Australian Motorcyclist Issue #54 by Tony Clemenger

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TYRES

We need those black and round things. Here’s the latest

DUCATI MULTISTRADA 950 Look here, ﬁrst

KTM 1290 SUPERDUKE R

The Beast version 2.0

HONDA CMX

Has there been more of a blank canvas for customising?

SUZUKI GSX-S750 Smaller, lighter, better

Reﬁned

Security is mostly a superstition... Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

HELEN KELLER

Editor Stuart Woodbury

Contributing Editor J Peter Thoeming

Sales Manager Ralph Leavsey-Moase ralph@ausmotorcyclist.com.au

Photo Editor Nick Wood

Designer Amy Hale

Photographers Nick Wood Photography, Half-Light Photography

Contributors Robert Crick, Jacqui Kennedy, Robert Lovas, Phil Gadd, Boris Mihailovic, Lester Morris, The Possum, Colin Whelan

Editorial contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au

Subscription enquiries www.ausmotorcyclist.com.au info@ausmotorcyclist.com.au 0412 220 680

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EDITORSPEAKS

The

IS

words of wisdom just bubble forth. True.

THE END NEAR? Have the Powers That Be finally got their thumbs pressed down on our heads so hard that we can’t lift them back up? It seems as though it is pretty close, judging by some of the reactions to the recently run 2017 Isle of Man TT. You see, some ‘motorcyclists’ seem to think the TT is too dangerous and the loss of life (which has occurred for more than 100 years) shouldn’t be allowed in this day and age. Have these ‘motorcyclists’ been brainwashed by the Government so much that they too are now nannies, and think that everyone and everything should be wrapped in cotton wool? Don’t go over the speed limit and so on and on. Have these people ever heard the expressions, “live your life” or “take some risks”? I think this has been squeezed out of what little spirit they might have left in their nanny brains. Remember, we only have one life, you don’t have a chance to come back or float off to another world – once you’re dead, that’s it. Live it to the full I say. I know some blokes who have raced the TT and they fully understand the risks. Come off your bike on the “public” road course and there is a significant risk you might die or be seriously injured. If that risk turned into fear, they wouldn’t do it. It’s the same as going over the posted speed limit; according to the Government this increases your chances of being killed on the road. I seem to doubt this quite a bit, a few kilometres an hour won’t make any difference to a competent rider. A hundred kilometres an hour over, sharing the road with

unknown/unskilled other road users, sure. But has it ever crossed your mind that, oh, if I go one hundred and twenty in a hundred zone I could die? I don’t think so – same goes for the riders at the TT. At least they don’t have other road users on the road at the same time! Have these ‘motorcyclists’ ever researched the actual deaths from the TT, an event that has been running more than a century? Well, let’s see, around the 250 mark. As sad as it is that anyone should lose their life (for any reason), I’m sure each and every competitor would say that they wouldn’t have it any other way. Then you look at the road toll from around the world including Australia each year, and an average of a few over two per annum during an event where man and machine are pushed to their limits isn’t that bad at all, is it.

So what I’m trying to say here is that some people really need to take a long hard look at themselves and stop trying to be a ‘nanny’, stop trying to be a ‘goody two shoes’, stop being a ‘dibby dobber’ and live your life, take some risks and see that having fun will make you feel so much better. Stop sitting in front of the tele or the computer screen and saying, “Oh, that is so dangerous”, let people make their own decisions in life. If they get caught out, I don’t think these riders will regret it. If it’s a racing event or someone going over the speed limit who gets caught or someone who has a crash, they know the risks, or ought to.

And remember what Jim Morrison said: no-one here gets out alive. Cheers, Stuart.

THE RACE IS ON 2017 IOM TT

After a pretty much washed out practice week at this year’s Isle of Man TT, the rivalry between Ian Hutchinson and Michael Dunlop never really came to a head. The only thing to come out of this rivalry is that Hutchy now has 16 TT wins and Dunlop 15, with Dunlop taking the premier Senior TT race on the new Suzuki GSX-R1000R. But the man of the meeting had to be Peter Hickman who got ﬁve podiums from ﬁve races and was awarded the Joey Dunlop trophy, an amazing effort from everyone involved.

Of the Aussies racing on the island this year, Dave Johnson and Josh Brookes were riding the factory Nortons and both placed in the top ten. In the sidecar event, Mick Alton and Chrissy Clancy had a great run in both races achieving top 15 results.

Cam Donald switched the leathers for a microphone this year and went well commentating for ITV4 – the main IoMTT TV presentation. In Australia, Fox Sports channel 506 showed each day’s program so if you didn’t see it, I’m sure re-runs will be shown over the next month or so.

THEY’RE TOUGH. THAT’S FOR SURE 2017 TATTS FINKE DESERT RACE

Active8 Yamalube Yamaha’s Daymon Stokie has won a dramatic 2017 Finke Desert race, held in remote desert in the Northern Territory. Riding a WR500F, in four hours and 11 minutes, Stokie etched his name in the record books with an historic win, Yamaha’s ﬁrst since 1986

when Stephen Gall claimed victory. Despite nursing a hand injury from a previous endurance event, Stokie gritted his teeth and manned up in the country’s toughest race to reach Finke in second place and ﬁve minutes behind leader, David Walsh.

With a night’s rest and a quick going over of the bike, Stokie was back in the saddle for the return run and out to close down the lead Walsh had. But just as the riders neared the ﬁrst check point of the return leg, Walsh was stranded trackside and Stolkie inherited the lead. With a hand swelling by the minute and still over 90 minutes of racing left, the 2017 Finke race winner was far from settled. But Stokie stuck to his guns and continued to ride at speed with his grip on the bike weakening as the event wore on. His rivals started to close in but the North

Territory native was determined to close the race out a winner and charged all the way to the ﬁnish line.

If you ever want a challenge on your adventure bike during your travels, give the Finke track a whirl – it’s a tough one, even without racing it!

Territory the and way the If adventure bike travels, the even

‘LAMBO’ OF A DIFFERENT KIND LAMBRETTA TO RETURN

During the ﬁrst weekend of June Lambretta, the iconic Italian scooter brand, celebrated its 70th anniversary with the introduction of the V-Special. On Friday a selected international audience of 90 guests from 18 countries witnessed the launch of the masculine machine at the historic estate of Conte Giordano Emo Capodilista near Padova.

The V-Special was also presented to the “Lambrettisti“ celebrating the 70th anniversary at the racing circuit in Adria. Six Lambretta models will be launched during the ﬁrst quarter of 2018 where distributors from all continents will have the opportunity to order. Keep up to date at www. lambretta.com .

TALKING ACCESSORIES. WELL, SORT OF… KAWASAKI ACCESSORY TALK

Kawasaki Motors Australia has started an online range of video’s explaining various Kawasaki genuine accessories. Check then out at www.kawasaki.com.au D

Ducati MultistraDa 950

Words Stuart Photos Nick

Wood

DUCATI’S MULTISTRADA

1200 has been a notable success since its launch some years ago. We’ve seen various versions and updates with the current model being a really sweet ride. But one thing was lacking for it to live up to its “4 in 1” philosophy, and that’s the fitting of a 19-inch or 21-inch front wheel. Roll on the release of the new 950 Multistrada, and Ducati has come to the party – a 19-inch wheel sits in the front forks and will give many riders the freedom to hit some more serious off-road trails.

Okay, I’m going to try to avoid comparing the 950 to the 1200 because it really is a different bike in a lot of ways, and is aimed at a different market.

Adding a 19-inch front wheel gives better ground clearance but Ducati didn’t just stop there. The design of the trellis frame and the adjustable suspension give the 950 a total of 183.5mm clearance and 170mm of travel at both front and rear – great for making the 950 feel light and agile on and off road. Pirelli Scorpion Trail II tyres are fitted; they are a great tyre for both bitumen and dirt, but if you’re going to get serious with hitting the dirt, look at something a little more dirtfocused for even more grip.

I did find that with the 950 on its standard suspension settings, it was too soft in the rear, making the front too light and nervous. I ended up winding in around ten turns of remote adjustable preload on the rear shock, which placed more weight over the front giving better grip. Ultimately a heavier rear spring would be the go.

Comfort is excellent; the wide handlebar gives loads of leverage with a sit up and beg riding position. There’s also a nice amount of seatto-peg room to make all day travels

Comfy for both rider and pillion

nice. The seat itself is plush in the right spots and slim enough towards the front so that the 840mm seat height shouldn’t be much of a worry for most riders. You can get an optional lower 820mm seat or, for those tall giraffes, an 860mm seat is available. Pillion comfort is also good with plenty of room and it’s easy enough to get on and off, or so I’m told by the better half.

A manually adjustable screen is bang on the money, even at my

height with the screen set on its highest position the wind was deflected away from my helmet and chest. An accessory touring screen is available if you want total blockout and a shorter Enduro screen is available is you want less.

Placed in the beams of the trellis frame is Ducati’s 937cc L-twin motor which has already fared well in other models. The Testastretta 11° engine features two new cylinder heads with a redesigned oil circuit and secondary air intake ducts on the covers. It sucks fuel through new 53 mm cylindrical-section throttle bodies controlled by an advanced Ride-by-Wire System, which works reasonably well. The exhaust system is a 2-1-2 with a slim and stylish

1. Travel all day long

2. Slim with that distinct Ducati sound

19 inches of fun

Wind it up

muffler. The clutch is an oil bath type with slipper function and has a low-effort lever. Service intervals are set at Ducati’s new 15,000km or 12 months, with valve clearance inspection every 30,000km which helps make ownership less costly.

Braking is taken care of by Brembo; M4.32 monobloc radial calipers and dual 320mm discs on the front and a 265 mm disc at the rear. Such top-draw components give top level performance and this includes the Bosch 9.1 MP anti-lock control unit with integrated pressure sensor, which is part of the Ducati Safety Pack (DSP). The 3-level system allows you to set just the amount of ABS intrusion that you want.

Further electronics include eight levels of traction control and four power modes, of which I found Touring to be the most comfortable for both city and country riding. I did set the traction and ABS separately though, as I found the standard setting too intrusive.

I quite like the large, easy to read LCD instrument panel which is controlled via new swuttons (switches/buttons) on the left switch block. This is much easier to use than the previous Multistrada fitment. The instrument panel provides you with primary and

secondary information, but it is mounted in soft rubber which makes it vibrate busily at anything under 4000rpm on smooth roads. The only other thing that annoyed me with the 950 is the rubber frame plugs which catch your inner thighs no matter what type of pants you’re wearing. If there is a billet type frame plug available from somewhere which is smooth –buy it.

Styling is very much Multistrada with the eagle-like beak, twin headlights, trellis frame and L-twin engine. I know I said I would try to not compare the 950 to the 1200, but the styling is very much the same and rightly so – it’s a Multistrada.

Four accessory packs are available – Touring, Sport, Urban and Enduro - and each offers a nice introduction to accessorising your Multistrada the way you’d like it. There are plenty of other accessories available to suit your taste.

As a 4 in 1 motorcycle, which Ducati aim the Multistradas to be, the 950 is better than big brother: it’s lighter, more agile and handles urban and enduro work better, but in this country most people think that bigger is better. Trust me, it isn’t the case in this instance. Before you jump on the 1200, ride the 950 and nine times out of ten you’ll pick the smaller bike, I’m sure of it. D New switches. Everyone new switches!

SPECS

DUCATI MULTISTRADA 950

PRICE: $18,790 (plus on-road charges)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 15,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled L-twin cylinder, 4-stroke, Desmodromic, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 94 x 67.5mm

DISPLACEMENT: 937cc

COMPRESSION: 12.6:1

POWER: 83.1kW @ 9000rpm

TORQUE: 96.2Nm @ 7750rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 48mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 170mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload (remote), compression and rebound, travel 170mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 840mm, weight 227kg (wet), fuel capacity 20 litres, wheelbase 1594mm

TYRES: Front, 120/70/R19. Rear, 170/60/R17

FRAME: Tubular steel trellis

BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 265mm disc, dual-piston ABS caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 6.43 litres per 100km, premium unleaded

THEORETICAL RANGE: 311km

COLOURS: Ducati Red, Star White Silk

VERDICT: SMALLER SOLUTION

KTM1290 Superdu K e r

Growl with The Beast

Remember when the ‘beastly’ KTM 1290 Superduke R was released? I think a lot of naked bike-loving motorcyclists needed a change of underwear when The Beast first hit the streets with its endless amounts of aggressive V-twin power. Now KTM has refined The Beast with the release of version two point O (2.0). Styling has been refined to show off more of the angry trellis frame while the headlight has been trimmed down for an even more minimalist look than the original.

Design company KISKA in Austria is where all KTM motorcycle styling is done, and they have had that job for more than 25 years. I’ve been drinking with their head designer, Craig Dent, who is a top bloke. He understands the passion of motorcycling and I feel this translates into the designs KTM produces. Take, for example, the Superduke R’s unmistakable face with a headlight design that actual does more than just project light. The bar or rib down the middle is actually the cooler for the LEDs. The trick part about

Words Stuart Photos SMaC Media

the headlight is that the LEDs shine outwards onto the reﬂectors, beaming a good amount of light forward. Smart, huh! To complete the revised look at the front, redesigned tank spoilers have been made to give the Superduke R a more “predatory” stance and I like it!

The heart of The Beast 2.0 has absorbed loads of KTM engineers’ sweat; they have made the Beast faster, yet more reﬁned. Hard to imagine how this could be done but try another four kilowatts of power (now 130kW) and torque increased up to 141Nm, with 140Nm of that available at 6750rpm! This translates into a much faster bike as you can apply more throttle with more control. Whereas the previous model sometimes seemed like a snarling beast ready to buck you off at any moment, The Beast 2.0 is more like a thoroughbred which has the power but delivers it faster and more smoothly. But mistreat that inner beast and it will still bite you. Much like a race horse, I guess!

Harnessing all of The Beast is a

comprehensive electronics package, including a responsive ride by wire throttle, nine levels of traction control, anti-wheelie control, launch control, motor slip regulation (optional), three ride modes – Rain, Street and Sport, adjustable cornering ABS, cruise control, optional quickshifter and tyre pressure monitoring. There is also an optional Track Pack to unleash even more Beast. Getting power to the ground with stability around corners is done via the strong, precise and light (9kg) trellis frame. That includes the trellis subframe, giving the Superduke R an easily identiﬁable look. Reﬁned WP suspension, which is effectively stiffer for a sportier ride, has sharp turn in and offers good traction on the exit of a corner. During the launch, which was held at Sydney Motorsport Park’s South Circuit I did have the KTM guys wind in more preload and compression, as well as some rebound which sharpened up the bike even further. For the road I dare say the standard settings would be near

bang on for most sized riders. New ergonomics also come into play. They give the rider more freedom to move around for more control during spirited riding. The Superduke R is also adjustable for further reﬁnement via the three position footpegs and four position handlebar. The handlebar is now 20mm wider, 5mm lower and 18.5mm further forward. This helps to get some more weight over the front end for better handling and obviously more control when riding The Beast in ‘hoonigan’ mode!

Braking is via the latest Brembo M50 front calipers and give awesome stopping power. The cornering ABS works well, but on the track I switched ABS off to get every last bit of braking possible. One good feature is you can set the ABS into Supermoto mode which leaves the front on and rear off.

The thing you’ll look at most (besides the road) is the dash. KTM has ﬁtted the Superduke R with an awesome full colour TFT unit that has a resilient glass

Exclusive, stylish cross-ply tyre enhancing aesthetics of cruisers and tourers, while retaining all of the renowned ME 888 MARATHON ULTRA performance.

Grandioso!

As part of this KTM Street launch we also got to ride the fabulous 1290 Superduke GT. We reviewed the GT back in issue #46 but it was great to jump back on board this grand tourer which I class as a ballistic bike that can get the tick of approval from the better half. There’s no need to tell her/him how fast it is, just that it’s a comfy sports tourer and the panniers will fit lots of nice things for your time away. Having such a beastly donor bike to produce the GT, when it does come time to ride solo you’ll be ahead of the pack by quite a stretch and all of your mates will be orange in the gills, huffing and puffing under their breath at your supreme machine. I reckon you should just tell them they too can be as grand, it will just cost them $26,995 and a couple of beers for the suggestion.

screen with the display automatically adjusting to ambient light. It is of course jam-packed full of all the information you could ever want, except maybe the Prime Minister’s latest drivel.

Powerparts and Powerwear ranges from KTM are extensive and tasteful to jazz up both the bike and rider. The Powerwear even extends to casual street wear so you can show your support when you’re off the bike, too.

