MATES RATES
Content warning: Adventure motorcycling is highly addictive A
dventure motorcycling means different things to different riders, but one thing we all have in common, is we’re hooked. So, what is it about this thing we do that makes it so highly addictive? In this issue of Adventure Rider Magazine, you will read stories that go a long way to answer this question. The rides cover a good crosssection of what adventuring on our bikes means. You’ll never waste a long weekend again after reading Labour Day Weekend WA couple from @reganrides on YouTube take off to explore a few backroads through southern WAs Karri forests. They are adventuring two up on their KTM1090 as they say: ‘one holiday at a time’ (a growing trend in motorcycle travel).
Ready Jimbob features a group of mates from NSW on an assortment of adventure bikes (Triumph Tiger, BMW GS, KTM and DR650s) who follow off-road tracks for some great riding and spectacular scenery to reach Philip Island for the MotoGP all while dealing with a few running repairs on the way. Theirs is a ride where: ‘It’s not the destination, it’s the
journey’, so make a note of the roads they travelled to explore yourself.
For many of us, adventure motorcycling means exploring distant lands, cultures and even ourselves along the way. I Brake For Cows is Syd Johnstone’s 14-day adventure through northern India, and shows just how easy it is. No planning required. After landing in New Delhi, he hires a Royal Enfield and heads north on some of the region’s more remote backroads. Syd gives some solid travel tips so there’s no excuse. He’s also exploring the world by motorcycle ‘one holiday at a time’ but prefers to hire a bike in-country to avoid shipping costs and bureaucracy.
“ Theirs is a ride where:
‘It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.’ ”
But if leaving your annual holiday to chance leaves you cold, there’s a growing number of motorcycle adventure tour companies running tours both in Australia and overseas that will do all the organising for you. You’ll be impressed by The Blue Horses of Mongolia from the team at By The Backroads. Riders can help deliver donated Yamaha AG200s to rangers so they can patrol and protect Mongolia’s National Parks. To ensure the bikes are regularly serviced, their tours now involve a repair day so as well as exploring Mongolia’s backroads you can also give something back to the people.
And then there is my story, Africa’s Mud Highway on my Yamaha TT600, which for some is at the far extreme end of adventure motorcycling. But this story is from a different time before adventure motorcycling was called ‘Adventure Motorcycling’. It was before the internet, GPS and smart phones. Back then, we woke up one day and thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be great to ride a motorcycle through Africa’ or wherever it was we wished to go. We then just basically packed our bike and headed off. But in our youth, ignorance or naivety, or all three, we had an adventure and for some we definitely got lost along the way. But did we find what we were looking for? And here lies another meaning behind adventure motorcycling and why it is so highly addictive. Enjoy… www.heather-ellis.com
Left: Heather Ellis is this issue’s guest editor and is the author of two best-selling motorcycle adventure travel books. Heather is rebuilding her Yamaha TT600 which will be featured in future issues of Adventure Rider.
Above: Heather Ellis
Following the remarkable debut of the 800MT adventure-touring range, CFMOTO has raised the bar further by introducing its new flagship model, the 800MT Explore.
An evolution of the existing Touring model, this new variant features a compilation of technical updates set to maximise long-distance comfort whilst taking the overall ownership experience to new heights, thanks to the introduction of an advanced traction control system, rear radar technology, an 8-inch Multi-Media Interface (MMI) touchscreen display, several new ride
Triumph Gets Going
With Ricky Carmichael and Ivan Cervantes as the faces of its off-road sports program, Triumph has been getting serious. And now, in preparation for the 2024 Motocross and SuperMotocross World Championships, Triumph has signed Belgian Clément Desalle and American Ivan Tedesco with immediate effect. Desalle raced in the Motocross World Championship for 15 years and was runner-up three times. Tedesco was a professional in racing for 14 years. During this time, he won the AMA 125cc West Coast Supercross Series twice, the AMA 125cc National Motocross Series and the Motocross of Nations three times with Team USA. With Thierry Chizat-Suzzoni as team owner of the Triumph Racing Team, the motocrossers from Hinckley are set to compete in the MX2 class from 2024 with 250cc four-stroke machines, which are said to have been developed by Triumph itself. From 2025, the next step into the premier class MXGP with 450cc machines is to follow. MX superstar Ricky Carmichael will continue to act as a brand ambassador.
Variety Riding in Victoria
The Variety Adventure Ride is a seven-day charity motorcycle event taking adventure bikes onto the roads they were made for to raise vital funds to give kids a fair go. If you are looking for a good excuse to take your adventure bike out for a long ride, then you newed to check out this ride in the epic Victorian High Country from 17 – 23 March 2024. The Variety Adventure Ride is an adventure exploring remote parts of our beautiful country, all on your bike. The event will travel to a selection of rural communities via dirt roads, tracks and trails. Anyone over 18 years of age with a spirit
Monkey Magic from Acerbis
Who hasn’t seen or even used an Acerbis tank? Well, for its 50th anniversary, the Italian company is going to set a world record: a ride with a 108-liter petrol tank on a Honda Monkey 125 to North Cape in Norway. More than 4,000 kilometers without refueling!
Acerbis was founded in 1973 by Franco Acerbis and since then has been manufacturing special parts made of plastic – especially accessories for motorcycles. In addition to fairing parts and protectors, the fuel tanks from Acerbis in particular are internationally known.
To show off its core competence in an original way, Acerbis has
CEO Nick Bloor has said that the company had become “100 percent determined to make a lasting impression in this challenging and demanding competitive environment. Our goal is to offer a new generation of Triumph riders a successful range of motorcycles.” Note, though, that a Greek media outlet has claimed that Triumph is not planning to enter rallies with the new models. In Hinckley, the focus is on enduro and motocross.
of adventure, a tolerance to dust and a current motorcycle licence is going to have a great time on the Variety Adventure Ride. “P” Plates are acceptable, but Learners Permits are not, sorry. Come on your own or bring your mates: on the inaugural event they even had a husband and wife team. You just need a roadworthy, registered adventure bike. If you are unsure about whether your motorbike is appropriate, contact the Motoring team. With any questions, in fact, just email Vic victor.sheil@varietynsw.org.au or Janet janet.kilazoglou@varietynsw.org.au.
The event will be run on public roads and all bikes must have current registration
and appropriate insurance for the entire event. We would advise that you cover your bike for third party property damage at a minimum. We will require a photocopy of your current registration and insurance papers to keep on file before you are eligible to commence the event. Entry is a donation to Variety – the Children’s Charity NSW/ACT and is taxdeductible. This can be a payment from you, or you can raise it through sponsorship, donations from family and friends and/or fundraising events. Minimum entry fee is $3,000.
developed what you could only call an XXL tank for the Honda Monkey 125. The original steel tank holds only 5.6 liters, which is enough for up to about 370 kilometres according to Honda. With the huge one-piece plastic tank from Acerbis, the Monkey has a range of over 7,000 kilometres - 4,300 kilometres at continuous full throttle.
Ruts to Racelines
Dualsport Adventure
Here’s
one for our US readers. Held at Natural Chimneys, Mt Solon, VA, lasting three days, and open to anyone (but see below) this big bike friendly event runs from October 13-15, 2023. It is an AMA-sanctioned recreational event for dual sport and adventure bikes. AMA membership is required; make sure you have your AMA # ready prior to the event.
This will be a 2‐day woman focused (couples welcome) guided tour of the Shenandoah National Park for adventure style motorcycles, using the trail maps for GW and Jefferson State Forests. The route will be mostly dirt and gravel roads and some drivable trails in the forests, and they will be connected
Time For Adventure in Walcha
Walcha lies at the crossroads of two of the great sealed road rides, the Oxley Highway and picturesque Thunderbolts Way, making it a terrific destination for all kinds of bikes. In addition, with over 590 kilometres of gravel roads to explore, spectacular high-country scenery, waterfalls, gorges and world heritage national parks, it’s pretty hard to go past this region for adventure riding.
An annual event, the Walcha Motorcycle Rally, is now in its third year. The organised
Is Your R 1250 GS Too Fat?
Top left: Here’s the magic Monkey with its 108 litre tank. Above: According to Acerbis, you will be able to buy the tank.
That’s how far it is from Acerbis headquarters near Bergamo in Italy to North Cape. The ride is scheduled to start in mid-June 2023.
And here’s the amazing news: you’ll be able to buy one of the tanks for about 1,000 euros!
by back country roads and some highways. All motorcycles must be street legal and in good working condition.
The entry includes camping fees, the guided ride, logistics, mechanical assistance, light breakfast (Sat & Sun), and camp style dinners (Fri & Sat). The cost will be $400.00/pp or $600.00/per couple for the event. Email Marika at ruts.to.racelines@gmail.com for questions or registration.
Below: It looks like these riders will be having some serious fun on Ruts to Racelines.
adventure rides, run by passionate motorcycling locals with local knowledge, are held both Friday and Saturday during the Rally. Rider camping, trade exhibitors, skills demos, hilarious postie bike events, a multi-bike challenge, live music, barrel racing and more, are all part of this grass roots event.
Four Day Adventure
Are you ready to embark on a heart-pumping adventure from Sydney to Gold Coast? From Saturday 19 Aug 2023 7:00am to Tuesday 22 Aug 2023 4:00pm you can do exactly that, starting from the Wisemans Inn Hotel at Wisemans Ferry, NSW.
“Get ready to rev up your engines, because we’re taking the road less travelled” the organisers say. “That’s right, we won’t be taking the mundane Pacific Highway - this is the ultimate adventure, after all. Our four-day adventure ride is action-packed, featuring the best dirt roads on the east coast. Feel the rush of adrenaline as we wind through backroads, taking in breathtaking scenery and experiencing the thrill of adventure. We’ll make overnight stops in some of the most charming towns along the way, including Gloucester, Uralla, and Tenterfield, finishing the trip in the Gold Coast.”
Get it slimmed down by about 40 kilos and with an extra 10 hp by Oldtimer Middle East in Dubai. Here, motorcycles are converted to customer requirements, whatever they might be. When a regular customer wanted his original BMW R 1250 GS converted to a much lighter, sportier enduro, the team rose to the challenge.
The GS was slimmed down from around 250 to 210 kilograms, each with a full tank. The main stand was removed along with its mounts at the bottom of the main frame. Then the rear subframe was replaced with a shorter rear frame made of light titanium tubes including a shorter solo bench seat.
The airbox is gone, replaced by a lightweight lithium battery and the
Tickets start from $35 for a Day Pass or $60 for the 2-Day Rally Pass, both of these passes include the organised adventure rides. To find out more, register your interest to stay updated via the website walchamotorcyclerally.com.au/ or follow the event on Facebook or Instagram. Slimmer
exhaust system is now a titanium version by Akrapovic. The short, barely damping rear silencer is from the BMW S 1000 RR. The ESA shocks with the system went, replaced by fully adjustable Wilbers front and back, saving more weight. The list of changes is too long for us here, but one additional feature is worth mentioning: before heading into the sand dunes, the license plate hanging above the coarse lug rear wheel can be folded in. That could be handy for another purpose, too…
Each day promises a new and exciting experience, with no stone left unturned by the Aussie Bike or Hike team. Grab your adventure motorcycle, pack your bags, and join them on the ultimate four-day adventure from Sydney to Gold Coast. Your journey will be expertly guided by none other than World Endurance Motorcycle World Champion, Alex Cudlin as the lead rider. The ride is also be backed up by Shane Cudlin, a highly experienced motorcycle trainer with a wealth of industry knowledge driving the back-up truck and trailer, should a rider’s bike break down. This will allow you to jump in the car and they’ll get your bike to the next town to get repaired while the rest of the riders continue the tour. You won’t have to carry any of your clothes, bags or tent (if you decide to camp) as they will be carried in the back-up car.
Over the course of this adventure, you can expect to travel approximately 300 - 350 kilometres each day, exclusively on gazetted dirt roads with minimal tar. It is important to note that this ride is designed for larger adventure bikes, without any “single track” or “enduro” type riding.
No competitive rally bikes coming from Triumph – for now.
Adventure Rider Magazine is published bimonthly by Clemenger Media.
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Editorial / Content:Heather Ellis, Andy Strapz, Boris Mihailovic, The Bear, Ross Stanford.:AND others (if you want = please email susan.plunkett@clemengermediasales.com.au
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our VieWs Words From readers and FolloWers
How do you define adventure riding and/or an adventure bike?
It used to be that no matter the trials or trails endured, you may have battled to reach the end of the known world and then you’d turn around and some bloke would show up on a KLR. Yes, I still have mine. 235000+ Ride on.
Stephen Flanagan
An adventure bike is whichever bike able to take you on an adventure. It’s not the bike, it’s the rider: there are few adventurists and too many preposterous adventure bikes.
Karim Herzl
I better put in my 2 bobs worth.. Adventure riding is riding WHAT YOU HAVE AND ENJOY RIDING BUT MUST INCLUDE PLENTY DIRT GRAVEL.ROADS
A Hayabusa with knobby tires regularly shows up on social media with buddy doing a RTW trip. Recently I’ve seen a young lady from Wales on a Honda CT 125 doing the same. So are they adventure rigs or is it the pristine, road tire mounted GS with every conceivable farkle and enough lights to mimick the sun, parked in a coffee shop lot? I’d say, as many have, it’s the route, not the bike. Perhaps - if such categorization is necessary to help some of your readers sleep - defining the type of bike over the adventures it’s used for would help their stress levels?
Mike Brisson
© Copyright Clemenger Consulting, 2023
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..your bike doesn’t matter it could be a Postie bike, Big bore road bike and million of other choices in-between, all depending how you set it up for dirt riding.. I presently own n use a good old reliable proven Suzuki Dr650 as my adventure ride.. they good on all road types not over powerful but adequate n RELIABLE AS HELL...And can pick it up after I fall off...happens often..I am now 65 you and I don’t give 2 stuffs about fancy crap n fancy technology.. I just get out and enjoy my ride no matter where we go and always rude with mate or mates never by myself n enjoy the fresh country air...Adventure riding YES and form of machine and happy to ride it as easy or as hard as you like n enjoy the scenery n new trails n roads n places we see...that’s Adventure riding.
Craig Hickman
Adventure is what you do and not what you ride.
Ian Hill
Every time I get on one of my 3 (vastly different) motorbikes it’s an adventure! That’s because of my attitude, not the bike or where I am riding.
Pippa Carron
I think it completely depends if you use “adventure” as a noun or verb - is it a journey or an experience. There is no one adventure that matches every individual just like there is no one bike spec, type or configuration. In the same way everyone’s ‘experiences’ are what they make of them, so to is the bike they take to do it. If the perfect adventure could be made it would be a lightweight 450-1300cc with 500km range and 10,000km service intervals, easily accessible foam air filter, able to loaded with a week’s-worth of luggage and camp gear, but still easy to ride in technical tracks and yet stable at highway speeds on knobby tyres that last 10,000kms but carve through Simpson’s desert sands and the mud of the Watagans just as well as the Oxley. It needs to provide comfort for multiple 1000km all-dayers, providing a warm or cool, quiet cocoon behind a screen that can shrink, move up & down, and protect multiple, powered, electronic devices plus a clear, colour, intuitive remotely controlled TFT, all for $15,000.
Du De
An adventure bike is, the bike you have right now, to go for a long ride on with ya mates, that you all organised over a few beers a couple of weekends ago..........well that’s what it used to be. Mate and I did a 2000km trip on a ts250 and a dt175........... and that, was an adventure. Michael Cameron
Weekend Labour Day
Regan Rides is what we do, i.e., Regan rides and Leigh goes wherever the ride takes us. An opportunity presented in 2019 to take part in a KTM Rally in New Zealand, and this has opened up more travel opportunities with our first 3500 km South Island tour completed in November 2022, and ditto for April 2023. While we both work full time jobs, this is definitely a way to fund the love of motorbike travel, taking any chance to head out whether dirt or main roads, for a day or overnight. We are extremely lucky to live where we do, within 30 minutes of leaving home we can be in the native bush and avoid main roads for the majority of our rides. We have both been motorcycle enthusiasts for a very long time, however in 2018
plans were hatched resulting in the purchase of the KTM 1090 Adventure, knowing it would allow us to begin to explore two up, and take the back roads more.
Cool weather and a long weekend mean it’s time for a camping trip, plus an opportunity to test some of the gear we are planning to take on our next adventure to NZ. We did not plan to wind up taking a small dirt nap (this maybe a WA saying but you will soon understand if you don’t already), but you never know what might happen on an adventure ride.
Left: Leigh Selfie
Above: Nannup Music Festival
Below left: Out On The Trails
After a slow start to the day, including a trip to Anaconda for a pillow upgrade, we finally pulled out of the driveway and joined the mad rush of traffic south bound past Bunbury. It is just as well that all roads in the southwest of WA lead to Nannup, so it is not long before we can take a road less travelled, leave the tourists behind, and make our way to Nannup for a lunch stop. Note to self however: Nannup holds a music festival on Labour Weekend so the town is booked out. Just as well every country town has a good bakery, so instead of our usual brewery lunch, a pie will have to do.
From Nannup, we only have 15 min of sealed road before taking the first bush track. Finally, we are on the dirt and beginning to track our way towards
Below right: Camp For The Night u
Words and Photos: Regan Rides
Pemberton where we hope to camp for the night. With minimal highway time, we spend a couple of hours headed south into the Karri forests, skirting the main roads to find our way to Pemberton. Most of the trails through here are twin tracks and in pretty good condition, making for a pleasant afternoon of riding before stopping for supplies. With space at a premium travelling two up, we always plan a bottle shop stop in the town closest to our intended camp spot, to ensure a couple of cool refreshments are on hand while we cook dinner.
Of course, no weekend away is complete without a couple of issues: as we left Pemberton, the engine light decided to come on for no apparent reason. The bike felt OK, no obvious issues and being a Saturday afternoon in a country town, options are limited for repairs, so we just keep riding. Our first camp option at the Heartbreak Crossing on the Warren River was already full so we decided to take the next road down to the river. While we found a great remote site, this was a decision with
consequences as we were to learn. After a very pleasant evening camped by the river with visits from a fox and wild pig, we woke to a beautiful morning. Jetboil on for coffee and breakfast, we
then packed up and prepared for the haul back up the hill and back into Pemberton. First challenge, a small tree down at the bottom of the hill, which required a onewheel ride over, and elicited a bad word
from the pillion. However, there was more to come, as the top section was rutted out. One minute, casually riding up the hill, next thing we are on the ground, bike on its side contemplating how we ended up there.
Thankfully no damage to us or the bike, and the panniers definitely help with getting the bike back on 2 wheels, it was time for the driver to attempt to get going. The gum tree bark and loose gravel not helping, the easiest option was a ride back to the bottom and take a second run up the hill, without the added weight of a pillion.
From there it was a pretty ride along the river to a straightforward river crossing. No dropped bikes here, just as well as we had an audience.
The rest of the day proved uneventful, tracking a line on the GPS north again to Donnelly River, a former mill town with
a general store and some over friendly emus and kangaroos. Queue a kangaroo selfie opportunity for the pillion, then north through Balingup and the Ferguson Valley to make our way home with one more stop at Grimwade for a drink and snack. This is another former mill town, very popular free campsite with a couple of dams and plenty of areas to ride amongst the former house sites.
Check out Regan Rides on YouTube for the 2-part vlog from the weekend, including the accidental lie down to see more of the awesome scenery and trails we can ride (Link below)
We hope you enjoyed this little insight into a weekend away, keen to share more about how we pack, our travels big and small, and meeting more like-minded travelers in this community we are lucky to be a part of.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH-SYeZpQSHvaJx7wCm3-i-VmJCMY7Cj8 Or just use the QR code provided.
Top left: Two Up, Two Down Left: Donnelly River Store Above: Grimwade Dam
Pura passione
Benelli
ve have been a motorcyclist for nearly 30 years. I’m a typical road rider with just a touch of off-road experience. I commute on my motorcycle to the studio most days. Every weekend I’ll be off for a ride for a coffee or lunch with mates and occasionally I do get away for a few days on tour, mostly around NSW, but sometimes further afield when life allows it. Very simply, it would be unusual if I am not on a bike for at least 5 days in a week.
I come from a family of motorcyclists and have a family of motorcyclists. My late father, a Panther and BMW airhead fan rode motorcycles, both his brothers rode motorcycles, and my grandfather owned a motorcycle shop in far north Queensland so you could say I’ve probably got oil in the blood. My partner rides, our eldest son rides, and I’m sure our youngest son will get his licence when he’s old enough and legally able to.
I’m also the co-producer of the YouTube channel Biker Torque.
www.youtube.com/@BikerTorque/featured
I have worked in media communication as a producer and cameraman for over 25 years, running a boutique video production agency based in Sydney. There was this little pandemic that happened a few years ago, you may have heard of it. Work for us all but stopped, we had quite a bit of post-production work to get through, but production for new projects ground to a complete halt. Now I’m not the kind of person who can’t sit at a desk all day. I need to be active; I prefer to be outdoors and most of all I need to be creative. I’ve had the idea for quite a while to film a series of interviews with motorcyclists about what they ride and why. With our production work coming to an absolute standstill, I thought it’s now or never, so in
April 2020 we launch the first episode of Biker Torque.
