ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, I WANT…
A BUZZMOG
Yes, now I want an electric trike. Highly regarded British car and trike maker Morgan has promised a fully hybridized range by 2019, and at the recent Geneva Motor Show even went a step further with a fully electric version of its three-wheeler. Instead of the V-Twin motor attached to the front of the regular three wheeler, the EV3 is powered by a 46 kW electric motor attached to the rear wheel. That’s not a lot of power, but having one less wheel than an ordinary car helps keep its weight down to less than 500kg. That relatively light weight also means the EV3 will hit 100 km/h in 9 seconds with a 240km range. The trike’s low kerb weight also means it only needs a 20 kW/h liquid cooled battery to achieve these figures, as opposed to the minimum 75 kW/h battery size that Tesla needs to power a
Words the B e A r Photos MO r GAN
Front cutaway almost makes the EV3 look like a race car from the ‘30s. / We presume that the filler cap behind the cockpit is for battery coolant.
full sized, heavy family sedan. As is traditional for Morgan, the EV3 is built around an ash wood frame. What isn’t traditional is the asymmetrical layout of the three headlamps. Together with the impressive if perhaps slightly disturbing brass cooling fins for the battery, they give the EV a unique and
“INSTEAD
OF THE V-TWIN MOTOR ATTACHED TO THE FRONT OF THE REGULAR THREE WHEELER, THE EV3 IS POWERED BY A 46 KW ELECTRIC MOTOR ATTACHED TO THE REAR WHEEL "
unmistakable face. This is probably the first electric vehicle that I would cheerfully add to my garage.
The EV3’s body is significantly more modern than that traditional frame. The car’s hood, tonneau cover and side pods are all made of carbon fibre, while the rest of the body panels are shaped out of aluminium.
The unique side pods on the flanks of the smoothly seductive body plus an interior that combines a classic layout with beautiful materials mean that the whole EV3 is a well thought out and eminently desirable new model for the Morgan range. That’s rare praise for any first generation electric vehicle, including Tesla.
Morgan described the vehicle shown in Geneva as a “final pre-production phase” car. It’s expected to go into production later this year and “will be priced comparably to the petrol 3 Wheeler,” which will probably make it an expensive buzzy vehicle indeed in Australia at $90,000 or more. Which of course means that it will not be gracing my garage unless I start getting paid what I deserve.
(Our thanks to gizmag) =
The instruments of the Morgan EV3 are nothing short of beautiful. / Tiny flyscreen will probably not do much to protect the driver. / Let there be electric light! Three headlights form a unique pattern.
GSX-R1100 1989
PROJECT – Runs great just needs some TLC.
SUZUKI GSX750F – Early noughties, great bike, well loved. Cheap transport. – $2,999 1988 GSX-R1100 SLABBIE – Black/Gold limited edition, we’ve just had it repainted in original colours. Very nice bike. – $6,500
COMING SOON
Bourke's Old Telegraph Hotel is now a deluxe motel with individual heritage king size bedrooms. Pool, barbeque, great attractions nearby. Secure undercover parking. Bring your group.
Seems you liked the recent story where the troopers of the Bear Army suggested favourite cafés and other roadside stops. The response was good, so here is another instalment – this time not from the troopers. We will happily take recommendations from anyone; you don’t need to be a Bear Army trooper. We’ll print them as they come in. What we do ask is that you mention it if you are in some way associated with the place you’re recommending. The address is contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au or Australian Motorcyclist, PO Box 2066, Boronia Park NSW 2111. We look forward to many more suggestions! Er, let me rephrase that… PT
IDLE ON IN WITH ALISON
Alison from the Idle In Cafe in Nana Glen, 25 minutess from Coffs Harbour in the beautiful Orara Valley, liked the recommendation she got from our troopers. So she thought she’d make sure that you knew you were welcome.
“Relax inside in air conditioned comfort and enjoy the character of
the timber beams, rustic furniture and biker memorabilia,” she writes, “or lounge outside in the courtyard under the umbrellas and watch the world go by.
“Open Wednesday to Sunday from 8am we serve all day breakfast, light lunch or Devonshire tea.
Established by Rod and me, both bikers, almost 4 years ago, the majority of baking and cooking is done on the premises and we have built quite a reputation for great coffee, light and fluffy scones and lemon meringue pies.
“The café is perfectly situated on a couple of popular routes for bikers on either the longer Coffs, Dorrigo and Nymboida loop, or those who only have a couple of hours to spare and enjoy the ride through the lush Orara Valley from Coffs to Nana Glen and home via Bruxner Park lookout. It’s a common sight to see a bike or two parked out the front of the café on any given day.
“An old fashioned country cafe with friendly service where you can “Idle In”, relax and escape the world for a while,” she promises.
turn-up at the Idle In.
ON THE UP WITH DOWNS
Brad Downs liked the Boree Creek pub quite a lot. Here he tells us about it.
When we arrived in the birthplace of the former National Party leader, Tim Fischer, there were no cars about and in fact very little sign of human life, just the rather mundane looking pub where we pulled up and the tidy park across the road. A long row of abandoned shops sat sulking nearby in the lengthening afternoon shadows as we wearily dismounted and crunched across the gravel to the front door.
On entering the cool hotel interior we were cheerily greeted by Phil Baker who introduced himself and struck up a bit of chat. He and his wife Jenny have only had the pub 7 months (at the time of writing), during which time they have made significant changes. The previous owners, Phil told us (and so did several locals later on), had let the place run down so much that it was rarely open and when it was, hardly anyone went there.
Big
Nowadays it is a most welcoming place with a bright bar and small but comfortable dining room along with an undercover beer garden out the back and picnic-type tables out the front. The night we stayed several families of locals were there for dinner, all friendly folks up for a chat and a laugh including the former mayor of the Urana Shire who was full of information about the area and the changes in farming practices over the years. Even when darkness fell we stayed on, enjoying a few cold ales out the front until the last of the locals headed back out to their farms in the surrounding district.
Phil does all the cooking and makes a great fi st of things, producing good, wholesome pub food both for dinner and for breakfast. When we asked about breakfast Phil didn’t hesitate to ask, even though it was Sunday the next day, what time we’d like to eat. Would 7.30am be OK we enquired? “No worries at all” said Phil. Sure enough, bright and early the following morning we were treated to a hearty feast of bacon,
eggs, tomato, beans, mushrooms and toast along with good coffee and tea. There are only four rooms at the Boree Creek Hotel, all solid, sparkling clean, freshly painted and fi tted out motel style units directly adjacent to the pub itself, sleeping up to 8 people in total comfort.
One room has a queen sized bed, one room has a double bed and two rooms have two single beds each. The beds are new as are the smallish fl at screen TVs and most other fi ttings right down to the shower curtains, kettles and coffee mugs. Phil and Jenny have invested keenly and the results are clear – the building might appear to lack character, being a ‘70s cream brick veneer, but it more than makes up for it by being well appointed, friendly, very quiet and comfy.
The rooms themselves are well insulated from any noise (it was impossible to hear my mates moving about in the rooms either side of mine) but the town is also incredibly quiet with no passing traffi c to speak of at all. Which raises the question –
why go to Boree Creek in the fi rst place? Well, why not? It’s actually quite well situated for a stopover between Sydney and Melbourne or as a launching place to the outback, which is how we ended up there. Also, Wagga Wagga is less than an hour away although it feels a lot further – there is almost an ‘outback’ feel to the place. Then again, the area has its own appeal as a destination in itself, or at least to check out as part of a longer trip. There are some great roads, including lots of deserted backroads, interesting scenery, loads of history and even a foodie tourist trail to the southwest. Oh, and you’re only a stone’s throw from the mighty Murray River, too. We’d ridden from Bairnsdale over Mount Hotham, through Yackandandah to Albury then up the road through Burrumbuttock (seriously, how could you not want to visit Burrumbuttock?), Walbundrie and Lockhart before turning northwest for about 20 kilometres.
Open 7 days 7.00am to 5.00pm and by appointment for evening functions
Motorcyclists Ken and Tania welcome you to their highly recommended cafe. Wood Fired Pizza, Tapas and Espresso Bar.
We stayed in two other pubs on this ride and neither came anywhere near matching the hospitality at Boree Creek. With everything on offer, including access to a washing machine and clothes dryer if required, the only things missing are ceiling fans (not that you’d need them in an air conditioned motel-style room) visor cleaning gear, high pressure cleaning equipment and chain lube. But, really, who doesn’t take their own visor cleaning kit and chain lube with them? And when was the last time you wanted to wash your bike on trip? In more than 40 years of touring I think I’ve only
ever washed my bike once mid-trip and that was after being forced to ride down a mud road for miles because of a detour.
Using AMM’s pub rating criteria the Boree Creek Hotel scores 74 points, making it a 3 helmet pub. The clean,
fresh, quiet motel-style rooms, the food and the friendliness actually rate this place higher in my book. But best you check it out yourself and enjoy the hospitality on offer and the sights and roads of the surrounds while you’re at it.
Jenny and Phil in the bar. / Over the road and through the trees – to the Boree pub.
Call 02 6927 1407 or drop Jenny and Phil a line at jenphilbaker@hotmail.com .
WHAT ABOUT MEE?
John from the Pitstop on Mt Mee, north of Brisbane, also wants to make sure you know you’re welcome. He writes, “We are open Friday 10-
4, Saturday and Sunday 8-5 and for group bookings other days. We’re also open most public holidays and the last Friday night of the month 6pm-9. Monthly social rides are organised by Pitstop social group, road as well as adventure rides.
“We also do weddings and functions and have table seating for 245 in various areas. There are 45
Not a bad view there at the Pitstop, even in the fog. / The inside of the Pitstop is stylishly decorated.
car parking spaces, 30 motorcycle only parking spaces on bitumen and another 100 on roadbase.”
You can contact John or Kim on 0418716426. = www.ausmotorcyclist.com.au
AUSTRALIA MOTORCYCLE ATLAS TRAVEL
HELP!
You know that Hema Motorcycle Atlas you’ve been carrying around for years now? Well, here is your chance to give something back in return for all the good advice it’s given you.
I am starting on a revised version, and I want to make sure that it is as accurate and up-to-date as possible. That means re-riding many of the roads listed in the 227 rides and updating their entries. But I can’t ride every road, every time. So I’m asking for help. Please make a note of any correction or updating the Atlas needs. The latest version, the 5th Edition, is the best place to start. Any changes you can suggest will be gratefully received, and will get your name into the 6th Edition! So if you value accuracy and have a longing for immortality of a kind, see if you can correct me.
