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Call Shannons on 13 46 46 for a quote on your special bike, special car, daily drive, or your home, and speak with a genuine enthusiast.
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n Special low usage rates n Riding gear cover
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enthusiast items cover for your collectables & tools
Editor
nO 1%’ E r S I n THE HOUSE !
Forecasting a few complaints about the running of H-D articles, I’ll remind that the notions that H-D are for an exclusive group are no longer valid. See Heather Ellis’ review on the Heritage Classic and who the largest consumer group is for that bike. Check out whether Pete Vorst and Tug McClutchin disagree, or arrive at similar conclusions for the X350, and who that market audience is likely to be.
The X350 is a viable choice for many motorcycling consumers, and H-D dealers regularly offer decent sales and other offers. Why cut the brand from your consideration?
Also note that, for future editions, we are seeking your photos (hi-res) and short stories (up to 450 words) on your
favourite urban rides.
In issue 125, regular contributors offer their ideas and we would welcome sharing yours. Tug McClutchin provides an introduction to this theme in the current issue.
Also in this issue, the ‘motard’ Wally Wauthle. For many, the idea of turning your love of motorcycling into a viable career (outside of racing) is a dream. You may have seen the motards and their pillion photographers during sporting events and of course in motorcades.
Willy’s interview offers an insight into a rather special life, and a man with an amazing knowledge of his craft.
Tug McClutchin, Nick Edards, Hermann Koepf, Heather Ellis, Willy Wauthle, John Pierce, Pete Vorst, Tim Walker, Tom Boissel
Photographers:
Hermann Koepf, Incite Images/Harley-Davidson, Andrew Gosling- TBGSport, Rob Mott - RBMotoLens, Half Light Photographic, Karen (Kaz) Forman, Willy Wauthle, John Pierce (Photographer Cyclisme), Motohead, Tim Walker, Adriatic Moto Tours, Tom Boissel, Motothing
Distributor Ovato
Australian Motorcyclist magazine is published by Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. Level 1/397 Chapel Street, South Yarra VIC 3141, Australia.
This publication is copyright. Other than for the purposes of research, study, criticism, review, parody or satire and subject to the conditions prescribed under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without the prior written permission of Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. Opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent those of Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd. No responsibility is accepted by Australian Motorcyclist Magazine Pty Ltd or the editor for the accuracy of any statement, opinion or advice contained in the text or advertisements. Readers should rely on their own enquiries in making decisions tailored to their own interest.
We encourage you to keep or recycle this magazine.
NEW PRODUCTS
ElEctric dIrTBIKE rangE
Emotogroup Announces AustrAliAn pArtnership with Volcon epowersports, Following the monumental success of caofen electric Dirtbike range.
Emotogroup, a leading Australian innovator in affordable Offroad electric powersports, proudly announces its strategic partnership with Volcon ePowersports, a pioneering force in electric off-road Electric Motorbikes This collaboration marks a significant milestone in Emotogroup’s commitment to revolutionizing the Australian E-mobility marketplace to further offer a more specialised Electric power sport range to the fast-growing epowersports industry.
Emotogroup’s flagship electric Caofen F80 which launched in Australia in 2022 has now sold over 30,000 units worldwide has created EMG as a major powersport electric player in Australia. “As we now launch the new FX model we are seeing stronger than expected pre sales for our new XL version catering for rider demanding plus 100Kph speeds with a large payload and range exceeding 120 plus kilometres on a quick recharge of just 2 hours with our Quick charge option”
This partnership with Volcon ePowersports aims to further elevate the electric vehicle market in Australia. Together, Emotogroup and Volcon will combine their expertise to introduce cutting-edge electric powersports vehicles tailored to meet the unique demands of Australian consumers.
“We are thrilled to embark on this partnership with Volcon ePowersports LLC,” said Garth Bingley-Pullin, CEO of Emotogroup. “As pioneers in the two-wheel electric vehicle space, we share a common vision of accelerating the adoption of sustainable high performance electric transportation solutions. This partnership represents a tremendous opportunity to leverage our respective strengths and deliver innovative, high-performance electric powersports vehicles to the Australian market with a the real wow factor the market has been waiting for, our customers wants change, real performance, range, and the cost has to make real world sense.”
Volcon ePowersports’ commitment to innovation and performance aligns seamlessly with Emotogroup’s mission to redefine the future of transportation through true cutting edge design that is ideal for the rugged Australian landscape. The Grunt Evo truly delivers a multi-use vehicle that is ideal from Farmers to private land owners wanting a two wheel UTV. There hasn’t ever been anything on the market like it till now.
Emotogroup are currently expanding our stockist positions and welcome enquiries on www.emotogroup.com.au
A HA r LE y TO CELEB r ATE AyrTO n
What do you do when you are the owner of a custom bike shop and a mad Ayrton Senna fan and the 30th anniversary of his tragic death rolls around? You build a bike in his honour, obviously.
Francisco Ali Manen, owner of Lord Drake Kustoms in Malaga, Spain, took a customer’s Harley Sportster and fashioned it around the Rothmans colours of the car Ayrton was killed in.
He also dealt with the rear number plate holder and some other bits and pieces, such as a new cafe racer screen, a flat tracker handlebar, new minimalist LED turn signals and a LED headlight have been installed.
There’s also a reupholstered seat, and a funky new exhaust with a brutalistic carbon cover. But the most significant change in this restyling has been the paint job inspired by the colors of the Rothmans tobacco brand that the Williams FW16 racing car driven by Ayrton.
What do you think? Thumbs up or down?
n EW SCOUTS
Indian has updated the Scout range, and the pricing on the new model variants is now available.
$22,995 ride away will see sitting astride a new Scout, and the top end Scout 101 model will set you back $27,995 ride away.
The Scout models have received a significant update, with changes including a larger engine complete with the increased power and torque that you would expect, plus a new chassis.
There are a number of styling variations amongst the new models, including the Scout Classic, Scout Bobber, Sport Scout, Super Scout, and the top of the range 101 Scout.
Bikes are due in dealers in July.
BIMOTA BACK I n WSBK
Bimota is one of the most famous names in motorcycling, and it conjures up images of stunningly designed motorcycles with incredible chassis concepts. Whilst their racing heritage may not be as expansive as some brands, they do have a 350cc GP and a TT Formula 1 championship to their name.
They were also a founding manufacturer of WSBK and won seven races in the championship’s first year in 1988, thanks to Stephane Mertens and Davide Tardozzi, the same Tardozzi now working as one of Ducati’s to bosses in MotoGP.
Australians will remember Bimota in World Superbike most fondly for Anthony Gobert’s incredible win at a soggy Phillip Island on the Bimota SB8R.
Bimota have generally entered into partnerships with other manufacturers and built their motorcycles around engines provided those companies. Of late, new models have been built for road use utilizing Kawasaki’s Ninja 1000 and H2 motors, which is understandable given Kawasaki is now Bimota’s majority shareholder. And now Bimota will enter WSBK next year using engines from Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX10RR, a proven winner in WSBK.
Bimota will continue to be based in Rimini, Italy, as will the race team, which will be known as the ‘Bimota By Kawasaki Racing Team’, and they will enter the World Superbike Championship next year, on a bike jointly developed by Bimota and Kawasaki.
This presents a huge change for Kawasaki, who have competed in WSBK with great success in recent times with Jonathan Rea winning six titles since 2015. Now many of their staff will switch to the new team, bringing to a close a rich racing history for Team Green.
Bimota’s COO, Pierluigi Marconi, commented: “The engineering, technology and day to day business support already offered by Kawasaki has put Bimota firmly back into the consciousness of the media and potential customers; now it is time to take a next step in our evolution. Bimota has had racing as part of its DNA from day one and to compete in WorldSBK alongside developing our new product range, while expanding the European and global dealer network, has an undeniable logic to it. With the unparalleled experience of the existing Kawasaki Racing Team experts plus the full support and cooperation of Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. in Japan fills us with pride and optimism. The Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team will surely form the foundations of the next chapter in the Bimota story”.
While many of the current Kawasaki team staff will switch to the new team, it is unclear who their rider lineup will consist of .
M xg P HEA d S FO r d A r WI n
It’s been 24 years since the FIM World Motocross Grand Prix visited Australia, but next year it will take place in Darwin, thanks to an investment from the Northern Territory Government. The deal with MXGP rights-holder Infront Moto Racing was announced recently, and sees the event locked in at Darwin from 2025 until 2029.
The FIM Women’s MX World Championship will also be held at the event.
The racing will take places on a purpose-built track at the Hidden Valley Raceway in September.
“This is big. The MXGP is an incredibly popular and high-profile major sporting event and to be able to host it here in the Territory is a real coup. It’s also incredible to be showcasing the women’s event, which has never before been held in Australia,” said Northern Territory Major Events Company CEO Suzana Bishop. Motorcycling Australia CEO Peter Doyle said: “Motorcycling Australia is delighted to see the FIM Motocross World Championship make its long-awaited return Down Under. Motocross racing at the highest level is electrifying, and I can’t wait to see the world’s best riders battling it out with Australia’s emerging ProMX stars in Darwin.
“It will be fast and furious from start to finish, with local and international fans in for an absolute treat. I’d like to congratulate the Northern Territory Government’s Northern Territory Major Events Company and Infront Moto Racing on forming this new partnership, with Motorcycling Australia providing all the support it can to make the MXGP round in Darwin a resounding success.”
The top local talent will have the opportunity to compete as wildcards in all three championship classes, taking on the likes of superstars Jorge Prado and Romain Febvre, as well as New Zealand’s incredible Courtney Duncan in the ladies class. We’re looking forward to seeing young Queenslander Charli Cannon take her on.
You can keep up to date with the championship at www.mxgp.com
MASSIVE
SHA nn O n S g IVEAWAy
Shannons are giving motoring enthusiasts the chance to win a trip for two to the USA to drive some of the world’s best supercars around the famous Circuit of The Americas racetrack and exhilarating Las Vegas racetrack. You could find yourself behind the wheel of a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, ChevroletCorvette and a Ford Shelby.
The 11-day trip includes airfares, luxury accommodation in Dallas, Austin, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, tickets to two of America’s top automotive museums and $5,000 spending money.
Plus, win a new Indian Motorcycle Sport Chief! The winner will also take home an Xbox Series X Console and the Forza Motorsports Game.You could win over $100,000 in prizes!
To enter, just call Shannons on 13 46 46 to take out new eligible car, bike or home insurance.
BMW TEASES n EW AUTO BO x
BMW has released a sneaky YouTube video showing a bike being ridden with no clutch lever. Details are being dropped a little at a time about what BMW is calling “Automated Shift Assistant”, or ASA. The system employs electromechanical actuators to control clutch and gear shift operations, meaning no clutch is necessary.
A button on the left switch block
Looking for an incredible deal on a new mid-sized adventure bike?
CF Moto’s 800MT is gaining traction in the local market, and to spice things up a little they are offering over $2,000 worth of goodies if you buy one before July 31.
Every model in the 800MT range is included and scores a free Expedition Essentials Accessories Bundle, and the extras on offer will help owners push
the touring abilities of their bikes to the maximum. What every adventure rider needs is some good quality soft luggage, and goodies available include Hussar soft panniers, dry bags, a Hussar Duffel bag, a pair of Ranger Wilds side bags, CNC oversized alloy footpegs, a side stand extension plate, and other goodies.
Like all great offers, time is limited, so see your CF Moto dealer before the end of July.
SECU
r E y OU r r I d E
Biketheft is a nightmare, and here’s a new gadget from The UK that just might be useful in preventing it.
The Hiplok DX1000 is an anglegrinder-resistant D lock, and the Hiplok AX1000 is an anti-angle grinder ground/wall anchor. Together, they make the ultimate security setup for use at home and on the move.
The AX1000 can be bolted to your garage floor and used in conjunction with the DX1000 D lock, and the D lock can travel with you on the road to lock
your bike up and prevent it from being wheeled away if you have to leave your bike parked anywhere.
Wholesale inquiries through Advance Traders.
allows the rider to choose between fully auto mode and a “manual” form of gear shifting, which will still require no manual clutch operation. The auto mode will decide for itself when cogs need to be swapped based on throttle position and engine power output, etc.
BMW claims the system will allow almost seamless gear changes, providing better traction, and more comfort for pillion passengers.
At this stage there are no details on which models will be optioned with the new technology, although images have emerged of a technical drawing of a boxer engine with the new components, so we can expect that at least some of the boxer-engined models will have it available.
We’ll let you know more when we find out.
TASMA n IA n TO y r U n SEEKI ng PE r MA n E n T HOME
The MRA TOY RUN in Tasmania is traditionally the first weekend in December. 2024 will be the 45th TOY RUN by the MRA South. The organisers are now seeking a permanent home for the event.
The Christmas Pageant is a parade through the city attracting some 20,000 spectators. A perfect vehicle for MRA South to promote both the charity and road safety.
The Tasmanian Premier, Jeremy Rockliff MP is a motorcyclist and we hope for his interest in locating a home for this important annual event. For further information or to assist with this initiative:
Jarrod Doyle. president. MRA South (The TOY RUN organiser) Mobile: 0420 506 300. Amelia natoli. Salvation Army. Phone: 03 6231 5440. helen Burnett mp. Formerly Hobart’s Deputy Lord Mayor. Helen has ridden pillion in at least four MRA TOY RUNs. Her sons ride motorcycles) Mobile: 0417 284 267.
Damien codognotto OAM Motorcycle Riders Association Australia www.facebook.com/damien.codognotto.9 mraa.net.au
A ndy ’S n EW ST r APZ
The team at Andy Strapz hasn’t redesigned their famous luggage strap in 20 years, and there’s a very good reason for that. Since they first came out and made the vile, eyeball-pulverizing occy strap obsolete, they have been the pinnacle of luggage planning for riders. If you want to strap something to your bike, you use Andy’s stuff. Simple. Or you don’t, and suffer the indignity of luggage failure and being laughed at by your friends who know you should have used the famous green straps. Regardless of all of that, they have now decided to design a new strap, on the premise that in order to make it worthwhile it needed to be stronger, more adaptable, easier and faster to use, and just plain sexier than the old ones.
And so, the Adapta Strapz was born. Still made here in Australia with its trademark stretch webbing, the new
r EM y HITS THE PO d IUM
After what must feel like an eternity, Remy Gardner has once again found himself on a world championship podium after finishing in 3rd place in race 2 in Assen.
The 2021 Moto2 World Champ has had a tough few years after moving to MotoGP with KTM in 2022. With little support in the Tech 3 satellite team, both he and his teammate Raul Fernandez found themselves out of a gig at years end.
While Raul found a new home in the Aprilia satellite team, Remy moved to World Superbike with Yamaha and after a 2023 littered with technical and health issues, 2024 looks to be getting on track.
The racing is highly competitive this year, and Remy is enjoying his time in the Yamaha.
After the race Remy said: “We had a really tough year last year even though there were glimpses of hope. But finally everything has come together. We have had an amazing weekend and have been fast all weekend.”
The result is a great reward for a lot of hard work that has gone in from Remy and his team, and with a little luck, a win shouldn’t be too far away.
Remy revealed recently in an interview on the MotoPG Podcast that he considered retirement after his stint in MotoGP with KTM, such was the lack of enjoyment he felt for the sport. His stint with Yamaha has revitalised his love for racing bikes, and it is showing in his performances.
During his post-race interview Remy added, “Good things come to the people who work hard and it finally pays off.”
strapz have quick release side-release buckles, and they make access to your luggage a snap. They are a breeze to release and re-tension, meaning you can get into your gear and then strap it back up in a jiffy.
Available from www.andystrapz.com for $63 a pair plus postage.
PHOTO COMPETITION
rEMEMBEr THIS WAnTEd POSTEr?