The 2017 KTM 1290 Superduke R is one almighty ride. Putting the reﬁnements aside, it is a beast that is ready to propel you on your next space travels – it really does feel that fast. Fill your veins with orange blood and feel the power only a beast can give you. D

SPECS

KTM 1290

SUPERDUKE R

PRICE: $24,995 (plus on-road charges)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 15,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled V-twin cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 108 x 71mm

DISPLACEMENT: 1301cc

COMPRESSION: 13.6:1

POWER: 130kW @ 9750rpm

TORQUE: 141Nm @ 7000rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 48mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 125mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 156mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 835mm, weight 195kg (dry), fuel capacity 18 litres, wheelbase 1482mm

TYRES: Front, 120/70/ZR17. Rear, 190/55/ZR17

FRAME: Steel trellis

BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 240mm disc, dual-piston ABS caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: N/A

THEORETICAL RANGE: N/A

COLOURS: White, Black

VERDICT: MASTER, THE BEAST

Get the Good hoops

tyres compiled by stuart

ThOSe bLACK and round things you ride on are pretty important pieces of kit. Having the best possible tyres you can get (considering the limitations of your budget) should be a high priority for every rider, no matter what, where or how you ride. No matter how good your bike is, if it’s running on the wrong tyres you’re asking for trouble.

As we’ve always done here at Australian MOTORCYCLIST, we tell you about the latest and greatest in the world of motorcycle tyres at least once a year, with up-to-date information from the distributors who want to show you their new products. Consider that when making your purchase.

METZELER

www.cassons.com.au

ROADTEC 01

A sport touring tyre with increased grip on a wider range of tarmac surfaces due to new tread design, a wider and shorter contact patch lengthening tyre wear on rear, improved compound solutions

for longer, safer rides and tuning of structural elements for stability, precision and predictability. The Roadtec 01 comes highly recommended by Stuart.

ENDURO 3

SAHARA

An adventure/ enduro tyre with very good on road performance, a dedicated tread compound perfectly

combining on road cornering grip and off road traction, fast selfcleaning tread pattern geometry and great handling with easy corner entry, stable cornering and high safety margins when riding at the limit.

SPORTEC M7 RR

Engineered to empower true riders, this sports tyre has complete new profiles, space materials structure, compounds and tread patterns. Includes a dual compound rear for increased mileage, high silica compounds for good grip in the wet and contact feel in all conditions, high stiffness structure for a reactive feedback and sporty and agile handling.

SPORTEC STREET M5

The new Metzeler X-Ply sport tyre for sport motorcycles with X-Ply fitments up to 400cc. For a thrilling, agile and long lasting ride.

KENDA

www.ctaaustralia.com.au

BIG BLOCK PAVER

Front from: $159.95, Rear from: $199.95. The latest addition to the Big Block family, the PAVER was designed for ADV rides with an onroad focus. Front tread designed to minimize the scalloping common on heavier ADV bikes while providing long wear and excellent grip in all conditions. Rear tread designed for high mileage while maintaining the necessary traction in off highway conditions.

CATACLYSM

Front from: $129.95, Rear from: $199.95. Kenda’s new high-end cruiser tyre features dual-compound technology for improved mileage in the centre and increased grip on the edges for stability in cornering and tread grooving designed to more efficiently disperse water and minimise wear. Sizing and profiles for today’s most popular cruisers.

www.ctaaustralia.com.au

ROADIAC WF-1

Front from: $150.00, rear from: $190.00. Aimed at the still growing sport-touring segment, the radial Roadiac WF-1 is the product of three years’ intensive development work and utilises a principle that Nankang refers to as 'JLSB' (Jointless Space Belt) in connection with 'Single Steel Winding' technology.

Compared to traditional aramid, the steel belt used in the carcass construction ensures the greatest possible stability in every riding situation, giving perfect feedback to the rider, confident handling, and optimal operating temperatures.

The profile design of the Roadiac WF-1 optimises drainage for use in wet weather conditions.

The Nankang Roadiac WF-1 uses the most modern two-component mixing dual compound technology. Through the use of a soft rubber mixture for the shoulders of the tyre, and a harder mixture in the middle, the new tyre targets the specific needs of sport-touring motorcyclists.

PIRELLI

www.linkint.com.au

DIABLO ROSSO III

Fronts from $199, rears from $259. Are you ready for the next level? Pirelli offers technology from World Superbike Championship in a road tyre with claimed unprecedented handling for a new generation of sporty

THE NEW DEFINITION OF ADVENTURE

The ultimate adventure isn’t determined by limits. It is found by breaking through your own perceived barriers. With the new KTM 1290 Super Adventure R we have redefined the term “adventure”. We have taken the most powerful production off road bike and incorporated the innovation and technology we have developed from our experience and victories on the world’s toughest terrain. The new KTM 1290 Super Adventure R forces you to look beyond what you thought was possible.

Photo:

behaviour. The Rosso III features a bi-compound with wide side soft stripe offering full grip starting from mid-lean angle, large footprint area for improved adhesion, a wide range of “operative temperature”, faster turn in, uniform wear and optimal grip in all conditions. Another tyre highly recommended by Stuart.

SCORPION TRAIL 2

Fronts from $149, rears from $229. The new Pirelli tyre for the latest generation of adventure touring riders; with increased mileage, improved wet grip with outstanding performance consistency throughout its entire life, er, cycle. Sorry. More focused as a ‘street’ adventure tyre.

SCORPION RALLY STR

Fronts from $169, rears from $289. An adventure bike on/off road 50/50 tyre featuring off road stability that combines on- with off road needs for enhanced off road traction and stability, trail road proﬁle and structure that increases contact patch area at all lean angles for excellent on-road behaviour, high silica compounds for a wide range of operative temperature offering grip in all conditions, tear

resistance and superior mileage and a 0° steel belt for the radial sizes that

improves overall response of the contact patch for increased stability at full load.

ANGEL GT

This sport touring radial has been around for a while now and is still an excellent tyre to have with high mileage, a bi compound, excellent wet performance and grip for top level handling. New (A) front and rear for heavier bikes, plus new Adventure bike sizes available. Fronts from $199, rears from $249.

SHINKO

www.bce.net.au

016 VERGE 2X

This exciting range sports state of the art steel belted carcass construction and dual compound rubber. This means a harder compound rubber is utilised in the centre of the tyre offering durability for high

mileage and softer compound rubber is utilised on the edge or the shoulder of the tyre for optimum grip while cornering.

010 APEX

The sporty 010 Apex rear tyre features zero degrees join-less steel belted state of the art technology for added stability and strength, while the 010 Apex front tyre is Aramid belted for enhanced high-speed performance. Both the DOT approved front and rear tyres have a sport compound and tread radius designed for enhanced high speed cornering.

E705 ADVENTURE BLOCK

DOT approved, H rated dual sport tyres designed for 75% street, 25%

THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

Meet a full-on track and street weapon. The all-new race-bred 765cc inline triple powered street fighter that delivers an astounding wall of torque at 77Nm @ 10,800rpm, and a game-changing power output of 123PS @ 11,700rpm, 16% up on the previous generation. With an avalanche of rider-focused technology, razor-sharp looks and lightweight agile handling, courtesy of its range-topping suspension, tyres and brakes, it’s the most explosive Street Triple we’ve ever made.

To find out more visit triumphmotorcycles.com.au

trail riding. An aggressive tread pattern provides excellent wet and dry adhesion. Compound resists tearing while off road. Four ply nylon construction.

HEIDENAU

www.bce.net.au

K60 Scout

The K60 Scout is the most unique tyre tread on the market with varying patterns between sizes. Manufactured to cater specifically for the needs of each different fitment through changes to the tread and carcass, the K60 Scout brings better performance on and off road with improved tread and

compound. The Scout delivers better cornering stability and wet weather grip on the pavement, but like its predecessor delivers off road as well.

K76

The K76 is an adventure/dual sport tyre for both on- and light off road use. The wide tread block arrangement and balanced rubber compound provides excellent

traction and adverse-weather grip for the road, while allowing you to peel off the tarmac and attack the fire trails.

K34, K44, K36, K65

Heidenau’s classic range of tyres is perfect for all those older bikes that are making a resurgence. Classic looks with modern technology built in for grip and wet weather performance.

There’s an art to balancing - make sure it’s done right

ROAD ATTACK 3

The new Road Attack 3 is being launched in Australia soon! It combines the performance of a true hypersports tyre, and mileage of a sports/tourer. Conti’s ‘MultiGrip’ compound technology makes a gradual and seamless transition between the soft/grip compound on the side of the tyre, to the firm/ wear compound in the middle of the tyre. ‘Rain Grip’ compound provides outstanding warmup and grip in the dry, and its higher silica content ensures outstanding wet grip. Prices from: Front $229, rear $299.

TKC70

With a 60/40 road/dirt focus, the TKC70 offers the road performance of a sports touring tyre, while still performing very well off road.

Conti’s ‘Continuous Compound’ tread technology gives a firmer middle and softer sides for the best grip/wear ratio and great feel. Conti’s ‘Rain Grip’ compound with a delicate balance of Silica provides excellent grip in any conditions, and a Controlled Flex Zero Degree belted carcass provides great damping and feedback. Prices from: Front $179, rear $199.

TKC80

The TKC80 has been the class leader in knobby adventure tyres for over 30 years thanks to its amazing combination of excellent off road

performance, and its surprisingly high grip levels and feel on the road. The TKC80’s latest generation tread compound and large knob

surface provides high road grip, and its controlled carcass flex, optimum knob depth and spacing ensures excellent grip and performance in the dirt. Prices from: Front $165, rear $179.

DUNLOP

www.monzaimports.com.au

ROADSMART3

Dunlop’s exclusive MT MultiTread design binds a high-mileage compound to the centre, and high adhesion compound to the lateral ﬂanks for high cornering grip. New front and rear tyre compounds

enhance wear resistance, and include an innovative resin that increases wet grip. The rear tyre proﬁle is designed to increase the footprint and improve mileage and wet weather performance. The new sidewall construction helps to provide superior shock absorption and precise handling and an innovative new cross groove tread pattern achieves better drainage in the wet for more grip.

TRAILSMART

The all-new high-performance adventure touring tyre. Designed for riders who primarily travel on the street, but also venture off-road. A new tread pattern with intersecting grooves increases wet-weather performance as well as off-road

traction, with the large footprint and even pressure distribution helping increase traction and mileage. A silica-fortified tread

compound enhances traction and grip in wet and dry weather, and helps reduce rolling resistance for better mileage.

AVON

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TREKRIDER

A 50% on-road, 50% off road tyre with a great balance of performance between both, with versatile construction for off road capability and a specially formulated

compound for multi-terrain riding. Fronts start from $139.95, rear from $189.95.

SPIRIT

Ultra-high performance hypersport touring tyre which features a highly loaded silica compound

Here’s how most tyres are ﬁtted at your local shop

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combined with state of the art polymer technology for excellent wet and dry traction and handling. Interlocking three dimensional points hidden in the sipes improve stability and grip, limit tread flex and allow the tyre to warm up quickly. Avon’s latest technology construction design gives ultra high performance handling and stability characteristics, and the multicompound rear tyres offer excellent all round tyre performance. Prices are to be released as we went to the printer. That’s how new this tyre is!

TRAILRIDER

This adventure bike tyre is designed for 90% on-road, 10% off-road and features a new super rich silica compound using the very latest compounding technology to

compound treads on radial

rears to enhance mileage and grip, interlocking three dimensional points hidden in the sipes to improve stability and grip, limit tread flex and allow the tyre to warm up quickly along with high tech carcass construction and next generation compounds which deliver superb grip and handling. Fronts start from $99.95, rears start from $134.95.

BRIDGESTONE

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BATTLAX S21

The S21 is a hypersport tyre featuring 3 layer (3LC) compound in the front and 5 layer (5LC) compound in the rear. The front incorporates 3D shaped groove tips for added tread rigidity and corner grip while the

There’s lots to choose from!

rear incorporates a larger rear crown proﬁle, together with optimised belt construction and groove positioning to provide increased cornering stability and longer wear life.

BATTLAX T30 EVO

A highly regarded sport touring tyre featuring 3 layer (3LC) compound. The front tyre incorporates a stiffer Mono-Spiral belt to increase rigidity for quick response and stability, with the rear incorporating a revised rear profile to improve contact characteristics at higher camber angles.

BATTLAX A40

Bridgestone has morphed the previously popular Battlewing into the Battlax A40 Adventure, utilising technologies from the Battlax range. The A40 sets a benchmark for big bore adventure bikes. D

The Great River Road, Part 1

BLUES, BEER, BBQ & BOURBON ALONG BIG MUDDY

WORDS & PHOTOS THE BEAR

Over the years I have never made a secret of my liking for the United States of America. It began in 1979, when I crisscrossed the country for six weeks on my little Honda XL. The hospitality I found was overwhelming, and I’ve sampled several famous and less well-known rides in the US since. This one, the Great River Road, had been on the bucket list for a long time. Here’s Part 1 of the ride, starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Yes, I know that I’ve made this idea up, but I keep telling myself that a trip that starts with cold rain will turn out to be mostly dry and warm. My friend Guido, who had kindly picked up the Indian Springﬁeld from Head Ofﬁce and delivered it to me in Minneapolis,

was encouraging was well. “Don’t worry,” he said. “By the time you get to Prescott it will be clear.” He was right, too. And not only did the weather pick up, but the little diner in Prescott did a perfect version of my favourite American breakfast –eggs over easy with crispy bacon and proper hash browns, not the preformed patties spat out in the rest of the world. Things were looking good.

Fifteen hours in the air might sound like a lot, but my ﬂight from Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) on a Qantas A380 was pleasant enough. I slept a bit, watched bits of some of the TV shows and movies on offer (I’m a congenital ‘ﬂicker’ between programs) and got the steward to make me a few glasses of bourbon-and-ice.

Once at the Sun Country Airlines desk in DFW, I discovered that yes, I had certainly booked my flight to Minneapolis; but sadly I had booked it for the 15th of June. Not May. This is clearly one of the dangers of booking flights for more than one trip at the same time, which is what I had been doing when I buggered this up. You will be amused to discover that the airline cleans you out when you book at the airport, and this meant paying $500 for the flight instead of $165… and the original ticket was non-refundable. There went most of my beer budget.

It was an uneventful ﬂight, if you don’t count my gnashing of teeth when I considered that everyone else on the ﬂight had paid a quarter or less of what I had. I’d picked a hotel near the airport which had a free shuttle and found myself in bed soon afterwards. Ah, a bed! Lying down… zzzz. Guido came by in the morning to see me on my way in a light drizzle. He had organised a Great River Road map for me, which you can’t do from outside the US. The postage is too expensive, it seems. If you ask me that’s a bit short-sighted, but who asks me?

The Great River Road is apparently better on the western side of the Mississippi for this stretch, where it is mainly freeway in the east. But I

just wanted to get going, and the east was easier. Prescott was worth the stop, and then I was out on the Road proper. It takes a raindrop 90 days to travel the length of the river, but I only had a fortnight… mind you, the Springﬁeld is a bit quicker than the raindrops, and I had cheated by starting nearly 400 miles from the source of the river up at Lake Itasca.

The Great River Road National Scenic Byway follows the course of the Mississippi River for 3000 miles and passes through 10 states and hundreds of river towns. It is the oldest and arguably the longest scenic byway in America; for most of its length it runs on both sides of the river. It would take about 36 hours of straight riding to travel the length of the byway. I had that copy of the Great River Road map which Guido had scored for me, but you’ll need a road map as well to make the most of the trip. Fortunately, the Visitor Centers that greet you at the border of just about every State have good road maps to give away.

No new roads were built for the byway; it was a matter of choosing existing ones which showed “natural, cultural, historical, recreational and scenic properties”. Marked by green and white Pilot’s Wheel signs, the byway consists of different roads and highways that roughly follow the winding course of the Mississippi River, Big Muddy.

But enough of that. Let’s rejoin me on the road south.

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, and even down into Iowa and to some extent Illinois, the river has cut its way through low the but rugged limestone hills left by retreating glaciers. The resulting scenery is reminiscent of Vietnam or China with the top-heavy limestone slabs lining the road. It makes for wonderful riding, with curves keeping the road centred between the river and the cliffs. Even up here the river is impressively wide and you wonder how roadbuilders managed to bridge it all those years ago.

The answer is clear pretty quickly when you see the delicate-looking

steel truss bridges which have been used all the way down the river. Newer bridges are concrete, as they seem to be all over the world, but there are still plenty of older ones left in use. Some of the railway bridges, built much the same way but with more and shorter trusses, are now rusting quietly away. Where the railways are running they have mileling trains; but in many places they are no longer needed.

The Indian and I had entered Wisconsin before I even reached Prescott, but now a quick crossing to the west bank found me in Red Wing, back in Minnesota. The river

Take It Or Leave It

What do you pack for a fortnight in varying weather conditions, when you have to carry it all on a bike?

