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EDITORSPEAKS
Is there anything better?
THE WEATHER lately, albeit bad if you need water, has been awesome for motorcycle riding. Clear, crisp blue sky days and midtwenties temperatures are what I class as the best riding conditions you could ever ask for. You don’t freeze your butt off, or sweat like a hippo chasing a cheetah. You can get to your turnaround point and bask in the filtered afternoon sun and not have a care in the world – what a life motorcycling brings to the table. If you haven’t been out for a ride, do it now!
I’ve been riding a few different types of bikes during this time and no matter whether it was a big bore machine or a tiny 125 I’ve really had fun. I just wish my 1100 Katana was finished so I could be enjoying it. You’ll read about where I’m up to in Long Termers which is actually a little behind where the bike is at in real life. I’m waiting on the freshly painted bodywork. I’ve had to take it away from one painter and to another as the first guy was just taking way too long. Basically he’d done nothing which is frustrating as hell. The painter who now has it has got stuck into getting the tank, fairing and side covers all
prepped ready for some colour. I can’t wait.
Our regular photographer, Nick Wood lives along The Bells Line of Road at Bilpin, so we regularly head up his way for him to take awesome pics of us riding the bikes you see within these pages. We’ve also been sampling the lovely apple pies at a few of the places around Bilpin (the home of the apple) – you’ve got to be feeling your best for the photos! (As you can see above. Hahaha!)
Of all the places we sampled the best pies voted by Nick, Ralph and myself are at The Pie in the Sky (Bilpin). Savoury or sweet pies and sausage rolls are first class in our opinion, so drop in on your way to Lithgow or back to Sydney and tell them we sent you. The other place we found to be spectacular for breakfast and a wander around is The Potager Café at Mount Tomah Botanical Gardens. A stunning view with stunning food and coffee – check it out. I do suggest waiting until Spring to wander around the gardens with all the flowers and trees out in bloom. Where is your favourite place to visit for a coffee/lunch and so on? Let us know –contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au Cheers, Stuart.
Nick and Stuart ‘apple’ it up
LIFT OFF!
Get Routed owner Dave Milligan advises for his New Zealand shipments this coming summer that the Brisbane container is full (and there are 4 bikes on a wait list for a second Brisbane container; 10 bikes are needed to kick off a second container); there are 5 available spaces in the Sydney container and 4 in the Melbourne container – you’d better hurry! The current main attraction for Aussies taking bikes to NZ is very definitely the Burt Munro Challenge which runs from 8 to 11 February 2019. Get in touch with Dave now – Ph: 0412 689 849, Skype: Dave.Milligan6 or email dave@getrouted.com.au
a peak of 400A. Can be recharged from a wall socket or your bike and costs $138. The larger 400A, which will start all the above (motorcycles, watercraft, ATV/UTV, snowmobiles) and petrol car engines up to 6.0L AND 3.0L diesel automotive engines. It will also charge your phone or tablet through either of the two USB outlets and has a built in LED light. The complete kit weighs 1035g; battery capacity is 13500mAh with a starting current of 400A and a peak of 600A. Can be recharged from a wall socket or your bike and costs $168. See www. rockycreekdesigns.com.au to purchase.
NEWBIES
Yamaha has announced the availability of the new, heavily revised 2018 Tracer 900 and exciting new Tracer 900 GT. For 2018, major upgrades are designed to build on Tracer’s strengths as one of today’s most versatile and exciting all-rounders. The lightweight triple is now available in both standard variant without panniers and GT with panniers and more. Get to your local Yamaha dealer to check out all the new features! www.yamaha-motor.com.au
BREATHE NEW LIFE
JUMP TO IT
A jump starter pack will give you power anywhere, anytime. It is one of the most important pieces of emergency kit you can carry with you and Rocky Creek Designs has two new packs available. The smaller, 300A will
start motorcycles, watercraft, ATV/ UTV, snowmobiles and petrol car engines up to 4.0L. It will also charge your phone or tablet through either of the two USB outlets and has a built in LED light. The complete kit weighs 835g; battery capacity is 7500mAh with a starting current of 300A and
FEEL ELECTRIC
Production of the Vespa Elettrica will begin this month. The long-awaited electric version of the world’s most famous and beloved scooter will be produced at the Pontedera plant in the province of Pisa, the same one where a Vespa first rolled off the line in the spring of 1946. Today, Vespa manufacturer Piaggio is one of the world’s technological leaders in terms of design, development and production of advanced mobility solutions. Look for it hitting our shores later in the year or early next. www.vespa.com.au
Nikwax, the experts in maintaining quality and protecting your outdoor possessions, have launched Glove Proof, waterproofing for all leather and fabric gloves.
Designed to maintain breathability, Glove Proof also maintains palm grip, ensuring that you are always prepared in any slippery situation. Not only a time saver, Glove Proof is a cost-effective solution designed to extend the life and performance of your gloves. Improving the overall condition of your gear, Glove Proof restores water ‘repellency’ and conditions leather, replacing tanning agents. Priced at $16.50, visit www. nikwax.com or leading outdoor and snow retailers nationally. D
TRIUMPH SPEED
TRIPLE RS
REMEMBER THE ‘Original Hooligan’? The fi rst Triumph Speed Triple released back in 1994 is the hooligan I’m talking about. It was an instant favourite with stunters and basically, mad poms that would ride… just like a hooligan! Rolling through twentyfour years since that fi rst Speed Triple release the things worth noting were the move to twin round headlights in 1997, which lasted until 2011 and really caused a stir among the Speedy purists when Triumph changed to the new styled headlights. I can remember people saying, “Oh, they won’t sell another Speed Triple unless it’s got round headlights”… and the huffi ng and puffi ng went on. But, you know what the Speed Triple has only got better with each year that’s passed and the new 2018 model is one that I class as being the best of them all. It looks awesome, has more power, more features and handles better –it’s a big bore naked that fi ts the ‘hooligan’ moniker to a tee. For the launch of the new Speed
Triple I headed to sunny Queensland for a road ride the first day, then a freezing cold start for our track day at Morgan Park Raceway on the second.
Previously Triumph has sold two versions of the Speed Triple – the S and the R. This is now only going to be one bike – the RS, which as you can gather is the top of the range Speed Triple. Triumph has seen a trend towards buyers wanting the best of the best and the RS has all of that and more. Let’s take a look.
The triple cylinder engine has seen 105 new parts for this year. In a nutshell, it revs harder and spins up faster than ever before and this is something I always thought of with the previous model: you hit the rev limiter way too early. To make the engine rev faster the crank has been lightened. New aluminium Nikasil cylinder liners are fitted, heavier valve springs are also in for the higher lift camshafts and bigger fuel injectors flow more fuel for a bigger bang! Compression has been raised from 12.25:1 to 12.9:1. As you can imagine all of these improvements help the triple produce more power and more torque than before.
Claimed to be 7% more overall peak power with the specs being 110kW and 4% more torque at 117Nm. If ever there was a hooligan tag for a motorcycle – the increase in power, torque and the punchy characteristics of this triple cylinder mean the Speed Triple has it.
Mated to the engine is an improved gearbox. Gone is the slight notchiness of the old model and a precise feeling as you snick into each gear is now what you get. If you’ve ever seen inside a motorcycle gearbox you will have seen a bit of metal looking like a ‘ninja star’: this is called a Detent Wheel and this little piece of metal contributes to how well a gearbox will change gears – an improved shape and more ‘Ninja’ is the major improvement that makes gear changing a lot better now. An assist and slipper clutch also contributes to how the Speed Triple reacts to the way you ride. All of the
bikes on the launch had been fi tted with the accessory bidirectional quickshifter ($553.65) and this is a must in my mind.
In total, three kilos have been shed by the new Speed Triple. Doesn’t really sound like a lot but reducing weight means a faster accelerating machine and also one that handles better.
The RS version comes standard with Ohlins suspension. It’s totally adjustable front and rear, but I found on the road I was rather happy with the standard settings whereas some of the lighter riders preferred some compression taken out of the shock. For the track I had loads more compression wound into the shock, along with a couple of clicks of rebound; on the front I ended up with only half a turn of preload. Any more and I found it would push the front.
There are other premium features on the new Speedy. Arrow exhausts, TFT dash, carbon fi bre pieces throughout and a keyless fob ignition. We all found this was a bit of a pain for track riding, especially those without an internal pocket in their leathers. However, it is rather convenient for road riding and this was no doubt Triumph’s intention for its introduction.
The full colour TFT dash is just like the new Tiger’s (featured in issue #66) and is jam-packed with info and settings to be adjusted.
On the road, all of the new electronics such as cornering ABS, traction control, the fi ve rider modes (Rain, Road, Sport, Track & Rider) and cruise control work seamlessly. On the track I did try Track mode in my fi rst session but found it too restrictive for my riding style. The bike came alive once I turned it to Rider mode with traction and ABS turned off and the throttle map in Road. Don’t take this as something you should do unless you are quite skilled as the traction control does work well, as does the ABS –especially the cornering ABS where you can mess it all up and still get around a corner. It is technology that
requires big kahunas to activate on purpose as it doesn’t feel natural to try and lock the front brake while cranking over into a corner, but the time you do need it you probably won’t even know it has saved your butt from ending up on the road! I preferred Road throttle map for both road riding and on the track. I could come off a corner smoother and faster than in Sport which I felt was a little harder to ride superfast. Braking is mega powerful with Brembo M4.34 radial Monobloc calipers. There’s also an adjustable ratio master cylinder. 19, 20 and 21mm is what you can choose from. 19mm means a softer lever and more feel… 21mm obviously means a harder lever and less feel. I preferred 21mm as I could get harder on the front brakes whereas with 19 or 20mm the lever would come back too far towards the handlebar.
Ergonomics have also been looked at. A new “comfort” seat is fi tted which has 3D net inserts, medical grade foam and, for the visual aspect, nice red stitching. Seat to peg height is sporty but pretty good for all day riding and the handlebar has you with just weighted wrists. Accessories are extensive and will suit all tastes. The bikes we rode during the launch had the bidirectional quickshifter (as mentioned), rubber Triumph tank pad, frame protector kit and CNC machined fork protectors – sounds like Triumph doesn’t trust us or something? LOL!
Fit and fi nish as you look around the Speed Triple is probably the best I’ve seen on any Triumph before it. It really does have the class to go with the hooliganism and the crowds of people who poured their googly eyes over the handful of bikes we rode during the launch says it all. Everyone was impressed and the old, “thumbs up” was given numerous times. So, get to your local Triumph dealer and give one a whirl. Make sure you’ve washed your hands so your thumbs up are nice and shiny. D
SPECS
TRIUMPH SPEED TRIPLE RS
PRICE: $22,700 (plus on-road charges)
WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance
SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 16,000km or 12 months
ENGINE: Liquid-cooled in-line three cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder
BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 255mm disc, twin-piston ABS caliper.
FUEL CONSUMPTION: N/A
THEORETICAL RANGE: N/A
COLOURS: Crystal White, Matt Jet Black
VERDICT: HOON IT UP, MAN!
FOCUS ON THE… BOOTS! boots
Time to play footsies compiled by
stuart
You know those things you walk around on – your feet, they are rather important and riding a motorcycle means you need to look after them even more. The worst thing that can happen is you grind your toes away, break your bones and smash your ankle into a million pieces. If you want to walk and function properly,
then wearing proper motorcycle boots to provide protection is the only way to go. Trust me, I’ve seen what happens to someone’s feet/foot when they’ve ground them/it away while not wearing the right boots, it’s not pretty. We put the call out to the distributors of motorcycle boots and those who want you to be protected have supplied the following from their latest product lines…
DRIRIDER
www.dririder.com.au
U R ban b oot - $149.95
Made from heavy duty canvas and leather upper featuring a comfort mesh breathable liner, double stitched in high stress areas, nylon inner ankle protector, cushioning insole with high-level breathability, fastener laces with zipper for easy fitting and stitched natural rubber sole that offers excellent comfort and grip. Available in sizes 36-46 and colours Black, Charcoal, Red, Navy, Wine, Khaki, and Teal.
I R IDE 3 - $169.95
CE approved casual styled boot made from real leather and featuring a Hipora waterproof and breathable liner, moulded nylon ankle guard, polyester lining with open cell foam for comfort, techno GI thermoplastic toecap and heel, antitwist moulded nylon mid sole and a vulcanised high-density anti-slip sole. Available in Black, sizes 39-48 and Coffee, sizes 41-48.
SIDI
www.mcleodaccess.com.au
Gav I a Go RE - $399.95
Touring boot made with an upper
in full grain Technomicrofiber and lined with a Goretex waterproof and breathable membrane, full length inner gaiter, padded shin plate, internal ankle pad, external ankle protection, flex comfort panels front and rear, Velcro closure, nylon inner sole and removable arch support and a rubber sole. Available in Men’s, sizes 42–48 and Ladies, sizes 37-43.
P ER fo R m ER - $299.95
Sport touring boot that features a Technomicro base material, front calf plate with four small mesh panels for airflow, rear calf has six mesh panels for movement of heat away from the rider’s foot, replaceable nylon toe scuff pad, internal inner and outer ankle protective caps, malleolus external plastic guard with ergonomic closed cell foam padding, nylon inner sole with removable arch support pad, double stitched, zipper and Velcro closure system, elastic panel adjacent to the entry zipper, nylon shin deflector plate, fully encapsulated heel cup, lined with anti-abrasion Cambrelle, upper lined with Teflon mesh, dual compound sole and a DuPont polymer toe shift pad. Available in Black, sizes 42–48 and Black/Red, sizes 42–47.
Roa RR - $499.95
This road/race boot is constructed in Technomicro materials and features CE approval, double stitching, lining with Teflon mesh for sweat evaporation, outstanding fit with Techno 3 adjustable calf system, anti-twist external ankle support braces, shock absorbing TPU heel cup, the patented and trademarked Vertebra System which protects the rider’s Achilles tendon, nylon shin deflector plate, nylon inner sole with removable arch support pad, aerodynamic nylon toe scrapers, closable side air vent, dual compound sole, elastic panel adjacent to the entry zipper and all bolt on parts are replaceable. Available in sizes 40–48.
bm W moto RR a D
see your dealer or www.bmwmotorrad.com.au
a ll R o U n D - $340
The name says it all. With this rugged touring boot, riders can explore far-flung places all year round. It offers maximum protection against the wind and rain thanks to the breathable Goretex membrane and a robust material blend of cowhide leather and Cordura. Available in Black, sizes 35-48.
SPECIAL FEATURE Boots
VENTUREGRIP - $450
A year-round boot that combines all the best features for touring and enduro riding is an absolute must-have. This allrounder made of full-grain cowhide leather comes with non-slip soles, a waterproof, windproof and breathable liner and a host of carefully designed safety features. Available in Brown, sizes 36-48.
SNEAKER DRY - $350
Full-on motorcycling boots aren’t always necessary for a flying visit to the city. Keep it simple on the streets with a pair of casual sneakers. Of course, they also offer optimum comfort and safety in all kinds of weather thanks to robust ankle protection and breathable OutDry technology. Available in Black, sizes 39-48.
TCX BOOTS www.linkint.com.au
EXPLORER EVO
GORETEX - $299
TCX’s most popular all-weather Touring boot, the Explorer EVO Goretex is comfortable, protective and designed for big days in the saddle. A Goretex lining keeps your feet dry in all conditions and the elasticised
zip and extra strong Velcro closing system aids security and fit. Available in Black, sizes 36-48.
HERO WATERPROOF - $379
Part of TCX’s Vintage series, the Hero Waterproof is a full grain leather traditionally-styled lace-up boot with a commando style sole for grip and comfort. A waterproof lining keeps your feet dry; the toe, heel and ankle areas are fully protected by CE certified armour. A side zip makes the Hero boot easy to put on and take-off and the sharp urban styling means you won’t look out of place in the boardroom! Available in polished Vintage Brown, sizes 36-48.
LADY AURA PLUS WATERPROOF - $299
Part of TCX’s Women’s Line, the Lady Aura Plus Waterproof is a full grain leather all-weather touring boot specifically design to be a great fit for women’s feet.
The covered zip and Velcro closure system are very secure and the flexible lower shin area combined with a grippy sole and 2.7cm heel are all designed to make the boot comfortable on or off the bike. Like all TCX motorcycle boots this is CE certified for safety, and the high quality leather and durable European construction guarantee years of safe and comfortable riding on our highways and byways. Available in polished Black, ladies sizes 35-42. DAINESE
www.cassons.com.au
NEXUS D-WP - $369.95
The same top quality and outstanding sport touring protection of the Nexus with the addition of a D-WP waterproof layer so the weather can’t dampen your spirits. Advanced design features make this hi-tech boot exceptionally comfortable, whether you’re exploring on foot or eating the miles in the saddle. Available in Black/ Anthracite, sizes 42-47.
STREET BIKER AIR - $199.95
Comfort, protection and fashionable colours are the key words for Street Biker Air shoes that were designed for young, fashion conscious buyers. They are made from perforated
cowhide that has passed every abrasion test and thus guarantee excellent safety (CE - Category II certified). The comfort which characterises Street Biker Air shoes makes them a perfect alternative to normal summer sneakers while providing better protection and safety on the road thanks to rigid inserts at the heels and reinforced insoles. Available in Carbon/Dark Red, sizes 41-46.
CENTAURI
GORETEX$499.95
The most structured Touring boot in the Dainese collection, the Centauri is as tough and practical as its beefy good looks suggest. Certified to CE – Cat. II, it combines a fullgrain leather upper with Goretex membrane, ankle reinforcement, strengthened toe cap, thermoformed shin insert and padded top collar to bring you outstanding protection and comfort. Available in Black, sizes 43-47.
GAERNE
www.cassons.com.au
G-STONE GORETEX - $399.95
Gaerne presents the new Cafè Racer line, unique design products and exclusive vintage style to complement the look of a real Racer. G-Stone Goretex has been designed for true Rockers. Built in soft, full-grain leather, it features a zip closure and lateral velcro fasteners and laces at the front for personalized adjustment. Malleolus and gear protection, padded collar in soft leather. The sole with dotted tread guarantees maximum grip on all types of terrain. The
internal Goretex lining makes the shoe waterproof and breathable. Available in Black, sizes 42-47.
GP-1 EVO - $499.95
The all-new GP1, the latest product from Gaerne’s research and development centre, is the ultimate racing boot. Close collaboration with champions, technological innovation, attention to detail and comfort, Italian styling and fifty years of passion and experience characterise all Gaerne products. Available in Black, White or Red, sizes 41-48.
G-VOYAGER - $249-.95$279.95
Gaerne now adds a shoe to the fashion market with the new G-Voyager boot. It aims to combine the comfort of a casual shoe with the technical equipment of a product from the bike scene. The G-Voyager is either suitable for those who use their bikes every day,
especially in cities, and that require a product that is able to combine style and safety, or those who want to look a bit more fashionable when they take their bike out for a ride. Available in five colours and sizes 38-47.
www.cassons.com.au
RIDER BOOT$159.95 - $199.95
The all new ONeal Rider Boot steps into a class of its own. Built to the quality of a first class boot but sold at an entry level price it features a traditional stitched sole, durable construction, fully adjustable four buckle closure system, tough sole with metal shank, injection moulded plastic shin plate and protection, guards left and right to protect bottom buckle and a built in heat shield. Available in five colours and Peewee, Youth, Women’s and Men’s sizes: you can kit out the whole family!
RIDER SHORTY ATV - $159.95
Short off-road styled boot with injection moulded plastic plates, metal shank insert, easy to operate, snap-lock adjustable two buckle closure system, durable Goodyear welt sole, metal toe guard, moderate
grip sole, air mesh interior, generous heel support and cushioned insole for extra comfort. Replacement straps and buckles are available. Available in Black, sizes 7-13.
RJAYS
www.rjays.com.au
STRIKE - $139.95
Lace up boots with leather/canvas upper construction which are 100% waterproof and breathable, reinforced heel and toe protection, low cut heel for style and comfort, double stitched with heel loop for easy use, slip/oil resistance rubber sole and dual ankle cup protection. Available in Black, sizes 41-48.
BELLA - $179.95
The all new Bella boot from Rjays is a classic sport touring boot designed for ladies. This 100% waterproof/ breathable boot is perfect for riders or pillions alike and comfortable enough to wear all day. Available in Black, ladies sizes 37-42.
TOUR-AM II - $189.95
The all new Rjays Tour-Am II boot is the perfect all-rounder. Whether you are touring around Australia, commuting to work or just after a
comfortable pair of boots, the Rjays Tour-Am II boot has it all. Available in Black, sizes 37-48.