There wAs no outright winner however, although he did not take a selfie, reader Dave Normandale spotted sunny in wA (from manitoba canada but visiting family in wA regularly):
This is just to let you know that Sunny and his sidekick were part of our lives in Esperance, as the attached photo shows.
Twenty minutes after we had chatted, photographed bikes and then Sunny posing beside the Leopard 1 tank, I wandered into the Esperance Newsagent’s store, picked up Australian Motorcycle, and saw the cover, and read the contest rules. Anyway, the photo was taken on April 15, 2024, at 10:13. And yes, I know it’s not a selfie. BUT it’s a good story.
This continues my run of missing prizes, except for a Beatle Wig I won in a radio contest in 1964.
Well Dave, as you were our only entrant, we think you deserve a consolation prize of $150. We’ll be in touch.
PHOTO COMPETITION #2
Touring
This competition wAs AnnounceD in last issue. We received two entries:
Above: One from Richelle Donohue: Family outing to Miles for the biannual heritage festival.
left: The second from David Jobson: Story: Eldest son Keith and his twin brothers Peter and Ben aged fourteen, cooked up a plan to ride the Nullarbor and visit Western Australia. So the plan evolved and in July 1991 we set off, me on my 1984 XJ900 and
Keith on his FJ1200. It was a great trip and our family have done that crossing many times before and since on two wheels and four.
The photo was obviously not taken on a smartphone but with a Nikon F-501 SLR film camera. Years ago I had it enlarged and framed and it hangs on our family room wall. My grandsons love it!
As this was the first competition and only two entries were received, we are going to split the winner’s prize between Richelle and David. Please get in touch! AMM
For the next issue, the theme is “best city ride”. First prize in this competition $150 with two runner up prizes of $50.
to enter, send your photo and this time a description or story behind the photo (up to 300 words). send entries to yourview@clemengermediasales.com.au editor
KicKstarting
THE KIdS
O HVALE FIM M I n Ig P
WOrdS: nICK EdArdS PHOTOgrAPHy: rOB MOTT rBMOTOLEnS
In the preVious eDition of Australian motorcyclist, we reported on the first round of the FIM MiniGP series, a series that provides a relatively low-cost entry into racing for younger riders. round one of the series, held at the oakleigh track at the beginning of march, saw levi russo take out the 190cc class and Judd plaisted take out the 160cc class.
Cameron Park Raceway in the outskirts of Newcastle, NSW, hosted Round Two over the weekend of 12th-13th April and provided another fabulous weekend of quality action. Lap records tumbled which was a real demonstration of how far the riders, and the whole series, has come in the 12 months since the series last visited the track.
Judd Plaisted built on his 160cc series lead by taking out both 17-lap races at Cameron Park by a significant margin. If he can continue his form through the remaining rounds of the domestic series, he’ll take out the title which will qualify him to take a spot in the FIM MiniGP World Cup final that will be held in conjunction with the final round of MotoGP 2024 at Valencia in midNovember. Plaisted was clearly happy to have hit his goals for the weekend and reflected on the improvements of the last year ‘The main goal for me coming back
Above: Issac Ayad.
Left: Judd Plaisted.
MINI GP 160
Top: MiniGP-160 start.
Above: Chaz Williams. Below: Judd Plaisted.
Right: Chaz Williams on the pace.
Bottom: Chaz Williams & Isaac Ayad leading the pack.
to Cameron Park this year was to come away with the lap record for qualifying and the races. Then race results would hopefully come with that. I was pretty surprised that I was twenty-seven seconds faster than last year’s race time. It’s a big achievement and shows how far we have all come as racers in only one year’.
Chaz Williams took second place in both Round Two races with Cooper Horne and Isaac Ayad taking a third place each. Plaisted took out the round win, Williams took second and Ayad third.
At the end of Round Two, Plaisted holds a thirty-one point lead over Copper Horne on the series table with Chaz Williams just three points back in third spot.
In the 190cc class, Levi Russo came to Round Two holding the series lead but it was Bodie Paige who took out pole position shaving over half a second from last year’s pole lap. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue on the warmup lap prevented Paige starting race one and it was Riley Nauta who took the lead, and the race win, from the second row of the grid. Russo took out second with Jake Paige in third. In Race Two, Bodie Paige bounced back from the disappointment of missing the first race by lowering the lap record and taking out the win from Russo. Jake Paige crossed the line in third spot but a 30-second time penalty, because he was running tyres without the correct markings, dropped him back to seventh and elevated Hudson Thompson to third.
MINI GP 190
Levi Russo’s two second-place finishes gave him the round win after a sketchy start to the weekend ‘It was a very challenging weekend with a big crash on Friday, so the outcome on Sunday taking out the round win and extending the championship lead was something to be really proud about”
Russo takes a twenty-nine-point lead in the series to Round Three with Bodie Paige in second and Riley Nauta just a point back from Paige in third.
As the weekend wrapped up, Dim Papaconstantinou, principal of Ohvale Australia the FüSport FIM MiniGP Australia Series organisers said “It’s such a great feeling to see lap records being shattered at another round. It shows that the level of competition has risen in 2024 and that all our efforts in the program are significantly elevating the skill level of junior road racing in Australia. I can’t wait to see what the next round in Queensland has to offer.
Round Three of the five round series takes FIM miniGP to Ipswich, QLD, on the weekend of 1st-2nd June.
Top: MiniGP-190 start. Above: Riley Nauta. Top right: Bodie Paige. Right: Levi Russo, Riley Nauta & Bodie Paige.
Local Rides
It’s hArD to not start this story with “back in my day”. so, i didn’t. not quite, anyway.
But I still reminisce.
The Sydney I cut my road motorcycling teeth in had a couple of popular “local rides”. The type of place you go when you can spare a few hours away from the chores and get on the bike for a quick blast. The Old Pacific Highway, commonly called The Old Road, and the road through the Royal National Park south of Sydney were the popular spots. For those in Sydney’s west, like I was, Bells Line of Road presented opportunities for all sorts of trouble.
Back then the speed limits were higher and largely unenforceable in the twisty bits with the available technology. They were therefore appropriately ignored with abandon. There were some seriously fast guys who used to ride those roads. Not so much anymore, the really fast guys generally go elsewhere. Some of the ones who still ride there think they’re fast, but thinking and being are vastly nouns.
Those roads were popular places for magazines to go for photo shoots for bike tests too. We used to use them all the time. Not so much anymore. It’s hard to make a sports bike look like it’s going 160Km/h when it’s actually doing 70.
LOCAL rIdE sharE YOUr
By TUg MCCLUTCHIn
Speed limits reduced over time down to 60Km/h on the “good bits” of those roads (and now 50Km/h on parts of The Old Road) and have made them pretty much unrideable if you want to have fun without risking going to prison.
Most major cities have similar popular bike roads. Melbourne has the Black Spur and The Great Ocean Road, to
name but two. Melbournites are blessed with good roads within a couple of hours of the city. Adelaide has some good riding roads on the run east to Birdwood and other lovely backroads littered through the Adelaide Hills, if you know where to find them.
Brisbane has Mt Glorious and Mt Mee, and the Gold Coast has some
lovely roads in the Hinterland, and you can spend many hours climbing up and down hills with fantastic bends.
Perth riders are blessed with the best motorcycling weather of anywhere in the country, but sadly they are paupers in the twisty roads department. The roads around Perth are very well maintained by Eastern States standards, but curvy roads are a few hours south. It accounts for the very strong cruiser market sales in Perth.
Darwin’s roads are also pretty flat and largely straight, but there’s a few bends south of town. Nothing to set the sportsbike rider’s heart aflame though. But that doesn’t mean there’s no reason to ride, or nowhere to ride too.
Motorcyclists are good problem solvers. We’re generally good at fixing broken things on the side of the road with a cable tie, a paddle pop stick, and some gaffer tape. We’re also good at finding places to enjoy riding motorcycles when the ones we’ve been riding to for decades have become almost unrideable due to traffic, policing, speed limit reductions, or some other intervening factor.
Many riders have decided to get their collective rocks off in the dirt. The blazing rate of growth in the adventure bike market is one example of this. Riders are switching machines and going in search of dirt roads to get their kicks. One benefit is The Bronze don’t like getting their cars dirty, so you’re much less likely to lose
EdITOr’S PICK OF THE MOnTH rIdE
terrey hills to lookout
your license in the bush. You also don’t have to ride as fast to get your thrills, and riding dirt is serious fun once you’re adept at it. Until then it will scare the shit out of you, and that’s fun too.
But then there are others who, rather than completely change their riding genre, simply go in search of more roads. No longer satisfied with the lack of enjoyment presented by the more famous motorcycle haunts and routes, they simply travel further afield, or perhaps find some previously undiscovered gem of a road that they never knew existed and start enjoying that instead.
For me, a change in abode to a place outside Sydney has placed me in the NSW Southern Highlands. I’d ridden the area many times over the years, and it is a delight. But once you live somewhere, a whole world of back roads becomes known to you that had previously never existed. Not in your world anyway.
So, for the past year I have been enjoying the Highlands roads much more regularly than I did previously, and I am enjoying them pretty much by myself, because I’ve found ones that very few other people use.
My new locale also means I’m closer to the NSW Alps, although it really does need an overnight trip to make full use of them. The start of the Snowy Mountains Highway is three hours away from me now, so it’s possible to pull a
Ok, so this is a favourite from waaaay back, and from my childhood too. It was so easily being able to move from suburban living into what as a kid I thought of as a magical vast area of natural bush. Much later as a pillion I enjoyed some of the sharp bends as we headed back from the Lookout and went round and down to Church Point.
When you know a road well, I think that easy rhythm you get into, is an enticing pleasure.
Being able to get into a welcome ride space for a few hours – without having to leave the city entirely, or going too far from it – is fabulous.
Another ride we enjoyed in that area was from Frenches Forest down through Oxford Falls and along the Wakehurst Parkway through to North Narrabeen and towards Palm Beach. Lots of great pub lunches along that stretch too.
As Tug urged, please send along your favourite local rides with photos and maps if possible and why that/ those rides draw you back and ones you recommend. Editor
massive day ride in the alps and be home for dinner, but I’d rather make two days of it and do it well.
So what’s the point of my rambling? This is where you come in.
We want to know where you go for kicks.
Where do you live, and what’s your favourite ride destination if you’re looking to stay reasonably close to home?
It doesn’t have to have more turns than the Nürburgring. It doesn’t even need to be pretty, although that’s lovely if it is. It doesn’t need a view, and it doesn’t need to go up and down a mountain, although that always scores extra points.
And it doesn’t need a café or a pub at the end of it, although, again, bonus points. You know how this works.
So, we need you to write to us and tell us about your local. Send an email with some info, and some pics if you have them. We’ll trawl through them and publish some as we go along.
You never know, you might gain some new riding mates along the way, and find some new turns to carve near your place that you didn’t know existed.
Send your submissions to yourview@clemengermediasales.com.au and teach us all something. Don’t worry if your spelling and grammar isn’t great, the Managing Editor is pedantic and will fix your shit up for you. She fixes mine all the time. Hop to it. Winter is coming. AMM
WOrLdSBK CALEndAr UPdATE
WOrdS And IMAgES: nICK EdWArdS
When the preVious eDition of Amm hit the shelves, just one round of worldsBK 2024 had been run and whilst it provided hints that perhaps this season was going to be a classic, you can never infer too much from the results at phillip island as it is a very particular kind of track that doesn’t necessarily highlight all the strengths and weaknesses of the teams, bikes or riders.
Alex Lowes, on the Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) ZX10RR had put in a
weekend performance that was head and shoulders above what we’ve seen from him in recent years and put him at the head of the series points ladder. Reigning World Superbike champion Alvaro Bautista, on the Aruba.it Ducati, didn’t really find his feet until the last race of the weekend but still placed fifth overall. New teammate, 2023 World Supersport champion Nicolo Bulega impressed, winning on debut and holding second place behind Lowes at the conclusion of the weekend’s three races, two full length
affairs and a shorter sprint race.
Multiple World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea, who had switched camps from Kawasaki to Yamaha at the end of 2023, had a miserable weekend ending with no points on the scoreboard and some unpleasant bruises after a nasty crash in Race Two. Teammate Andrea Locatelli had a more productive outing and held third place in the standings.
Andrea ‘The Maniac’ Ianonne’s debut on the GoEleven Ducati was nothing short of spectacular and despite
mechanical issues in the Tissot Superpole sprint race, he sat in fourth place at the end of the weekend ahead of some very big and well-established names in the WorldSBK ranks.
Toprak Razgatlioglu’s debut on the previously under-performing BMW opened a lot of people’s eyes and, despite a slightly uneven weekend, ending with a mechanical DNF in Race Two, it was clear that this was to be no development season for the team, Toprak was there to win.
So, that was Round One, what did we learn from Round Two, at Catalunya, and Round Three at The Cathedral of Speed, Assen?
Bautista’s performance was much improved at both rounds, putting himself on the podium in all three races at both Rounds although only scoring one win, the Tissot Superpole race at Assen. That consistency saw him climb to the top of the table after Round Three on one-hundred twenty-three points. Bulega continued to justify his place in the Aruba.ir team with second place in Race One at Catalunya, having lead
but then chased down and passed by Razgatlioglu late in the race, and a well deserved win in Race Two. Assen wasn’t quite the happy hunting ground for him that Catalunya had been. A secondplace in the Superpole race was the highlight but mid-field finishes in the two full-distance races cost him points and dropped him to third in the championship. Razgatlioglu had made people sit up and take notice at Philip Island but could he repeat that at Catalunya and Assen? No, he didn’t repeat it, he improved on it. His performances at both rounds were spectacular. Two wins and a third place at Catalunya and a win and second place in the full length races at Assen left him in second spot on the championship table, just six points adrift of Bautista. Only a relatively poor midfield finish in the Assen Tissot Superpole race marred his series of podium finishes. BMW are finally in the game and genuine championship contenders. And
Razgatlioglu cements his reputation as an exceptionally talented rider.
In the Yamaha camp, Rea continued to struggle and after three rounds he finds himself down in fifteenth place a neat one-hundred points behind series leader Bautista. Locatelli is strongest of the Yamaha riders and sits in fifth place on the ladder although he’s not been able to visit the podium since Round One. Also on a Yamaha, Australian Remy Gardner finally overcame some of the bad luck that had dogged him in previous races and put in a fabulous performance in Race Two at Assen to get his first, very well deserved, podium place with a third-place finish.
KRT stalwart Alex Lowes showed what he’s capable of at Round One and whilst he wasn’t able to repeat quite the same form at Catalunya or Assen, he kept it together well enough to be sitting fifth in the championship. Teammate Alex Bassani, moving across from Ducati to KRT for 2024 still has a way to go to
Above & right: Bautista. Below left: Rea.
Below: Iannone.
Bottom right: Locatelli.
adapt to the ZX10RR and this sees him a long way off the pace in the championship and sitting just behind Rea in the points standings. The big news from the Kawasaki camp is that KRT are withdrawing from WorldSBK at the end of 2024 but will be staying in WorldSBK for 2025. Huh? Kawasaki are minority shareholders in the renowned Bimota brand and 2025 will see ‘Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team’ take over the mantle of KRT. Not an official works team but it will be factory supported and Lowes and Bassani are expected to stay with the Bimota-branded outfit.
In the non-works stakes, Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) and Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven Ducati) looked strong leaving Phillip Island but Petrux cruelled his chances of fighting for the title of the best independent rider in the series by breaking his jaw and a few other choice bones in an MX crash ahead of Round Two. Petrucci was, as ever, upbeat in his social media posts and it was clear that whilst his injuries were moderately serious, and he’s lucky that they weren’t worse, they won’t prevent him from returning to racing in due course.