Apart from underwear I took a few t-shirts, a couple of non-iron ‘travel’ shirts, a pair of shorts and one of slacks, some riding jeans – normally I’d have taken Draggin Jeans, but I only had the armoured ones (lost the others, idiot) and they seemed a bit too bulky, so I took my Levi’s. Next time, back to Draggin! I added Alpinestars waterproof short boots, my trusty Shark ﬂip-front helmet (which makes it easy to take photos without taking it off) and one pair of BMW summer gloves and another of warmer, waterproof Ixon gloves. An Ixon jacket with warm and waterproof liners and an RJAYs one-piece wet weather suit completed the outﬁt.

What didn’t fit into the spacious panniers of the Indian Springfield filled my Kuryakyn roll bag, which I fitted to the bike’s rack with some of the straps supplied with it. It proved to be priceless, being easy to access and close to waterproof. Naturally I took my Helmetlok.

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was looking pretty high, with some roadside areas partly under water; from the bridge, you could see just how powerfully it was sending its waters south. Maybe it was trying to beat the 90-day timeline?

The day was beautiful with a light, cool breeze tempering the heat of the sun. I was riding through huge ﬁelds of what looked like corn and giant, spidery wheeled irrigation pipes (just like the Australian ones) which were clearly not necessary; it had been raining for a while. American country roads are generally quite empty – I might have passed or been overtaken by one car every

1. In some States, you can’t buy beer in liquor shops. Go to the servo instead.

2. Covered bridges were built to protect the bridge, not the user.

3. Highway 61, the Blues Highway – Bob Dylan knew what he was writing about.

4. I have no idea what it was, but it was certainly huge.

ten miles or so. My pace was gentle, not because the Springﬁeld would not have been happy to go quite a bit faster but because I was already succumbing to the relaxed cruiser mentality. Mind you, the few times I did ﬁnd myself on the freeway I, er, rode at the speed limit. Maybe… even a little faster. But I was still being passed. There wasn’t much around by way of Highway Patrol to keep speeds down, either.

The bike, which was practically brand new when I picked it up from Guido, was running beautifully. Like any good, big American vee twin it offers plenty of torque low down, making gearchanges rare. They were fairly effortless, too. The leather seat was comfortable and I had no trouble ﬁnding different places to put my feet on the large running boards. My right foot did slip backwards slowly but regularly, but moving it back to the front of the running board was probably useful exercise! By the roadside I was beginning to see signs of the urban decay that was going to become almost universal further south. Some towns and cities seemed to be doing quite well, while others looked almost totally abandoned. More of that, sadly, below.

My ﬁrst night was quite a success. No, not like that. I stopped down on the waterfront in La Crosse (where

apparently the game by the same name comes from, appropriated from the Indians) and found the hotels eye-poppingly expensive. Then I asked a couple of blokes in a small bar. In the usual friendly American way they gave me staggeringly complicated directions which, to my surprise, I managed to follow exactly to the collection of cheap motels on the outskirts of town. I checked into a neatlooking Motel 6 where the counter clerk quoted me $52, including tax and a basic breakfast. He must have mistaken my raised eyebrows for an expression of disappointment, because he then gave me a ten per cent discount. The room turned out to be basic but comfortable, with a big ﬂat screen TV to follow President Trump’s career and an effective air conditioner. Seeing I’m pretty deaf and don’t wear my hearing aids to bed, the ACs noise didn’t worry me.

One thing to keep in mind in the US: with motels, just because the sign out the front is identical, don’t expect identical quality inside. Always take a look at what you’re getting, which enables you to screw down the price, too. Petty? Not really. It encourages good, well-run motels and puts others on notice to improve. Before I surrendered to sleep I headed off to the tiny but kind of cute entertainment district of

La Crosse. A half dozen more or less jaunty bars and two or three barbecue joints along with an Irish pub (every settlement of more than 100 people, a traffic light and three dogs, anywhere in the US, is required to have an Irish pub) seemed to be the extent of the entertainment. Surprisingly, the Irish joint had some excellent jazz playing, and I managed to find some tasty, sugary-marinadedripping ribs and a selection of two or three interesting locally-brewed beers in a barbecue restaurant, I retired on a sugar jag but happy to my Motel 6. My fingers stuck to the handlebar grips all the way back, even though I had washed them. That’s one way you know good ribs! American craft brewers have succumbed to the same preference as Australians for IPAs and Pale Ales, often called American Pale Ales. They’re okay, but are often too liberally and occasionally quite brutally hopped. It’s a vast difference from the mainstream beers. The other popular craft style is wheat beer, often not identified as such – there is a popular brew called Shock Top which is a wheat beer and which is served with a slice of orange. Hmm, maybe not. When I want fruit salad…

Another thing that’s the same in the US as in Australia is that the hipsters and metrosexuals in their little closed

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American. Power.

groups aren’t interested in talking to strangers, while ordinary people are not just interested but almost embarrassingly helpful.

Next morning, in one of the small towns on the way to Prairie du Chien, I discovered the meaning of the signs I had been seeing indicating “End of Pavement 1200 (or whatever) feet”. I followed one of the roads, expecting it to perhaps turn to gravel or dirt. Instead, it just ran straight into the Mississippi. Thanks for the warning! One night as I was checking into yet another Days Inn, the young black woman behind the counter raised her eyebrows when she saw my rider’s licence. “Born in 1947?” she said and looked me over. “You lookin’ pretty good for 70!”

1. Ah, yes, smoking tobacco! Remember that?

2. Yes, it did rain a bit. Spring has changeable but already hot weather.

3. Barbecue is everywhere, and mostly excellent.

4. Craft beers are everywhere and make up one of the few growth industries.

5. The bridge is old, but the bike is brand new.

6. The Indian Springfield is a beautiful bike, real or reflected.

There is a large and quite impressive wooden building on the riverfront in Cassville, Wisconsin, just before the border with Illinois. A sign explains that when it was new it had been offered as a gift to the legislature of the newly-established Wisconsin, if they made Cassville the State capital. Sadly they declined, and the building seems never to have got over its rejection.

Down the road in Potosi I found a sizeable brewery tucked between the road and the cliffs. This was, consistently enough, the Potosi Brewing Company and their terrace made a pleasant break to relax and do a quick quality check. The result was positive. I nevertheless gave the National Brewery Museum a miss, and blew my opportunity to be photographed with the world’s largest beer bottle. What a fool.

Flicking across the river into Iowa took me into rather less interesting scenery, so I took the next bridge back. While I was enjoying the view, an overtaking pickup nearly swerved into me, causing an instant ﬂashback to the ﬁnale of Easy Rider. But then the passenger leaned almost all the way out of the cab and bellowed “That is beeyooteeful, man!” I waved graciously.

Fulton, a small town a little further down the river in Illinois, was named after the inventor of the steamboat but now seems to have turned Dutch and offers one or more windmills. I was still puzzling about that when another traditional-looking bridge took me back into Iowa and the town of Clinton. I found the fastest way through town, because Clinton appears to be trying to supply all the pollution that the other river towns don’t; I guess that means jobs, but why does that also have to mean stinking grey clouds over the place?

I’m glad I nevertheless stayed in Iowa for a while because I then came on the little settlement of Le Claire. It’s a tourist trap, but like most American tourist traps it has some real attractions too; in this case a couple of paddleboats and the Green Tree Brewery as well as some

interesting-looking restaurants. I’d have happily stopped over here, but it was only lunchtime.

The afternoon I spent following an amazing network of roads, all marked with the Pilot’s Wheel but in some cases way down the hierarchy. County roads, which rank below all other official connecting roads, are not numbered but identified by letters instead, counting down from A. I found myself riding on County Road VV at one stage, and passing one seriously depressed and depressing village out on the mudflats. The zigzagging didn’t seem to take in any towns with accommodation. Finally, in Keithsburg, I decided it was time to find somewhere to sleep before I fell asleep. I followed some small ‘Accommodation’ signs which led all over town and finally to a horse stud where the ambitious owner had built a small, three-room motel. There was even a garage – stable, I suppose, with straw on the floor –for the Springfield.

If you ever tackle the Great River Road, make sure you switch sides of the river frequently. There is always something to see, and although you’ll inevitably miss something – unless you ride down and then up again and therefore cover all of the road –you’ll come away with your own, personal view of the route. I was staying on the eastern side the next morning, because I wanted to visit Nauvoo. This was a waypoint on the Mormon exodus to the west, and it still retains some of the grand architecture and strict neatness you’d expect.

There was no real option after that but to cross into Missouri and head for Hannibal, Mark Twain’s home town. The woman in the Visitor Centre was so sweet and helpful that I ﬁnd it hard to write this, but… Hannibal is simultaneously overdone, with everything a Mark Twain this or Mark Twain that, and underdone with a poorly maintained ‘historic area’ ringed by empty lots and a run-down townscape. I hate to say this, but perhaps they should call in the Walt Disney organisation… no,

Charge, Damn You!

It does not pay to be a smartarse when travelling. The thing is, when (not if) your smartarsery goes wrong, you’re usually a long way away from home where you would probably have little trouble ﬁxing whatever problem you’ve brought on yourself. Ah, but when you’re a long way away… Check this. I like to keep my luggage as compact as possible, but I always have a lot of things that need charging at regular intervals. So this time I didn’t take all of those charging bricks; I took one, the Apple charger, and some cables to connect all my other gadgets to that. Ah, that works at home. It probably even works in most countries around the world. But it does not work in the United States of America, where they subsist on… thin electricity. Instead of our 240 volts, they only have 110 volts lurking in the walls.

This is not enough to charge an iPad or any of my three cameras, even with a charger I bought at an electronics supermarket. Only the phone managed to suck enough power out of the wall to keep functioning. But then I dropped it. Take proper chargers when you go. Don’t drop your phone. Okay?

scrub that. But the overall impression is not of homage to great literature (Huckleberry Finn has been called the Great American Novel) but of yet another way to make a buck. Oh, what the hell. Good luck to ‘em if they can make a buck. So many riverside settlements these days can’t. And then I was in St Louis, where I found Mungenast Motorsport using the scribbled directions which some blokes in a bar had prepared for me –the entire bar took time off to locate the place on various phones, and then to construct and write down the best route. I rode into St Louis that

evening and tried to find a BBQ and Blues club but got lost and settled for a pizza joint. It had a really nice garden full of celebrating people, and some skillful Chicago-style live jazz along with an interesting range of craft beers. Hey, I can live with that.

Mungenast did a quick oil change the next morning and I was on my way again – this time heading into true Blues country. Just to show you that I was not always right on top of things, I missed the St Louis National Blues Museum, reportedly one of the very best in the US.

Look for the second instalment in our next issue! The Bear consumes ribs to the point of near explosion, true Blues hold him in thrall while he drinks craft beer, and… what do you mean, and? You want more? D

1. That cannon might actually have been ﬁ red at Indians in the old days.

2. Signposting is generally good. The bottom sign means that ATVs are okay.

3. Old and new bridges cross Big Muddy, replacing most ferries.

4. Beautiful Mormon stone work in Nauvoo.

LAUNCH TEAROUTMAP#54

GET DOWN AND DIRTY

IT’S TIME TO GET down and dirty again. We haven’t done an adventure speciﬁc map for a while but after Ralph had such a great time with maschine (issue #53) I thought it appropriate that we do an adventure map around Bright in Victoria. This particular route can be a little tricky (as in direction wise) so please use a GPS or highly detailed maps from Hema Maps. I have tried to be as speciﬁc as possible with turns but a GPS or detailed maps are the way to go for this one.

I recommend ﬁlling up at Mount Beauty if you’re riding a bike with smallish fuel capacity.

BRIGHT

The town of Bright is spectacular most of the year round and is situated on the scenic Great Alpine Road between Porepunkah and Harrietville in the beautiful Ovens Valley. Bright is a popular tourist centre due to its close proximity to the mountain and

ski resorts of Mount Buffalo, Mount Hotham and Falls Creek, and other natural attractions such as the Alpine National Park and Mount Buffalo National Park.

The commercial centre of Bright extends from the Great Alpine Road to the war memorial tower located at the roundabout in front of the Alpine Hotel and then south along the wide boulevard of Ireland Street. The towering mountains of the Victorian Alps provide a scenic backdrop in all directions from the town centre. There are any number of cafes, restaurants, wineries and gourmet food outlets for you to browse.

A number of attractive parks and reserves are located within Bright. Howitt Park stretches along the Ovens River from Star Road to Morses Creek, while Centenary Park continues along the Ovens River from the Morses Creek junction and out to Mountbatten Road. Both parks feature attractive picnic spots and grassy areas which extend right down to the river – a great

spot to sit and reﬂect on the ride you’ve just done!

To fully appreciate Bright, before or after you’ve done this ride I recommend checking out one or more of the lookouts in the surrounding mountains which provide good views over the town and adjacent forests. The most accessible one is Huggins Lookout, accessed via Bakers Gully Road, around ﬁve kilometres from the town centre. Clear Spot Lookout, 12 kilometres out of town, provides limited views over the surrounding forests. Perhaps the best views over the town itself can be appreciated from the southerly oriented Apex Lookout, accessed via the Mount Porepunkah Road. There is a narrow dirt road that takes you to the top. Bright is particularly attractive during autumn when the blazing colours of its large variety of deciduous trees creates a spectacular display, celebrated annually by the Bright Autumn Festival. Good spots to appreciate Bright’s vibrant autumn colours include along Delany Avenue where burning red leaves of

Head south/southwest out of Bright and once you’ve ridden about seven kays turn left onto Old Harrietville Road. Within a hundred metres or so you need to turn right onto Snowy Creek Road and remember to veer right after three hundred metres or so – not veering left into local farms! About three and half kays in you need to veer/turn left onto Big Flat Track and veer/turn left again after another four and a half kays to stay on Big Flat Track and head over to Tawonga Gap Track. After 1.4km stay/veer left where, after 300m or so you’ll come to a T-junction. Turn right which will bring you to Simmonds Creek Road and then take you into Mount Beauty. Jump onto Kiewa Valley Highway and head north to Tawonga, turning right into Ryders Lane which turns into Mountain Creek Road. Follow this to its end which is essentially a dead end where you need to turn left onto Trappers Spur Track and veer right onto Camp Creek Road. Camp Creek Road eventually turns into The Hollow Way Road which will take

you over to the Omeo Highway. Turn left and head north about two and a half kays and turn left onto Sec Track following it all the way to a T-junction and turn right onto West Branch Track. Head about 700m and veer left onto Rodda Creek Track which you need to follow veering right at any junctions until you need to turn/veer left onto Trappers Gap Road and ride to the next T-junction, turning left. This is still Trappers Gap Road which you follow back to Mountain Creek Road. This ‘intersection’ has three roads coming off it and you need to take a right turn onto Eskdale Spur Track. Ride for around 8.5km and turn/veer left onto Redbank Track down off the mountain to Reids Lane, turn right onto Redbank Mongans Road and head into Coral Bank.

Head up to Running Creek and turn left onto Running Creek Road. Follow around 5.5km and turn left onto Kancoona South Road. Head south through Kancoona remembering to turn/veer left staying on Kancoona South Road which eventually

TEAR-OUT MAP #54

turns to dirt and the name changes to Smart Creek Road.

Veer left onto Gillett Road staying on the most straight southern direction part of Gillett Road. If you stay right too much you’ll be on Parkinson Track, which, if you follow your nose, heads west over to Haysmith Track. On Gillett Road you also need to look for Haysmith Track and turn/veer right. Head to the T-junction, turn left, then stay right at the Y-junction jumping onto Hill Plantation Link Track. Head to the T-junction where you can turn left or right and ride through the pine plantations. It’s near impossible to get lost here, just follow your nose as you are high enough above Bright to see it some of the time. If you do end up going round in circles, essentially head south and no matter what you do you’ll end up somehow on the Great Alpine Road. Whether you’re north or south (hopefully) of Bright, ride back in and crack open a few beers.

TOTAL DISTANCE – 200km

FUEL – Bright, Mount Beauty

COLLECT THEM ALL

oak intermingle with the dark green of cedar trees. Cobden Street, near Ireland Street, is also very colourful in Autumn, as are Howitt Park and Centenary Park.

One big event any adventure rider will be interested in is the Touratech Travel Event, Challenge and Expo. Usually held around the beginning of April it is a must see event for adventure riders.

Loads of delightful accommodation places are available in Bright from reasonable to high end. A number of quality bakeries are also spread across the town for a tasty breakfast before your ride. Fuel and a Woolworths supermarket are located in town.

MOUNT BEAUTY

Mount Beauty was originally established in the 1940s as a base for workers on the Kiewa HydroElectric Scheme. Since then it has developed into a popular tourist town, only 30 kilometres from the major ski resort of Falls Creek and a scenic drive away from Alpine attractions such as Mount Buffalo and Mount Hotham.

As the name suggests, Mount Beauty is a place of signiﬁcant natural beauty. It is surrounded by the Alpine National Park which features lakes, forests and snowﬁelds, offering scenic backdrops wherever in town you happen to be. The town’s commercial centre features several attractive parks and an interesting selection of speciality shops along Hollonds Street and Kiewa Crescent.