SCORPION
www.cassons.com.au
REBEL - $149.95 (SHORT), $169.95 (LONG)
Great looking, traditional styling and a tough motorcycle boot. Comfortable all-rounder, whether you are on a cruiser or a sportsbike, and when you’re off your bike. Stretch panels on ankles for easier fitment and added comfort (on short boots only). 100% genuine leather with oil and chemical resistant rubber soles. Available in Black - long or short lengths, sizes 6-13.
PHOENIX - $149.95
Casual styled boot made with a leather upper construction, 100% waterproof, 100% breathable, dual
stitched, lace up, ankle protection, reinforced heel and toe protection and a slip/oil resistance rubber sole. Available in Black or Antique Brown, sizes 6-13.
ROGUE - $149.95
Made of 100% genuine leather, the Scorpion Rogue boots combine a high level of comfort with a non-slip rubber sole for all day use. They also feature a triple stitched construction around the foot, rounded toe with shift pad, buckle adjustment at calf, solid rubber ‘traction pattern’ oil resistant sole and a lower heel than the Scorpion Rebel boot. Available in Black, sizes 7-13.
ALPINESTARS
www.monzaimports.com.au
BELIZE DRYSTAR OILED LEATHER - $379.95
A sports touring boot that incorporates Alpinestars’ Drystar waterproof membrane under its leather and advanced microfiber chassis, the Belize Oiled Boot is designed to offer flexibility and comfort on the toughest of trails. Featuring a new lateral ankle closure and an innovative flexi-blade
Eight zipped ventilation openings provide cooling when needed
Eleven pockets – four of which are completely waterproof –offer plenty of storage space Stretch inserts and width adjusters guarantee a perfect t.
special feature Boots
system the low-cut boot features Alpinestars’ exclusive vulcanized rubber for grip and control on the bike’s footpegs. Available in sizes 8-13.
Toucan Gore T ex - $569.95
A technical and durable touring boot brimming with intelligent design features, the Alpinestars Toucan Goretex boot is ideally suited to long days in the saddle. With 100% weatherproofing provided by a GTX liner, integrated protection systems and superb comfort and flexibility the Toucan Boot is indispensable for rugged roads. The Toucan’s unique buckle design is pulled straight from Alpinestars’ dirt boots and helps to shed dirt and mud while maintaining a low profile to minimize the likelihood of damage to the buckle or your bike. Available in sizes 8-13.
SM x -6 V2
Gore T ex - $399.95
With evolved front and rear accordion flex inserts, the SMX-6 V2 Goretex is a waterproof and breathable performance boot for track and street. Anatomically profiled and packed with innovative features, this CE certified boot incorporates the latest in footwear design and development with every component carefully chosen for a crucial performance edge and
keeps you on the track for longer. Available in sizes 40-50.
r ST
www.monzaimports.com.au
Tundra ce WP - $199.95
CE certified touring boot made with a PU coated leather construction, PU shin, ankle and heel protection, Sinaqua waterproof, breathable membrane, moulded anti-twist mid sole and vulcanised, anti-slip rubber sole. Available in sizes 39-48.
Para G on II ce WP - $249.95
CE certified sport touring boot made with a PU coated Nubuck leather construction, Sinaqua waterproof, breathable membrane, PU shin, ankle and heel protection, moulded anti-twist mid sole and double stitched seams. Available in sizes 40-48.
daYT ona www.innotesco.com.au
ac -Pro - $285
Great through the bends and comfortable into the café, the AC-
Pro is a low cut boot made from a mix of smooth and perforated leather featuring laces plus Velcro, elastic, pleasantly soft boot opening, textile lining (100% polyester), donning aid (pull loop on the back shaft), anatomically shaped climatic insole, two-sided ankle protection, padding on the inside at the ankle with open-cell special foam, abrasion-resistant PU foam reinforcement, extreme resistance to twisting yet is still easily rollable thanks to plastic reinforced sole with a hot-galvanised steel insert, non-slip rubber sport sole and highly abrasion-resistant replaceable titanium grinder. Available in Black, sizes 36-49.
e V o VolT ex Gore T ex - $914
Claimed to be the ultimate in motorcycle boots, this latest version of the inner and outer boots has the best of everything. Features of the outer boot include: particularly tearproof, soft, hydrophobic cowhide, extra water-repellent and greased, Velcro fastener for different calf sizes, shinbone protection with padding inside, two plastic sliders located at most dangerous places, covering by leather, highly elastic areas at instep an heel for more flexibility, reinforced gear change cushion from abrasion resistant
ARAI XD4
Street. Dirt. Adventure. Touring. Whether your ride of choice is tarmac or trail — or equal parts of both — Arai has the perfect helmet for all of them : the XD4. Renowned for years as the industry standard for comfort, quality and protection, the XD4 features Arai’s proprietary FCS ® cheek pad design, class-leading venting, a fully removable and washable interior, and a sleek shell shape and high-flow peak and side cowl vents that deliver excellent aerodynamic stability at street speeds.
The Arai XD4. Standard- setting performance, on road and off.
special feature Boots
PU foam, air intake, 3M-Scotchlite reflectors, titan sole abrasion resistance (screwed on), a plastic reinforced inner sole with a hot-dip galvanised steel inlay and special racing sole with extremely rounded carbon-heel. Features of the inner boot include: waterproof and breathable by Goretex duratherm membrane, safety-element: plastic hard shell, shock-absorbing latexpadding in the calf, ankle and heel areas, robust plastic hard shell with hinged joint, sweat-absorbing soft textile lining (80% polyamid/20% polyester) and an anatomically formed heel bed and climatic insole. Available in four colours, sizes 3649, you can also purchase the inner and outer boots separately.
M-Star G t X - $524
If you’re looking for a way to get additional height without resorting to a casual styled, chunky heel that isn’t protective enough, light enough, or strong enough for riding then try the new M-Star from Daytona - the special men´s boot for a higher stance and easier rest. Six centimetre higher heel than normal boots can mean that bike you thought had too high a seat can now be yours. Some of the features of the M-Star include a hydrophobic special full cowhide construction, watertight and breathable with Goretex climatic membrane, textile lining (80% polyamide/20% polyester), Velcro fastener for different calf sizes, two side zip fasteners to get in quickly and easily, leather covering, nylon velcro fasteners, reinforced gear change cushion from abrasion resistant PU foam, PU foam sole and an anatomically formed climatic insole. Available in Black, sizes 40-43.
www.ficeda.com.au
Mi X t O 2 - $319.95
Adventure boot that features a fullgrain oil-treated leather upper and High-Tex membrane, contoured PU moulded shin plate, D30 material ankle cups, micro-adjustable buckles closure, leather heat-shield and a heavy-duty textured Vibram sole. Available in Brown, sizes 38-47.
Ja C ka L a ir - $179.95
Short casual styled boot which features a micro synthetic upper, air-tech membrane, PU reinforcements on toe, malleous and strap closure, D30 ankle cup inserts and a high-grip rubber racing sole with PU heel stabiliser. Available in Black/White or Black/ Red, sizes 40-46.
www.ficeda.com.au
S OL dier e v O - $199.95
Casual styled boot featuring a strap on the front, sleek and anatomic tongue, rear buckle, anti-bacterial internal sole, anti-skid external sole, CE certified, reinforcements on
selector, transversal rigidity to avoid lateral crush and a reflective stripe on back and side. Available in three colours, sizes 36-47.
www.andystrapz.com
S OC k S - $17 a Pair (3 P r
FO r $46) PL u S POS t
Everyone needs socks when wearing motorcycle boots and Andy Strapz has the perfect ones waiting for you to purchase. Often referred to as “over the calf” Andy has them made exclusively for us in Australia. They are 60mm longer than standard socks, long enough to protrude over the top of bike boots. Made from 85% fine (non-itch) Merino wool. The great thing about wool is that it works in hot or cold conditions. Wool breathes better than many modern “breathable” fabrics, is stink resistant and keeps you warm when wet. The other 15% is made up of cotton heel and toe reinforcement plus a unique, gentle Lycra stay up top. They also have extra padding in the sole for all day wear. Available in black and three sizes; 2 – 8, 6 – 10 and 11 –14. D
ULTIMATE COMPANION
The Scrambler phenomenon has seen a new member spawned – the Ducati Scrambler 1100. I was a little sceptical of the 1100 when I first heard and saw pictures of it late last year. I didn’t think there was a place for it in the market as the 800 version is more than enough motorcycle to fit the bill as a daily rider and weekend blast machine. I also thought it looked too big - that was until I rode the 1100.
Ducati has followed their original line of Scramblers from the ‘60s by offering three engine sizes – 400, 800 and now 1100. Of course, back in the 60s it was much smaller with a 250, 350 and 450; try getting one of those in great condition nowadays and you’ll be paying similar money to the new models.
There are three versions of the 1100 – the ‘standard’, Sport and the one we rode, the Special. Each bike has unique parts with the range topping Special taking its cue from customisation. It has a “modern classic” feel with blackspoked wheels, chrome exhausts and aluminium front/rear mudguards. The
“Custom Grey” colour is unique to this version, as is the brushed-effect swingarm and the adjustable front forks with gold-coloured anodized sleeves. Other distinctive ‘Special’ elements include low-slung tapered handlebars and a brown seat with a special cross pattern.
Sitting on the 1100 Special I was immediately comfortable. The lower handlebar is set perfectly for me and the seat offers plenty of cush for the butt. I haven’t sat on the standard version but I dare say the handlebar may be too high for many, going by how good the Special is set up. The big change for me over the 800 version is the extra seat-to-peg height. I always found the 800 was a bit cramped.
The Scrambler 1100 is powered by a Euro 4 compliant oil/air-cooled 1079cc L-twin two-valve engine. A development of the Monster 1100 engine of a few years ago, it really fits in well with the ethos of what Ducati is selling you with a Scrambler. It has been redesigned (or retuned) from the Monster 1100 to prioritise fluid
acceleration across the rev range. My preconceptions about the two valve engine when I first heard about it were a bit “meh”, not overly exciting. but when I rode the Scrambler 1100 it knocked my socks off with how swift it is and just how well it performs. Gone is the roughness down low and ‘exhausted’ feeling that came with the Monster 1100, now it pulls strongly straight from idle to redline. All of this and Euro 4 compliance, well done, Ducati. To add a bit of nice detail, the Desmodue engine has light machinefinished aluminium covers, including those on the clutch and alternator. Other aluminium items include the two belt covers with a machine-finished. Ducati wants to keep the usual ‘racing/sporty’ nature of its features throughout the range and create their own identity for the Scrambler models. To do this the three Riding Modes are now Active, Journey and City. Things like Sport, Race, Track and Touring are reserved for nonScrambler models. Active Riding Mode provides full engine power, Journey
Riding Mode is perfect for everyday use and City lowers engine power and torque to the same as the Scrambler 800’s. After I got over my Active mode fever, I found Journey was the most comfortable to live with day-to-day. A slightly softer throttle on the bottom end with full power from around the mid-range on makes for a really nice bike to ride.
Other electronics fitted to the Scrambler include five levels of traction control (including Off), and I turned traction off as it takes away some of the fun that can be had. There’s also cornering ABS to help save you when it all goes a bit haywire. Despite looking familiar, the steel trellis frame is all-new for the 1100. The 1100 does look quite big compared to the 800 in photos, but when you ride it, it doesn’t have the feeling of some huge machine. It still feels small enough for just about any rider to handle and the handling is sublime. As a day-to-day fun machine, Ducati has set this up just right. When you push it hard for a weekend
blast it could do with a little more preload but luckily front and rear are adjustable to cover that base.
Braking appears to be pinched from the Monster 1200 with Brembo radial calipers up front. Combined with Bosch 9.1 Cornering ABS they offer masses of power and feel…and safety.
On the 800 Scrambler there is a single round instrument dial that contains all the info; on the 1100 there is an extra element. This is mainly to make the speedo readout a little larger (or more obvious) and house the Ducati Multimedia System which allows you to connect your device via Bluetooth.
Accessories are very much in the theme of ‘Scramblerising’ the bike even more. You can even dress yourself in some tasty gear. Ignore all of your preconceptions about the Ducati Scrambler 1100, go and ride it and be pleasantly surprised like I was and tell me it’s not the best Scrambler of the Ducati range. I would certainly buy one if the funds were available. D
SPECS
DUCATI SCRAMBLER 1100 SPECIAL
PRICE: $19,990 (plus on-road charges)
WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance
SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 12,000km or 12 months
ENGINE: Air-cooled L-twin cylinder, Desmodromic, 2 valves per cylinder
BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 245mm disc, single-piston ABS caliper.
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 6.24 litres per 100km, premium unleaded
THEORETICAL RANGE: 240km
COLOURS: Grey
VERDICT: THE BIG DELIGHT
HONDA 2018 GOLDWING 1800
“I’m off to the LachLan SIde, Where the brIght LagoonS are WIde; I Long for rIver and graSS and tree, [though there’S bugger-aLL graSS for me to See…]” Henry Lawson (updated by tHe bear)
A ‘wing and a prayer WORDS/ph O t OS tHe Bear
Goldwing is not only for straight roads; it handles beautifully.
The
UnLess You RiDe one, it is fashionable to dismiss the big travelling galleons of the motorcycle world as, well, big galleons – fat in the beam and slow to turn, slow in fact to do everything except for slurping up the precious bodily fluids of our Mother Earth at the fuel pump. Ponderous and pathetic on the road, fit only for use by Ulyssians on their way to the next cream tea.
This has not been true since 1984 when Honda released a GoldWing that not only went (even the 1000cc original had clocked high-12s for the standing quarter) but handled – the GL1200. Four years later, the GL1500 with two more cylinders and further handling improvements confirmed that one of those big ships could both hunt and handle with the best of them out on the real roads, and of course Masanori Aoki’s GL1800 lit up the year 2001 with an altogether amazing new take on the theme.
Even the 1500 had been capable, in hands as relatively unskilled as mine, of maintaining 200km/h... on gravel. The Bavarians, meanwhile, had been pounding on the gates with any number of R and then K series motorcycles which sported more and more of the technology that had kept the Goldwing (the capital ‘W’ had gone by now) safely ahead of the competition for so long.
But even as the K1300GT tempted the tourers with its gadgets and slick looks, the Goldwing retained one overwhelming advantage. Its name
1. Isn’t “Wheeo” a wonderful name for a town? I’m not sure if there is a town, though…
2. Crookwell’s top café has been there as long as I can remember –and that’s a while.
3. Socks and smartarse signs are Crookwell’s most notable products.
4. The Lachlan sign almost looks as if it’s trying to hide – but there is water in the river.
was flat six and its attributes were silky power and thundering torque, and it was unmatched by anything else on the road – even sixes from other manufacturers like Benelli and Kawasaki. And certainly unmatched by any fours.
But then came the year 2010, and with it the K1600GT. At the launch in South Africa, the BMW PR lady raised an eyebrow and announced to the gathered motorcycle scribes that although the South African police was tolerant, “anything on the speedometer with a ‘2’ in front of it is not good,” and she wasn’t talking about numbers with only two digits. As it turned out, the South African police was hugely entertained by many numbers with a 2 in front of them, and egged us on with waving, wrist-twisting and bellowing laughter by the side of the road. Was the K1600GT engine actually an improvement on the Goldwing? Big call, but... maybe. Maybe at least a match. Until this latest iteration of precious metal hit the streets.
The latest Wing is slimmer, trimmer and punchier than its predecessor. To rub that in, it has a ‘Sport’ mode –and it works, trust me. It might even be a bit too snappy around town. Until I ride one of the current model BMWs, I’m not going to commit myself to a comparison, but here’s the point: as far as I’m concerned, the 2018 Goldwing is as good as I can imagine a touring motorcycle can be. We probably need to arrange a sideby-side touring comparo – say Sydney to Broken Hill. At least.
I’ve put together a summary of the bike’s technical details at the end of this story. Since I suspect that few of you, our readers, will actually be ponying up the roughly $44,500 ride away that the manual transmission Tour version costs (that’s the one I rode), I thought I’d write more about the way the bike feels – and the way I felt, riding it.
When I confronted the first of the six-cylinder Goldwings, I was frankly intimidated. It wasn’t just big, it was so big and it didn’t feel any smaller when I climbed aboard. That got better once I was out on the Los Angeles freeway,
and in the end the bike was a lot of fun; but I never forgot its sheer bulk. Thirty years later, the Goldwing is still a big bike but the latest redesign has slimmed it down and reduced its weight enough to make it far less intimidating. In an odd kind of way, the current look is truer to the spirit of the original 1000cc bike than any of its other silhouettes has ever been. It looks fast, it looks fun… and once you’re aboard, it is both of those things in spades.
Don’t get me wrong, this is still a Goldwing in every way. The emphasis on pillion comfort remains, with a rear seat that promises day-long comfort. Naturally it has its own heating control. The shape of the luggage space is somewhat complex, and the panniers are comparatively small. That makes it a little difficult to pack effectively. That’s the price you pay for the more compact overall shape, I guess. The build quality is simply exceptional. Goldwings have always seemed more like something assembled by an affectionate perfectionist than a product of an impersonal factory, and this one lives up to that.
Once you’re in the cockpit, current 1800cc Goldwing riders will feel pretty much at home except for the multicontrol knob in the middle of the dash. This is easy to use, and you can follow any changes you make with it on the big screen centred below the electrically adjustable screen. Its fitment has meant that the other controls could be simplified a little, which is welcome. In short, you don’t need a mail order course to understand and work the bike’s controls.
Once I was rolling, I was fascinated by the movement of the top of the Hossack-style suspension. You can see it through cutouts in the fairing, and it bounces merrily up and down while absorbing damn near all of the unevenness of the road surface. It’s a Honda, so I need say nothing about the perfect six-speed gearbox – for an additional thousand bucks you can get the automatic DCT version, along with an extra gear, but I was very happy with the manual one.
The bike is almost ridiculously easy to handle at low speed, making it a proposition even for round-town riding. As I made my way out of the city I was tempted a couple of times to split lanes, but thought better of it – not because the bike would not have fitted, just… well just because. I was on a $45,000 motorcycle, after all. The six-piston brakes and ABS are effective, as I discovered when a bowling lady (seriously!) in Smithfield decided that old Corollas can do anything they like on the road. I mean, she’s right, but still. The ‘Wing’s horn is not too bad, but I’d still prefer it somewhat louder.
Not that I reached it, but the top speed of the 2018 bike has been governed down to 180km/h (or so I’m told). That’s a shame. I have happy memories of sweeping the Hay Plains aboard an earlier model at 200km/h… er, wait, no, that couldn’t have been me. Officer. So no, of course you don’t need to go faster than 180. Just saying.
The Hume Freeway got boring pretty quickly after I’d played with the bike’s controls, and I turned off to Bowral and the Highland Way. I was at Marulan before I knew it. Damn but that bike is fun, even on fairly normal back roads. You just get into the swing of it and you could ride forever, even with a pillion (see comment above about the heated seat).
Back on the freeway to Goulburn, keeping my speed carefully within a defensible envelope surrounding the legal top speed. You don’t need a sports bike to want to go for it, let me tell you. The Goldwing’s fly-by-wire system makes it oh-so-easy to creep up and up on the speedo. Time to engage cruise control, Mr Sulu. Aye, aye, Captain.
Heading up to Crookwell, the road is no better than ever but feels better on the ‘Wing with that trick front suspension. The 2018 bike has lost 4 litres of fuel tank capacity over the previous 1800, down to 21, but Honda claims that reduced fuel consumption makes up for that. They’re not wrong; I don’t actually need fuel in Crookwell according to my calculations but I fill
$ return * for a standard bike size 13TH ANNUAL BURT MUNRO CHALLENGE FROM 7-10 FEBRUARY 2019 & INTERNATIONAL TRIUMPH RALLY 22 – 24 FEBRUARY 2019
up anyway. Just as well, because the petrol station in Frogmore that I was counting on is no more. But that’s further up the road; I have lunch at Crookwell’s Leading Refreshment Room, the Chat-A-Way Café, and wander down to the sock factory to check if it’s still going. Check. It is. I don’t think I need socks this time, though.
The final gravel stretch of the road from here to Rugby and on to the turnoff at Gunnary has been sealed, and sealed pretty well, too. Crossing the Lachlan River near Narrawah I’m surprised to see that it’s still running. Not enthusiastically, but there is water dribbling past under the long bridge. I’ve been seeing quite a bit of green in the paddocks now that I’m in the Lachlan’s catchment, but I suspect it’s a cruel illusion. Whatever it is in those fields might be green, but even if it is grass it’s only a millimetre or so long. Even the sheep can’t get their tongues around that.
This is where the second part of this story’s title comes in. Just in case you’ve been living under a (dry) rock and haven’t seen the pictures of sheep and cattle trying to eat dirt, let me tell you that things are bad out there. I mean, the city might be drought declared, but when you turn on the tap you still get just as much water as before. That’s not so out here beyond the Sandstone Curtain.