Nicholas Spinelli, better known for racing for Tech3 E-Racing in the FIM Enel MotoE™ World Championship, took Petrux’s seat on the Barni Spark Ducati at Assen and went ahead and won Race One! The Assen weather had been, as
it often is, challenging all weekend with constant changes in track condition, the onshore wind can turn a wet track dry much quicker than you’d see at most other circuits. Race One started with a wet track but most teams predicted that it would dry quickly and so fitted slicks. Spinelli’s team gambled on the track remaining damp and fitted intermediates, a move that allowed their rider to establish a commanding lead in the early laps but start to fall back towards the pack as the track dried and the slick-shod riders piled on the pressure. As the lap counter ticked down, Razgatlioglu and Bautista were lapping four seconds faster than Spinelli and looking as though they were both well positioned to pass the Barni Spark rider
Above & top: Razgatlioglu.
Below: Gardner.
Top right: Rinaldi.
before the chequered flag but racing can be random and a red flag with six laps to go, triggered by Locatelli’s Yamaha unloading a large amount of oil on to the track, handed Spinelli the win before the faster riders got to him. Some may think that Spinelli’s win had more than a little luck attached to it but you make your own luck, his team rolled the dice and came up smiling. Good on them!
Spinelli was unable to repeat his performance in the remaining races of the weekend and amongst the nonfactory riders it was, once again, Andrea Iannone who making a case that perhaps someone should be considering him for a works ride next year, if Bautista retires perhaps? Or even a move to MotoGP although that seems unlikely give his age and the fact that he’s made it clear that he’s enjoying himself immensely in WorldSBK
Of the rest of the field? Neither of the Bonovo BMW riders have made an impact, Gerloff sits in twelfth and Redding, who would be finding it difficult to see how much Razgatlioglu was getting out of the same bike, is in eighteenth. Honda continue to struggle, Vierge is their best performer in
factory
had his moments but lacks consistency. Sam Lowes, in his debut WorldSBK year shows signs of incremental improvement, sits in eleventh and could pull of a few surprises as the season progresses.
Between now and the next edition of AMM, Rounds Four (Misano, Italy, 14th-16th June) Five (Donington, UK, 12th-14th July) and Six (Most, Czech
Republic, 19th-21st July) will have run and that will take us to the mid-point of the Twelve Round series. The racing we’ve already seen in Rounds One through Three has been spectacular and whilst Bautista and Toprak appear to be in the box seats to take out the championship there’s still a lot of points to play for and it wouldn’t take much to shake up the leaderboard. Roll on Round Four!
AMM
fourteenth. Rinaldi, relegated from
Ducati to Team Motocorsa has
thE FastEst PlacE
On EArTH
“ yOU LIVE MO r E I n FIVE MI n UTES AT FULL TH r OTTLE O n A MOTO r C y CLE LIKE THIS , THA n SOME PEOPLE d O I n THEI r E n TI r E LIFE .”
TExT And PHOTOS: HErMAnn KOEPF
Our Author reAlizeD A long-held dream, rode 3,400 kilometers through seven us states with his sister and visited the fastest place in the world, where speed fanatics from all over the world gather once a year for the ‘Bonneville speed week’ and hunt for records.
Most of us motorists have a secret
‘bucket list’ in the back of our mindsmagical places that we definitely want to experience for ourselves once in our life. Be it the loneliest highway, the most drivable road in the middle of nowhere, the windiest 100 kilometers - or as in my case, the fastest place in the world.
The huge, dry, salt lakes in the US state of Utah are definitely one of
“ The huge, dry, salT lakes in The us sTaTe of uTah are definiTely one of The places where The highesT land speeds of over 1,000 km/h are achieved. ”
the places where the highest land speeds of over 1,000 km/h are achieved. Of the former 35,000 square meters of salt area of the former Lake Bonneville at the beginning of the last century, not even half of it remains. Since 1917, the mining of potash salt for use as fertilizer has increased both the size of the area and the thickness of the salt layer of the ‘Salt Flats’ is greatly reduced.
Originally, our plan was to start west from Salt Lake City, from the town of Wendover to experience the fever on the salt for a few days before our trip over the classics of Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and an eventual journey to to Los Angeles. But as is often the case when traveling by motorcycle, spontaneity proves to be the best route planner: Due to rain over the last days, the Speed Week had to be postponed and so we
started our trip in a northerly direction.
On two brand new Indian Touring press vehicles, a wine-red Pursuit Limited Premium ICON edition with an 1800 cc PowerPlus engine from the Challenger model series, and a Chieftain Dark Horse with a 1900 cc Thunderstroke engine chic gray for my sister Maria, we headed to Yellowstone National Park. Such beautiful scenery, all in XXXXL compared to our European Alps.
After cruising hundreds of miles through stunning landscapes, we made it to Wendover as the organizers announced that the Salt would be opened the next day. The little town is packed with cars and trailers waiting on the streets fort he event opening.
15cm water is there in the entrance area and the paddocks are still wet but at least the shorter five kilometer track of
the two tracks is opened on Wednesday to the motorcycles and some slower cars. The atmosphere is familiar, drivers and start marshals greeting each other and everyone is happy that Speed Week can take place after a long preparation period.
A fairly wide range of vehicles is at the start, all of them driven by the Bonneville myth and the inner urge to drive as fast as possible. Following in the footsteps of Burt Munro, two Indian teams are at the start, both capable of setting new records in their classes. An absolute eyecatcher is the extremely flat triumphs of Alp Sungurtekin, who is a super nice and a positively crazy, speed nerd, as I can tell during the evening chat in our motel parking lot, where he and a few other teams are staying. They all like to have a beer together after a hard racing day and unpack all sorts of ‘salt fever stories’.
We would love to stay in this magical place longer, but unfortunately, we only have a few days left to go to LA. Inspired by countless impressions in mind, we head on Route 50, the loneliest highway in the world, towards Bryce Canyon. After a night at the Skyview Hotel in Torrey, we continue on the incredibly beautiful highway 12 and through Dixie National Park, with a detour to the small Kodachrome Basin State Park, then to Las Vegas and finally Los Angeles.
It was really great to meet so many Bonneville teams in person who, with
their passion, years of tinkering and eventful escape from their everyday lives, see no limits to time and money. Or as Anthony Hopkins so aptly says in the Burt Munro movie: “You live more in five minutes at full throttle on a motorcycle like this, than some people do in their entire life.” That’s certainly true, but at a leisurely 3,400 kilometers through Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, and California on Indian luxury ships and visiting a magical place on your bucket list is just as good an experience. AMM
LIFE IS gOOd
H A r LE y dAVI d SO n’ S LAU n CH OF THE 2024 rOA d gLI d E ™, S T r EET gLI d E ™ A nd A USSIE - FI r ST rOA d gLI d E ™ L IMITE d.
IMAgES: InCITE IMAgES/HArLEy-dAVIdSOn
AttenDing new-moDel releAses is part-and-parcel of working on a bike mag, but some are tougher than others. the launch of the street glide and road glide was about as good as it gets. if it were possible today to ride in a harley-Davidson freedom story from the 1970s, this is what it would be like.
Main: A superb start to any day.
Below: The ride leader had something a bit special.
Above: O’Reilly’s, and a great view over lunch under the trees.
The eArly morning sun glistened as its refection arced across the deep lustre of the bike’s tank. After an hour or so of effortless cruising through the foothills of southern Queensland and into nsw, it was starting to feel as though a coffee, and maybe a pastry, wouldn’t have been out of place.
As we carved through the Numinbah Valley with the growling V-twins quietly devouring distance, and the surprisingly well-handling bikes carved along the twisting asphalt, the rustic village of Chillingham emerged from the lush, subtropical jungle which lined the road.
Damn. That was a great start to the day. The bikes were obviously superb, the piping-hot cappuccino slid easily past the wind-chapped lips, and the temperature was slowly rising.
rIdIng THE drEAM
As the bikes propelled everyone effortlessly over the range through Beechmont and down to a lunch stop at a flash, comfortable establishment called O’Reilly’s – complete with alpacas roaming the beautifully maintained grounds and smiling, friendly waitresses with incredible food, wicked desserts and cold drinks in frosty ice buckets – it seemed more and more that Harley had put the idea of a dream ride to rest. This was reality, no dream.
The bikes gleamed in the sun with quiet, understated aggression and majesty, and the comfort of all the different variations beckoned for the second half of the day.
TAKEn AS rEAd.
The bikes were fantastic, that was
obvious, but another huge part of the Harley lifestyle involves riding with good people, and on this day, the people were about as good as it gets. There were plenty of old friends and new acquaintances, including the Harley staff and the welcoming locals at the stops, and as bikes were swapped and yarns exchanged, the atmosphere couldn’t have been more congenial.
The afternoon was another blast through amazing winding roads, cane fields, some freeway running, a few stops here and there for a chat and a few pics, and as the whole show rolled into the Gold Coast airport and the sun began to sink behind the hills we’d ridden that day, it was undeniable we’d been part of a truly magnificent riding experience.
A Harley experience. Just like in a magazine.
rOad glidE and strEEt glidE HArLEy-dAVIdSOn
IMAgES: InCITE IMAgES/HArLEy-dAVIdSOn
HArley clAims: ‘the All-new street glide and road glide models featuring the new milwaukee-eight 117 are more powerful, comfortable and lighter, and packed with advanced technology, including a new infotainment system, all wrapped up in a dramatic new visual design’. After riding the bikes we have to say: “that’s so true!” we’re still in awe of just good these bikes are.
The Street Glide and Road Glide are two variations built on the basically the same bike. The two giveaways for onlookers trying to work out which is which are:
l The Street Glide has the squarish headlight and the ‘batwing’ fairing mounted to the triple clamps. When the ’bars are turned the fairing turns as well; and
l The Road Glide has the wrap-aroundstyle lighting and the ‘shark-nose’ fairing fixed to the frame. When the ’bars are turned, the fairing stays aligned with the bike’s frame.
Other than that, both run the Milwaukee Eight 117 V-twin motor with four modes, an improved cooling system, enhanced fuel-flow, a whopping 31cm TFT touch screen, and a surprisingly loud 200-watt sound system with fairing-mounted speakers. Rear suspension travel is
75mm, and a revised one-piece seat is designed to offer significant improvement in long-range comfort.
STrEET CrEd.
Both bikes are part of the Grand American Touring range, so long-distance comfort was a priority in the design brief, and even though we felt the comfort level of these bikes was absolutely superb, the performance was a bit of an eye-opener.
We were kind of expecting a two-wheeled armchair with wheels, and our surprise when we cracked open the throttle leaving the Gold Coast airport must’ve been about on par with that of Aussie ice skater Steven Bradbury when, at the 2002 Olympics, scooting along in last place, everyone fell over in front of him and he took gold. Our whoop of joy was probably just as loud.
The 1923cc push-rod V-twin motor
Right: The 31cm TFT touchscreen can display a huge amount of information, or, with a touch of the menu button, show just the essentials. It’s a thing of great beauty and very easy to use and read.
Left and far left: The easy way to tell the bikes apart is the Street Glide having the batwing fairing (left) and the Road Glide having the shark-nose fairing. They’re built on the same engine and engineering.
Above: The Milwaukee-Eight 117 motor is a masterpiece. Oodles of power is delivered in a smooth and predictable surge that makes both riding hard or flubbing along listening to the on-board stereo a very fulfilling experience.
Below: The Road Glide fairing feels a little wider than the Street Glide, especially with the positioning of the mirrors, but protection for the rider on both models is excellent.
is an absolute dream come true.
The smooth, solid, predictable drive starts at around 1500rpm and pushes hard up to around 5000rpm where things began to level off. Inside that rev range the motor pulled hard and had no nasty surprises. It was glorious. Wandering through the low mountains of northern NSW the donk was happy to be lugged, thrashed, or just kept in the sweet spot with use of the fairly smooth six-speed box.
That brings up another interesting
and entirely subjective thought with these two bikes: although the power delivery is strong and smooth, Harley has left a great deal of character in the drive train. There’s still a threatening but quiet grumble to the motor, the gearbox has just enough clunk in it to let the rider feel Harley’s heritage, and while the ride is hassle-free, it’s impossible to not feel the bikes have real character – not quirkiness. Just a joyful feeling of ‘real’ motorcycle touring.
Top to bottom, front to back, we
loved these bikes and the motor especially.
ATTACK MOdE
The bikes have four modes: Road, Sport, Rain and Custom, and whether or not they’re the best thing ever or a marketing exercise, will be up to each individual. We found the Road mode suited us for everything we wanted to do. The bike has plenty of safety features, so although we didn’t ride it in the rain, we felt as though we’d be fairly safe in Road mode in any conditions short of ice. Throttle response was really nice, and our little hearts were pounding with besotted admiration for the bike in every situation we encountered.
Sport mode was the one we couldn’t get settled with. It seemed to us it made the throttle response just a little too edgy for comfort and made things feel a little snatchy, if you know what we mean. It wasn’t angry or difficult, but it was noticeable, and we couldn’t see the point when the Road mode suited us so well. Each to their own.
Rain mode kind of ‘softened’ the throttle response and upped the levels of intervention from the bike, and we didn’t mind that. We didn’t feel it as a huge step back from Road mode in performance, but it was noticeable, and on a bike weighing in at around 370kg, there’ll be times when even the best rider could benefit from that.
Custom allowed the rider to set the parameters in the mode, and we didn’t fool around with it during this ride, but an owner could probably set up the ultimate
characteristics for the bike of their dreams.
Cruise control was excellent, the menu and switchblocks were intuitive and easy to work out, and even the blinkers being a thumb paddle on each handlebar instead of the Japanese single switch on the left took no time to get used to. It did seem the self-cancelling was shutting down the blinkers a little earlier than we would’ve liked sometimes, but we didn’t ask whether they worked on time or bike lean. It’s such a minor thing we wouldn’t fret about it. It’s just something to be aware of and get used to.
COMFOrT
Harley pretty much wrote the book on V-twin touring bikes, and the Street Glide and Road Glide are a very fitting and deserving example of 120 years or so of development and refinement. There’s nothing we can fault from the comfort point of view.
What has to be kept in mind there though is the absolutely incredible catalogue of OEM accessories Harley has available. It’s seriously intimidating. The number and variety of seats, ’bars, footplates, shifters, panniers, top boxes, even grips and stereo gear is far, far beyond us to cover. Any rider who felt they couldn’t set these bikes up from the Harley catalogue to suit their preferences is seriously kidding themselves.
The bikes we rode offered great protection from the stock fairings, brilliant luggage, and LED lighting which looked like it’d be superb. We only rode during the day, so we have to
Left: A Harley-Davidson view of Australia.
Above: Switchblocks on both sides look busy at first glance, but were actually rider-friendly and very easy to sort out.
Right: Superb comfort, great performance and surprising stability make both the Street Glide and Road Glide (shown here) absolutely magnificent tourers and great motorcycles by any measure.
have a guess at that, but we’re pretty sure we’re safe in making the judgement.
Get into a dealer and see for yourselves. That’s all we can say.
THE ExPErIEnCE
At the end of sensational day of riding, one we won’t soon forget, we came away with the firm impression that the Street Glide and Road Glide are truly exceptional touring motorcycles. The motor is fabulous for its intended purpose – and a whole lot of fun if a rider feels a little puckish – and the engineering of the frame and the suspension had our eyes shining with pleasure. The bikes are amazingly stable. In sweeping turns where the road surface was a little choppy, we expected the big twins to be a bit iffy, but these two bikes could be ridden into those curves with reasonable intent, and even with a little trail braking they stayed rock solid and held their line. There was no wallowing or wandering, no scraping of footplates, and the longer we rode the more we took for granted the feeling of security.
It was one of the most impressive aspects of the bikes’ performance.
And for cruising along a back-country road with the sun on the shoulders, the on-board nav showing a village with possible coffee shop in the near distance?