The Alpine Discovery Centre, located just west of the town centre, gives an educational and entertaining insight into the development of the upper Kiewa Valley. Most essentials are available here, including fuel. I recommend ﬁlling up once again if you’re riding a machine with smallish fuel capacity.

TAWONGA

A small town located on the Kiewa Valley Highway. Population is around 590, but this is more of a landmark for this route. If you actually end up in Tawonga, you’re a touch too far for the Mountain Creek road turnoff.

CORAL BANK

A landmark for this route as there isn’t much at ‘Coral Bank’. If you happen to see any ‘coral’ I think you’re in the wrong place, probably even the wrong State, and will need a snorkel! D

CMX

Mixology Words StUart Photos rOBert MUrDOCH

HONDA’S 500cc range of the CBR, CB and X models has been well received not only by the learner and provisional rider segment, but also by those with a full licence who are after an easy to ride, mid-sized motorcycle with Honda quality built in. It was a given then that Honda would produce some kind of cruiser with the 500 parallel twin, and the result is the CMX.

The bike is a mix up of old school style with modern technology. More than a lot of other cruisers it is essentially a blank canvas for someone to customise to create their own unique cruiser with proven technology.

As part of the recent Fireblade launch we also got to ride the new CMX on a short cruise around the picturesque Phillip Island. The CMX’s 471cc 8-valve, liquid-cooled parallel twin-cylinder engine has a smooth and linear delivery throughout the rev-range and is perfectly adequate for

urban riding. It has a nice little punchy amount of torque but highway speeds can get tiring after a while.

Handling and ease of use are the CMX’s strong point. To support the bike’s low-slung look its attractive tubular steel frame grips the engine in three places and is designed to be as narrow as possible around the rider’s inseam. Trail is set at 110mm

with 28° rake; the forks are offset at 30° and the result, combined with the 1488mm wheelbase, is a low 690mm seat height and mid-mounted footpegs, for balanced and neutral steering. A lot of the good handling also has to do with the fat 130/90/16 front tyre

formerly Ferris Wheels Safaris

An old school bobber styled customisation – the possibilities are almost endless.

which helps soak up bumps and gives a comfy ride.

Styling will polarise some as the heavily raked fuel tank looks like someone has cut the back half of a helmet off and welded it in but the rest of the bike is simple and ‘raw’ in a way which is great for the customiser who will want to make something unique. Honda has blacked out as much of the CMX as possible and kept the minimalist look running through with the single touch instrument pod.

The CMX will be available in several colour options: Graphite Black, Matte Armoured Silver Metallic and Millennium Red. I think it really needs a classic high gloss metallic to bring out that old school feeling, maybe even

some funky metalﬂake to make it pop. Look out, here come the ‘60s! The pillion pad and rear footpegs are easily removed, and a number of accessories will be available; these include a tubular rear rack, saddlebags, screen and 12V socket.

If you’re after an easy to live with cruiser, or one that will respond well to some customising, check out the Honda CMX and let your imagination take over the build. And send us a photo when you’re done. D

SPECS

HONDA CMX

Here’s another tasty example of what can be achieved with the CMX.

PRICE: $8999 (plus on-road charges)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 12,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled parallel twin cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 67 x 66.8mm

DISPLACEMENT: 471cc

COMPRESSION: 10.7:1

POWER: 33.5kW @ 8500rpm

TORQUE: 44.6Nm @ 6000rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 41mm telescopic fork, non-adjustable, travel 120mm. Rear, twin-shock, adjustable preload, travel 96mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 690mm, weight 187.8kg (wet), fuel capacity 11.2 litres, wheelbase 1488mm

TYRES: Front, 130/90/16. Rear, 150/80/16

FRAME: Tubular steel

BRAKES: Front, 296mm disc with dual-piston ABS caliper. Rear, 240mm disc, single-piston ABS caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: N/A

THEORETICAL RANGE: N/A

COLOURS: Graphite Black, Matte Armoured Silver Metallic, Millennium Red

VERDICT: GET THINKING

Shipments to Felixstowe twice every year.

ATHENS

Shipments to Athens in 2018 and then every second year.

BARCELONA

Shipments to Barcelona in 2017 and then every second year.

Organise your next Mediterranean or European bike shipment with Dave at Get Routed... Your bike is our priority.

All shipments to Felixstowe, Barcelona and Athens are loaded in Felixstowe for the return shipping to Australia.

Australia’s South Island – Taswegians just love to refer to the mainland as the North Island – has many attractions. Indeed, some of the locals will tell you that it has as many things worth seeing and doing as the entire North Island does. Is this true? I’m not about to risk grave injury by arguing either way, but I can say this: there is (even) more to Tasmania than meets the admiring eye…

Once upon a time, when I was young and probably had more testosterone ﬂowing through my system than was really good for me, I went to Tasmania just for the riding. The roads were generally good, and if they weren’t they were challenging. As well, we used to joke that there was no police presence in the entire island; every second Saturday they’d ﬂy in a copper from Melbourne who would stand on a street corner to remind the locals of the force of the Law.

My ﬁrst visit was by way of the tiny 4619-ton Princess of Tasmania which carried 334 passengers. It was more the size of a large yacht, and when it was replaced by the 12,037-ton Empress of Australia in 1972 I kind of missed it. It was replaced in turn by the much larger Abel Tasman and several Spirits of Tasmania. Along the way my interest in Tasmania has widened considerably to include food, wine, scenery and most recently (bottled-type) spirits.

Meanwhile I have travelled on all the ferries, and despite the relatively high cost this is still my preferred way to go. The short sea voyage is a kind of punctuation for the trip. You can, of course, ﬂy down and rent a bike in Tassie and that works too, but I usually have a bike that I need to write about.

Spirit of Tasmania

Melbourne to Devonport and vice versa

Sailing departures 7.30pm, arrivals 6.00am.

Additional sailings in summer.

Phone 13 20 10, 1800 634 906, www.spiritoftasmania.com.au

The Melbourne terminal is at Station Pier, Waterfront Place, Port Melbourne. In Devonport it’s the Esplanade, East Devonport. And while we’re on the subject of Spirits of Tasmania, there are now distilleries all over the place making some outstanding whiskies… what? This story is meant to be about

Tying down the bikes in the belly of the Spirit. It’s done for you.

motorcycles? Oh, all right then. Start your ride after leaving the belly of the ferry by turning left onto the main road in Devonport. This will take you to Deloraine, where you can get a tasty breakfast at the

bakery. Take your time; you will shortly see why. You’re halfway to Launceston (pronounced lon-cestn, remember) and just before you reach Tasmaina’s second city you’ll see a sign for Richardson’s Harley-Davidson. The shop, and therefore the museum, doesn’t open until 9am but it’s worth the wait.

Richardson’s Harley-Davidson

468 Westbury Road, Prospect, Launceston. Phone 03 6344 4524, www.richardsonsharleydavidson.com.au Shop, museum and a restaurant with a good reputation. There is a pretty extensive display of old Harleys, Indians and memorabilia upstairs on the mezzanine. Entry is free.

Back in the saddle, continue to Launceston and make your way

through the rather opaque trafﬁc system to the City Park on Cimitiere Street. Here you’ll ﬁnd Tasmania’s preeminent car museum, which also has a good display of motorcycles.

National Automobile Museum of Tasmania

86 Cimitiere Street, Launceston Phone 03 6334 8888, www.namt.com.au

There is a minimal charge for entry, but it’s worth every penny –

1. What would the display be without a WW2 wartime bike?

2. More than just a bike shop, Richardson’s is a whole complex.

3. Excellent notes explain the mezzanine museum.

especially if you’re interested in cars as well as bikes. First established in 1987, the museum moved to its current location in 1996. All the vehicles are privately owned and on loan. There’s quite a good souvenir shop, and the place has a good atmosphere.

1. A substantial number of Indians must have reached Australia.

2. Oh, man, I used to have one of these (although not a Green Frame).

3. Fine detail, carefully restored and presented at the National Museum.

You have one of Tasmania’s finest rides in front of you to get to the next museum. It is also probably the most interesting bike museum in Tasmania; despite displaying more than 60 bikes, owner Andrew Quin also restores and does other work

on customers’ bikes in his purposebuilt workshop in Bicheno. You’ll also see the award I gave Bicheno as Australia’s most motorcycle-friendly town, displayed on his wall. On a recent visit Andrew gave us a hand with a slight mechanical problem on one of our bikes.

Bicheno Motor Cycle Museum

35 Burgess Street, Bicheno Phone 03 6375 1485 or 0419 883 736, motorcyclemuseum@bigpond.com

The museum/workshop is in Bicheno’s main street, so you can’t miss it. The collection is quite esoteric with a few small European bikes which must be quite rare in Australia. Every sizeable town in Australia – in the world! –should have a workshop/museum like Andrew’s!

If we can’t have something like Andrew’s collection, what about something like Rob Wooley’s and Susan Gunn Brown’s Pit Stop Café on the West Coast? It’s a fair haul from Bicheno across to Zeehan, but Rob’s little workshop is a delight and Susan’s café is beginning to build up a reputation for itself as well.

1. You really cannot miss Andrew’s Motorcycle Museum in Bicheno.

2. Who wouldn’t like a Motobi with that wonderful rocket sidecover in his garage?

3. Andrew (in the grey t-shirt) tries to work out what we’ve done to one of our bikes.

4. I love this kind of technology. Basic, but beautiful and well thought-through.

Ride roads less travelled

The café is on the western outskirts of Zeehan, if tiny Zeehan can be said to have outskirts. Perhaps it’s on the miniskirt of Zeehan? There’s usually only one bike on display, the one Rob is working on, but there’s memorabilia on the walls and Rob tends to be quite chatty. He was certainly interested in our Royal Enfield Himalayan.

We’re on the home run now. Up the Murchison Highway lies Wynyard, and at its tourist information centre you’ll find its Wonders. Well, mainly a small car and bike museum.

Wonders of Wynyard

8 Exhibition Link, Wynyard Phone 03 6443 8330, www.wondersofwynyard.com

Once again there’s a small charge, but you’ll get to see a few beautifully restored bikes and –wait for it – the equal oldest Ford in the world, a 1903 Model A which is part of the Ramsley Veteran Car Collection.

I hope you manage to see something else beside the museums

A look at Rob’s glassed-in workshop from inside the café.

There is another terriﬁc museum in Zeehan, but it holds no bikes.

when you’re down there, but they do add a bit of interest to any journey through the South Island of Australia. Maybe I’ll do a whiskey – or whisky –tour next. Want to come?

Our thanks to Urban Moto Imports, Tourism Tasmania, Spirit of Tasmania, Bicheno by the Bay, Wrest Point and Corinna At Home In The Wilderness for their help. D

MICHELIN POWER RS

Power through grip

WORDS STUART

GETTING A FRESH set of rubber on a motorcycle always makes it feel nice, especially when you get the latest and greatest rubber from the popular manufacturers. The most recent offering from Michelin is the Power RS. Designed as a sports tyre while offering some longevity the Power RS succeeds the Pilot Power 3 and

weather grip and carbon black provides dry road grip. As you can work out, the Silica is mainly in the middle of the tyre and the carbon black is towards the sides. Michelin call this “2CT” and “2CT+” which is their dual compound tread. The main feature here is in the rear tyre where the harder middle compound runs underneath the softer side compound for more stability while cornering and helps stability under hard acceleration.

I fitted the Power RS tyres to my CBR900RR road bike which has its standard springs. With the tyres previously fitted to it (a current sports type) the bike would chatter in the front if I turned in fast. This has now gone, which I attribute to the stability and the profile (giving more side grip) of the front Power RS.

The tread of the new Power RS is not like the ‘cuts’ in the rubber of most other tyres; the tread has been ‘chamfered’ which gives the tyre a bigger platform in wet conditions. I am surprised at the actual amount of grip in the rain considering that the tyre looks more like a slick. If having a ‘stylish’ tyre is your go, look no further.

Supersport Evo tyres, now combined into this new tyre. Designing, testing and releasing the new Power RS has taken two years. Michelin did a lot of testing around getting just the right proﬁle and carcass which gives you stability and precision as well as side grip, getting the most out of the silica and carbon black tread. Silica gives you outstanding wet

Warm-up from cold is fast and I guess I was lucky in a way that I ﬁtted these tyres in the winter, which gave me the best opportunity to test how fast they warm up. As I always do with any tyre I test on the road, I went to my ‘test’ corner which is an off camber long right hand sweeper and the Power RS was predictable and stable – so, a big tick there.

Michelin offers the Power RS in a choice of 13 different sizes (four fronts,

nine rears), covering a long list of motorcycles, from smaller 250cc bikes to Supersport machines and mid-sized roadsters – up to a 240 wide rear.

Including the Power RS, Michelin has three road tyres available – the Pilot Road 4 (stunning in the wet), the Pilot Cup Evo and the Power RS. I see the

Power RS being a tyre for sports tourers, nakeds, sportsbikes, smaller capacity machines and even riders with touring bikes who want a bit more side grip than most touring tyres offer. If this sounds like you, grab a set and enjoy the grip. Longevity for me will be up to 5000km but if you aren’t going to fang it as

much, expect up to 8500km. See your local Michelin motorcycle tyre dealer or visit www.moto.michelin.com.au and/ or www.gasimports.com.au to ﬁnd your closest one. Price – 120/70/ZR17 front - $229. 180/55/ZR17 rear - $309. D

The boys hit North Vietnam

“A dAy of TrAVeLLiNg wiLL briNg A bAskeTfuL of LeArNiNg.” VieTNAmese proVerb

Vietlong Travel

www.vietlongtravel.com

sales@vietlongtravel.com

www.facebook.com/VietlongTravel.VLT

Ph: (+84) 904 124 997

WE’D TAKEN a moment to stop and admire the view of the breathtaking Ma Pi Leng Pass in far, far northern Vietnam and suddenly I’m aware of a small Hmong girl staring at me. She can’t be more than 8 years old with her baby brother on one hip and another brother in tow.

Clearly, she hasn’t seen too many big, weird, white guys and so she’s walked up the road to check us out, as nine of us on CRF250s stop to admire the eye-watering view, gazing over mountains all the way to China in the distance.

WORDS/PHOTOS BRETT SPINUCCI

If there was one thing I’d learned from being unexpectedly widowed at just 46 years of age, it was make bloody sure every day above ground counts. Some time later during my recovery from this life changing/ ending event, I took the unusual step to talk a small group of friends into joining me at an overseas location and go for an adventure ride to celebrate life.

A proper ride. Something odd and challenging. How could they say no? And so essentially the same group of repeat offenders has been doing these every couple of years since. And so here we were in northern Vietnam.

No ﬂ ocks of tourists. Just me, my friends and our new Hmong buddy and her brothers.

The remoteness of the Ma Pi Leng Pass ensures that it will never be the most popular tourist destination for everyone, but the views constantly reward those adventurous enough

- and those views varied between stupendous and celestial for the rest of the day.

The idea to choose Vietnam as our destination mostly came from having ridden there before – but this time we were looking for something a little more challenging, without getting in over our heads.

And so after 18 months of planning, the usual suspects met in Hanoi on a Saturday in March to acclimatise and prepare for our Monday morning departure into Hanoi trafﬁ c – itself a unique and life-changing experience!!

We had chosen to use the services of a specialist motorcycle tour company, for several reasons. We needed seven well-maintained motorcycles capable of making the journey with ease – and there is no better bike than Honda’s CRF250 for that purpose. I’m happy for you if you wish to do this trip on something like a Minsk, but the roads where we are headed were rough, rutted and steep. The Hondas are not only reliable, but they’re like mountain goats on wheels.

From previous experience we also knew we would need a local guide. One who spoke English, Vietnamese and hopefully Hmong - plus a travelling mechanic.

A mechanic might sound like an extravagance, but we’ve experienced several minor (and not so minor!) mechanical issues on previous

» Select pressure, switch ON and the pump automatically switches OFF when the pressure is reached

» Displays in PSI, BAR or KPA

» Pumps to 50 PSI

» Actual Pump size: 10.5 x 12.9 x 5.3cm

» Light weight and portable - weighs only 497g

The Kit includes the MotoPressor Mini Pump with Digital Pressure Gauge and all the power leads and connectors to run from your motorcycle battery or a mini jump starter, packed neatly into a sturdy carry case.

adventures and learned that there’s no greater value than when your ﬂ at tyre or broken clutch cable becomes someone else’s ﬂ at tyre or broken clutch cable!

Day 1 sees us following our guide Quyen (calls himself Quinn) and carving through the mid-morning Hanoi trafﬁ c like big, clumsy circus clowns. Getting out of Hanoi is an experience in itself and if you’ve never ridden/driven on the other side of the road, then you’re in for a real treat! Monkey see – monkey do gets us safely to the outer edges of Hanoi where we can start to relax a little and enjoy the emerging countryside.