From my work as a video producer the one thing I have always said is that everyone has a story to tell. I’ve been fortunate to able to give a voice and a means to allow people to tell their stories. Now motorcyclists are a lot like fisherman, there is always a tall tale about how they carved up an epic twisty road or the tale of one that got away. Who are we to let the truth get in the way of a good story. Over the last two years myself and my co-producer / video editor Tegan have produced over 50 rider stories and have in the past 18 months started doing motorcycle reviews for Triumph, BMW, Motoguzzi, Royal Enfield, Aprilia, Benelli and Vespa. I am also in talks with another couple of major manufacturers and as soon as bikes in their press fleets become available, I will bring you those reviews both on the YouTube channel and right here at Adventure Rider Magazine This now brings us to my first review for the magazine on the very surprising Benelli Leoncino Trail. I have also reviewed the Benelli Leoncino 800 and to say I was surprised by that bike is a massive understatement. When the Leoncino Trail arrived, I was really excited to see how it compared to the road version on the bike. Additionally, being a scrambler styled bike I was keen to hit some gravel and dirt roads to see how well it handled.
The Benelli Leoncino Trail is a bike that has a very distinctive off-road flavour and style. And it’s mostly down to just two elements, the high mount twin exhaust and the larger 19” front wheel, but let’s start with the main specifications of the bike.
Benelli have a heritage with the Leoncino range and still produce a 500cc version of the bike. But just like it’s sibling, the Leoncino 800 it has a brand new
u
Leoncino Trail
Words & Photos: Ross Stanford
Benelli Leoncino Trail (left) and the road version. (below)
754cc liquid cooled inline twin cylinder engine that delivers 76.2 bhp at 8500 rpm with peak torque of 67 nm at 6500 rpm. It has fuel injection with twin 43mm throttle bodies, a wet multi disc clutch and a 6-speed gear box.
According to Benelli, the chassis on the Leoncino Trail has been revised to make it better suited to tackle off-road terrain. Therefor the suspension has been upgraded from the road version. The 50mm upside down forks now have 140mm of travel instead of the 130mm on the road version and the same upgrade has happened on the rear so the central rear shock also has 140mm of travel. This means that the seat height has increased from 805 mm to 834 mm on the Trail version. Overall, it is not a massive increase, but it is noticeable.
It has the excellent Pirelli Scorpion STR’s which are a knobbly tyre, but I found they are still very well suited to the road and as you would expect handle really well on gravel or dirt roads.
The wheelbase is 1460mm and because of the wide handlebars the width is 870mm.
There are some more subtle changes to the Leoncino Trail from the Road version including a taller fly screen, that does completely cover the back of the TFT as well as an exhaust heat shield
There are quite a few things I really liked about the Benelli Leoncino trail starting with the looks. I love the look of most scramblers and the Leoncino Trail is no exception. I loved the spoked wheels and the beefy silhouette with that 19” front tyre.
Staying with the Scrambler aesthetics it’s got a really cool upswept exhaust that looks amazing and sounds OK but to be honest, it doesn’t sound as good as the exhaust on the Leoncino 800
which was a real surprise. Of course, to get it through emissions regulations the Benelli Leoncino Trail is liquid cooled. I quite like what Benelli have done with the radiator giving it a slight curve. I wouldn’t call the radiator discrete, but it is certainly much better than the radiators I’ve seen on some other liquid cooled bikes and overall, it does blend in with the rest of the bike.
The taller fly screen looks great. I thought the fly screen on the Leoncino 800 looked good, but this one is a bit taller and does really finish off the front of the bike and completely cover the back of the TFT.
Whilst on the TFT it is nice and clear with a big speed indicator. There is a cool little animated graphic when you fire it up and it’s got plenty of info such as a tachometer and a fuel gauge. With the upgraded suspension the bike does sit a bit taller which I quite like, it gives you a great view over the traffic if you are commuting. It is also not so tall that it becomes unmanageable off road, and it also has pretty good ground clearance.
Like all bikes there are some things that I didn’t particularly like. OK there are the usual suspects that are the same things I didn’t like about the road version, as such the toy like plastic lion on the front guard and the mess of cables coming from the right-side switch block and throttle.
But the main thing that disappointed me about the Leoncino Trail was the sound from the exhaust. It actually sounds just fine, but the road version has a great note and with the look of the exhaust on the Trail I was expecting to be blown away, but I was actually very much underwhelmed. It just doesn’t have the same
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Below left: The digital dash is clear and easy to read while riding.
Below right: The taller fly screen rather than the road going version.
deep resonating and very pleasant note of the road version.
was also disappointed not to see some kind of bash plate for two reasons. Firstly, the oil filter is kind of just sitting out there underneath the engine at the front. I don’t think the lack of a bash plate is an issue as from experience those oil filters are practically indestructible, but I do think it would look good and match the scrambler aesthetic of the bike. It would be another nice point of difference to the road version.
found that the throttle on this version to be quite twitchy and it did take me a little while to get used the clutch and the fueling. This could be rectified with an engine remap, but it must be noted that this is not an issue had with the road version of the bike, so it may just have been the individual bike I had for review.
Overall, I found the Leoncino Trail a really capable bike on the road, but I wanted to see how it went on some gravel roads. Tegan and I had a day free at work we caught up with my mate Big Stef, from the podcast Bikes, Burgers, Beers for a ride up to Wiseman’s Ferry and St Albans with the plan to hit the gravel roads up to Laguna.
After breakfast it was onto the ferry, across the river and onto the gravel. Initially the plan was to ride to Laguna, but we hit a couple of hold ups with Tegan’s Yamaha MT07 getting not one, but two punctures, so it was off the bikes for a little bit while Tegan got in some
the Benelli Leoncino Trail to in terms of the competition. The three bikes that spring to mind are the Ducati Scrambler, the Triumph Scrambler 900 and the Triumph Scrambler XC. But these bikes are in a different category in terms of technology available and of course price point. At the other end of the scale are the Royal Enfield 411cc singles, the Himalayan and the Scram and the Husqvarna Svartpilen 401. These are really good bikes in their own right but are but to a budget. The Benelli Leoncino Trail sort of sits right in the middle of those bikes so it is kind go in its own category.
practice with puncture repairs.
So, we rode for about an hour or so stopping regularly to swap bikes and get some footage but then decided to turn back and head through St Albans and back to the ferry. There are some great roads up that way, and I have it on good authority that the Pie and Peas at the Settlers Arms at St Albans is fantastic, so I’ll be back up that way soon for a proper pie run.
Overall, the Leoncino Trail is another solid bike from Benelli. It is good on the road and very comfortable on gravel and unpaved roads. It is tall but it is not too tall, it looks great, the suspension is good, and the tyre profile is excellent for pretty much all types of roads.
It is tricky to say what I would compare
The Benelli Leoncino Trail is a capable off roader that is equally at home on the road. And I’d have to say, the fit and quality of the finish matches the price point. It’s not a premium bike, but it’s not budget either coming in at $13990 which I think represents pretty good value for money. It is available in Forest Green, Rock Grey and Terrain Brown. Benelli are currently running a promotion with a price of $13490. If you’d like to see our video review of the Benelli Leoncino Trail, then use this QR code to access:
„Precision
You can focus on your journey while Touratech protects you and your bike on the road.
30 years of product development and thousands of miles testing will enrich your experience as a rider.
More than one million panniers produced in the Black Forest, Germany. Decades of heavy usage on the roughest tracks of the planet. You can rely on that. Experience counts. Get your gear here!
Dirk von Zitzewitz Touratech ambassador
Right: The new up turned tail pipes gives the Leoncino Trail much better clearance.
Beers, Cheers and Mates
It’s all about the journey
Ready Jimbob? Let’s go.
But before we even got out of my front door the phone was ringing, it was Rush Rush telling me he had a flat rear tire out near Lambs Valley. Not the best start to a trip, but that’s why it’s an adventure.
Jimbob (on his DR 650) [image Jimbob on the River Road] and I geared up and headed straight towards Lambs Valley. We got there just as Rush Rush was packing his tools away. Perfect timing.
The three of us rolled on towards Singleton the back way and up towards Muswellbrook, before cutting across though Bengalla and onto to Sandy Hollow where we met The KTM Kid (on his 890) and Biscuit. They were
relaxing over a beer as the pub had just opened. A quick beer for all and we were back on our way.
Today would be an uneventful day’s ride - all on taras we tried to keep ahead of the weather. We cruised down the Bylong Valley way to Rylstone for lunch, then it was through Rydal and the Hampton Halfway house for the night.
BTW, be careful of using Google maps because it puts you out in middle of nowhere at a farmer’s fence and announces destination arrived. In fact, the pub is a good 8 or 9 K’s back down the road. We all showered and settled in to watch the top ten Bathurst shoot out. Had a great feed and were off to bed at a reasonable hour considering it was day 1.
Day 2 (being the Bathurst 1000 Sunday) we only had to go as far as Crookwell, so the plan was to head off at a reasonable time and get there to catch 90% of the race, but you know what they say about plans.
We woke early to a very foggy and wet view, if you could call it a view at this time. A quick coffee, geared up, and ready to hit the road… until Biscuit went to start his 790. Lots of whirring and no firing.
We tried to jump it with the hotel owner’s car, no good. So, we left the battery to charge from the car while we grabbed a coffee and breakfast roll upstairs which, might I add, was delicious. Back downstairs and still no good with the 790. At this point the dreaded 790 cam issue was mentioned and conversations turned to trailers and questions about ‘how much your wife loves you’ start popping up. We tried to roll-start the bike. I pushed it several times back down the driveway to no avail.
The boys looked / assessed a few other things then tried to roll-start her again with Jimbob and Biscuit pushing as one and pop! She fires up. Now with his 790
going, Biscuit announces he’ll just head home from here instead of having this happen again later in the trip and being further from home. It’s now 0830 on day 2, and we bid farewell to Biscuit, we are already one rider down.
Rush Rush, The KTM Kid, Jimbob and I headed out to Oberon, Perthville and on through Trunkey Creek. Once again, today was a tar day due to the Abercrombie River being swollen and making our planned dirt route unpassable.
So, we just clicked over the miles and tried to avoid rain.
My Tiger 900 Rally Pro flashed its alarm at the fact it only had 70 kilometres of fuel range to go.
I put Crookwell, our destination, in my GPS - it said 79 kilometres to go.
“Oh Bother!” or something to that affect.
I slowed my pace and eventually made it to town with 0 range showing. We fuelled up and found our way to the Criterion Hotel, stashed the bikes behind the gate, and settled in to watch the car race and knock a few beers back.
Rush Rush repaired his tube from yesterday morning and then found
some goop “yes that is the technical term” on his radiator hoses - coolant was obviously leaking from somewhere. We had a look over his BMW 800 GSA, cleaned the goop off, topped the radiator up and planned to monitor it as we go. We whittled away the afternoon looking at maps, discussing the predicted rainfall and generally enjoying life. In the late afternoon the rest of our group, The DR boys showed up, all on DR 650’s - The King, Hodgey the 2nd, and Ozzie. They showered and joined us in the bar for a few well-earned beers.
Monday morning it was quite chilly, the big gloves and neck socks were on and eventually we shot off west from Crookwell and turned south along Sapphire Road towards Wheeo. Water lay everywhere as we rode through the beautiful Southern Tablelands of NSW. We turned onto Heffernan’s Lane heading for Bulleys Crossing over the Lachlan River where we were stopped in our tracks. The river was 40 meters wide and flowing swiftly, a huge tree lay across what we could only assume was the causeway, it must have been 6 foot deep.
Riders from left to right: That’s me, then Greg or ‘Mr Bones’, The KTM Kid, Rush Rush, Rob, Ozzy and Ray.
u
Words: Greg Dunn
beers, Cheers and mates
There was no crossing to be made here. We back-tracked south onto Sapphire Road and down through Gunning to Yass. Rush Rush pulled up in Yass announcing his BWM was still losing water. We could see water dripping from the radiator. So, we purchased a bottle of radiator stop leak and added it to the BMW’s radiator. Rush Rush did a lap of town to work it through the bike while I grabbed some fuel as I was still a bit concerned with my fuel range after yesterday. We had brunch at a trendy café with ok food but shit service.
From Yass we headed down through Good Hope, onto Wee Jasper Road, and took the Taemas Bridge over the Murrumbidgee River. We never planned long riding days for this trip, it was intended to be more about exploring new roads and trails, but we loved the riding so much we chewed through the
K’s with ease. We turned onto Sawyers Gully Road which is only about 20 K’s long but with beautiful scenery. We regrouped at the T intersection where it meets Wee Jasper Road. There was a lady on a horse herding sheep with a working dog in front of us and it was a fantastic scene. I snapped a couple of pictures, and it just screamed Australia.
There was talk about bikes, handling and riding. Jimbob is new to this whole caper, only having got his full license for about two months prior to this trip. It was mentioned that he should take Biscuit’s bed at the house we had booked and send his camping gear home. We took on Wee Jasper Road which is a great ride for anybody that hasn’t ridden it. We were all getting along at a comfortable speed without being silly. I was riding sweep behind Jimbob, and I could see he was fatiguing slightly. Then as he went to negotiate a right-hand bend his set up was wrong, his line was wrong, and he wasn’t looking where he wanted to go. We all know where this is going.
Bonk!!!, straight into a low branch on the outside of the bend. What happened to Jimbob? See next edition for Part 2.
Top: Jimbob on the River Road. Above: Lady on a horse. Below: The KTM Kid chasing Rush Rush.
Compatible
Travelers
You’ve watched countless YouTube clips of exotic places and seen pictures of hidden, magic speakeasies and dirt roads heading into the horizon. You have opened and studied maps and made plans to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Every new adventure is the “Adventure of a Lifetime”. We all set up checklists that generally follow the order of something like this:
A - Destination
B - Route
C - Fuel stops
D - Camping gear
E - Camera gear
F - Accommodation
G - Places of interest
H - Costs
I - Pre trip bike maintenance
All these are incredibly important, but what is also as important and can have a massive impact on the success of a trip is the compatibility of the travelling party. Some ground rules should be laid down during the planning stages.
Respect other travelers and be happy to do your own thing when required
While diversity in travel companions’ interests will keep conversations going and let you see places you may never have thought of exploring, you need to be wary of those with uncompromising views who are unwilling to see something new. (I also prefer companions who do not want a caterpillar slow pace). There can be lots to see and you don’t want to travel hundreds of kilometres to miss out on experiencing something because of someone else’s lack of interest. To get around this problem, ensure your travel companions do not need to sit in each other’s pockets 24/7. Everyone should be flexible to do their own thing without causing any feelings of being abandoned by the other parties. For example, I would not drag my wife out of a warm bed on a cold rainy morning to take photos of a sunrise. Instead, I made her stand beside a locked car while I took photos of a snow-covered river once… won’t do that again.
Same intentions
Is everyone on the same page for the trip? Are the companions’ priorities about the destination rather than the journey?
Traveling with a combination of road bike, adventure bike and car adds an extra element to the trip. Does everyone take the same route? Will it be an issue if the adventure bikes take the road less travelled and follow the dirt to the end of day destination, meeting the cars and road bikes as the sun sets to compare notes of the day’s travels?
Be self-reliant.
Being self-sufficient is important. Packing too much and relying on others to carry the extra gear in cars may work well if you are filming a documentary with a film crew and need to carry lots of gear, but it isn’t necessary on a normal road trip. If you are carrying others’ gear, you have to stay together all the time, in case they need what you are carrying. If you break down and your tools are twenty kilometres away, it will cause you a bit of angst. This also goes the other way where your companions expect you to carry extra clothing, equipment or whatever for them.
Know each other’s tastes.
Accommodation and food quality can vary once on the road. Standards for some can be high; it can be disappointing for those expecting city standards if they’re not met. The same can be said for those of no standards at all so you find yourself sleeping on a park bench eating onion rings for dinner. Know what everyone’s standards and expectations are before setting off.
It is not unusual to have a drink at the end of the day. Not everyone wants to drink every day, or to excess. But there is a difference between looking out for your travel companions and being their custodian. This can also cause issues with the group’s safety and security. Motorcycle luggage is not the most secure storage location for valuables, nor will locals in country towns take too kindly to drunken tourists. These are just a few points to consider when organising a trip regardless of the number of people travelling. There are many more. Before embarking on that trip of a lifetime, do a few day and weekend trips to get an idea of what travel companions are like. That way you can get an idea of personality traits and adjust the travel plan where required. To my mind, the whole point of a road trip is to discover new places, enjoy the freedom of the road and come out at the end still good friends, with a myriad of stories to tell your family and workmates. And always remember, life is too short not to ride a motorcycle.
Words: Bob Wozga
Cape York Motorcycle Adventures are sponsoring a set of interviews that explore some of the people we know in our community, as well as other business partners.
Enjoy the first interview here from Roy at Cape York. Any yarns about Roy? We want to hear!
Our adventure riding community
Name: Jason Wragg
Location: United Kingdom
Bike(s): Tenere 700 & Anything else I can get my hands on
Best ride ever and why:
After riding across the UK, through the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and two days on a ferry crossing rough, choppy waters to Iceland I get to spend a month solo travelling around Iceland and exploring the F (mountain) Roads. This was my 14th trip to Iceland, but the first time with a group to guide and complete freedom to explore. After 2 years of COVID, this trip was a great release and the fieldwork for my PhD study of the lived experience of adventure trave by motorcycle. How would you define ‘adventure riding’:
The increasing popularity of adventure riding has led to a commodification of adventure riding products and services by companies seeking to
Roy from
Cape York Motorcycle Adventures
Name: Roy Kunda Bike(s): 2023, KTM 890 and 2023 KTM exc500 and a 1971 YZ 250A
Best ride ever and why:
Cairns to the tip of Cape York, I’ve been doing it for 40 years; professionally for 33 and still do it on my time off.
How would you define ‘adventure riding’:
Self-dependence, exploration and diversity of riding.
Strangest or most unusual thing you have seen when adventure riding: I can’t pick just one I could and have written a book about it but one that comes to mind is accidentally popping
the front up over a crocodile while it tried to escape and ran straight across my path.
Something a non-bike rider has said or asked you about your adventure riding or bike: How much longer are you going to ride these things for?
The most interesting person you have met on an adventure ride:
I’ve met many! There have been motorcycle legends, Judge Advocate General (the REAL JAG), British Secret Services, Millionaires and Billionaires and every single rider has something amazing to share.
Your favourite piece of gear and why:
My three-piece fishing rod, I love my fishing and can always catch dinner. Swiss Army Knife or mobile phone: Both
Your most embarrassing adventure ride moment: Having to ride around camp naked at 6am.
What is top of your bucket list: South America or the Dakar
Anything you would like to add:
I’ve been privileged to ride Cape York for a living and I’ve had a lot of experiences riding around Australia and a few places internationally. It’s been the best thing I’ve done and any time I get the opportunity I will take it.
Take the
Ultimate ADVENTURE
Ride from Cairns to Cape York
Experience our 7-day adventure bike experience through Australia’s most rugged and scenic terrain, and some of the most challenging off-road tracks in the country. Our expert guides show you some of the most iconic attractions in Cape York, and the famous Tip of Australia.
Book your adventure ride today and experience the ultimate in off-road exploration.
www.capeyorkmotorcycles.com.au
capitalise on the growing demand. This has resulted in a lot of misinformation. Adventure riding and Adventure motorcycles are somewhat a marketing myth. You don’t need an adventure bike to have ‘adventures with motorcycles.’ It is about a motorcycle, a rider, and a journey with meaning. Adventure travel by motorcycle activities, particularly remote environments, provides individuals with a unique opportunity to develop self-reliance, resilience, and adaptability. All these traits are necessary for overcoming challenges and achieving success in all aspects of life, not just in the context of adventure riding. It is more than a means of physical or mental stimulation, but rather as a vehicle (literally) for deeper engagement with the natural world and a source of meaningful experiences.
Strangest or most unusual thing you have seen when adventure riding: I stumbled upon the Interdimensional Hopscotch (Víddaflakk) just outside Snæfellsjökull national park in western Iceland, the large bronze plaque tells the story of a woman who allegedly existed in a universe just slightly different from our own.
Something a non-bike rider has said or asked you about your adventure riding or bike?
What happens when it rains, to which I responded, I get wet.
The most interesting person you have met on an adventure ride.
Whilst in Iceland, I was getting my dose of solo adventure in, exploring the inner F roads, making my way up Askja Volcano fighting through snow and Ice as a climbed in altitude. I make it, after some interesting moments, to the Dreki mountain Huts on Askja Volcano, feeling like a total hero. I was rewarded for the venture by becoming snowed in on the volcano for two days.
Feeling a little Bummed out as the universe appeared to have other plans for me, I ended up holed up in the kitchen area of the mountain huts, nursing a coffee and staring out at the neverending snowfall. And who do I find myself sharing this time with, only two Martian geologists, yes apparently that’s a thing, cruising around in the latest Land Rover Defender. These guys were the real deal. They were professors of Geology, with specialties in planetary geology and mineralogy. And get this – they were doing fieldwork for various space agencies to get ready for a freakin’ Mars landing! Cue the mind-blowing lecture about the structure of Mars and how they’re using Iceland as a model to plan their mission. Turned out getting snowed in on a volcano was totally worth it. The joys of adventure travel. Your favourite piece of gear and why?
My Alpinestar Tech7 boots in Grey, Pink,
and Teal. Super comfy, have saved me from serious injury on more than on occasion and not only does the pink break up my rather grey and black riding kit, but they have also become a trad mark and conversation starter.
Swiss Army Knife or mobile phone?
Swiss Army knife (Gerber or Leatherman’s would be preferable but I have gone with the spirit of the question).
Your most embarrassing adventure ride moment?
Getting the bike beached in snow and ice and having to dig out by hand during my ride across Iceland. This happened on a mountain trial heading up Askja Volcano.
Bucket list trip:
I would like to follow C.K. Shepherd’s 1919 solo route across America, but I would like to do it in a sidecar rig with my 6-year-old son. Anything you would like to add?