Spare a prayer for the cockies.
The bits of the Boorowa Road that aren’t new have more than their fair
1. The Carcoar pub may share a name with the one in Woodstock, but it’s far more hospitable.
2. Most of the roads on the Lachlan are in reasonable condition, but don’t relax too much.
3. Here’s a graphic way of demonstrating what the name of the road means.
4. You wish.
ON THE ROAD
A techo decko
Honda says that this model represents a completely new design for the Goldwing, the first for 17 years. Technically speaking they’re right, but that’s not how it plays out. To my mind, the long life of the bike has been filled with steady and usually customer-driven evolution. A GoldWing is a Goldwing is a Goldwing… with each model taking maximum advantage of the level of current technology when they were designed.
This one has a redesigned aluminium twin tube frame with die-cast aluminium parts. Weight has been moved forward by shifting rider and pillion towards the front. The double wishbone suspension at the front looks, and is, brand new. Steering and suspension are decoupled. Honda claims that “the shock transmitted from the road surface to the handlebars has been reduced by about 30% compared to the previous model, resulting in a much smoother ride.”
The electric adjustable suspension system is linked with the riding mode to optimise damping for the front and rear suspension. Four preload settings are available for the rear accommodating a passenger or luggage. Ergonomics in general have been updated, and that pillion seat looks more comfortable than Business Class on a 787.
Weight savings are everywhere, from the minimal reduction in the attachment of swingarm to frame, to the major savings in the new engine. They add up to some 50kg. That engine has four-valve heads and a cam damper between the clutch and the transmission, which has made changing gear even easier and quieter. There is a lot more that’s new about the bike, but I’m going to leave it there. If you’re among those of our readers who have a loose forty-four and a half gorillas, you can find details on Honda’s website. If, like me, you’re just looking: be assured, if you need or want it, the Goldwing has it. Unless you want an airbag. Then you need to find another gorilla.
Should you be checking your bank balance, always assuming that your bank has left you some money after charging you for things they haven’t done? Is the 2018 Goldwing worth it? The simple answer, if you can find the money, is “hell yes”.
share of potholes, but once I turn north towards Frogmore and on to the Wyangala Dam turnoff, the surface improves noticeably. Maybe it’s the low usage; I hardly encounter another vehicle on my way north. This is a terrific road, in good condition and surrounded by rolling, endless paddocks to the surrounding hills. I presume that it is unlikely the constabulary will have it staked out, so I watch the speedo a little less. Frogmore comes and goes without any sign of a servo or even a shop, and the right-hand turn at the T intersection that marks the road’s end takes me up towards the dam.
No fuel at the kiosk, either. The pumps are actually wrapped up, as if Santa brought them and they haven’t been unpacked. I stop to stretch my legs and find that I am completely without cramping or any other ache. The bike is just so comfortable; might that lead you to forget how fast or far you’re going? Maybe it could, but that’s fine with me.
Reg Hailstone Way heading north is possibly even more enjoyable on a bike than the Frogmore road with its amazing views to the north, but there is a natural speed ‘bump’ and it is a macropod. Kangaroos abound (ahem) along here, and I slow down to give myself a bit of leeway.
“Have you got any rooms?” I ask the barmaid at the Royal in Woodstock as she draws my schooner of Old.
“Yes,” she says, “but they’re not made up.” A bit odd at 5pm, but who am I to argue?
“Could you get one made up?”
“No.”
“Err…” This never seems to happen to Colin, our pub writer.
“Cowra isn’t far.”
I finish my beer, field questions about the ‘Wing from mildly fascinated locals on the veranda and head east instead. I’d been looking forward to a stop at Woodstock’s Royal, a pleasant-looking pub where I’d only ever had a meal. And a beer, on this occasion.
As it turns out, the Pub Gods are on my side because Carcoar’s Royal is a cosy, friendly family-run country pub with $60 rooms and undercover parking at the back for the Goldwing. The recently, lightly renovated pub is well
heated on this cold day, with fires in the bar and the restaurant where I enjoy a well-made chicken parmy. That night, the bed in my upstairs room is next to the chimney from the bar’s fire and keeps me cozily warm all night.
Just as well the bike spent the night under cover, because it’s frosty next morning and the thermometer struggles to climb above zero. Ah! Here’s where the heated handgrips and heated seat come into their own. As the Goldwing’s ever-ready engine pulls me up the hill from Carcoar, I remember a little prayer taught to me by a retired tugboat captain from San Francisco.
“I don’t care if it rains or freezes, As long as I’m safe in the arms of Jesus.
Am I Jesus’ little lamb?
You bet your goddam ass I am!”
Is it just me or is the highway infested with more highway patrol cars than usual? I stop in Blayney for coffee and am found by a bloke who has had every model of GoldWing – and then Goldwing – ever made. He’s researched the new model on the interwebs but hasn’t seen one in its sleek glory. Will he be buying one?
“Yeah, sure,” he says. “Just when, depends on the wool cheque.”
Will there be a wool cheque, considering the drought?
“Oh yeah, but not so much of one. It’s a bugger all right.” Bit of an understatement there, I suspect, but Aussies have never been known as drama queens. I mention the cotton fields on the Hay Plains, and wonder where their water is coming from. He just shakes his head, and we continue to discuss the bike’s electronics.
Interestingly enough, he’s more into that than into performance. I wonder if that’s true for other potential Goldwing buyers.
“I reckon,” he says. “A bike’s got to be interesting these days. They all go fast.”
Well, the 2018 Goldwing Tour is certainly interesting. I consider this as I roll homewards in the seductive comfort of the seat with the radio bathing me in Vivaldi. I’ve want to visit Mount Isa for some time; never been there. I wonder if Honda MPE would let me borrow this bike? D
From weekend roads to those of the everyday, via winding out-of-town paths, SuperSport takes the energy and excitement of sport wherever it goes. Thanks to its comfortable riding position, a dry weight of 184 Kg (405 lb) and the performance of Testastretta 11° engine delivering 113 HP, every trip becomes a chance to indulge your sport instinct.
The Marine Corps TaughT Me CoMMiTMenT, Courage, foCus, and a value sysTeM ThaT Can easily suffiCe for people like Me who aren’T religious.
BoB Lutz
The rIDer OF The S 1000 RR waiting at the traffic lights diagonally opposite me gave the bike I was riding a cursory glance and then concentrated on his various electronic readouts, LED lights and other bling until the lights changed and he could screech away.
I pity the fool.
The bike I was riding, my recentlyacquired Silver Smoke R 90 S, might not have been the first ‘superbike’ but it was one of them, and is the ancestor, in a direct line, of that S 1000 RR. Without it, there might well have been no BMW motorcycles today. BMW introduced the air-cooled twin in 1973 for the 1974 model year, and though it is pretty tame by today’s standards (for S 1000 RR riders, anyway) it was radical stuff then. Let’s not forget that Reg Pridmore won the 1976 U.S. Superbike championship on a stock-looking R 90 S*.
It did not take the press long to catch on, either. One often quoted review at the time (I’ve never been able to find the original) summed it up pretty well.
“The R90S handles and stops almost as well as the best Italian sportster; is almost as fast as the fastest Japanese road burner; almost as uncomplicated as the good old British twin; and almost as smooth as the best multi. When it comes to comfort, and capability for traveling at maximum speed with minimum fatigue, the R90S is second to none.”
In other words, while there were many bikes that did one thing superbly, the BMW was the only one that did everything very well. And you know what? It
still does. But I own one; I’d better let someone who is a little less obviously prejudiced tell the story.
British road tester Roland Brown, the only bloke I know who ever broke a BMW in half on a launch, had the opportunity to ride a Daytona Yellow R 90 S fairly recently.
“However long BMW builds flat twins, it’s debatable whether there will be another to match the impact the BMW R90S made with its launch in 1974,” he wrote. “The half-faired 90S, finished in a stylish smoked-color scheme (gray was the original color, with this bike’s orange following as an option a year later), may have been a sportster only by BMW’s traditionally restrained standards. But with a top speed a shade over 125mph, it was seriously quick by mid-Seventies standards.
“The R90S was at its best traveling rapidly over long distances, but there was much more to this bike than sheer speed. Handsome, fine handling, comfortable, well equipped and very expensive, the R90S was arguably the best all-around superbike that money could buy.”
And it so nearly didn’t happen, except for one man.
In 1972, the motorcycle business was in trouble. Fortunately, the Bavarians called in the Marines – or at least one of them. The nearlegendary Bob Lutz was hired as BMW’s automobile sales manager.
“All the pressure from within the company regarding motorcycles at the time,” Lutz remembered, “and especially from the finance guys, was to shut down the bike business. Many
in upper management wanted to just kill it—or at least sell it.”
For good reason. The Japanese were making bikes like Honda’s magnificent CB750, while BMWs were stodgy looking, built with dated technology, and appealed to older riders, not the (then young) cashed-up baby boomers who ruled the motorcycle market.
“When I joined BMW in ’72, the company was building about 200,000 cars annually and only 10 to 12,000 motorcycles,” Lutz says. “Pretty insignificant volume, really. Our US volume was declining, with most sales to police and federal agencies. Retail was nearly non-existent. The Japanese had all the cool stuff: overhead cams, multi cylinders, disc brakes, advanced and sexy stuff. We just didn’t have it, and were treated as a bit of a joke by the magazines. They’d write, ‘BMWs…nice touring motorcycles for elderly people,’ and stuff like that. Not a reputation that boded well for the future.”
It’s worth noting that Lutz, despite working for BMW, had his own Honda CB750 – and a damn fast one, by all reports.
Believe it or not, even the Japanese manufacturers were worried about BMW, and not because the Germans were credible competition. They saw the company as a worthwhile symbol of respectability for the entire industry.
One senior Japanese executive at the time said something like, “If it looked as if the BMW motorcycle division was going to close, we would have a quick whip around to make sure it is saved.”
I’ve never ben able to find the quote again, either, since I first read it, so by all means take that with a grain of salt.
“Literally no one was in charge of the motorcycle division,” Lutz continues. “Part was controlled by sales, part by
original colour
The
scheme, Silver Smoke. I still think this is the more attractive look.
be subtle when you can be bold?
ads for the R 90 S were brilliant.
engineering, part by design, et cetera. The group was basically leaderless and had very little in the way of resources. So I asked my boss if I could pull things together and give the division some leadership. I told him they were desperate for a direction, a plan. He said okay but added this: ‘Just don’t ignore the job we hired you for!’ So I called everyone involved with motorcycles together and pretty quickly hammered out a plan, which everyone agreed to.
“We decided that we’d send a signal to the Japanese that we were back in the bike business with a high-priced, premium motorcycle that enthusiasts would really want,” Lutz said. “Right off we decided on a larger engine, and 900cc seemed right, as there were all sorts of 900cc kits on the market already. It’d have disc brakes, a five-speed gearbox, and beautiful detailing everywhere.
“It was amazing and so German:
chop, chop, right to the point. So I immediately got a second job, unofficial of course, and in the coming months I had to hide my motorcycle work from my real boss whenever he would visit the studio.
relax and concentrate on what’s coming, whether enemy or weather, the new bike needed a cockpit and instrumentation tucked behind that wind-cutting fairing—gauges, and such, and a clock too.
“It wasn’t easy to sell it to upper management,” Lutz remembers. “Most thought we should shut down the motorcycle division entirely, as it wasn’t making any money. But because we could use much of the R75/5’s foundation for the new bike we’d envisioned, the investment wouldn’t be huge. So they agreed. We just needed to make it look right.”
Which brings us to the other father of the R 90 S, Hans-Albrecht Muth. He had been a toolmaker, then an industrial stylist before being hired by BMW to work on car interiors. Fortunately, Muth was also a motorcyclist. He went to see Hans-Gunther von der Marwitz, who was as close as there was to a motorcycle development manager at BMW.
“I knocked on his door, walked in, and got some gruff questions right away,” Muth said. “‘Who are you? What do you want?’ he asked. ‘Who does motorcycling styling here?’ I asked back. ‘We do,’ he said. ‘Why do you ask?’ - ‘Well, that’s why our motorcycles look the way they do!’ I said.” “Okay,” said von der Marwitz, “you do it!” That was just what Muth wanted to hear.
“A few days later,” he continued, “Von der Marwitz asked me to see Lutz about the motorcycle designs we’d talked about. Lutz was moving into his new office and had already put a large poster of a beautiful racing motorcycle on his wall. He told me the company was already working on a new generation of bikes and did I have an opinion how a premium, sporty German motorcycle should look. He pointed to the poster, looked back at me with a cigar in his mouth, and smiled. ‘Yes,’ I said. And with that I headed back to my studio. It wasn’t a long meeting.”
It didn’t take Muth long to get his ideas down on paper. He created three alternative sketches, one of which would become the R 90 S just a year and a half later. “It was sporty and had a big tank,” Muth said, “and would carry two riders in comfort. As far as the overall shape, I sketched it exactly as I envisioned a modern BMW should look, with a sporty tail in the spirit of the classic English racing bikes. But what it needed most, I thought, was a face, like an automobile has a face. And that idea, along with the small racing fairings of the day, is where the idea for the cockpit fairing came from. Also, just as a fighter pilot needs a place to
“The two-tone color scheme of the first R90S came easily to me,” he continued. “Black had been BMW’s only color** until the R75/5 came along in ’69, but during S-model development I remembered a bicycle I’d painted when I was 13 or 14. It was black but had a silver section. And as I thought about it, it was perfect. The black would recognize the past and BMW’s history, while the silver would represent the future, where BMW was headed. Melding them as we did was very difficult when it came time to paint the production bikes, and we had a lot of help from the very talented women we hired to do striping and such. But it was worth it, as the color ended up being very popular.”
American motorcycle press guru Peter Egan has a Silver Smoke R 90 S – his second – but it wasn’t love at first sight.
“When we lived in California during the 1980s,” he writes, “I used to take my silver 1977 Ducati 900SS on Sunday-morning rides over the sinuous Ortega Highway to Lake Elsinore. My friend John Jaeger often came with me on his Silver Smoke 1976 R90S. We soon discovered that these bikes were almost a perfect match in roll-on performance and top speed, with only a
Why
BMW
slight handling and braking edge going to the Ducati. Both these bikes (in highly modified form) were Daytona Superbike winners, after all, taking back-to-back victories in 1976 (last model year for the R90S) and 1977. But the big difference between our streetbikes came at the end of the summer when John clicked the Krauser saddlebags onto his R90S and took a trip across the continental US. This was an option I didn’t contemplate with the Duc.
“You might say the BMW’s secret was—and still is—a delicate balance, right on the hyphen between ‘sport’ and ‘touring’. The bike has slightly rearset pegs and a low handlebar, but it puts you in an all-day-comfortable forward lean with decent leg room and not too much weight on your wrists. The wide, nearly flat seat is well padded, and the caféracer fairing actually keeps a surprising amount of wind—and wind noise— away from your helmet and upper body. “But it isn’t just comfort that invites long-distance travel. The R90S, like most BMW boxer twins, has a wellearned reputation for reliability along with a smooth and reassuring engine cadence that whispers into your helmet, ‘I can do this forever’. And then it does. The bike picks up speed and holds it with a kind of freight-train momentum, the pushrod valve train clicking away and the two big cylinders thrumming
quietly over the muted intake honk. There’s just enough rocking mechanical shudder at idle to remind you you’re on a machine but not so much that your license plate falls off.
“The 1976 R90S… is the second one I’ve owned, a very original, 43,000-mile bike that runs as if it just came out of the showroom. It carves nicely on our winding back roads with a kind of elegant composure (the bike’s, not mine), and it’s one of the few older classic bikes I’ve owned that I would gladly jump on and ride from here in Wisconsin to [Cycle World’s] California offices without a second thought. It’s by no means a modern sport-tourer in terms of braking, suspension, compliance, or chassis stiffness (time has marched on), and yet none of this seems to intrude on your enjoyment or serenity when riding. Accidentally ranging much farther from home than planned is a common hazard. It’s a bike that just wants to keep going.
“It’s also a bike that doesn’t mind sitting perfectly still,” Egan said. “As in your workshop, being pondered at the end of the day—or all winter. Everyone has personal favorites, but I would put the R90S in a very small group of the best-looking bikes ever built.”
Meanwhile, back with Roland Brown… “The speedometer shows a steady 80mph on the BMW R90S as the road
ahead unwinds from a gentle curve. I’m sitting comfortably, leaning slightly forward to slightly raised handlebars, my chest and head protected from the wind by a neat half-fairing that also contains a clock and voltmeter.
“The big orange fuel tank on this classic BMW motorcycle is full, giving the prospect of 200 miles of nonstop, high-speed riding. Below the tank I can see the engine’s cylinders sticking out either side, their gentle rustling almost drowned by a throaty twin-cylinder exhaust note. By modern standards the mechanical and exhaust sounds are loud, but they do nothing to mar the aristocratic air of the BMW R90S.
“Nor does the bike’s stability as I bank through a series of gentle curves, suspension soaking up the bumps efficiently, the tall-geared engine feeling unburstable. Never mind its generous fuel range; this bike gives the impression that it would cruise at speed and in comfort forever.”
I’ll leave you with Bob Lutz, who incidentally has done a lot more than just save BMW Motorrad. Among other things, he’s credited with helping General Motors to survive.
“What followed the R90S was a willingness on the part of upper management to invest in the motorcycle business, and that allowed machines like the R100RS, the GSs, and the K- and
The second colour scheme, Daytona Orange, named after the American race victories.
R-series bikes to come later,” Lutz said. “Suddenly, after the S-model took off, there was a more adventuresome spirit within the company, more boldness. We see that to this very day, and it all came from the R90S.”
So, Mr S 1000 RR – a bit of respect, if you please.
*R 90 S or R90S? BMW generally uses the first form, and most other sources use the second. I thought I’d be consistent (or maybe contrary) and use the BMW factory version.
**Not quite right. There was a period when you could order your motorcycle in any of the colours in which BMW cars were produced. It was special order only, though.
Footnote:
I know this isn’t a technical article, and it wasn’t meant to be. It’s about the significance of a motorcycle that is still among the most desirable out there - for everyday use, not just the rather sterile habit of collecting. And the BMW R 90 S really is ever faithful - Semper Fidelis indeed.
Oh, and if you’re going to steal, steal from the best. My gratitude to Roland Brown and Peter Egan for the copy I’ve… borrowed from them for this article. I also consulted Ian Falloon’s book ‘BMW R90S’ ISBN 978-1-88431356-1, Stefan Knittel’s ‘BMW Motorraeder’ ISBN 3-88350-152-2 and ‘BMW –
A Company in its Time’ ISBN 0 283 06090 5 by Horst Moennich. D
1. Advertising was less PC in the ‘70s. More cheerful, too.
2. Bob Lutz with an Opel he had just rolled while he was working for them.
LAUNCH TEAROUTMAP#68
BOAT PEOPLE…
Head for the cradle WORD S STUART
IT’S SLOWLY STARTING to warm up and for many of you that means a trip to Tassie. The roads and scenery are simply stunning so for a great start to your travels around the Apple Isle I reckon heading to Cradle Mountain straight off the boat is a good way to get into it.
DEVONPORT
There is a nice little café just to your left as you get out of the Spirit of Tasmania driveway, or The Rectory Café is a few metres on through the roundabout. Both had good food and coffee the last time I was there. Besides being the port for the Spirit of Tasmania, there’s more to Devonport than you think. It has some nice beaches (if it’s warm enough!), rowing, sailing, kayaking and fishing. Walking and cycling tracks crisscross the city with plenty to see along the way including Aboriginal rock carvings on the coastal trail to The Bluff. You will also enjoy a short ride on the Don River Railway steam train
to Coles Beach (30-min return) as it winds its way along the eastern banks of the picturesque Don River. Maritime history looms large as you can imagine; the Bass Strait Maritime Centre has an extensive model collection and interpretive display and you’ll also fi nd several galleries, museums, craft shops and the heritage-listed house of former Australian Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons. Enjoy some pretty parks, including an arboretum (tree garden) that makes for a relaxing nature break. And with so much produce grown in the fertile soil of the Mersey-Forth valley, there’s no shortage of good food, from pub meals and fish and chips to fine contemporary fare and farm gate delights.
Visiting the Devonport Regional Art Gallery is also a nice relaxing thing to do. The Gallery has a collection of fi ne and decorative art and craft, with a predominant interest in 20th century glass, ceramics and woodcraft.