I promise I’ll take it well. Reasonably well, anyway.
Corrections to The Bear, PO Box 2066 Boronia Park NSW 2111 or thebear@ausmotorcyclist.com.au . Just quote the number of the ride you’re correcting, please. And here is another opportunity to help your fellow riders (and me). If you can think of any additions to the Atlas, be it a bakery or a pub or even another road, please send me those as well. One of the wonderful things about an atlas or a guidebook is that it’s never complete; there are always changes, improvements
“Who cannot give good counsel? ‘tis cheap, it costs them nothing.”
Anatomy
of
Melancholy (1621) Robert Burton
(and the opposite!) and they need to be noted. They won’t all just make it into the Atlas, either; they might well get into MOTORCYCLIST too.
So go to it, folks. I’m not going to put a time limit on this because I’ll be happy to receive suggestions at any time; but if you want to make it into the 6th Edition, you might like to get your notes to me by the end of August 2016. And a great big “thank you” from me and all the motorcyclists (Australian and visitors) who will benefi t from your advice! PT
TOAD TOWN TO THE BUSH CAPITAL
DAWDLING THE BACK ROADS
WORDS/PHOTOS ROBERT CRICK
Come ride the back roads. There are many options for a ride between Brisbane and Canberra (and surroundings) including, but fortunately not limited to, the main highways: Pacific, New England and Newell. But my preferred options avoid the main highways and provide unique experiences and some of the best riding. If you have a complete Australian Motorcyclist library, you can find a description of one route in No 14, April 2014 at page 62. The
attractions of this route include a straightforward, unhindered-bytraffic, worry-free ride; lots of options for stopping at authentic country town pubs (or motels if that’s your preference); any number of options to divert into neighbouring towns and countryside (even taking in a few gravel diversions); and opportunities to enjoy the hospitality of country towns and meet Tambar Springs’ Diprotodon or 10 foot giant wombat.
But there’s another way, which takes in several of the Australia Motorcycle Atlas’ 200 Top Rides, and even many of the top 100.
I recently rode this route from Brisbane, and clocked up 1550km over three days. I have previously done it in 1430km. Just depends on how many of the 200 top rides you can cope with on one trip!
BRISBANE TO KYOGLE
This is not a long stage but there are two markedly different options to start, and they are equally applicable whether you’re starting in Brisbane or further north, or on the Gold Coast.
One option is to travel the Mt Lindesay Highway across the border until the turn-off to Kyogle. You launch immediately into Ride 9 of the top rides. Gold Coast starters would join up at Beaudesert.
travel
This section sets out with a pleasant ride through a mix of farmland and lightly wooded countryside. The fun really starts with the approaches to the Border Ranges National Park surrounding Mt Lindesay, where the road abruptly narrows as it sharply twists its way around the mountain and up over the high border ranges. Before the road breaks free of the thick forest, just short of Woodenbong, you turn onto Summerland Way, remaining in the thick forest for some time before reaching more open country for the ride into Kyogle.
But wait. There’s a sub-option here worth exploring. At the small town of Rathdowney between Beaudesert and the Mt Lindesay National Park, there’s an obscure turn-off called Running Creek Road, which, not surprisingly, follows Running Creek into another section of the national park. This road is also tracking the Brisbane-Sydney rail line; they cross the ranges together. The road morphs into the Lions Road, a very narrow road in parts which isn’t always open, being susceptible to erosion. Experiencing it makes for a bit more excitement. And, if you’re a rail buff you can view the Border Loop takes trains through a 360o loop to get up and over the ranges. The Lions Road (Ride 24) will deliver you onto Summerland Way for the run into Kyogle.
The other option to get to Kyogle is via Murwillumbah. This in effect starts at Nerang with Ride 10, namely, the Numinbah Valley Road. This road has a great mix of sweeping and some tighter curves through rough ranges terrain and the tranquillity of the long, lush valley itself. It’s a spectacular ride over the border, which runs along the ridges of the ranges. Then it’s an easy but still pleasant descent into Murwillumbah.
If you’re not in a hurry, particularly coming from Brisbane, there’re a few more sub-options. Some can be made to work coming from the Gold Coast. Coming through Beenleigh gets you onto the North Tamborine Road (Ride 110). Then you can experience at least part of Ride 8 and also Ride 111. Gold Coasters can work in a fair bit of
Ride 8. With a bit of circuitous riding, these treats can be engineered to deliver you onto either Ride 9 or Ride 10 to launch you on the way to Kyogle. Once in Murwillumbah, you’ll see that the road to Kyogle has earned itself recognition as Ride 117. It’s a fairly curvy road that meanders alongside the Tweed River before making its way onto open plains closer to Kyogle. It’s as enjoyable as many roads rated more highly up the numerical ladder. Off to the right just before Uki, you can see the distinctive top of Mt Warning. After Uki, at the risk of adding more sub-options at this stage, if you’re feeling stressed by all the great rides, you can make a small diversion from this road and relax in Hippieville (Nimbin) for a while. Well, maybe erstwhile Hippieville! There’s no magic dragon any more.
KYOGLE TO WALCHA
Somewhere in this sector is the point that’s about as far as one should ride in a day. Ebor’s not a bad stop – about 80km short of Armidale. I’ve stayed there before but on my recent trip I opted for Dorrigo. It was a 60km diversion but added more interest; and the otherwise typically country town pub there, the Hotel Dorrigo, has been hyper-spruced up into “heritage accommodation” that well might deserve a five star rating. I did think I was over indulging – but I enjoyed it! In the interests of safety, Walcha is probably as far as one day’s ride should last.
But back to Kyogle. The route from here stays on Summerland Way through Casino and all the way to Grafton. It’s an easy and relaxed ride. Grafton on the Clarence River is worth a look with its antique bridge making an odd turn as it crosses the river, and spectacular colour in Spring with its Jacarandas in full bloom.
The Grafton Hotel makes a convenient stop-over if you’ve had a late start from Brisbane or are simply taking it easy. I’ve stayed there a few times over past years. The room was
nice enough; and the ambience good. Ask for ‘a room with a view’ (i.e. a window!).
The ride takes on a different dimension from Grafton. It’s another top route, Ride 120. It starts as the Armidale Road but gets called the Grafton Road if you’re coming the other way as so often happens with roads in Australia. It joins up with Waterfall Way which comes out of Armidale, and turns east after 88km to go through Dorrigo, Bellingen and onto the coast. Ride 120 combines the sectors between Grafton and Armidale. It’s a pretty mountainous road but with amazing views of lush valleys; and enjoyably demanding for the most part. A diversion to Dorrigo only adds to the challenge and excitement.
When the road finally emerges from the mountains, it traverses some beautiful New England countryside with options for short diversions into Wollomombi Falls and other parts of the Wollomombi Gorge before bringing you into Armidale, which claims to be Australia’s highest city (at a not particularly impressive 982m).
From Armidale there’s a short –only 23km – stretch of the New England Highway to transport you to Uralla and deliver you back to the top rides. Uralla ranks fourth highest of all New England towns at 1004m. Coming in at third place is Walcha, our next stop, at 1047m.
Walcha might well be most noted for its being the crossroads of two of the 100 top rides: the Oxley Highway (Ride 30) and Thunderbolt’s Way (Ride 35). But we can only take one of them: Ride 35.
At Walcha, two very comfortable, renovated country pubs are the Apsley Arms (I can vouch for this one personally) and the Commercial, highly rated by friends. But there are others, including of course the Royal. A big plus for Walcha is Café Graze in Derby Street coming in from Uralla just short of the crossroads and almost next to the Apsley Arms. It’s a very nice upmarket café that serves great breakfasts and lunches
(I’ve had both there on different visits) and excellent coffee.
WALCHA TO CESSNOCK/SINGLETON
It might be too much of a Yes Minister “courageous” call to say this next section from Walcha along Thunderbolt’s Way and beyond has some of the best riding. I think it has; but it’s still got some take-extracare bad patches. This is a 148km stretch that takes you from the 1047m elevation of Walcha to the 111m of Gloucester and tips over 1200m a few times. The road drops about 800m over a 40km section on the approach to Barrington just north of Gloucester. This section provides some great riding but suffers from several worn-out corner surfaces.
Along a ridge top at about 900m, the Carson’s Pioneer Lookout provides sweeping views into the wide valley below, with a beguiling gravel road running up the middle alongside the Barnard River (note to self: I must find that road!). The backdrop is the Barrington Tops and Gloucester Tops ranges. If only one could spin this route out to a week!
Thunderbolt’s Way has its southern terminus in Gloucester, so that’s the end of Ride 35. But don’t be dismayed, the road ahead continues with a changed name (Bucketts Way) and a changed top ride number (Ride 18). Bucketts Way has its southern end on the Pacific Highway north of Raymond Terrace and turns east at Gloucester to go back to the Pacific Highway at Nabiac. So Rides 18 and 35 join seamlessly at Gloucester.
That means there’s still another 4045km of top riding before the route turns west to Dungog. The “main road” turn-off is Stroud Hill Road at 45km whereas the old – now less used – road turns off at Stroud Road (locality) at 40km. They join soon after for a gentler, curving and undulating ride into Dungog.
From Dungog, the choices are Cessnock or Singleton. Cessnock is a little out of the way. I have included it mainly because that’s the way I recently came, probably motivated my memories of staying in the Australia Hotel which
combines country town pub (with renovated bathrooms) and motel –and very good meals. From Cessnock, it’s a short run through wine country to Broke where you start Ride 31, most of which is the Putty Road. The alternative is to go through Singleton (I’ve stayed there on some previous trips) and pick up the Putty Road from its beginning on the Golden Highway. If you happen to choose this option, you’ll travel the Glendonbrook Road from Gresford and cross the Paterson River on the Pound Crossing bridge (bearing in mind that each map you look at will likely have different names for roads and rivers and creeks!). In any event, this one is one for bridge buffs.
PUTTY ROAD, BELLS LINE OF ROAD, OBERON ROAD, CANBERRA
You might have thought the best was behind you by now, and you’d be mistaken. This stage includes three top rides: Ride 31, Ride 16 and Ride 28, with a sneak-in option of Ride 33. The Putty Road never disappoints. Mind you, as someone who has outgrown the workforce, I’ve never had to run the gauntlet of weekend boy and girl racers; or highly protective police patrols. An early morning start from Cessnock on the most recent occasion meant I had the road (almost) to myself. I think I might have overtaken a truck or two; and waved to a bike or two coming the other way. But that was it. Motorcycling doesn’t get much better. It wouldn’t be too far off the mark to divide the Putty Road into three sections, each with its unique characteristics. At the north end, the road is narrower and marked by tight turns through rugged country and a narrow valley. The middle section has more open valleys with farmland and gentle, wide turns. The southern end returns to thickly wooded country. The turns are sweeping but still plentiful. Somewhere in the middle of all this is the Grey Gum Café that has become virtually a de rigueur coffee/ lunch stop for motorcyclists.