Adventure travel by motorcycle has been the flash that pushed me into doing a phenomenological study as a PhD and I have been inspired and inspired by the many stories I have read. Alongside this it’s been a privilege to have interviewed many travellers with great tales of travel by motorcycle.
All this has resulted in a creative methodological study that is nearing its completion.
www.mythsmapsmotorycles.com
The Blue Horses of
MOngOlIa
Motorcycling
with purpose
Words:
They call them The Blue Horses. ‘They’ are Mongolian Park Rangers, and the Blue Horses are Yamaha AG200’s donated by folk from all over the world. Sadly, many of the Blue Horses are now languishing, no longer fit-for-purpose due to lack of basic maintenance and repairs.
The Back Story
We, Mike and Angela of By The
Backroads Ltd (formerly Britton Adventures), have been travelling to, and organising adventures, in Mongolia since 2007. In 2014 we were approached by a joint Mongolian-American project. Their aim was to get people to fundraise and ‘buy a ranger a bike’, then join a rally and ride the bike from the capital Ulaanbaatar to northern Mongolia and donate the bike to the ranger you have been matched with.
and mining, and poaching.
Having ridden in the Mongolian countryside many times since 2007, Mike knew how much the motorcycles would assist the rangers in their efforts to patrol and protect Mongolia’s national parks. With pristine valleys and forests, many endangered animals, still potable lakes and rivers, rare fauna and unique landscapes, Mongolia’s natural treasures are under threat from illegal development, logging
Above: A line up of the ‘Blue Horses’ in front of the 40-metre-tall stainless-steel statue of Chinggis Khan (aka Genghis Khan in the west) situated 54km outside Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital. Pic – Joel Caldwell. Left: Mongolian nomads are almost always extremely hospitable and will welcome strangers in for milk tea, goats milk vodka (yes, it’s a thing) or to stay overnight if you are lost. Hamish repays the family’s hospitality by giving the children (slow speed) rides on the motorcycle.
The Park Rangers are tasked with protecting the massive parks which are often many thousands of square kilometres. Traditionally, they patrolled the parks on horseback, reindeer, or foot, and later on cheaply made unreliable motorbikes. Mike knew that the Yamaha AG’s would be life changing to the rangers and wanted to be involved with the project. Despite very little lead-up time, a decision was made that Mike would attend the inaugural charity rally in 2014. Early on in the trip it became clear that he had a certain set of skills that were very useful when travelling with a group on motorbikes in Mongolia. He quickly became a valued member of the team. One of the American donors had been unable to travel to Mongolia, so Mike rode his bike on the rally. Moved by the joy and appreciation from the rangers when the bikes were handed over, Mike decided we should return the following year for a follow-up trip.
Top left: Carl from WA checks out a nomadic family’s ger (yurt) and motorcycle. Note the traditionally painted door on the ger. When entering a ger you should always step over the lintel, it is considered bad luck to step on it.
Top right: Nomadic herder and his children we met en route. Yes, the fourth child also squeezed on the back of the bike. Note the stony riverbank - not easy terrain to navigate four-up, but the Mongolian’s are very proficient horsemen and this skill transfers well to motorcycle riding.
In 2015, with input from customers and friends, we raised funds to purchase one of the AG200’s ourselves to donate and we both attended the rally. Mike and 19 others rode the bikes from the capital of Ulan Baatar up to the remote region of Ulan Uul where the bikes were handed over to 20 happy rangers. Over the two years, By The Backroads was involved, a total of 35 bikes were donated.
To give the rangers these motorcycles is a wonderful idea. The Yamahas, regularly used on Antipodean farms, are well known for being robust and reliable…. but even the renowned AG200s need maintenance. And this is where the venture has failed. Like so many charity projects, the focus has been on getting more and more bikes to more and more rangers (not just in Mongolia but other countries too) without properly considering the long-term follow-up plan. Maintenance of the donated bikes has been minimal and inconsistent. With lack of funds and/or access to spare parts, many of those 35 AG’s are now unusable for lack of often very simple things like a new chain and sprocket. Rather than despairing at this waste of time, money, resources and energy we have decided to do something about it.
We are confident that many of the rangers’ motorcycles from the 2014 and 2015 rallies’ can be returned to a useable condition with replacement of parts and some basic maintenance. Our plan is to combine the 2023 Mongolia adventure
Below: A Typical scene on the Mongolian steppes – wide open valleys with rolling hills either side. u
By the Backroads Ltd.
the blue horses oF mongolia
with a day of hands-on bike maintenance for the rangers. By incorporating a repairs day into our Mongolia tour schedule, we can give back in a small way to a country of which we have grown very fond.
We will have with us a supply of parts for the AG’s – all the usual suspects like the aforementioned chains and sprockets, discs and levers. Plus, we will be checking with the head Park Ranger as to what else may be required. The rangers will be interested in learning how to do some basic tasks on their bikes, and the visitors will have memorable interaction with the locals. Even if you’re not handy on the tools, there will be plenty for you to do while the bikes are being worked on - hiking or just hanging out with locals and observing the nomadic way of life.
The trip will take us to Lake Hovsgol, situated in the north of the country, and then out to the remote north-west Darkan Valley and Ulan Uul. Despite an oft held belief that Mongolia is mainly wide-open grassy steppes this is untrue. The terrain in the north west region is considerably varied. You may encounter braided rivers one morning, and a mountain pass later the same day. During the trip there will be both sandy and swampy areas. And, yes, some “galloping” of motorcycles on
the vast Mongolian steppes may also be on the cards!
Our wonderful crew are all indigenous to Mongolia. The team leader (and our friend and colleague), Orgil, spent 12 years as a professional sumo wrestler in Japan.
As a consequence of the strict training he underwent, his discipline and that of his team is impeccable and contributes hugely to the smooth running of our trips
Top right: Dressed in their best deel, (traditional long tunic style coat still worn by many Mongolians outside the cities) the Mongolian Park Rangers have a meeting before being presented with their donated bikes.
Top right: One of the donated Yamaha AG200’s in front of an oovo. Oovo (oboo or obo) are cairns that translate directly as ‘magnificent bundle’. They are used as border markers or shrines in traditional Mongolian folk religious practice. Some oovo are just a mound of stones but most also have branches and ceremonial scarves added to them.
Below left: Not all of Mongolia is wide open grassland some parts have plenty of rocks, marmot holes or other hazards for the unwary rider.
Below right: This is a typical main ‘road’ in the Mongolian countryside. Note the overloaded fleece truck.
Carese Evo GORE-TEX jacket
Torno Evo GORE-TEX pants
ADVENTURE WITH SAFETY & COMFORT
Our industry partners
Name: Greg & Janice Jansen
Bike(s): Ural Gear Up, Ducati Desert X, BMW R60
Best ride ever and why: A ride from Victoria Falls in Zambia to Cape town. We wrote a travel diary, and it concluded as follows:
The ride into Cape Town is stunning, beautiful twisty road, sea on one side, mountains on the other, just stunning. Even the gravel roads are sensational! Met up with a couple of our comrades for a celebratory beer. Trips done…bummer!!
This was an amazing trip, a trip of a lifetime. We have attempted to put into words what we experienced. When we read back over the diary, we keep reading the words, “epic, amazing, beautiful, brilliant, incredible, stunning.”
That it was and more. Do yourself a favour, book a trip NOW, you won’t regret it. By the way, we are going back for a THIRD helping this year...that says it all!
rocky Creek design
from various well-meaning bystanders AND many of them bikers, referring to our late model (2022) Ural Gear up!!
The most interesting person you have met on an adventure ride.
The single best thing about being on an adventure ride is, people just come up and start chatting. We are approachable and we have stories to tell. People come out of their airconditioned 4WDs and want to know where we’re from, where we’ve been and where we’re going. We just want to get in out of the heat and into their airconditioned 4WD’s and cool down!!!
Your favourite piece of gear and why?
Ice cold beer (Greg) and gin and tonic (Janice) at the end of the day!
Swiss Army Knife or mobile phone?
Swiss army knife bottle opener…use a mobile phone for emergency!
Your most embarrassing adventure ride moment?
How would you define ‘adventure riding’?
Riding bikes is an adventure. There’s nothing quite like packing up some gear and disappearing on a ride, not knowing who you’ll bump into, what you’ll see or where you’ll end up.
Strangest or most unusual thing you have seen when adventure riding:
From the most strikingly beautiful countryside in Africa, to a “cartel enhanced” body on the side of the road in Mexico, we’ve seen it all. Honestly, when you’re riding you see so much and most of the time you ride past and at the end of the day you have a
“I should have stopped and taken a photo” moment. The unique thing about riding a bike is, not only do you see things, but you smell them as well, it’s a lot different to the sanitised environment in a car.
Something a non-bike rider has said or asked you about your adventure riding or bike: Always a good one. “Nice restore mate”
Ignored the “Caution extreme 4WD track” sign and the hand-written note on the sign that said, “Don’t go down there… good luck” and then many hours later being rescued by the local Wauchope constabulary. All hail the Wauchope Police. “How the $%^&* did you get that thing down here?” …that “thing” being the Ural. Many lessons learned that day and hopefully never to be repeated… although a couple of weekends ago… What is top of your bucket list: At this stage more a dream. BUT an adventure ride from home over to Perth, up through Africa onto Europe, over to South America, up to the US through Canada, onto Alaska, into Russia, Mongolia, China and somehow end up back home with the news that we’ve just won Lotto. Not much to ask there! Anything you would like to add: Yes, don’t forget we are here for a reason! We ride and we manufacture products for motorcyclists to use on their bikes! All products we have on our website actually work and are useful for any rider and, did we say, they work! Check out our website www.rockycreekdsigns.com.au
Yamaha YDX
Words: Boris Mihailovic
Moro 07 review access all areas
“We’d like you to come to this e-mountain bike launch.”
“You’ve got the wrong number.”
“Borrie, it’s Geez.”
“Hey, mate. What are you talking about? What’s an e-mountain bike?”
“It’s an electric mountain bike.”
“What a time to be alive. Why are you asking me to this launch?”
“You’re the perfect demographic.”
“What? Old, overweight, and last rode a pushbike when he was a teenager?”
“Yep. That’s the demographic.”
“OK – so I come to this launch, I ride this e-mountain bike, I die somewhere on the trail, and you all make kebabs out of me and dance around my corpse? Has someone paid you to off me? I thought we were friends.”
“Trust me. You’ll be amazed. The trails are easy, and the bike assists you to pedal.”
“Is that so? OK. I’m there.”
I then told my wife I was going to ride a mountain bike the following week. She laughed. A lot. Made some hurtful comments as well. Then she told me our marriage would end if spousal bum-wiping would become a thing post mountain-bike ride.
I considered my options. Call Geez and tell him no, and be viewed as weak and scared. Go, crash, break things, wife finds a younger and stronger man to live with. Go, do not crash, return home covered in glory with a battered perineum due to lack of not riding a pushbike since 1978.
I chose the third variant. I was always going to choose the third variant.
could press that would propel me forward without any input from me were lying dead on the rocks I was soon meant to ride.
And on the appointed day, I arrived at Yamaha HQ clad in a T-shirt and shorts – which is the sum-total of my mountain bike-riding attire.
Following a brief and somewhat terrifying presentation in the conference room, where I saw videos of powerful youths leaping into the air on the YDX Moro 07, I learned the following technical things about this brave new world I was soon to ride… Yamaha invented the Power Assist System (PAS) 30 years ago, and now it has built its own chassis where the PAS motor (dubbed PW-X3 – which is 10 percent lighter than its predecessor PW-X2) can live, produces 85Nm of torque, and thus assists grizzly bears like myself in their pedalling efforts. My hopes there was a button I
Top left: There’s a bad taste in my mouth. It could be one of my lungs.
Still, I was promised a quicker and more direct pedalling response, offering instant support the second pressure is applied to the pedal, rather than after the crank turn.
The Moro also boasted the best e-bike Q-factor (an ergonomic cycling thing concerning how wide one’s knees are splayed when riding) thanks to a 28mm bottom bracket axle.
It had three riding modes – Eco, Standard, and High – which dictated how much assistance was given to the pedals, and Yamaha had programmed all of this with its own custom maps. All of this genius resides in a small control cluster on the left handlebar, and is activated by a button which allows you to choose your level of pedalling assistance.
Prospective buyers will also be pleased to know Yamaha has an entire legion of Yamaha dealers devoted to providing a complete and comprehensive after-sales service to buyers of the Moro – something I understand is not readily offered in the mountain-bike world until now.
Then I was told technical things and
“ You’re the perfect demographic. ”
“ What? Old, overweight, and last rode a pushbike when he was a teenager? ” “ Yep. That’s the demographic. ”
brand names which poked at ancient memories from my youth. Shimano gears (12 of them), Magura four-piston brakes, 35mm Rockshox forks (160mm of travel at the front and 150mm at the rear with 15 clicks of rebound adjustment), a leveroperated dropper seat, faster-accelerating 27.5-inch by 2.6-inch wheels, a bilateral alloy beam frame (straight outta its motorcycle division), and a 500Wh lithium
ion battery that weighed three kilos, had a range of 136km (depending on how much you relied on it), charged to 100 per cent in four hours, and 80 per cent in one hour, with a charging port located at the top of the battery rather than down the bottom where all the dirt comes to live. None of this meant much of anything to me. But I was intrigued to learn that Munemitsu Eguchi, who worked inside the Yamaha MotoGP team from 2007 to 2010, was the engineer who designed the Moro.
As intriguing as this revelation was, I was becoming increasingly concerned with how fragile human collarbones are. If I was designing humans, that fragile twig-like bastard would be as thick as humerus and attached by tendons as fat as ship hawsers. You’d need to fall from space to break them, rather than pitch yourself off a pushbike.
You’d think a bone as important to a man as a collarbone would be more robust. After all, you will not be wiping your bum if you do both of them at once, will you? I know this because have broken them in the past. The dim, distant pass, but the memories remain. Not long after the presentation I
Top left: What? It’s the only helmet I had. u
found myself at Wylde Mountain Bike Park in western Sydney, in the company of ASBK racers Mad Mike Jones and Cru Halliday, and a whole bunch of pushbike and dirt-bike press members – all of who were much younger, slimmer, and more pushbikier than me.
“Halliday! If I die, do not despoil my corpse. My car keys are in that bucket over there. See my wife gets the car back. Cool sunnies, by the way. Very Espargaro.”
“Thanks. But you’ll be right, Borrie. You’ll be surprised.”
And he was right. Actually, I left surprise behind after the first kilometre – much like all the other riders left me – and moved right on into utterly blown away. I had initially planned to pedal 500-odd metres, turn around, pedal back, thank Yamaha for its hospitality, and go home. After all, I ain’t no pushbike rider and I certainly ain’t no mountain bike anything.
As if pedalling these bastards on smooth roads is not taxing enough without adding rocky dirt trails, vertiginous ascents, and heart-stopping descents to the mix.
But that’s not what happened. I kept pedalling and the Moro just kept on helping me to do that. It was not entirely effortless, but pretty much. Going uphill was incredibly easy. I used to smoke 30 a day. My lung capacity is somewhat compromised. I’m strong and I train daily, but benching and squatting 100plus kilos does not equate to pedalling a bike. At all.
But I pedalled nonetheless and I was amazed at how easy that was. Be assured there were no mad descents, no sick air, and no hard engagement with tight banked turns so beloved of the mountain bike brigade. The Moro (which is by any measure a high-end example of the mountain bike) could certainly do all of this, because I saw others doing such things, but I was there not to break collarbones, tear my flesh open, and be a burden to the Yamaha team who would have to winch me out of canyons, and order helicopters and ambulances.
For the most part, I rode alone. The feckless youths with thick thighs and thin arms had all rocketed off to leap, soar, and hammer supertight turns – essentially the whole point of mountain-biking – and I was suddenly lost.
I hauled out the map Geezer had insisted we all take and peered at it. He told me to stay on the red trail. I was not on that trail. Features like Roly Poly Valley, Frog Hollow, Smiles For Miles, and the appallingly-named Exile were written on it. None of these corresponded to the black diamond symbol I saw nailed on a post at the side of the track. Black diamond? Is that not some ski-run grading intended to send spears of terror through the bravest hearts of downhill lunatics? I’d read that somewhere. What was that symbol even doing here?
Oh good, I thought. I cannot go back. One bloke had already yelled at me for riding the wrong way. If he yelled at me
again, I would be forced to settle the issue with a trial by combat. Could the fool not see I was new at this? My survival and return to the barbecue area was way more important than his arbitrary notions about what way was the right way to ride these trails. I would certainly have this discussion with him if I found him in the carpark later, but I had to get back to that carpark first.
Logic dictated that since I was very much on a high-point, the carpark and barbecue area was downhill from here. Failing that, I could certainly walk the few hundred metres to the expressway I could hear to the left, heave the bike over the fence, cycle to Penrith, then make the appropriate phone call to Geezer and discuss reparations and compensation. Or I could ride down the hill doing everything humanly possible not to crash, and trusting Yamaha knew more about building bikes than I knew about riding them.
So that’s what I did. The fat knobby tyres had far more traction than I had
imagined and I found I was actually quite enjoying myself. Sure, I did overcook some corners and went off-piste, so to speak, and there were a few savage-looking jumps I chose to ride around, but it was not long before I cycled my way back to the barbecue area.
I was smiling. Like, genuinely. Sure, I knew my perineum would be throbbing like a cracked tooth by that evening, but that was nothing time would not heal. And several more such excursions on the Moro would toughen the bastard up good and proper.
“How’d you go?” Yamaha’s Matt Ferry wanted to know.
“Great. Has there been an angry man here yelling about one-way issues?”
Matt looked non-plussed.
“Never mind,” I said. “I had a ball. That’s a pretty special bit of kit. Would you consider loaning me one for a few weeks so I can teach my perineum some manners?”
“I think we could manage that,” Matt grinned.
I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but
I am actually very much looking forward to that. The way I see it, there’s nothing very wrong with getting fitter than I am now, and if this can be facilitated by a high-quality vehicle which operates via the same laws of physics as a motorcycle and which so captivated me as a child, I devoted my entire life to exploring them, that’s a good thing.
The Moro easily and readily gave me access to areas I would never have imagined. It’s wondrous technology eagerly assisted me in my physical efforts, and it allowed me to pay attention to riding, rather than puffing, panting, and wanting the whole thing to be over as soon as possible. So an experience that many would consider impossible due to age, fitness, or inclination, was suddenly very doable, and indeed, hugely enjoyable.
What a time to be alive, huh?
HOW MUCH IS IT? $8990
IF YOU WANT MORE INFO, YOU’LL FIND IT HERE
www.yamaha-motor.com.au/e-bike
Right: “You make me look fatter than I am and I’ll end you…”
Top: This is where the battery goes. Left: “No, cannot move my belly out of the way.”
Discover Iceland One adventure at a time
Setting the stage
Iceland. There are many guides on the internet (and off it), describing how to traverse this far-flung country with a name befitting a stage in a role-playing video game rather than real life. Heck, it even has a place named Bifrost and a lot of people named Thor. So, it was pretty hard for me to decide how to present my Icelandic experience to you. My perspective is that of a motorcyclist and a content creator with 10 days at hand and a fixed itinerary.
Being a motorcyclist who has ridden and traveled across 63 countries before Iceland, including the fabled outlandish lands of Spiti Valley and Ladakh Region in India, I knew what to expect in Iceland, and was skeptical if it would
actually impress me as a motorcyclist first and then as a content creator. After all, if you are looking for outlandish terrain and experiences on a motorcycle, the incredible Himalayas are tough to beat.
Being stuck in one place for two years since the COVID pandemic began I wanted to restart my international travels with a bang. headed out to Italy for the world Ducati week 2022, and then drove in a BMW M4 Competition for 4000 kms across Italy, Switzerland and Germany before I finally boarded the flight to Iceland from Munich.
I had already been on the road daily for a good two weeks in Europe, driving and creating content and I knew that the jump to a motorcycle would mean the
polar opposite of the comfort of a luxury performance car. But I had no idea by what margin. Now that we have set my perspective and experience parameters, you would be in a better position to understand how I ‘processed Iceland’. I took an Iceland Air flight from Munich after dropping off the insane BMW M4 Competition back at the BMW HQ. Flights were still extremely expensive. Airports were busy and short staffed. Iceland is generally around forty percent more expensive than the rest of Europe. Yes, it is that expensive. But it gets even more expensive in the peak season, as I found out.
Preparations (and the shocks of it!) Best Time: June to August is both
Words & photos: Sunny ‘Motographer’
the best and worst time to visit Iceland. Warmer temperatures and practically unlimited daylight hours make it easier to ride and shoot. At the same time, it is the busiest part of the year and a person like me won’t have the patience to drive beyond a plethora of tourist cars or find a parking spot.
The hotels and guest houses are prohibitively expensive and it is extremely hard to find a free room. More about this later. But I still went in the first week of August.
The vehicle: For me it had to be a motorcycle. Having ridden high-capacity motorcycles all the time, a breath of fresh air would have been an ultra-light yet powerful motorcycle. The KTM Duke 390 was the only bike which was available. The bike, as you may know, is powered by a 44hp single cylinder 373cc mill, and is very light and capable. I wanted an Adventure 390, but Iceland didn’t have it. I knew that this was going to be an amazing road trip, but I also knew that it was going to put the KTM 390 Duke to test.
Be aware that there are limited motorcycles for rent in Iceland, however there is practically no dearth of available rental cars. However, I researched that you could ship your bike/car from Amsterdam to Iceland pretty much throughout the year.
It takes two and a half days one way, and the cost is approximately 800 Euros return (or more depending on the season).