It just doesn’t get much better.
Length: 2410 mm
Overall width: Street Glide 975mm. Road Glide 945mm
Overall height: Street Glide 1350mm. Road Glide 1315mm
Seat height, unladen: Street Glide 715mm. Road Glide 720mm
Static ground clearance: Street Glide 140mm. Road Glide 145mm
Weight, in running order: Street Glide 368kg. Road Glide 380kg
Engine: Milwaukee-Eight® 117
Valves: Pushrod-operated, overhead valves with hydraulic, self-adjusting lifters; four valves per cylinder
Bore: 103.5mm
Stroke: 114.3mm
Displacement: 1923cc
Compression ratio: 10.3:1
Fuel system: Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI)
Lubrication system: Pressurised, dry-sump
Transmission: Six-speed Cruise Drive
Electric power outlet: 15 Watt USB-C electric power accessory port in media storage box
GPS System: Embedded navigation system with real-time traffic and weather via Wi-Fi hotspot
Warranty: 24 months (unlimited mileage)
Service Interval: First 1600km, then every 8000km thereafter*
* Inspections of certain systems and components are required at 4000km intervals.
thE lEgEnd OF
VALEnTInO rOSSI
AndrEW gOSLIng - TBgSPOrT, rOB MOTT - rBMOTOLEnS, HALF LIgHT PHOTOgrAPHIC
IDiDn’t hAVe the pleAsure of seeing giacomo Agostini race, but i’d likely have been bored anyway. watching a guy win all the time on a machine that is miles better than what anyone else has doesn’t do it for me. not that it matters. i saw Valentino rossi race since his 125cc debut, and i enjoyed every second of it. he’s my generation’s Ago.
When Valentino retired, I felt a mixture of love and loss. Loss for his departure from our fortnightly racing appetite, and love for what he gave us, and for the incredible sport he has left us all with to carry us into the future. Don’t think for a moment that what we have now as the sport we all love would be what it is without him. It wouldn’t.
Sure, the days of Doohan and Rainey and Lawson and Schwantz were preposterous, with the tyre-shredding 500cc monsters regularly trying to kill the bravest men I knew. But those days were nothing like this. There were only ever two or three who could win. At the height of Doohan’s powers, there was only one. It was fitting that Doohan’s retirement coincided with Rossi’s premier class debut, and that Rossi walked into
Doohan’s team and onto his bike, even if it did need to be detuned a little so it didn’t kill him. The greatest rider I had seen was making way for one potentially even greater.
Rossi was never really the outright fastest. His qualifying record attests to that. Nor was he the most naturally gifted rider the world has ever seen. Doohan, Stoner, and Marquez have him covered there. Probably some others too. But fuck, he could race. He knew how to play with his opposition and then beat them, all for the glory of the crowd. At his prime he was a matador. Every block pass another banderilla into the backs of his bloodied competition. For years he had most of them beaten before the start lights went out, such was his domination of the pack, both on the track and in the mind. And the
mind is a vital part of the racer’s armoury. Time after time he destroyed the selfbelief of his competitors. Gibernau, Biaggi, Melandri, Capirossi. All of them beaten in the pits, and then in the track.
Rossi dominated. The championship loss to Nicky Hayden in 2006 the only real sign of frailty. At least we knew he was human.
It wasn’t until the arrival of Casey Stoner that we saw a rider, possessed of preposterous natural talent honed to the keenness of a katana by years of junior dirt tracking, and an innately Australian disrespect of authority, which combined to instil in him a vicious disregard of reputation, no matter whose name it was attached to. Rossi’s reputation just made him a bigger target for the brazen Stoner. But Stoner was just the beginning. The
largely unflappable and blindingly fast Lorenzo followed, and then Marquez, who makes those two seem like puppies when it comes to mental fortitude.
But what of greatness, and legacy? How is it measured?
We can discuss Agostini’s championship tally, but he usually rode bikes that were supreme compared to what the rest had, and he often raced multiple classes on the same day. He won 15 championships, but there were 5 years where he won both the 350cc and the 500cc class at the same time. You’ll forgive me for not viewing his championship tally as a fair comparison to modern riders. Although he did win 10 races at the Isle Of Man, so I’m loathe to downplay his greatness too much. Regardless of how you regard the
greatness of Agostini, Rossi could never match his tally of 15 titles, and remains 7 wins short of Ago’s 122 career wins. Try as he might, Rossi just couldn’t get there.
But none of that matters. Rossi is the greatest.
He’s the greatest because despite him being an intensely private person who dislikes fame, he understands the importance of ten seconds and a smile. He has always been grateful for the life he has, and he has always understood the people who make it possible for him to have great fun and get rich racing motorcycles; the fans.
“ he knew how To play wiTh his opposiTion and Then beaT Them, all for The glory of The crowd.”
Many riders over the years have struggled dealing with the public side of racing. They get irritated by the time demanded by the fans. It is a part of a race weekend most riders don’t enjoy, and understandably so.
But Rossi can always find ten seconds and a smile.
Ten seconds to say hello, sign an autograph, and pose for a picture. Just ten seconds. Ten seconds that means the world to the person to whom he gives
it, and that changes their life forever in some small way. Sometimes in a big way.
Look at the outpouring of tributes on social media when he announced his retirement. Everyone seems to have a picture of themselves with Valentino. Most of the current MotoGP field has a picture of themselves as a childhood
racing fan with their hero Valentino. Many credit him with being the genesis of their desire to race.
Tens of thousands of fans around the world have one too. When he retired my Instagram feed was full of pictures of Valentino with adoring fans, and sometimes with people who probably
weren’t fans, but wanted a photo with him anyway. And in every single one, his smile is absolutely genuine. You will never see him with anything that looks like a false smile on his face. He gives every one of those fans the genuine article. Makes every one of them feel that he cares. Because he does. He genuinely does.
And for a guy who is anything but a prolific Instagrammer, there’s more photos of him on there than all of those Kardashian psychopaths combined. Mostly the images are posted by fans of themselves with Valentino.
He understands people, and he understands their adoration for him. And he loves them right back. And sure, he also understands business and marketing. But that doesn’t completely belittle the altruism.
Rossi has brought countless fans to our sport. People who would not be watching if not for him. Many of them will stay after he’s long gone. Every new fan brings sponsors and money to the sport, and the level of professionalism we see in the sport we love is, at some level at least, due to Rossi.
The pay-packets our young heroes get
today is very much due to him. They all owe him.
And now he is investing his own money to bring young talent through his own VR46 Academy and into the upper echelon of the sport. Sure, he’s doing it to make sure young Italian riders get the support they need, but the benefits for the sport are multiple.
He has his own team in MotoGP, in addition to his work in the lower classes and his academy. Who was the last rider to put back into the sport in such a way?
These are the days of enlightenment for Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The skills are supreme. The bikes phenomenal. It’s more competitive than it’s ever been. The technology is incredible, and it flows down directly to the bikes we ride ourselves. Every year the tech from MotoGP saves the lives of motorcycle riders around the world and gives all of us better motorcycles to ride. MotoGP is not only our sport, but it affects our motorcycling lives in a very tangible way.
And it is what it is, in part, because of Valentino Rossi.
He is the greatest we’ve ever had. Not because he’s the best racer ever, because there’s every likelihood he’s not. But because he understands the value of that ten seconds, and that smile.
SHAKE, rATTLE And rOLL
L“ i seriously asked myself, like many a rider when we reach a cerTain age: ‘is iT Time for a biT more comforT … and a loT more power?’ ”
et’s get this strAight. i’m not a harley rider. i’ve never ridden one, so to speak, until the 2024 heritage classic 114. my only ride on this iconic motorcycle born out of harley’s panhead hydra glide dresser from the 1950s was a very short test ride when harley Davidson and indian did a ‘come and try day’ at the melbourne showgrounds about 10 years ago. the lasting memory from that day was the 1954 hit by Big Joe turner, ‘shake, rattle and roll’. But maybe it was the indian that left those rock and roll lyrics in my head, on repeat, for hours. i can’t remember; the ride on each bike was so short and i’d spent the day jumping from one to another. But fast forward to 2024 and i’m offered, for two weeks (yes, two weeks!), the new harley-Davidson heritage classic 114 minus its vibrations as this, the ninth iteration of the milwaukee-eight engine sitting in its softail frame had an upgrade post 2017. i quickly planned my ride to Jindabyne, nsw to visit friends. this long and winding road, with plenty of cornering was the perfect road trip to get to know the heritage. this ride from my home in Victoria’s yarra ranges is one of my all-time favourites. i’ve ridden this route via Mansfield to Whitfield, the murray Valley highway, a detour via the granya gap and then the Alpine way many times over the years. But on my
café-racer-styled triumph thruxton, even with a packed tank bag to lean on to take the pressure off my wrists, it was never the most comfortable of rides. however, on the heritage and its up-right riding position, i was about to experience a whole new level of touring comfort.
When I collected the Heritage from Harley Heaven in Melbourne’s CBD, I asked if many women bought this bike.
‘Oh yes, half our customers for the Heritage are women,’ was the salesman’s quick reply as he feather-dusted the bike’s gleaming Atlas Silver Metallic paintwork with black finish. ‘I’m riding to Jindabyne,’ I added.
As he took me through the bike’s controls including its self-cancelling indicators, I ask about performance and fuel economy and was told that its 114 cubic inch 4-valve per cylinder ‘V-twin’ Milwaukee-Eight engine (that’s where the ‘Eight’ comes from), would give me 94 ponies from slow to the get go when overtaking plus the cruise control would come in handy on the straights. Other than colours, there’s been no major change to the Heritage since the Milwaukee-Eight upgrade in 2017. Engine redesign back then that lead to a 75 per cent reduction in vibration due to a single counter-steering balancer inside the rubber mounted engine; redesigned
Above: Sunset over Lake Jindabyne after exploring the nearby hills.
Top Right: Finding neutral is no easy feat for the HD uninitiated.
Bottom Right: The Heritage’s classic gauge mounted on the tank is limited while on the move.
exhaust to displace heat; quicker throttle response; and improved oil cooling for its cylinder heads that upped its fuel economy as more heat goes into pushing the pistons instead of into the metal and out the exhaust.
With my eyes glazing over as the salesman drifted into the technicalities of its newton metres of torque, (the Heritage has 161Nm, which is a lot), I asked about fuel economy. I have this habit of coming close to fumes, especially when riding unfamiliar bikes.
‘You should get 400ks out the tank but keep an eye on the trip gauge’, were his parting words as I rode out the shop into Melbourne’s traffic where I suddenly had my motorcycling wings severely clipped. I like to think of myself as the ‘Queen of Filtering’. I am, after all, a former motorcycle courier, a job I fell into after riding Africa when I found myself in London for a
year and in need of cash to fund the ride home via Central Asia. Despite the salesman telling me the belt-driven Heritage was not that much wider than my Thruxton, I took it steady as its mini ape handlebars felt ‘oh so wide’. The Heritage is 330kg wet, which means a lot less manoeuvrability (for me) at slow speeds such as filtering in city traffic. However, as the seat height sits at 680mm, my feet could be comfortably flat on the road in an instant. But with what felt like a lot less wriggle room, I took the safe option and sat behind cars until my perception of a gap was wide enough, and only then did I filter.
I later measured the width of the Heritage between its mini apes and gave it a generous one metre. The specs say the bike’s width is 930mm. My Thruxton is 900mm with the mirrors turned vertical. So, there is no reason why I could not
also be the ‘Queen of Filtering’ on the Heritage. It was just a matter of forming that particular relationship with this bike. However, I imagine one does not own a Heritage to ride regularly through city traffic and park on footpaths as I do.
Footpath parking, which we can do in Victoria, the only Australian state where this most practical of traffic laws exists, would be a strategic exercise in planning arrivals and departures given the bulk of the Heritage as it is five times my
Left: After the Murray Valley Highway, I’m ready to take on The Alpine Way.
Below Left: From top of Charlotte Pass, it’s a short hike for views of Mount Kosciuszko.
Right: A stop in historic Nimmitabel for its famous bakery and the Federal Hotel.
body weight. And I felt its 330kgs all too well with much huffing and puffing the odd time I needed to push the bike into position ready for take-off! But a bit more strength training at my local gym would also sort this out as the Heritage rolls quite nicely unless its on gravel.
My only real ‘bug bear’, at this early stage with the Heritage was try as I might, I could not boot it into neutral. Was I being too brutish? I was soon to learn from my Harley riding mates that with a lot going on inside its huge 10-plate wet clutch to engage its equally huge gears, there was a particular knack to finding neutral. Plus, I needed to realise, there were also a few different angles of contact outside the engine even before it gets this far. Easily finding neutral, is a Harley thing that only seasoned Harley riders understand, I was told. But once let into the secret it was a doddle. Apply light pressure on the gear shift with the ball of the foot to pop it magically into neutral from where it had slipped into first. To be fair, the bike was new with low ks and by the time I returned the Heritage, it was popping into neutral every time with ease.
Before I move on to the Heritage’s grunt, comfort and awe-inspiring fuel economy, I’ll deal with what is most important (for me), and that is cornering. Leaving the Yarra Valley the next morning and heading up the Black Spur for my ride to Jindabyne, I fully expected the Heritage to be slow and cumbersome on the corners. After all, it was what I thought cruisers did. This was an opinion based entirely on the comments and riding style of some of my cruiser-riding mates. I clearly recall one ride where I suggested we do lunch at the Yarra Ranges’ Reefton Pub. ‘Black Spur and down the Reefton, doesn’t get much better than that,’ I’d said giddy with anticipation. ‘Too many tight bends’, they shot back. It was a comment that left an indelible mark forming my misguided opinion of cruisers. So you can understand these pre-conceived notions until after that first bend on the Black Spur as I headed to Jindabyne. It was then that I realised: ‘You just gotta ride it like a dirt bike’. The technical term is: ‘counter steering’. And with my own motorcycling heritage born on dirt bikes
mustering sheep in outback Australia, it is also so much fun. Counter steering also means moving your butt from side to side off the seat to really get a cruiser leaning into and out of the corners albeit leaving a tiny bit of metal behind with the odd scrap of the footboards. I reckon the Harley engineers are all too aware of this ‘grinding while cornering phenonium’ and have incorporated a slight design feature whereby it’s not actually the footboards losing metal, but the rounded heads of nuts underneath that make contact with the tarmac. An easy fix is to ditch the footboards and fit pegs, which are an aftermarket Harley accessory. However, I found the footboards a nice bit of comfort on the long and winding road.
Even at 330kg wet, the Heritage has this extraordinary low centre of gravity. With its big fat tyres sitting on 16-inch 1950s classic-styled chrome-laced rims it magically rolls around the bends and powers out on the apex with all its low down torquey power pumped out of 114 cubic inches. But its dual-bending telescopic front forks and rear monoshock sitting under the seat also need a mention as its cornering ability is so perfectly smooth. And that’s what you’d expect with this package and its nearly $40,000 price
tag (superior front and rear suspension is expensive!). The rear shock is also hydraulic pre-load adjustable and was perfectly set up for my 65kgs.
While at idle, the Heritage is quite subdued, when you open the throttle, it is a roar that echoes with a deep throaty rumble. On the Black Spur that morning with the sunlight dappled by wisps of fog, it was an incredible feeling as I accelerated out of each bend, the bike’s note seemed to echo off the tall Mountain Ash lining the smooth black tarmac. An aftermarket exhaust would heighten this sensation to a whole other level of pure riding bliss.
Reaching the top of the Black Spur, the fun (for now) was over and it was time to settle into the Heritage on the ride to Mansfield. As those riders familiar with this stretch would know, the local highway patrol make quite the killing catching speeding riders and drivers, even if just going a ‘little bit over’. I flicked on the cruise control with an easy push of a button and took a moment to have a good stretch. On these straight roads, it is just too easy to drift into the ‘zone’ and next minute you’re doing 120km/ h+. Too easy on the Heritage, so cruise control is an absolute must.
