All the years I was a pillion, no mobile phones, no communication tech, no navigation system (apart from your knowledge and road signs), no music and no road condition advisories ‘in the moment’.
It was fine. But I guess each generation tends to say this.
Back circa 2016, BMW, Yamaha and Honda formed an alliance to develop a system that would allow motorcyclists to talk to each other and to connect to an informative transport system. The Connected Motorcycle Consortium – still current today –works towards supporting road safety between cars and motorcycles (see QR Code). While seeing the advantages of cars having dashboard systems that warn about the presence of motorcyclists, I believe most riders appreciate independent methods to increase
their safety and ability to capture events in real-time that impact their ride safety.
To this end, I commend Bob Wogza’s article on the Navman MiVue M820D Motorbike in this issue with its dual front and rear cameras. Having seen some of Bob’s footage, the advantages of this system are clear. Does it work at night? Ask Bob!.
If you would welcome meeting up with Bob to see the Navman Dashcam in operation on his bike and to take a ride along with him and check the footage, please email me on susan.plunkett@clemengermediasales.com.au with Navman in the subject header. Numbers will be limited and Bob will organise a time and place with his group.
If you have anecdotes about close calls and accidents on your motorcycle and want to share, please email Stories to yourview@clemengermediasales.com.au
Welcome T o b ob Wozg A –c olumn I s T
Bob’s a keen rider and offers great content for both Australian Motorcyclist and Adventure Rider Magazine so time to give him a column. You’re always welcome to respond to the opinions of our columnists to yourview@ clemengermediasales.com.au
I’ll be interested in what you have to say in coming issues Bob, along with Tug.
Wh AT AR e you R FAvou RIT e u R b A n RI des?
Inaddition to the rides our contributors have suggested for urban ride experiences in this issue (that is, rides you can take for a day trip or perhaps overnight from say Melbourne or Sydney). We’re keen to publish reader stories in this area so if you have between 8001200 words in you and some good hi-res photos, please send along to me at susan. plunkett@clemengermediasales.com.au
Bob Wozga, Tug McClutchin, Nick Edards, Nigel Crowley, Tom Fossati, Christine Fisher Keeble, Heather Ellis, Pete Vorst, Pablo Pillado, Eduardo Iglesias, Riaan Husselmann, Sunny Motographer.
Photographers:
Bob Wozga, Nick Edards Half Light Photography, Nigel Crowley, Tom Fossati, Christine Fisher Keeble, Heather Ellis, Motohead, Pablo Pillado, Eduardo Iglesias, Riaan Husselmann, Andre Bernard, Sunny Motographer.
Distributor Ovato
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mo T o R cycle s A les FA ll I ng
TheFederal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has released its mid-year sales audit, showing that over the first 6 months of 2024, bike sales were down 5.6% compared to the same period in 2023. This is on the back of a similar fall in 2023 over the previous year.
The figures reveal a total of around 42,500 machines were sold during the period. That’s more than 10,000 less sales than the same period in 2021. Road motorcycles make up around 40% of sales, and ATVs and side-by-side vehicles, most commonly sold to the agricultural sector, make up around 17% of sales.
On their surface, the sales results tell a story of a slowing Australian economy, the result of the Reserve Bank’s interest
rate policy designed to reduce inflation by curbing consumer demand.
However, all is not quite as it seems. Firstly, we are coming off a strong base back in 2020, when the Government responded to the Covid crisis by allowing people to take money out of their super. Plenty of people took the ten grand they were allowed to access and bought bikes, resulting in a sales spike. Some argue the current slowdown is off an artificially high base. Maybe so, but a decline is a decline, and nobody in the industry is happy about that.
Also of note is two motorcycle importers are not members of the FCAI, and therefore their sales results are not included in the numbers.
One of these importers is Mojo Motorcycles, who imports CF Moto
motorcycles as well as a Sherco, Kymco, and Landboss UTVs. The other is Urban Moto Imports, who controls Benelli, Royal Enfield, and Segway.