You land in east Iceland, far from the capital city of Reykjavik, if that is of any importance to you. So, you need to budget five more days and a few hundred more euros depending on how far you need to ride your motorcycle to get to the seaport in the Netherlands. Alternatively, you can also send your motorcycle via cargo ship from Rotterdam to Reykjavik and fly to Iceland yourself. However it takes a week to ship, and you need to hand over the motorcycle approximately a week in advance. I feel that this option is costlier both in time and money. I suggest you check online with companies for the latest update before committing to following this printed information.
Cars and bikes in Iceland are not covered by insurance in case of a crash with any animal on the road. That was a shocker for me, especially after riding so much in Australia where so many animals cross the road at twilight. There are a lot of sheep in Iceland, and some tend to dart in the wrong direction if they hear a loud motorcycle coming. Many insurance
companies will also not cover you on F Roads (ungraded gravel tracks usually open only in summers and are recommended for 4x4 vehicles only). More about them later.
Things to Take
Clothes and riding gear: You need to take the usual stuff, a puncture repair kit, clear visor with a system like pinlock to avoid fogging of the helmet visor. A basic toolkit. Some energy bars. A bottle for water. Note that Icelandic tap water is among the cleanest in the world and you will save a lot of money by avoiding buying bottles from gas stations. Plus, clothes from top to bottom to shield you from the cold and rain, and of course, you need well-made and comfortable riding gear. Ensure you get waterproof boots and gloves, a neck warmer and a balaclava. Good thermal inners would definitely help. If you forget anything, look for an Icewear shop near you.
Phone and Connectivity: On landing, you definitely should buy a prepaid SIM card which is available at the convenience
store just before exiting the Keflavik International Airport. I got a SIMINN card for 2900 Icelandic Krona with 10GB Data and the ability to top up later online.
A word of advice. None of my international credit cards worked online on the Icelandic SIMINN website. The same credit cards were being used every single day for all transactions in Iceland. I had to ask a local restaurant owner to use his credit card on my behalf because I had exhausted all my data!
Just to be sure, I got an Icelandic SIM card despite the fact that
had enabled international roaming on two of my Indian SIM cards that worked just fine in Germany. Later I found out that the coverage and internet speed was stupendously good in most places, no matter how isolated, with SIMINN. I was truly amazed! u
Money: Iceland does not use Euros, let alone any kind of dollars. They have an independent currency - ISK (Icelandic Króna). I did not need a single physical Krona in my entire time in Iceland! You can pay for everything using a credit card with a PIN.
Fuel: Check latest fuel prices, if you are bothered, otherwise you can find yourself paying a lot. You will find a lot of unmanned self-service stations. Many times, you will see just a fuel pump with no other structure, but even that will dispense fuel if you have a credit card with PIN. Before filling up, ensure that you do not select the ‘complete tank’ or ‘full fill up’ or anything which is open ended. Try to take a guess on how much fuel your bike will take based on the fuel gauge and then enter the ISK value otherwise you may end up with a couple of hundred Euros used on your credit card. It does get refunded based on how much fuel you fill up with, but that can take a few working days. Try to fuel up just before you reach
your hotel so that the next day you can hit the road immediately.
Food: For me, food begins with breakfast in the hotel or guesthouse. Lunch is always at a fuel station. Look for accommodation in places that offer breakfast, it will save you time and energy. A lot of gas stations have premade sandwiches or fresh hot dogs, which is almost a staple food for people on the go in Iceland.
Accommodation: Be warned that accommodation in Iceland during the recommended season above is very expensive. Even finding a room is a matter of luck. I didn’t know about this, and almost had to pay 600USD for a night in a couple of places but luckily there were cancellations. The average accommodation for me was 200USD per night. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a guesthouse or a hotel, the price is at a premium. After all this is how they have to earn a year’s income - in a short period of tourism. Wifi is decent in most places. Police and other matters of the road: The maximum speed limit in Iceland is 90km/h on the highways. There are
speed cameras along the roads, even in remote areas, but usually there is a sign board before the actual speed camera.
From what I have heard and experienced, the cameras focus their ‘interest’ ion four wheelers. Motorcyclists can actually ride faster, should the need arise and yet I hardly saw motorcycles.
There were some amazing four wheelers, like souped up G Wagen and Wranglers with glacier tyres that gave them a monster truck vibe. Then there are some insane machines as well, such as an 8x8 ice truck for which you can buy a ticket and go on actual glaciers! It looks right out of a sci fi movie! One I saw had a 13000cc 520hp engine and can do 60km/h even on a glacier (www.sleipnirtours.is). I didn’t experience one myself, but imagine for some it’s a once-in-a-lifetime blow away ride. Most highways in Iceland are undivided single lane and considering the relatively sparse traffic, that is just fine. However, in many places (except the ring road), the roads can end abruptly and turn into gravel ones and then back again after a few kilometers. There are very few police patrol cars in Iceland.
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Electronics: I had an Acer Swift5 ultralight laptop with an external 1 TB HDD for daily backup. Cameras include Canon EOS R5 and Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM Lens, Insta Go2, GoPro MAX, GoPro 10 Black mounted as helmet cam, with Rode lavalier short wirelength mic. An Insta X2 was my secondary 360 camera. Besides this I had a x grip RAM mount for the tube type handlebar and similar mounting setup for.
A brief guide to content creation in Iceland on a Motorcycle Don’t expect to cover it all. There will always be a photo or a video online that you will stumble upon making you go “Wow!” in awe, no matter how much time you spend shooting in Iceland on your road trip. The infinite variations of light and weather in the same place combined with the fact that Iceland has thousands of small, picturesque opportunities at every nook and corner
ensure this! This makes the ‘replayability’ of Iceland, so to say if it were a video game, much higher than other countries that I have visited. It just leaves you more in awe when you realise that Iceland is not especially big, yet has
“ Weather will, indeed, be your greatest enemy. Wind, rain and low temperatures will threaten your plans of even taking out your equipment, let alone using it. ”
so many side roads and loops that are impossible to do unless you have many days in hand and the weather is favorable.
Weather will, indeed, be your greatest enemy. Wind, rain and low temperatures
will threaten your plans of even taking out your equipment, let alone using it.
Remember, I am talking from the perspective of a motorcyclist. Drone: Technically, you cannot fly a drone in most places. However, after you look at all that footage online you realise that no one is actually paying attention to the technicalities. Let me be very frank here, I truly respect drone laws, but like thousands of others before me, and after me, spending a small fortune to come to Iceland and not using a drone to capture the landscape as a content creator is sacrilege as well. You have to be sensible and not fly drones in crowded areas, near airports or close to animals so that they get disturbed. Truth be told a lot of tourism in Iceland is inspired after people watch the beautiful drone shots that we all create and publish.
The Actual Roadtrip
Unless you are shipping your bike from
western Europe, most of us will start by landing at the biggest airport of Iceland, Keflavik. I flew in from Munich on Iceland Air and landed early in the evening which gave me a bit of time to set up my motorcycle with luggage. It had been a long time since I experienced the midnight sun, which I had seen for the first time during my ride to Nordkapp in Norway. The bike was finally prepared at 10.00pm and I set out in a hurry to find some food in bright sunlight! That was amazing! Talking about food - many places in Iceland just shut down after 8.00pm, especially in smaller towns, so if you are on a motorcycle and don’t have spare food, make sure you carry something from a gas station. Often gas stations also have a takeaway fast-food section, and many of course have the famous Icelandic hot dogs. So even if the food
is cold, you won’t go hungry at night. In any case I do recommend stocking up on a few protein/energy bars.
Keflavik is a kind of a satellite town of the capital city of Rekyavik. It has a lot of hotels and a lot of car rental companies. I came across a US Air Force plane displayed at a roundabout, and I came to know the history of Keflavik as a US Naval Air base during World War II. While exploring Keflavik on day one,
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came across a few oddities like a stranded ship attraction. At lunch time saw people’s attention sway towards the television that was showing a volcanic eruption - LIVE! Yes, I was incredibly lucky that the Geldingadalir volcano had erupted. This was pretty close to Reykjavik, and I hastened on the KTM 390 to visit it. However, because of my heavy riding gear, I couldn’t trek a lot to see it and I ended up just walking on Igneous rock (solidified lava) which was a surreal experience in itself.
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A trip from Keflavik to Kleifervatn, and on to Grindavik (and a small detour to a place called Selatangar), and then back to Keflavik will be around 100km but it will give you an outstanding preview of what’s coming up ahead. As you look around, the surreal treeless landscape and black igneous rocks
will make a unique impression on you. My second day in Iceland saw me head towards the less visited Snæfellsnes peninsula. It is also referred to as miniIceland since it has an incredible variety of things to show you that you will also see in the rest of Iceland. And it was true. Thanks to the incredible weather, I experienced a ring crater called Eldborg that rises 60 meters above the surrounding lava and was created around 5000 years ago. There is no dearth of waterfalls here. And then there was one of the most remarkable experiences I had in Iceland - Snæfellsjökull Glacier. Jökul basically means glacier in Icelandic. This was a oneway road and I got stuck when I had to cross a section of snow on the road. I had to take out all my bags and then literally
drag the KTM 390 Duke out of the snow. It was one of the most terrifying yet beautiful experiences I had there, with no one for miles and zero traffic. Even though the sun doesn’t actually set, it did start to get very cold as it was around 7.30pm by the time got myself out and started my journey back on an F road! I ended my day in the town of Stykkishólmur (the day ride a total of 300km).
Day three of riding was riding out of the beautiful Snæfellsnes peninsula, from Stykkishólmur and into the Westfjords, to the town of Isafjordur for a day total of around 350km via the Dynjandi waterfall.
It is the largest waterfall in this region with a height of around 100 metres. I saw some beautiful Icelandic horses and crossed a particularly beautiful road/bridge passing almost along water level at the village of Holt along the way.
The town of Isafjordur - one of the most beautiful towns I have ever visited in Europe - affords fantastic views of snowcapped mountains and of Drangajokull, Iceland’s northernmost glacier.
Day four was one of the longest days, with 460 kms as I rode from Isafjordur to Sauðárkrókur in northern Iceland. It is the second largest town of the region with a
population of 2500 people. Yes, there are really few people in Iceland. There are in fact so many tourists that it is sometimes hard to distinguish who is even a local on the road. My run with good weather was also seemingly coming to an end today with clouds everywhere but still thankfully no rain.
But that was about to change.
Day five was the toughest day for me on the entire ride. I already knew I was going to an F road, the famous Kjolur F35 route.
The moment the tarmac below me vanished, it started raining with a gale that threatened to push me over. In between sheets of rain, could take in a bit of the moonscape as I passed through a road made of a lot of round stones and basically no tarmac.
On either side for many kilometres could barely spot the mega glaciers of Langjökull and Hofsjökull. The road length is 170km long and ends at the town of Gullfoss. These were the longest kilometres of my recent rides with extremely unfavorable weather and road conditions. However, since there was not a ravine/ cliff on one side, the way it is in the Himalayas, it was still relatively safe.
My ordeal ended at Gullfoss where the
rain subsided a little bit into mild showers.
The next day, number six, was from Gullfoss to Kirkjubæjarklaustur (a total of 250km). I spent the entire day riding in rain and battling icy cold winds. I also
‘saw’ the infamous Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption site from 2010 which caused massive air traffic disruptions all over Europe when around 20 countries had to stop their air traffic!
The seventh riding day saw mild improvement in weather which allowed me to experience the magical glacial lagoon called Jökulsárlón. This place was one of the most amazing roadside experiences I have ever had. Mini icebergs floated almost right to the road! The other side of this road is the Diamond Beach which gets its name from the ice blocks that float onto the beach looking like big diamonds. Truly amazing, even after being overrun with tourists! Today rode from Kirkjubæjarklaustur to the small village of Grimsstadir for a total of around 500 kms.
It was getting very difficult to find accommodation, which is why I had to
go such distances every day in a small country like Iceland.
The eighth riding day was relatively short at 150km. Dettifoss was the highlight with the second most powerful waterfall in Europe after the Rhine Falls. Today ended in the town of Akureyri, which is the fourth most populous city of Iceland. The last riding day in Iceland was from Akureyri back to Keflavik for a total of 430km. This was a relatively uneventful day with the usual sights and sounds of Iceland. Beautiful. Stark. Treeless and windy.
Overall Iceland is a place that beckons you to come again. There is something that I cannot quite point to, but I think it is the surreal landscapes that gives us the hope of one day actually exploring alien extra-terrestrial worlds. There is a supernatural quality to it, as well.
My trip, in total, led me to travel Iceland from top to bottom, effectively cutting the nation in half.
Whenever you do Iceland, allow some time for it: a bit more time than I had allowed, to account for potential bad weather and more. Ride safe.
Our adventure riding community
Name: Mim Chook
Location: Port Stephens, NSW
Bike(s): I started my adventures on a klr650, but after getting myself into some scary situations, I decided to trade down to the lighter Yamaha xt250.
Best ride ever and why: Around Australia for a total of 17 months... Every part of that journey was an adventure in itself. I was like a kid in a lolly shop, riding endless miles soaking up the landscape with a big smile plastered across my face! saw places like the spectacular cliffs
and caves of the Nullarbor, the pristine waters of Western Australia, the vivid colours of the Pilbara, the dreamy natural springs in the Northern Territory, the exquisite rainforests of North Queensland, the scenic ranges through NSW and Victoria, and the stunning roads throughout Tasmania!
On my adventures to Cape York and more recently Tasmania I had the company of my partner, and in WA I spent time riding and exploring the southwest with my sister. It’s always much more fun to have someone to share the love of the journey with and relive each day’s highlights.
How would you define ‘adventure riding’:
It’s about chasing dreams into unknown
territory or exploring the landscape in a manner that utilises my skills as a rider into places that most road vehicles won’t go. Strangest or most unusual thing you have seen when adventure riding: Hmmm... Australia is full of strange sights, but try to picture this one...
A rain shower had passed over a desert highway... and as I came over the rise the scene before me was a long straight stretch of road covered in puddles, and what looked like hundreds of big, brown, slowly rolling beach balls. Wombats! Thirsty wombats everywhere and a few roos too, to carefully pick my way through. It was a weirdly surreal sight! Something a non-bike rider has said or asked you about your adventure riding or bike:
I’ve been asked many times... Aren’t you afraid of travelling alone? Ummm, no!
I loved the solitude, I loved seeing the country at my own pace and I loved being responsible for my own successes or failures, I loved being self-sufficient. But having said that, I’ve had to confront and overcome natural fears one has when being completely alone in wilderness areas.
The most interesting person you have met on an adventure ride?
I can’t pick just one person. I found foreign travellers doing their own adventures to be full of great stories. On several occasions I travelled and camped with people I’d just met, and I could share local knowledge and in return enjoyed some exotic cuisine! Grey nomads are great travel companions too. They often have the most wonderful life stories. But the most chilled people I’ve ever shared camp with are those who live the nomadic life full-time.
Your favourite piece of gear and why: Sheepsy! I’ve always travelled with a big soft sheepskin on my seat. Warm in winter, stops the seat getting sweaty in summer, and rolled up inside an old t-shirt, Sheepsy serves as a pillow at night. Swiss Army Knife or mobile phone: The mobile phone. It was my link to family
friends and support, as well as my sanity (maybe I didn’t use it as much as I should have though).
Your most embarrassing adventure ride moment:
Oh, that has to be the classic undignified moment... Pulling up on the KLR at a super busy biker pub, and not seeing the pothole under my foot. To top it off, some bloke (who probably rode a cruiser) comments, “Don’t you think that bikes’ a bit big for you luv?”
Top bucket list adventure: I can honestly say...I did everything on my bucket list! travelled around Australia, I did it the way I wanted to do it, and I went to the places I’d only seen in holiday magazines. I started my bucket list adventure five years ago, and crossed off the last item in Tasmania, just two months ago. still have places I’d like to see and ride. But if all of my riding days had to end tomorrow, I can honestly say I’m satisfied that I lived them to the fullest.
Anything you would like to add:
Chase your dreams! Don’t sit back and wait to see what happens, if you want something you have to get out of that comfort zone and take a chance.
For me, I was passionate about travel and wanted to challenge myself. My children had grown up and left home and my life had become a dead-end routine, so I needed to change the path I was on. Riding for such a big trip might not have been an option in retirement years, so I took a leap of faith and did what I wanted to do, the way I wanted to do it!
have great memories that will last me the rest of my life, and when I do hit those retirement years, want to retrace my steps!
The austrian Truckstop
The story of my journey through the Balkans can be found in my third book, The Wisdom Of The Road Gods (which you can buy using the QR code at the end of the tale, if you’re so moved). But like any tale of such a journey, there are untold stories I did not include in the book. I did this because I figured they might interrupt the flow of the narrative. But they remain in my head, and when they start clamouring to be told, then I guess I need to tell them…
It was still early morning when I started down off the alps. It was high summer, but alps are going to alp, and it was cold. was about a kilometre above sealevel and coming down through the Wurzenpass through the Karawanks Mountains that separate Slovenia from Austria.
It’s quite the historic road, and first paved in 1734, since it afforded one of the relatively easier paths through a grim and forbidding mountain range. During the Cold War, the mighty Austrian army had installed a series of bunkers along the route just in case Tito’s Yugoslavian military juggernaut decided it wanted to seek revenge for the still-remembered atrocities of WWII – in which case the Austrian bunkers would likely have been turned into smouldering graves, and Yugoslavia might have extended its territory to include the outer suburbs of Vienna.
But the Austrians have always had fabulous luck in this regard.
Back in 1241, when Odogei Khan was chief of the Most Horrible Eastern Bastards Ever, the Mongols utterly destroyed Hungary in the Battle of Mohi. Half of its inhabited places had been turned into smoking ruins, and 25 per cent of its population had been killed. The Mongol armies – all five of them, were led by Batu Khan (grandson of Genghis and creator of the Golden Horde), and the fabled general, Subutai – were now on their way to Vienna.
They clashed with the Duke of Austria, Frederick II, and a bunch of his knights in their almost successful encirclement of the capital. Frederick and his boys managed to kill maybe 700 Mongols, and lost about 100 of their own men.
This was no biggie as far as the Golden Horde was concerned. They had lots more men, and their thus-far successful tactics
of invasion and conquest was to send small raiding parties into villages, commit bucketloads of atrocities on the unarmed villagers, which instilled the appropriate terror in the general population, which would then be told to surrender or get more of the same.
So, while the loss of 700 vicious savages was not about to stop the Mongols seizing Vienna, and very likely a lot more of western Europe, the death of Odogei Khan was. Batu and Subutai received the news, and in very short order the whole mob then returned to the east so they could set about sorting out a new mega-Khan. Vienna – and indeed Europe – was spared.
Much later, in the aftermath of WWII, the allies largely ignored Austria’s part in the war. Not the least of which was first supplying a Fuhrer, and then
“ When you’re riding mountain passes, it pays to focus on the “now”, not the “then”. It’s a long way to the bottom of those mountains. ”
enthusiastically joining the Third Reich in the Anschluss (Union).
Austria declared itself a “victim” of the Third Reich after the war, and…well, no-one really argued that point very much – though they maybe should have – and everyone’s attention was very much on Germany and the Nuremburg Trials anyway. This probably explains why the Austrians were still having SS reunions well into the 21st century.
The world is a strange place, as we all know. But when you’re riding mountain passes, it pays to focus on the “now”, not the “then”. It’s along way to the bottom of those mountains.
As I made my way through the pass,
the Victory Magnum’s pipes booming and thundering in a most pleasing manner, the stirrings of hunger came upon me. I had left the stunning Slovenian Lake Bled early, and as I’d made my way along the banks of the Sava River (the very same Sava River that flowed past my ancestral town of Sabac and met with the Danube at Belgrade), my appetite had been teased awake in every single Slovenian village at the foot of the Alps.
Smart people, the Slovenians. They worked out a while back the villages which run from Lake Bled to the Wurzenpass – Hrusica, Dovje, Belca, Gozd Martuljek, Kranjska Gora, and finally Podkoren, where you chuck a hard right and head into the mountains (or continue west into Italy) – are ideally situated to attract motorcycle riders. The roads are amazing – smooth, light-grey bitumen, and largely free of traffic thanks to the Karawanken tunnel which replaced the Wurzenpass as the preferred route from Slovenia into Austria.
The scenery is stunning – everything from snow-capped mountains to fastrunning streams, sparkling like light-blue frosted glass, and forever-deep forests that stupid luscious green only Europe seems to have.
The air is piercingly clean and crisp –and as you approach the villages, also redolent with the smell of spit-roasted pork and lamb, and fresh-baked bread. At first I thought I was having a stroke – strange, out-of-place smells can sometimes be the precursor to parts of your brain exploding and pouring out of your nose. Oh well, I thought, this is a pretty a place to die as any. And then I saw the source of the delicious perfume. An enterprising inn-keeper had situated a large spit outside his picturesque inn, and was slowly rotating a gorgeous dead beast on it. The smell was wafting in the
u
Words and Photos: Boris Mihailovic
Left: I think those monsters in the background are Triglau (Thee Heads), the most famous alpine triple-act in Slovenia. Above: You like corners? Ride the European alps.
air, and as you entered the village, it hit you like a promise. He had even hung a banner above the inn which read “Dobro dosli bajkeri!” (Welcome, Bikers!) – and I almost pulled in.
But it was 7am, and I was not prepared for a major spit-roast feast at this point in the day. Besides, the swine was unlikely to be ready to eat at this time. The inn-keeper was merely preparing for the day to come, as it were. I rode on, and in each successive village, I encountered more or less the same delicious scenario.