SHEFFIELD
Known as the Town of Murals, Sheffield’s first mural was unveiled in December 1986. Since then over 60 murals depicting the area’s rich history and beautiful scenery have been painted on walls scattered throughout the district. Some of the murals feature Cradle Mountain pioneer Gustav Weindorfer, Tasmanian Tigers, and pictorial representations of characters and stories of the past. In 2003, Sheffield hosted its first Mural Fest art competition which is now held annually. Mural Park is home to the annual Mural Fest painting competition, with nine artists participating in a paint-off over six and a half days. Now, with more than 100 murals depicting the area’s rich own outdoor art gallery. Indoors, more murals can be found in Mural House, where murals inspired by native art from a range of cultures are painted by the artist on the interior walls of her home. Mural house is just one of several galleries,
www.hemamaps.com.au
Once you’re awake, have a belly full of food and a head full of caffeine head south on Wright Street turning right onto the Bass Highway. As soon as you cross the bridge turn left onto Devonport Road and head into Spreyton. Turn right onto Sheffield Road and follow it south through Barrington and
into Sheffield. Almost at the southern end of Sheffield there is an old church, turn right here onto Claude Road. Follow it all the way to the end and turn left onto Cradle Mountain Road. About 20 kilometres down the road turn left to stay on Cradle Mountain Road. You can also follow the signs to Cradle Mountain. Head in about
TEAR-OUT MAP #68
10 kilometres and you’ve arrived! Make sure you confirm if you need a bike pass to head right into the Dove Lake Carpark so you can view Cradle Mountain (if you’re lucky).
Distance – 100km
Fuel – Devonport, Sheffield, Cradle Mountain
COLLECT THEM ALL
studios and museums in Sheffield.
Casual rides throughout the area will reward you with stunning views of Mount Roland and a host of quirkily named towns, each with a unique personality expressed through topiary or unusual letterboxes. One funny ‘town’ is, “Nowhere Else”, which is nothing but a road.
Nearby in the small hamlet of “Promised Land” you’ll find Tasmazia and the Village of Lower Crackpot, one of the world’s largest maze complexes with eight mazes, a model village, pancake parlour and gift shop.
MOINA
around the lake or spend the day tackling Cradle Mountain’s summit if you’re up to it. I did the walk around the lake which is simply beautiful.
As with many of the little towns in Tassie, Moina was the site of a brief gold rush in the late nineteenth century and then one of the largest wolfram and bismuth mines in Tasmania. It has been the centre of continued mineral exploration in the Middlesex district since the first discoveries of tin and tungsten ores on Dolcoath Hill in the 1890s.
DAISY DELL
I didn’t see any daisies when riding through this area, and this is only a landmark for this ride.
CRADLE MOUNTAIN
The vegetation is rich and diverse including grassland, rainforest and many ancient plants such as the longlived and endemic King Billy pine and the unusual native deciduous beech. The park also provides a rich habitat for wildlife, including Tasmanian devils, quolls, platypus, echidna and several bird species. If you love nature, this is the place for you. While this ride isn’t very long, it’s all about the location and what you can see and do on your first day off the Spirit of Tasmania.
Cradle Mountain is the rugged jewel of the park and can be seen from Dove Lake on a day visit. That is, if you’ve struck it rich with the weather. Most of the time clouds cover the mountain, but if you’re spending a couple of days in the area, it’s well worth sticking it out if the forecast is favourable. Take the two-hour walk
If you’re on for something a little shorter, there are also a variety of shorter walks that pass through beautiful oldgrowth rainforest. The visitor centre has all the walk information and maps.
If you’ve got heaps of time and love a long walk, Weindorfer’s Chalet is the rustic former home of Gustav and Kate Weindorfer and is the starting point for the worldfamous Overland Track. This magnificent six-day walk passes through the heart of some of the world’s finest mountain terrain to majestic Lake St Clair, the deepest lake in Australia.
waratahs, orchids, banksias, hakeas and leatherwoods.
Lake cruises are available and licensed trout fishing is permitted in season. Scenic flights over the park are also available.
Cradle Valley and the surrounding areas contain many Aboriginal historic sites, identified by remnant stone tools, caves, rock shelters and stone sources. These can be explored on the Aboriginal Cultural Walk that departs from Lake St Clair at the southern end of the park.
Little evidence survives of the early European activities of hunting, surveying, mining and logging, though several of the present-day walking trails were blazed for these purposes.
The Lake St Clair section of the park is a walkers’ paradise, with leisurely lakeside strolls and longer forest walks. Visitors in late spring and summer can witness a brilliant display of wildflowers including
Basic accommodation in cabins, chalets and campgrounds is available at Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair. Or, for something a bit special Cradle Mountain Lodge is a treat.
CRADLE MOUNTAIN VISITOR CENTRE
Located two kilometres before the national park entrance, the centre provides you with a range of services that includes the sales of park entry passes, information on walks and activities, and it is the departure point of the shuttle bus if you don’t want to ride to Dove Lake Carpark. The centre is open daily from 8.30am to 4.30pm. There’s also a café that has good pies and sausage rolls, but the coffee is average. D
SUZUKI SV650X
Retro is as retro does
ASTALWART OF THE motorcycling world, Suzuki’s SV650 has been released in a ‘retro’ version called the SV650X. It’s not as big a take on retro as some other bikes on the market, but the X is a nice little variation on the theme – more an SV with some styling mods, if you want to put it that way.
The features of the X include clipon style bars, a headlamp cowling, a ‘quilted’ style seat, a larger tank and slightly slicker bodywork. There’s also an integrated LED tail-light unit.
On board, the riding position is reasonably comfortable but sportier than the standard SV, thanks to the new bars – I guess it’s encouraging you to ride faster and throw it around a bit. For day-to-day riding some might find the lean forward position a bit much.
The handling is easy to manage with mid-weighted turn in, which allows you to get some good lean angles at speed and this is all aided by the relatively low (wet) weight of 198kg, which will also allow a wide range of riders to handle this bike. Braking is adequate while not overpowering and there’s ABS if you need it.
The instrument panel is nicely laid out, with a good-sized LCD screen, with revs across the top and a digital speedo. It also has a gear indicator and fuel gauge, plus all the usual info – and the backlighting can be adjusted
to one of six settings.
Hit the start button just once and Suzuki’s easy-start system means the technology takes over, engaging the starter motor, with no need to touch the throttle. That tried-and-tested V-twin motor sounds pleasingly throaty, especially once you get it out on the open road, and being a torquey V-twin it can be punchy out of turns if you so wish.
Heading off, by the way, is made easier by the low RPM assist system, which makes it almost impossible to stall the bike when pulling away or at low speeds – handy in stop-go traffic. At the $9490 price tag there’s no
traction control or ride modes. The rear suspension is preload adjustable to one of seven settings but apart from that, that’s about it.
Competition comes via the Yamaha XSR700, Benelli Leoncino, Ducati Scrambler 800, Kawasaki W800, Moto Guzzi V7 III and the Triumph Bonneville T100 so the market is thick with options and varying prices with the X being one of the cheaper machines.
I liked the Suzuki SV650X. Looks are not too bad, it sounds good, its reasonable priced and economical to run – and it’s easy and fun to ride. What more could you ask for? D
SPECS
SUZUKI SV650X
PRICE: $9490 (plus on-road charges)
WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance
SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months
ENGINE: Liquid-cooled V-twin cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 5.98 litres per 100km, premium unleaded
THEORETICAL RANGE: 242km
COLOURS: Grey/Black
VERDICT: JUST A BIT OF RETRO
EVENT
SYDNEY 5 HOUR
A relay of endurance WORDS STUART
PHOTOS HALF LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHIC
ST GEORGE MOTORCYCLE
Club recently held the Sydney 5 Hour. Promoted as an endurance race, it was in fact a relay race of sorts as teams could use multiple bikes during the five hours, changing an arm band to the next rider at their ‘pitstop’; or teams could use one bike as is the case of the bike/team I rode for.
As I mentioned in the previous issue I was yet to race the 5 Hour and as much as I’d hoped it would be a good day, it wasn’t. As our team was using the one bike it would be a big ask to flog it all day without a rest and at the three hour mark (one hour from the shortened end) it decided to do just that - have a rest. I was on the bike at the time and had been out on track for around forty minutes when a safety car came out. Around five or six laps were spend idling behind in the queue
and the 2008 model Kawasaki ZX-10R decided to cook itself. Once the safety car came in, I tried to give it a couple of laps to cool down but it had got way too hot and wouldn’t rev properly. I pulled into the pits and the bike was so hot that it near caught on fire.
The team manager (who was our mechanic as well) was setting about at getting the bike fixed but I said, “it’s cooked” and the evidence of thick black goop spewing out the left-hand side of the engine was enough to say the day was over.
Our team hadn’t set any lap times on fire or been in the running for the podium as we had to change a rear tyre and refuel at each rider change, but the day was certainly fun and being held at Sydney Motorsport Park there was a little bit of time to have a rest each lap coming down
the straight to keep the body as fresh as could be.
For the main contenders the battle was on in both the unlimited and 600 classes. There were A, B and C, D grade battles within each class however the focus was on the A,B boys with unlimited going to Lachlan and Greg Epis and the 600 class going to Aidan Hayes, Brodie Malouf and Hayden Spinks. Despite some unforeseen dramas in qualifying which resulted in both the smaller capacity 90 min race and the 5 Hour being shortened, St George Motorcycle Club has done an excellent job at hosting the longest motorcycle race currently being held in the country. Get yourself and your mates and their bikes together for next year’s event, it’s set to be a great one. D
While only a few people could lay their hands on the limited-edition Pegasus, we have two more military-inspired models for you – the Royal Enfield Classic 500 Battle Green and Desert Storm. Visit your nearest store to test ride the two models that let you enjoy the pleasures of modern motorcycling while reflecting the aura of classic eternal styling.
$8,990
Three for The price of one
The Great rivers WORDS/phOtOS
colin whelan
thE pACIFIC hOtEL, YAMBA
First up, if anyone can tell me just why a pub perched on the eastern seaboard is called the “Pacific” or indeed why the highway along the coast has the same name, please let me know.
Just don’t say it somehow relates to an ocean of the same name.
The Pacific Ocean doesn’t touch Australia, doesn’t come close. When you dive into the water at Bondi or Broadbeach, you’re jumping into the Tasman Sea; the Pacific’s way, way over the horizon!
Maybe there was some Sir Lachlan
Pacific in our past whom I don’t know about or perhaps it’s an adaptation of an indigenous name for the place that I’ve not heard. Whatever, if you’re across it, please send all correspondence to Stu who’s got nothing better to do and he’ll pass it on! (Ha! Ed.)
The pub’s perched on top of the cliffs not far south of the lighthouse and the views from the bar and from the accommodation rooms are breathtaking.
When he was growing up around here Jack would buy Opera House lottery tickets and each time he’d say that if he won, he’d buy the Yamba pub. He never cashed but 28 years ago he quit his career in local
Pacific Hotel, Yamba
Even if this place didn’t have undercover and secure parking for bikes; even if the rooms didn’t have the most extraordinary views, even if the owner wasn’t as friendly, enthusiastic and involved as he is, even if… it’d still be comfortably 4 helmets but when all these are added into the mix, this is securely in our top ranking of 5 helmets. It’s a perfect fit for a rider/pillion couple.
18 Pilot St,Yamba.
T: 02 6646 2466
government and, with wife Lindy and a pair of other partners, bought the pub he’d lusted over for decades. Now he can’t see himself ever leaving, and looking around at the heaving bar, it’s easy to understand why. There’s over 20 beers on tap and the restaurant, which does lunch and dinner every day, can turn out up to 400 meals at a session.
Upstairs there’s a couple of dozen rooms, half of which face out over the water. There’s a mix of doubles and twin, some with ensuites and a couple of bunk rooms with 4 beds. A single rider in an ensuite room will only fork out $50.00 with extras paying a fiver less. Chuck in the undercover garage parking for your bike and that is cheap as chips! (Tip: grab a room overlooking the water and not one with the lighthouse flashing you every 3.8 seconds!)
The Pacific sponsors the local rugger buggers, the Yamba Buccaneers and the night I was there, they were having after match drinks on their annual ladies day. It’s a pretty inclusive occasion where the partners rock up like they’re going to the races and the players… well, the players just frock up like their partners.
It’s a bit jaw dropping to head in for a slash and be confronted by six figures in frocks standing at the urinal. Am still having trouble unseeing it!
Every room has its own brew making facilities and the ensuite rooms have fridges, but there’s a dozen good cafes just down the hill and their breakfasts all smell damn fine!
In the morning, before they open but after my caffeine hit, I make the effort to head down to the beach in front of the pub. There’s not a breath and the rock pool is like a mirror. Behind me the sun sends light fingers through the only strand of clouds in the entire sky. The rays hit the pub and the surf club underneath. It’s the kind of morning that you long remember and a perfect cap off to a memorable night in a memorable pub.
SEDGERS REEF HOTEL, ILUKA
This place is just across the river from Yamba but, er, at the very other end of the spectrum to the Pacific! When I pull up the disabled spots out front are dominated by a pair of scootersmobility scooters but I figure the empty sun-drenched beer garden out front of the pub is inviting for a Saturday arvo cold one even given the throng of smokers at one end. Thankfully the wind’s onshore so their filth is being blown upstream.
The pub’s not exactly falling down, or decrepit but it sure could do with some work. If it were human, it’d be on the invalid pension that at least a few of the customers must enjoy. (I hear later that the reason it’s not being fixed is the existence of asbestos but I can’t be sure that’s true.)
The bar’s one of those characterless caverns dominated by racing screens. It’s simply not possible to grab an inside perch and not have at least a few of them visible. The volume is up and every single face in the bar is pointed at some race at Rockhampton except for some bloke at the far end waiting for a drink, or maybe a bet on the next. And that includes the occupier of another mobility scooter who’s parked his beside the taps!
I have to wait until the chestnut gets up along the fence in the last stride
RATED 3 OUT OF 5 HELMETS
Sedgers Reef Hotel, Iluka
No accommodation here and you’d probably not want to stay anyway. But the all-day sun drenched beer garden out front is mainly non-smoking so you can soak up the rays and the views of the harbour if the disabled scooters aren’t blocking it out. A great midday recoup spot, especially on Sundays and midweek when there’s less racing on the tele and you’ll get served faster. 3 helmets here, mostly courtesy of the location!
5 Queen St, Iluka T: 02 6646 6122
before I have any chance of getting a drink which I finally take out the front in the sun and the quiet and wait for my Thai Beef Salad with sweet potato chips and chilli jam.
Turns out my punt’s a winner! Tender meat and crunchy home-made by the looks of it chips and jam – great return on an investment of 18 bucks. The bistro’s menu is varied and extensive, not totally dominated by deep-fried options, and the burgers include spicy chicken with pineapple and swiss cheese as well as crumbed whiting and vege pattie with pumpkin pesto. The ‘Reef’ doesn’t have any
accommodation and there’s not much else in the joint but down a bit at the wharfs is a fisho that looks like it has potential. Just be careful where you eat their stuff as every pole seems to be occupied by a pelican and you don’t want to be under one of them when the motions get moving!
You get the feeling that this place could be a real destination winner if only they’d take their focus off the equine and canine losers on the tele! Anyway, a mate of mine used to claim the best thing to come out of Melbourne was the Hume Hwy and one of the good things about Iluka is certainly the ride in and back out. Or you could leave your bike over in Yamba and catch the ferry across!
Bottom line on this one: Good place for a lunch break with mates but don’t head there on your own hoping for conversation with the locals or much interest from the staff.
LAWRENCE TAVERN, LAWRENCE
What an absolute difference! What a great little pub! And what a great ride to get here! It’s not absolutely on the water, the river being just across the road, and the best way to get here is to cross onto Woodford Island at McLean then take the Lawrence Ferry back onto the mainland.
The pub itself is no thing of great beauty but inside it has the feeling of home. A raging fire is keeping a decent crowd warm. On the main wall is an ever-growing collection of wellworn hats and behind the bar there’s welcoming faces.
John Hoy and his wife Sally have run this place since he gave up his work in the coal mines and, listening to the advice of his mother-in-law, flicked the other pubs they’d been checking out and plonked for this one five years after the old two storey one had burnt down in 1987.
At a turnout out to mark the centenary of the original pub in the
RATED 5 OUT OF 5 HELMETS
Lawrence Tavern, Lawrence
Looking for a good pub operated by good people, filled with fun locals, serving very decent food and a range of wines and beers, and surrounded by special roads and scenery, then this is going to please you no end! John and Sally have perfected the difficult recipe, a pub that’s the hub of the local community and still incredibly welcoming to travellers like us. If you swag or tent rather than book rooms, I really don’t think you’re going to be able to fault this place and that gives it another top rating of 5 helmets!
Bridge Rd, Lawrence T: 02 6644 7213
early 1990s, many tales were told but John has one favourite:
“They had accommodation upstairs and some of it was pretty nice. They even had a honeymoon suite. Right over in the corner of the bar was a plumb bob hanging from the ceiling by a piece of string.. The string was actually connected to the mattress on the bed of the honeymoon suite right above it. When the honeymoon suite was occupied the locals would hang around drinking until the plumb bob would start bouncing and they’d all drink a toast to
the couple’s happiness.”
The chef- staffed kitchen is open for meals everyday but on Sundays they fire up the woodfired clay oven in the beer garden for pizza and ribs.
Three years ago John’s daughter Siobhan came down with a treatable form of leukaemia and was successfully treated in Brisbane. The pub doesn’t do room accommodation but there’s camping out the back on the massive grass paddock with toilets and showers available 24/7. Camp there and your entire $10 fee will be added to the over $30,000 they’ve donated to the Leukaemia Foundation
Then I meet Stewie. Stewie’s a fixture and his stories could fill this entire yarn but we’ll settle for just one:
“I had to do this exam to get my firstaid ticket and I didn’t have a clue so I sat down next to a bloke who I knew was smart. I copied down his answers word for word and at the end was pretty happy. The teacher collected the papers and marked them all and the kid next to me got 20 out of 20 and I got zero! See I forgot I’d already written in my answer to number one and so I wrote his answer to number one beside question number two and then the answer to question two beside question three all the way to the end. Was a disaster! Next time I cheated like that I was much more careful!
The place erupts!
The stories keep flowing into the night and the laughs crescendo and cascade around the bar. Three days ago I hadn’t heard of this town and now I won’t forget the place, the pub and the people. A simple but special experience. D
EUROPE: DIY
WORDS/ph O t OS The BeaR
I read somewhere that learnIng another language wIll stave off alzheImer’s by applyIng unused parts of your braIn. I suspect a trIp to europe would do the same thIng.
ONCE UPON A TIME –
remember how all the really good stories started this way? – you could buy a new BMW or Moto Guzzi to finance a trip to Europe. You just ordered the bike from your dealer for European delivery and then flew over there to collect it, using the tax and import duty you saved to pay for your trip. You got an Australian-spec bike and the manufacturer shipped it home for you when you wanted to return to Oz. But that was once upon a time.
Nowadays, it is more difficult than ever to bring home a bike bought overseas. If you want to spend some time riding a motorcycle in Europe, you’re better off renting (if it’s a very short trip) or taking your own bike. There are advantages both ways, but if you’re planning to, say, see the Isle of Man TT and a GP, or check out the scenic wonders of the Alps or the Spanish coast then the latter is the way to go. Not only will you be familiar with the bike, you’ll be able to set it up exactly the way you want it before you leave – and you won’t be thinking about how much it’s costing you, every day you’re travelling.
But isn’t the whole thing really difficult? Well, no.
The key is sending your bike with an experienced and reputable shipper – let’s call him Dave Milligan of Get Routed because among several he’s the one we know best, have used and trust – and he will take care of the only relatively difficult part of the exercise. Not just the actual shipping, but also the paperwork you’re going to need, including insurance for the bike (in transit and on the road in Europe). And yes, insurance can be difficult if you try to organise it yourself, and you do need it in Europe.
age restrictions, too. I’m beginning to have problems with this.
Having equipped your bike with the bits and pieces required by law in various parts of Europe (see below) and delivered it to the gaping Get Routed container, where Milligan will load it on one of his clever cradles, your worries are few. You will need a passport with at least six months’ validity left at the time you reach Europe, your plane ticket, your travel insurance details and the registration documents for the bike. If you are not listed as the owner, you’ll also need an authority to use it from the person who is. And money, most commonly in a credit/debit card account, plus a bit of the local cash, still Euros as I write this even if you are going to
collect the bike in England. A word about credit/debit cards. Quite often, an account will give you two cards; most commonly a Visa or Master Card and an American Express card. This pair of cards is treated as a single one by your bank, so if, say, you leave one behind at a shop and ring the bank to cancel it, the bank will also cancel the other one. So take another card with its own link to an account, and you won’t suddenly be unfunded. Not that that is such a big deal now; the banks and credit card companies are used to people losing cards, and have ways to get money to you. Talk to your bank before you go if you’re concerned. You can forget filling out one of those stupid little immigration/
Milligan will also be able to point you in the right direction for travel insurance for yourself and your pillion, if you’re taking one. This is not as easy as it may sound; most insurance companies will restrict you to riding a bike with 125cc capacity or less. Yes, it’s a stupid rule and I have tried to get the main offender Allianz to change it, but without luck. Keep an eye on
into the ‘Non-EU” queue and shuffle forward. The one difference that the various terrorism scares have made is increasing the length of the queues because passports are scrutinized more carefully. Once you’re through, with a stamp in your passport, it’s just a matter of collecting your luggage and walking through the exit door to find yourself… in a different world.