We reach our ﬁ rst overnight stop at the beautiful rural district of Phu Yen for a refreshing shower and delicious dinner where we relive the days’ near misses and personal highlights over too many beers. Up early the next morning and walking around the town yields the somewhat sweet spectacle of a town ringed by beautiful green rice

paddies and local couples in their 60s and 70s in the main street of town playing badminton and enjoying the cool morning air. One of our party needed a replacement helmet – and one that would have cost many times more at home was procured for the princely sum of $US45.

Day 2 has us riding through the beautiful and historically signifi cant Dien Bien Phu, which in 1954 was the scene of the battle between French and Vietnamese forces in a failed attempt by France to bring North Vietnam under the same French rule as South Vietnam. The end of day shower/dinner/beer/war stories is already becoming habitual. Day 3 and we spend the day climbing an endless range of mountains in the rain. The entire area is cloaked in a thick mountain mist and visibility is down to just 6 metres for the most part making progress slow and hazardous. We fi nally arrive in the beautiful (but very chilly) mountain town of Sapa, which on fi rst view looks just like a

European alpine town deposited in northern Vietnam.

The bit we can see does, anyway.

Here you’ll ﬁ nd many Hmong people (Chinese in origin who travelled south into Vietnam and Laos in search of arable land in the 18th century). They are obvious by their extremely colourful clothes and you’ll constantly encounter them farming their land in the upper mountains right throughout this area.

Unfortunately we couldn’t see the views that makes Sapa world famous as we were continually cloaked in fog. One more reason to return I reckon! So far most of our riding was on road. We’re a little nervous about how difﬁ cult the off-road component will be as the roads here are not fantastic in many places and no wider than two motorcycles.

Over Days 4 and 5 we reduce altitude, which brings more comfortable temperatures and gets us away from the persistent rain of the previous couple of days. We

Adventure Ride

TOUR DATES November 5 - 19 November 26 - December 10 15 days

We’re presenting a two week ride through Northern Thailand and wild Northwest Laos.

www.adriaticmototours.com

Sukothai (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Phu Rua, Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Mountains to Oudom Xai, Chiang Rai, Golden Triangle, Mekong River, Road of 1,864 curves, Long Neck Hill Tribe, Doi Inth

travel through endless and beautiful terraced rice paddies being tended by Hmong people. The industrious way they’ve carved these hillsides is just an amazing testimony to centuries of acquired engineering experience.

The elevation constantly changes on “roads” that sometimes are down to single vehicle width.

Quinn our guide had been assessing our abilities over the last few days and now we’re spending more time off road and this gets us to places in this part of the country that tourists don’t normally see.

Days 6 and 7 are perhaps the most spectacular of all. From the moment you enter the Ma Pi Leng Pass, the views just keep wanting to steal your eyeballs away from the road. Consequently we had to travel a hell of a lot slower and just take it all in. Thankfully the previous days’ mist had now mostly clear and we were treated to views all the way to the southern mountains of China. Yes, you can see China in the distance! Days 8 and 9 have us back down into rolling hills mostly on made roads and we arrive at the largest natural lake in Vietnam, Ba Be Lake, where we jump on longtail boats and spend a couple of hours in the sunshine taking in this amazing area. Among the unique features of these parts are the privately owned bamboo rafts and bridges. The locals run and maintain them and often for just a few cents, these river crossing points can be used as short cuts, saving you dozens of kilometres. It also adds to the day’s riding excitement.

After an overnight homestay and way too much rice wine (local home brewed rocket fuel), we take our fuzzy heads back to Hanoi with a blast down the highway.

Summary: The Ma Pi Leng Pass is every bit as beautiful and amazing as the Grand Canyon or the Rocky Mountains. Once you’ve been here, it will stay with you forever.

North Vietnam is more beautiful than I could have imagined. The mountains here and verdant green rice paddies and creek crossings and amazing Hmong culture have yielded a fantastic nine day tour where all of our accommodation, motorcycles, fuel, food and mechanical needs and water were included in a packaged deal.

Every day we kept waiting for the food quality to drop off, but Quinn just nailed it – every meal. In spite of what you might think, not one of us reacted badly to the food and the accommodation was mostly really better than we expected.

Without doubt, we could have done this trip unescorted, but there’s no way we would have found our way to the roads that we were shown. There would also be vastly more pain associated with organising accommodation in such remote, provincial areas.

Everything happened without us having to plan how we get seven guys fed, accommodated and showered. For this, you could do a lot worse than use the crowd we did - Vietlong Travel. I paid full price for my travel and this is not a sponsored “freebie”. D

formerly Ferris Wheels Safaris

Turkish Treasures 21 days: Istanbul, Gallipoli Capadocia, Black Sea

Sweet Thing SUZUKI GSX-S750

WORDS RALPH

PHOTOS ANDREW GOSLING

On one oF Melbourne’s finest bitterly cold winter mornings I signed in for the launch of Suzuki’s mid-sized naked GSX-S750. I’m happily subscribing to the less is more scenario for today, especially as the roads are as slippery as my ten-year-old son’s tongue when downing chocolate icecream. I wouldn’t like my ride to end up like the extremely messy aftermath he leaves.

Less power, less weight, less bulk than a big-hitting litre monster add up to more fun (even though many Australian riders would never believe that) and more control. There’s maybe even added safety on this traction-reduced day belting

around the western outskirts of our single digit temperature southern capital. This is of course if you are comparing the latest 84kW 750 against a bucket load of 100kW plus 1000cc true naked muscle monsters.

As Lewis Croft, Suzuki’s Marketing Manager said while giving the rundown on what is a heavily revised GSR, we are in the “sweet spot” of naked motorcycling here. I’m happy to agree. Five minutes aboard tells me that there is certainly enough power and grunt and best of all there is great feel with the changes to chassis and suspension.

An hour in and the brakes and the looks are just as good as the LED dash, which is a trickle-down from the GSX-S1000. The thing I appreciate most is the traction control calibration and even the well dialled-in ABS. Both are good enough to be out of sight and out of mind.

Weight and size seems appreciably tighter for a mid-sized naked and the feel of only having to shuffle around 213kg (wet) fills me with gratitude as we belt away from the urban sprawl and into the first set of decent corners. Responsiveness and control are all you would want once the clutch is fed out and a few revs are added. Suzuki has included ‘Low RPM Assist’, although I didn’t notice this along the Engine Modes. Road speed picks up quickly and there is plenty of mid-range power. You only need to call upon the fun-filled upper mid-range to the frenetic top end if you are in the mood for some serious fun or if another journo is getting on your nerves. Suzuki has added power and a slight increase in torque to the 2107 model and has even achieved Euro 4 obligations, along with better fuel consumption and reduced emissions. Not that that seems to matter too much in our market. If you are taking advantage of the above ‘enhancements’ then expect the handlebars to go light and this is the only time I felt the ‘S’ wasn’t just about perfect with its natural sitting position and chassis balance.

I would have liked a little more weight over the front, perhaps by increasing the seat angle and pushing my body more over the front. Still, Suzuki is targeting the latest GSX-S at a broad audience with even broader requirements than mine on a one-day fang.

If you have any fears that the 750 may not be fast enough, don’t worry, it is. The 750 doesn’t want to wheelstand everywhere but does have a very linear drive with a fabulous throttle connection (much better than the 1000) and an appropriate accompanying soundtrack through the airbox.

Hauling down from ‘race-track’ speeds the twin, four spot calipers have abundant feel and are well calibrated with the safety-net ABS system. While I didn’t call on ABS because of the more than adequate feel, it is a good system. I gave it a good work out in a clinical fashion just to confirm.

Suzuki, as is its way, has created a package that works for ninety percent of people for ninety percent of the time. The suspension has really good feedback on smooth and curvy roads although if you throw some ugly bumps at the short-travel, sporty combination then the rearshock lets you know with a kick that you are expecting too much.

The GSX-S displays the evidence of much reworking from the old GSR and is now a better and more modern version; truly a scaleddown 1000. Via the airbox there is a bit of mongrel in the nostrils although the rest of the bike is refined and sophisticated. I liked the gold front forks, petal discs and the easy to scroll menu switch on the left hand switch-block. Distinct looks with quality hardware from the tapered handlebar to the tail light means the neutrally balanced 750 is a great compromise, fitting in well with commuter, sporting and even touring roles. Add in sensible pricing, and Suzuki really is offering something special by putting looks and performance together with a real value-for-money edge. D

SPECS

SUZUKI GSX-S750 ABS

PRICE: $11,490 (plus on-road costs)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled inline 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 72 x 46mm

DISPLACEMENT: 749 cc

COMPRESSION: 12.3:1

POWER: 84kW @ 10,5000rpm

TORQUE: 81Nm @ 9000rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6 -speed, wet multi-plate clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 41mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, travel 120mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload, travel 138mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 820mm, weight 213 kg (wet), fuel capacity 16 litres, wheelbase 1455mm

TYRES: Front, 120/70 17. Rear, 180/55 17

FRAME: Combined alloy beam and tube

BRAKES: Front, twin 310mm discs with Nissin four-piston radial mount calipers. Rear, 245mm disc, single piston caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 4.9 litres per 100km, premium unleaded

THEORETICAL RANGE: 325km

COLOURS: Pearl Mira Red, Matt Black, Metallic Triton Blue

VERDICT: NAKED FUN.

WortheN house CaFÉ

Getting Jack WORDS/phOtOS coLIN WHELAN

YeARs AGo, I came across a poem by Alan Ginsberg. It was called, ‘Howl’ and it began:

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry ﬁx, angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night…”

I was transﬁxed by that ﬁrst verse. For a bit over 2000 words, this work had everything. Well, almost everything. It didn’t have a single full-stop. It ejaculated into my pubertal

consciousness with exclamation marks and commas to gather breath, but not a full-stop, not one – just endless cascading images of some sort of foreign, alien reality.

It even had a reference to motorcycle riders but if you want that quote, go google it!

Ginsberg was one of the ‘Beats’ and I spent my time and pocket money devouring his, and his co-beat authors’ works.

Very soon, of course, I came across Jack Kerouac. First it was ‘Visions of Cody’ and not long afterwards ‘On the Road’. Kerouac too wrote with a minimum of full-stops, just breathless, excited, awe-full, raging combustions and outpourings:

“the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes “Awww!”

This was life on the road, of the road and I knew I wanted to taste some of it. I wanted to live for days without full-stops.

Next chance I had, I told my parents I was off with a mate and his dad for a ﬁshing trip. Les was a great mate; his family had no home phone so when I was ‘with Les’ I could be anywhere. Instead, I hitch-hiked from Sydney down to Shepparton then across to Mildura, down to Melbourne and up the coast back to Sydney. It was so exciting, so exhilarating. The thrill of expectation, the ﬂashes of transient honesty with

strangers, the simple joy of movement. I had to tell my folks.

Disbelief rather than anger was their response and then the next holidays, which stretched 11 days from a Thursday night, to settle a schoolboy bet (with a kid who didn’t believe my stories), with my parents’ knowledge if not blessing, I hitched from Sydney to Perth and back.

My last ride was on a car transporter which took me from just out of Renmark to Parramatta station in Sydney. The truckie knew I was tired and asked which car I’d like to sleep in. I travelled 500 miles in the front seat of the Holden perched over the cabin. I made it home at 3.00am on back-toschool Tuesday, had a kip and a feed and headed out to school. I was three weeks shy of my 14th birthday.

In the ﬁfty years since, I’ve read pretty much every word Kerouac wrote, listened to every recording he ever made, been appalled at the ﬁlm of the book, and have spent many, many hours ‘on the road’. But a couple of experiences have been missing: a visit to his grave and an ale or two at the pub where he’d drink when back in his home town of Lowell, Massachusetts.

So anyway, with time gliding past and Stu’s needing a yarn for Pub of the Month, I bought a ticket to Boston, called a rental company, and made some other arrangements to leave New South Wales and enjoy New England!

It’s just on 45kms from Boston (where I sleep on my son’s ﬂoor) to Lowell. It’s an easy ride but there ain’t much to see, oh and don’t go lane ﬁltering. They don’t appreciate here. Ride without a helmet? Yeah sure! But

slide through between cars stopped on the Interstate? No way, buddy!

Jack Kerouac died in 1969, barely ﬁve years after I felt we’d become close friends, and he’s buried in the Edson Cemetery, just one of what must be a dozen in the town. Google Maps give me an exact location of his grave so I head there ﬁrst.

They don’t do graves like we do! There’s no plots, no marking out of just where the body is, just vertical headstones or inscribed hard rock placemats in the grass. Kerouac was known to his family as ‘Ti Jean’ and his ediﬁce reads simply,

“TI JEAN

JOHN L. KEROUAC Mar 12 1922 – Oct 21 1969 He Honored Life -”

His wife, Stella outlived Jack for 21 years and she is buried with him. The inscription continues, “STELLA HIS WIFE, NOV. 11, 1918 – FEB 10 1990” Scattered around are pens (which I get) and cigarette lighters (which I don’t). Besides, to the left of this are two other monuments to the forebears of Stella and some ten metres behind is an upright bluestone slab. On its obverse are the names of the Stella’s Sampas Family and Jack’s but the front is about one man.

It carries an etched reproduction of his signature above a quote from his works. It reads simply: “The Road is Life”. The place was empty when I arrived but as I pay homage, a clapped out Chevy pulls up and a young couple pours out. It ain’t tobacco they’re smoking. They’ve come from Idaho just to experience this. They’ve read

‘heaps of his words’ and these new ‘angelheaded hipsters’ just needed to see where it all ended.

I wish them well, tell them to read the rest of Kerouac and some Ginsburg, Cassidy and Ferlinghetti and head to the pub!

The Worthen House Café has been probably the best tavern in Lowell since 1898. To have accomplished and enthusiastic drinkers like Edgar Allan Poe, Jimmy Breslin and Jack Kerouac as habitués you have to’ve been doing something good for a damn long while!

There’s unrestricted parking right across Worthen Street. From here it looks like a place that’s been built in stages and in fact it was rebuilt in 1989, but faithfully to its previous character.

Inside Penny is pulling beers. She nods as I walk in, three locals at a table smile and acknowledge me. I’m not invisible, am not an impost. I’m home. Apart from the table folks, everyone’s sitting at the bar, always a good sign.

Now here’s an important bit: Americans know beer. They know the difference between an ale and a lager, a dark and a light. Then tend to know why a stout is called just that, and they know what they drink. You don’t ask the staff what beers they have, you ask which ales, which lagers, which IPA’s, which local brews.

I can’t remember having a beer pulled out of a goose’s bum so after having a gander (sorry) at the taps I go for the Chicago brewed Goose IPA.

It’s good and as I clear the head, Penny explains the history of the place, tells of the regular stream of travellers who

come by, sucking up Kerouac’s trail. Proudly she points out the (once) state of the art ceiling fans.

The last remaining belt driven system in a pub in all of America, the overhead props would, without doubt, have cooled Ti Jean when, seeking refuge from the road, the heat, the chaos and yes, the loneliness, he came back to Lowell to recharge 60-70 years ago.

Kerouac probably would’ve kicked back upstairs and Penny points to the old staircase. She thinks it may be original, predating the rebuild, and I head up to the deserted space now used for functions, parties and a jam session now and then.

It’s a place where the ghosts are almost tangible.

None of the regulars is keen to have their face in the camera but I pull up a chair next to the table where Shea and her husband Norm are enjoying their Saturday arvo bevvies. Their surname is hyphenated, part English, part French. Like Kerouac whose ‘Satori in Paris’ was perhaps his most introspective work, they value their Gallic roots. They’ve been in Lowell for near six years and I ask them if they’re locals yet?

“Here, you’re a local the moment you walk in, doesn’t much matter that you live in another country!”

I head back to the taps to get another Goose and Penny drags me up to the very back end of the bar. She’s pulled down a bobble-head of Kerouac which lives on a high shelf but there’s something else she wants to share.

See, if you ever get to an aged pub in the states, one that claims to’ve served continuously for over 100 years (and there’s lots of ‘em), you eventually have to ask what they did for the 14 dark years after the passing of the Volstead Act at the end of 1919. This time Penny’s ahead of me.

She clears back a line of booze bottles and pulls down on a tiny spigot. It’s the handle for a bottom hinged trapdoor about a yard wide and maybe a foot high. (We’re in America!).

“This is where the alcohol was hidden during Prohibition - as far away from the front door as they could hide it so they had most time when a cop came through the front door. The pub stayed open selling (legal) ‘near beer’ up the front and when it was safe, mainly whiskey back here.”

Pretty much every local in the bar is now peering over my shoulder. They’ve never known about this door and all are as impressed as I am!