I got to Podkoren, where the road forks, and either turns north into the alps, or continues west for a few short kays and spits you into Italy at the Valico Di Fusine. It then subjects you to myriads of glorious ski resorts until you eventually arrive in the town of Tolmezzo where you’ll be robbed and beaten by gypsies. I sat there idling for a bit, looking up at the mountains on my right, as well as the road ahead, and wondered if I had time to detour to Munich via Northern Italy. had to be on a plane home in four days, and my detours are always unpredictable. The other option was to go back to one of the villages and eat roasted pig, drink beer, and admire the stunning Slovenian girls (and they are stunning. I know. I
married one) until there was some kind of unpleasantness, followed by a crazy late-night escape over the alps. This is still the Balkans, after all. Anything was possible.
“Next time…” I muttered, clicked the Victory into first, turned right, and headed into the mountains.
The road only got better as I entered Austria. Smooth, fast, and surrounded by those stunning deep green forests that bathe your soul each time you look at them. But you can’t look at them too long or you’ll end up riding off the road and into a gorgeous tree, and then hopefully, into a very nice and efficient Austrian hospital. If you’re lucky.
It was now close to 830am, and I was hungry. I was good for petrol, but I needed to eat. And it was still pretty cold, so I
wouldn’t have minded a break. Villach, a big Austrian town, was not far away, but I didn’t want to spend time riding around looking for a place to eat in a large, busy town during Peak Hour.
So I didn’t take the Villach turn-off and went somewhere else. I’m not quite sure where it was, and I will likely never find it again because I had asked the Google Lady to lead me away from the Autobahns, so I do know it was some not-major road somewhere west of Villach. And I also know it was a truck-stop because there were two trucks parked out front. It looked like a shop and it had the words “kaufhaus – espresso – trafik” (shop, coffee, and cigarettes) on a small sign on the outside wall. And it was called “da capo”. This meant nothing in German and The Boss in Italian.
At the very least I could buy smokes and have a coffee, but probably much more.
Being a civilised country, Austria provides beer to everyone at all times of the day and night, as well as food. But it was early in the morning, and for all I knew, the drivers of the semis I parked beside may be asleep in their cabins and the place could be closed. But the Road Gods occasionally smile at the hungry traveller, and the door was open.
I walked into what looked like an Aussie delicatessen, with an archway to one side that opened onto a bar area with small dining tables and a big bar, propped up by two large truck drivers drinking beer. In the deli area, was a large, stronglooking woman, who greeted me with a big smile and a torrent of German. I knew enough to understand she was not telling me to get out, and I gathered she was commenting on how cold it was, and how brave I must be to be out in that weather.
I haltingly explained to her that my German was limited, and she replied her English was almost non-existent, but we were both smiling and there seemed to be a way forward.
Good old sign language and the odd German word for food (lebensmittel) and eating (essen) and breakfast (fruhstuck), saw Inge (she introduced herself almost immediately) busy herself behind the counter. Laid out in the glass display cabinet was a staggering selection of cold meats, pickled vegetables, and cheeses. She chattered away in German pointing at various yummy goodies and I would nod “Ja, bitte”, (Yes, please) and she would put some of it on a giant plate. When the plate was embarrassingly full, she looked at me with a quizzical smile and said: “Brot?”
Hell Ja, I wanted bread. Fresh German or Austrian bread is one of the world’s greatest things. It’s right up there with penicillin in terms of bene fitting mankind.
She placed two giant slices of white, crusty bread on another plate and then asked: “Bier?”
The fuck can you even think about saying no to Austrian beer before nine am? Hell Ja, once again. Inge carried my plates over to the bar area, put them on a table, and then went behind the bar to pour me a beer. It was a litre. In this part
of the world, only women and the ill drink half-litre beers. She also smashed another two out for the truck drivers, who were giving me a friendly once-over.
Inge and the truckies discussed me briefly, she brought my beer over, wished me “Gut apetit!”, and the truckies raised their glasses and said “Prost!”
I Prosted them back, and started chewing my way through what remains one of the finest impromptu, ad hoc brekkies I have ever eaten.
As I ate and sipped fine cold beer, I also talked to the two truckies. It was one of those bizarre conversations where no-one involved speaks the other party’s language, one party has his mouth and hands full, and the other two parties have had more than one litre of beer.
There was lots of “Ja, ja!”and “Nein, nein!”, and the odd “Wunderbar” here and there, and eventually, I was given to understand
that only crazy motorcyclists ever rode these mountain roads in the mornings, Inge was a hostess beyond price who has forever refused to marry either driver, and that there was a contingent of “arschloch Polizei” further down the road with a speed trap.
I tried to ask if they were also breathtesting, but neither truckie seemed to understand my gestures, and probably thought I was asking where I could get a blow-job. Which, all things considered was not a strange thing to be asking a bunch of truckies in Austria at nine am when everyone’s had a few beers. Inge returned and asked if I wanted another beer. I certainly did, and I wasn’t overly worried about being over the limit. But I was worried about having to pull over every 15 minutes for the next three hours and void two-litres of Austria’s finest beverages in places where I might offend the sensibilities of the locals. I’m not sure how many years you get in jail for pissing in public in that part of the world, but it’s sure to be a decent lagging. I politely declined, and I think she thought me less of a man as a result.
I recall I paid very little for my magnificent breakfast – and Austria is not a cheap country. So maybe Inge took some pity on the old, grey-bearded biker from a foreign land, and slashed the price to somewhere under $20 of our money. It strikes me to this day what an immense contrast such a place is to a truck stop in Australia. Our large roadhouses offer nothing but cancer, diabetes, and heart failure to our truckies. And the chances of a life-giving beer are less than zero given the inanity of our policing. It may be that we are so used to eating shit and being treated like shit, we actually think we’re doing OK. One trip to Europe will very quickly disabuse you of that misconception. I shook hands with the truckies, who wished me a great ride, Inge gave me a little hug (she appeared to be as strong as a bear), and I went outside to thumb the Victory back into life. It was about 10am, the sun was shining, the roads were still pretty empty, and my maps told me there were lots more corners I had yet to ride. And how could a man not want to visit a place called Mooswald?
Our industry partners
tasmanian motorcycle tours
Name: Ben Wilson
Bike(s): BMW F800GS, 2 BMW F700GS and SWM 650 SD
Best ride ever and why:
I simply could not pick one. The banter that comes from riding with good mates defines the ride for me. Be it with a bunch of mates I have known for years or the great groups we have had on tour this season, there is always great banter both on and off the bikes. This to me makes for the best ride. We always travel to amazing places and with likeminded amazing people, I am very lucky to have shared enough of these rides to struggle to pick a best!
How would you define ‘adventure riding’: Adventure riding encompasses everything that is good around motorbikes in one package. Be it fine food and locations, or if the terrain is trail, dirt, gravel, or bitumen. The day can be 100km or 300km. It is an adventure into anywhere you want to be, and a true escape from the every day.
Strangest or most unusual thing you have seen when adventure riding: I have lived in Tas all my life and spent a huge amount of time exploring this beautiful natural state in many different hobbies. One of my favourites is an unmanned pub in the bush. So much memorabilia on the walls and always beer in the fridge with a roaring fire. But you never see anyone there and it is in the middle of nowhere. An amazing place that you couldn’t find unless you know its there.
Something a non-bike rider has said or asked you about your adventure riding or bike:
The most common one is where have we been and where are we going. Even without the bike I think a lot of people crave the adventure that comes with riding. I don’t blame them!
The most interesting person you have met on an adventure ride:
My mates will know, but I will refer to him as “Bob”. This guy resides in the bush and has adopted our groups as family; taking us to lonely lookouts and amazing views but the crazy thing is the knowledge. Bob knows every peak and bird and the stories he tells around close encounters with wedgetail eagles, and the history of Tasmania just make you want to listen.
Your favourite piece of gear and why: Are we talking safety or fun? I love my Montanna 700 GPS, this thing gives us the ability to text from deep within the Tarkine rainforest where mobile reception hasn’t been invented yet. To be able to communicate from anywhere is an amazing tool but for fun… It would be the helmet communicator. There is nothing like being able to ask your mate why he is laying down or set up a puddle with helmet comms!
Swiss Army Knife or mobile phone: Not sure but anything is a hammer if you believe in it.
Your most embarrassing adventure ride moment: am well known for traversing deep raging torrents of rivers ….. with the
Our Adventure riding guided tours are all about experiencing Tasmania and combining it with the simple joy of motorcycling. We will have you winding through endless corners, up and over hills and mountains in the morning and then cruising wide-open sweepers beside the ocean in the afternoon. But simply having great motorcycling roads doesn’t make a memorable tour. We combine riding with the fantastic local foods and premium accommodation Tasmania is so famous for.
bars under the water. Its just my thing. There was one log incident but I’m not ready to talk about it.
What is top of your bucket list:
Swimming with Manta Rays is certainly high on the list. I think generally exploring new places is where its at for me. Seeing views and sites that I have not seen before. I guess Adventure.
Anything you would like to add:
My passion for the last 18 years has been showing interstate and international visitors just how special Tasmania is. It is my absolute passion and I put everything into every tour for the experience of a lifetime. If you’re reading this, I would love to show you.
www.tasmanianmotorcycletours.com.au YOUR Adventure AWAITS.
Unguided Motorbike hire available for those who would prefer to find their own way in this motorcycling paradise.
adventure Riding
in the Walcha region of New England High Country
On any given day, the beckoning sound of motorbikes riding through the laid-back rural streets, or the vision of bikes parked up outside one of the many motorcycle friendly cafes, pubs or accommodation houses, is a common sight in the small regional town of Walcha, and one that the town fully embraces and welcomes.
With over 590 kilometres of gravel roads to explore, spectacular high-country scenery, waterfalls, gorges and world heritage national parks, it’s pretty hard to go past this region for adventure riding.
Walcha is also located at the crossroads of two of the great sealed road rides, being the Oxley Highway and picturesque Thunderbolts Way, making it a terrific destination for all kinds of bikes.
To really put Walcha on the map for twowheel adventuring the town runs an annual event, the Walcha Motorcycle Rally, which is now in its third year and growing every year. The organised adventure rides, run by passionate motorcycling locals with local knowledge, are held both Friday and Saturday during the Rally. Rider camping, trade exhibitors, skills demos, hilarious postie bike events, a multi-bike challenge, live music, barrel racing and more, are all part of this grass roots event. Combined with some great unique country events like dog jumping, working dog demonstrations, a good old demolition derby, as well as champion axemen displaying their incredible athleticism and skills, and there really is something for everyone to enjoy.
To find out more about the event you can register your interest to stay updated via the website https://walchamotorcyclerally.com.au/ or follow the event on Facebook or Instagram. Tickets start from $35 for a Day Pass or $60 for the 2-Day Rally Pass, both of these passes include the organised adventure rides (bookings essential), where you’ll be able to enjoy some great riding with like-minded people.
KMS OF GRAVEL ROADS
SPECTACULAR SCENERY
SPECTATOR AND PARTICIPANT EVENTS
RIDERS FROM ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY
ORGANISED ADVENTURE RIDES - RUN BY LOCALS
Photos: Bugsy Plowman Photography
safety Out, Alone, and Down?
ot long ago in South East Qld the word went out to the biking community that a rider had gone missing,” writes Peter Davis, founder of Blood Bikes Australia (information from Peter at bloodbikesaus@gmail.com or phone 0401912798).
“Bikers from the region were mobilised to search. Sadly, some weeks later the rider and his bike were found down a ravine.” This happens way too often, Peter says. He goes on, “this situation is so common, and it haunted me a bit that it could happen to one of our volunteers. So when approached by Realsafe Technologies with a solution I jumped at it.”
Realsafe Technologies, a public safety technology company that develops and maintains smartphone technology connected to the emergency services worldwide. The company’s smartphone app ‘Realrider’ has the potential to save lives thanks to its innovative automatic crash detection emergency service
alerting technology.
“Statistically, 90% of riders are thrown from their motorcycles during a crash,” says the company. I’m not sure about that, but I suppose it depends on what you describe as a crash. “Realrider automatically sends a motorcyclists’ time-critical location, direction, bike & potentially life-saving health data to paramedics if they crash, and can’t call for help.”
How does it work?
Here is an abbreviated version of what the company says about the app and the service:
The app utilizes a range of components to detect and validate a crash. These include accelerometers, proximity, GPS, pedometer, and other software - making the smartphone an ideal safety tool. If the app detects a crash, it uses sensors in the smartphone to check if the rider is still moving. An on-screen alarm then alerts the rider that their emergency data will be sent to the Emergency Services unless cancelled.
Left: Much of Australia is empty, and while there are many places which have no mobile phone connection, satellites look like changing that soon.
Above: Even if you use common sense, like not riding into flood waters without checking their depth, you can come to grief on something as simple as this deep pothole.
If the emergency data is sent, emergency service representatives will call the rider to check if assistance is needed. If there’s no rider response, they can arrange an appropriate emergency response to be sent to the rider’s last known location. The SOS contains a rider’s mobile number, precise location, direction of travel, bike, and medical information. To prevent accidental triggering, Realrider contains proprietary autopause technology so riders can concentrate on the road ahead. YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/eU794BpAMg4 . Your mobile number is used for logging into your Realrider account and for validating your complimentary access to the crash detection and emergency alerting service. This has been set up via the Stripe payment service. Please do not start a subscription within the app.
For the safety service to work correctly you must enable phone-based permissions when prompted.
There are two crash detection options. If you do not need to record the route, use the Protect Me option on the Ride screen. This uses minimal battery as the app will only monitor sensors in the phone. If you wish to record and save your route, then select Record & Protect.
If you require any other information or help with running the app, please contact one of the team at customerservice@realrider.com .
Okay; even if this kind of service holds no interest for you, there may be other riders you know who could benefit from it. No harm in talking about it, anyway.
There is also an alternative, or perhaps an additional, precaution you can take. I read Scientific American, and they recently spoke with seismologist Ross Stein, CEO of the catastrophe modeling company Temblor. He suggested that “if people want to do one thing to make themselves safer in earthquake country, put an international orange whistle on your keychain.
“The reason is: if you’re trapped in a building, no one is ever going to try to dig you out unless they know you’re alive. You can’t yell for very long before you use up all your moisture, nor can you be heard very far. With this whistle, you can be really loud for a really long time.” And that’s just as true if you’ve run off the road or track and need help. Of course, it doesn’t work if you’re unconscious, the way RealRider would. But it only costs a dollar.
Words & photos: The Bear
Meet the
Mother
Australia’s greatest motorcyling road revealed
Words: Boris Mihailovic
There are a lot of crows on the Putty Road. Fat ones, with glossy feathers. They eat well. The Mother provides.
I guess that’s why I refer to the Putty Road as The Mother. She does in indeed provide, and not just for the crows. She provides me, and a lot of other motorcyclists, with what we need, just as a mother should.
And if you love her and respect her, then she will reward you. If you take her for granted, and don’t pay her the attention and respect she is due, she will kill you like a cockroach.
You see, unlike your mum, her love is not unconditional. It depends on you. Just like motorcycling. That depends on you too. You get complacent about riding bikes; you pay in blood. You get complacent about riding The Mother, you pay in blood.
They are a match made in the cruel and beautiful heaven that is motorcycling.
I first travelled The Mother as a child in the 60s. It had just been sealed. But it was already legendary, certainly in the minds of my immigrant parents who approached the drive from Windsor to Singleton with both the preparation and trepidation of explorers setting out to traverse the Congo.
I still vividly remember standing under the enormous fig tree that grows in a clearing at the end of the Ten-Mile and drinking some orange juice mum had squeezed just that morning. It was now warm and bitter after what was an all-day drive from Glebe to Singleton in 1966.
The fig tree is still there, although it’s been heavily lopped after being hit by lightning in 2021.
dangerous than any other road. If you think it is, then you’re an idiot who should not be riding motorcycles. The Mother is simply a road, and just like any other road, you just need to pay attention when you’re riding on it. You need to understand this. Ride accordingly. Personally, really don’t give a shit if you die on it. I don’t know you. There’ll be no thoughts or prayers for you on my social feed, and I will not send my condolences to your family. I don’t know them either. You trowel it on The Mother and it will be your fault. Not hers. You can’t blame her. But I will blame you and curse you, because your failure has led the road to be closed and the cops to swarm on it.
Consider it a bargain.
The first time I rode The Mother was in February, 1978. I was 16-and-nine-months old. I was on a borrowed Honda XL 250 with L-plates and shit tyres, a torn seat, and bent handlebars – and I should have been at school. I was too terrified to die, so didn’t.
I have since ridden The Mother countless times on every conceivable motorcycle and at speeds ranging from “I’m looking at the scenery” to “They’re going to put my corpse in gaol” – and she never gets old, and she’s never boring, and she never fails to enthral me.
I’ve ridden it at night. I’ve ridden it in the teeming rain. I’ve even ridden it when it was still burning from catastrophic bushfires. Do I know it? Yes. But not in the way you think.
For sure, I know the corners, their progression, and which ones need a certain input. I know where the cops hide. I know where the bumps are. And I know which corners will show me the face of fucking God if I get them right, and which ones will pitch me into Hell if I get them wrong.
So, I know the Putty like that.
I also know the Putty for what it is.
And it is a road shrouded with mysteries, cloaked in secrets, and stained in blood. Probably more than any other road in Australia per traffic load.
I have had two friends die in my arms on the Putty. And I have a seen dozens of crashes, fatal, almost fatal, that’s a maiming, and “Don’t worry, most of that will grow back…probably.” Near misses and hairy moments are without number, as are the pure atavistic thrills.
The Mother gives, and The Mother takes. It’s how she rolls.
But at the end of the day, it’s just a road. It’s no more
So, make sure you ride her well. It’s much better than riding her safely…or what you think is safely. Riding well beats riding safely every time. One makes sense. The other is mewling bullshit. have not long ago moved to Singleton from Sydney. So, I get to ride The Mother a lot – sometimes a few times a week – and I think it’s the greatest motorcycle road in Australia. And yes, I have ridden them all. And I think this is because it’s a road that offers everything to every motorcyclist –from beginner to old warhorse. Provided you pay attention from beginning to end, The Mother will give you the ride of your life. Or end it with ruthless cruelty. like that in a road.
So, permit me to take you on a tour of The Mother. We shall proceed from south to north, since that is the direction most people ride it, from Windsor to Singleton then.
Before it begins
You should maybe fuel up in Windsor or Wilberforce. From Windsor to Singleton, it’s 174.7km. From Wilberforce to Bulga (the first fuel if you don’t stop at Colo Heights), it’s 146.2km.
You’re a grown up. Hopefully you’ll understand how far your bike can make it on a tank of fuel. Appreciate it will be a shorter distance if you’re on the gas hard.
Don’t turn up at the Grey Gum Café like a monstrous dickwad and ask if they have any petrol. They do, but it’s mainly diesel and two-stroke. Kim and Will do have normal petrol, but they need it to use in their own vehicles. Kim may still give you some because she takes great pity on idiots. Will may or may not, depending on how he’s feeling. Best you hand over $50 for the maybe five litres he may offer you.
But you do you. I’m just pointing out it’s a good idea to have a full tank of petrol before you set off.
The bulk of the Putty Road runs between Wollemi National Park and Yengo National Park. It’s wild and feral. Check it out on Google maps. There’s a whole lot of nothing but bush either side of its asphalt.
That’s what makes the Putty Road so freakishly special. It’s not all that far from Sydney – but once you’re on it, you may as well be on another planet.
But it’s a great planet.
“ She never gets old, and she’s never boring, and she never fails to enthral me. ”
And so it begins – down to Colo river
The run from Windsor/Wilberforce down to the Colo River is but the barest taste of what The Mother has to offer. The road surface is very good, and the altitude changes are very noticeable. You will go up hill and down dale, and you’ll encounter a few very fast sweepers just before you commence your descent into the river valley.
The speed limit is 80, and then shortly after the BP servo on your right (near the Kurrajong turn-off), it will become 100.
The Highway Patrol likes this bit, for obvious reasons. It’s been known to hide on the right in the entrance to the paintball place, and on the left in a few
of the sideroads and driveways. Then, just as the last houses disappear, and the trees close in, the speed limit drops to 80 again. And the road starts to go downhill. Stay on it. It doesn’t become truly terrifying until you hammer past the Out-Of-Control-Truck Safety Ramp on your right.
Then you’ll hit a fast and very short sweeper, followed by a 45-kayer – but you’ll power on as you hurtle down the now steep hill, and set up for a glorious 35-kay left-hander at the bottom. It’s not quite a hairpin, but it’s close. The camber is good and it’s a constant-radius curve. You’ll still shit yourself a bit, though. Now be circumspect as you blast across the Colo River Bridge and the few houses in Colo. On your right you’ll see a timeshare property, and just past that is a café. Sometimes the Highway Patrol waits here. They may be bludging free coffee and showing their dicks to each other, or they may be pointing their ray-guns down the road at the champion redlining third and seeking fourth as he comes up off the bridge.
Just past the café, you’ll belt past what was once going to be an Islamic stronghold and horse-farm on the right. And it was going well, they had a big flag up and everything, then when the council came to ask for their land-clearing permit, they kidnapped the council-worker. This went poorly for them when they eventually ended up in court, and things are quiet there now. But this horse-farm is your signal to pass any slow-moving traffic ahead of you. Because now the fun starts.
The rising – Colo to Colo Heights This uphill run is fabulous. You should have an erection by the fourth corner.
u
Super-good surface, and you’re fighting gravity, so it’s all you on the accelerator. If you’re unlucky, you might get a cop sitting on the left near the Bra-Tree (yes, a clearing with a tree full of daggy bras nailed to it), and you won’t be doing 80 when he sees you.
But if the Road Gods are smiling upon you, this eight-or-so kays of fast, beautifullysurfaced corners, are an absolute hoot.