“I DON’T HOLD WITH ABROAD AND THINK THAT FOREIGNERS SPEAK ENGLISH WHEN OUR BACK IS TURNED.” – QUENTIN CRISP
“FRANCE IS A PLACE WHERE THE MONEY FALLS APART IN YOUR HANDS BUT YOU CAN’T TEAR THE TOILET PAPER.”
– BILLY WILDER
Many travelers think that the various rules are a pain in the backside, but I guess people have a right to decide on the level of safety they want to enforce in their own country. Fortunately, most of the rules make sense although I think it’s a bit much that the French expect you to carry your own breathalyser! I also wonder how much use those dinky First Aid kits are; the replacement bulb sets on the other hand seem like a good idea. The main thing to remember is that once you’ve set your bike up, you can stop worrying.
about all the different languages, and the food, and road rules, and… sheesh, everything? It’s all very well for a multilingual traveler like you to say ‘stop worrying’ when the closest I come to speaking or understanding a different language is being able to order a beer in New Zealand, and figure out how much the barmaid wants me to pay.”
Only it’s not. There are differences, but apart from a new language (if you fly into anywhere other than the UK) they are few. And English is still the default for signs in airports all over the world. Follow the signs to wherever you need to go, be it the railway station – most European airports have direct rail connections – or the bus stop or wherever. Milligan will provide instructions for collecting the bike, and the paperwork with it.
Yes, I can hear you say, “but what
Language diffi culties are vastly overrated. To begin with, you might have more trouble in, say, Yorkshire than in Albania because regional Brits will expect you to understand ‘English’, which Albanians will not. Here are a few ground rules: yes, it’s a good idea to learn a few words and phrases to ingratiate yourself with the locals. But be sure you can actually pronounce them so they
stop or wherever. Milligan will provide
But now you’re in a different world, aren’t you? Well, no. Remember that apart from buying dot paintings and souvenir boomerangs, everything the white population of Australia does and uses is based on something from Europe, whether it’s directly or by way of the USA. So things are not as weird as they can be in, say, India or China. Seeing your bike will be registered in Australia, you will need to have an AUS sticker on the back.
Despite the many rules that the EU has standardised between its various members, there are still individual requirements and road rules. France seems to have more than other countries, including Crit’air stickers which list your bike’s pollution control level. The Germans have these too, but there the rule doesn’t apply to motorcycles. To make sure you’re up to date with all of this, including ways of ordering stickers, see https://www. rac.co.uk/drive/travel/ . The site gives you details for different countries in an easy-to-follow style. I use it all the time; check it out before you go.
New Zealand’s only BMW Motorrad approved Travel Partner
Guided and self-guided tours and rentals RIDE WITH THE BEST.
companion of mine kept asking in French where the war was, rather than the railway station.
“EvErybody has thE right to pronouncE forEign namEs as hE choosEs.”
– Winston ChurChill
Your hands will be more use than your mouth in most circumstances. You can point to what you want and hold up a number of fingers to indicate how many. The seller will almost always be helpful, too; I was once trying to work out at a rural market what kind of animal ‘brebis’ cheese came from. I pointed and shrugged questioningly, and the stallholder promptly produced a small plastic model of a ewe. Aha!
Your mobile phone can be set up with translation software, removing the problem of communicating in a different language. But your fingers and your face – practice some quizzical, reassuring and dismissive expressions and you won’t even need translations – can do the job for you even without electronic assistance. Go digital, not digital!
I’m from the gummint and I really am here to help you
If you’re at all concerned about the countries you would like to visit, check http://smartraveller.gov.au/ while you’re making plans. Keep in mind that if you visit a country that gets a bad rap on the Smartraveler website, your travel insurance may not cover you! Should you run into trouble overseas and want consular help, you don’t have to find the number of the nearest Australian consulate or work out what time it is at home. Just call +61262613305 or send an SMS to +61421269080, 24 hours a day. Someone will help you if possible or at least advise you.
Many towns and just about all cities will have a tourist bureau, and these useful places will have an accommodation service. Follow the lower case ‘I’ signs. Then tell the almost invariably helpful person behind the counter, who will speak or understand enough English, what you want. The location (don’t settle for a room out in the boonies); the price range (usually quite wide, and you pay at the bureau, so there are no surprises); and any special requirements you might have (undercover secure parking for a motorcycle) can all be sorted right there. They will usually also give you a map to show you where your accommodation is, or they will call someone to come and guide you there. If you screw up your timing they can still rescue you. I once arrived in Rothenburg in Germany on the Saturday of a weekend-long festival. There was nowhere to stay at any price, so the bureau found me a room at a farm several villages away. Should you want to camp, you’ll find that many European campgrounds have every conceivable service, including licensed cafés.
But wait, there’s more. Europe has a huge number of hotels which specialize in looking after motorcycle travelers. They have dedicated parking, organise rides of the local area and have maps if you want to ride by yourself. Many have complete workshops which they make available to guests. Take a look at www.motorradhotels.info or https:// www.moho.info/en/motorbike-hotels/ and you’ll see them all over the popular motorcycle regions, and not just the Alps. If you want more, just pop ‘motorbike hotels’ into Google and stand back. These places are obviously also good for meeting other riders, all of whom will have recommendations for wonderful rides which they will usually be happy to pass on.
That reminds me of a warning that I should pass on. Stay away from those popular motorcycle regions, especially the Alps, on summer weekends. It may seem absurd, but there will be so many bikes competing for the same bit of road that you will not enjoy your ride.
Many of the bike hotels are off by themselves in the countryside or on the approaches to mountain passes. When you book in at one of these, it makes sense to go for ‘half pension’. That means room, breakfast and dinner –and the food is universally outstanding, both in quality and quantity.
“continEntal brEakfasts arE vEry sparsE, usually just a pot of coffEE or tEa and a tEEnsy roll that looks likE a suitcasE handlE my advicE is to go right to lunch without pausing.”
– Miss Piggy
Vegetarians can have problems, and vegans almost certainly will. You may have to create your own meals from supermarket supplies; most European countries do not cater for or even understand the concept of avoiding meat. It’s difficult for practicing Jews, too. Once when I was travelling in Germany with a Jewish friend he had untold trouble getting a pork-free meal – and had to explain repeatedly that yes, bacon does count as pork. Jewish locals know where to go, obviously; and there will usually be a website to identify kosher restaurants. We didn’t think of that.
Let’s say the worst happens and you need medical help. Mrs Bear and I got pretty serious food poisoning and were admitted to hospital in Berlin. We’d actually had the dud meal in Sweden, but never mind the details – the point is that admission, a day in a hospital bed, tests and drips and drugs and top-class care cost us less than AU$100 each. Now, note this: the Australian Government has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with the governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Malta, Italy, Belgium, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. So there isn’t even an agreement with Germany, but the charge was so low we didn’t bother collecting on our travel insurance.
Don’t miss out on buying good travel insurance anyway, though. And have a great time. D
www.ausmotorcyclist.com.au
TOUR OPERATOR DIRECTORY
The
guide to the stars - The who’s who in the zoo of motorcycle travel worldwide is what you’ll fi nd here. These companies want to make your motorcycle travel the best it can be. We’ve travelled with many of them and know them all, so they come highly recommended. In alphabetical order, they are:
TOURS – New Zealand www.motorbiketours.co.nz offi ce@motorbiketours.co.nz
VIETLONG TRAVEL - Asia www.vietlongtravel.com sales@vietlongtravel.com
WORLD ON WHEELS - Europe, Iceland, South America, India, Asia, Mexico, Africa & Himalaya www.worldonwheels.tours Adventure@WorldOnWheels.Tours
Thailand
Laos
We’ll ride rural two lane roads of varying surfaces through spectacular mountainous landscapes, jungles, and along the Mekong River, with opportunities to explore the legendary Golden Triangle, where Laos, Thailand and Myanmar meet. Here is an opportunity to stretch your riding and travel experience to include rice paddies and tea plantations in the countryside, gleaming gilt-topped temples, crumbling French mansions from colonial times, and steaming noodle stalls in Vientiane. We’ll visit two UNESCO World Heritage sites. For hard core riders, there are 1,864 curves between Mae Tang and Mae Hong! For the sightseers among you, there are hundreds of years of cultural. Religious, military and gastronomic history to soak up. Do not miss out! We’re presenting a two week ride through Northern
Melbourne/Sydney meeting? Lock in a Lockhart
WORDS/ph O t OS the bear
The Commercial Hotel is the focal point of Green Street, the main drag of Lockhart.
GOT TO BE GOOD LOOKING ‘CAUSE IT’S SO HARD TO SEE…
(WITH APOLOGIES TO LENNON/MCCARTNEY)
IT’S A QUIET, unassuming place. The only reason you’re going to notice Lockhart is that, no matter where you come from or where you’re going you will need to make at least one right-angle turn before you get out of town again. Whether it’s Albury, Urana, Kywong, The Rock or Collingulli there’s a 90 degree corner somewhere on the way. It’s a good thing if it makes you look up and notice the name, because Lockhart is a nice little place and has the advantage of being (roughly) halfway between Sydney and Melbourne. The former is about 520km away while the latter is closer at about 400km.
If you’re thinking of getting together with friends from one or the other,
Is this the biggest corrugated iron Big Red kangaroo in the world? I haven’t seen a bigger one.
Lockhart is just the place to meet. Not because it’s surrounded by especially wonderful motorcycle roads; out here, most roads are straight and corners are 90 degrees. But that just makes for a thoroughly relaxing ride. And you’re not on one of the high-stress main roads, either. The closest you come is that Lockhart is where the roads meet that connect Jerilderie and Wagga
e biggest Red
Just out of Lockhart on the Collingulli road and standing roughly 7 metres high, Kangaroo and Emu sculptures were put together in 2011 by local residents during a series of community farm art workshops. They’re made entirely from scrap metal including old ute and car bodies, 44 gallon drums, galvanised iron and unused farm materials donated by
locals. You can see that nothing is thrown away in the country!
There are many other sculptures on display in Lockhart, including the ones at the service station. You can pick up a guide of the Sculpture Trail at the Visitor Information Centre.
on the one hand and Albury and Narrandera on the other. Not high traffic roads, but important enough so they’re kept in good shape.
So for anyone except local country people, Lockhart is pretty much off the map and indeed hard to see. The locals are doing their best to keep their heritage-listed town in as much of the spotlight as they can. The big
Numbers to know
• Visitor Information Centre 02 6920 5674
• Lockhart Motel 02 6920 5357
• Commercial Hotel 02 6920 5109
• Railway Hotel 02 6920 5513
• Caravan Park 0458 205 303
attraction each year is the Spirit of the Land Festival, a colourful celebration with artistic works, lively markets, open gardens and vintage vehicle displays. In 2018, the festival will be held on the 13th and 14th of October, following the Picnic Races on the 12th. Visit www.spirit ofthelandlockhart.com.au for full details.
But it’s not just the festival that makes for a pleasant break in Lockhart. The newly redeveloped Green’s Gunyah Museum, which is also home to the Doris Golder Wool Art Gallery, “enthralls visitors and locals alike” according to the Shire. I haven’t had a chance to drop in, so if you do, write and let me know about it. The streetscape in Green Street, the main drag, is quite beautiful all by itself; it’s not for nothing that Lockhart is known as a ‘veranda town’.
Of course, no town is complete without a pub, and the Commercial
Hotel does Lockhart proud. Familyowned and run it’s a major feature of Green Street, and the food is highly recommended. The Commercial also has accommodation. I haven’t stayed there because there was work – now completed - going on and I stopped at the Lockhart Motel, which is pleasant, clean and friendly. In the evening I sat outside my room and watched the lights of the passing traffic light up the trees in the paddocks on the Collingulli road.
Give the locals a hand keeping their town on the map. They deserve it for their efforts to make it a goodlooking stopover.
1. The town is motorcycle friendly, too. My stay was short but made pleasant by chatting with the blokes at the pub.
2. Lockhart is deservedly known as one of New South Wales’ ‘veranda towns’.
THE WAY TO RIDE
Dririder iRide 3 Waterproof boots - $169.95
THE LATEST VERSION of Dririder’s extremely popular casual styled riding boots is the iRide 3. I’ve loved and worn the previous iRide 2 version for the last couple of years; they are my go-to boots for almost every bit of bitumen riding I do. Whether that is riding the latest hotbloodied sportsbike or a 125 commuter, the iRide 2 boots have been just right. Roll on to the new iRide 3 and they are even a big upgrade from the 2. Softer, full-grain leather upper, 3-layer waterproof system with a breathable Hipora liner, moulded nylon ankle guard, polyester lining with open cell foam for amazing comfort, techno GI thermoplastic toe cap and heel, antitwist moulded nylon mid-sole, a new vulcanised high density anti-slip sole and the biggie being CE certification, so with all the features and protection on offer you know you’ve got a casual looking pair of riding boots that can pass as day-to-day shoes.
The iRide 3 boots are priced at an amazing $169.95. For the quality, feel, comfort and protection I’d have thought a price tag of $299.95 would be reasonable!
One observation: being a short ankled boot and having long legs I find my waterproof pants aren’t quite long enough to cover this type of boot in the rain. The iRide 3s are 100% waterproof but a bit of water does run down into the top of the boot. I’m sure those with shorter legs
than my ten foot long pins will be fine. I found the same with iRide 2. I’d read previously the iRide 2 has a slippery sole. I never really had this problem but the new sole on the iRide 3 is different and grips well – dry and wet. Comfort is a major factor Dririder has built into this boot. Feeling as casual as a casual sneaker/shoe with the CE certified level of protection is amazing. Available in either black or ‘coffee’ and sizes 39-48 with sizing running one size larger than normal. Where I’m normally a size 49 in most brands, I take a 48 with Dririder. See your local bike shop or www.dririder.com.au SW
Believe it or not, the new HJC RPHA90 modular helmet is my first ever flip front/modular helmet. I’ve always been a full-face helmet kinda bloke but
have jumped into the pool to see if I can swim with a flip. I’ve been told that most flip fronts are noisier than a normal full face and the RPHA-90 is
noisier than my Shoei Ryd full face, but only slightly.
The benefits of a flip front are massive. No need to take your helmet off at the servo, more airflow and just a more convenient helmet all round. Comfort is excellent with the front flipped up but locking it down does seem to squash the sides of this helmet. Ralph and The Bear mentioned that this isn’t a normal trait of a flip front. it did get better after a couple of weeks wearing the RPHA-90 daily so I relate it to how we changed the curtains at home – going from a light coloured curtain to a dark one – it takes time to get used to the new look/feel!
Lightness is not something you normally expect with a modular helmet but the RPHA-90 weighs in at only 1500grams and feels light on your head. A ratchet style buckle with premium metal components rather than the usual plastic is used. The interior of the RPHA-90 is a nice comfortable, soft material and there’s a drop down internal sun visor. I did opt for a tinted main visor as I’ve never been a fan of the drop down visors.
As I mentioned, airflow is great in this helmet with the front locked down, it will be welcome during hot weather and the convenient tab to flip the front up is easy to use even with winter gloves on. A light summer glove flipping the front up at a standstill for a bit more airflow on hotter days will be beaut.
Available in a range of colours and sizes XS-2XL I do suggest trying one on to get the exact sizing, trying the helmet with the front up and locked down. I’d say I am in between sizes for the Large helmet I wore – perfectly comfortable flipped up, a tiny bit tight locked down. Check one out at your local bike shop or visit www.mcleodaccess.com.au SW
USED & ABUSED
MADE FOR RIDIN’ – AND MORE
Falco Ranger Boots - $269.95
What do you call a selfie of your feet? A footsie? Or, in this case, a bootsie? Whatever you call it, that’s what you’re getting to go with this review. And there is a reason. Very simply, it is that I like these boots so much that I’ve been wearing them for just about everything – riding to work, wandering around at work, going shopping and even going for my daily walk. If Mrs Bear allowed me to wear them around the house I’d be wearing them there, too. So I just didn’t want to take them off for the photo. What’s so good about my Falco Camel Brown Rangers?
Apart from the fact that they’re made in Italy of full-grain oil-treated leather, a ‘High-Tex’ waterproof membrane and vintage-stitched, hard-wearing Vibram sole? (No, I don’t know what ‘vintage-stitched’ means either, but it sounds good.) I nearly forgot the ‘D30’ ankle cup inserts and the CE approval. Actually, you expect those kinds of things in good motorcycle boots these days. The Rangers have a few advantages on top, though.
For one, the combined lace and zip closure works well. Then, they look terrific. Years ago, you would not have caught me dead wearing brown boots - well, not after I traded my desert boots for motorcycle footwear. But the Falco Rangers look seriously stylish. More important, though, is that they are comfortable not only on the bike but also when I’m walking around.
That means I can wear them both to- and at things like motorcycle launches and on tour. So I’m happy with the Rangers and I expect to get a good lot of use out of them. For a start, I’ll be wearing them to Europe next month. If anything new arises in the bootsie department, you’ll read about it here. Available in sizes 41-47 Euro. PT
I have worn (about as many broken bones I have endured, so ten plus) and owned, the Malvern initially feels overly stiff and a bit unforgiving for the first few journeys. The well-made material is extremely robust while will offer I’m sure fantastic protection if the need arises. The plus side of the toughness is there is no evidence of looseness or flapping around in a stiff breeze. I can attest to clocking 230+km/h.
Most people have a degree of superstition when it comes to riding motorcycles. Some racers have a particular pair of undies or socks as a lucky charm to ward off evil. Me? I won’t wear a competition brand’s kit to a launch on another brand’s product. A broken ankle resulted while wearing a KTM T shirt on a Triumph launch, and the resulting pain and humiliation reinforced that tradition. Between the laughing and tripping over (thanks a lot, mates) my snapped left foot, I have always tried to avoid tempting fate. The pain and the missed First- Class flight to Spain later that week put an end to my own Black Cat, until now. You see, I’m unlikely to want to wear another garment in the foreseeable future given how the Triumph adventure suit makes me feel and hopefully look. Made of 78% Cotton and 28% Nylon with a Goretex layer built in, the Malvern is almost perfect for all occasions. You might not pick up the subtle colour in the photos: although dark, the suit isn’t black, it is a deep dark blue with lots of reflective striping and well-sealed waterproof pockets. Compared to any other suit
The compromise, as always between comfort and a well-ventilated suit, is that it can cope within the extreme temperature range of under –3C and over 38C. I have yet to extend the Malvern past those parameters but I know that, along with the stylish inner jacket made of a microfine Polyester and a set of thermal longs, I have been toasty. Riding in South Africa in 30C plus was comfortable enough with all the vents opened. Six front facing vents help capture the cool air while one exhaust vent across the top of the back deals with removing all that hot sweaty air. Strangely there are no armpit vents so I think summer will be interesting. Anyway, I go for totally Air Vented jackets by November.
Down below, the pants are equally impressive especially with the waist belt, side vents and pockets. They fit snugly and offer the same comfort and wind abatement as the jacket.
Protection is to a high standard with padding in all the common places like shoulders, elbows, back, knees and hips. I did fit my HELD armour to ramp up protection given I am pushing my luck wearing the Malvern on other brands of bikes.
There are few suits on the market that look as smart as the Malvern, and the detailing like the extra neck warmer and the inside lining’s graphics showing a Tiger being given the berries help to show quality and go some way towards justifying the price. I think I will be riding in this suit well into the future; even on a launch on an E Bike one day! Available in a range of sizes, see your local Triumph dealer. RLM D
WORDS rObert CrICK
IT’S PROBABLY A DEEPLY
felt and secret fear we all have on a long ride, especially if we’re only partly conscious of being able to cope if we end up with a flat tyre. I did a ten-week 10,000 km tour a few years back without a hitch of any sort. But I’ve been closer to home on shorter rides when I once had to call Roadside Assist because of a flat tyre. On another occasion, fortuitously, I was in a country town where the local servo came to the rescue.
With an enhanced sense of responsibility, I now always carry a repair kit, although I have often wondered if I could use it effectively. I got to find out not so long ago.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE
A few of us – thank Goodness I had company – were enjoying some gravel roads in the Brindabella Range west of Canberra when my magical computer screen warned me of decreasing pressure in the rear tyre. I caught up with my fellow riders when they had stopped to mark a turn from the road we had been riding and called for a pause and assistance.