The CF Moto brand is experiencing solid growth, with an expanding dealer network and rapidly expanding range, and the Royal Enfield brand is growing in popularity too, particularly since the launch of their 650cc engine a couple of years ago, but neither brand makes sales figures available.
The question is, are they growing fast enough to make up for the decline seen on the other brands?
The largest selling brand in Australia at present is Yamaha, followed by Honda and Kawasaki.
Below left: Royal Enfield’s 650 range is contributing to the growth of the brand in Australia.
Below: CF Moto’s growing (and impressive) adventure bike range is sales kicking goals for them.
c F mo T o 450 m I c R os IT e
What do you do when you have developed a complete range of 450cc bikes that share a heartbeat and are making waves? You give them their own website of course.
CFMOTO’s parallel twin, 270-degree crankshaft 450cc motor is providing the power for two sports bikes, the 450SR and 450SRS, a naked bike in the 450NK, and the new 450MT adventure bike. The motor was developed in-house and has been placed into bikes that have been turning heads since they arrived. And now they all have their own website, away from the main CFMOTO website. The bikes are obviously mainly targeted at the LAMS market, but they are selling to experienced riders as well, particularly the 450MT which is proving to be a hit with riders
looking for a good value and light adventure bike. Go to cfmoto450.com.au to check it out.
ne W R oyA l en FI eld
sho W c A se s T o R e
The new Royal Enfield, the world’s oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production, recently announced the opening of its new flagship store in Clyde, Sydney. This funky new showroom, called Moto Machine, is designed to attract Sydneysiders and serve as a key pit stop for Royal Enfield enthusiasts. Located at Unit 1, 10 James Ruse Drive, Clyde, the store finds itself almost in the geographical centre of Sydney. Some astute readers may have already realised the site was previously the home of an MV Agusta dealer, so the shop is used to attracting motorcyclists.
Retiring Aprilia MotoGP
stalwart Aleix Espargaro has signed on to work for Honda as a test rider next year.
With around 250 MotoGP starts to his name, Espargaro brings a wealth of experience to Honda’s ailing MotoGP team. He will join Stefan Bradl who will continue in his testing role with HRC, the pair of them tasked not only with trying to improve the current bike, but preparing for the rule changes in MotoGP in 2027.
Thenew BMW R1300 GS was launched a little while ago and has received rave reviews. Now, it’s big brother, the GS Adventure has been unveiled.
The GSA has always been functionally styled and has often looked to have a rather brutalist demeanour. Not many people bought them for their beauty, but plenty bought them for their functionality. They are especially effective adventure tourers, as their reputation attests.
The new model promises to be no different, and is already ruffling feathers among GSA devotees. We like the look of it, but not everyone will. That’s ok, you don’t have to like how it looks. Just ride it, that’s what it’s for.
The GS Adventure is due to be available in Australia early in 2025,
The2023 Teams World Championship winner, Pramac Racing, has officially announced a new 7-year partnership with Yamaha to run a satellite team.
The team has risen to prominence in the last few years as Ducati’s main satellite team, and had great success last year with Jorge Martin finishing 2nd in the riders championship. He’s a good chance of going one better this year.
However, growing frustration with their relationship with Ducati and a sweet offer from the struggling Yamaha has seen them make the switch to the Japanese manufacturer.
This will be a huge benefit for Yamaha, giving them two more bikes on the grid to gather data from, and solving Yamaha’s dilemma of not having a satellite team, which is required under their contract with Dorna.
It is not the first time Pramac have been aligned with a Japanese manufacturer, as they raced Honda NSR500s when they first joined GP
priced from $30,490 +ORC. There will be multiple variants to choose from depending on what level of spec you want, right up to the bells and whistles
Option 719 variant at $38,790 +ORC. BMW will also be offering its new
racing in 2002 with Tetsuya Harada, and then with Makoto Tamada the following year when MotoGP went to 4-stroke bikes.
Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing, said “These are busy times for Yamaha, both on track and behind the scenes. Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (YMC) and Yamaha Motor Racing (YMR) have made it no secret that they are putting all their effort into bike development.”
“We now enter the next phase – one that we have been looking forward to for a long time: the arrival of a second Yamaha team.”
“The new partnership with Prima Pramac Racing will take a different form than we have used in the past.”
“Rather than a satellite team, with this new agreement Yamaha have put their trust in Pramac Racing, and we will be providing them with Factory bikes of the same specification used by the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team.
“The targets are to accelerate bike development, which remains YMC
Automated Shift Assistant as an option to give you those semi-automatic gearbox feels.
and YMR’s key priority in our quest to return to winning ways, as well as having four competitive riders in the MotoGP championship in two topclass teams.”
The only dilemma now is who their riders will be. Jorge Martin has already signed with Aprilia for 2025 after Ducati decided they preferred Marc Marquez in their factory squad, and Franco Morbidelli is unlikely to follow the Pramac team to Yamaha, where he suffered with a bike he was unable to perform on for the last few years.
As we go to print, the most likely candidates are Jack Miller who has not been offered a contract for next year at KTM, and Miguel Oliveira, understood to be looking for a move out of the satellite Aprilia team, although our insiders say Miguel is looking for a Ducati seat, which would only leave one option, the remaining seat at Gresini Ducati. The only problem there is Ducati have already signed Moto2 rider Fermin Aldegeur for next year, and they are likely going to want him to take the Gresini ride. Isn’t silly season wonderful?
Above: The new GSA has created a little bit of a stir with its looks.
mo T o R cycl I ng A us TRA l IA A nnounces mxon T e A m
TeamAustralia will take a starstudded line-up into the 2024 FIM Monster Energy Motocross of Nations (MXoN) in England from October 4-6, with the ridiculously talented Hunter and Jett Lawrence
to be joined by local star Kyle Webster as they head into battle for the prestigious Chamberlain Trophy.
All three riders are Honda-mounted, and will take great form into the competition. Kyle Webster is currently
leading the premier MX1 class in the 2024 ProMX Championship, while factory duo Hunter and Jett were first and equal second respectively until a recent thumb injury forced Jett to undergo surgery on an injured thumb.
Jett will miss a couple of months of competition while he rehabilitates the injury, but aims to be back competing in September, well in time to prepare for the MXON.
Webster is currently taking advantage of a break in racing in the local ProMX series to go and race in America, where his recent performances have been turning heads.
Lat year Jett had an incredible unbeaten run through the AMA Motocross series, and then became only the third rookie after Jeremy McGrath and Ryan Dungey to win the 450cc class in the AMA Supercross Championship. It has been an incredible 18 months for the 20-yearold Queensland rider.
Team Australia came extremely close to winning the MXON last year but were beaten by the home team, France. Last year the Lawrence brothers were joined by veteran Dean Ferris. With another year of experience under their belts, and the addition of the fast and super professional Webster to the team, we think they can go one better in 2024.
With all three 2024 MXoN incumbents riding out of their skin, Australian team manager Michael Byrne is being cautiously optimistic ahead of the Matterley Basin event.
“I’d like to congratulate Kyle, Hunter and Jett on their Team Australia selection,” said the American-based Byrne. “For Kyle, it’ll be his first MXoN since 2019, and a just reward for the season he has put together in Australia.
“I’ve been glued to the livestream coverage of ProMX and marvelling at his pace, temperament and work rate – traits that are all required to make a mark in the pressure-cooker of the MXoN.
“The Lawrences are simply box office stars, and I’m confident if they produce their very best it’ll go a long way towards Team Australia winning the Chamberlain Trophy for the first time.”
Above: left: Current ProMX MX1 series leader Kyle Webster.