You’ll then come upon an overtaking lane, and this is a sign you’re entering the sparsely inhabited Colo Heights. Be aware the cops love to sit beside the Rural Fire Station and ping people for not doing 80 through there. And it’s easy not to do 80. It’s a series of fast sweepers you could sail through at 140 without a care.
Then almost without warning, is the last petrol you’ll get until you reach Bulga. It’s a Shell servo, and it used to be run by a bloke called Klaus. Klaus knew things. He was taciturn, but he made an OK cup of coffee and a good burger, and if you didn’t give him the shits, he may tell you if there were cops ahead.
He would also sell you beer, because the servo is also a bottle-shop, and let you drink it at his picnic tables if you didn’t turn into a drunken dickhead.
There are new owners now, and I cannot speak to the quality of food or coffee they offer, because all I do there is get petrol and a soft-drink.
The quickening – Colo Heights
to Grey Gums
As soon as you pass the sawmill on your left and Dogwoods kennels on your left, you’re into the meat of the Mother. You
will only have phone reception at Grey Gums Café (another 50km down the road), and after that, Batman Corner.
But only if you’re with Telstra. Not with Telstra? Practice your car-flaggingdown techniques. Yes, there are maybe four Emergency Phones along the Putty. Chances are you won’t have a flat-tyre or a criminal speeding charge anywhere near any of them.
The road from Colo Heights down to the Top Speed Proving Grounds and Panther Hunting Forests is a bit bumpy in places. It’s fast – lots of sweepers to begin with followed by phenomenal straights.
You’ll go past the Off Road Rush Complex on your right – but that’s just a sign with a white tyre nailed to a tree. Further on, you’ll see the odd weirdlooking gate, a stunning giant ghost gum (I call it the Paint-Smear Tree because someone botched the line-marking on the left just at the base), and you need to keep your wits about you because here is where you’re likely to encounter beasts. Wallabies, kangaroos, wombats, goannas, snakes, echidnas, and deer can come out at any time. And deer are bigger and move faster than kangaroos. They also have swords and spears on their heads.
As you come down off the range, and the road opens up, you’ll rocket past the evocatively-named culverts, swamps, creeks, and waterholes – Howe’s (named after John Howe, the Chief Constable of Windsor), Kangaroo, Wallaby, Mellong, Tinda, and Cases.
Many things happen on this stretch of The Mother. There’s the animal stuff, which may kill you or hospitalise you.
NOT stop here. You must. It’s in the rules. The Mother wishes it.
into a 200km/h sweeper a few fast kilometres past Grey Gums.
And then there’s the stuff which sends you to gaol, which is pretty much 250km/h in a hundred zone. That will also get you a headline on the news, so at least you’ll be famous when you’re kissing your cellmate’s tattooed penis goodnight.
The cops do like this stretch because people tend to see what the top-end of their bike actually is. Pick your time, I guess. Then roll the dice. Try not to roll the dice on weekends.
The road is bumpy here, as I said, but as soon as you cross the boundary between Hawksbury Shire Council and Singleton Council, the road becomes a lot smoother. If you’re proceeding at warp-speed, you won’t see the yellow-poled border sign, but you’ll figure it out pretty quick when your bike stops bouncing around.
There are a many wonderfully fast sweepers to enjoy here, not the least of which are found a few kilometres before Grey Gums, which is a downhill, highvelocity descent. Note the big, white, wooden cross on your left as you hit the bottom of the hill. It’s the perfect size for a crucifixion.
And then Grey Gums Café.
The Caffeining and Hamburgering
Kim Grace owns and runs this literal oasis of a venue, with her partner, William Watson. She loves and is beloved of the motorcycle community. Will himself rides. I know them both well, and have worked at the venue on and off for the last few years.
The food is great, the coffee fair, and the welcome is warm and genuine. How can you not stop here? The answer is you can’t
As I said earlier, there’s no petrol here. You can try grovelling. That sometimes works. And sometimes it doesn’t work. It all depends. Many factors are at play. There are, however, tools available, tyre repair kits, and good WiFi.
Oh, and excellent beer.
So, what happens next? Well, some folks decide they’ve had enough of The Mother. They ride back the way they came. Others, who know better, understand The Mother just gets better from here if you keep heading north.
Keep heading north, baby.
The Hammering – Grey Gums to the Ten-Mile
As you hammer out of the Grey Gums, rev-limiter yammering, you will encounter St Shenouda. Well, not so much him, but his Coptic Orthodox Monastery. That’s the large brick entrance you’ll see as you tuck
Carry on, pilgrim. The road gets better and better. You are approaching Garland Valley and the former truck stop, which is now the home of Wo-Man – a large steel sculpture.
The truck stop burned down many years ago. But it was, prior to Grey Gums, the place to stop and get a terrible steak sandwich. They were the wild and feral old days, when good food was not a thing anyone expected when they went riding. The truckstop also had petrol… most of the time.
Now it has bacon-and-egg-rolls and cold drinks on weekends.
There’s a long straight as you leave the truck stop. And the limit changes from 80 to 100. You’re probably doing 200 by this stage. And fair enough. Just be aware that if you’re going the other way, when the limit changes from 100 to 80 as you approach the old truck stop, there
is sometimes a Highway Patrol car sitting in the truck stop. And he’ll get you as you crest the rise as the speed limit changes. Now, it’s kinda academic if you get done for 200 in an 80 zone as opposed to 200 in a 100 zone. You can have that discussion with the magistrate.
But heading north, soon you’ll encounter a very nice series of uphill corners. Two lanes wide. This is not the Ten-Mile. But it’s a nice taste of what awaits you. Carry on.
You’ll next come into Howes Valley. It’s very pretty. If you’re not supersonic at this stage, you’ll see just how pretty it is. There are another few lovely sharper corners here – but either side of the valley all you’re going to find is sweeper after sweeper, which range from 55 to 75 in advisory signs. What do those signs know? Nothing. Double it. The surface is good. You can even double them and add a bit, like a true champion.
u
Soon, you will notice the trees closing in again. It is crucial you don’t lose focus now. The great and good stuff is about to begin. Or the awful stuff, if you botch it up.
The Twisterating – The Ten-Mile
Just before you enter the Ten-Mile, you may or may not see a sign indicating the next 16-kilometres are twisty. That is the only warning you’ll get. Because the next right-hander is the start of The Mother’s special magic.
There are 99 corners in this 16-kilometre stretch, and 16 kays is about ten miles in the old money, hence the name. That’s about six corners for every kilometre. It’s very target rich.
And it is relentless and varied. You’ll get all the corners. From a super series that goes 55, 55, 65, 55, 45, 65, to the fabled Snake Guts of four 35-kayers – all perfectly cambered constant-radius sex-acts.
There are only two decreasing-radius corners on the whole Putty. They are in this section. You’ll find them. Oh yes, you will. So do not let your attention flag. They’re not bad, but they will catch you out if you’re not paying attention.
This is where many over-cookings occur. People, both in cars and bikes (and the odd semi-trailer) get complacent. They run wide. Bad things happen if you’re going the other way. Some of the corners are blind. Some are not. Some go up. Some go down.
One legendary bend got the name “Batman Corner” because some wag had hung a Batman symbol in a tree. The corner is a brilliant 25-kayer that goes up and then down after the apex. There’s a layback there where you can stop and catch your breath and let your tyres cool down so that you crash on the next hard right.
Once upon a time, the motorcycle media used to shoot lots of pictures on this corner. I still do from time to time. I think that’s because I’m the only one who rides that far. There is mobile reception here if you’re with Telstra. If you’re not, keep riding.
The surface along the entire length of the Ten-Mile is largely sensational. But there is an awkwardly-placed pothole on one of the 25-kayers. You’ll find it. It’s on the racing line. But you’ll also remember where it is for next time.
This is all rock walls and Armco. There is no run-off. Sometimes a tree might fall on you. Or a large rock. It happens.
Sometimes a bush turkey will jump on your face. That happens too. But it’s rare. The nature of the terrain precludes larger animals from throwing themselves in front of you. But not entirely. I have seen the rare wallaby standing in the middle of the road early in the morning or at dusk.
The important thing here is to stay on your game for the whole 16 kilometres. Ignore the digesting burger in your guts,
“ This is all rock walls and Armco. There is no run-off. Sometimes a tree might fall on you. Or a large rock. It happens. Sometimes a bush turkey will jump on your face. That happens too. ”
which is swimming in a puddle of sugary soft-drink. This makes you sleepy. Don’t be sleepy here. You might well never wake up.
You may see a sign for Darkey Creek. If it’s near a blue Fireplace Ahead sign, you’ll know you’re near the end. The sign refers to the old fig-tree I once drank mum’s orange juice under. It’ll be on the right just as you come hard out of a 65-kayer. Stop there. Breathe deeply. Celebrate un-death.
Whether you
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The Ending – so what do I do now?
Well, you can go back the way you just came. It’s possible you’re fit enough and hard enough to do the Ten-Mile once again.
But you probably need petrol. You have two choices. Carry on through Milbrodale and head for Bulga –which has a petrol station and a great pub – or turn right at Milbrodale and head for Broke. Broke just has a servo, but you’ll be able to then make for Wollombi, and back to Sydney via Jerry’s Café at Kulnura. This is a decent ride as well, but there’s not that many corners, the surface is crap much of the time, many of the bends are offcamber, but it will spit you out at Mt White, which is the Old Pacific Highway.
And then if you haven’t yet been booked, that’s where you will be. Especially on the weekend.
If you decide to carry on to Singleton, a mere 20km from Bulga, you’ll find heaps of great pubs, and even a bike shop. Then you can slab it home on the freeway. It’s exactly one-hour-and-forty minutes from Singo to Wahroonga if you go that way.
In conclusion
That’s The Mother. If you haven’t yet ridden her, it’s your loss. If you have, then I hope you’re nodding your head and smiling a bit. I ride The Mother a lot. So, I smile a lot. But I never, ever, ever take her for granted. Never do that.
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cows
I brake for M
y plan was simple. Land in New Delhi, India; a country I have never visited before (and, to be honest, knew little about); hire a Royal Enfield Himalayan, and head north into the mountains sticking exclusively to small back roads.
I just wanted to wander about where tourists never go doing what I usually do and working it out on the fly. This ‘go north with no plan’ approach caused problems at times but nothing insurmountable.
I did this meandering about for 16 days and it was one of the best motorcycle trips I’ve ever had. So, I wrote this article with two intentions: to try to inspire you to go to this fantastic country; and also, as a short ‘how to’ guide.
Tip: Motorcycles do not have to pay tolls; just go around the outside lane.
Heading off the beaten track the first thing I discovered was that finding accommodation in small villages can be difficult (duh!), so it’s a good idea to base yourself somewhere and spend a few days exploring. There’s a lot to see that is so different from anything you’ve experienced before and when you are unencumbered by luggage, locals looking for a lift will flag you down. They quickly jump on the back and
give you a pat on the shoulder when to pull over. It feels really good to give something back when travelling. One day gave a lift to four people and they’re always so grateful.
In general, I found the north India people to be friendly and helpful. If you smile and say ‘nameste,’ which means “greetings to you,” they will always respond with a warm smile and a “nameste” back. TIP: Bring 2 good padlocks; 1 for your bike, the other for the room you rent.
I was surprised to find that north of New Delhi few people speak English. So expect a blank stare when you say ‘hello.’ Apparently south of Delhi English is widely spoken, it is only heading north that you will have difficulties, but in truth, it was no real problem, I just downloaded a translation app for basic communication, most typically, “Am I on the right road to…?” Or, “Is there a place to eat/stay nearby?” Isn’t technology great, but after saying that, my phone charger and booster pack were both fried by an unreliable power source where I stayed overnight. If it had been my phone it would have made travelling extremely difficult. In future I will carry two phones, so as a general rule carry spares of things you cannot easily replace (e.g., reading glasses etc.).
You should also know that the main corridors make for very unpleasant riding. They are typically crowded with fast moving trucks and buses so once you are outside of New Delhi proper, turn off as soon as possible. The road surfaces improve (because fewer trucks means fewer wheel swallowing pot holes), and traffic also drops off dramatically. In fact, the mountain roads carry surprisingly little traffic but that doesn’t mean you can relax. They are narrow single lane and every corner you’ve got to be ready for a car or truck, and sometimes you will have to back track to find enough space for the truck to slowly squeak by. TIP: You will need cash everywhere. Carry at least 40,000
rupees ($700) in small denominations (nothing bigger than 500rps = $9).
Once you are in the mountains, do not expect to cover a lot of distance. A 100km ride can be a ‘big’ day and not because your average speed will be around 30kmh (yes, that slow), but because you will be stopping to take photos and gawk at the magnificent scenery. I mean everywhere you go just…WOW! India is a photographer’s happy place. I also never believed would dream of straight smooth roads but after two weeks of 10-20kmh corners a straight road without potholes is really appealing.
TIP: Bring a stock of energy/snack bars for when you get lost.
The Indian people carve mountains. The roads switchback tightly up and down rice paddy filled and gardened valleys. It is both impressive, and devastating. I had to clean my visor 3-4 times a day from the dust of travel but never insects. Insects tell
Above: ‘The Bridge to Everywhere.’ Wherever there is a will there is a way (if somewhat wonky). The locals built a bridge over a sometimes river. I wouldn’t like to take a GS over it.
Right: Just a normal mountain road. You can see why passing can be a problem but imagine being in a car and having to reverse until there is space for a truck to pass.
us the health of an eco-system and in a 16 day ride 1 bug hit my visor. There are also few birds relative to the size of forests but the birds you see are beautiful.
TIP: A 3 litre camelpack is essential. Mountain air will suck you dry. You will find that there are a lot of roads and intersections that are not on ‘any’ map and some of the back roads are more like tracks (see pictures …..), but you do not need a GPS. used Google Maps exclusively and, surprisingly, never had trouble with coverage. I did have some very interesting diversions and ‘off-map’ rides (i.e., the road was not indicated), but on the whole, Google Maps was reliable, even deep into the mountains.
Tip: When Google tells you to turn left on a road along a cliff; don’t.
If you wake to the morning wondering
where you will end up and what you will find along the way; if you start each day with a sense of excitement and some trepidation, that’s true ‘adventure’ riding. Accept that you will get lost. That’s half the adventure and part of that adventure is to fix a pinch puncture because you will puncture. So bring your own tyre levers and small tool kit, and practice fixing tubes on a bike without a centre stand. Sure there are people to help, but who wants to waste a day or two. The reason you are traveling the back roads is because there are fewer people, and if you puncture 20km from the nearest help and they don’t speak English, well... good luck! But do not want to make travelling off the tourist trail sound harder than it is. The most challenging part of the entire trip was leaving and coming back into New
Words: Syd Johnstone
Delhi during peak hour (8am-8pm).
Trust me it is one of life’s memorable experiences. Not one I wish to repeat, but I definitely will because riding in India is spectacular!
TIP: Wear two neck tubes and pull them over your nose to cut the dust.
You have to approach New Delhi traffic with a chilled-out, confident, aggression.
It is a fierce competition to move forward. Be calm and assertively grab that gap. You are like a sardine trying to swim forward in the can and chaos rules! They come from every angle and they drive fast.
It is definitely not for people with heart conditions. The three D’s of Delhi traffic are: Dust; Diesel; and constant Danger. You cannot afford to take your eyes off the road in front, so use voice guidance. At times you will feel like you are being
overwhelmed and suffocated. If it gets too much, ‘stop,’ catch your breath, gather your reserves, and continue. This is the most important advice I can give you; just stop!
TIP: Eat vegan/vegetarian food (never meat) and you are unlikely to have stomach problems. The food is absolutely delicious!
I was speaking to Mr Chetali Singh the manager of Stonehead bikes, from whom I rented the Royal Enfield, saying that I thought it would be better for most people to start their ride outside of New Delhi. But Chetali argued against this stating that “If you are going to have troubles riding in India you will have them in New Delhi. Everywhere else is easier.”
There’s a logic to this and with my limited experience I would have to agree that nothing I did was more difficult.
TIP: Leave and re-enter New Delhi before
8am. Sundays are quietest.
The only mishap I had in the entire trip was passing a truck on a narrow mountain road.
Trucks drive along at 5–20 kph, and to pass you have to sit close on their tail smothered in a cloud of dust and diesel fumes. You cannot see the road in front and they can’t see you, so your only hope of passing is when the road gets rougher. These sections typically run for 20 metres or more and are wider so when the truck slows to bounce through the potholes, you give two long blasts of your horn and crawl past through the 1-3 metre gap.
When I was new to this task the truck I was passing suddenly lurched to the right and spooked me. I swerved closer to the edge and it collapsed under my rear wheel. The bike ended upside down off the shoulder but the truckie saw that I didn’t pass and stopped. It took us 30 minutes to get the bike upright and back on the road. A day or two later with more experience at passing and this would never have happened.
Quirk: You are required to provide your father’s name on any document.
Above: These are the roads you ride. Tight switchbacks and beautiful scenery.
Left: ‘Horn Please’ The locals are very friendly. The back roads are filled with so much that is interesting.
found the Royal Enfield Himalayan more than capable for the roads travelled. It is low and comfortable and has the right geometry and suspension for slow technical riding (i.e., sand, gravel, and pot holes). A bigger heavier bike would be hard work and you are there to enjoy yourself.
In truth, successful travelling off the beaten track in India does not require a lot of ‘adventure riding’ skill or special gear, but you do have to approach it with the right attitude. You must be flexible and willing to roll with whatever presents. Do this and you will have experiences you can’t imagine. You will meet wonderful, friendly people who have never before met a westerner. You will also see things that no tourist will ever see, and they are breathtaking.
Quirk: They will refuse a tip (50rps = 90c) several times but it is part of the theatre of tipping. You are expected to argue for them to take the tip.
In 16 days it was impossible to take in the full experience of riding through northern India, but I did gain some sense of this so diverse and populace country; and yes, there are cows everywhere, and you do have to give them right of way. I saw a cow lying in the middle of a busy highway totally indifferent to the cars and trucks flying by inches away.
MISTAKE: Cramming 4 weeks of travel into 16 days.
India is so very different. So different and not so hard, and it will be one the best motorcycling experiences you can ever have! You will love it.
Bio – I’m 65 and I have been riding fairly constantly from the age of 16. My normal ride is a Buell Ulysses (Eric Buell made this bike just for me.). I prefer to hire a bike whenever overseas and it has never been a problem. Basically ‘wandering about’ is how travel everywhere – land at the airport and work it out on the fly (Vietnam; Nepal; South America…etc.). I consistently have great experiences (and a few not so great, but…). I am a Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Melbourne Australia.
australia’s
Road of Roads
Going
over the top along the Savannah Way
Broome is a popular tourist destination.
All you have to do is choose your season for a visit. It also offers a unique experience in the way of drinks: local brewery, Matso’s, makes a mango beer that goes down real easy. Sadly, I’ve been hearing quite a bit of bad news about the amount of streetlevel crime. It will pay you to take extra care of your bike and gear. I stayed at the Roebuck Bay Hotel, parked my bike in the locked-up area around the motel units and unloaded everything into my room. No problems, but I thought I’d better pass on the warning.
But there’s always the drinking and the pearling, the camel rides along the beach and the staircase to the moon across the
tidal flats… the place has a lot to offer for travelling motorcyclists. It is also the western end of one of Australia’s most interesting and possibly globally unique “roads” – the Savannah Way. Incorporating parts of the (occasionally theoretical) around-Australia Highway 1, the Way runs right across the top of the continent from Cairns to Broome (or vice versa). It is probably the only “Highway 1” anywhere in the world that’s closed for a significant part of the year (during the Wet) and that requires substantial
preparation at any time. That makes it all the more interesting, of course.
I have to admit that I’ve only ridden sections of the Savannah Way, a bit over half all up, not the entire continental crossing. But as I suspect you know, ignorance has never stopped me from writing about anything.
What is it?
Well, it’s a road of course, but it’s put together from several existing routes, and there are some alternatives as well. Our friends at Hema Maps have identified several of these, and the first thing you would want to do if you were considering riding it would be to buy one of their maps, Cairns to Broome on the Savannah
Way. Everyone agrees that it runs from Cairns to Broome (or the other way round), and if you follow the most commonly accepted route, it is some 3700km long. In a way it’s our Route 66, I guess, stretching from one side of the continent to the other, and it’s only about 160km shorter. Although I would not want to ride it on a cruiser… not with those dirt/gravel sections.
The road is marked, but I wouldn’t rely on finding Highway 1 signs. Follow Hema’s advice and take good maps. But let’s take a quick “dry run” along the Savannah Way, starting in Broome. I’ve included a couple of alternative routes, but not all. This story got long enough!
Broome to Kununurra Decisions, decisions, right from the start. Will you take the Savannah Way proper or the Gibb River Road to Kununurra?
If it’s the Wet, or if you’re on a road bike, forget the Gibb River Road; if the skies
are blue and you have knobbies on your rims, by all means consider it. But do some detailed research before making a final decision!
Broome has a Visitor Centre staffed by really helpful people – 1800 883 777 – and
“ It is probably the only “Highway 1” anywhere in the world that’s closed for a significant part of the year. ”
otherwise has everything you’re likely to need, including free (if slow) wi-fi at Macca’s. Fill up at the big Roebuck Plains Roadhouse on the left as you leave town, near the Warlu Way road junction with the Great Northern Highway. The next fuel is actually not far – about 145km away at
Willare Bridge Roadhouse. The road is in good condition and the last time I rode it – a couple of years ago – traffic was not heavy. Keep an eye out for the Grey Nomads in their camper vans or caravans; on the one hand they can be deceptively slow, on the other they sometimes take corners a bit wide!