“ on These sTraighT roads, iT is jusT Too easy To drifT inTo The ‘zone’ and nexT minuTe you’re doing 120km/h+. Too easy on The heriTage, so cruise conTrol is an absoluTe musT. ”
I’ve heard some riders spruik about riding with both hands off the bars, but not on Victoria’s roads; too many pot holes, ruts and shoves. At least most of these are well signed, but with that monoshock rear suspension and those big fat tyres, it was so far superior to anything I have ever experienced on a bike (and I’ve fitted
Ohlins to my Thruxton). As I rode past the ‘Rough Surface’ signs, it was a matter of ‘rough surface, what rough surface’? The Heritage just soaked it up and rumbles along on its merry way.
With the road a soft blur under me, I turned my mind to the bike’s namesake: its heritage. The entire design package
Above: Comfort, power, handling. What more do you need on the sweepers?
in its softail platform oozes nostalgia and there was no mistaking I was riding a piece of history from a bygone era, but in name only. This was a modern powerful bike dressed in the glamour of the 1950s complete with low sweeping front and rear skirted-fenders, a detachable windshield, its large round headlamp
fringed by two mini lamps, footboards and its gorgeous vintage-styled leather saddle bags as lockable panniers that hug the bike seamlessly. You can carry nearly seven kilos per pannier and I used hiking dry sacks for my clothes and stuff, but Harley also sell pannier liners with handles and shoulder straps to make the
move from bike to accommodation a lot more streamlined.
I settled into the plush softness of the seat and could not help but feel a sense of contentment, and wanted ‘the road to go forever’. This was just too good to ever stop. There were many times on that ride, where I sat back, the bike purring under me as I breathed in the vistas of sweeping valleys and distant mountains. It’s these awe-inspiring moments that are made all the more embedded on our psych when we are not also suffering butt ache, lower back ache and any other pain heightened by the act of sitting for several hours on a motorcycle. A taller rider or rider with some pre-existing aches may suffer some semblance of pain in their various joints and body parts, but I believe the Heritage with its superior comfort and suspension helps to alleviate this discomfort to where it is at least bearable. It was only to refuel the bike and myself that I stopped on that nearly 600km ride to Jindabyne.
After some sublime cornering fun on the Mansfield-Whitfield Road, at Myrtleford I detoured to take a shortcut via a few backroads to reach the Murray Valley Highway. It was only here that the odd caravan and a B-double cattle truck, put a dent in what was the perfect ride. But this was not going to stop me and the Heritage enjoying the sweepers that lay ahead and one on of the few straight stretches where it is safe of overtake, I opened the throttle and hung on as the Heritage suddenly turned into a rocket ship. There is only one way to overtake. Have plenty of straight road to see oncoming traffic, then go for it. I had planned to refuel at Tallangatta but stopping would mean I’d be back behind the truck sniffing cow poo and miss the best of the Murray Valley sweepers. It was 80kms to Corryong and the next fuel. The trip metre said I had 128kms left in the 18.9 litre tank. However, my fuel consumption calculations did not account for my overtaking manoeuvres when I’d released all its 94 ponies. This minor details suddenly dawned on me as I passed a Corryong road marker that read 55km just as the low fuel light flashed 59km. ‘Did that mean to empty,’ I asked myself somewhat panicked and backed off. Low fuel lights are usually a little bit generous I reasoned.
We rolled on, the Heritage sipping up the last of its fuel as the electronic fuel gauge sitting in the round classic console atop the tear-drop tank threw a hissy fit. It flashed various numbers at me ranging from 78kms to 160km and even, at
one point, tried convincing me I had a third of a tank left on the fuel gauge bars. The variations were the result of leaning into the bends or going up or down a hill. But when we rumbled into Corryong, the tank only took 16 litres of 98 so I still had three litres left. The Heritage’s fuel economy at 100kms to five litres for an 1868cc has a fuel efficiency pretty similar to my 900cc Thruxton, so I really had nothing to worry about. But it was a good exercise to know just how far the Heritage could go thanks to the Harley engineering magic of its cylinder head cooling and its poppet valves. As the external pushrods reach the rockers up top, the four poppet valves on each head are opened to efficiently expel the combustion chamber thus burning all fuel for the most amount of bang for your buck, especially in the lower range when the engine is greedily sucking in fuel to give you that blast of ear-to-ear grinning torque.
While I never had to stomp on the brakes to avoid a rogue roo on that long and winding road to Jindabyne and even while riding early one evening over the Monaro plains, I felt secure knowing the Heritage could pull up if need be. It is equipped with ABS front and rear with a single four-piston caliper on a 300mm front disc and a two-piston floating caliper on a 292mm rear disc. However, with the footboards and the position of the rear brake pedal, and my average sized female legs, it was not a quick reaction to find the rear brake pedal, so my ‘go to’ was the front brake. Muscle memory or fitting foot pegs, this problem would be solved.
With my Jindabyne friends all musos, I enjoyed attending gigs and band practice following on the Heritage in warm sunshine taking in some of the backroads around Nimmitabel with a stop at the historic Federal Hotel. Run by Kel, a retired musician and a motorcyclist, he welcomes touring riders. It’s a good old country pub with country prices, all the gear set up for regular jam sessions, and a secure garage out the back. There’s live music most weekends, especially in spring and summer and even Suzie Quatro played at the pub in times past. Kel also organises several charity motorcycle rides over spring and summer (details at: www.hotelfederal.com).
I ended my trip to Jindabyne on the banks of the Snowy River, just across the road from the Dalgety Hotel, boogying to rock‘n’roll at band practice. Next morning I headed home. It was the start of NSWs school holidays and the caravans and four-wheel drives were in plague proportions on The Alpine Way, (fortunately all were going toward Jindabyne). The Alpine Way is now 60kms, but this small detail and keeping to their side of the road was ignored by most drivers. It was with a sigh of relief when I reached the sweepers where the road widened and I took the detour to Jingellic and later turned off at Granya for the Granya Gap
Above: Taking in some Harley Davidson history at Harley Heaven Ringwood (Melbourne). Below: Crossing the Snowy River at Dalgety for an evening ride across the Monaro Plains.
and a moment of: ‘let the fun begin’. Thankfully I had the twisties all to myself, all the way on the backroads to Myrtleford and home via Whitfield and Mansfield. It was a big day of mostly technical riding for I had now perfected my counter-steering moves. This is physical riding, but I arrived home comfortable. There were no shoulder, butt or back aches, as there often is on such long rides.
I’d say the only issues I had with the Heritage is the detachable screen and its single gauge. I could still feel the remnants of the wind buffeting in my head long after I got off the bike, and I’d been wearing my Earmould earplugs. The screen was just not the right size for me as while my body was protected, the wind funnelled around the screen crashed into the top of my helmet thus causing the buffeting. The screen is removable and I may have been better off without it. But various sized screens are available to suit each rider and this might be something to discuss with the HD salesman. My other issue is that single round classic analog gauge that sits on the tank. I had to look down to check speed and fuel because that is all you get until you push a button to select the various digital options like odometer, a second trip counter, clock and RPM. Looking down meant I had to take my eyes off the road and this is not conducive for optimal motorcycle riding safety. I do understand for the sake of history and all that 1950s nostalgia, it can’t be repositioned. I’m not concerned the gauge doesn’t blink multitudes of mostly useless information at me, but I do want to know my speed and RPM at the same time. On the Heritage, it requires flicking through the options to find the RPM and then flicking back to the trip metre as I really do need to be constantly forewarned when to refuel. Yes, I could keep an eye on the fuel gauge, but it is this ‘ever so tiny’ line of dashes embedded into the bottom section of the gauge.
When I picked up the Heritage from Harley Heaven in Melbourne’s CBD, the name ‘Bertha’ popped into my head. But the Heritage is no Bertha. This bike is pure Marilyn and when I handed her back, I wished her well in finding her forever rider. As I hopped on my Thruxton and awkwardly rode it into Melbourne’s traffic, it felt positively tiny, grossly underpowered and decidedly strange for those first few moments. The Heritage’s upright riding position had certainly not been lost on me and I seriously asked myself like many a rider when we reach a certain age: ‘Is it time for a bit more comfort and a lot more power?
Heather Ellis is the author of the best-selling travel books, Ubuntu: One Woman’s Motorcycle Odyssey Across Africa and Timeless On The Silk Road. To read more about Heather and to purchase her books go to Amazon, Readings or visit: www.heather-ellis.com
sPEcs
ENGINE
Capacity: 1868cc (114 cubic inch)
Type: Milwaukee-Eight® 114 V-Twin air-cooled
Fuelling: Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI)
Transmission: six-speed
Clutch: 10 plate wet
Final Drive: Belt
Lubrication: Pressurized, dry-sump with oil cooler
Lights: All LED, low beam, high beam and signature position lamp. Self-cancelling indicators
Gauges: Tank-mounted round analog speedometer with digital display (odometer, fuel level, clock, trip A & B, range and RPM)
WARRANTY
24 months (unlimited milage)
COST & COLOURS
Price: $38,995 ride away
Colours (with chrome and black options): Billiard Gray, Vivid Black, Alpine Green, Red Rock/Vivid Black, Atlas Silver Metalic
CONTACT
www.harley-davidson.com.au
ImAy Be the eDitor of a motorcycling magazine however i have had a long-term interest in the professional cycling tours; most particularly, the tour de France.
Watching the motards (see article below) is a natural part of the audience experience and it’s a career choice that anyone with sporting, motorcycling, and media interests could be naturally attracted to.
One of the best known motards is Willy Wauthle (if you enjoy cycling you might like to follow Willy on FB www.facebook.com/willy.wauthle ).
Willy’s last race was in 2023 but he continues with his passion for the riding and the career that made him a household name in international racing circles.
It was great to have the opportunity to interview Willy. Thanks also to his daughter Anouk who assisted with translation.
Susan Plunkett
MOtard trEasUrE WILLy WAUTHLE
what is your official title in an event such as tour de France and how long have you been in this role?
The official title is ‘Motard’. I have driven the Tour the France 20 times and received the official Golden Medal for it. I was chosen to be the spokesman of the collective of the Tour the France Motards which meant that I represented the group at the meetings with the director of the Tour de France to defend our rights. This was a process because when I first entered the Tour, the French drivers and the organization would not give a lot of space for newcomers from foreign countries. So, I had to fight for every meter, and I didn’t shy away from a confrontation. That’s what convinced other motor drivers to choose me as their spokesman.
Do you remember your very first event as a media rider? tell us a little about that and your very last event you rode please.
My first race was in 1975 where I started as a security Motard in the ‘Hel van het Mergelland’ (now named: Volta Classic). Soon
after, I was asked by some top photographers of that time (Tonny Strouken for example) to drive at some so-called ‘classics’ like the Amstel Gold Race and the LuikBastenaken-Luik. When I met photographer Cor Vos, my career really took off and together with him I’ve been travelling the world for 25 years. At that time, I was given a position as a Motard for 23 years to do the broadcasting for the Dutch Live Television, Eurosport and many other live channels. My last race was in 2023, the Tour of Limburg.
what are the bikes you used in events?
From the money I saved I bought my first Kawasaki 600 and drove my first race. Afterwards came the Kawasaki 750 and when I began working with Cor Vos I was offered a BMW (1000, 1100, 1200, 1250).
Do you always have the same photographer as pillion with you? In the beginning I’ve been driving with a couple of photographers like Tonny Strouken and afterwards I spent 25 years driving for Cor
“ There are so many funny Things To see along The road. someTimes There are horses breaking ouT and running along. ”
Vos. For the live television however, there were a lot of different cameramen that I worked with. Each cameraman has his own style and it is important that they trust you when they embark on your motorcycle. Most of the race they have one eye closed and the other eye is seeing the race through the lens, so they rely on me to tell them which turn or bump in the road is coming up so they can anticipate.
we see the tour riders/racers can be
distracted by things happening on the side of the road. this may be lovely ladies in bikinis or crazy running demons. have you ever been distracted by these things yourself? Any photo to show on this?
There are so many funny things to see along the road. Sometimes there are horses breaking out and running along, you see the yellow sunflowers sweep from left to right when Motards or photographers need to go to the toilet in the fields, you see people dressed up along the road as Devils or other creatures. One time I spotted a Brigitte Bardot-like French Miss lying at a swimming pool with only her bikini on. We convinced her to pose when the peloton would pass. Because we didn’t want other photographers to have that shot, we hid her behind some bushes until the last moment causing some hilarious moments. We also managed to take a picture with the official Coca Cola Girls at the time. Their PR manager told us that we could not take private pictures with them, so we had to come up with a story to lure him away. It worked and within 30 seconds we shot some the picture with all 15 girls surrounding the motorbike and the PR manager never found out until this day.
over the years you have seen many significant riders and crashes and other outstanding events happen on tours. Would you be able to share five of the top memories you have (with photos?)
1 The crash of Fabio Casartelli is a memory that I will never forget but it is too horrible to share a picture of it. I was right behind it when it happened. Afterwards we visited his parents in Italy before the start of Milan-SanRemo to show our support and respect.
2 Picture with the Arc de Triomfph together with Italian photographer Sergio Penazzo. This was my first arrival in Paris at my first Tour de France. After 3 weeks of driving in a race circus the moment that you enter the Champs-Elysees is a magical one, it still gives me goosebumps.
3 Picture with all the Motards after the cancellation of the start of the stage to Sestriere. while being rerouted to Sestriere because of the heavy snowstorm. The police had to escort us to Brainçon via back roads for a new start of the race because of the heavy snowfall.
4 Picture of the Poggio at the decisive escape of Maurizio Fondriest and Laurent Jalabert. As a motor driver you have to be able to stay close to the riders as long as possible. It is important that you at least make it to the little Chapel, 800 meters before the first turn of the descent. The longer you dare to stay before you have to let the riders go, the better the picture. Most of the motor drivers don’t make it to that point.
5 My father is given The Yellow Jersey by Jean Marie Leblanc in my birthplace, Sibbe. The start of the race was in Valkenburg and after a meeting
with Jean Marie Leblanc and Pierre Carenso they agreed on a stop in Sibbe during the neutralized phase of the race. In Sibbe there was coffee and cake for everyone and it was a memorable event to witness the Tour director hand over the yellow jersey to my father.
how did you prepare each year for the different tour events? Did you always ride over courses first for example? Preparation is key but when you are driving for decades you dream the routes. There is always a Route Book to study the roads and you can ask your questions to the organization. If we suspected some challenging descents, we would make a test ride of that part of the parcours. Luckily I was blessed with a photographic memory so when i drove a race I recognized it the next time. Only races like the Tour of Turkey or Paris-Roubaix could be a nasty one because of the roads
or the cobblestones that get slippery when it rains, so the day before the race we always went to check their condition.
ever had a crash on a tour? how did it happen and what was the outcome? There was one time where I crashed when a dog ran across the street and there was no space for me anymore to divert because we had a ‘File Indienne’ position with 3 other motor bikes. My motorbike was restored that same night at a local shop and I went to the hospital for examination. The verdict was 4 bruised ribs, a bruised shoulder and hand and scratches all over my body. The doctor asked if someone could come and pick me up to take me out of the race and drive me home. I refused and told him that I was going to make it to Paris and that
he had to help me. Giving up is not in my dictionary. Finally, he agreed on treating me with some heavy medicine. I got on the motor bike the next day and made it to Paris after two weeks of suffering.
most tour events are a long day for a media rider such as yourself. how do
you mentally and physically prepare? or, have you been doing it so long it is just second nature?