Among five of us we had three repair kits. Mercifully, the other two knew what they were doing so I didn’t have to confess too openly that I might have been at a total loss if alone.
And so, we – or more accurately, they – got to work.
The culprit was obvious: a long screw embedded deeply into the rear tyre. First task was to get it out. None of the three of us with repair kits had anything that would extract the screw! One of the other riders produced one of those all-in-one tools that included pliers.
With that problem solved, we proceeded to use the appropriate tools to prepare the hole for insertion of the plug. Here we encountered the next problem. None of the repair kits had usable glue. We managed to lay out three derelict-looking tubes of various (mostly half-squashed) shapes containing, as far as we could judge, dried remnants of what presumably had once been rubber glue.
Plugging a tyre without the glue had two ramifications: first, it was diabolically difficult to get the plug into the tyre – the glue acts as a lubricant at this stage; and secondly, the plugged tyre leaked – the glue seals the plug air tight.
The good news was that we had a working compressor. The upshot was a stop every time the bike’s computer told me the pressure was heading below 20psi so we could top it up again. That got us to our intended lunch stop, if a bit behind schedule, in a small country town where the servo owner obliged with some better repair equipment.
The puncture scene in the Brindabellas
WHAT We leARNed
1Getting the offending screw out of the tyre will likely require some pliers. None in the repair kit! And seemingly none in kits on offer on the Internet! Fortunately, as mentioned, one of the group came to the rescue. Without pliers, we may not have got any further so deeply embedded was the screw.Opening up the hole with the reamer tool wasn’t easy – partly because one is pushing through a steel-belted tyre but notably because the reamer tool was so small and straight-handled. That inhibited the application of pressure.The size and straight handle of the hook tool also made it difficult to insert the plug. This wasn’t helped by the lack of glue to serve as a lubricant.
2
Many kits on offer have a T-shape handle on both the reamer and hook tools. Much better! You can readily appreciate the differences from the photo of the tools: my original ones v the newly acquired T-shaped ones.Three of us had repair kits. But the little tubes of rubber glue had dried up; and one hadn't been opened before. They have a shortish shelf life even unused. Take care!We needed to cut off the excess plug once inserted. No cutting instrument! Again, someone came to the rescue with a penknife. Some kits on offer include a cutting instrument. Fortunately, someone had a small compressor to run off the battery. That beat my option of a hand pump. But another note of caution here: the BMW CAN bus system won’t drive a compressor, so you need a different bike or circumvention of the CAN bus. Good idea to check if your bike’s electrics will allow a compressor to operate. We also had a few bits and
1. You can get punctures in India, too!
Having a servo close by is the ideal.
This is now my puncture repair kit.
Summary of Steps to Plug a Tyre
• Remove the offending intrusion (e.g., nail) with the pliers
• Use reamer tool in and out to clean and open the hole (will take some effort)
• Thread a plug through the eye of the hook tool to midway point of plug
• Coat the plug with rubber glue
• Insert the hook tool into the hole to the point where half the length of the doubled-over plug is inserted
• Pull the hook tool straight out in a quick, firm motion
• Use your cutting instrument to cut off the protruding part of the plug
• Give the glue a few minutes to set before pumping up the tyre
• PS: If you push the plug in too far, simply push it all the way in and start again.
pieces strewn around that were not always easy to keep track of. A small groundsheet of some sort would have been helpful.
3Last point: at the servo where I got a reliable fix to get me home, the mechanic filled the tyre with air before he plugged it. Said it expanded the hole and made it easier to insert the plug. After that, the tyre can be pumped up again to the desired pressure. Of course, at that stage we had use of the servo’s heavy duty compressed air machine!
The basic lesson for me was to make sure I have all the necessary bits and pieces so I don’t get caught short, especially if it was only me on the road somewhere remote. At least, I benefi ted from a refresher course on puncture repair, which in turn motivated me to write this article.
And, of course, make sure you read the instructions on whatever kit you buy or already have; and know the process (a bit more on this in the box below). I would have tried to refresh my memory if I had been alone on puncture day; but I would have found that the instructions in the kit had been untouched for so many years the paper had deteriorated into an unreadable mess. Another thing to store on one’s smart phone!
Off to a great start with...
JUMP STARTERS
A jump starter pack will give you power anywhere, anytime. It is one of the most important pieces of emergency kit you can carry with you. Whether you’re on an outback track or heading home late at night, a jumper starter will protect you if you’re stranded with a flat battery.
Our jump starters will start motorcycles, watercraft, ATV/ UTV, snowmobiles and petrol car engines up to 4.0L (300A Jump Starter) and up to a 6.0L AND 3.0L Diesel automotive engines (400A Jump Starter)
They will also charge your phone or tablet through the USB outlets and all have a built in LED light.
The jump starter pack comes in a carry case with a 220v wall charger, a 12v accessory plug for on bike charging, battery leads and a combination micro USB/lightening charging cable.
For further information on these and all our products, please check our website for details.
Here’s my check list for a repair kit (more or less in order of using each item):
• A small groundsheet – just to keep bits and pieces out of the dirt or from getting lost in the grass (the one in the photo is ~40 cm x 30 cm)
• Pliers of some sort
• Reamer tool – ideally with a T-shaped handle
• Plugs – enough to ruin a few and to cover more than one puncture on a ride or tour
• Hook tool – ideally with a T-shaped handle
• Rubber glue – in fresh tubes
• Cutting instrument: the pliersmulti-tool in photo includes a penknife blade
• Air supply: hand pump, compressor or CO2 canisters –with the canisters you’ll need an insulator or gloves to avoid frost bite!
• You could add a small light of some sort in case you get caught out at dusk or at night.
CO2 Cartridge inflatOr test
If you’re banking on CO2 cannisters to pump up your repaired tyre, you might be interested to learn about some tests undertaken by a member of a motorcycle forum in USA and written up by him on the forum site. While CO2 cartridges are sold in
various sizes, he did his test with the 16 g ones. They also seem to be the most common advertised on bicycle sites here and included in advertised plug kits.
The bottom line (spoiler alert!) seems to be that you'll likely go through a few of the 16 g canisters to get the tyre to a reasonable pressure. Just don't have a second puncture before you reach home or get to a servo.
His test was with 16 g cannisters on the rear tyre of a Versys 1000 (tubeless 180/55-17, 42 psi).
The first thing he noted was that, when the air discharges from the cartridge, it becomes super cold.
He reported that the first cartridge was quite a bit short of filling the tyre.
The second cartridge showed a 1 psi improvement over the first.
The third and fourth cartridges were consistent with the first two.
So, he reasoned, the average psi per 16g cartridge was 5.5psi and all four pumped the tyre up to 22psi. In other words, filling the tyre to its 42psi specification would require eight 16g cartridges or five 25g cartridges (the other size advertised on some sites).
His conclusion was that, as part of an emergency kit with no fewer than 4 cartridges, it may be all one needs to get to the filling station after a flat repair and get a tyre filled properly. However, he added, “I think I’ll continue to carry my air compressor."
CautiOns with Plugs
Is a plugged tyre okay to ride for the rest of the tyre’s life?
There are a lot of opinions and experiences about plugging, with many claiming long life for their repairs.
The first point to note is that all the good advice cautions that the plugs are only for the tread part of the tyre; not the sidewall or, for that matter, not close to the edge even if still on the tread part. They just won’t work.
There’s also a seemingly well-based body of opinion that states that such plug repairs (i.e. from the outside of the tyre) should be regarded and treated as temporary.
It seems accepted that, for cars, an internally applied patch is okay as a longer-term fix. Motorcycle repairers, however, seem loathe to replicate this approach. On one occasion – and only one – a repairer agreed to fix a puncture for me internally; but on that occasion it was a puncture that occurred within a few weeks of putting on a brand new ($300) tyre. Maybe there’s a cost/risk algorithm in there somewhere!
I suppose one could extrapolate that the internally applied repair is, therefore, to be considered sound even on a motorbike. Although, given how much life and limb depend on a single tyre on a motorcycle, the safer and preferred option will likely be a new tyre. D
1. Comparison of reamer and hook tools.
2. Sometimes it’s just time for a new tyre…
WOrK HAs continued on the Slabbie GSX-R1100 at a glacial pace over the last month but finally the bike is running, brakes and clutch bled, and shiny bits refitted. The only thing left is to put the new chain on and fit the painted bodywork. (Too much coffee drinking thinks me! ED)
I purposely leave fitting the fresh bodywork as late as I can in the refurbish debacle so scratches are at a minimum. I’m lucky to have friends in the trade and I’m able to get stuff done at short notice. One such favour was vapour blasting the top triple clamp, handlebars, pillion footpegs and exhaust hanger, and bits and bobs which make the bike look a lot nicer than before. It’s the little things you see.
One such friend came around to ‘supervise’, which usually means getting in my way, talking nonsense and damaging things. Against my better judgement I enlisted his help to fit the factory grab rail. Fitting
ClaSSICalGaS
Carbs , valves and shiny stuff
WORDS/ph O t OS Picko
said grab rail requires some finesse, something in short supply from him. As we were struggling to fit the piece he started to be beset by frustration, which in turn led to him nearly scratching my freshly painted grab rail. A mini intervention ensued, which included me threatening him with the grab rail. He was banned from further participation and normality continued.
Two things you can near guarantee will occur when a bike has been sitting for some time is corroded carburettors, brakes and anything holding hydraulic fluid. In a previous issue I went over rebuilding the brakes and front brake master cylinder. This particular model GSX-R has a hydraulic clutch also, so not only do you have a clutch master cylinder to contend with, you also have a slave cylinder. I hate hydraulic clutches to be honest. A cable system is easier and better in my humble opinion, especially in a resurrection like this. Luckily the clutch set up was ok on the bike, bleeding up nicely. They
are not hard to rebuild, as I showed before, but it’s yet another thing to go wrong on a laid up bike.
I had already given the carbs a clean and fitted a minor rebuild kit but a balance was needed. You can do a static carburettor balance on the bench, which involves making sure all butterflies open together. In between each carb is a wire coil with folded metal taps and screws engaging the tabs. It all makes sense when you look at this set up in detail. Essentially the screws are adjusted on the tabs to make the butterflies work together, just like synchronised swimming. Without the swimsuits and water of course. But prior to that you must adjust the valve clearances. If clearances are too tight, or too loose, the running of the bike will be affected. Many tuners have chased carb issues when in fact valves weren’t closing fully and losing compression, all because the clearances were out.
On the big GSX-R there’s screw and locknut adjustment, dead easy for
for the home tinkerer with a set of feeler gauges and a steely resolve. Later GSX-R engines have shims instead of screw and locknut, and this is beyond the scope of most home tuners unless they can handle a micrometer and have a range of shims ready for the job. Usually in this case you’ll be able to swap shims around to get the right clearances but you’ll need some spare to cover what can’t be swapped. Anyway, the good old screw and locknut doesn’t need any of that stuff. Valve clearances always have a range in which they are operating safely, within tolerance. For example, I did the clearances on a GT860 Ducati today, which has 0.1 for the inlet clearance, and 0.12 for the exhaust. More clearance for the exhaust because it’s hotter. Engage your brain, read the workshop manual and get to it. It’s not that hard. That was ok, and the rubber rocker gasket was reusable and job done. There are two oil lines that bolt onto the back of the rocker cover. These oil lines have o-rings which should always be replaced. I know that’s a bit model specific but it’s good advice to take. O-rings don’t last forever, they get out of shape and go hard. Easy and cheap to replace.
Tuning the carbs was the last piece of the puzzle for this bike, other than fitting the fairing panels and making sure the electrics all worked ok for a registration blue slip (in NSW). First though, I had to make sure there was no crap or junk in the fuel tank. I was lucky in this case as the inside of the tank was really clean. All I needed to do was clean out a little bit of fine particles of who knows what. I usually clean it out with a bit of kerosene and sometimes compressed air to get most of the crap out. You’ll probably never get it all, so fitting a fuel filter is a smart choice and clean/replace where necessary until the tank is as clear as can be. When laying a bike up for a long time it’s prudent to either fill the tank to the brim with fuel, or empty it out and slosh a bit of twostroke oil around to coat the inside of the tank. Yes this can take a little bit of cleaning out later on but it’s better
than having your tank rust away. Some of these 1980s tanks are getting very hard to find now. There are tank lining kits available for just this issue. And cleaning agents are becoming more and more advanced. I’ve been told there’s a rust cleaning solution that doesn’t damage the paint on the tank. You can submerge the tank and the rust goes but the paint stays. Amazing.
Now you can fit the tank and try to adjust/tune the carbs with it in situ but it can mean that room around the carbs is at a real premium. Smart
operators rig up a remote fuel tank, which can deliver the required life force to the engine and allow enough room for access.
Vacuum gauges are the go for carburettor fi ne-tuning. Think your clutch is buggered? No, your carbs are probably out of balance. The difference you’ll feel between well-sorted carbs and ones not so well sorted can be staggering. You can buy vacuum kits for less than $100 and learning to use them does take some time and patience. You
can always bypass this part of the journey and take it to your local bike shop but expect to pay a couple of hundred dollars.
So there you have it, the bike is just about ready to hand back to its owner once I fi t the repainted bodywork. I’ll ban my wobbler mate from the shed on that day. My customer has just mentioned he has a Bimota SB3 to drop off when he picks the GSX-R up. It’s the same deal, the bike has been sitting for some time. It never ends. D
LONGTERMERS
KAWASAKI Z900RS
Time to travel
HAVE I MANAGED to get the key to the stunning Z900RS back from my old man yet? Sadly, no is the answer. He has been busy enjoying it for all of us and then some. Ventura (www.kenma.com.au) has kindly donated their new rack and EVO bag system ($489) which I am told has been massively popular. So if you’ve got a Z900RS or Z900RS Café, place an order now so the wait time isn’t too long. I waited about a month and it is certainly worth it. Fitment is dead easy, taking about twenty minutes and the new system of sliding the bag onto the rack (without the big loop) and the simple snap closure (as has been featured within these pages before) makes life really easy at the start and finish of a trip. I did take off the genuine Kawasaki grab rail that was previously fitted. This grab rail is styled in a similar way to the original Z1 and retails for $221.68. All the bolts, washers and so on are provided and even though I didn’t fit the grab rail I reckon it would take all of ten
minutes – that’s what you get with quality products.
My father is big on having luggage on his bike and he mentioned that with two simple clicks, once he and his mates have arrived at their accommodation on a trip, he can carry his bag inside and be ready for a beer in no time flat. No stuffing around with taking panniers off and whatever – two clicks and walk away with your bag.
The stunning Z900RS has also been in for its first service. I took the bike down to the great folk at Kawasaki Australia for their techs to check over and change the oil. Along with new oil went a new oil filter and sump plug washer. The rest of the bike was given a once over with nothing needing attention, not even the chain. Kawasaki did mention how smooth the RS has become with some kilometres on it now compared to a new RS out of the box, I can only assume this will get even better once it gets up around 6000km for the next service. Look out for the Z900RS cruising along, the next trip is to Uralla in late September. SW
BENELLI LEONCINO
By the scruff of the ear
For the last month I’ve really been enjoying the little lion. I have essentially taken it by the scruff of the ear and flogged the parallel twin engine as hard as it will go – every time I’ve got on it. Luckily my licence is still intact but there’s been two other aspects of the Leoncino that have really stood out for me. The first is the effortless handling. There’s a lot to like with a handlebar
that’s up high and wide, matched with low overall weight and suspension geometry that’s sharp – a bit like lion’s teeth I assume!
The second thing that has been delightful riding the little lion around the place is that it attracts so much attention. First, people stare at it, then they can’t stop talking to you about how nice the styling is – especially the LED tail light. That seems to be the major drawcard that gets people’s attention with the Leoncino along with the little lion on the front guard, which many people have tried to pull off for their own keepsake. I can tell everyone that it is properly bolted to the metal front guard, so unless the front wheel is out, forget trying to steal my little lion. LOL! SW
SUZUKI
GSX1100S KATANA Fast pace
Things have progressed mega fast in the last month or so. I have
spent many hours at D Moto Motorcycle Engineering building the big Kat after getting the frame back from the powdercoaters and restoring all the bits and pieces I could at home. Alana is rather happy that I’ve finished making the house stink with fresh paint and making our oven possibly ‘enhance the flavour’ of our food. Caliper paint, I’m sure, is good for your internals. Haha!
the brakes! Continental has all sorts of sizes available throughout its extensive range, check out www.ronangel.com. au for the full list. They have everything from scooter, to classic, to adventure, to sports and sports touring options. The Conti GO for the big Kat are priced at $189.95 (front: 100/90/19) and $219.95 (rear: 130/90/17).
I also painted the motor. I wasn’t going to as it was in pretty good nick but there’s nothing like a fresh lick of paint and the result, I think you’ll agree, is pretty good.
was a result of four put new bolts the 30 year old
As I previously mentioned the wheels were going to be a big task. They were ready for the tip so I decided to get them blasted and ceramic coated, Polished Silver. The result was far better than I expected, so one Friday night and Saturday afternoon were spent masking up the outer rim and fins for some satin black to be sprayed.
The tyres – Continental Conti GO are the go! Ron Angel Wholesale came to the party with the weird sizing fitted to the big Kat. The tyres are more like BMX tyres than motorcycle tyres so I’ll need to be careful getting hard on
Mick Hone money I’ve getting
Making the big Kat a roller was a result of four hours the next Saturday morning and the help of Shaun and Mark at D Moto. I have also put new bolts and nuts from front to back as the 30 year old ones were past their best. Plus, I reckon allen head bolts improve the look of the bike dramatically, so I’ve done most of them that way. Some of the larger bolts have been replaced with new old stock items from Mick Hone Motorcycles. I reckon he’ll be buying a superyacht now with the money I’ve given him! Next month the big Kat is getting so close, yet so far… SW
BMW R 90 S
That’ll make a dent
The Bear has been busy getting some bits and pieces fixed up on the R 90 S - a bit of a surprise to the wallet. That’s old bikes for you! Read all about the ‘fun’ next issue. D
BMW R 90 S
Now that we have it back from its fi nal drive transplant (thank you to Julian at GeeTee Motorcycles in Berowra) it’s time to make the R 90 S earn its living. Here are a few of the test subject we have in mind for it. design
BLOW ME DOWN
WOLO ‘BAD BOY’ HORN - $62
AUSTRALIAN Motorcycle Components (AMC), from whom we sourced this little screamer, reckons that this is the smallest, loudest compressor horn available. I must admit I haven’t tried
them all, but I would not be surprised if that was correct.
To start with, the horn is small enough to replace the BMW’s original squeaker (you couldn’t really call it a horn) behind the front forks. It is significantly larger, but it does fit in there. It’s also really easy to fit. It is a one-piece design and requires no hoses, either. Just transfer the factory horn wires to the compressor.
The Bad Boy mounts with one bolt included in the kit.
Is there a safety feature more important than the horn? Maybe not!
be true
AMC claims that the dual tone air horn sound is two times louder than the factory horn; that might
for some factory horns, but in the R 90 S’s case it’s more like four times. The heavy-duty maintenance free compressor is claimed to provide years of dependable service. I rarely use my horn because it usually doesn’t do much good; the sound is just something else for the traffic to ignore. But I suspect things will be different with the Bad Boy on board. I’ve only had one chance to blow it since installation, but the bloke in the BMW X1 who was edging over into my lane certainly heard it, and reacted. See http://www.amcmotorcycles. com/ for more details or to order. PT
SHINE A LIGHT
GIVI S310 TREKKER LIGHTS - $249
The R 90 S will be seeing a fair bit of backroads touring, so additional lights were a priority. Looking around on the interwebs, these Givis pretty much jumped out at me. I have a lot of respect for the company’s quality,
and seeing that I’ve been bitten by ordering cheap lights from China I didn’t mind the price. Somewhat unusually these days, the Trekkers are not LEDs but H3 halogen lights. They come complete with the relay and the fuse to link them directly to the battery as
1. The bike’s headlight is not too bad, considering how old it is, but it can use the help these Givi lights provide.
2. The weatherproof switch has found a home on the handlebar.
3. Not only will the Trekkers let you see, they’ll let you be seen.
LONG TERMERS Special
as well as a cable which can connect them to the ignition. That ensures that the lights are not left on when you switch the ignition off. Also standard is a waterproof switch that can be mounted on the handlebar.
The ‘office’ of the BMW is getting a little crowded now (see the charger below) but it’s all useful stuff.
The sturdy fittings are designed to mount the lights onto any engine crash bars with a tubular diameter between 21mm and 25mm. As it happens, they not only fit perfectly but also look terrific. While the cases and the mounts are made from plastic rather than aluminium, a friend has advised me that this material is actually stronger than metal and more vibration-resistant; not that there is any vibration from the lights.