To balance my effusiveness, I should
echo The Bear’s admonitions when describing Ride 31 in the atlas and strike a note of caution. Apart from the weekend commotion, the road is a major link road that can at time carry heavy traffic. Also it’s a “motorcycle safety enforcement area” but without any explanation as to what that means...
Before the end of the Putty Road, you need to turn off to transfer to the Bells Line of Road – Ride 16. You can do this either at Blaxland Ridge Road and come out at Kurrajong or at East Kurrajong Road and come out at Kurmond (a little shorter). The Bells Line of Road has a lot of potential to be a truly great ride but over the years it’s dropped in the estimation of motorcyclists owing to increased traffic and the multiplicity of lowered speed limits, for example, reductions to 60km/h through some of the best turns. There’s still fun to be had especially further west as the limits increase through a long stretch of sweepers. This road still has life in it.
Although the Bells Line of Road goes to Lithgow, it’s better to turn off at the Darling Causeway to reach the Great Western Highway at Mount Victoria. On the Great Western Highway heading west, you drop 200m in about 4km down the steep and turning Victoria Pass, somewhat infamous for the trouble it causes in the snow that occasionally covers the Blue Mountains. I’d call this motorcycle Purgatory: it has a 60km/h limit and average speed cameras at top and bottom! You just have to get over it.
Soon enough, the Jenolan Caves/ Oberon turn-off appears; and that’s the road to take. It provides lots of sweepers across hills and through valleys to Oberon.
Another option is to continue along Bells Line of Road to Lithgow or go past the Jenolan Caves/Oberon turnoff on the Great Western Highway and, in both cases, pick up Ride 33 to Tarana. From Tarana, there’s a minor but good bitumen road to Oberon. (If you stop in tiny Tarana, make sure you put the stress on the last syllable!) Oberon is a good place for a refuel
for both bike and rider – mainly as a prelude to one of the really great rides: the Oberon-Goulburn Road. That’d be ride 28. It heads west out of town and finds its way first to the small, sometimes snow-whipped hamlet of Black Springs. Remember, Oberon is a town with plenty of altitude. At 1103m, it’s the second highest town in NSW if we discount the villages constructed for the Snowy Mountains Scheme and ski resorts.
If your GPS wants to take you the “wrong way” out of Oberon, don’t lose faith. It’ll be taking you to meet up with a glorious, wide bitumen road called Shooters Hill Road that provides a shorter (by 5.5km) and faster alternative. It comes onto the Oberon-Goulburn Road 18 km south of Black Springs and 44k from Oberon; and in plenty of time to enjoy the best of Ride 28. One small caution. Shooters Hill Road is fast-riding but just 4km before it meets the Oberon-Goulburn Road the fast surface swings left leaving you to deal with a narrower, dodgy 4km. The A Grade road surface goes onto the Oberon Correctional Centre, which in satellite mode on Google Maps, tucked away in heavilyforested country, could pass as a Gulag in Siberia’s Magadan. Given its altitude and climate, it might well feel something like it as well.
The two notable highlights of ride 28 are the sweepers on both sides of the Abercrombie River (tighter on the north side through the forest plantations) and the descent and ascent into and out of the Abercrombie Valley. In the high country you feel you’re on top of the world as you look across hill tops stretching to far horizons.
The historic town of Taralga provides an opportunity for refreshments and a look at some of its old stone buildings on the main road and its out-of-proportion church and convent buildings a block to the east. Goulburn is pretty much the end of the route for those who might be heading to the south coast or inland or taking other roads further south. As you approach Goulburn from Taralga,
take a glance on your left at the old Kenmore Hospital, opened in 1895 as an insane asylum and over the ensuing one hundred years or so, according to ninemsn 9 Stories, “plagued by mysterious deaths, murders and rumours of malpractice.” Then, of course, there’s Goulburn’s Supermax prison which is formidable enough even from the outside. If you’re not spooked by the ghosts of Kenmore, you might well be by the thoughts of what’s behind the impregnable walls of Supermax that relegates Colditz to the nursery rhymes.
The last leg to Canberra can be the road of least resistance along the Federal Highway or the more pleasant ride through Tarago and Bungendore. I mostly opt for the latter. It makes for a nice way to end or, especially, to start a long ride. =
What are all these “rides”?
Just in case you have been living under the third rock from the left for the past dozen years, Hema Maps’ “Australia Motorcycle Atlas” has become the standard reference for Australia’s travelling motorcyclists. It now lists 200 outstanding rides in its two volumes (one for information, one for maps) plus another 27 in the wall map that comes with the atlas. The information book is for planning, the map book to take along in the tankbag (it is spiral bound so it stays open on whatever page you want) and the wall map for the… yes, the wall. The atlas focuses mainly on sealed roads, but has some interesting dirt alternatives. And I suppose I should admit that I’m the one who compiles it.You can buy the Hema Maps “Australia Motorcycle Atlas” from our website, www.ausmotorcyclist.com. au - $44.95 plus $10 postage (AusPost is getting greedier by the day). PT =
FEAR NOT! travel
We can learn from our kids about overcoming fear just by watching them. A few times time a year I take my son to the pine forest so he can take his bike for a run along the service tracks. He has apprehension in his eyes as the ute enters the forest road from the expressway. This turns into calm as the bike is unloaded and a makeshift camp is set up on the shoulder of a track. His fear has turned into caution which in turn turns to enjoyment after a very short time. Yes, he has come off a few times but the feeling of achievement surpasses minor scratches and the deflated ego that comes when he puts the bike down. Importantly, he gets back on. My wife always tells us to be careful as we head out, and we always are. In our youth, we did things because
we were indestructible and took risks – sometimes even calculated risks. Most times the risk paid off, sometimes it didn’t. As we aged, the risks became greater, mainly due to bigger responsibilities and the fact that it hurts more when you fall and takes longer to recover.
Fear is a complex and often misunderstood thing. It is something we try to hide, and we deny we suffer from it. Fear is, however, something that is integral to our survival. If approached in the right way, it can be our best ally.
For some 99 per cent of the existence of humanity, we were afraid of falling out of trees and being eaten by whatever beast waited below. Some harnessed their fears, studied what was happening around them, learnt how to
read danger signs, changed the fears to caution and became successful on the ground. The others are still in the trees.
It could be they’re happier, of course. Unless they end up in a primate laboratory.
We have fears that we are born with. Other fears are instilled in or forced on us by others. We are confronted by fear brought on by the media every day. If you took it to heart, you wouldn’t leave the safety of the front door, although of course most accidents happen at home. People close to us also instil a lot of fear. How many times have you heard “You can’t do that, it’s too dangerous. A friend of a friend went there and never came back”… I wonder why? They’re probably enjoying themselves
BOB WOZGA MAKES A FRIEND OF THE FUNK
without constantly being cautioned. It is easy to get caught up in other peoples’ fears and if you back away from doing something adventurous, it gives even more credibility to the fears they’re peddling.
As riders, we are not necessarily anti-establishment with a devil may care attitude to life. On the contrary, most riders have a greater appreciation for life and use fear to increase their survival instincts.
Look through motorcycle magazines and see the array of safety equipment on offer designed to keep riders alive and whole. Helmets, jackets, boots, pants, not to mention constant improvements in technology which are all designed to keep us safe. The fear that old and new riders face is all to the good. It makes us more cautious, and especially attuned to our surrounds. When you ride, the adrenaline increases in your body, you become happier and healthier, all good things coming from fear.
Fear also assists in the planning of longer road trips. We take time to organise equipment, ensuring only the essentials are taken, the bike is mechanically sound, minimising the likelihood of breakdowns and flat tyres and ensuring that they can be repaired if they do occur. We pack wet weather gear and plan the route to minimise any risk to the trip. Again; all due to fear.
I took a couple of friends for a ride out through the backwoods of the Greater West a while ago, it took a bit of planning to get the right weekend to go, having changed dates a couple of times because of work commitments and worried about the weather and other procrastinations. We rode from our campsite in the Mudgee hills towards Mudgee, took the Queens Pinch Road to the Windeyer Pub, through Hargraves and back along Aarons Pass, stopping at a winery or two before returning to camp. Sitting down by the fire with a glass
of local red (Mudgee has some great reds) it dawned on us that this ride should have been done a long time ago. There was an element of regret. Through fear of getting out of the comfort zone and hearing everyone’s views on what is safe and what isn’t, you can miss out on doing great rides, seeing great places and meeting great people, until it’s too late.
Regretting the failure to throw your leg over the saddle, press the starter button and head off to that place you once saw on a postcard, or these days on YouTube, should raise a greater fear than all the others put together. Remember, you’re much more likely to regret the things you didn’t do than the things you did. Well, unless you bought an MuZ. Read magazines, watch DVDs and YouTube clips, use them for inspiration to get out and see the world. They should never be a substitute for doing things, or a way of living through others. =
BOrIS
Ifyou are ever caught doing motorcycle bastardry on the road, your lawyer may direct you to attend a ‘program’.
The idea is that when you appear before a magistrate with your licence in tatters, the fact that you have done a ‘program’ may influence the magistrate to show leniency.
I recently attended one such program at the behest of my lawyer, and I came away with several impressions which may be of interest to my fellow motorcyclists.
In NSW there are several such ‘programs’. I will not refer to them by name because my lawyer said I shouldn’t and I always do what my lawyer tells me to do. But you can look them up on the Internet. They are all much of a muchness.
And they will cost you money and time. And you will cry inside like a brutalised animal. But that’s what you get for committing atrocities against the Motor Traffic Act.
My atrocity was doing 144 in a 100 zone on a deserted country road. Guilty as charged.
My lawyer felt that if I did a ‘program’, it would assist my defence when I presented myself to the court
OFFICIAL INTERVENTION
to ask that the mandatory three-month suspension be reduced.
“Magistrates love the program,” she said.
“Then I shall do the program,” I declared.
I went on-line to register myself for the course.
It’s a one-day deal. It costs $165 which the website told me has to be paid up front, is not refundable and no cash will be accepted on the day.
I paid and on the Saturday in question presented myself at 8am at a western Sydney RSL club where the ‘program’ would be held.