Because I loved the races so much and because of the rush and adrenaline I didn’t get a chance to feel the fatigue and the stress. Although we did drink alcohol on the resting days, I normally went to
bed early and didn’t drink any alcohol. Otherwise, you would not make it to Paris and last for 3 weeks. After I came home, the fatigue kicked in and I was steering with my pillow during my sleep for a week in a row.
Do you talk to event riders before and after events to seek their feedback on whether media motorcycles have either been wonderful or, perhaps, come too close or acted dangerously in their view? It is important to build and maintain relationships with the riders. Because of my role as spokesman of the collective of Motards I had conversations with them before and after the race. We need them and they need us. It was important to consider all the safety aspects but also to have respect for each other’s role and interest. As a motor driver you can tell the riders that dangerous situations on the road are coming, and they really appreciated that. On the other side, we asked riders to take a certain position on the road because a sponsor wanted a certain picture taken. The races can exist because of all the sponsorships, so it is also important to keep their interest in mind. It is a matter of giving and taking.
Are there ‘rules of engagement’ between riders on tours?
It is important to have a lot of experience and to anticipate the moves of the other motor drivers. It helps to ask the senior motor drivers about the rules in the race. When it is time to rotate you have to give
way to other motor drivers to take their pictures and you have to know exactly when it is time to speed up and reach the finish in time. In situations where your photographer gets off the motor bike, it is important that you park the motor wisely so you can be gone quickly after the picture is taken.
if someone wanted a job like yours, how would they go about it?
First it is smart to test your talent in smaller races and try to get familiar with the race dynamics and rules. Time will tell if it is for you or not. It will become
more and more difficult to become a Motard in road races because they keep cutting back the number of motor bikes that are allowed in the race every year. Safety is a big issue. This year they will probably cut back on motor bikes in the Tour de France as well, so there is a lot of tension and stress about who will be
“ in life iT’s noT whaT you know buT who you know. iT all comes down on having The righT connecTions and building relaTionships. ”
allowed in or whether they have to rotate every 5 days. But the work itself became easier because of the increased number of Motards. Back in the day, there were 16 motor bikes fighting for a position on the Poggio, the one that would have the best picture. But nowadays chances are that there will be only 3 bikes from the AFP and Reuters agencies and the organization in total.
After watching your Facebook page for a while now willy, you seem to know everyone in tour riding!
I started a Facebook page for cycling fans all over the world. It contains stories and highlights from my own journey as a Motard, but also from the riders and their journey, birthdays and latest news. The site kept growing and has now 5000 friends and 13.500 followers. The followers enjoy it, and it connects cycling fans from all over the world.
is being a motard taxing on your body?
Especially the Tour the France is challenging for your body because you
are on the bike for sometimes nearly 4 weeks If you include the transportation days and the preparation days. Your back starts to protest and it’s important to treat your muscles with special oil every day. When you are on the bike you try standing up and keep stretching your legs during the day. Eventually you will get used to it, but it can be tough sometimes.
Anything else you would like to add to help us understand this important role you have in tour events?
In life it’s not what you know but who you know. It all comes down on having the right connections and building relationships. I focused on building trust and mutual respect with the UCI commissioners because they have a lot of influence. Their interests are different than ours, so constant communication is key. You have to keep negotiating because you need each other. It is important to not shy away from confrontations and sometimes you have to be tenacious to guard your place and space.
John Pierce (Photographer Cyclisme), is an international photographer who knows Willy well and who provided some of the images in this article.
Having been part of the media fleet during grand tours he was asked:
i presume you are one of the gentlemen (mostly) who sit pillion and have incredible shoulder strength endurance to hold that camera in the conditions for such a long period!?”
No one sits reversed on a motorcycle. I have seen it done, I have done it myself, however I can not do it without a ‘top box’ on the back of the moto. This makes it almost impossible to get on and off the bike.
The sensation when sitting backwards is like standing on the edge of Niagra Falls with a 45 mph wind behind you.
The only places it is allowed is on CLOSED CIRCUITS, meaning not on the actual highway, whether the road is closed or not. It is ILLEGAL in every country in the world.
Re the shoulders, yes all bike race photogs have good square shoulders. Those of us that carry longer lenses on the motorcycle. I carried a 300mm f2.8 which is a BIG lump of glass and worth more than the motorcycle.
When not in use that lens was placed on my thigh, so any bouncing or upward impact from the road would not jar my shoulder, however the worse one is the depression, and you have to lift yourself off the seat or your back is compressed and that really hurts.
I used a Honda Varedo V motorcycle because 1/ the rear seat was lower, so a better action photo 2/ the front forks did not depress under hard braking.
There is a problem for my type of photographer who likes to dismount to take scenics and then action as they pass and quickly remount. The problem is the radio ariel, its usually mounted on the rear of the motorcycle and any passenger dismount will take the ariel right off. So I had my radio
ariel mounted on the front of the motorcycle. The radio is to receive live reports and instructions from the Chief Commissaire - who in turn is in comunication withall, police, marshalls, team cars and all motos.
Reminds me in the Tour of the
Philippines, they used Police and police motorcycles for the photographers - well there was only me, but the bike had no rear seat, just a box with a magnet ariel. I put the ariel up front and taped it and sat on the radio itself. Funny thing happened on a descent, braking hard into a corner one of his Klaxon horns simply fell off, bounced ahead of us, which he skilfully avoided. It was so funny, oh also the foot peg broke, it came loose and flipped upside down. I was happy to get off of that one.
Another problem with photography from a moto is all the dirt and brake dust because there are so many cars, so if you happen to ware sun creme you end the day just black cos all the dirt and ‘soot’ has covered you. A moto is continually going through the cars at the back of the race to come through again to the front.
If it rains, big problem. My solution is I carry a heavy duty bin liner, the 4 foot ones that are found in outdoor arenas and if the weather is bad, the cameras intact can go into the giant bin bag until such time as they are really needed, like at the finishremembering we can not afford to ‘lose’ a camera as there are many days of racing to come. Most of the water that is a danger to cameras comes down the strap.
Also there is NO camera service at TDF (Tour de France), provided by Canon or Nikon like they do at F1 or at Wimbledon.
JOHn PIErCE FrOM PHOTOgrAPHEr
BIOgrAPHy
My name is Willy Wauthlé and I was born and raised in a little village Sibbe, known for its connection to the cycling world through the Harings brothers, who were professional riders in the Tour de France. The Amstel Gold Race would pass at our doorstep and as a little boy I was standing there watching them, holding the hand of my grandfather. I told him that I wanted to be part of the race when I would grow up and I did it. I came a long way from making photo albums for Eddy Merckx, Roger de Vlaeminck and Eric Vanderaerden. They invited me over to their homes to deliver the albums. The next step
1989 TOUr dE FrAnCE
WOrdS And IMAgES:
JOHn PIErCE
(PHOTOgrAPHEr CyCLISME).
From the infamous 1989 Tour de France the climb to Superbagneres, in the image we see American Greg Lemond in Yellow, dropped less than 1km from the finish line by Laurent Fignon (Fra) who took over the race leaders Yellow Jersey on this day, only to loose it on the final days Time Trial in Paris.
The pilot of the Red moto is Willy Wauthle and the other point is that there were two riders ahead of these Robert Millar and Pedro Delgado.
I chose to stop 1km from the
was buying a motor bike and starting as a security Motard to guide the races for free. I kept networking and investing all my time in connecting with people from the inner circle and eventually I made it into the world of Motards and made it to the top. For me it was a dream come true. I always say driving with a photographer like Cor Vos felt like the Mount Blanc and driving for the national live television felt like the Mount Everest. It took me to races all over the world, from China and Taiwan to Canada, the United States and United Arab Emirates for example. One of the top experiences was protecting the King of Jordan during the ceremony of his 10th anniversary as a King. For my family it meant going on vacations with people from all over the world and connecting with the real life at their homes. Of course, it also took a toll on my health, and I was diagnosed with Diabetes at the age of 42 due to the intense and irregular and lifestyle. But at the end I am thankful for what my career of 48 years has brought me.
finish to capture more than just the finish, as when the first picture was taken Fignon has broken away from Lemond, in the next picture he is virtually stopped in front of me.
Lemond lost 12 seconds to Fignon that day and won the Tour overall by 8sec.
TOUR DATES
SEP 1 - 15, 2024
AUG 31 - SEP 14, 2025
COUNTRIES
Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia
PlaYing
TO WIn
H A r LE y- dAVI d SO n’ S n EW x 350 IS A r EAL r I d E r’ S
BIKE ; LAZ y BIKE r S n EE d n OT APPLy.
WOrdS PETE VOrST PHOTOgrAPHy MOTOHEAd
IcAneD hArley’s new X350, i caned it remorselessly! i tried to break it by thrashing it around town and when that didn’t work, i took it for a 600-plus kilometre ride into western nsw and i thrashed it some more, well outside what harley envisage the X350 would be subjected to by the average punter –it didn’t break!
It was only as I sat at the Hill End pub in Western NSW, contemplating the X350’s ground-down side-stand bracket and exhaust bolts, that the red mist cleared enough for me to realize: firstly, the X350 was laughing off my attempts to break it; secondly, I was having way more fun than I thought I would on a LAMS approved bike; and thirdly, not only can the X350 handle the 9-5 commute, but it can also carve corners like a boss too!
On paper, the X350 isn’t exactly poised to blow your hair back with its specification list. We all know there’s relatively little power and torque on tap (27kW and 31Nm) of course, it’s LAMS approved after all, but the X350 is also rather heavy at a claimed 195kg soaking wet and ready to roll. That’s 22kg heavier than CFMoto’s more powerful (37kW and 39Nm) and cheaper 450NK learner machine and 26kg heavier and less powerful than Kawasaki’s shiny new Z500 with its 33.4kW and 42.6Nm. But anyway, if you want to soar like an American Eagle, more weight is something you should start to try and embrace now. On a positive note, the X350 has a relatively low 777mm seat height and the pork it’s carrying has been well positioned because it doesn’t feel cumbersome or hard to handle at all. In fact, the extra kgs
“ iT is a liTTle sTrange ThaT h-d has gone wiTh a bike ThaT looks absoluTely noThing like any of iTs TradiTional offerings. ”
gives the 350 a stable and reassuring bigbike feel so the only real-world negative with the lard is that it zaps a bit of the excitement for the engines performance.
The styling reminds me of Harley’s old XR flat trackers, and I really dig it. But that’s about it when it comes to family resemblance. It makes sense that Harley is looking to attract younger riders to the brand, and then hopefully they become loyal H-D enthusiasts and upgrade to a bigger Harley once their LAMS time is up. From that perspective, it is a little strange that H-D has gone with a bike that looks absolutely nothing like any of its traditional offerings – perhaps a LAMS cruiser would make a little more sense.
The X350’s 353cc parallel twin is a blast to play with. It loves to be revved, which is
a good thing if you’re going to venture out onto the highway because it sits mighty high in the rev range at highway speeds. Peak power is reached at 9500rpm, while maximum torque is found at 7000rpm. At 100km/h, the 350 is spinning at a smidgeon over 6500rpm, which is high but puts the motor in the fattest part of its rev range, meaning it’s quite zippy at highway speeds. There may only be 36hp on tap, but it teaches you to be fast and ferocious with your gear changes to keep the engine on the pipe - this is a rider’s bike, people; lazy riders need not apply.
First gear is geared very low, and you’ll be changing from first to second within a couple of meters if you’re heavy on the throttle. A learner-legal twin needs low gearing, but I reckon the X350 has
enough punch to run slightly higher gearing so that you can get more out of the first cog without sacrificing its ability to cruise and in fact it will be revving lower in top so you save a bit of fuel. Apart from that, the six-speed box is light and precise, and, unlike many Harleys, finding neutral doesn’t require a global positioning satellite and a miner’s hat.
The suspension performance is great for the bike’s intended purpose of commuting to work and general transport duties around town. Fast and bumpy country roads at speed are outside the X350’s comfort zone, and it shows. However, if you can find yourself a smooth stretch of twisty tarmac, you’ll be very impressed with how hard you can push this bike. It turns on a dime, holds a line, and is stable. In fact, the only limiting factor is the ground clearance, which you’ll run out of if you get too excited because this sucker can scrape.
The bracket that the stand bolts to is the first part of the X350 to touch down. The bracket’s shape is not one that lends itself to touching down gently, and it’s noisy and unsettles the bike until you have worn an appropriate chamfer on it. On the right-hand side, the exhaust heat shield and the header-pipe clamp are prone to rubbing themselves the road as well. I must say that I was pushing relatively hard, so you may never encounter this issue, but it’s worth knowing if only for the fact that it can scare the Christ out of you the first time it happens while you’re fully committed through a turn.
If the suspension does require a little tweaking to suit your style and speed, or lack thereof, the 41mm USD fork offers rebound adjustment, while on the rear, you can fiddle with its bits to adjust rebound and preload. That’s not something you’ll find on many bikes at this price point.
Braking duties are handled by a set of noname four-piston axial-mounted calipers that grip onto a pair of 260mm wave discs, while on the back, there’s a single-piston caliper and 240mm rotor. Both ends are appropriate for a bike of this price, and while the setup is fit for purpose, it’s more a case of adequacy than exceptionality. Feel through the lever is wooden, and more outright stopping power would be high on my Christmas list. I’d be adding some higher-spec pads immediately if I owned one, which I reckon would improve stopping power and feel. It’s already running braided lines, so it’s probably just the pad material holding it back –if you get my meaning.
There’s ABS on both ends, of course, and it does the job it needs to. Trying to rip a stoppie has the ABS losing its shit and combined with the front-end’s lack of sharpness, it’s probably best just to pursue a different hobby. Again, Harley didn’t really have stoppies in mind when it brought the 350 to market.
The X350 runs the same Maxxis
Supermaxx ST tires as its X500 sibling. I have no idea how many kilometres you’ll get out of these things, but I bet it will be a lot; they are so hard I’m sure they are machined from a single block of Chromium. They give very little feedback about what either end is doing, and it hinders your ability to push into and through corners with confidence. They would be fine for the commute I’m sure, but if you crave cornering thrills, I would be ripping them off immediately and selling them to someone I really don’t like. The riding position is sporty without
being uncomfortable. The rear set pegs kick your legs back, not in an uncomfortable way, just purposefully! If you’ve got experience riding Harleys, this is absolutely nothing like any of them. Although compact, it is still reasonably comfortable, even for me, and I’m 186cm tall or just over 6’1” in the old money. I rode the 300-odd kilometres to Hill End in one stint and wasn’t a broken man when I arrived, which is pretty impressive.
The seat is brutal enough to earn a place at a war crimes commission, but strangely, only when you’re sitting with
your feet on the ground, when you can feel the frame rails digging into the tender flesh of your inner thighs. Once you’re away, and your feet are up on the pegs, the seat comfort was way better than I imagined it would be. The seat angles you forward a little, and because of this, my only real gripe with the seat is that when you get really aggressive with your riding, the X350 can lovingly pincer your junk (if you have any) between the tank and the seat – bag bruising is never okay!
The pillion seat looks like a fantastic way to end a relationship, but learners and P-platers aren’t allowed to carry passengers anyway, so the only time that’ll become an issue is when you need to sneak a mate, girlfriend, or drunk acquaintance to safety.
There is no fuel gauge, only a low fuel warning light. This illuminated disc of disappointment failed to come on and warn me that I was about to run out of fuel, and I subsequently found myself out of fuel without warning, trying to get out of the way of four lanes of traffic on one of Sydney’s busiest motorways in the middle of peak hour. Forty-five minutes of pushing on the off-ramp later, and I was less than impressed, although happy not to be someone’s new hood ornament. Now, I scoured the forums and the Facebook groups and even consulted the techs at Harley HQ and didn’t come across a single incidence of this happening to anybody else, so it could have just been a dud light on this
particular X350. The 350 holds 13.5 litres of fuel in its steel belly, so based on H-D’s claimed fuel consumption figure of 4.95 litres per kilometre, you’re looking at a range of just over 250 km.