My intention is to use the lights for close-to-the-ground illumination on either low or high beam, and they do that job very well. Perhaps it would be nice to have a little more spread, but they certainly lance the darkness a long way ahead of the bike. Bring it on, kangaroos.
You can buy the Trekkers from most bike shops, and more information is available from https://www.givi.it/ products/motorbike-accessories . PT
AN OLD BAG
WUNDERLICH TANK BAG
‘RETRO’ – $378
A tank bag can change the look of your bike completely. I have four of them – call me a Bag Bear if you like, but they mean that I can suit bag to bike. When I bought the R 90 S, I
soon realized that I didn’t have a bag to suit this classic. The German accessory company Wunderlich, who specialize in gear for BMWs, predictably enough had the answer. They are better known for their huge ‘Elephant’ tank bags which have set the standard for more years than I can count, but they also have this small (7
1. While the window on top of the bag is small, it will hold a folded-up map.
2. The lines and fi nish of the ‘Retro’ bag suit the R 90 S perfectly.
litres) and neat ‘Retro’ bag which suits the look of the R 90 S exactly. With a classic, simple design and some neat features like leather trim, Velcro-equipped leather straps and a non-slip base, this compact {L/W/H: 32 cm x 25 cm x 14 cm) bag holds one or two cameras or the supplies I need for a day out, while looking terrific. The mounting system with a head-stem strap and two others which attach under the seat (or somewhere near) makes it a near-universal item. It does take a little figuring out to find the neatest place to attach the straps, but it’s not too bad.
The transparent top is too small for most maps or atlases, but this isn’t a touring accessory – it’s for around town. Brown or black, featuring water resistant zips with grippy pulls which also make it lockable it also has a large card slot with an additional flap. The comfortable leather carrying handle looks class, too.
I have a feeling that this bag will be featuring on more than one of my bikes – the Ducati Scrambler is just crying out for a stylish bag. The Australian agent for Wunderlich is Procycles in Sydney, procycles.com.au , or take a look at www.wunderlich.de/ . PT
CHARGE IT
ROCKY CREEK PHONE MOUNT WITH USB CHARGE PORT - $49.95
The latest in a long line of welldesigned, clever accessories from Rocky Creek, this bright blue gadget is invaluable in all sorts of circumstances.
While it’s basically just a way to mount your phone to your handlebars, it will also charge it.
It’s a snack to attach the mount to any handlebar with a diameter of 22 to 32mm, using the rubber mounting inserts supplied. Then just connect the wires to your battery and you’re done. It took me all of ten minutes on the BMW, and that was only because I took the tank off. The 5V/2.5A USB charge port has an on/ off switch and comes with a USB cable to fit Apple and Samsung phones. There’s even an allen key and a spare fuse. While the platform of the charger takes up sosme room in the ‘offi ce’ of the R 90 S, it holds the phone quite securely. My only criticism is that the little rubber cover that seals the charge port when you’re not using it keeps popping out on the unit I have. Probably just because I haven’t fi gured
2.
out how to insert it properly.
See www.rockycreekdesigns.com.au to order. PT D
1. You won’t miss the bright-blue Rocky Creek charger on your handlebar.
It’s a lot less obtrusive with a phone in the adjustable holder.
Get ready to welcome a new motorcycle company.
Harley-Davidson is set to spread the eagle’s wings and claim more territory than ever as the Motor Company becomes a full-blown Motorcycle Company.
What, you may well ask, is he on about? Hasn’t Harley-Davidson always been a motorcycle company, since its foundation a hundred and fifteen years ago? Weren’t they making more than 17,000 motorcycles a year only 15 years later?
Yes of course. But in the latter part of the 20th Century, Milwaukee began to limit its range to make more and more motorcycles of fewer and fewer types. Finally, they coalesced into what was really only one bike, although it was presented in many guises. Yes, there were and are Sportsters, cruisers and baggers but the essence was identical. A Vee twin engine; swoopy, quintessentially American design; high torque / (relatively) low power; severely limited cornering clearance and indifferent handling; superb
chrome and paint; adding up to a high-impact, immediately recognisable product. H-D was, indeed, as it claimed, a Motor Company.
But was it a Motorcycle Company? H-D had never descended to the depths of becoming “a T-shirt company with a motorcycle” as my friend and US industry analyst Robin Hartfiel described Indian before Polaris took it under its wing. And yet, as it focused more and more on the bikes its ageing buyers wanted, there was no sign of the kind of diversification that had seen original designs like the Topper and the Hummer being created to appeal to younger buyers. Well, all right, the Hummer, like the BSA Bantam and many other manufacturers’ bikes, was a copy of a DKW but you know what I mean.
Harley-Davidson’s part and then full ownership of Italian manufacturer Aermacchi from 1960 also provided a variety of smaller motorcycles with H-D badges, but that effort finally failed in 1978 – supposedly because
environmental legislation made it impossible to sell the bikes in the US, but also, according to some commentators, because of declining quality at the Italian factory. There are even stories of warehouses filled with unsellable bikes rusting away in South America. Allegedly the Italian government would not allow any reductions in the workforce, so bikes were being built without any realistic hope of selling them.
Perhaps that failure helped to steer H-D management away from diversification. Certainly, the decision in 2008 to effectively buy Aermacchi back again in its new form as MV Agusta (and Cagiva, for what it’s worth) was not any kind of attempt to diversify the brand. More than anything, other than finding a way to park $70 million, it was intended to strengthen dealerships by widening their offer with sports bikes.
That didn’t work, anyway, despite Matt Levatich, who is now H-D boss, being sent to Varese to keep an eye and probably a restraining hand on
The 2019 CVO range includes three new models and will no doubt be blinged to the headlight shades – if they have them. CVOs are always pretty special.
MV’s Claudio Castiglioni. I attended a press conference with the two of them where it was painfully clear that they were not seeing eye to eye. I suspect that the Castiglioni family is not easy to deal with; last year, even Mercedes-AMG walked away from Giovanni Castiglioni and its investment in MV Agusta. But back to Harley-Davidson in 2018.
Launching Harley-Davidson’s future plans under the title of “More Roads to Harley-Davidson”, a name possibly inspired by China’s “One Belt, One Road” and just as important in the more limited environment of the motorcycle industry, president and CEO Matt Levatich said, “The bold actions we are announcing today leverage Harley-Davidson’s vast capabilities and competitive firepower – our excellence in product development and manufacturing, the global appeal of the brand and of course, our great dealer network. Alongside our existing loyal riders, we will lead the next revolution of
two-wheeled freedom to inspire future riders who have yet to even think about the thrill of riding.”
Although he speaks for a company that has often made much of pretty minor changes – different paint and a few other cosmetic changes have been known to create a “new model” according to Motor Company PR – he backed that claim up with an outstanding range of innovations.
Levatich said, “In moving forward, we are tapping into the spirit that drove our founders back in 1903 and every one of the employees and dealers who rose to the challenges faced along the way. Our plan will redefine existing boundaries of our brand – reaching more customers in a way that reinforces all we stand for as a brand and as a company and we can’t wait to kick it into gear.”
Redefining existing boundaries is also known as extending the brand, and if you have a successful one then it’s the surest and safest way to increase sales. Think of the many variations on Kit Kat confectionery that you can –
and do! – buy. In Harley’s case, brand extension is what will lead the Motor Company to become a fully rounded Motorcycle Company.
While Harley has led the market in some ways, especially in the emphasis it has placed on alternative parts, accessories, clothing and all kinds of bling, it has not, or at least not successfully, extended its brand. The V-Rod range was a solid attempt to do that, but like so many not-quite-right extensions it was not a success. Ducati experienced the same thing with the ST touring bikes and the Sport Classics; BMW saw it with the original K Series.
There is no doubt in my mind that Harley-Davidson is the prime brand in motorcycling. Whenever someone finds out that I’m involved in the business, the immediate assumption is that I must ride a Harley. No other brand comes close; even BMW Motorrad has had its identification blurred by the cars.
Now admittedly my mental jury is still out on the Pan America – I think
it’s the right bike at the right time, but I’m not sure that enough of you will agree – but the Streetfighter, Custom and even Live Wire models look like certain winners. And Harley intends to back them up with other improvements under the More Roads plan. This, says the company, includes:
“New Products – keep current riders engaged and inspire new riders by extending heavyweight leadership and unlocking new markets and segments, while extending the company’s leadership in heavyweight motorcycles by continuing to develop improved, more technologically-advanced Touring and Cruiser motorcycles that will keep existing Harley-Davidson riders engaged and riding longer. As well, developing a more accessible, small-displacement (250cc to 500cc) motorcycle for Asian emerging markets through a strategic alliance with a manufacturer in Asia for growth in India, one of the largest, fastest growing markets in the world, and other Asia markets.”
Surprisingly, there are no current plans to extend this to the potentially huge and relatively integrated South American markets, according to H-D’s Australian marketing manager Keith Waddell. That’s despite the assembly
plant the company already has in Brazil.
“Broader Access – meet customers where they are and how they want to engage with a multi-channel retail experience by creating highengagement customer experiences across all retail channels – including improving and expanding the company’s global digital capabilities by evolving the Harley-Davidson. com experience to integrate with and enhance the dealership retail experience for existing and new customers. It also includes the introduction of new retail formatsincluding smaller, urban storefronts to expose the brand to urban populations and expand international apparel distribution.”
This last idea is obviously one whose time has come, as major car brands look at doing precisely that in shopping malls all over Australia.
“Stronger Dealers – HarleyDavidson’s world-class dealer network is an integral part of the company’s accelerated strategy and critical to overall success. The company will implement a performance framework, enabling the best-performing and most entrepreneurial dealers to drive innovation and success while providing the premium customer
experience the brand is known for.” While all this is happening, Harley is not letting up with its current models. The Touring and Trike ranges get upgraded with new technology including an electronic Reflex Linked Brake system for the Tri-Glide Ultra and Freewheeler trikes which incorporates Antilock Braking, Traction Control, Drag-Torque Slip Control and linked front and rear braking. New suspension technology adds a significant improvement in ride quality and ease of spring preload adjustment. Some of the bikes and trikes in these ranges will be available with the Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine which delivers strong acceleration and overtaking performance.
Milwaukee has also just announced a Limited Edition Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) range of three bikes - The CVO Limited model “for the rider who expects it all – luxury, performance, features and style with the ultimate in long-range touring comfort and luxury”; the CVO Street Glide, “an edgy, custom-bagger with hot-rod performance and a mindblowing premium audio system”; and the CVO Road Glide, “distinctive, menacing style combined with longhaul comfort in a performance touring
Go, baby, go. The 240mm rear tyre puts the 114cubic inch power to the road.
motorcycle ready for long roads and late nights.” These bikes are somewhat on the expensive side of expensive, but they’re also going to be exclusive. And if you thought that the disappearance of the V-Rods meant the end of seriously performancebased Harleys, check out the 2019 FXDR 114. “An unapologetic power cruiser that brings a new level of performance to the Harley-Davidson line up, the FXDR 114 combines the unrelenting power of the MilwaukeeEight 114 engine with liberal use of weight-saving aluminium and composite components, including a new aluminium swingarm, aluminium subframe, lightweight wheels and composite mudguards…”
Handling is said to be significantly improved with, among other things, “premium suspension components” and the lean angles are greater than with other Softails. But looks have not been forgotten.
“The rear mudguard is shaped to hug a massive 240mm tyre and moves with the tyre through the range of the suspension, so becomes almost invisible when the FXDR 114 is in motion,” claims the press release. I’m seriously looking forward to getting my hands on one of these. And you? Well, you’re in for a lot of birthday presents at the birth of the Motorcycle Company. D
1. It’s nearly here! Harley-Davidson’s electric motorcycle, LiveWire -- the first in a broad, no-clutch “twist and go” portfolio of electric two-wheelers designed to establish the company as the leader in the electrification of the sport – is planned to launch in 2019.
2. In what looks like becoming its natural element, the FXDR displays its discreet curves. It looks a little as if it had come straight out of one of the more restrained private customisers in the US.
3. This 975cc Streetfighter model is part of the new modular 500cc to 1250cc middleweight platform, which is planned to launch in 2020.
READERS’TRAVELS
TraverSiNg The TaBlelaNdS
NSW: Between Bathurst and Crookwell Words/photos Robe Rt C R i C k
A “NeW” roAd to ride
ANotHer Great motorcycling road in the central/southern tablelands has recently been opened to the bitumenonly motorcyclists. This is the road between Bathurst and Crookwell.
I’ve been watching the gravel section diminish from about 40km a few
years back to 3 km late last year to an uninterrupted tarmac runway earlier this year (2018). There’s still a lot of new line-marking to complete; but that’s no issue. It never made the Bear’s top rides probably because of its frequently changing and unpredictable gravel surface as it dipped some 400m down the southern side of the
Abercrombie Valley. It’s marvellous what a coat of bitumen can achieve: a transformation from a slow and careful descent or climb on twisting washed-out gravel to a fast and furious (loosely metaphorical!) zip along a deserving competitor to the Goulburn-Oberon top #28 ride. On a practical level, continuing to Gunning, it provides a third option
for transiting between the central and southern tablelands – the other options being Bathurst/Goulburn via Oberon and Bathurst/Bowning or Yass via Cowra. At 192 km, it’s equal with the Oberon option as the shortest route to the Hume Hwy; but overall shortest between Bathurst and Canberra by some 20 km, losing out to the Oberon route by 4 km if the south coast of NSW is your starting or ending point.
A BAthUrst stArt
Although I’ve ridden the road both ways, my most recent encounter with it was north to south starting in Bathurst – and my first on the all-bitumen version.
It’s a straight-forward run out of Bathurst passing several signs enticing you to divert to the near-by Mount Panorama Circuit. That’s a very easy option whether you’re leaving Bathurst or arriving there. And it can be a lot more than a look/see. When not being used as a race track imprisoning the many households for whom it’s the only road access to and from their properties, it’s a public road for anyone to use. Not surprisingly, there’s a town speed limit of 60 km/h, which is ample for the uninitiated coming anticlockwise (the race direction) down the Esses from Skyline at the top of the track. There’s also the National Motor Racing Museum as you exit the southern end of the circuit that’s worth a visit.
Assuming you’re then on your way out of Bathurst, the road moves slowly through a few tiny edge-oftown settlements enjoying stretches of overhanging trees before heading to open farm country. Keep following the signs to Goulburn as Crookwell doesn’t get too many mentions in the road signage.
In contrast to the expansive and flat plains west of Bathurst, the countryside to the south is at times deeply undulating soon into the ride,
1. Leaving Bathurst 2. Trunkey Creek
3. Old Tuena Inn
providing enjoyable if gentle climbs, dips and inevitable turns to keep you well-focussed.
SIGHTS ALONG THE WAY
Bathurst lies some 700m above sea level so it’s not that noticeable a climb across the farming country as the road rises to some 1000m over the 55 km to Trunkey Creek. There’s not much at Trunkey Creek: a few derelict buildings, a pub and only a handful of people who call it home; but in the 1851 gold rush days, started by discoveries made by Edward Hargraves after his less successful ventures in California, the town is said to have housed some 2500 people. I’m told you can still do some recreational prospecting in the local rivers if that’s your fancy.
It’s always a thoughtful experience to amble through such a town and wonder about its halcyon days. Several weeks previously, on a day’s ride doing some nearby forest roads, we emerged just north of Trunkey Creek and stopped at the pub there for lunch. The choice was a pie or a sausage roll. But the hospitality of the proprietor and her
good humour more than made up for the sparsity of choice.
Trunkey Creek marks the high point –altitude wise – as the road then begins its descent to the Abercrombie River at the bottom of the valley. Some 13 km further along and about 300m lower are the Abercrombie Caves, a few kilometres into a side valley to the left of the road. I didn’t have time to visit – and besides they were closed (every Tuesday and Wednesday) – but have been there previously. Certainly worth a visit to see some impressive examples of the peculiar limestone arches and other formations that have come about by dissolution of the limestone by natural acids in the underground water flows (I understand that’s the significance of “karst” in the signage).
INTO AND OUT OF THE VALLEY
After the caves, the road continues to descend through mostly fast sweeping bends until it flattens out to cross the river at about 440m. I assume the warning of a rough surface on the river signage referred to the road rather
than the river, but it could have been warning of both.
The climb up the southern side of the valley provides a starkly contrasting experience. The first part of the climb is steep and sharply turned. The road finds paths between thickly wooded rises so that you feel it’s like a railway line winding up the valleys and across the plateaus side-stepping the worst of the rugged countryside.
In the midst of this process the small village of Tuena pops up. It’s another 1851 gold rush settlement that grew to house a post office and police station, three pubs, a general store, a courthouse and a school; and several churches. That’s a far cry from Tuena today. The old inn has seen better days. It sits lonely and forlorn as you come into town, not having seen a customer or a guest for as long as it can remember. Beside it is a small war memorial in honour of some thirty locals who responded to the call for the First World War and three for the Second World War, reflecting the relative sizes of the population between the early aftermath years of the gold
rush and the set-in decline by the time of the Second World War. And, as one invariably finds with such small-locality memorials, there are always several sets of names from the same families.
Once past Tuena, the countryside opens out again as the road – still winding gently – makes its way through more farmland. But there’s still plenty of good riding as spurs of ranges dog its way forward, forcing it to manoeuvre alongside and up into wooded hills at times. It’s a continuing delightful romp all the way into Crookwell.
IS GRAVEL YOUR SECRET OBSESSION?
With the Noah-like flood of dual purpose bikes into the market, we’re all sometimes lured into the dare of a bit of gravel. So don’t be put off by the all-bitumen attraction of the Bathurst/Crookwell road. There are opportunities to mix and match.
Coming from Bathurst, about 29km after a major T junction where you turn onto Trunkey Road (about 15 km out of town), there’s a left turn
onto Old Trunk Road. I haven’t ridden it but it looks like an easy gravel 5km anabranch that takes you through farm country before rejoining Trunkey Road.
A couple of kilometres south of Tuena, there’s a left turn onto Peelwood Road. That links up with Laggan Road; and the two of them make up a 62km ride of partly gravel and partly bitumen right into Crookwell. It’s a nice easy-going run.
If you look on Google maps in satellite mode, there are a few other seemingly more exciting options but I’ve no idea how exciting they might be.
AFTER CROOKWELL
The main bitumen road takes you right into the relatively busy town of Crookwell. It’s one of those country towns that always seems to have lots of vehicles and people, hopefully reflecting local prosperity.
The option that continues with our journey to the Hume Hwy is a turn-off to the right (south) before you get into town (or to the left as you return from
Vietlong TRAVEL
town in the direction whence you came). That takes you along a top turning road of 44 km to Gunning: a truly great ride in itself. From there, it’s a straightforward run to Canberra or the south coast or Melbourne or wherever.
If you’re simply cruising and looking for options, there are others you can take from Crookwell.
One is to head to Taralga (all sealed as of a year or two ago) and do a return loop to Bathurst via Oberon. That might be excessively decadent: simply too much pleasure in one day.
There’s an enjoyable road to Goulburn from Crookwell. That, of course, is the ultimate destination of the road out of Bathurst; hence, the signs all saying to Goulburn.
There’s another (now all sealed) enjoyable road to Boorowa from where you can double back through Cowra, head to Young to pick up the Olympic Highway or cut across to the Hume Highway.
This is one of those times and places when the riding world is your oyster! D
We provide the best motorcycle travel experiences in Vietnam and Indochina and have a long association with Australian Motorcyclist putting together escorted tours
Why only forces the Munich [people from Munich] with such a sweltering heat in protective clothing and sits on a motorcycle? By Korbinian Eisenstein.
Why is the person forces in protective clothing with such a sweltering heat and sits on a motorcycle? This question must be asked these days. Alone, because it happens without need. Apparently people do it voluntarily. This can be seen, for example, at the Stop B 12 in Hohenlinden, when the Motor eagles take a break and open their visor. They are packed from head to toe, sweating like in a Finnish steam sauna and still look overjoyed. I can’t believe it. The people should have evolved over the centuries? Apparently not. Even the stump sinnigste [dumbest] Blockhead would not have voluntarily forced in a knight’s armor and saddled his horse in the Middle Ages at 30 degrees in the shade. Just to enjoy the wind. or the Rittwind [riding breeze]. He
“It’s
so hot!” Thanks to Revere Seats for the photo.
would have done that if at all by professions. For example, to invade a castle or rescue princesses from dragons. But in the district of Ebersberg there are no classical monsters and no more knights. The visors now have others in front of the face.