There’s a kitchen in the front corner of the bar and I grab a chilli dog for afternoon tea but then it’s time to hoof it. I take my leave from Penny and the other locals. I tap Jack’s bobble head and he continues nodding as I walk out.

In the autumnal sunshine, from the rear, this triangular building looks almost two dimensional so I grab a shot for my “Thin Pubs” collection.

The effort’s been worthwhile: The Worthern House, Lowell. It’s not like an Aussie version, but it’s a good pub. Fullstop! D

INVADED BY INDIA

Two Royal Enfields join the fold, and the Sporty gets tyred

OuR LonG teRm bikes have been updated very recently and both of the new ones come from Indian manufacturer, Royal Enﬁeld. The ﬁrst is the sweet Classic 350 and the second is a Himalayan, which The Bear liked so much after his jaunt through Tasmania that he refused to give it back.

PUshING oUr BUttoNs

Royal Enﬁeld Classic 350

First up, let me introduce you to the Classic 350.

Royal Enﬁeld’s range has always been about retaining “original” charm, or characteristics if you prefer, and the Classic 350 is about as original as

you could be, except for the modern electric start. There is a kick starter, but I’m a Technical Boy so I am not going to use it when there’s a button to push. Call me a non-traditionalist, I don’t care, electric start is one of the best inventions – period!

The Classic 350 is carburetted, so of a morning the tucked away choke

needs to be pulled out or you’ll struggle to get the single cylinder twinspark engine thumping into life. Once fi ring, the Classic 350 is quite vibey and the solid-mounted footpegs, albeit rubber coated, give your feet and lower legs a good massaging while you’re riding. Power has continued to increase the more we ride it. When it fi rst turned up at the AMM carpark it would struggle to go over 90km/h on the traditional speedo, but that has now increased to 115km/h indicated after only 300km, which is what we’ve so far ridden it. I don’t expect too much more than that from the little 350 engine. Some more speed would be nice, which also means some more power at slower speeds. The Bear rode one of these around Sri Lanka and he reported that a fully run-in bike has a good turn of speed. Handling is light and reasonably fast. We might look at putting a set of knobbies on it just for a different look and the rear seat might come off. We’ll also look at ways to make the front sprung saddle more comfy, but all in all the Royal Enfi eld Classic 350 is a cracker of a new classic that attracts a lot of onlookers. Let’s see how it fares during the three months we’ve got our grubby mitts on it. SW

WANNA TAKE YOU HIGHER

Royal Enﬁ eld Himalayan

I ﬁ rst saw the 410cc Himalayan at its introduction in Milan, and I can tell you that I was immediately taken by it. It reminded me of my old XL250, only it already had some of the things that I had had to do to the Honda.

A solid-looking rack, strong suspension, comfortable riding position, a good-sized fuel tank, odd but effective-looking crash bars and, as it turned out later when I rode it, a comfortable seat (hallelujah!) combined for an interesting machine. It became even more interesting when I saw the proposed price, of course. At $5990 this looked like seriously good value. As some recent

models from China have demonstrated, a low price doesn’t necessarily mean good value but in the case of the Himalayan it deﬁ nitely does. Royal Enﬁ eld has taken the trouble to have much of the design work done in Britain, where they hired some top class talent to give the bike some gloss. Underneath that is the marque’s solid reliability –or that’s what I expect. Yes, I’ve raided the Bruin Bank and put my money down on a Himalayan. The bike has undoubted weaknesses; the main one is that it has a carburettor rather than fuel injection.

On a motorcycle that’s intended to allow you to tackle serious differences in altitude (it is named after the world’s highest mountain range) that’s odd. I guess there always has to be something the manufacturer can do to improve the next model!

To date I haven’t done any serious riding on the bike except for collecting it in Melbourne and riding it to Sydney, and since then I have mainly been commuting on it. That brings out a couple of weaknesses that long distance riding tends to hide: the bike is a little short on

bottom-end grunt and the knobby tyres don’t like wet tarmac much. It will be interesting to tackle both of those shortcomings, and I have no doubt that even when we do the total cost of the Himalayan will remain ridiculously low.

Here’s to an interesting few years on this Sub-Continental single, in the gravel and on the tar. Oh, and while I think of it: the way the name is incorporated in the paint job is quite neat, but I wouldn’t mind giving

the bike a custom paint job. Any suggestions? PT

GETTING TYRED

Metzeler ME888 Marathon Ultra White Wall tyres

Our long-term Harley-Davidson Sportster 72 has been used for a bit of tyre testing. That’s ﬁ ne, except it has meant that the bike has been running black tyres; and there is something about them that simply doesn’t look right on this bike. It cries out for white walls. Why is this so? I don’t know, professor, except perhaps the white helps to maintain the lightness of the way the bike appears. I’d say that any motorcycle that aims for a light, dare I say delicate, style the way the original design of the 72 does would

look better with white walls. Distributor MCA, which is where I had these tyres ﬁ tted, says that they are especially designed for custom touring bikes, which means they will not only help the appearance of your bike but also provide ultrahigh mileage; we’ll see how we go with that. I ﬁ nd it amazing that tyre manufacturers can combine excellent grip with long life, but we’re seeing again and again that they can. In the meantime, the ME888s provide the Sporty with smooth handling and both high and low speed stability. They also work well in the rain. Yes, I do take the Sportster out in the rain! Even if it takes bloody hours to clean all the chrome afterwards…

Oh, yeah, more elbow grease! I’m going to have to give the tyres

another scrub. The blue dye that protects the white rubber is quite hard to get off. But that’s good; it does a great job while it’s on there. If you’re running a custom bike or any other bike that aims at a light look, get proper, effective white walls and save yourself some money as well with their high mileage. Quite aside from the added safety their grip provides. In fact, maybe these Metzelers would even make a heavy-looking bike like a Harley 48 look better? PT D

MV IS WORKING HARD at improving its bikes with every year’s new models and the Brutale 800 which was once quite ‘rough around the edges’, so to speak, has been refined in a big way. So much so that I am mightily impressed with this sexy looking machine. The big update for me is the calibration of the fly by wire throttle. Where the previous Brutale was indeed a brute with a throttle that would nearly have its own mind, it is now one of the smoothest and most ‘connected’ fly by wire throttles on the market. This also translates into the quickshifter which has been calibrated to be silky smooth on the up change. Sadly it is still a little clunky on the down change, unless you’re up it for the rent. Not really a big deal as you can just revert to using the clutch on down changes, which makes things smooth.

Styling cues give the Brutale 800 an appearance like a work of art. It attracts onlookers like no other bike

but I wonder if art has taken over from people-based design as the lower sculpted edge of the tank fl ares outwards and digs into your (or at least my) inner thighs. If it was trimmed in by fi ve or so millimetres it would be fi ne, but art wins for now.

Having a short wheelbase, the Brutale’s handling is super-fast, if not a little twitchy over rough roads, but all short wheelbase bikes are like this. This year’s Brutale has actually had the wheelbase lengthened 20mm to 1400mm, but that’s still quite short. However, once you get the Brutale onto a nice piece of bitumen you’ll

feel the precision of the Marzocchi forks and Sachs shock and the joy only a short wheelbase bike can give. Both front and rear are fully adjustable to suit your preferences. One thing I’m not a fan of with the Brutale 800 is the seat; it’s like sitting on a plank of wood. The design of the seat looks nice and it’s soft in the middle part but the outer edges are thin which is where your butt cheeks sit, making it uncomfortable. Is that much of a concern to most potential buyers of this bike? I don’t think so as this will mainly be a café bike and weekend morning blaster. I’m sure if someone wants to do some travelling on an MV they would more likely be looking at the Turismo Veloce. Braking is powerful and precise as you would expect from Brembo. You can change the ABS settings and there are eight levels of traction control. On settings 1 and 2 you can still loft the front smoothly which is exactly what you want (as it will happen, and quite often thanks to

the short wheelbase), rather than just shutting the throttle ﬂat and you still have that level of safety if the rear starts to get out of shape.

Even though the previous Brutale 800 had enough get up and go for my liking, MV has increased power around 25 per cent. That’s certainly nice to have and rather than feeling like a regular mid-sized bike as it did previously, it now feels like it lives up to the ‘Brutale’ name.

Accessories are mainly aimed at further improving the exquisiteness of such a sexy machine. Bucket loads of carbon, billet and even a suede seat are just begging you to drool over them.

They say sex sells and this is the Brutale 800 all over, from the LED headlight to the small sexy instrument panel, right to the triple exhausts out of the right hand side and the sweet hole under the seat. If there was ever a chance of attracting the opposite sex to the bike you’re riding, give me a Brutale. D

SPECS

MV AGUSTA BRUTALE 800

PRICE: $18,699 (plus on-road charges)

WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance

SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months

ENGINE: Liquid-cooled inline three cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder

BORE x STROKE: 79 x 53mm

DISPLACEMENT: 798cc

COMPRESSION: 12.3:1

POWER: 86.5kW @ 11,500rpm

TORQUE: 83Nm @ 7600rpm

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain ﬁnal drive

SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 125mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 124mm.

DIMENSIONS: Seat height 830mm, weight 175kg (dry), fuel capacity 16.5 litres, wheelbase 1400mm

TYRES: Front, 120/70/ZR17. Rear, 180/55/ZR17

FRAME: ALS Steel tubular trellis

BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 220mm disc, dual-piston ABS caliper.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 6.98 litres per 100km, premium unleaded

THEORETICAL RANGE: 236km

COLOURS: Black Matt Metallic/Matt Silver, Pearl Ice White/Matt Metallic

Graphite, Red/Matt Silver

VERDICT: SEX SELLS

Styling up

Courtesy of Dririder

DririDer GT jackeT

Price – $449.95

The more gear that Dririder releases, the better the quality and ﬁt become. When I pulled the new leather GT jacket out of its bag I was amazed at just how good it looks and the quality

of the stitching, then I threw it on and wow! What a terriﬁc ﬁt – just as though I’d had a tailored jacket made just for me. I can’t say this about any other Dririder jacket I’ve had. Even Ralph commented, asking where I got the thousand dollar jacket. When I told him it was a Dririder and only

four hundred and ﬁfty bucks, he was somewhat surprised to say the least. And this has been the reaction of anyone to whom I’ve shown this jacket. So, what does it mean when you get a reaction like this? I suppose that Dririder has not been seen as a high end brand. Well, I think it isjust without the price tag.

The GT leather jacket uses premium 1.1-1.2mm stone washed vintage leather and the more it gets worn, the better and more personalised it becomes. Give it another couple of months of use and it will be by far my favourite all-round road jacket, if it isn’t already.

There are CE approved protectors in the shoulders and elbows that actual line up properly. I took out the EVA back pad as I feel it doesn’t do much except reduce the awesome comfort.

Quality doesn’t stop with the premium leather. The stitching is classed as high impact safety stitching and you get YKK metal zippers, which are nothing but the best. A removable lightly quilted inner vest is great for all but the coldest of days and there’s a neoprene collar which is very comfy around my neck. If you need a bit of adjustment around the waist, the GT has got it and there’s just the right number of pockets to carry the phone, house keys… and I suppose you should carry your licence. Ha!

I highly recommend the new Dririder GT leather jacket, it is one of the best leather jackets I’ve ever had and that’s saying something. It comes in Antique black and sizes S-4XL but as it is a bit of a tailored ﬁt, some Bear Army troopers might miss out when compared to a normal Dririder 4XL size.

See your local bike shop or visit www.dririder.com.au . SW

DririDer STorm 2.0 booTS

Price - $199.95

I’m happy to stand up and applaud whoever makes the sizing decisions at Dririder. Finally, an apparel

manufacturer has realised that Aussie blokes like me can have large feet!

Normally I take a size 49 Euro in just about any motorcycle boot and they require breaking in as the midsection is usually skinny. This equates to a US14 or UK13 but Dririder has produced what I class as ‘real-world’ sizing where a size 48 Euro is actually equivalent to a size US15, UK14 and the mid-section is comfortable!

I grabbed a pair of their Storm 2.0 boots as I liked the suede type styling and was amazed that it seemed I got one size too large! The Storm 2.0 is a plain, no frills looking boot otherwise (from the outside) with no toe sliders

sole for riding. But hey, to hell with that, a touring boot is made for riding and walking!

and robot like reinforcing, but the big feature is the 3-layer waterprooﬁng system with a breathable Hipora liner. Judging by the rain I’ve ridden in so far I can say they work a treat.

The other feature I’m a fan of with the Storm 2.0 is that you can actually walk around in them and not feel like some kind of Transformer. So, in other words, the Storm 2.0 is a proper touring boot that allows you to go for a walk off the bike and not come back feeling like you’ve broken an ankle. There is one trade off I’ve found though, and that’s that the boot lacks a little bit of stiffness through the middle section of the

Of course, Dririder has included plenty of safety features like moulded shin and TPU ankle guards, a shock absorbing EVA foam flex panel, ‘techno GI’ thermoplastic toe cap and heel, anti-twist moulded and anti-slip sole, TPU shift pad and you even get auto locking YKK zips with a Velcro cover flap. Inside there’s a polyester lining with open cell foam which is very comfy. Available in black and sizes 38-48 you really need to try a pair on to get your correct sizing and enjoy the benefits of a proper touring boot that you can comfortably walk in! See your local bike shop or visit www.dririder.com.au . SW

DRIRIDER

SUMMERTIME GLOVES

Price - $99.95

breathable liner which works a treat and doesn’t come out when your hands get sweaty.

IEveryone loves the summer time and the aptly named Dririder Summertime gloves will be fine for all but the hottest of summer days, I reckon. I have replaced my Dririder Stealth gloves with these new gloves and I am using them as a mid-season glove for days which range from 14-30 degrees. The Summertime is made mainly from leather with some textile mesh panels built in. There’s a moulded impact knuckle that’s not noticeable and for comfort you get an airgel palm pad, Tricot comfort liner and neoprene cuff. Other features include Nyspan on the fingers for dexterity, a double layer palm for crash protection and a decent Velcro closure that feels secure. Dririder has also built in a smart tip forefinger and thumb so you can swipe your GPS while on the move and not have to remove your gloves when stopped and wanting to quickly look at your phone. For only a hundred bucks the Summertime gloves are simply great to have. Available in Black or Coffee and sizes S-2XL, grab a pair and you’ll be singing Summertime all day long. See your local bike shop or visit www.dririder.com.au SW

For those colder days the Thinsulate C40 layer on the back of the hand lets you ride comfortably from around 6-17 degrees - perfect for what I wanted out of this glove. McFit technology means this glove has excellent fit and feel and really does “fit like a glove” when you put them on. There was no break-in period, I just wacked them on and rode. Clarino is essentially just like suede so for extra grip Dririder has added anti-slip silicone prints and as with the Summertime gloves you get a smart tip forefinger and thumb for your devices. Available in Black or Grey and sizes S-2XL see your local bike shop or visit www.dririder.com.au . SW

3DRIRIDER

TOUR-TEC GLOVES

Price - $109.95

DRIRIDER FLUID

GLOVES

Price - $99.95

I like a short cuff glove most of the time and getting waterproof short cuff gloves that offer a bit of warmth for cold days is near impossible. That is until Dririder recently released the Fluid glove.

of cold styled leather

I guess you could say the Fluid gloves are kind of like an adventure styled glove as they are predominately made from nylon with a Clarino palm and with leather protectors in some areas. They have Dririder’s mcTex waterproof and

Snow, ice and whatever else mother nature thinks she can throw at me during winter has me giving her the worldwide universal ﬁnger of ‘love’ (the middle ﬁnger) when I’m wearing Dririder’s Tour-Tec winter gloves. A full-on winter glove with heaps of warmth thanks to the mcFil 40Z back of hand insulation and the 20Z insulation palm and of course totally waterproof and breathable. Made from leather, softshell and spandex with shock absorbing protectors and mcFit comfort technology the Tour-Tec is proving to be an awesome asset in my range of gloves. Temperature range would be from around minus 2-12 degrees and the warmth makes them a little too hot for my liking above this temperature. But I always carry at least two pairs of gloves whenever I’m away to cover a wide range of conditions and your hands are pretty important for controlling a motorcycle, so keeping them comfy is paramount in my book.

As with the other two pairs of Dririder gloves above, the Tour-Tec comes with smart-tip built in and a nice Velcro closure. Available in Black and sizes S-2XL, see your local bike shop or visit www.dririder.com.au . SW D

THEY DO MEALS, TOO

Here’s your double clue to the Bear’s hangout this month: “Drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things – nose-painting, sleep, and urine.” Why is it a double clue? Well, consider not only the subject of the quote but also its author, and then think about where he came from. The actual name of the venue is quite unusual.

Answers to contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au.

So where could that confounded Bear be this month? Look south, and think about sitting in a quiet garden having a snack.

Well, well, beat you that time!