So did every conceivable kind of type-cast scumbag. Crazy Lebs, crazier Asians, and the craziest bogans you’ve ever seen. I was the sole representative of the crazy bikie clan.
Once inside, a well-fed lady asked us to fill out a form, and if we hadn’t yet paid, to do so. She indicated the location of a Handy Teller. So much for ‘no cash accepted on the day’, I thought.
Then we entered a room full of chairs and it began.
My mind has sought to purge the day from my memory like a childhood molestation by a favourite uncle.
I have fought the purge, but only so that I may raise awareness, which is the right thing to do.
Now remember, these courses are sold to punters as a form of ‘rehabilitation’. In other words, what I paid for was meant to somehow reprogram me and set me upon the path of righteousness for safety’s sake.
Of course, no-one in that room wanted to be there. Most of them (about 80 per cent) were there on DUI charges.
We were all compelled to be there by lawyers – well, except for one inchoate swine. This degenerate was there because his attendance completed him as a person and he relentlessly engaged every speaker with stupid questions. I was hoping the Leb behind him would cut him, but it was not to be.
So I made plans to beat him like a dog at the end of the day in the carpark across the road, but he disappeared very quickly. There was no end to my disappointments that day…
FIRST SESSION – THE AMBO
She was cute. She told us to disregard the accepted paradigm about not moving accident victims, and to create
an airway no matter what. Broken spines be buggered. Initiate chest compressions because when the ambos arrive and you’re not making an effort to revive the corpse, then they will pronounce it dead. She then showed us some old Internet videos of people being run over. She also perpetuated the lie about how the road toll is going up, even when official figures indicate it’s going down.
MY REHABILITATION: Zero. Just know that if I come upon you lying by the side of the road I will create an airway for you. Even if I have to use my penknife to cut some gills into your neck and powder your spine in the process.
SECOND SESSION – THE DRIVING INSTRUCTOR
What an all-encompassing, condescending dick. He hated everyone in that room and our Smartphones. He informed us a red light means stop, an amber light means stop and a green light also means stop. He then declared the national speed limit is 50km/h. I got the impression he felt he was the only person on this earth fit to be on the road, and the sooner we were all jailed the better. He also lied about the road toll going up.
MY REHABILITION: Less than zero. I resolved to ride with even more aggression in the hope he would see me and his brain would explode.
THIRD SESSION – THE INSURANCE BLOKE
Nice bloke. Like a teddy bear. Probably gives great cuddles. My brain was bleeding five minutes after he started talking. He spoke about the three kinds of insurance available to drivers. He spoke about it over and over and over. Then he showed us some pictures he found on the Internet of car accidents. While he was doing that, he spoke about the three kinds of insurance available to drivers. Then he spoke about that again. Then something burst in my head.
MY REHABILITION: Nothing. Everything I already knew about insurance was simply repeated to me for an hour.
FOURTH SESSION – THE LAWYER
Clearly, he was the only speaker being paid to be here. I think he would have defended pro bono anyone who murdered that chattering knob-sore I mentioned earlier. He put up a series of slides highlighting the penalties for serious first and second offences and told us how many of his clients had been forced to emigrate after losing their licenses for a billion years.
MY REHABILITION: Nada. I already knew what dire medieval punishments awaited me.
FIFTH SESSION – THE DRUG & ALCOHOL EXPERT
Her qualifications? She was a prison screw in New Zealand and she worked in a mortuary. What she didn’t know about drugs was vast, but did that stop her from holding forth? Hell no. She showed us Internet photos of drug addicts. She told us if we smoke dope and intend to stop at Point A (a chair), we would actually stop at Point B (another chair five feet away from the first chair). “It is what it is,” she said over and over. She told us methamphetamine was the scourge of humanity, but did not comment on how it impaired your abilities; possibly because the world’s fighter pilots are all whacked on speed, so it would be difficult to run with the impairment thing.
MY REHABILITION: Another zero. One is not permitted to drive with point-oh-five alcohols in one’s system, which I knew. There is no known number of cannabises you’re not permitted to have, or speeds, or pingers (they only test for THC, speed and MDMA), and the legislation only speaks to the presence of drugs in your system, and not if they impair your ability to ride.
SIXTH SESSION – THE VICTIM
A young bloke injured as a child passenger in a car, now attends these programs and tells everyone how he fought his way back from brain-injury. Good on him. I could have done without the playing of a terrible country-and-western ballad, but hey, if the brain-injured bloke wants to play music, I say let him play music.
PERSONAL REHABILITION
IMPACT: Nothing. I empathised, being somewhat crippled up myself, and applauded his struggle to regain some semblance of normality in his life. Was I rehabilitated by his story? No.
SUMMATION
So did rehab work? No. How could it?
There was no rehabilitative aspect to it whatsoever.
We filled out a booklet during the course – the answers to all the questions were provided, and it was stressed we were to pay special attention to the last page, where we were to write how the program had affected us. This is the bit the magistrates tend to look at.
Does it affect the magistrate’s decision? Hard to say. In my case, the magistrate certainly read my brilliant one-page dissertation on how the program impacted on my future behaviour. In my friend’s case (he went down for doing 150-something in an 80 zone), the magistrate didn’t even look at it.
I got a month knocked off the three-month suspension, so I view that as a win.
But every magistrate is different. Everyone’s driving record (this plays a big part) is different, and everyone’s actual personal circumstances vary greatly. Is it worth doing? Well, I’m of the view that having sex with sheep is worth doing if it will help the court go easy on you.
You make your own decisions. I’m just raising awareness. =
bodywork of a car or the fairing of a bike. For Lazareth what matters is the undressing. As much as anything, he wants to avoid the way that body panels and deliberate noise restrictions reduce the sound of the engine.
“I come from a generation for whom engine sounds were still a significant feature. I think the sound of a Ferrari engine or a big V8 from the USA is wonderful.”
The donor car is not especially important to him. As often as not the car into which he’s transplanting a V8 is a small one. He has fitted a 3.5 litre Range Rover engine into a Renault Twingo, for example, and slipped a 5.9 litre Chevy V8 into an old Mini.
Lazareth understands that this devotion to cubic inches is not exactly in the spirit of the times. The bigger the engine, the more fuel does it use and the more exhaust gases does it produce. Don’t his creations poison the environment?
‘They aren’t fired up all that often,” he replies, “so their emissions are hardly a problem.”
He admits that the worldwide trend to downsizing makes him sad. His beloved V8 engines look like heading the way of the dinosaurs. And he simply can’t understand what attraction a completely soundless motor has for anyone. “Rather a small internal combustion engine than an electric motor!” he says. “You have to hear something!”
To match deeds to words, his next project looks like being a bit of a declaration of war: upsizing instead of downsizing – not just with more cylinders but with more engines.
“Maybe next year for the Geneva show I’ll bring a quad with four internal combustion engines. An engine for each wheel.” =
Here’s one he prepared earlier: Ludovic Lazareth with a Yamaha Vmax. / Eight cylinders, four wheels… and it’s still unmistakably a motorcycle. / Every bit of the Maserati-engined project is carefully designed and created. / Project LM 847 might be a V8, but it has none of the clunkiness of, say, a Boss Hoss.
LONGTERMERS
YAMAHA MT-07
Stand up and be guarded
Ameasure of Rizoma awesomeness has once again been fitted to our long term Yamaha MT-07. In a way it’s sad because this completes the transformation that Rizoma accessories have made of the delightful MT. We fitted the engine guard (crash knobs) which retail for $82.50 Euro
and the bike stand supports (pickup knobs) that are priced at $32.50 Euro.
Fitment in each case was a simple unbolt and bolt up process and took about five minutes.
The engine guards have a tapered, stylish look to them and the rear stand supports have a larger circumference on the inside for a more secure lift with a stand.
I’ve been highly impressed with the entire range of Rizoma accessories we fitted to the Yamaha. It has transformed the look of the bike and whenever I park it somewhere, someone comments on the various bits and pieces, usually saying something along the lines of, “wow, that’s blinged up, love it!”
We’ve now had the MT-07 for coming on 18 months. It has done everything we could ask of it and then some. If
there is anything else that I’d still be tempted to do, it would be to improve the suspension. This was already relatively soft from new, but with 7500km on the bike now, it is softening up more. It needs to be set up properly to make it the bike that it could be: near perfect and hard to part with. In saying that, the new Yamaha XSR900, which we are yet to jump on, could be its replacement. All depends if I can con Alana into upgrading to a bigger capacity machine… SW
DUCATI SCRAMBLER
Naked!
We can’t show you the Scrambler this month, because it’s got no clothes on. Lots and lots of Rizoma (and other) magic is being fitted. Look for the full run down soon.
• Helite airbag technology – the future of motorcycle safety gear is here today!
• European designed/CE approved Helite airbag vests (black or high viz) and touring jackets
• For the price of a helmet, Helite protects your neck, vertebrae, chest, hips, abdomen, internal organs and tailbone
See other products like Ventz, Alpine Ear plugs and Murphy Motoskate at www.motosmart.com.au or email wayne@motosmart.com.au FB at facebook.com/MotoSmartOz
LIGHTS, MONKEY, BEAR AND CHAINS
LIGHT UP THE WORLD
Osram headlight globes
Price - $32.95 single. $59.95 twin. Your motorcycle may or may not have a strong headlight beam (most don’t) but there’s now an easy fi x for this issue – Osram motorcycle headlight globes. The range includes the Night Racer Plus, X-Racer,
LEDriving and Night Racer 110 – all ADR approved and packaged nicely with a mini helmet to store a spare. Our long term Yamaha MT-07 has a weak headlight beam so it was a great idea to fi t the Night Racer Plus which claims to have up to 90% more brightness, up to 35 metres more distance and up to a 10% whiter light – perfect!
As you’ll see from the before and after photos, the Night Racer plus is much brighter and when you’re going for a ride at night it gives much better visibility. That’s what I was after. It has seemed to make the MT-07 more visible during the daytime as well. When I’m lane fi ltering, drivers now move out of the way whereas they didn’t really appear to see me all that well before. So overall I’m as happy as a pig in mud. See your local bike shop to grab whichever version you’d like for your ride, or www.kenma.com.au SW
JUST LIKE A PRO
Chain Monkey
Price - $64.95
Are you perhaps a little less inclined to adjust your motorcycle chain, just like The Bear? Do you hate getting fi lthy touching the chain to feel whether the tension is right? Or are you not overly confi dent in adjusting your chain correctly? Well, YOU need a Chain Monkey!
attempts to do this, in these columns.