[People from] Munich, for example, who use their Harleys to fall into the region via the A 94, and to becamp [fill] the country roads with their roar and stench. The modern monsters with the “M” on the license plate are the worst regional plague since the Caterpillar invasion in the Eberswalde forest 120 years ago. You almost want to conjure up the fact that it gets hotter by ten degrees these days. So that it feels at some point in the Motorradlergewand {motorcyclist’s clothing], like when you stand in Knight’s armor before the mouth of a fire-breathing dragon.
Just in case you’re wondering where this fractured bit of English, translated by Uncle Google from German, it’s from a Bavarian daily newspaper. Even in the home of BMW Motorrad, the muggles who can’t understand motorcycling insist on bad-mouthing motorcyclists. Keep in mind that 30 degrees is really hot in Germany; imagine this bloke seeing an Australian motorcyclist at our normal summer temperatures. And in case you’re wondering about the scribe’s name, he is named after Saint Corbinian, who used to ride a bear. Make of that what you will... Often the very thought of motorcycling brings out the kneejerk “If I think I wouldn’t like it, it must be bad” reaction both here and,
as you can see above, overseas. It’s a shame, really. If Korbinian and his fellow cage drivers were to give a bike a go, they might enjoy it. Even on a warm day!
FOOLS? PROOF!
Make something foolproof, they say, and you’re just going to find a better fool. I have found not one but many better fools, right here on the streets of Sydney. I know that many of you will now be saying, “so what, we all know the streets of Sydney are full of fools.” Sure, but can you prove it? I can. All you need to do is pull up at the front of any row of cars at the traffi c lights. Almost inevitably, someone will be stopped short of the sensors in the roadway. Now that does leave room for a bike to pull in in front of them, but I doubt very much that that’s why they’re doing it. Not that I know why they’re doing it. I can’t even imagine why they’re doing it. It’s not hard to work out what the sensors are for, is it? And it’s not hard to work out where they are – just look for the cut marks in the road surface. Please.
I feel like tapping on their window and saying “Look, folks, if your car is not above the sensors then the system doesn’t know you’re here… and you won’t activate the lights.” In other words, you risk sitting here until the warranty on your tin box runs out. You’re also holding up all the other tin boxes behind you. One day the lesspatient driver of one of those other cars will lose it and come and argue with you by applying a Krooklock or something similar.
It’s less annoying for motorcyclists because these days most sensors will read a bike’s presence, even that of a light scooter. So keep this in mind: it is not only your right to fi lter to the front of the row at traffi c lights, it’s your civic duty to help all those drivers held up by the better fool.
Peter ‘The Bear’ Thoeming
WHATSAYYOU
WE
LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU, the letters are among the most keenly read parts of the magazine. Please try and keep letters down to no more than 300 words. 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 contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au or Australian Motorcyclist Magazine, Suite 4b, Level 1, 11-13 Orion Rd, Lane Cove West NSW 2066. All opinions published here are those of the writers and we do not vouch for their accuracy or even their sanity.
Wtheir fold up chairs It will help you relax around the campfire so you and Boris can sing the night away. Please send me your postal address.
Cheers, Stuart.
SINGING WITH BORIS
ho doesn’t love a bit of singing? Well, it seems Phil was rather taken by Boris and his ‘singing’. Trust me, Phil, I’ve heard him sing and it’s nothing to write home about! For your troubles, the lovely people at Rocky Creek Designs (www. rockycreekdesigns.com.au) would like to give you one of their new fold up portable tables. They are also the perfect complement to
WHO WROTE THIS TRIPE?
Stuart,
I never write to magazines, much less take hard-working journos to task, but I can’t let your Route#65 report go unremarked. Did you write this report for the grey nomads, or was it intended to inform motorcyclists? It certainly reads like it was written by someone who has never ridden the area. I’m not sure where you intended to start the journey from, but if you are going as far south as Innisfail you should press on to Silkwood and ride the old road back to Wangan through South Johnstone. There’s a downhill right left ess bend onto the Japoonvale flat that takes
Great to see a softer side to Boris waxing whimsically and lyrically about Bob’s hit song. I’m sure it has helped to increase Bob’s online royalties this month. However, given the metaphoric “Fire Lake” we should also be careful not to arrive before our time. Good read as usual.
Cheers, Faza.
Hi Phil,
Don’t worry, Boris fi res up in issue #66 (which you will have read). Glad you’re liking the mag. Cheers, Stuart.
cajones like Casey Stoner to ride at speed, but has good visibility for a safe shot if you are brave enough. Stop at Paronella Park for a swim to calm your nerves if need be.
Left onto the Palmerston at Wangan and up the boring road that replaced the old switchbacks until you get to Milla Milla. Turn left just past the town speed limits onto route 24 and sweep through the bends to Highway 1. A quick right left to Evelyn and on through to route 52, with some of the sweetest roads into Wandecla and out of Herberton down the range to Atherton. If you have the time and the inclination, stop at the Historic Village in Herberton. It’s the best
working historical attraction anywhere (no affilitation etc). They also serve cold beer and fresh damper.
Pass directly through Atherton and east to Yungaburra. If you are really thirsty, the Peeramon pub on the way is another spicy waterhole for history buffs. Don’t take the swing challenge if you don’t want to shout the bar.
After Yungaburra you are onto the Gillies, which is motorcycle heaven apart from the fact that there are too many motorcycles on it every weekend.
If you are riding on a weekday, stay off the range roads anywhere around commuting hours. There are more folk working in Cairns who live up on the Tablelands than in the suburbs.
Now you are in Gordonvale you can ride back down to Innisfail if you like, or you can traverse Cairns to the north and ride back up the Kuranda Range. If you do that, stay in Kuranda the night and ride back down the next day. The road to Mareeba is boring.
The one thing you got right Stu, was the fact that the Tablelands is a great place to visit, and rewards several days of riding if you can get the break. And just for the record, this isn’t a squid report. I’m 63 and I ride a Caponord soft roader. Aprilias just like corners... Enjoy (but don’t tell anyone else ok?)
Peter W-T
Hi Peter,
Thanks for taking the time to write all that. Local knowledge is King, as you’d know. Do you mind if I include this in the letters page as an extra to the map for those wishing to ride around the area?
Thanks, Stuart.
By all means Stuart. Like I said, don’t tell anybody else about these great riding spots :-)
Regards
Peter W-T
THE TRAVELLING ARMY?
Its 28 deg here...wonder how many would turn up. It’s thousands of kilometres for everybody…
Cheers
Peter Colwell
BEEN A WHILE
G’Day Bear, an the Crew, Well it’s been a while since I last wrote. I’ve had a bit on with an involvement in community radio, getting a new motorcycling program up and running (again), and all of the other little things that life throws at you. Fortunately I suppose, I’ve only had to deal with those that stuck.
I was going to comment on your last issue (#66), but as I was distracted, didn’t manage to get there. This issue (#67) however, needs to be spoken at. I have always enjoyed the travel tales from all parts of the world, but you always miss one that’s so close to us…Noumea and New Caledonia. Having recently holidayed there with SWTSMBO, it took me until it was too late to discover a motorcycle rental outfit in Noumea. Sadly that was on our last day there and I didn’t get a chance to have a gecko at them, but I did manage to snag a brochure, and a (sort of) promise to get back there one day…it would promise to be an interesting ride.
Getting back to this current issue now, I know that your staff like to stick little things in to keep us readers on our toes. This edition was no exception. I was really enjoying the article on the Granya pub, liked it so much in fact that I
think I’ll have to visit. However Bear, the River Murray sits on the border of New South Wales and Victoria…not Queensland. I know it’s a little thing, but you know how touchy those Vics get about things like that.
I mentioned our radio program earlier. As far as I know it’s the only one of two still on air, the other is on community radio out of Campbelltown (NSW). Ours, ‘Moto Chat’, goes to air every Wednesday evening from 7pm to 8pm (SA time). It can be streamed live by going to the station website – www.coastfm.com.au – then use the streaming buttons. We welcome input to the show and I’d like to get you in for an interview if you’re ever down this way and are available. Imagine that…the Bear speaks! Keep up the good works… Cheers, Dave Gabel (aka Hagar)
Hi, Hagar. I’ve been on community radio before, and always enjoyed it. I’ll make a point of coming by – The Bear
BEAR TWIN
Hi Stuart, It looks like your beloved Bear has been two timing you, I came across this photo in an English motorcycle magazine if The Bear denies this is him well then I suggest he retrace his father’s footsteps just after the war.
As this guy had just purchased a second hand T140 original as against our Bear’s Kwaka turbo original can you please decide which country has the smarter Bear. Yours in Motorcycling
Ian Gregory Regents Park
Geez, Ian, I am much better looking than this bloke! Cheers, The Bear
FIVE STARS
Hi all just returned from a tour up through western N.S.W. On the way home on Colin’s 5 helmet rating we decided to check out the Mountain View in downtown Tooraweenah. After a week of dust and dead roos what a oasis great food and hospitality all I can say is that if you are in the area it is well worth a visit. Mike and I ended up spending 2 nights good job Colin. p.s. keep up the good work. Cheers, Bruce Beechworth, Vic.
Hi Bruce, Great to hear, mate. Cheers, Stuart.
A PLAY ON WORDS
My dear editor and contributing editor, I do appreciate the problems often associated with the notoriously guilty subeditors who always seem responsible of mishaps in printing…but I thought I might draw your attention to one such mishap.
In the article on the Great North Road (#66 August 2018 p52 et seq), it is stated in column 2 on page 56 that “…nor is there historical evidence that a lot in the novel ever took place as it’s set out in the book.”
The author actually wrote in the article as submitted “… nor is there historical evidence that a lot in the novel ever took place in the settings of the book.”
I believe there is historical evidence that events as set out in
WHAT SAY YOU
the novel did take place; only not in the secret river location. It would seem that the novelist took inspiration from such an event (one such one reportedly took place a lot further north) or events (e,g Myall Creek) and transposed the inspiration to the secret river location. The subeditor’s rewording could be interpreted as denial of any such event having any historical basis at all. That was not being implied in the original wording.
Regards
Robert Crick
Robert, I can see what you mean, but for the life of me don’t remember changing that. Sorry! Cheers, The Bear
REMEMBER THIS ONE?
Hi Stuart,
Subscription renewed. I was lucky enough to take The Rizoma GS on a 5000km trip to Tasmania/ GOR/Snowys in April. Couple of photos attached. I’ve made a few modifications since I got it, engine bars from Krauser, highway pegs from
Adventure Designs (not sure how useful they are) and larger screen from California Scientific (excellent but go back to standard for summer).
Ride safe and you and the lads keep up the good work.
Richard (aka The Routemaster)
Great stuff. That trip would have been wonderful.
The bike is looking the goods, yeah not sure those pegs would be too good? Cheers, Stuart.
Yes. Might take them off. Also if the bike went down they may rotate and damage cylinder heads.
One more photo, taken on the GOR which must be the best biker road sign I’ve seen...
Regards, Richard
KAT PERSON
Stuart,
I am really enjoying your restoration of the Suzuki 1100 Katana. I lusted after the 1100 ever since I saw it released back in the ‘80s and would love to have one now!
Cheers, Derek
Hi Derek,
Thanks, I’ve really enjoyed restoring this bike. I wasn’t going to go the whole hog but couldn’t resist. I might possibly like to sell the bike once it’s finished. Want to buy it? (That goes for any of you lovely readers) Send me an email –stuart@ausmotorcyclist.com.au
GO RALPH!
Ralph,
I know all the letters are usually to Stuart and The Bear but I just wanted to say you did a great job with the adventure comparo in the last issue (#67). Very informative for those (count that as me) in the market for one of these bikes. How did you go communicating with the Italians, could they speak English? Must have been “interesting”. Ha!
Regards, Malcolm
BORIS, BORIS, BORIS…
Dear oh deary me, Boris, I have no idea what you eat for breakfast but you must have got out of bed the wrong way with your column in the September issue. But, and I say this with a big but, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I can’t stand these imbeciles who take it upon themselves to curse other riders because they don’t ride as slow and as shit as they do. So what if I speed? So what if I want to drag my knee on the ground and lane split at Mach 5000. If I don’t get caught by the Po Po then whose business is it otherwise! They can all get stuffed and they’d be lucky if I’m not the one punting them off the side of a cliff wearing all their fl uoro crap.
Regards, Jackson
BLINKER THINGIES
Morning Stuart.
I’m sitting up in bed reading your editorial. July 2018. We retirees can do that. Then we may go and do a day’s work if we choose. I will. Regards the use of indicators and keeping left. I stand beside you on both subjects. I’m now a tin top driver and it beggars belief that some drivers consider themselves above the law. Their actions are unpredictable and therefore unsafe for all road users especially motor cyclists. It’s not only on the open road. It happens in the city and even on the Sydney Harbour bridge. It must be terrifying for the less experienced. Why if I’m a tin topper am I reading Australian Motorcyclist? Because I’m also a dreamer. I have mates who still ride. I have a Water Bottle and DT250 “parked” ... I would love to either restore them or sell them on. A quandary for many older riders. Your trip in En Zed sounds interesting. And yes, the Water Bottle went around Tassie in the late ‘70s when sealed roads were not that good and flash gear was rare.
Enjoy the ride.
Mike Mertens.
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BEARFACED
I’M OUT
EVERY NOW AND then, I see something or hear about something that somebody has done, and I think, “Haven’t they got any common sense? I mean, logically, why would you do something like that?”
And then I realise that, once again, I am being self-righteous. Logical? Me? Sure, much of the time. But far from always.
For example, take my insane optimism. This plays out in any number of ways.
Here I am, in the Parc Naturel Régional du Vercors, somewhere southwest of Grenoble. In the gathering darkness I am just pulling out of Saint-Jeanen-Royans after a pleasant dinner in a small
café above the river when I come to a detour sign. At least I hope that’s what “deviation” means. You never know with the Frogs. As originally planned, I had twenty or so kilometres to go to my booked accommodation. How far would it be by way of the detour? Aah, couldn’t be too much further. Could it?
Three hours later, on a logging track high on a mountainside not marked on my regional map, I am beginning to wonder about that. Fortunately the Aprilia Caponord I’m on has dual-purpose tyres, and I had refi lled the capacious tank just before hitting the detour sign. But the fuel level is now getting pretty low, it has been raining for a couple of hours and the logging track is turning into a logging creek.
Why didn’t I stop in Saint-Jean and ring the hotel where I was booked in to cancel, instead of taking on an unknown detour in these wild, forested mountains? People come here to hunt wild pigs, which always makes me think of Obelix gathering up wild boars to barbecue. No barbecue here; it’s too merde wet and I am beginning to imagine that the fuel pump is sucking dry. Of course I made it out, or I wouldn’t be writing this. Running out of fuel is a frequent result of my optimism. I once coasted to a stop on the Anzac Bridge and had to push the bike –fortunately slightly downhillto the beginning of the slip road leading to the fi sh markets.
What to do? I called a taxi but the operator baulked when I requested that the driver pick up a can of fuel for me along the way. Against policy, it seemed. I wasn’t in the NRMA, and I was on a test bike anyway. So I had to ring Mrs Bear, who came to help out in the family station wagon with both of the girls on board. They were little then and thought it was simultaneously an adventure to be going for a drive at night and hilariously funny that dad was stuck out there.
Coming back from Coonawarra with a couple of mates, I thought we might try the most direct route. This meant taking some seriously “back” back roads between Tooleybuc and Cowra. No problem; I was on a Goldwing, and I’ve always had a lot of faith in the Big Ship’s ability to handle gravel. What I was not counting on was that both my mates were seriously fast on those back roads, even though one of them was riding a K1 BMW. At one point I looked down and saw 200 on the ‘Wing’s speedo. I didn’t look down after that.
The problem of course is that the ignition map of the Goldwing is not set for speeds like that, and the bike drinks fuel like a wino who’s won the lottery. I was the trailing bike of our group, and yes, of course I ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere. I do remember an irrigation ditch next to the track, and considered either a dip or drowning myself while I waited for my mates to come back. That took a while, because they were having a good time and didn’t think to look for my headlight in their mirrors. Since then I have mostly been more careful about refueling. Mostly. D
ADVERTISERS LISTING
WORDS Boris MihaiLoVic
DANI PEDROSA
IreaLISe MoSt PeoPLe
could not give a toss about my state of mind. My happiness or sadness is, after all, my business.
But I am ineffably saddened to hear of Dani Pedrosa’s retirement from MotoGP.
I’m not even sure why I’m so sad. I have never been a particular fan of his – certainly not in the early days of his career when I published some terribly hateful articles decrying his lack of championships, but I have very much come to truly admire and respect him over the last few seasons.
But I don’t know if that’s why I am so sad he’s retiring.
I admired and respected Casey Stoner, but I did not then and do not now give a shit about his retirement from MotoGP.
So I’m not at all sure why I’m sad about Dani’s departure from the sport I love so much.
Perhaps I shall know the answer at the end of this piece.
I can only vaguely imagine how difficult the decision to retire from MotoGP must have been for him.
I have no terms of reference, but to spend your entire life racing at a level maybe only a dozen other men on earth can even approach and then decide to leave it all behind, cannot have been easy.
But I cannot at all imagine how difficult just being Dani Pedrosa, factory Honda racer, must have been all this time. How hard must it have been to live in the shadow of two of the greatest talents MotoGP has ever seen?
He was team-mate to both Stoner and Marquez.
How must that have clawed at his psyche each round? How mentally tough must Dani really be? How was he even able to produce the results he produced?
And of course he did produce results.
Quite apart from his three world championships (one in the 125cc class and two in the 250cc class), Dani has 54 Grand Prix wins, 31 MotoGP wins, and has stood on the podium 153 times in the 18 seasons he has raced.
There’s no “probably” about it. He is the greatest motorcycle racer to have never won a MotoGP championship.
And at some stage in the relatively recent past, Dani Pedrosa must have come to understand he will never win a MotoGP championship.
And with that realisation, the slow decision-making process to retire must have begun.
We could certainly see he’d been struggling on the Michelin tyres for the last two seasons.
And the Honda is a hard bastard of a thing to ride. It takes a freak like Marquez to fire it across the finish line.
There is no question Dani himself would have come to the realisation that astride that Honda and running those tyres, that elusive championship was just never going to happen.
Should he have maybe gone over to the new Petronas satellite Yamaha team with Morbidelli next year?
He possibly could have won a few races astride the gentler, smoother and more forgiving Yamaha.
Or maybe not, and I reckon the attraction of being a satellite rider is somewhat less than being a factory rider.
What I do know about Dani is that he is a racer, forged in the fire of hard competition, annealed by cruel disasters, and tempered by occasional triumphs.
He has raced against and beaten the greatest racers of all time. On a good day, he is unbeatable.
It’s easy to forget he is physically the smallest racer out there. He always has been.
And that cannot ever have been easy for him. I cannot imagine what life would be like being 1.5m tall and weighing 51kgs.
But throughout and despite it all, Dani has maintained an unyielding and rather transcendental dignity.
Many people, including myself, took this dignity to be some kind of personality-free zone. And to my shame, I derided him for it.
After all, how can anyone compete with Rossi in the personality stakes?
But of course, MotoGP is not really a personality contest – even though the possession of a personality and the ability to promote it certainly does pay dividends. What also pays dividends is integrity –
The biggest racer of all time
and that is certainly one quality Dani Pedrosa has in quantities even Rossi would envy.
Dani is a clean racer. No-one can say otherwise. He has avoided off-track scandals and on-track histrionics. He races hard, very hard, but he always races clean.
He is beautiful to watch.
I guess if you’re mixing it with him, you know he’s not going to chuck a Crazy Ivan manoeuvre and send you both into the gravel.
I have also come to appreciate his vast sportsmanship. Never was this more apparent than in recent times when Rossi, Marquez, and Lorenzo were all beating each other with handbags, making snide asides to the press, and generally pretending they were individually without any blame and the fault for whatever always lay with the other bastards.
I love that in MotoGP. It gives the whole thing a soap-opera quality and certainly humanises the racers.
But what I also loved was the way Dani Pedrosa behaved when he was asked by the media for his take on the internecine battles between 96, 99 and 46.
He was all class. He made no judgements on any of them. He said nothing controversial (which was in and of itself worthy of controversy), and was nothing if not conciliatory and consummately professional.
I suddenly found myself liking him. A great, great deal.
I am a fanatical Rossi supporter. One-eyed and feral.
But I reckon I have also become a deadset Dani Pedrosa fan. He has made me into a fan of his. And I don’t want him to retire.
He has been part of my MotoGP experience for the past 18 years. It’s hard to imagine the field without him.
I wish him every success in whatever he decides to do next and I hope the rest of his life is filled with good health and happiness, and that he gets a thousandfold the joy he has given MotoGP fans over the last 18 years.
May the Gods of Speed watch over him and bless him.
Gracias por todo, Dani Pedrosa. Via con Dios. D
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