With a combination of a $8495 ride-away price tag, relatively low seat height, smart looks, impressive handling and Harley tags, this should be an attractive package for even the most discerning Hog-buying learner. I love the grunt of the X500, but the X350 is more fun when you arrive at corners.
Sure, my review may sound a little negative, but I really was pushing the X350 well past its intended design brief. You’ll notice that none of my negative comments relate to its ability to fang around town or do the daily commute, and that’s because in that role, the X350 excels. And with a decent set of brake pads, a little tinkering with the suspension you can have a bike that could, in the right hands, really upset riders on far sportier looking machinery.
I had more fun on the X350 than I ever thought I would. I mean, I’m an experienced rider, and the 350 is a bike for learners, right? Yes, it is, and it’s a damn fine entry into the world of motorcycling and the Harley-Davidson brand. It’s as simple as this: if you want more grunt and want to cruise, buy the X500. But if you want a rider’s bike, a bike that engages you and you it, and you like corners, the X350 is the way to go. And if you love the American brand like I do, and you just have to have a Harley while you complete your novice rider journey, then you won’t give two hoots about any negatives I’ve mentioned.
dOUBLE TIME
The X350s 353cc water-cooled parallel twin is a belter. It’s refined and quiet and is happy to be absolute thrashed. It feels and sounds like a solid unit that’s built to last.
THE LOOK
Apparently, the look of the X350 was inspired by Harley’s legendary XR750 and not by the Benelli that it is based on. That aside, fit and finish is damn good for the price.
BOxIng CLEVEr
If you want the best from the X350s parallel twin engine you need to work the six-speed box which is slick, seamless and on point.
dOT, dOT, dASH
The single binnacle dash isn’t the most elegant item, but it provides you with speed, RPMs, odometer, two trip meters, and a fuel warning light – well, sometimes.
BAr nOTHIng
The X350s riding position is much sportier than its X500 sibling. The pegs are kicked back, your weight is forward, and the bars are much narrower.
WHAT I LIKEd
l The engine is a ripper
l Great handling for a city bike
l Fit and finish is excellent for the price
WHAT I dIdn’T
l The fuel light can’t be trusted l Standard Maxxis tyres are made of granite
l The seat can eat your thigh meat
sPEcs
ENGINE
Capacity: 353cc
Type: Parallel-twin, DOHC, four-valves per cylinder
Bore & stroke: 70.5 x 45.2mm
Compression ratio: 11.9: 1
Cooling: Liquid
Fuelling: EFI
Transmission: Six-speed
Clutch: Wet, multiplate
Final drive: Chain
PERFORMANCE
Power: 27kW (36HP) @ 9500rpm (claimed)
Torque: 31Nm @ 7000rpm (claimed)
Top speed: 147km/h-ish
Fuel consumption: 4.95 l/100 km
CHASSIS
Frame material: Steel
Frame type: Trellis
Rake: 24.8°
Trail: 140mm
Wheelbase: 1410mm
SUSPENSION
Type: H-D
Front: 41mm USD fork with adjustable rebound damping
Rear: Monoshock with adjustable rebound and preload
TYRES & BRAKES
Tyres: Maxxis Supermaxx ST
Front: 120/70-ZR17
Rear: 160/60-ZR17
Brakes: H-D
Front: Twin 260mm discs with four-piston calipers
Rear: Single 240mm disc with single-piston caliper
DIMENSIONS
Weight: 195kg (wet, claimed)
Seat height: 777mm
Length: 2110mm
Ground clearance: 143mm
Fuel capacity: 13.5L
COST AND COLOURS
Price: From $8,495 ride away
Colour options: Dramatic Black, Dynamic Orange, Supersonic Silver or Pearl White
Contact: www.harley-davidson.com.au
thE BiKE OF
My PEOPLE?
By TUg MCCLUTCHIn
Yeah, not really. But that’s only because my people are six feet tall and not very flexible. Were it not for that, the X350 may just tick some boxes.
I haven’t spoken to Pete (who wrote the main review of the bike) about his thoughts, but he’s an even taller lad than me, so he’s my people too, and I’m going to assume he found the same issues as me, but you can read for yourself in his piece.
So, what’s wrong with it? Let’s get that out of the way, and then we can deal with what’s right with it.
And none of this is the bike’s fault. It’s just not made for 6ft burly guys with legs as flexible as week old sourdough.
When I first climbed aboard and took
off from the driveway at Harley’s Sydney head office, I went to put my feet up on the pegs and immediately put my right foot square on the rear brake lever and my left just as squarely on the gear lever. I did this because they are positioned where I expected the foot pegs to be.
Meanwhile, the foot pegs are positioned about 5 inches further aft.
I figured this out on the instant, and moved my feet backwards and positioned them where the X350 demanded they be, rather than where I wished they were. And then I was sitting firmly, not on my butt, but on my plums.
The riding position does not suit my stature at all. Comfort was not on the menu for me. But that’s ok. It may suit your stature, in which case you will spend your time having a ball and marvelling at how cool the little Harley is.
Its American flat tracker styling really works for me. The bars are wide, the rear section of the bike brings back distant memories of the famous XR750 race bike, and the tank gives it a subtle nod too. As does the sticker set.
The seat is probably suited to a race bike too, as I struggled to sit on it for more than 2 hours, thanks to the pressure
its edges placed on the tops of my hamstrings. Again, that’s about me, and may not be an issue for a different shaped rider. My height also made it difficult to move around on the seat to give my back side a rest.
But again, if your butt is shaped differently to mine, and I hope for your sake that it is, you may be quite happy on it. Go sit on one and find out.
Having previously ridden the X500 with similar suspension components, I can tell you they work much better on the X350. I didn’t have it long enough to confirm if the damping rates on the rear shock are different on the X350 or whether it’s a matter of less weight and different geometry, but the X350 is very much the better handling beast of the pair, particularly at the rear.
It will handle even better when you throw away the standard tyres and put on something with a softer carcass construction too. The factory rubber is ok, and will likely last a long time, but doesn’t offer the grip of other available
options and creates a harsher ride than the chassis is capable of. Something round and black that likes running at lower pressures, like anything from Pirelli or Metzeler, will be a revelation on this bike.
The engine revs willingly and provides enough power to get you along quite happily, the gearbox is pretty slick, and the brakes, while not sensational, are up to the task. It also looks much cooler than it’s X500 sibling.
Lane splitting is a doddle. It’s one of the best bikes I’ve ever ridden in that regard. It’s easy to manoeuvre through traffic, and the mirrors seem to be at the perfect height to avoid clashing with the mirrors of most other vehicles you’ll come across.
If you are choosing between the X500 and the X350, the X350 is the pick of them, assuming the riding position is to your liking. It’s a better package, despite being the less powerful option.
Testing bikes isn’t always fun and games. My time on this bike was one
of those episodes where you really have to set aside your personal gripes with a bike and realise that you aren’t the target market and assess the bike accordingly.
So, let’s assume I’m not me. Let’s assume I’m 17, 5’9” tall, medium build, and still in high school. I’ve just scored my learner’s permit and I want something that’s easy to ride, good around town, great to ride in traffic, and will turn heads when I ride into the school carpark.
I’d be hard pressed to find something better if that’s my criteria for buying a bike.
The same goes for someone looking for a bike to ride around town that will filter through traffic like a demon, has enough grunt to stay out front in traffic lights drag races, can carve a tight road on the weekend, and looks cool as hell. This might just be your bike. It sucks for you that you’re not tall and handsome like me, but we can’t have everything. AMM
THE BALKAnS riding OFF thE BEatEn tOUrist Path in
In T r I g UI ng S OUTHEAST E U r OPE WITH Adr IATIC M OTO T OU r S
WOrdS By TIM WALKEr; PHOTOS By TIM WALKEr & AdrIATIC MOTO TOUrS
“ our riding skills in curves were TesTed on our very firsT day when we rode alongside The wandering danube river separaTing serbia and romania. ”
IF one worD coulD describe the riding experience in the half dozen Balkan countries on the Amt intriguing southeast europe tour, that word would be variety.
That variety includes mountain twisties, scenic and rugged shorelines, picturesque river valleys, lush forests, and rolling hills dotted with vineyards reminiscent of Tuscany.
This is definitely an off-the-beaten-path type of tour, so riders signing up for it will have a blast getting off the main roads and visiting places that other tourists zoom right past.
Expect to tackle a few challenging roads, though. That’s to be expected when visiting countries new to tourism. Experiencing — and overcoming — those challenges are what still linger in my mind from the time I took this 15-day tour couple of years ago.
A SEMI-PrIVATE TOUr ExPErIEnCE
The tour began just as most of the world was emerging from pandemic lockdowns. But covid fears still lingered, and all but two riders who had signed up for this tour dropped out.
I credit AMT for operating a tour catering to just me and Jim, the other rider, who hails from Florida. Many other tour companies would have canceled.
And I strongly recommend a guided tour for this part of Europe, especially for first-timers. That’s because the variety in the region also makes for some hassles: six countries (border crossings … ugh!), four languages, three alphabets, and four currencies!
So it’s best to have a Balkan native
Above: Albanian Countryside.
Left: Author’s Tour Party of 3 - 2 riders and the guide, Roman Ruins Butrint Albania.
Top left: Albanian Coast.
Right: Dinners at the local restaurants are included in the tour.
to guide you through this melange of countries. For Jim and me, that guide was Tomaž, a multi-lingual, native Slovenian with riding experience throughout the region.
The three of us gelled together immediately, which was a very good thing as we would be traveling and eating together for two straight weeks!
I teased Jim about living in a flat state, which has nothing like the mountain twisties we were about to encounter.
My home state, Minnesota, also lacks mountains, so Jim and I decided to treat this tour as a crash course — not literally, we hoped — on how to improve our navigation of mountain twisties.
We both teased Tomaž, too, and mocked him for the small tuft of hair centered under his lower lip. We did so kindly, of course, and in the process taught him some new English words: soul patch, pretentious, and hipster!
We started and ended in the vibrant city of Belgrade, Serbia, and took a clockwise path through North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro.
Bulgaria closed its borders due to covid just a week before our tour started, so AMT quickly rearranged the first three days of the tour. The current AMT Intriguing Southeast Europe tour includes Bulgaria once again.
STArT yOUr EngInES
I rode a new BMW F750 GS, which matched the weight and size of the 1989 Honda Transalp I ride at home.
Of course, the BMW had almost double the horsepower of my 30-year-old Honda, and included modern safety features such as ABS and traction control — which, I confess, were deployed a handful of times on the tour!
AMT sells all their bikes at the end of each riding season, and so all tours are outfitted with new or practically new machines, including BMWs, Hondas, Suzukis, and Yamahas. All are equipped
with ample storage cases and a preprogrammed, handlebar-mounted GPS showing each day’s route.
Our riding skills in curves were tested on our very first day when we rode alongside the wandering Danube River separating Serbia and Romania and through the foothills of the Serbian Carpathian Mountains.
Riding in the foothills only whetted our appetite for eventually riding up into higher elevations. Those mountain twisties would come soon enough, Tomaž said, and there would be plenty of them. Yay, mountains!
We had a lunch at a roadside restaurant in the shadow of the massive Golubac Fortress, a strategically positioned military post that controlled access to the Iron Gorge, a narrow portion of the Danube River with steep, fjord-like embankments, which we rode alongside later that day.
The lunch was fabulous and was the first of many more tasty — and varied — dining experiences in our future.
The Balkan peoples have borrowed the best flavours from the cuisines of the many invaders who swept up and down the peninsula throughout history, including the Ottomans, Greeks, Romans, and Illyrians.
In addition to being a great motorcycle guide, Tomaž also helped guide us through menus to help us find the tastiest local food and drinks.
Evening meals were washed down with fresh-brewed local beers or national brands — all excellent — and local wines, mostly reds. And raki.
Raki, sometimes spelt rakija in the western Balkans, is a strong brandy made most often from plums (Slivovitz is a popular export), but peaches are also a common starting fruit.
But beware. Raki may be more than 80 proof, and it may be home-distilled. Even a shot served in a bar or restaurant could be the owner’s special creation. So, definitely enjoy raki with caution!
After spending a night in the Serbian town of Zaječar, we fortified ourselves with a lavish breakfast buffet at our upscale hotel (all AMT hotels are at least 3 or 4 stars, and all breakfasts are included), and rode through lush valleys and plains until we arrived mid-afternoon in North Macedonia’s capital Skopje.
We had time to explore this cosmopolitan city. The standout attraction was the absolutely massive central square and the enormous statue of Alexander the Great dominating it.
Except that to make nice with neighboring Greece — which claims Alexander the Great to be exclusively of Hellenic (Greek) heritage — the statue is officially named “Equestrian Warrior”.
Our dinners aside this square were very pleasant (if I were with my wife, I’d say they were romantic), as the statue and the entire square was brightly illuminated and full of people enjoying a nightlife vibe.
I was elated seeing people in this region enjoying fuller, freer lives and no longer living drab existences under communist rule.
MACEdOnIAn WInE, LAKE OHrId, ALBAnIA
After an energizing rest day in Skopje, we traveled southeast, riding through the Demir Kapija gorge in Macedonia’s wine region, boasting gentle hills dotted with vineyards, reminiscent of Tuscany.
Fittingly, we stayed the night at a hotel connected to a vineyard where dinner
included sampling the many different wine varieties produced in the area.
Our hosts told us that Macedonia is the fourth-largest supplier of bulk wine to Germany. Our taste buds told us the Macedonians save the good stuff for themselves!
The next day, we rode through the long, curving roads of southwestern
Macedonia, through a sparsely populated, forested, and mountainous area. Jim and I are thoroughly enjoying the mountain highs.
We arrived at Ohrid, a city on the northeastern shore of beautiful bluegreen Lake Ohrid, one of the world’s deepest and oldest lakes, with 200 unique species.
Of particular note is the Lake Ohrid trout, a local delicacy tasting like a brown trout crossed with an Atlantic salmon.
Ohrid was the highlight of the tour for me, because my 1990 trip was a honeymoon with my wife, and one of our stops was Ohrid!
My fond memories of Ohrid came rushing back to me and I insisted —
Above: Gramos Mountains Albania.
“ we rode Through The long, curving roads of souThwesTern macedonia, Through a sparsely populaTed, foresTed, and mounTainous area. jim and i are Thoroughly enjoying The mounTain highs. ”
much to their annoyance, I suspect — that Tomaž and Jim take a photo of me each time we came across a spot where my wife and I visited in 1990!
On our rest day in Ohrid, Jim and I took a pleasant and relaxing boat cruise on Lake Ohrid, under sunny skies and on beautiful clear water, with a stop at the monastery of Sveti Naum, the spiritual heart of Orthodox Macedonians.
The next day, the three of us rode along the lake’s northern shore past the monastery on our way to Albania.
It wasn’t too long after crossing the border that we see a defensive machinegun bunker, one of more than 750,000 built during Albania’s post-WWII communist regime.
Right: Gramos Mountains Albania. Below: Blue Lake Coffee stop Albania. Bottom right: Golubac Fortress 14th century Medieval Stone Fortress East of Belgrade Serbia.
Now all abandoned, the bunkers are a symbol of the extreme isolation and paranoia of the Albanian government, which feared armed invasion from the West and even from its communist neighbors.
I think Albania is my favourite Balkan country — this tour is my third time visiting the country on a motorcycle.
Part of the allure for me is that Albania is still mostly rustic and less touristy than its neighbors.
And although some Albanian roads are good — the country is undergoing a road construction boom preparing for an expected tourist boom — a good road can suddenly become a very, very bad road without warning.