Chain Monkey is a simple and easy to use tool that makes tensioning your chain easy. All you need to do is preset the Chain Monkey to your manufacturers recommended specifi cations, then loosen off the chain tensioners on each side of your swingarm (for most motorcycles) and lightly loosen the axle. Sling the Chain Monkey over your chain, wind it up to your preset tension, tighten the axle, tighten the chain tensioners and loosen off the Chain Monkey and you’re done! It really is that simple. No mess, no fuss and no having to measure with a ruler and all that fi ddly stuff. Tru-Tension, the company that makes Chain Monkey has a great tutorial video
online; it is worth watching –www.tru-tension.com .
Chain Monkey is available now in Australia from www.xenonoz. com, grab one and be just a like a professional mechanic! SW
BLOW IT ALL
BMW Venting Suit
Price - $600 jacket. $480 pants. If you’ve got the proper gear, riding in the cold has always been easier and more pleasant than riding in the heat. After all, you only need to wear something that keeps your body heat in (and maybe augment it with heated handgrips, say) and stops the wind from blowing through it and you’re done. Cool as. Er, warm as. Traditionally it has been much harder to stay cool; I’ve covered some of the ingenious but not terribly effective
BMW on the other hand has a good record of not only keeping me warm, but also cool. Until recently, the most successful summer suit I had ever worn was the BMW Airfl ow with Coldblack technology. This is a black nanocoated material which refl ects signifi cantly more of the sun’s heat than even white material would. I know this works because I wore the suit in 40 degree plus heat while riding for photography in Abu Dhabi. Riding for photos is the hottest kind of riding because you never get any speed up to cool you. In this case I didn’t even work up a sweat.
For my recent Cuba trip and for the Sri Lanka trip which I’m doing as you read this, I wanted something a little more relaxed and casual than the somewhat severe Airfl ow, so I went back to BMW and got myself the latest in the armoury against heat – a Venting Suit.
The Venting summer suit replaces the Venting Machine suit and has, I think, now been replaced itself, but there is always continuity. The overall look is denim, with some actual denim panels and lots of what looks like denim netting but is actually abrasion-resistant Cordura mesh. The material likely to hit the ground in the event of a fall is double thickness, with light NPL protectors at shoulders,
What’s in a name?
“Venting is a kind of weird name for a suit”, said my mate Jerry. “It means to be annoyed and sound off loudly!”
“Well?” I replied. PT
elbows, and knees (heightadjustable at elbows and knees) and NP2 protectors at hips and an NP-Air back protector. All protectors are removable, and the back-protector sits in a pocket with 3D mesh for air circulation. Lightweight stretch Dynatec at the backs of the knees provides freedom of movement, and the suit even has long leg zippers at the sides, extending thigh-high, to make it easy to put on and take off. That’s nice, although it’s not really necessary.
It’s hard to imagine how you could improve on this suit. BMW designers are, however, a bit conservative – they reckon it is for “high-summer temperatures of 25 °C and higher”. In Australia 25 degrees is just warm; but the suit works well even at well over 40 degrees. BMW also thinks that it should be mainly commuter wear, but I’ve had it out on the open road for long days and found it
to be as good a touring suit as I’ve tried. The fit is what BMW calls “regular”, which is just a little baggy (yes, I know that sounds funny coming from someone with my build) but all the more comfortable for that. It has a reasonable number of pockets and comes in separate women’s and men’s cuts. PT
MORE SECURE THAN THE WHITE HOUSE
Rocky Creek Designs Gearlok and Cable - Price - $37
What do you normally do with your helmet and jacket when you stop somewhere to go sightseeing or simply don’t want to lug your jacket and helmet around at a café? If you’re
like me you’ll leave it on the bike (if there’s no lockable panniers/topbox) and hope like crazy no one knocks them off! But Rocky Creek Designs (those clever buggers) has you well and truly secured with their Gearlok and Cable.
A 150cm long braided galvanized steel plastic coated cable and four digit code combination lock allow you to secure your helmet, jacket, backpack or any other accessory to your bike.
Simply pass the loop end of the cable through a convenient part of your bike, like the frame, handlebar or grab rail. Thread the other end through the loop and then through the object/s you want to secure.
Next, insert the end
of the cable into the lock slot and slide the lock up or down the cable to adjust the length. Press the Snap Button till you hear a “Click” and scramble the four digit security dial…done! When you come back to the bike, the cable and lock roll up to an easily stored package in the zip up pouch. A great idea to secure some of your most valuable items! Grab one of these from Rocky Creek Designs - www.rockycreekdesigns. com.au . If you already have one of their Helmetloks you can use that and simply buy the cable alone. SW
Beauty
is as useful as usefulness.
Maybe more so.
Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862)
SUBTLE
WITH A TOUCH OF BEAUTY
WORDS/PHOTOS THE BEAR/FACTORY
The word “subtle” is not one that you often hear about BMW’s R 1200 GS. It is a superb motorcycle, which along with its predecessors has kept BMW at the top of its category for well over three decades. But subtle? About as subtle as a Königstiger on a full-power assault run.
But that’s the tank, er, the bike; and the bike is not what this story is about. It’s not about anything from Germany, in fact. Let’s move a little further south, to the outskirts of Milan, to quite a different factory making quite a different type of product.
Rizoma makes a wide range of things for all sorts of different bikes – we are currently working on turning our Ducati Scrambler Icon into a Ducati Rizoma Scrambler Icon – and has just begun to promote its accessories designed specifically for the big GS. Naturally we thought we’d better take a look; after all, the 1200 is a huge seller in Australia and has long been one of the weapons of choice for those adventurers brave enough to do battle with the desert and the other inhospitable places in Australia such as
Brake reservoir / Front blinker / Headlight protector
Melbourne and, increasingly, overseas. Many of our readers, in fact.
We found that the effect on the BMW is quite different from that on our Ducati. The Scrambler seems to change with every Rizoma part we fit (and original parts which we remove). We are only partly done as I write this, but the bike will look quite different from a standard Scrambler when it’s done. You’ll have a chance to see it in our next issue, I hope, if I can get Stuart to finish it. The GS, on the other hand, still looks pretty much the way it did before it gained nearly four and a half thousand dollars’ worth of goodies. The differences are… subtle.
Four and a half big ones? Yes, Rizoma gear is not cheap. Neither should it be. We think it’s the most outstanding accessory range we have ever handled –both in design and construction – but it costs accordingly. You’ll see why in our upcoming story about the factory. I’ve seen blocks of aluminium become the jewel-like accessories in the computercontrolled lathes. If you want the best, pay up; that’s true pretty much everywhere. But does it make sense to tip that much cash into a bike that is already not exactly cheap?
Why?
In fact, of course, it makes sense to tip this kind of money into the big GS precisely because it already represents a major investment. Well, not only because of that. Here’s my list of the reasons why we accessorise our bikes, I suspect you can think of more: because we want to make them better at their job; because we want to dress them up; because we want to make them specifically our
own; and just because. Oh, and not to forget… to make our friends jealous.
Tony, a friend of mine, once brought back a complete Two Brothers exhaust system from a visit to the USA “as a present” for his bike.
Rizoma accessories mostly fit into all of the categories. That is to say, they always look good; they always visibly (though sometimes subtly) personalise your bike and they definitely make friends jealous.
Rally pegs / Cross bar / Rally peg, rider’s foot guard and pivot cover / Rear blinker
Who?
The Rizoma parts on the R 1200 GS were fitted by Sydney BMW and Rizoma dealer BikeBiz at 274 Parramatta Road, Granville, phone 9682 2999. To complete the look they also added an Akrapovic muffler ($1529), which both looks and sounds fantastic. No, really. With a bit of luck you will still be able to see the bike in the showroom.
Their website is www.bikebiz.com and they also offer most other brands of bikes in one or another of their three shops. We recommend BikeBiz, whatever you happen to be looking for: a new bike, service, parts, advice or accessories. As the saying goes, they’re so good we use ’em ourselves.
I even trust them so much that I set them a really tough problem: stop the damn oil leak from the editorial Sachs 125. I expect a far less embarrassingly drippy MadAss when I get it back!
TECHNICAL
And they also directly improve the bike; sometimes very obviously, sometimes more subtly. Ah, there’s that word again. Why the emphasis on subtlety?
Most motorcycles look quite individual these days. The time of the UJM, or UEM or whatever, is gone. Bike designers know that a carefully styled look can bring all sorts of things including marking the bike strongly as a specific type (enduro, sports bike, whatever), making it more memorable and creating a company style. At BMW, David Robb did all of this for the GS, and he did it in spades. There are few bikes on the road which are truly unique in appearance, but the GS series is precisely that. And what that means is that any changes you make, tend to be subsumed into the bike’s overall design.
Of course the Rizoma accessories don’t actually disappear into the look of the GS, but their effect is – here’s that word again – far more subtle than with many other bikes. Once again, you’ll see what I mean when we show off the Ducati Scrambler Icon to you.
I reckon that’ll make you jealous, too. But back to the BMW. Let’s take a look at the individual accessories that we fitted.
WHAT?
As you can see in the introductory photo, we exchanged the BMW oil filler cap for a Rizoma item ($75), colourkeyed blue to match the other accessories. Prices quoted are in Australian dollars, by the way.
Psum gets some bling
We sent our rally writer and long-term BMW enthusiast out to collect some reactions to the GS’s Rizoma accessories. Here is his – seriously impressed – report.
An e-mail from Bear Army HQ, which offered a tricked up R 1200 GS, sent me south to the Big Smoke. The introduction walk around the bike was very interesting as there seemed to be an endless array of shiny things to attract my attention.
All the bling came from Italian company Rizoma, and it is quality kit with style. There is a vast sea of product on the Rizoma web site, and BikeBiz (who prepared this bike) carries plenty of it in house. In MotoGP you will see the Rizoma logo on Cal Crutchlows Honda, so they put something back into the sport, which is always good to see.
We fitted Rizoma Feel brake and clutch levers ($274.99 and $279.99 respectively), which not only look terrific but which offer better feel and easy adjustment with a cool-looking mechanism. To match them, we also fitted the stylishly simple brake and clutch reservoir covers ($95 each). The riser kit ($315) adds comfort by improving the riding position and along with the cross bar ($200) completes the “cockpit” changes.
Replacing the blinkers ($75 each) was an obvious option. BMW fits better-
My first stop was at my local BMW shop and the staff there was very impressed with the look and quality of the Rizoma bits that abounded on the GS and exclaimed that they had better get some in. The manager dragged the spare parts bloke out by the scruff of the neck and exclaimed, “There, that’s what we want!”