The Bears, Gifts & Souvenirs Cottage Shop is, of course, in Campbell Town in the middle of Tasmania. Nobody got it, although a few of you did have a brave go. The winner is Doug Vickery from Safety Bay, all the way over in Western Australia, who chose… Stanley. At least he got the State right, and he was easily the closest! Doug will by now have received the Dynaplug Carbon Ultralite and will have far fewer worries about getting a flat tyre. If my experience is anything to go by, Doug, all you need to do is carry a Dynaplug and you’ll never have a flat tyre anyway! Still, you can always help those of your mates who don’t have sufficient foresight, making you a popular person. Win-win, right?

Two chucks for the winner

The winner will become the proud owner of a MotoPressor Tyre Gauge, which comes with two chucks. A straight chuck for “easy to get at” valve stems plus a 45° chuck for those “not so easy to get at” valve stems.

We all know what a pain fuel station gauges are. Most are woefully inaccurate and impossible to get onto a motorcycle valve stem. Enter the MotoPressor Tyre Gauge…simply attach the MotoPressor Tyre Gauge to your valve stem, attach the fuel station chuck to the inline ﬁtting on the gauge and get an instant and accurate reading in PSI or KPA. No need to switch between the gauge and air compressor hose! Added a little too much air to your tyre? Simply press the air bleed button and adjust to your desired pressure. It’s enough to make you chuck(le).

HERE’S THE WINNER FOR #4!

FAR CAIRN RALLY MK 111 EVENT

SEPTEMBER 2016 , the original time slot for the 9th Far Cairn Rally was a time of great rains in that part of NSW west of Bathurst. It rained so much that a great deal of the State west of the Newell Highway went under! This included the Tottenham Racecourse, the site of the rally. As this is a motorcycle rally rather than a boat rally, the BMWTCNSW was forced to postpone to a date to be advised. So we waited.

Then joy of joys, a new date was announced. Then it wasn’t – a clerical error at Council level had caused a double booking and the horses had right of way, it is a horse racecourse after all.

Third time lucky WORDS/PHOTOS THE POSSUM

Postponed again.

Then a new date was announced and the eager herd made ready –Tottenham, here we come, travelling back in time to September 2016.

There were similarities with the ﬁ rst September 2016, as is rained heavily for most of the week prior to the rally, but only on the eastern side of the range.

Our expanded group formed up at Jerry‘s Place at Kulnura, the early arrivals scored coffee from the friendly staff, then we bolted off towards Wollombi and beyond. The Council was out early clearing a fallen tree from the road not far from Paynes Crossing which might otherwise have been a problem.

The dash along the Golden Highway was tempered by a certain organisation conducting ‘High Visibility Patrolling’. So

in due course we arrived in Narromine and took up rooms in the pub.

It is in need of renovations, but the new owners are working on that, and the beer was cold and the evening meal was excellent.

Saturday morning, and it was a short dash out past the cotton ﬁ elds and on to Albert, then Tottenham. Along this stretch, the ride leader had fallen asleep so a few of us took the opportunity to round him up and make a bolt for it.

However, when Paul went blasting past him on his Sportster, the leader came to life and really blew out the cobwebs as he regained the lead position!

The SA mob

The hard working committee

cough, cough...

Feeding the horde

VIETNAM

Arriving earlier than we had in previous years, we were able to get a good spot at the racecourse, while others in our group took up rooms at the pub. We also took the opportunity to try the Best of the West Cafe for lunch. It is a husband and wife show, and really friendly people who put up a great feed.

Settling in at the racecourse we took a wander and found a few of the regulars already in residence.

Jim from Newcastle was there on a new (to him) outﬁt he was working on mastering. It’s a well set up machine as it was previously Pogo’s.

The SA crowd were set up and commented on the lengths the organisers had gone to make them feel at home – even arranging a power outage for them! A misguided cockatoo had landed on the transformer at the top of the pole near the SA camp, and started playing with the circuit breaker until there was a loud explosion as the breaker tripped, and the cocky blew up and landed dead at their feet!

Over the rest of the afternoon more folk rolled in the gate and eventually just over 110 badges were sold, not too bad for a third time lucky event.

As the formal part of the evening rolled around, Club President Allan Peters welcomed everyone and introduced Ken Lovegrove from MARI (Motorcycle Accident Rehabilitation Initiative) who gave a brieﬁng as to the activities of the charity over the last year or so. MARI is the charity the BMWTCNSW supports, and it proﬁts from the Far Cairn that way.

MARI now has people on the ground from Townsville to Royal Melbourne Hospitals. Hospital social workers are aware of the work of MARI and the local volunteers, who are available to visit broken riders laid up in those hospitals.

Awards were next up and the SA mob cleaned up:

Longest Distance Male – 1290 km T.Mac from just out of Adelaide, Longest Distance Female – 610km Jan Bailey, Batemans Bay, Longest Distance Pillion – 1151 km Deb Gifford, Adelaide, Longest Distance Sidecar – 1137 km Allan, SA Oldest BMW Ridden to the Rally – Trevor on his 1973/5 Oldest Combined Age – 114 years, Stan and his 75/5, again ! And he is still wearing the boots he bought at the same time he bought the bike !

Combined Mileage (Club) - SA BMW Club Hard Luck Award – by popular acclaimation, went to the cocky!

The rafﬂ e went off next with a nice range of goodies donated by BMW Australia and Bici Moto.

For two days we had perfect weather, though as Sunday dawned through bloodshot eyes things looked a bit overcast.

The Tottenham Lions Club had done a great job feeding us Saturday night, and they backed up Sunday with bacon & egg rolls and plenty

of tea and coffee to soak up the excesses of the night before. Hint: dont drink with Paul, he likes Stones, then he just had to open the bottle of Dr Jurds Jungle Juice he had been carting around!

What had taken two easy days to achieve, had to be knocked over in one for the home stretch.

The clouds threatened from Dunedoo east, but we only saw a few light sprinkles. The White Rose Cafe in Dunedoo has a nice range of home made pies, and nice old school marble topped tables, well worth the time to stop. And we saw none of those ‘High Visiblility’ people – Sunday is indeed a day of rest.

From Broke the road was quite wet in places as we scooted along apparently half an hour behind the rain. Everyone had a cracking good weekend and injected a bit of cash into rural communities along the way. Small towns are now looking at wandering motorcyclists as a welcome stranger rather than our previous negative image, so keep up the good work.

And, the 10th Far Cairn Rally will be held in September 2017 at the Tottenham Racecourse, see the BMWTCNSW web site for the date (date not posted at the time of writing). There will also be movies shown after the raffles, unlike this time, when someone forgot to bring some of the equipment vital to put on the show...

If you like a long ride and good company, come to Tottenham next September. D

GRIZZLING

‘BYE, BOB

ROBERT PIRSIG, the author of Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance, has died at the age of 88, reports a US news service.

“The book sold 5 million copies worldwide,” it goes on, “many of them to people who hoped it would

How do you get down off a pile of balanced rocks like this?

You don’t.You get down off a duck…

teach them how to stringline the wheels of their bikes while sitting cross-legged and pondering the sound of one hand clapping.”

The 1974 book turned out to be the father-son story of a motorcycle trip across the western United States. Pirsig said that it “set out to resolve the conﬂict between classic values that create machinery, such as a motorcycle, and romantic values, such as experiencing the beauty of a country road,” according to Pirsig. The book became a best-seller, although going by the reaction of some of my friends (one of whom quoted Dorothy Parker with “this book should not be tossed aside lightly; it should be thrown with great force”) it didn’t, er, hit the spot with everyone.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was

rejected by more than 100 publishers, so maybe there’s a chance for my book Lapping Valves with The Flying Spaghetti Monster…

I think the book was interesting and stimulating, although I must admit that I have never re-read it. The worst thing about it (and about Jupiter’s Travels) is that it spawned so many imitations, with writers solving everything from psoriasis to mid-life crises by going for a ride. Okay, I lied about the psoriasis. I think.

SIGN ME UP – NOT!

The electronic sign at the entrance to my local trafﬁc tunnel, on Epping Road under Lane Cove, NSW, has nothing else to say it indicates that there is a tunnel ahead, and you should close your windows and put the air conditioning on recycle. I have not attempted to ask Transurban, the company that owns the tunnel, what motorcyclists (other than GoldWing riders, ha ha) are expected to do. Why not? Well, I asked a similar question some time ago about the M5 tunnel and was told that I should just stay out of it if I was on a bike. I can frankly do without another comment like that…

Peter ‘The Bear’ Thoeming

Hey, honey, I shrank the Harley…

Check out Arnold Schwarzenegger’s commuter bike…

CLASSICMORRIS

HE’S ON THE MONEY

WORDS LESTER MORRIS

THERE IS AN aftermarket accessory which has been available for some time in America to riders of very large motorcycles like the monstrous, 420Kg (920lb!)1800cc shaft-drive, sixcylinder Honda Gold Wing, its later iteration the 2003 Rune, and some of the other over-large Tourers from Japan and elsewhere.

The accessory of which I write is an electrically-operated centre-stand, a device which I suggested way back in 1974 should have been a standard ﬁtting on just about every motorcycle on earth over the size of 750cc.

I carried out a full road test report on that ﬁrst GL1000 Gold Wing for

REVS in late 1974, and suggested at the time that the bike would be greatly enhanced if a press-button, electrically-operated centre-stand were ﬁtted as standard equipment. If not, I made a further suggestion that a set of disappearing, retractable ‘training wheels’ might be a good idea, or even a small, electrically-controlled, collapsible alloy ladder which might fold up underneath the crankcase somewhere. Of course, my penguinlength legs might have had a lot to do with that thinking!

Clearly, the designers of the GL1000, and many other extremely large machines which were on the world’s roads in the days of the mid-seventies

– and indeed, beyond, as these types of Cruisers became ever larger - must have been the giraffe-like owners of legs considerably longer than average, for that friendly advice I provide free of charge was totally ignored by the lot of them.

Before you dismiss training wheels as some sort of a half-fast rave, it ought to be know that there was at least one motorcycle made in America (where else?) which actually had a set of retractable training wheels ﬁtted as standard equipment. It was the frightful Militaire, initially intended as a two-wheeled car – it was once claimed - because the original 1910 model was a single-cylinder device with a

large bucket seat, long footboards, hub-centre steering and … a steering wheel! The small ‘outrigger’ wheels were about 6” (150mm) in diameter and sat outside the rear wheel where they could be raised or lowered as necessary by a special pedal. It was said in a publicity blurb that the advantage of outrigger wheels was that one could come to a complete stop and accelerate away again without putting a foot to the ground. A twowheeled car indeed!

With great respect I suggest the long-wheelbase machine needed every bit of help those small wheels would give, even if its rider were to be endowed with legs which ﬁnished up at his armpits!

Later, post-WW1 Militaire motorcycles from 1915 were shaft-driven, 1000cc four-cylinder monstrosities with a three-speed car-type gearbox, huge, 28” woodenspoke wheels which looked as though somebody had pinched them from a Wells-Fargo stagecoach – except that they were ﬁtted with rubber, pneumatic tyres – footboards and

long, long handlebars. The machine continued to employ hub-centre steering, which should be no surprise because the wheelbase was so long there could be no other way to control the thing. It was said the bike was the longest machine in the world at the time, for it was just over eight-feet – or 2.5M - in length! Sydney legend Paddy Ryan owned a 1917 four-cylinder Militaire, upon which I perched myself very, very brieﬂy on just one occasion. It was a monstrous bike!

If outrigger wheels are not in evidence today, very handy though I suggest they might be for at least some of us, it must be noted that later K Series BMW motorcycles have at long last been fitted with a press-button electrical centre-stand, but it has taken almost 40 long years since the idea was first mooted before somebody (else) finally came up with the bright Idea of installing this essential accessory. It might also be noted that centre-stands have been around since Granville Bradshaw invented the first one as a standard fitting on his 1919 OHV ABC flat-twin, the simple device

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enjoying total acceptance not long afterwards. Clearly, the motorcycle centre-stand has remained virtually unaltered in its basic design for almost a century!

It might also be worth noting that the advanced 1919 ABC was fully sprung, employing swing-arm rear suspension with quarter-elliptical leaf springs to control wheel movement, a modern-looking double-cradle frame, drum brakes, effective carburation and magneto ignition. Most of the ABC’s design features were copied in 1923 when BMW introduced it very first side-valve flat-twin motorcycle which was shaft-driven but employed an almost identical quarter-elliptic front suspension to the ABC. There was no rear suspension. The BMW tank emblem was also very similar to the round logo on Bradshaw’s ABC, a fact which he made know very vigorously to the new German manufacturer. To digress even further, the ABC was made in the Sopwith factory, which was responsible for building the dominant Sopwith ‘Camel’ aircraft which was flown by Allied airmen

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during WW1. BMW, on the other hand, manufactured the engines which powered many of the German planes flown by the enemy in that conflict, including the tri-plane which was flown so successfully by the legendary ‘Red Baron’. Bradshaw also designed aircraft engines at the time - in fact much earlier, from the time he was all of 19 years of age! – which suggests he must have been very well aware of the history of BMW aircraft engines. It is little wonder he was not amused at the introduction of the new BMW motorcycle which he claimed had pinched much of his design.

Now where were we? Oh, yes, powered centre stands and training wheels. It must be said that even the heaviest motorcycle can be pelted about with reckless abandon once it is on the move because, in effect, it becomes almost weightless. But climbing onto these over-large machines is too often fraught with disaster for those of us of us who are vertically challenged, and it is here that the small, collapsible step ladder and/or training wheels would come in very handy. Clambering off again is equally fraught, and wheeling the things about is all but impossible, even with daily practice.

While working with Ron Angel in Melbourne in the mid-seventies, my daily ride home was often the threecylinder, 750cc Suzuki two-stroke ’Water Bottle’ which was hard to sell second-hand. It was a swift behemoth of a bike which was clearly too big for me, but I often rode it none the less. It could be ﬂung about with great enthusiasm into some ﬁrst-rate corners along the Yarra Boulevarde and was at least manageable when stopped at

traffic lights, but I unintentionally provided many a long minute of stifled amusement from Ron and Office Manager Norm Sharp when I had to slide sideways off the bike and attempt to wheel the thing about unaided in the showroom.

Another monster which should have employed outrigger wheels was the shaft-drive, six-cylinder K1300 Kawasaki I was forced to ride one late afternoon at Bathurst in the late seventies. The machine’s owner (without warning me what the machine was) all but demanded I ride his new pride and joy which he said was parked outside Heath’s Café in the main drag. I had spent the day in the commentary box atop Skyline and had already chatted to several other clients in the restaurant, many of whom followed us outside to that gigantic machine which sat in the gutter.

It was easy to plonk myself into the seat from my position on the footpath, but I wasn’t entirely sure that I could touch the ground with my feet as I took off, so I had to circle an out-of-sight block three times and then complete two laps of Mount Panorama circuit before coming back to Heath’s. I hoped that, in taking the time to do so, there might be no-one outside when I returned. There was nobody there, so I thankfully pulled into the gutter again and climbed off the ill-handling 315KG Monster onto the kerb. I still don’t know whether or not my feet would touch the ground when normally seated upon a 1300cc six-cylinder Kawasaki, but I’m not too sure that I want to know that anyway!

Outrigger wheels should have been at least listed as an optional extra on the

Kawasaki 1300, as they should have been – with an optional small stepladder as well, I suggest - upon another behemoth I rode in a test report I conducted for The Bike Book back in 1974. It was the fuel-injected, 1300cc OHC Sports Munch Mammoth, a 100(DIN) BHP – 125BHP SAEmonster I was asked to test for a full day in Melbourne. There was not one motorcycle on earth (including factory prepared road-race machines) which could have lived with that rocket-ship of a bike when it was ﬁred up in anger more than forty years ago, a machine which provided me with the biggest buzz!

But the bike had to be absolutely vertical any time I stopped and was poised on tippy-toe, or it would become absolutely horizontal almost immediately. I dropped it a few times at trafﬁc lights and tram stops during the test runs (once I dropped the bike with me still underneath it!) and I grew more than a little impatient with the many people who politely advised me that the bike was much too big for me: I knew that before I sat on the thing! When I looked about the bike before I initially rode it away, I facetiously asked the importer where the retractable training wheels or fold-up step ladder were; he looked at me very sideways indeed and suggested that he didn’t know if they were hidden away somewhere or were even suggested as optional extras. He was not really into motorcycles, having imported just two Munch motor cycles into Melbourne.

I recall he looked at me a bit sideway at the time, so I wasn’t entirely sure whether he was aware I was joking… or was I?? D

WHATSAYYOU

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!

THE SAVIOUR

Iplus a top of some kind). Clearly that wasn’t what I meant when I made that suggestion… courtesy at all times, please.