Both Jim and I agreed it was good that Tomaž was in the lead!
The next day’s ride took us to Gjirocastër through the Gramoz mountains, where we thoroughly enjoyed climbing to the Barmashi Pass at 1759 m. Yay, mountain twisties!
In Gjirocastër, we visit the Cold War Tunnel Museum, an underground bunker that served as an emergency shelter for Albania’s top communist officials.
Like the innumerable small defensive bunkers found throughout the country, the Gjirocastër tunnels and its 59 rooms reflect the paranoid fear of a foreign invasion, and was designed to withstand a nuclear attack.
Our next stop was Sarande, a beach resort town on the southern tip of Albania with great swimming and fresh seafood.
We had a planned rest day at Sarande,
but we opted to spend it riding south to Butrint, a UNESCO World Heritage site, where we strolled among Greek, Roman, and Byzantine ruins.
On a whim, we decided to ride even farther south and cross into Greece, where we had a pleasant seaside lunch in a small fishing village.
The deep-fried feta cheese we ordered had a perfect combination of flavour and texture that I’ve never experienced before, and it made the hassles of getting through Greek customs entirely worthwhile.
The next day’s ride was north toward Albania’s capital city of Tirana, and took us through two distinct landscapes.
In the morning, we rode 120 km on a beautiful coastal road, enjoying gentle sweepers with cliffs on one side and the shimmering blue Adriatic
Sea on the other.
In the afternoon we went up and over the Llogara Pass (1027 m).
This was a challenging, technical ride. Thank goodness the road surfaces were new and the wandering animals few.
The incredibly wide central Skanderberg Square in Tirana is something to behold. It’s a busy and vibrant mishmash of architectural styles, crowds, and noise.
What a profound change from just a few decades ago when closed-off Albania was called the North Korea of Europe.
KOSOVO, MOnTEnEgrO, And A rETUrn TO BELgrAdE
As our tour wrapped up, bittersweet feelings emerged. This was a moderately tough tour that even with three rest
days can tire you out.
So I began to look forward to relaxing at the Belgrade hotel where we started, but not looking forward to losing the camaraderie that developed among the three of us.
But until then, there are a few more highlights to describe.
First was the mountainous ride north from Tirana to the town of Kruja, which for centuries was the center of Albanian culture and the linchpin in their fight to keep foreign invaders at bay. The
Top left: On the way to Gjirokaster Albania.
Top right: Kadinjaca WWII Memorial in Southeren Serbia.
Middle right: Defensive bunkers built during Albania’s post-WWII communist regime; Albanian Macedonian Border.
Right: Sheep ob the road
huge citadel towering over the town is a testament to that need for armed resistance.
Another highlight was riding for more than 100 km on the brand new divided motorway from Kruja, heading north through mountains and valleys towards the border crossing with Kosovo.
I’m guessing all three of us were probably riding quite a bit over the
Above: Stunning Red Rocks Formations Belogradchik Bulgaria.
Left: Old Ottoman Stone Bridge Bosnia.
Top right: Serbian countryside.
Right: Wooden ferry boat Albania.
speed limit because the smoothness of the road and the lure of broad, sweeping mountain curves made it hard not to twist the throttle.
The roadway truly evoked the feeling of being on a German autobahn — but without the traffic. We felt like we were on a private race track!
We arrived in Prizren, Kosovo, in the mid-afternoon, still elated from our day’s ride and looking forward to exploring this charming city of mosques and monasteries and Ottoman architecture dating back to the 14th century. Leaving Kosovo, we crossed into Montenegro for only a short stretch. But that stretch was a pleasant ride up to the
Kulina Pass, which at 1800 m makes it one of the highest passes in the Balkans. This wasn’t a technical climb and descent — there were only a few hairpin turns. Instead, a lot of moderate back-toback curves tested our skills.
By this time, both Jim and I had taken our cornering skills up at least a couple of notches, and that’s a great feeling, innit?
gOOdByES
Upon our return to Belgrade, we didn’t have the traditional AMT champagne toast. We needed rapid covid tests at the airport, and raising a toast in a parking lot there seemed like a bad idea.
So we said our goodbyes quickly, as Jim and I had to pack up for early flights the next day and Tomaš had to load up the van for an all-night drive to the AMT home base In Ljubljana.
Along with memories of the thrilling riding, the tasty cuisines, the scenic landscapes, and the city scenes we experienced, I also have the fondest memories about the laughs and the stories the three of us shared.
Although our parting was rushed, we pledged to keep in touch — and we have. Jim and I may meet each other again, as we are both looking for opportunities to hone our cornering skills in new corners of the world.
We were both thoroughly impressed by our AMT experience, and are looking over the company’s Calendar for another mountain riding adventure.
In 2024, the Intriguing Southeast Europe tours run in late spring June 8 – 22 and autumn September 7 – 21, starting from Belgrade, Serbia. Visit AdriaticMotoTours.com for more information. AMM
VMAx POrSCHE 911 CUS’TOM MOTOrCyCLE
“Cr OSS A ST r EET dr A g STE r A nd A n E x CEPTIO n AL CA r, y OU WILL HAVE A r EFI n E d BEAST ”
WOrdS And IMAgES: TOM BOISSEL (CUS’TOM MOTOrCyCLE).
So, we Are on a Vmax 1200 carbon from 2002 4500 km. My client’s request was to take inspiration from motocrew’s Vmax café racer, by crossing it with an exclusive Porsche 911 series, on a low-mileage motorcycle, keeping the identity of the Vmax, and to add the RAGE signature of the workshop. It took me several months of research to find the rare gem of 4500 km, entirely original.
An analysis of the details of the Porsche (model limited to 500 examples) had to be carried out, then solutions had to be found to transfer them to the motorcycle, without falling into excess.
Before tackling the modifications and the Rage badge obligations, it
was necessary to increase the power, however, given the low mileage, it would have been a shame to open the engine, so I focused on unlocking the beast via a Vboost + kit new carburettor bushels. The original 100 hp power gives way to more than 130 hp which made the reputation of this motorcycle when it was released. (V-boost is a system which allows, thanks to valves, to supply each cylinder with 2 carburettors instead of just one, from 3000 or 6000 rpm depending on a switch).
After a few Vboost validation tests, I tackled the transformation part. Three points were major: The front suspension, the rear hull, and the details to be respected.
Tom Boissel
For the front of bike:
l To best match the look of the Porsche, a front rim from Ducati Diavel was modified to fit into an Ohlins fork from Ducati Hypermotard SP, itself modified to be mounted on the Vmax frame.
l This spoked rim made it possible to reproduce the golden yellow stripes of Porsche rims.
l I preferred to re-machine the hypermotard’s tees than to make custom tees to give a more “natural” and sober style.
l 330 mm Brembo discs accompanied by Brembo M40 monobloc calipers give a reassuring bite and quickly make you forget the Vmax’s reputation for poor braking. As on the Porsche, the Brembo writing is the same colour
as the bodywork.
l The bronze steering column nut with stainless steel insert is a Cus’Tom detail machined in the workshop, housing in its center the motogadget speedometer control button, which itself takes place in a small aluminum support made on measurement by the workshop.
I kept the original brake and clutch controls and master cylinders, due to their impeccable condition and to keep the identity of the Vmax, just like the legendary rear rim with the Dunlop tire with white writing and its ventilated disc.
The second big part of the transformation work was on the manufacturing of the rear hull, which
Tom Boissel
is a copy of the design of the Vmax café racer motocrew, which had to be reproduced on photo.
I made this shell from 1mm thick steel sheet, the exterior shape is made up of 7 parts formed manually with different tools (sandbag, pile, rolling machine, English wheel, different hammer and mallet... ) and assembled by Tig welding. This work takes almost 5 days of work without stubble.
The choice of steel is justified for better strength.
Details to follow:
The gold yellow colour, which changes colour tone depending on the light inside or outside (from sober gold yellow inside to assertive bright orange yellow outside), mixed with carbon details on the bodywork, with two frame orientations, one for each. strip, laid in a chevron at 90°
Bastien Soula, a former motorcycle rider and luxury interior painter, took up the challenge: he integrated real carbon fiber into the bodywork under painting in order to have the most faithful reproduction possible. There was a long process of integrating the carbon so as not to feel any movement when touching the bodywork.
The leather work was carried out by Laeticia from 0 to 9 saddlery in Ariége (like all the motorcycles from the workshop). The saddle is inspired by the design of the seats of this exclusive 911, the central holes were made by hand. handmade, there is smooth leather, microperforated, invisible sewing and handmade sewing.
The rev counter unit has received a leather cover to imitate the dashboard trim.
The signature RAGE handles sewn in an X recall the seams of the hand-sewn steering wheel.
The red light reflectors on the radiator side covers were replaced by small aluminum boxes, housing carbon plates, on which the “series” details found on the steps of the 91 were stencilled, with the same calligraphy.
Gold yellow stripes on the rims and the integration of a Porsche 911 look headlight
Stainless steel screws, titanium nuts, and a RAGE finish on every detail.
And to guarantee a beastly effect of the Vmax, custom-made stainless-steel silencers coated in cerakote black, accompanied by mute, give way to a melody similar to the V8 with the crossplane tuning typical of old muscle cars (to be heard at the beginning and end of the video of the manufacture of silencers).
“Cross a street dragster and an exceptional car, you will have a refined beast” (I find this slogan true to the project).
Link of fabrication movie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OstAsNi6Dc&t=5s
Link of exhaust fabrication: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hn37RUMzxU www.custommotorcycle.fr AMM
THIngS thE littlE
By TUg MCCLUTCHIn - IMAgE CrEdIT MOTOTHIng
Sometimes, when your JoB includes testing motorcycles, you are forced to ride bikes you would never normally choose to ride. Before you start writing nasty emails about me to the editor (again), i’m not complaining. it’s all fun, for the most part. they’re bikes, after all. occasionally they turn out to be exactly what you expect, but more often than not, they open your eyes, even just a little.
Of late I’ve ridden a number of small bikes for this magazine, Harley’s new X350 and X500, and the Ninja ZX4R and ZX4RR. They all taught me something. But I’ll need to go back in time a little to explain.
racetrack. Strange days. I’d been racing on the dirt since I was 9, so learning to ride a bike wasn’t an issue, and I already had a car license. I was just late to the party getting my bike license for the road, partly because I didn’t have a lot of money to spend, just like most young blokes racing bikes in those days. All my money went into racing and chasing girls.
So, my first road bike was cheap. It was an old second-hand Yamaha XT200 trail bike that I bought from Parry’s Kawasaki in Pennant Hills. And even though Super Motards weren’t really a thing in those days, I kind of turned it into one and threw a set of road tyres on it. There wasn’t anything sticky back then that would fit, unlike now, so it scored a Metzeler ME33 made for a cruiser on the standard front wheel and a Dunlop Arrowmax on the 18 inch rear. That Dunlop was the hardest tyre I have ever ridden on, and even after about 7,000km it barely showed any wear, no matter how poorly I treated it.
The XT was rudimentary, but great fun everywhere except the highway. It did awesome wheelies, and was still fun on dirt roads and tracks even with the street rubber.
“ Then The auThoriTies realised ThaT having a 250cc limiT meanT youngsTers were ending up on 250cc Two sTrokes like suzuki’s rgv and aprilia’s lovely rs, and They decided ThaT having ThaT much fun needed
To be ouTlawed, obviously.”
Some of you more “experienced” readers may have first obtained your licenses before we had the 250cc limit for learners, back in the days where you could ride anything you liked when you first became a licensed rider. Then the capacity limit came in, limiting us to 250cc bikes as novices. Then the authorities realised that having a 250cc limit meant youngsters were ending up on 250cc two strokes like Suzuki’s RGV and Aprilia’s lovely RS, and they decided that having that much fun needed to be outlawed, obviously.
And so arrived the LAMS regulations, for better and for worse. The intricacies of that system is a column for another day.
Whether you learnt to ride in the 250cc limit era like I did, or the LAMS era, we all shared one common urge that those before us largely avoided. We couldn’t wait to get on a bigger bike.
For me it was an epic struggle. I grew up on dirt bikes, and I was racing bikes on the tar before I applied for a learner’s permit. I think I was 20 when I collected my L Plate from what was then called the RTA. It was certainly a little weird being confined to a 250cc bike when you were already holding a race license and riding a Suzuki GSXR750 in anger on the
Once my time in purgatory on the little bike was done and I was allowed a bigger bike, I was doing a little better work-wise and bought myself a new Kawasaki ZZR600. It was a lovely machine, and was followed by a Ducati 600SS, and then a 900SS and a ZZR1100. From there I think the only street bike I’ve ever owned that was under 1,000cc was a TRX850 and an old Z750 I bought as a parts bin special and rebuilt for shits and giggles.
Many of us migrate towards the bigger bikes, because why the hell not? What’s not to like? They’re fast, don’t need to be revved like loons, and they’re fast. Did I mention they’re also fast? I like fast.
My current road bike is an 1100 air-cooled Multistrada. Perhaps not the fastest thing in the world, but fast enough, with lazy power, and sweet Ohlins bouncy bits to make it handle nicely. It also carried lots of luggage which is important for some of the riding I do.
And then the Editor emails me and tells me to go to Queensland and ride the new Ninja ZX4RR around
Tug McClutchin
Morgan Park raceway. Now, riding any bike on a racetrack is fun, and you might think riding other people’s bikes is funner. But riding test bikes, especially at the track at a bike launch, is actually work. It’s also fraught with danger. Nobody wants to be “that guy” that crashes at a launch. At the same time, you also don’t want to be Mr Slow. You need to actually test the bikes, as that is the whole point of the adventure.
The ZX4RR is a lovely motorcycle, and although a little too small for me, I enjoyed it thoroughly. All of us at the launch enjoyed thrashing them.
And now toss in plenty of road miles on Harley’s X350 and X500 and it all got me thinking. Do we underappreciate small capacity bikes her in Australia?
We generally abide the “bigger is better” mantra, but maybe we’re missing something. Sure, there’s nothing in the small capacity market that goes or handles like the old Aprilia RS250, but the Ninja ZX4RR isn’t far off. Truth be told, it pumps out more power than the Aprilia did, but it’s around 40kg more porky, so can’t quite match it in the handling stakes. But that’s not to say the little green bike isn’t incredibly capable.
Even the little Harleys were a barrel of laughs, especially the 350. What it lacks
in power it exudes in lunacy.
Given how many riders these days rarely head out of town that far and don’t really tour on bikes, you can see how the market for these smaller bikes is growing. And it isn’t just new riders who are getting on them. I know a few guys in their 50’s who have bought the ZX4RR. They love them.
They love them because they can thrash them and ride them in the upper ends of their performance envelope without necessarily risking going to prison.
Try thrashing an R1 and see how you get on when the Bronze catches up with you. Top speed in 1st gear can score you a prison term.
Maybe all of us guys and girls on big bikes are missing out a bit? Perhaps we’re not having as much fun as some of the riders on smaller bikes? Their bikes might not match ours in a drag race, but they can usually out-pace us when the going gets really tight, if the rider is up to it.
And let’s face it, the way our road law enforcement is heading, maybe small bikes will be the way to go when it comes time to have some balls to the wall fun in the future?
Because sooner or later, when you take your bike in for its annual rego
inspection, they’ll plug it into a computer and your bike’s ECU will tell them what your top speed was since your last inspection, and if it’s over the State Limit (generally 100Km/h), a fine will be coming your way. Maybe even a suspension. Or a prison term. It is already being discussed in road safety circles.
Maybe then we will all go looking at some of these smaller, but very fulfilling, motorcycling fun machines to get our rocks off at what the road safety experts consider to be more sensible speeds.
Or we’ll all learn to reflash our ECUs at home. AMM