A couple of days later and many kilometres from home I stopped off at another BMW shop and they showed much the same reaction to the Rizoma gear.
The best part of my trip was at the Bakery at Goulburn where a couple of Harley riders parked next to me. After some small talk, I invited them to look at the bling on my bike.
As their machines had a fine collection of shiny bits I knew they would be hard to impress, so I directed their attention to the area of the sidestand.
“Look at this, boys, you won’t find one of these in a Harley wish book!” I said as I pointed out the LED light that comes on as the sidestand goes down, so you don’t end up in the dark with the stand in a hole. That got ‘em. One of them offered me a cup of tea in the bakery so his mate would have a chance to unbolt the sump guard and carry it away!
Some of the Rizoma kit is for show, but some, like the 4mm thick sump guard and the handle bar risers which lift the bars 45mm and set them back 25mm are very practical items. Rizoma makes kit for a lot of different makes and is worth a look. Just don’t park your bike where Harley riders can get at it!
looking blinkers these days than many other manufacturers, but this is one item (well, all right, four items) which can always be improved. The Rizoma blinkers are not only smart looking, they also produce a really good, bright signal. You need four adaptors ($14.99 a pair) and two cable kits ($22.99) to make the change.
We added a headlight protector ($390.01) to help the bike cope with off-road debris – and on-road debris, come to think of it. The rally pegs
Possum and accessorised GS at The Dog.
Akrapovic exhaust / Skid plate with light / Riser kit
($265 a pair) are another addition that looks smart and increases the usefulness of the bike. Your feet are not going to slip on these. Well, mine didn’t.
While we were fussing around the lower part of the bike, we added the enlarged Rizoma sidestand foot ($95.95) for better security when parking the bike in the dirt, as well as a truly amazing accessory: the skid plate ($550). What’s so amazing about a skid plate, apart from the eye-watering price? Well, this one has a light built into it which comes on when you put the sidestand down, and illuminates the ground which you are about to trust with the weight of your machine. I would reckon that it only needs to be worthwhile once for you and it will quite likely save you its entire price. Oh, well, maybe it will have to save you twice to do that. Meanwhile the jealousy level among your friends will go sky-high. My pathetic mates rubbished the idea noisily, but I could see them calculating how to get their own lit skid plate past the Minister of Finance.
A couple of guards, for the rider’s heel ($265) and for the pillion’s ($220), are worthwhile additions not only because they do their work from a safety point of view but also because they integrate well into the look of the bike. And while we’re on the subject of integrating, the rear hub cover ($360), the pivot cover ($75) and the frame caps ($265) complete the look for this R 1200 GS. I’m well aware that a lot of people simply don’t have that kind of money. But you don’t need to buy all of these bits, or buy them all at once. One at a time, maybe, as your bike has a birthday or deserves a gift for some other reason…
And anyway, you can easily spend that much in factory accessories for most big bikes, and you will miss out on the thought and effort – and individuality - that Rizoma’s designers and makers have put into their parts. Even the boxes the bits come in are works of art! And you’re going to lose the opportunity to personalise the bike.
Ladies and gentlemen, one B MW R 1200 GS, subtly altered for your delectation. =
WHAT’S THE TIME MR WOLF
AGV K3 SV ‘Wake Up’ helmet
Price – $329.95
Are you the one that’s always late at the meeting point? Well how about sticking it up your mates by getting the ‘Wake Up’ helmet from AGV. Being one of Valentino Rossi’s designs you’ll also pass it off that you’re one of the greatest, when you’re really taking the you know what out of your mates by having a large ‘clock’ on top of your helmet. Available in sizes XS-XL, see your local bike shop or visit www.cassons.com.au
DANCE IN THE RAIN
Rjays Tempest Rain Suit
Price - $99.95
Staying dry is half the battle when the clouds collide and aim to drown you alive! Rjays has you covered with the Tempest full rain suit. It is claimed to be 100% waterproof and breathable and made from extremely thin, lightweight material so that it folds down into a small package for easy storage. As well as some other great built in features, the suit is fully lined so that it will slip easily over your boots, pants and jacket. How good is that! Available in either black or hi-viz and sizes XS-3XL.
See your local bike shop or visit www.cassons.com.au
BREATH ON THE STREET
K&N Air Charger kit for H-D Street 500 - Price - $449.95
K&N’s new Air Charger air intake for the Harley-Davidson Street 500 increases power by eliminating the restrictive stock OE air cleaner and replacing it with a K&N high-flow air filter and mandrel bent aluminium intake tube. These intakes come with a billet aluminium throttlebody mounting plate and mounting hardware, giving the Street 500 an aggressive appearance while providing a significant increase in airflow resulting in more power. See your local bike shop or visit www.ctaaustralia.com.au
STUNNER!
Dainese Veloster 2pce lady suit
Price - $1299.95
Ladies, make those men melt at
NEWINTHESHOPS
your knees while you’re wearing this stunning two-piece leather suit from Dainese. Fitted with high-level protection, ergonomics, quality and a brand-new asymmetric design you’ll not only look the goods, but you’ll be comfortable, too. Available in sizes 40-46, see your local bike shop or visit www.cassons.com.au
The fabulous people at Oggy Knobbs have their fender eliminator kit available for the sweet little Yamaha R3, so that you can tidy up that rear - and there’s nothing better than a tidy rear!
MORE AFRICA TWIN TUNES
Akrapovic Slip-on for Honda Africa Twin Sales of the new Honda Africa Twin have been huge, and it seems to us that the demand to ‘release the hounds’ will be high on many owners list. Akrapovic has the slip-on line available which is constructed from lightweight, durable titanium alloy and provides a performance increase at lower and higher revs – where an adventure bike needs it most. For more information, visit www.akrapovic.com
The kit comes with bracketry to suit both the original and/or aftermarket indicators and is designed for use with the OEM licence plate lamp and Australian number plates (with the exception of S.A. and N.T.), these are truly a plug and play fitment, without the need to cut wires or drill holes, they are completely legal when fitted using the OEM lamps. See your local bike shop or visit www.kenma.com.au
SUPER DUPER, TRICKY DICKY
Dainese Trickster EVO C2 1-piece suit - Price$2799.95
Do you want to be the fl ashiest rider on the block (apart from Stuart, obviously)?
Well, Dainese has the one-piece riding suit to make you just that. After you’ve gulped at the price, you’ll see the exquisite materials and virtually handmade fi t of such a high end suit. This is the same suit you’ll fi nd some of the world’s best racers
wearing on the grid. If you want to be like them, see your local bike shop or visit www.cassons. com.au
ENDLESS SUMMER
Dainese 4
Stroke Evo gloves
Price$279.95
It seems like summer will never end so why not check out a pair of these summer gloves from Dainese and let your hands be guarded by high levels of safety, while staying cool. Available in Black or Black/White and sizes S-2XL. See your local bike shop or visit www.cassons. com.au
classicmorris
LEARNING WITH LESTER
Words LESTER MORRIS
The phone rang and the voice of our receptionist emerged from it. She said there was someone who was in the office who wanted to talk to me, and could I come up there at once, please?
After I had ascertained that it wasn’t the Police or someone of a menacing persuasion who was brandishing a large and imposing weapon, I felt it reasonably safe to hustle up there to see who it was. It turned out to be a bloke I had last seen nearly forty years earlier who, at that time, as a tall, red-headed chap, was the very swift rider of a 500cc DB34 Gold Star BSA. I last saw him riding at one of the January ‘Classic’ motorcycle race meetings on the long-lost Amaroo Park circuit, while he also raced at Bathurst and Oran Park. I was, as usual, the on-course commentator for those Classic meetings, as I was at Bathurst for many years from the early sixties to the early eighties. I was on duty as on-course commentator for just about every race meeting ever held on that tight little Amaroo Park track, almost from its inception until it closed all those years ago.
But I had known Warwick Sewell for some years prior to that – in 1972 to be precise - because he strolled uninvited into my motorcycle store in West Ryde one day as a representative for a stationery firm and ended up flogging me a large quantity of bright green envelopes: I had impishly asked him if he had any envelopes in my favourite colour and he called my bluff by showing me that yes, indeed he had, and in a variety of pastel and darker shades as well!
I offered him a cup of our poisonous coffee which was brewed in an awful, early version of these latter-day Espresso machines, and he showed his expertise as a salesman by quaffing it with a smile as he pretended to enjoy the foultasting stuff. We fell to talking about motorcycles and he surprised me by telling me he was a non-whinging Pom who had recently come to Oz with his wife and Norton Commando, and that he had been known to race the occasional motorcycle back in England. He said he was still riding his Norton, but wasn’t particularly happy with the machine. I explained that I was not surprised, as that God-awful ‘Isolastic’ rubber-band Norton frame was a travesty, while its original Norton ‘Featherbed’ frame remains the finest pipe-tube frame ever developed. Perhaps Norton should have done something about the engine’s awful vibration and stayed with that original frame? I think so! That conversation proved to be quite fortuitous for both of us, because I had very recently opened my very own “Lester Morris Motorcycle Learner Training Scheme” – a longtime dream of mine which had just reached fruition.
I had long known of the highlyregarded, long-established RAC/ ACU Motorcycle Training Scheme in England, and had written to the ACU ( Auto Cycle Union) to tell them about my plans and asked the organisers if, please, I might be able to adopt their scheme and present it here? The only motorcycle training scheme of any type in Australia was for Police and Army motorcycle riders, I told them,
and I had no idea of their syllabus; besides which, I knew only too well that any application to either local establishment for assistance would probably have proved to be futile. There had never been a training scheme for civilian motorcyclists in Oz, and I suggested to the British ACU that we badly needed this to happen, but no-one in this country had shown the slightest interest in this hare-brained idea of mine.
Imagine my utter amazement when a bulging briefcase which bore the legend “RAC/ACU Training Scheme/ Lester Morris” arrived by Air Mail(!) a matter of days later, which I fell upon with glee. Inside the briefcase was a letter from the organisers, the complete, highly-detailed and heavily-illustrated syllabus of their brilliantly-conceived scheme, and a final paragraph in the letter thanking me for my request and wishing me well in the enterprise! Imagine, if you can, something like this happening these days – it would be very unlikely, I would suggest.