Some 400km will take you from Broome to Fitzroy Crossing, where the Fitzroy River Lodge – 08 9191 5355 - just east of the bridge, offers caravan parking which can also double as camping spots, and affordable, clean dongas on a little artificial hill (it does flood here) and a pleasant bar in which to eat and spend the evening. I stayed in one of the dongas because it was pelting down with rain in typical tropical style. Fill up before you cross the river.
You now have 289km to go to Halls Creek – Visitor Centre 09 9168 6262. The place long had a poor reputation but seems to have picked up a lot
Below left: Broome was once a pearling town, and some of the boats remain.
Below right: Fortunately Broome is always ready for rain.
Impressive rock formations are everywhere along this road.
recently – to the point where I felt very comfortable in the tree-lined main street and would have stayed if it hadn’t been for my schedule. I had a chat with the manager of Halls Creek’s IGA store and he did a good sales job on his little town. This is another opportunity to fill up. Wolfe Creek Crater is nearby and is well worth the detour.
As you continue, keep an eye out on the right-hand side and you’ll see the turnoff for Purnululu National Park, or the Bungle Bungles. The park – 1800 682 213 - is open between April and November, and there’s a fair bit of bulldust along with gravelly creek crossings to get to the ranges. The Bungle Bungle Caravan Park is right at the turnoff, and it’s about 50km from there to get to the ranger station.
The next fuel stop is Warmun, or Turkey Creek as it’s probably better known. Being on Australian First Nation People’s land, there is no full-strength beer available, but you’ll have no trouble getting fuel at the
Roadhouse – 08 9168 7882. Another 75km up the road is Doon Doon Roadhouse – 08 9167 8009 - which also offers fuel but no longer has provision for accommodation, even camping. With its big glass windows, it reminded me of Edward Hopper’s famous painting Nighthawks, which is about as weird as it gets.
The next opportunity, if you prefer
to stay in a town or an organised campground rather than camping out, comes 92km away at Kununurra – Visitor Centre 08 9168 1177. Wild camping out in the bush, by the way, can be quite a communal affair up along here and in much of the rest of northern Australia. The reason is the flocks of Grey Nomads who tend to cluster together around a water source or some other touch of civilisation and stay overnight. There’s no reason not to camp near themthey tend to be friendly and interested in bikes, and they’re quiet - they go to bed early.
The Gibb River Road joins the Savannah Way 46km short of Kununurra, after linking up with the road to Wyndham.
Kununurra to Katherine
Apart from being the Savannah Way, this is the Victoria Highway, and it’s one of those roads that get wildly contrasting recommendations from people. Is it one of the most boring roads in the entire continent, or is it the perfect opportunity to observe the subtle changes in landscape that make Australia so fascinating? I’m going to leave this one with you, but while I understand the former, I would choose the latter. After all, Australia is a big place – if change came too frequently, you’d just end up confused… or something like that. At any rate, there is fuel at
What a croc!
Ngulwirriwirri, 36km east of Kununurra, and then you have a choice: continue along the main road or take the turnoff to Lake Argyle Resort, about 36km to the south-west. Apart from the Durack family homestead, this offers boat trips on the lake and downstream on the river. You can ride across the top of the dam and picnic below and stay either in chalet-style accommodation or in the campground. The latter is very pleasant indeed and has a good cover of grass.
Fuel is outrageously expensive, a fact acknowledged by the people who run the store. They suggest that you only buy the amount you actually need and fill up somewhere where the cost of bringing the fuel in is not as great as theirs. Fair enough.
The ride up to the resort reminded me, for some reason, of riding down to Wilsons Promontory. No, I don’t know why unless it was the abundance of animals. It’s a terrific road, too.
Two hundred and twenty-seven kilometres from Kununurra is Timber Creek, your next fuel stop. I was initially confused by the signs prohibiting “humbugging”; it’s an old English term, but I couldn’t see the harm in it. It turns out that “humbug in Indigenous English means to pester with inane or repetitive requests,” according to Wikipedia. Aha. As Eccles used to say, you learn u
Posted warnings about salties, estuarine or so-called saltwater crocodiles, are a constant sight in the north of Australia. Researchers have kept detailed records of crocodile attacks here and found that over the 33 years between 1971-2004 there were 62 definite attacks by salties, 17 of which were fatal. That averages out to 1.9 deadly attacks each year in Australia.
In comparison in 2020, Australia recorded 22 unprovoked shark encounters. There were 8 fatalities. That works out at some four time as many shark deaths as those caused by crocodiles. Consider also that between 5 and 10 people die each year in Australia from lightning strikes.
So, is the universal signposting about the danger of crocodiles justified when fewer than a couple of people a year are killed by them (a gruesome image, admittedly)?
Well, yes. There are two things to remember about a crocodile attack: it’s one of the most terrifying experiences imaginable, and it is avoidable.
The thought of one of these antediluvian monsters exploding from the water in front of you with its staggering rows of teeth glinting on their way to your body brings shudders to me even here in my airconditioned office. Uh, maybe the thermostat is set too low… no, it’s fear.
Any stretch of water, salt or fresh, in Northern Australia may be home to salties, so get some advice from locals before you swim in it or even walk close to it. There is lots of other good advice available; make sure you check it out.
And I understand that the population of estuarine crocodiles is growing. You’re better off riding a bike than swimming!
Above: Atherton Tableland roads are exceptionally good. Left: Beware of kangaroos jumping over cows…
Top right: It’s not just the animals that are out to get you.
Yes, it floods along the Savannah Way – and how!
something every day. The Timber Creek café looks quite pleasant, and I guess you won’t be humbugged while you’re sitting there with your coffee. I certainly wasn’t. Just over 90km takes you to one of my favourite places along the Victoria Highway, and indeed the Savannah Way. There isn’t much at the Victoria River Roadhouse – 08 8975 0744 – a more or less typical roadhouse with fuel pumps in front and some dongas and a fairly bare campground, but somehow, I like it. You can sit at the front window and watch… well, not very much, really… Before you get there, though, you pass the first optional section the Savannah Way. On your right, 28km out of Timber Creek, is the turnoff for the Buchanan Highway. This road is gravel and cuts across the base of the triangle formed by the Victoria and Stuart highways, to Daly Waters. The pub at Daly Waters –08 8975 9927 - provides “a real Outback experience” and offers all kinds of accommodation. If you can tear yourself loose, it’s 226km to the only fuel stop, Top Springs, and then another 181km to the Stuart Highway (and a further 36km to Daly Waters). This is unknown territory for me – I have been to Top Springs, but not along the Buchanan.
Back to the main route. Another 196km from Victoria River takes you to Katherine, which is the centre of modern civilisation up here. In the main street it even has a Coffee Club with (wait for it) air conditioning.
Better safe than sorry…
a wuss? The Visitor Centre can be reached on 1800 653 142. Nearby Nitmiluk National Park has 13 beautiful gorges where you can take a watery break – swimming or canoeing. Katherine is also a good place to familiarise yourself with Australian First Nation culture, art and so on. Unfortunately, I have also been getting warnings about street crime here, so keep an eye out.
Katherine to Cairns
From Katherine, turn south along the Stuart Highway and follow this main road to Mataranka – Cabins & Camping 08 8975 4838. Don’t miss the Mataranka or Bitter Springs thermal pools with their hot water bores where you can relax and let the weariness of the road drain away in
Hema Maps has a checklist to help you stay safe in the Outback. Here it is:
v Carry sufficient drinking water – about six to eight litres per day per adult in very hot weather. Have spare water and food in case of emergencies.
v Avoid travelling at night because of wildlife.
v Slow down when you see stock on the road.
v Understand the distances you’ll have to travel in relation to time and fuel.
v Consider where assistance is available.
v Always follow your map.
v Carry spare vehicle parts and extra engine fluids.
v Check weather and road conditions.
v Advise someone of your itinerary.
v Unless it is on a public roadway, permission must be obtained from stations to travel through their property.
v Do not travel on ‘closed’ roads.
the warm pool. You turn left here into the Roper Highway which is sealed for a bit over 200km before going to reasonably good dirt. The first fuel stop is Roper Bar, about 360km away, and you turn right another 31km further on at Ngukurr, Roper River. There is a store – 08 8975 4636 - and a campground here. The road deteriorates somewhat, and the next fuel is 353km away at Cape Crawford – unless you take the 25km detour to Limmen River Fishing Camp or the 32km detour to Lorella Springs – 08 8975 9917 - both of which have fuel.
Cape Crawford is where you will be reunited with any of your mates who took the Buchanan Highway and then continued along the tar of the Carpentaria Highway for 272km from Daly Waters to get to this meeting point. The Heartbreak
Hotel – 08 8975 9928 - is a bit of an oasis and offers food, fuel, accommodation, and helicopter flights over several Lost City rock formations. Cape Crawford Tourism is on 0400 156 685. The Carpentaria Highway is your way onwards now, tarred for the 110km to Borroloola where there’s 24-hour fuel and the Savannah Way Motel – 08 8975 8883. From here on, things get iffy. The road, also known as the Wollogarang Road, is dirt and there is no fuel for 317km to Hells Gate Roadhouse – 07 4745 8258 - where fuel may or may not be available. The tar starts again some 75km further after Hell’s Gate, just before Domadgee, and the roadhouse - 07 4745 8298also offers fuel. From there you’re on good surface for another 90km or so
Surface tension
to Burketown – visitor information 07 4745 5111. Okay, take a break! It’s time to turn south now on the Nardoo Burketown Road. Another 75km of sealed surface takes you to the turnoff onto the Burketown Normanton Road, and from there another 150km of dirt finds you in Normanton. The town has three pubs and a giant replica crocodile –visitor information 07 4745 1065, and it’s a lot of fun.
Deep breath, now – that’s the end of the dirt unless you choose to take the northern loop and tackle some more. If you do, and continue by way of Dunbar and Chillagoe, you had better have a big tank – you’ll need a range of nearly 700km. Not impossible, of course, but requires some planning.
Up to date information about road conditions is critical. Here’s where to get detailed information: Queensland road conditions from the Royal Auto Club are available 24 hours a day on 1300 130 595 or at www.racq.com.au; government information is on 13 19 40 or at www.131940.qld.gov.au.
Northern Territory road conditions are on 1800 246 199 or at www.roadreport.nt.gov.au, and Western Australian conditions are on 1800 013 314 or at www.mainroads.wa.gov.au
More local information is at the Burke Shire Road Report, www.burke.qld.gov.au; Carpentaria Shire Road Report, www.carpentaria.qld.gov.au; Etheridge Shire Road Report, www.etheridge.qld.gov.au.
Roadside Assistance for Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia is on 13 11 11. For other information phone local Police, Council Offices or a tourism operator where you’re going.
Distances are long, and signposting is not always up to date.
The smoother way is south again some seven kilometres from Normanton and then left onto the Gulf Developmental Road, which is tarred and which takes you east via Croydon –visitor information 07 4748 7152 - and Georgetown – “Terrestrial” information centre 07 4062 1485 (fuel is available at both) and eventually joins the Kennedy Highway after about 200km. You’re pretty much back in ‘civilisation’ now and only Mount Garnet, Ravenshoe, Atherton and Mareeba (where our dirt-riding friends from the northern loop re-join us) before dropping down over the coastal range through Kuranda to Smithfield and Cairns – Gateway Discovery Information Centre 07 4051 3588. Quite a ride.
Who’s
When it says closed, it means closed.
This is the turnoff for the alternative Savannah Way.
Our adventure riding community
Name: Fiona Murray
Where I live: I live in the beautiful region on the Mid Coast NSW, so the areas around offer great roads of all sorts to go on our adventures.
My story and my bike:
Buy that bike you’ve always wanted Mum, my boys said! Hitting 50 was quite a liberating, auspicious occasion. So, I researched, listened to (not) everyone about what I needed, how to ride, what gear to get. Decision made, I bought a 2021 Suzuki 650 VSTROM for me for my birthday.
My partner, Michael, has a beautiful old BMW R100T, and we ride when and often as we can and our work allows. We venture up along The Lakes Way, Gloucester, Boral, roads up in the Upper Hunter.. lots of overnighters. Michael’s
bike doesn’t do dirt so well, but mine does. Although I’m not the true dirt Queen I used to be in my youth, I do still enjoy a bit of mishap!
How I define adventure riding:
For me, it’s the adventure of being out on my own on my bike and where I end up. Adventures are a little planned, but what happens on the ride is something that just crops up.
Most embarrassing moment:
I’d stopped to talk to friends in the street (they are well seasoned riders), and we were marvelling at my new shiny ride and the great gear I’d bought. We had our yarn, and I knew they would watch me roar up the road, and so I positioned myself, revved and out slipped the clutch to give an almighty lurch. Stalled, unbalanced, and fell off!! This was before my ride!!!
All I can say is thank God for green, soft grass and gentlemen!
Bucket lit wish:
So, my bucket list for skippin’ about would be a trip around Tassie. We were to do that last Christmas, so is still in the plan. I’d love to take myself off on a trip to Mackay to see my eldest son, Coenhe has a trail bike and loves to ride.
A ride with my boys is my wish. My youngest, Kale, has a road bike and we do go for spins.
Anything else you’d like to add: Ride on everyone. Take the adventures as they come.
Our adventure riding community
My favourite ride ever:
My favourite adventure ride to date was a recent short solo ride in the Victorian High Country. From Walhalla I rode, via Licola, to the top of Billy Goats Bluff Track. I then camped the night atop of the Eastern Pinnacles. After a roaring fire and a good night’s sleep, I awoke to a blue sky and 360 degree views of fog lined valleys below. Amazing!! Once the coffee was down and bags were packed, I took off down Billy Goats and headed for Dargo. I’ve ridden Billy Goats Bluff Track a couple of times and I can tell you it’s just as sketchy going down when you’re on a fully laden KTM690 with a near full Safari Tank. From Dargo I headed cross country to Bairnsdale, where I finished the trip. How I would you define adventure riding: I find adventure in simply taking that unknown track and following your nose. As long as I’m heading in the general direction of my destination, I’m happy not knowing if I’ll have to turn around at some point and head back to the start. I’ve discovered some of my favourite tracks and countryside by chance this way.
usually riding a BMW with over 100,000 kms on the clock, wearing well-worn gear that looks just as old and comfortable as their bike. They have the best stories, no matter how long, and usually good advice to impart with it.
My favourite piece of gear:
My favourite piece of gear is my Zac Speed Recon hydration backpack with the added Octane Tech Vest. This pack carries plenty of water and tools, and the added Tech Vest harness has more accessible pockets at the front than you’ll ever need for your keys, wallet and phone.
Swiss army knife or mobile phone?
Strangest thing I have seen while adventure riding:
The strangest thing I’ve seen whilst riding was a battered old Hyundai Excel, way out the back of the Neerim South State Forest. How it got up and down steep 4WD tracks to get there, I’ll never know. Something a non-biker has asked about adventure riding or my bike:
The most people I have ever had come up and approach me whilst riding was when I fully restored my old Honda XR400r into my first ‘adventure bike’. It looked mint with a Safari tank and rally fairing. That bike is always a conversation starter. Wherever I stop, people just come up and start reminiscing. I think 80% of the population over 40 has fond memories of riding an XR at some point in their lives. The most interesting person you have met and why.
Adventure riders in general are like a big family. As soon as you see another likeminded traveller at the fuel bowser or having a feed, it’s like an instant connection, and off you go trading stories and secret tracks. The most interesting people I meet though, are the older guys and girls,
I would have to say now, it’s my mobile phone. In April of 2022 I was out on a solo ride in a Gippsland State Forest, after my riding buddy cancelled the night before, when my bike slid out from beneath me, accelerating out of a corner at around 80 km/h. The impact snapped my femur at the base of the hip joint. I finally came to a stop, approximately 7 metres past my bike. Luckily, I had my phone in the front pocket of my tech vest. And even luckier, I had reception. Two hours later I was being loaded into a Landcruiser Troopy Ambulance without a care in the world, thanks to my phone, and Ketamine.
My most embarrassing moment:
My most embarrassing moment would have to be during the incident mentioned above when I was rescued by my old fellow workmates. They assure me we all had a great laugh, especially after I had two shots of morphine, followed by a horse size dose of Ketamine.
What is on top of my bucket list.
Apart from the usual OZ trips of The Simpson Desert, The Flinders Ranges and Cape York, I would say at the top of my bucket list would be the Utah and Colorado Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR). The riding and the scenery just blows my mind.
Name: Brett Guy
Current Bikes: KTM 690 Enduro R, Husqvarna TE300, Husaberg FE570, Honda XR400r
africa’s Mud Highway
Writer: Heather Ellis
Main: Heather stops to rest at a village on the mud highway. Insert: One of many tumbles on the mud highway in DRC (formerly Zaire)
Riding from South to North Africa back in the mid 90s already had its following of adventure riders, but few ventured into Africa’s interior. Heather Ellis shares her ride on the infamous mud highway in Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) on her Yamaha TT600.
When asked to include a story in this issue of Adventure Rider, I just had to share my ride through Zaire (renamed Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997), as it was one of the more extreme of all my adventures on my four-year world motorcycle adventure riding my Yamaha TT600 from 1993 to 1997. While DRC is what travellers call ‘the real Africa’, it is when you go to places like this that you are pushed out of your comfort zone. It is where you experience the extraordinary… those moments that change who you once were—and how you once viewed the world and your place in it. But saying that, DRC and other places like it, I admit, are not for everyone. But call me a dreamer, as I hope and pray for a not-too-distant future where there is political stability and economic prosperity on the ground in DRC. Then we can all explore Africa’s interior and while doing so, spend our money with the locals on food, on accommodation and on side trips like climbing the Rwenzori Mountains, visiting the gorillas, trekking into the Ituri Forest, and taking a barge down the Zaire River. But until that day, here is my ride on the mud highway.
Leaving northern Uganda, it was an easy 100-kilometre ride on a narrow dirt road toward the border where I’d cross at Goli later that morning. I was grateful the bog-holes were dry, but a light shower would quickly turn the hard-packed brown clay to slippery mud. It was late November and my arrival in Zaire coincided with the dry season, a three-month reprieve from day after day of torrential rain. From November till February there would be just a few light showers, mostly falling at night as a fine mist.
“ Is this what I wanted to do? Travel alone into one of the most underdeveloped and lawless countries in Africa, if not the world? ”
After my documents were stamped by the Ugandan official, I crossed into Zaire pulling up outside a tin-roofed mud hut, the immigration post. Two officials dressed in military uniform greeted me. They stamped my passport and carnet de passage (the passport for the TT) without question and welcomed me with wide grins.
‘Zaire has many beautiful wonders,’ said the first.
‘We care very much for tourists,’ said the second, spreading his arms wide as if I were about to be embraced by a whole nation.
Before signing my name in the register, I read the entries filled with the names and nationalities of travellers from all over the world. Many were from Australia, New Zealand and Britain as Goli had once been a major crossing point for the overland truck tours from London, but none had crossed since April, and before that the entries were spasmodic as few overland travel companies were prepared to take the risk.
As I held my pen poised to write my name, I hesitated for a very brief moment. Is this what I wanted to do? Travel alone into one of the most underdeveloped and lawless countries in Africa, if not the world? Did I want to head into a country perpetually gripped by conflict and civil war? My guidebook recommended that only the most seasoned and hard-core traveller venture into Africa’s interior. Was I now such a traveller?
I let the pen fall and quickly scribbled my name and country as though something else made the decision for me. I was almost at the halfway mark. This milestone would be achieved when I reached Kisangani, a city that lay deep within Zaire’s rainforest close to the equator and about as close to the centre of Africa as one could get. While I’d already come so far, I still had a long way to go and I was fully aware of the hardships I would face. But there was no real indecisiveness on my part as the same overpowering sense of knowing that this was the way forward now possessed me as when I’d first struck on the idea to ride a motorcycle from south to north Africa back when I worked at Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory. Nothing had changed in my determination. But was not blindly forging ahead. I was aware of the dangers—of the armed rebel soldiers who had not been paid for months; of the poverty that caused men to lose all compassion. But this was not the Africa that was slowly revealing itself
to me since I’d started this journey seven months ago.
After a three-day hike into the Ituri Forest to stay at a remote pygmy camp, a five-day trek up the Ruwenzori Mountains and a guided walk over the gentle slopes of the dormant Virungu Volcano where I spent a few hours hanging out with a troop of mountain gorillas, I was now at the start of Zaire’s infamous ‘mud highway’ just outside of Bukavu.
The 700-kilometre highway from Bukavu to Kisangani cut a wide swathe through impenetrable rainforest. It had started as a joint-venture aid project between the German and Chinese governments in the early 1980s. The Chinese started from Bukavu and the Germans from Kisangani but when construction far exceeded budget, the highway was never completed and several sections remained unfinished. Over the past ten years, lack of maintenance and heavy seasonal rain had riddled the tarmac with potholes, which I dodged as I passed through the dense rainforest and large stands of giant bamboo. But here at the start, there was none of the slippery red mud I feared so much and I fell into a false sense of security. I leaned back into
the soft comfort of the Gearsack, fully expecting the ride to Kisangani to be an easy two days under a cloud-free blue sky.
As I neared a range of low hills, the road slowly climbed and here construction of the highway ended abruptly. I stopped where the tarmac gave way to thick mud. Recent rains and the passing of many trucks transporting goods to Kisangani had turned what lay before me into one almost continuous bog-hole.