But Barry Bronowski hasn’t won the Alpine MotoSafe earplugs in this issue – they go to Peter Hopper who has been kind enough to augment some of Jacqui Kennedy’s tourist activities with their prices. Thank you, Peter, and long may the Alpines keep your ears in tune!

The Bear

F YOU KNOW me at all, you know that I’m not keen on preaching. I’d much prefer people to make their own decisions about all sorts of things, including motorcycling. When I do get carried away I sometimes overshoot the mark – some time ago I suggested that if you saw someone riding in obviously unsafe clothing, you should have a word with them about it rather than write to us and preach to the converted. I’ve now had a letter telling me that the writer had witnessed a mature age motorcyclist (or, as he put it, “a wrinkly old dude with a long grey beard”) loudly abusing a young scooter rider who was wearing a short skirt and runners (presumably

TRAVEL THANKS

Hi guys, I just wanted to say a big thank you for always producing your travel articles. I always dreamed of travelling overseas and ﬁ nally my dream has come true. I’m off to

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Hi Stuart, Jacqui Kennedy’s Postie Notes in Issue 50 turned out to be very timely. The place was pretty much blown apart by Cyclone Debbie but people in this part of the world are across these kind of weather challenges. The best way we can help now more than ever is by taking Jacqui’s advice and go visit. The weather now at its best and most of it is back in action. The bit I found lacking in the article was some pricing. I have been caught out with that kind of thing before. Visiting north west WA everyone said do the helicopter ﬂ ight over the Bungle

Indonesia for a week riding mainly on dirt roads. Wish me luck!

Thanks, Alexander

Enjoy your travels, Alexander! Cheers, Stuart.

Bungles. No one said that it will cost the same amount as you will pay to get to Perth. I am not saying it is not good value, I just need to be prepared for the pricing before I arrived.

So here is what you are up for to do the activities Jacqui sampled for us. The Reef Sleep is $440, the Jetski adventure is $190 and Ocean Rafting is $172 with lunch and a wetsuit. The Wings Mini 4WD drive adventure website is still down but please give them a call before you plan to go. I have heard it is every bit as good as Jacqui tells us. Please come up I am sure the place will blow you away. (Might be a bit soon for that pun.)

Talk soon

Peter Hopper Mackay BA #10

Thank you, Peter, and enjoy the quiet that Alpine MotoSafe earplugs bring. I thoroughly endorse what you say about visiting places that have had a hard time, to help them get back on their feet. As for the prices, I think you’re right there too. Jacqui? Do you copy? Mind you, most of the time Jacqui manages to ﬁ nd things that are free – The Bear

ELECTRIC SHOCK

Hey Bear, I was shocked (sorry ‘bout the pun) to hear that Zero motorcycles are pulling out of the Australian market. That’s a shame. I was kind of getting ready to shift to electric

because all my riding is going to be around town in future – the arthritis won’t let me go for long periods on a bike. Is this the end of electric bikes (motorcycles, not pushies!) for us in Oz?

CC Reardon, Mascot, NSW

No, CC, it’s not the end. Indeed, it’s more like the beginning. Zero hasn’t been able to make its business model work here, they say, but there are others who will. Keep an eye on BMW, Harley-Davidson, Indian and any number of smaller players. We’ll keep you informed about developments in electric bikes, at least the ones that affect Australia. You might have to change your name from CC to Volt – The Bear

wondering if you guys could offer some pointers on how to ride a sidecar? I hear it’s not like riding a normal motorcycle.

Regards

John

ABNORMAL RIDE

I saw on your Facebook page a video of Ralph riding the Ural sidecar. I’m

Yes, you are correct, John. Riding an outfit is nothing like riding a motorcycle. We’ve actually got a special feature in the next issue about improving your riding, so I reckon we’ll put a few tips in that. Cheers, Stuart.

READ IT,

ROSS!

Good morning, Stuart.

Our Bear [in Where’s the Bear] is on the Capricorn Highway at Longreach, outside the Qantas Museum, behind the camera. The other attraction in the town being the Stockman's Hall of Fame and Out-back Heritage Centre. The second half of the title covers the

Here’s a photo of where all good bears go for their… necessities…Peter Colwell Cheers from Montpelier, Idaho

That’s all very well, Peter, but it’s a long way to go for toilet paper from here in the woods… The Bear

WHAT SAY YOU

role of women in the pioneering days. Not a place to go into if you were a rural kid in the '50s; too much in there is handblisteringly familiar!

And if you're confronted outside your office by old shearers with pitchforks, buckets of hot tar and bags of feathers, that'll be because you mentioned (in the hint ) Unionism in the wrong place. You were referring, I assume to the beginnings of the Australian Labor Party with the big Shearer's Strike and THAT took place at Barcaldine (Barky) 110km east. They're quite sensitive about such things up there! Finally, Bear's Grizzling and " Beyond Riderless ". What a joy. If anything ever said " Here, hold my beer ", that's it. Limited only by inventiveness. Ok, I'll get out of your hair and go and do something constructive. Cheers, Ross Halpin

Hmm. If you read the story again, Mr Halpin, you will notice that the caption says, "On the way (if you come that way) you can find out a lot...". “On the way”. Not “there”. And is Barcaldine, or is it not, “on the way”? Hmm? - The (supercilious) Bear

UNZUD TO DORRIGO

Hi Peter.

Just read the article on our NZ trip. Great article. Brought back a lot of place names I didn’t remember. Brought back a heap of great memories. Especially the Glenorchy run. Isn’t that photo of The Heroes great? And perfectly captioned. Should be a talking point for a few of your readers. I’m hoping a couple of the troopers will turn up at Dorrigo for a catch up. Maybe the two other Peters can make it? One is from

Sydney and the other from Ballina.

See you at Dorrigo. Cheers

Rex Steel BA#3

Yes, Rex, I’m hoping the same. Acceptance has been pretty good for this one. Anyone else out there who would like to be part of the Bear Army, there are still chances to enlist – The Bear

NICELY DOES IT

Bear,

I have been reading your stuff for a long time and mostly I agree with you. But you wrote once that anyone who sees a rider in unsafe clothing should have a word with them, well, last weekend I saw (and heard) a wrinkly old dude with a long grey beard giving a girl on a scooter a hard time because she was wearing a short skirt and runners instead of safety gear. Mate, the last thing we need is fighting amongst ourselves. Can’t see that it would have done any good, either. She was just put off by the whole thing.

Barry Bronowski

Well, Barry, my comment was actually more a reaction to the people who kept writing to us and complaining about riders

with inadequate protection. I just thought that it was silly to preach to the converted by writing to us, when you could possibly help by drawing the “offender’s” attention to their clothes. Obviously, that didn’t get through to this bloke, assuming he had read my comment in the first place! But I take your point, and I’ll be more careful in future – The Bear

HIT THE NAIL AGAIN

Hi Peter,

I noted the photo of your bike parked outside the excellent QANTAS Founders Museum in Longreach, Queensland, in Australian Motorcyclists Magazine Issue 53. I recalled the couple of days I spent there waiting for a new rear tyre to be sent up from Brisbane for my Carberry Enﬁeld, back in 2014. We'd ridden up to the Gulf after the Ulysses AGM in Maryborough and were on our way home. With the QANTAS museum, the superb Stockmans' Hall of Fame across the road (they stamp your entry ticket so you can come back the next day if you didn't ﬁnish getting through the place) and the not-to-bemissed McKinnons Emporium in the main street, Longreach is one of my favourite places. A visit to the surreal Barcaldine down the road is also recommended.

What I am mainly writing about is the piece by Boris in the latest issue. "Hitting the nail on the head" doesn't do it justice. He is so right. I wrote a similar letter to the NRMA some years back (they didn't publish it of course, as I am sure they wouldn't publish anything by Boris either). Also included were my thoughts on the absolute stupidity of making learner drivers practice the same mistakes and poor driving practices of their mother/father/brother/ friend driving teachers for 120 hours! In my view, properly trained driving instructors should be training young people to drive. If they fail their test or lose their license they should be required to do the course again. Like Boris I just don't think Governments are committed to reducing road tolls because they have become so reliant on the money from the fines system. I despair when I see some of the things going on around me on the road.

As always, love the Magazine and read it cover to cover, every page.

Regards, Bruce Walker

To be honest, Bruce, I don’t understand why we don’t have complete ‘car’nage (sorry) on the roads considering the obvious lack of skill and lack of police presence. The German system of driver and rider training has a lot going for it; it is professional and effective (but also expensive). Once you’ve got your license in Germany you certainly don’t regard driving or riding as a right! You’ve earned it, and you know it – The Bear

HERMANN’S HERE

Dear Bear,

I was reading one of your back issues and I came across a note saying that your friend Hermann Weil (Hermann the German) had sold his touring business Motorrad Reisen. We, my wife and I, travelled with him a few times years ago when we were living in Germany, and we became friends. Did you know that he is still in the business? He now operates under the name Munchener Freiheit and mostly seems to do corporate tours with BMW, but I think next time we are back in Europe I’ll see if he has something that we can do. We are in our 60s now but I cannot see us giving up motorcycle travel until we absolutely must. The Ulysses Club is helping us to stay on our wheels. The magazine is good reading, and we both love the photos.

Best wishes, Alfons (Alf) the Austrian

Yes, Alf, I still run into Hermann occasionally. It’s a shame the big German motorcycle show is no longer in Munich; that was always a good chance to catch up and swap news – The Bear D

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AYOU MUST REMEMBER THIS

LL RIGHT, I ADMIT IT . I cannot remember how many motorcycles I have owned. It follows as a corollary that I can’t remember which motorcycles I have owned, but that’s not entirely so. I can do it one at a time, even if I miss out a few.

“Didn’t you used to have one of those?” said my mate Bungee, pointing to a Yamaha SR500 parked outside the pub. “Back when you were living in Camperdown.”

I looked at him suspiciously. “When did I live in Camperdown?”

“You know, when you were going to buy that bike from that movie.”

My memory might not be as good as once it was, but it’s still as good once as ever it was. “You mean the Toad Kawasaki from Stone? That was from [the now long-gone] Camperdown Kawasaki. I don’t recall living at any bike shops. The only bike like that one I’ve owned was an SRX6.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that. You stalled it in Liverpool Road outside that burger place and couldn’t get it going again because it didn’t have electric start! Haw!”

“I couldn’t have done. I owned it in Melbourne, not in Sydney.”

“No, you owned it up here. I remember one night…”

There’s no point in arguing with Bungee, who is called that because he always snaps back to have the last word.

But this business about the bikes I’ve owned bugs me. Of course, when I look at a bike I can remember if I’ve owned one. Or at least I think I can. Sometimes memories do get a little cloudy. I have fond memories of owning a Yamaha XS1100, for example, but it’s not true. Yamaha Europe lent me a bike for a sevenmonth trip around eastern and western Europe, North Africa and Asiatic Turkey. After that, it’s hard not to think it was my bike.

In one case I have owned more than one bike of one type: was it three or four Harley-Davidson WLAs I’ve owned? And did one or two of them have sidecars? No, one of those was a Harley 10/12, not a WLA, and it was stolen from outside my house in Rozelle. Another one with a sidecar belonged to Wallace & Knox, and it was my job to ride it. I’ve owned a Royal Enﬁ eld, a Clubman; and a BSA. Well, a BSA and a half. There was the beautiful Gold Star and then there was that awful, awful WLA Harley engine in the BSA plunger frame. It caught ﬁ re when I was riding it down Pyrmont Bridge Road

one afternoon. That means that I also owned three or four and a half WLAs. How many modern British bikes have I owned? The Triumph Tiger, Street Triple, two Bonnevilles… I’m sure there was at least one other Triumph. Oh, and that Hyosung we chopped…

One of my other mates who owns a K75 and is treated by everyone like… no, we won’t go into that… er, he raised a wellmanicured eyebrow and said, “What, no BMWs?”

Oh yes, plenty of BMWs. An R 69 S – no, sorry, that was an R69, which is even rarer than an S. An R 90 S. An R 60… no, two R 60s, one a stroke 2 and the other... who knows. I can’t remember. An F 650. One of the ﬁ rst R 80 GSs, and an R 80… what were they called? Like a GS but a road bike, a spectacularly unsuccessful model that was actually a nice bike. I haven’t owned a K Series, but I was tempted once by a hybrid between a K 100 RS and a K 1. A BMW shop in England which couldn’t sell its K 1s grafted the rear end, complete with panniers, from some (presumably crashed) K 100 RSs onto them. Looked neat, and of course much more practical than a standard K 1 which had no room for panniers. I didn’t buy it in the end. Damn. I’ve just remembered. I brought that SRX6 up with me when Mrs Bear and I moved to Sydney from Melbourne, along with the Kawasaki Turbo. Maybe I did stall it outside that burger joint. Right where the big MCA warehouse is now. What do you mean you can’t remember a burger place there? I’m telling you… D

BORIS

SERVES ME RIGHT

IT DOES A MAN good to sleep under the stars. Yeah, I know many of you are all about passing out in quaint country hotels, but I’ve never been a fan of sleeping in pubs. Their claustrophobic rooms remind me of suicidal shearers, and I’m always worried the owner will choose this night to burn his hostelry down for the insurance money. So I prefer resorts with pools, bars, and room service, or dossing under the stars like my ancestors used to do when they hunted mammoths.

These days, I am fortunate enough to choose whether I’m ordering Club sandwiches at midnight or reposing ’neath the vault of Heaven in a fetid sleeping bag.

But there was a time when circumstances did not permit such choice.

Like the night I lay whimpering near the highway in Coonamble hoping one of the passing semitrailers, hissing and grinding through their brakes and gearboxes three metres from where I lay, would run me over and end my misery.

At least I think it was Coonamble. It could have been Narromine. But there was a river involved, I’m certain of that.

Anyway, how I came to be a piece of sentient rubbish quivering on its footpath is a cautionary tale for the youth, lest they too ﬁ nd themselves on a swag beside a busy highway swathed in wretchedness.

Young motorcyclists must understand the ability to ride a motorcycle does in no way automatically confer upon one the ability to also water-ski.

Yes, it certainly came as a revelation to me, too. And I pondered it at length that evening in bastard Coonamblimine, as mosquitoes feasted upon my pain-riddled blood and my body hummed in existential agony. I was too disabled to even roll myself a few metres to the right and under the front axle of the next truck.

What led to this was an altogether harmless plan to go ride around the western arse-end of NSW with a bunch of mates. We’d stopped in Coonamblimine ’cos we needed petrol, then my mate remembered he had an old mate who lived two doors up from the servo who had a widow-making ski boat, three teenage daughters and a fridge full of beer.

One thing led to another and I found myself many beers later, tethered to the back of this bastard’s V8-powered ski-boat while his 18-year-old daughter held me from behind and giggled water skiing instructions in my ear. In those happy few seconds before I was torn from the water like a dugong lassoed by a ﬁghter jet, I could appreciate the similarities between motorcycle riding and water-skiing. Handlebars? Yep, got them! A few mates cheering me on? Cheers, blokes! Girl in bikini clutching my back? Always a good look.

I didn’t get any further with the checklist. Old mate hit the ionic plasma-thrusters on his ﬂoating space ship and I came up out of that water like Satan entering a nunnery. A Saturn V rocket doesn’t leave the earth’s atmosphere that fast.

Luckily, the bar was wrenched from my grip after the first bounce, so only two ribs and a small section of my chest cartilage was destroyed. And my life jacket ensured I floated back to the surface after first twisting something important and horrible in my groin when I hit the river on the last bounce. A whale crashing into the ocean from orbit couldn’t have displaced more water.

Some hours later, I had been transported to old mate’s house where a party was being thrown to celebrate the fact I wasn’t dead and no-one could be charged with my murder. I demanded and was given alcohol, all kinds of painkillers (some traditional, some not so traditional) and some military-grade muscle relaxants.

About an hour later, I desperately needed to become horizontal, so after a vain attempt at sleep in a house trembling to the bass-rifts of AC/DC turned to 12 on the stereo and awash with crazy yelling drunks, I dragged my swag into the tiny bike-packed front yard (the backyard was also full of drunks) which fronted the highway and collapsed.

Could I sleep? Nope. Some of the pain-killers I took were full of ephedrine. Could I move? Nope. I had miscalculated the dosage levels of the pain-killers and was encased in chemical cement – a lifeless, but fully awake and aware, corpse. I was also dangerously drunk and still in quite a robust deal of pain – so I could only lay on my back among all the bikes and breathe in shallow puffs, like a dog with a broken spine. Pissing without befouling myself was only possible if someone cared enough to roll me gently onto my side and hand me a container.

But no-one remembered to care. Not even my water-skiing instructor, who was still shamelessly wearing her bikini at midnight.

All that long and dreadful night my body whimpered to itself, my bladder cried and my mind raced madly, as mosquitoes I couldn’t swat drank my essence and semi-trailers shook the ground I lay on.

It was an appalling night under the stars.

But it did me good because I never went water-skiing again. D