My shop in West Ryde was still, in effect, owned by Jack Ahearn, who approached Hazell and Moore (the original importers Triumph, Norton and Panther motorcycles, but now handling Suzuki) and worked his magic to secure the loan/gift of five lightweight two-stroke Suzuki motorcycles; an A70, a larger, 100cc A100 and three 70cc step-through machines. I like to think that my having worked for the company from 1948 to 1954 might have helped, but I’m not sure about that.
Jack’s acquisition of the five Suzuki machines allowed me to set up the
CLASSICMORRIS
Scheme, which I conducted on the tar-sealed, disused 400 meter go-kart racing track at Granville Showground, where Parramatta Speedway now stands. I had successfully raced my own kart on that track some years previously and knew the track (and the caretaker) quite well, so I was able to make full use of the perfectly-shaped, softly-lit track in the evenings for riding instructions as well as the use of some adjoining sheds to house the bikes and in which to hold short lectures.
The well-known motorcycle historian Peter Jones and I were the principal instructors when I tentatively firedup the course in 1972 and we stuck strictly to the detailed, 30-hour ACU syllabus, but Peter didn’t seem to be quiet as enthusiastic - or patient?as I was, and he had suggested he might soon move on, so I was on the lookout for other instructors. I wanted expert riders, of course, but I wanted them to stick very closely to the new syllabus. Naturally, I was not about to try and teach any of them how to ride a motorcycle, but it was clearly in the interests of a viable training scheme that they stick to the syllabus, so as to have no confusion amongst learners, no matter who might be showing them the ropes.
So the envelope-salesman Warwick Sewell came on board, with myself, an employee of the shop, the race rider John Bradford and, initially, Peter Jones - who was to leave shortly thereafter – as instructors. The course ran over two weeks and embraced everything a new rider would need to learn for safe riding. It included the essentials of knowing exactly where the car-drivers’ blind spots were; how to effectively use the ‘dreaded’ front brake; how to lift out of the saddle to leap over an obstruction (like a ‘Silent Cop’) which had only just come into view; how to look through several cars’ windscreens in front instead of at the number plate of the car directly ahead, and a great many other essential topics.
Even if a student had their own machine, which they could of course bring along with them, I knew they
needed as much input as possible if they were to enjoy a new-found expertise instead of learning the hard way – as most of us (and perhaps you?) had to do.
I asked for an application form for a ‘Training Instructors License’, to be told by the RTA that none existed, for no-one had ever asked for one, and they simply didn’t want to know about my crossing out the word ‘Car’ and replacing it with ‘Motorcycle’, or perhaps ‘Motor Vehicle’, so all the instructors were, as far as the authorities were concerned, unlicensed – expert riders though they all were.
But then my ‘backer’ for the store proved to be no backer at all. With the greatest regret, I left the motorcycle store and the Training Scheme I had so carefully set-up, and swiftly escaped Interstate to work once again in Theatre and on TV. I left the running of the Training Scheme to Sewell, who told me at that recent meeting he kept it running very successfully – and profitably - for another four years, putting more than 800 students through the course.
I had put some 200 students through the course myself, so there were some 1000 new motorcyclists out there with quite a high degree of skill by the time Warwick left, the training then being taken over by the large Willoughby Motorcycle Club. I heard it remained equally successful, if not more so.
I imagine no one knows how many tyro motorcyclists benefited from that intense, detailed course over the years. By the time Warwick left, the scheme had managed to secure the occasional Honda lightweight, as well as a few Yamaha machines, which of course made it even more viable. Clearly, these other importers were delighted to have some of their machines represented in the scheme, because of the distinct possibility that a new rider who had not yet purchased a bike might buy the brand of machine upon which they had received their training. Earlier on, when still closely involved in the Scheme, I had asked the RTA if they would accept my ‘Certificate of Proficiency’ as a license application,
which had graduations from a great A-Plus to a failed C-Minus, but they almost laughed in my face, while telling me that my highly-skilled instructors were not licensed and should not be engaged in this pursuit. I was forced to explain, in some detail, while telling them where they could go and what would happen to them when they arrived, and that the 30-hour course, which I pointed out was still the only one of its kind in the country, was a great deal more detailed than trying to teach a bunch of new skills to a brand-new rider in about an hourand-a-half. The most basic ground rules imparted to a novice in a back lane somewhere – which I had to do many times over in earlier years, and which was the main reason I founded the Training Scheme - could hardly be considered enough before sending that person off into the traffic stream with eyes squeezed shut and fingers tightly crossed.
I might have been vindicated on at least two occasions, once when a girl rang me at the shop and thanked me for saving her life (?) by imparting to her the skills she needed to avoid a head-on collision with an out-ofcontrol spare wheel which had slid out from under a semi-trailer she was about to overtake and was swiftly bearing down upon her. On the other occasion, one of two sisters whom I trained wrote to me at the store to explain that they had quite innocently thrust their A-Plus Certificates over the counter in a Perth Motor Registry and were handed their licenses on the spot; no questions asked!
I made that information known to the Motor Registry people in Sydney at the time, and they fobbed me off yet again, this time by saying, and I quote “Oh, yes, but that’s Perth.” Make of that what you like.
Noel Christensen, a well-known fellow motorcycle journalist at the time, went into print saying that I should receive some form of ‘official recognition’ for having founded the Training Scheme, but I was happy enough to have made history by doing so more than forty years ago, and I remain content enough with that. =
WELOVE 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. Then you can read many, not just a couple. We do reserve the right to cut them and, unless you identify yourself and at least your town or suburb and state, we will print your email address instead. Please address letters to thebear@ausmotorcyclist.com.au or Australian Motorcyclist Magazine, PO Box 2066, Boronia Park NSW 2111. All opinions published here are those of the writers and we do not vouch for their accuracy or even their sanity!
Well, here we are, once again looking at your valued opinions and hard-earned
TRAILER HORROR
Dear Bear and Stuart.
Reading Stuarts article in issue 38 about the Paradise Motorcycle Tour of NZ brought back some great memories from last years’ ride, very envious indeed.
I also enjoyed the article about motorcycle camping as my wife Diane and I have travelled Around OZ on a bike, camping along the way. Four years ago we rode 2 up on a VN 1600 Nomad from Margaret River to Kalgoorlie, across the Nullarbor to Port Augusta, up to Darwin, including Kings Canyon, and then home down the West Coast, from memory I think this ride consisted of 4 left handers and 5 right handers. Our camping gear consisted of Hiking tent, sleeping bags and selfinflating mats. We cooked on a Honey stove using metho burners, wood can also be used in a Honey Stove. We were always comfortable, the only down side was carrying supplies. At Kings Canyon I went to buy a six pack only to be told that they wanted
experience. But the excellent Andy Strapz Shoulda Bagz does not go to any of the wise words this month. No, it goes to one of our regular readers who is out on the road somewhere – “a Tupolev too far” according to him – and who is somewhat unhappy about the ABC show about a motorcyclists pedalling a pushie in an oven. I expect we’ll hear from him when he discovers that he’s won the bag, which we do use ourselves and love. Check out the bag and Andy’s other products at www.andystrapz. com/, and write us a top, letter so we can send you one of the Bagz as well!
the princely sum of $32.50, I politely declined the purchase. Some time later while riding down the West Coast we were charged $8 for a litre bottle of water, this I paid, a man can live without beer but not water.
Two years later we travelled basically the same route but headed East at Three Ways up to Cook Town and home via the East Coast along the GOR and back across the Nully, 19,300 Kms (I used the Bear’s Atlas for this ride). This time horror of all horrors I towed a trailer (Boris would be appalled). I was careful not to overload the trailer and weighed all items and the weight at the tow ball. The Kwaka towed it without a problem, in fact it is easy to forget that the trailer is there. The greatest and most joyous benefit of towing a trailer is that an ice cold beer awaited our longing lips at the end of each day.
On the final leg home crossing the Nully we travelled 1213km in a day, I did not find the trailer at all restrictive. I also found that I got more Ks out
DEEPLY DUMB
Hey, Bear
What was that crap on the ABC about wearing winter gear and then riding a pushbike in an oven? I got an email telling me to watch it, and I nearly threw my beer at the TV. Give us a break. If you’re too stupid to dress according to the season (BMW has excellent gear for all seasons) then you’re too stupid to ride a bike. Why make a TV show about it?
Beemer Bob
Gippsland Vic
You’re quite right, Bob, BMW does have excellent gear for all seasons – The Bear
of the rear tyre towing than having all the gear on the rack, less weight on the back tyre I think.
I one day hope to encounter Boris in a campground, I will gladly take an ice cold beer/bourbon out of the trailer’s esky and hand it to him, would he drink it?
Keep up the good work, Regards
Diane and Peter
Really? A man can live without beer? Are you sure, Peter (or was it Diane)? Has it ever been tried? – The Bear
UNLOCK MY HAT
Hi Terri and guys, I was very interested in your article on the new VOZZ helmets but I was more interested in your comment about a similar helmet made some time ago by a French manufacturer. Well, I have one of those helmets made by GPA and I attach a couple of photos of it. I was working in Tokyo in the mid 1980’s and an American friend of mine was working
in a company that was associated with the design and marketing of GPA helmets. I was instantly attracted to the GPA flip lock and used this helmet as my main helmet every day. I used my 125cc Suzuki motorcycle to commute to work and for recreational transport around Tokyo: my regular weekend pilgrimage to Akihabara! The company was also working on a new prototype flip-up helmet which I was permitted to see which was nicknamed the “Darth Vader” helmet and was very clearly a very early version of the type of model of flip-up helmet we have been used to seeing over many years now.
My GPA weighs 1460gm which was quite heavy in its day but compares well with recent models of fliptops weighing over 1700gm. I have never used the helmet in Australia since my return in late 1986 as it did not have any Australian Standards Compliance certificate and regrettably I just can’t remember how quiet, or not, it was in the very heavy and noisy traffic environment in Tokyo. I do specifically recall the initial fear of locking this heavy helmet around my neck and this fear dissipated to mild anxiety quite quickly. It is very easy to put on but sometimes trying to release the two side buttons in a hurry with gloves on caused them NOT to release together and therefore the helmet was stuck... to release you just locked it on again and repeated the release procedure more slowly.
I knew I had brought the helmet home but it took me a little while to remember where I had put it, hence the delay in getting this info to you.
Best regards Bob Howie
PS I’m currently very happy with my BMW Series 5 and Shoei Neotec fl iptop helmets, but would like to try the Vozz sometime.
PPS for the Bear... I am very, very happy with my 2003 Moto Guzzi Breva 750ie and should have taken your advice about owning one some 12 years ago instead of sticking with the Ducati Monster. I enjoy my
riding now more than I ever did the Ducati; and I loved that then!