I sat down on the edge of tarmac, my boots resting in the mud, mentally preparing myself for the struggle that lay ahead. ‘We can do this’, I said to reassure both me and the TT, hoping it would take control and I would merely be its passenger. That its strong 600cc single cylinder engine had the power to carry me up over the range that loomed before me and through the thick, squashy mud, which looked an impossible feat. Before tackling the mud, topped up the bike’s tank with petrol from an old five-litre plastic container a garage had given me in Bukavu. My ten-litre jerry was also full. I carried the extra fuel after locals advised I carry enough, as it was unlikely that I’d be able to buy any on the way. The TT’s 21-litre tank had a range of
400 kilometres plus 50 on reserve, less in these muddy conditions. All up, including the extra ten litres, if all went well, I would reach Kisangani on fumes late afternoon on Christmas Eve.
I started the bike and the sound of its engine, a deep rumble, echoed against the rainforest that lined the road as a solid wall of dark-green foliage. I put it in gear and as the thick enduro tyres hit the mud, it slid out of control but I did not fall. I steered the TT up over the first section of the range, my arms tense as the muscles strained. When the road levelled, I rode on the hard-packed walking track that skirted a bog-hole. Here, too, Africa was one village, and when I did fall there was no shortage of people offering to help. The recent heavy rains at the end of the wet season meant that business for the boghole men, the women who cooked from blackened pots, and the children who sold cigarettes, was booming when normally it would be very quiet. The African truck drivers, bored with being stuck for days, cheered me on as I rode through, and laughed when I lost control and stood up covered in mud from head to toe.
As I’d bought all the fuel and food I needed for the two-day ride to Kisangani,
Left: Bog holes are a source of income for the local villagers who dig out bogged trucks. Right: Roads in Africa’s interior are only passable in the dry season from November to late February.
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and planned to camp that night at the Catholic Mission in Walikale, I carried only 40 nouveaux zaire, about US$2. I also had five packets of cigarettes and gave these to the guys who helped lift my motorcycle out of the mud. Cigarettes were a universally acknowledged way to say thank you. When I got to the last packet, I handed them out singly until all but two were left and then I pleaded I was broke, which they accepted and au revoir’ed me on my way.
On one of the worst stretches of mud, I followed a path beside the road and over a narrow culvert reinforced with a few sticks, strong enough for people but not for my motorcycle. The sticks collapsed and the TT and I went tumbling down the muddy bank, about a five-metre drop.
I came to a stop at the bottom and looked up to see the bike wedged between two piles of mud a few metres above me. It was upside down and I quickly scrambled up the steep bank to stop my precious fuel dripping from the hole in the petrol cap. The air-bleed hose had long since broken off. With my thumb over the hole, I could only call out and wait for help. It was not long before a group of three young men walking from one village to the next came by.
‘Aide moi!’ I called to them as they looked down at me with obvious surprise.
‘Bonjour madame. You have problem?’ the tallest of the three asked.
‘Oui, oui,’ I said. ‘Please help me.’
‘Ah, we must talk of some money,’ said the second young man who stood beside
him, arms folded across his broad chest. I reached into my jacket pocket for my 40 nouveaux zaires and held the wad of crumpled, muddy notes to an outstretched hand.
‘No more. I’m sorry. Exchange rate no good. I go to Kisangani,’ I said, hoping they understood there was no reason for me to carry more money than necessary as it would instantly be devalued.
‘It is not enough, but we help you anyway,’ said the third man and his two friends nodded. ‘It is far to Kisangani. You will need it for food.’
The young men gave their help because I needed it. This was the African way I had come to expect. While at first, I was often seen as business, an opportunity to make money, attitudes quickly changed when
it was realised how far I had travelled and how far I still had to go. This was often followed with the words: ‘Long journey. Much courage,’ and ended with a sigh of reverence for what my journey meant, both in hardship and in a search of some greater, unspoken meaning.
The three men climbed down the bank and together, with one mighty heave, upturned the bike (fully loaded weighing 200 kilograms) and then hauled it back onto the road.
The fall had made me lose confidence. I would ride through one bog-hole only to be confronted by another around the next bend. I stopped often to rest my arms, which quivered like jelly from the strain.
Darkness settled over the rainforest with the closing force of a curtain dropping on a stage performance. One moment it was day and the next it was night and
it all happened as I passed a cluster of crumbling mud-and-thatch huts built beside the muddy highway. With the TT’s inadequate six-volt headlight, it was impossible to navigate through the mud at night. An old man wearing dirt-stained, threadbare clothes sat listening to a radio as he reclined on a chair made from sticks and tied with vines. As I rumbled to a stop beside him, he raised his hand in a wave of welcome.
‘Dormir ici avec la moto?’ I asked, placing my hands together against my head to indicate that I wanted to sleep right there next to my bike. Right there in the mud.
He nodded his understanding and pointed to one of the huts.
‘Non merci,’ I said, and looked up at the stars that shone in a clear night sky.
I pulled out two of the three small loaves of bread bought in Bukavu and gave these to the old man. He smiled a toothless grin and handed the loaves to the boy who disappeared into one of the huts. The old man indicated I sit with him. I carried over my petrol stove, water bottle, pot and things to make coffee. As I waited for the water to boil, I ate three bananas with the third tiny loaf of bread. The old man refused when I insisted he eat some too. Once the water boiled, I poured two cups of sweet black coffee and offered the old man the last of my two cigarettes. I had the other and under the clear night sky he tuned his radio into the BBC World Service.
Left: From Kisangani, Heather travelled to Kinshasa on a timber barge on the Zaire River, a month-long 2500km journey.
It was a warm, humid night, and I was so exhausted that it felt like the mud caked on my jeans and jacket was the only thing holding me up. I reached into the Gearsack and pulled out the torch and then the groundsheet from one of the panniers and laid it down next to the bike. The old man called to a boy who stood in the doorway of a hut, watching mesmerised by this strange white woman on a motorcycle who had miraculously appeared out of nowhere. He carried over a chair and placed it next to the old man.
‘Merci,’ I said and he nodded in reply. He was using his precious batteries for me as the words from the British news reader meant nothing to him. It was the first world news I had heard since leaving Kampala, in Uganda, what felt like a lifetime ago. I can’t remember what the news was about: a war here, fighting there. The world sounded like a dangerous and frightening place, but as we smoked the cigarettes and drank the coffee surrounded by the blackness of the forest, our world was one of peace and unity.
I awoke at daylight with aching muscles, wet and still exhausted. A fine mist of rain had fallen during the night and the
Above: With a guide and local traders, Heather treks into deep into the Ituri Forest to spend time with a pygmy tribe. u
Top left: Petrol can be in short supply, but there’s always someone selling a few litres.
Far left: Monkeys are hunted for bushmeat, which is smoked and later made into a stew.
groundsheet wrapped tightly around me had offered little protection. The people in the huts were still asleep and I pushed the bike down the road 100 metres or so before starting it so I would not wake them.
People were only just stirring when I reached the small town of Walikale and, after a breakfast of warm mandazis (bitesized fried dough balls) washed down with sweet black tea, I was on my way to Kisangani. At last, I’d left the mud behind. It was Christmas Eve and I rode on a perfect tarmac road as good as any autobahn in Europe. At last, I’d reached the German section and a wide swathe of tarmac cut through the thick forest. It must have been an insurmountable challenge for the engineers, but they’d overcome the difficulties and before me
The TT600 and Me
In those early days of my adventure motorcycling, my choice of bike was a Yamaha TT600. It is pure enduro and kick start. No electrical problems here. When the idea to ride a motorcycle through Africa came to me ‘out of the blue’, I’d asked my mates what would be a good reliable bike. With no consideration that I am only 165cm, they all said ‘nothing beats the TT’. My ride at the time was an XT250 and underpowered to meet my needs. My adventure motorcycle ride started in 1993 when I rode through Africa and in late 1994 arrived in London, where for a year I morphed into a ‘road warrior’ while working as a motorcycle courier (yes, on the TT). This funded my ride through Central Asia, parts of Russia and down through China (by train) to Vietnam. It was an adventure all on my beloved TT600 and penned in intimate detail in my two books: Ubuntu and Timeless On The Silk Road. By chance, I eventually ended up in the Yarra Ranges and right of the doorstep of some of the world’s best motorcycling roads. My TT600 has languished in my shed for the past 20 years while I rode a Moto Guzzi V50 until it suffered a SMIDSY back in 2012 (it awaits a rebuild). For the past 11 years my ride has been a Triumph Thruxton, which is nimble through traffic (once a courier always a courier) and fun to lean into corners. But being
lay a truly great stretch of highway. I wanted to open the throttle, to sit back and cruise, but around each sweeping bend, herds of goats rested on the tarmac or grazed on the grassy verge. All day, I saw only six vehicles which made me question, ‘why?’. Was the road washed out somewhere before Kisangani?
At about 100 kilometres from Kisangani the road deteriorated into a series of potholes and for 30 kilometres, the tarmac was almost completely weathered as without regular maintenance in an environment of heavy rainfall, the forest eventually claims
Signed copies of Heather’s first book Ubuntu (published by Black Inc) can be purchased at www.heather-ellis.com
back its own.
My battle with the highway of mud was nearly over and as I neared Kisangani, the tarmac was littered with only a few potholes, which I easily dodged. I relaxed into the ride and was lost in my thoughts when I almost did not see the man waving frantically in front of me.
Skidding to a stop, I narrowly missed hurtling down a drop of about 20 metres. The bridge had collapsed and most of the
an adventure rider at heart, it has also seen its fair share of dirt too.
After Africa and Central Asia, the plan was to ‘one day’ continue my world motorcycle travels with the next leg being south to north America. And while I have been on an equally exciting journey as mother to three boys and many 4WD trips in our Land Rover Discovery called ‘Arthur’, it is time uncover the TT600. My early search for parts for its rebuild led me to Just Dirt Bike Wreckers in Derrimut near Melbourne. I was after a side-stand as mine got snapped in Kazakhstan and after being welded is now quite short. The TT600 is a rather tallish bike and a functioning side-stand is critical for me in kick starting it.
timber had been washed away in the torrential wet-season rains. This did not stop the trucks. A detour went down the steep bank, across the narrow stream, now just a trickle, and up the steep bank on the other side. I rode to the bottom of the wide gully and was surrounded by men eager to help push me and the bike up the walking track that skirted the steep wheelrutted track.
‘Non merci, j’attends pour camion,’ I said, preferring to wait until the truck in front reached the top of the bank. I needed speed to make it up the other side and could only do this by riding in one of the deep wheel ruts.
When the track was clear, I tried to start the bike, but the kick-starter was jammed. It had happened a few times over the past week and gently wiggling it usually made it move to the kickstart position.
‘Rapide, camion,’ the men yelled as I finally freed the kick-starter. I quickly accelerated across the stream and up a deep wheel rut, the panniers scraping on the mud sides.
As I came hurtling onto the tarmac,
SUZUKI DRZ400
the rear wheel still spinning, a driver was manoeuvring his truck for the steep descent. I was forced to skid, laying the bike on its side to avoid ploughing into the side of the truck.
The driver braked hard and men came running to help. No damage was done, except I would soon have a nice bruise running the length of my left leg.
It was a momentous occasion as I rode into Kisangani an hour later. I had made it to the heart of Africa.
This sprawling city of bullet-riddled and derelict cement-block buildings sat near the equator and it represented my halfway point. It was a significant milestone as countless times during the planning, I had stared at the name on my Michelin map. From an idea that popped into my head nearly two years ago back in Australia, I single-handedly, one step at a time, had made that idea happen. As I rode along the wide boulevards, I swelled with pride over my achievement.
To read more about Heather’s motorcycle adventures on her Yamaha TT600 and to purchase her books go to: www.heather-ellis.com
Just Dirt Bike Wreckers are not your average bike wrecker. Tony and Vince also rebuild dirt bikes and in recent years the older XR600, TT600 and XT600 being lightweight and without fancy electrics are experiencing a resurgence amongst adventure riders. In coming issues, I’ll be sharing the TTs rebuild and in later issues our rides as we explore off-road tracks. My boys will all be over 18 in a few years and I can, ‘leave home’, on the TT for the ride from south to north America. But in today’s world of What’s App and Zoom, they will never be far away. And may even join me, but only for a visit for this motorcycle adventurer knows the real adventure happens when you travel alone. www.heather-ellis.com
Ride with cobfidence with
Beeline Moto
Afew weeks ago, I was off on a ride with a group of mates. We had decided on a destination for lunch and had a vague idea of the route we were going to take. I’m a bit old school in that I always check a map to look up waypoints or towns we’d be passing through, so I had a rough idea of where we were going without knowing the exact roads we’d take.
Like the start of any ride with mates, first stop, coffee. There we were, swapping stories (with only mild embellishments) and sharing our love of the open road. Finally, fully caffeinated, we were ready to get going. “So which way are we going” one of my mates inquired. Silence, all round.
“Rossco, you’ve got one of those navigator things, punch in the destination so we can get moving”.
Let me tell you about a game-changer that has transformed my motorcycling adventures.
It’s called Beeline Moto.
Picture this: you’re cruising down a
country road, surrounded by breathtaking landscapes, not a care in the world. The wind is in your face, and the freedom of the open road is exhilarating. But, as we all know, navigation can sometimes be a challenge, especially when you’re exploring unfamiliar places.
That’s where Beeline Moto comes in. It’s a sleek, compact, and purpose-built motorcycle navigation device designed to keep you on track without distractions.
It’s incredibly versatile. It doesn’t limit you to pre-programmed routes or restrict your sense of adventure. Instead, it allows you to choose your own path, to avoid highways and tolls if you wish, while embracing the thrill of exploration.
With Beeline Moto, you can create custom routes on your smartphone, using the intuitive app by setting waypoints. Once you’ve planned your adventure, the device displays a clear arrow pointing towards your destination, providing real-time directions without overwhelming you with unnecessary information.
It’s easy to use, is easy to read - even in direct sunlight - ensuring you’ll never miss a turn. The durable construction handles all kinds of weather conditions and terrain. It has a simple and secure twist-lock mount that allows you to easily attach and remove the device from your bike. With five different mounts available, you’ll be able to fit a Beeline Moto onto almost any motorcycle. The best part, Beeline Moto’s battery lasts up to 30 hours on a single charge, meaning it will keep up with even the most adventurous riders. So, if you’re looking to enhance your motorcycle journeys and embrace the true spirit of exploration, check out Beeline Moto. It keeps you focused on the ride while guiding you towards your next destination.
Beeline Moto is now available in Australia at Biker Torque. Order yours today at www.bikertorque.com.au and get ready for your next adventure.
Burn, Baby, Burn Camping
ire… One of the most primal experiences we can engage with. It’s a bit like gardening without the backache. A campfire is the essence of humanity; after the pointy stick it’s one of the most useful items from our cave-person DNA toolbox. Staring into the campfire television is calming, centering, meditative… you’re looking at a living thing.
Over the years my riding buddies and I have nutted out what works and navigated the rules of the sacred flame. Sit quietly on the carpet in front of me and take in the wisdom.
You’ve arrived and chosen the best campsite available. Get off yer RRs and get wood. The bod who doesn’t muck in and help gather the precious resource is immediately cast as a freeloading skiver…even if they’ve paid for all the food and grog for weeks. Do it straight away, no first cleansing ales, arse scratching, visor cleaning or grandiose story telling. Other fireplaces are great sources of firewood as many 4x4 owners carry chainsaws
and often leave nice parcels of part burnt relics. They often have a great supply of charcoal too.
I like to set my fire on a pile so that it establishes, and produces a solid base heat... Very useful in damp weather.
The tee-pee method of setting the kindling (best
sourced off trees when wet) works best. Fine, little twigs get the thing underway, coaxing it to a point where progressively larger sticks are leant into the conical pile. A tiny little starter seems to work best too. Of course, there’s great pride in not using any help from fossil fuels but needs must. Rubbing sticks together is fine for boy scouts but as we’ve been fangin’ an infernal combustion engine to within an inch of the planets’ life, what’s a few more millilitres of woof water? I’ve carried a tampon rolled in a couple of metres of gaffa tape (two uses…see how it works) for years. Dangle that little white mouse in the fuel tank and no La Nina is gonna beat you. Bog roll for some reason seems to be counter intuitively er…crap in getting a mini-inferno underway.
It’s a living thing, let it breathe. Any firey will tell you it’s a combo of heat, oxygen and fuel. At some stage there’s a need to arrogantly turn your back on the establishing fire and pretend you don’t give a rats whether it live or dies. Well,
maybe just leave the bloody thing alone for a while and let it do its thing without some ham-fisted fiddler collapsing all the good fire juju.
I’m sure you’ve climbed out of the fart-sack for a 3 am bladder burster and admired a perfect campfire. So… when your effort has graduated to become a fire rather than a smoky disaster zone, pile the bugger until it frightens fellow camper.
andy straPz
That way you’ll have that magic, virtually smokeless fire at 8 pm. You’ll find you use the same amount of wood but have a nicer time. Your fire will also be safer and easier to douse should you need to as you stumble your way to your tent. Lay the long logs across the fire at about halfway point early, it burns them in half and dries out the wood. Stack wet wood around the perimeter of the fire to dry out before you assault the fire with it. Keep yer nosey bloody fingers out of someone else’s fire. This is crucial in the early life of said conflagration. “Need a hand mate?” will save you from getting unsolicited advice regarding Sex and Travel as you smother some diligent firebug’s pride and joy. Fer crysakes don’t keep fiddling and poking the bloody thing, leave it to its job. Every time you kick, nudge, poke and shake the wood, it slows things up. You need permission to f**k with someone’s fire, and there’s a big difference between helping out by popping more wood on and making a dick of yourself.
It goes without saying but I will anyway… Make sure the coals are completely out before buggering off in the morning. Unless you’re the group’s meteorologist, you don’t know what may change as the day settles in. That 3am bladder burster is now a prime resource.
Faffing about with a fire in the mornings only tends to choke half the campground and makes buggering off more complex. I’d rather boil up a cuppa in my Jetboil. And finally grasshopper… If I catch you throwing cans or bottles in the fire, you’ll be banished to the 4x4 yobbos fire and ride in the dust for the day tomorrow… You have been warned!
Words & Photos: Andy “Strapz”
Setting a fire is easy, once you know how
Top left: Fer crysakes don’t keep fiddling and poking the bloody thing, leave it to its job.
Left: If I catch you throwing cans or bottles in the fire, you’ll be banished to the 4x4 yobbos fire and ride in the dust for the day tomorrow…
Above & right: Getting it together for an OS Riding trip takes a lot more thought, test packing and restraint.
Your adventure bikes
On our Adventure Rider Facebook page during April and then May 2023, we asked our followers and subscribers to share what bikes they used for adventure riding.
It was an enjoyable exercise and, here are the final results. We’ll renew the exercise in 2024.
Bikes owned as of May 2023 Where there is no number it is a single bike.
Benelli: 1
TRK502X:
Beta: 1
490:
BMW: 28
Unspecified mention
G 650 GS Dakar:
G 650 GS Sertao:
G 650 GS XCountry:
G 650 XChallenge: HP2E:
F 700 GS: 2
F 750 GS:
F 800 GSA: 2
R 1150 GS:
R 1150 GSA:
R 1200 GSA: 4
R 1200 GS: 3
R 1200 CLR:
R 1250 GS Rallye: 2
R 1250 Rallye X:
R 1250 GSA: 3
R18:
CFMoto: 1
800 MT: Ducati: 1 1000S:
Harley-Davidson: 5
XR1200: Lowrider: Sport Glide:
FXSB Breakout:
Ultra Classic:
Hero: 2
Impulse 150: XPulse 200: Honda: 15
Unspecified mention
CBF250: CRF 300 Rally: 4
CRF 450L: 2
CB500X:
NX650 Dominator: XR650: Africa Twin: 3
VFR1200X: Husqvarna: 6
Unspecified mention 701:
701LR:
701 Omega Rally: 701 Hard Kit 723cc: Norden 901: Indian: 1
FTR 1200 Kawasaki: 9
Versys X300: KLR650: 7
Versys 650: KTM: 26
Unspecified mention 300EXC:
390 Adventure: 450 Rallye:
500EXCF:
530: 530EXC: 625: 640 Adventure: 660RR: 690 with Hard Kit: 690 Enduro R: 2 790R: 3 950 Adventure: 990 Adventure: 2 1290: 3 1290 ADV R: 3 1290 Super Adventure S: 1290 SA / 1190 R suspension & wheels
Royal Enfield: 4
Unspecified mention Thunderbird 350: Himalayan:
500 Bullet: Sherco: 1
SEF 450 Light Weight ADV: Suzuki: 17
DR350:
SP370:
DRZ400E: 2
DR650: 7
DR 650 Tanami:
XT660z Tenere:
GSX-R600:
VStrom 650:
GSX-F750:
VStrom 1000: Triumph: 11
Unspecified mention
America 790: Scrambler 1200xc:
Tiger 800 XC:
Tiger 800 xca:
Tiger 800 xcx:
Tiger 955:
Tiger Rally Pro: 2
Triumph Tiger 900 / LH Trek sidecar
Tiger 1200: Yamaha: 13
Unspecified mention
WR259R Athena 290 Kit:
WR250R: XT250: 2
TTR260: XT550: XT600:
Super Tenere: Tenere 660: 2
Tenere 700: 2
TDM900:
Venture Royale:
KOVIX ALARM DISC LOCKKNX-6
Portable, Security & Stylish:
Portable device with high grade alloy construction and piercing alarm make KNX-6 a markedly effective way to protect your bike. Simple pushdown locking system comes in five stylish finishes.
ALARMED CHAIN
10mm hexagon hardened steel chain with protectice sleeve.150cm in length. Suitable for the Kovix Ground Anchor.
ALARMED BRADED CABLE
Kovix Alarmed Braded Steel Cable 110cm. 24mm strong thick plastic coated steel cable.
Brake lever lock with Zinc alloy protected alarm module (with alarm light).