Bob, one thing I remember about the French helmets is that they were made of a kind of suss-looking plastic. The Frog had one and drilled holes in it for ventilation! I’m glad you’re enjoying the Breva. There’s a bike for each of us, isn’t there – for me it’s the Ducati Scrambler at the moment. I’m looking forward to the Vozz as well: I’ve been promised one to try –
The Bear
PLACING
ELEPHANTS
Bear,
Cheers
Jeff Cole
Alice Springs
GOON BEFORE
Bear,
Your article in AMM 38 was very interesting as I know several ‘places’ that are just localities. I also had dealings with Bruce and Jackie Farrand in the ‘80s and early ‘90s and my wife dealt with them prior to that. If you want a couple of anecdotes...
Yes, please, Jeff. I understand that Rabbit Flat is coming to an end; I’d love to write a bit of a valedictory piece – The Bear
Did you see the ABC Catalyst show about motorcycle clothing? I’m afraid I did, but I didn’t see the point. Dr de Rome might be both an experienced researcher and a motorcyclist, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell from the show. The idea that being popped into a hotbox and made to pedal an exercise bike to duplicate the experience of riding a motorcycle is bizarre enough to feature in The
Goon Show. Putting the ‘rider’ into winter bike clothing looked more than inept; it looked deceptive. And then tying the loss of a litre and a half of sweat in with the need for an Australian motorcycle clothing standard seemed more a matter of pushing an agenda than anything else.
A few simple facts that never made it into the show include that most motorcyclists would be smart enough to wear summer clothing (which has the same protectors and nearly the same abrasion resistance); that the European standards would be fine for Australia if they were adopted here (which they already have been by default in the labelling of European bike clothing); and that every pursuit has its idiots (people who don’t wear protective clothing, in this case).
Australia is in the process of accepting European standards for helmets. Let’s not go backwards and come up with our own clothing standards, which would only cost money (presumably to be paid by
riders in increased costs). I smell the intention of introducing compulsory standards to Australia, with all the costs that would add. Imagine having to replace all your riding gear with Australian Standard approved clothes. Clothes which would cost more because they would need to be tested, just like helmets used to. If that’s the agenda, let’s at least be honest about it.
Jerry Cornelius
Ah, “Jerry”, I know Liz de Rome and I am sure she would not do what you’re suggesting, but I have to agree that the program looked more like a “reality” show than anything else. The two parts didn’t seem to fit together, and sensationalism once again beat reasoned argument – The Bear
SPREAD THOSE WINGS
Dear Bear,
I have a copy of your Atlas and also of the New Zealand one. My wife caught the motorcycle travel bug along with me a long time ago. We were wondering if you might be preparing an Atlas for the rest of the world as well, or at least for some countries near Australia. I think you have been to most of them. What do you think? We would be grateful for the ideas.
Colin & Jo-Anne Newcastle
Well, I have been thinking about a world bike atlas for some time (like 25 years) and who knows, one day when I don’t have to hold Stu’s hand all the time (joke) maybe I’ll manage it. In the meantime, maybe the next letter will inspire you – The Bear
CLUTCHING AT GOAS
Hi Bear,
Just recently back from 15 day tour in India from Goa to Kochin via the Cardamom Mountains. This time the group of friends I usually travel with were either not available or could not afford to go. So, I joined a commercial tour using Classic Bike Adventure India - see: www.classic-bike-india.com This mob have been organising tours for 19 years and really
have a swish operation. I went for a more expensive (up market accommodation) tour and this came with support vehicle (with driver and mechanic) and of course a Road Captain. Not only did the mechanic check the bikes over each night he even washed them!
This company is based at a hotel they own in North Goa – Casa Tres Amigos, which is quite eclectic! www. casa-tres-amigos-goa.com They own their own bikes (35 x Royal Enfield Bullets), which they only keep for two years/20,000km before selling. The bikes seemed to be in top condition - we did have a couple of broken clutch cables but that was all, and I was told Indian workmanship isn’t always what it should be!
My tour had 9 people, with 3 Australian and 6 German. The Germans were very friendly and helpful by conversing in English for the majority of the time Oz folk were around.
This was a “Pilot” tour, as in the tour company had not done this route before – we were warned of this before booking. This did result in several days of long riding in the second week where we did nothing really except ride. However, this tour is being tuned for next year’s calendar. All but one of the hotels was fantastic, and that will not be used again, and the route is being amended to allow for more tourist stuff.
The Road Captain, Martin, was very, very, good and he even brought a guitar along for sing-songs on several evenings around the fire - mainly ‘60s/’70s folk, and much like Dylan his guitar playing was much better than his voice.
India was magic and very different to the tours in Asia I’ve done (i.e. Vietnam, Thailand & Cambodia).
The tour company could not have been better. I’ll definitely go back to India and would happily us this tour company again.
Keep the shiny side up,
John Kennedy Broome, Western Australia
Thank you for the recommendation, John.
This is the way to spread the word about the good operators out there! – The Bear
SA’DI GETS IT RIGHT
Hi Peter
I was just re-reading a posting I put on my website and I decided to review what early postings I had made. This was one of them: A Thought from Gulistan Paging through some past editions of the Australian Road Rider, I came across, in the July/August edition of 2008, the following by-line to an article: “a traveller without knowledge is a bird without wings.” It was attributed “Sa’di, Gulistan (1258)”. I discovered that Gulistan is a collection of poems and stories by Sa’di, who was an eminent Persian poet of the medieval period. I found the quote nestled in maxim 50 of Chapter VIII of Gulistan “on rules for conduct in life.” Part of the same maxim read: “The Quran (Koran) was revealed for the acquisition of a good character, not for chanting written chapters.” How apposite in today’s world! (Thanks to the Bear for introducing me to Gulistan.)
Robert Crick
BE FAIR, BEAR
I am not trying to complain about your overseas ride stories, Bear. You got me interested in going overseas and I have been three times now – to Italy, the West Coast of the US and to Spain. Next ride, the Alps. But I can only go to places like that every second year, with luck. I have time for local rides too – how about some more of them? I would be interested in your unusual take on travel back home!
Regards, Kerry Boyd
South Melbourne, Vic
Hi, Kerry. How’s the K1300? You will be pleased to see the first part of the feature in this issue on planning rides for the year ahead. I look forward to seeing you and Amanda out on the road – The Bear =
NEWBiKEPricEs
and bonuses are what you’ll find. Bear in mind all prices (unless indicated) exclude dealer and on road costs and some prices may have changed at the last minute as we went to the printer.
TORINO
TRIUMPH
ROYAL ENFIELD
BORIS
DRUGS
Iremember reading something in a motorcycle magazine a while back. It made me grimace inwardly, and wonder, yet again, why people try and write about things they know nothing about. In this case, the author knew lots about riding motorcycles and nothing whatsoever about drugs, but was nonetheless trying to create a link between the two of them. His theory was that motorcycle-riding was the same as drug-addiction because… um, well, it doesn’t matter what stupid attempt at equivalence he tried to draw. Because the two things are not at all the same.
Which he would’ve known if he’d ever taken drugs. But he freely admitted he’d never done so, and so his article could be dismissed as the dross it was.
I, however, have taken drugs. There was a time in my life when I was smoking dope and snorting disgraceful chemicals on a regular basis. I did not shoot heroin, primarily because I didn’t feel it would enhance my riding or partying, rather than being scared of needles and overdosing.
I was all about the party drugs, me. Marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and pills, all washed down with vast quantities of alcohol, was how things were for me and my bike-riding hooligan mates in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
It was how things were for lots of mid-20s folks back then.
Were we addicts? Sure, some were. Some still are. Happily, I’m not now and wasn’t really then. Some people use drugs and never become addicted to them, just as some people drink alcohol and never become alcoholics. I moved on. But I view drugs through the same prism as alcohol, which in terms of social harm, health issues and general craziness, is several orders of magnitude worse than all of the illegal drugs combined.
But I am not here to moralise. I only told you the above so that you would understand I know a fair bit about drugs, their effects, and how using them relates to motorcycle-riding.
To say they are the same thing is a manifest nonsense.
People do not take drugs for the same reason they ride motorcycles. The former removes you from reality. The latter enhances and immerses you in pure reality.
That said; motorcycle-riding can be transformed by drugs.
Now you’ll understand the police are all about Random Drug Testing at the moment.
Interestingly, the legislation that drives this does not ever speak of “impairment”. It speaks only of the prohibited drug being present in your system. The drug-test administered by the cops on the side of the road does not measure how ruined you are on dope, speed or MDMA (Ecstasy). It just tells them there is a trace of it in your system. Which is against the law.
I have a lawyer friend who desperately wants to find a client to contest a charge which involves driving with methamphetamine present in his system.
“Just wait until I explain to the judge that speed does not in any way impair riding or driving skills, and in fact tends to enhance them exponentially. Most of the world’s air force pilots are hopped up on methamphetamine when they fly into battle.”
He’s right, of course. Speed is a bastard of a drug for all sorts of reasons, none of which have anything to do with you not riding well. You’ll probably never ride better or faster or with more precision than you would juiced up on goey. The problem occurs when you’ve been awake for three days, have chewed the inside of your mouth into bloody paste, and suddenly then decide it would be a good time to race your mate to Balranald. Dope is likewise over-sold in terms of how it affects the way you ride. If you’re mildly stoned, it’s quite pleasant, and you tend to take it easy and cruise along buzzing nicely. You could pay more attention, but you’re not going all that quick. When you’re heavily stoned, and I mean Cheech-andChong-baked, then you’ll either be too paranoid to ride, so you won’t, or you’ll idle along for a few hundred yards before stopping, freaking out, and then looking for a packet of Tim Tams.
Cocaine? Well, I’ve never much enjoyed riding around on cocaine because there’s no-one to talk to, and all I wanna do is talk and dance and party like it’s 1999 on coke. And then get more coke.
Personally, I’m more concerned about people smashed on prescription diazapams, barbiturates, beta-blockers and assorted chemical cocktails their doctor’s given them, than I am about someone who’s had a smoke or a line.
But the police don’t test for those drugs during a road-side drug-test. Just like they don’t test for heroin. Or morphine. Or Oxycontin. Or Endone.
Funny that, huh?
Not only is there no way of measuring impairment for the drugs you’re not allowed to have in your body, they don’t even bother to test for the seriously brain-frying shit, which you are apparently allowed to be whacked on.
I’m afraid you’ll have to ask them why that is the case.
I struggle to even be civil to the jackbooted imbeciles these days.