Left: Jett and Hunter Lawrence. Amm
A p RI l IA R s 457 I s
com I ng
Australians, and particularly those stuck on LAMS bikes, have always had a soft spot for Aprilia’s small sports bikes, and we are now about to see another one head our way.
The RS457 will be the baby brother to the popular RS660, and has a 450cc twin cylinder motor sitting in a lovely alloy frame, something you don’t see a lot any more in this class. The swingarm is reminiscent of the “banana” swingarms of Aprilias-old, and it sure is pretty.
Aprilia says it will weigh around 175 kg with fuel, and will put out around 35 Hp. Sounds like fun. It will go on sale locally for $12,540 ride away.
mv A gus TA supe R veloce
1000 se RI e o R o R ele A sed
Youwant sexy? MV Agusta has all the sexy you need.
The Superveloce 1000 Serie Oro has been exposed, and it sure is pretty. But you’d expect that.
The “normal” Superveloce has the 800cc triple cyclinder engine and belts out 147 Hp. Nothing to snort at. The Serie Oro gets the 1000cc 4 cylinder engine from the top of the range Brutale, and it cracks out a scorching 207 Hp. It has all the bells and whistles, including semi-active Ohlins bouncy bits, and will only set you back a little over $110,000.
Still want one? You better hurry, only ten of the 500 limited edition bikes will make it to Australia, and at least five of them are already sold. Amm
Left & above: At least Jorge Martin and Franco Morbidelli won’t have to wear these leathers next year.
Amm
PHOTO COMPETITION
There were no photos submitted this month – though some interesting story ideas and pitches!
The competition this month is under the theme “Among others”. Interpret as you like!
Please send your submissions as hi-res photos to yourview@ clemengermediasales.com.au with Australian Motorcyclist Photo in the subject heading. End submission date is September 12th. $100 prize voucher.
PRODUCTS
Muhammad Wasif
Dawid Cedler
Gilley Aguilar
John Silver
AdriAtiC Moto tourS, A European tour operator, is introducing a new tour in 2025 featuring exhilarating and exciting destinations. the tour will cover the western part of the French Alps, romantic Provence, the spectacular roads of the Pyrenees, mountainous Andorra, vibrant Barcelona, and the glamorous French riviera—all in one tour. it will run in early June 2025.
Martina Malovrh Adriatic Moto tours www.adriaticmototours.com/tour/french-riviera-to-barcelona
Main: Lavander Fields somewhere in Provence. Below: Spectacular French Balcony Road. Bottom: Group Photo, French Countryside.
TOpRak lEads ThE Way IN WoRld supeRbIkes
At thE tiME oF writing, we’re now five rounds into FIM World Superbike Championship (aka WorldSBK) 2024 and by the time you read this, round Six will have been run which marks the midpoint of the twelveround series.
Since the last edition of AMM, Round Four, the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round at Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” and Round Five, the Prosecco DOC UK Round at Donington Park have been run and a much clearer picture is emerging of who is and who isn’t performing.
Toprak Razgatlioglu’s switch to the factory BMW Motorrad Motorsport WorldSBK team at the start of the season was seen by many as a huge mistake for him simply because the BMW M1000RR had not, and was not expected to, deliver results that would see Razgatlioglu as a podium finisher let alone a realistic championship challenger. If anyone told Toprak that he was going to spend the season mired, at best, in the midfield, he wasn’t listening as his performances, and those of the bike just keep getting better. Both Rounds Four and Five were clean-sweeps with the young Turk winning all six races, two full length and one sprint race at each round. Following his Race Two victory at Assen’s Round Three that makes seven wins in a row and a forty-one point lead over Aruba.it
Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega, heading to Round Six.
BMW are, as you’d expect, delighted because winning the championship now looks like a real possibility but there may be clouds on the horizon. There are strong rumours that Toprak is courting MotoGP teams for a ride in 2025, which would mean breaking his contract with BMW in WorldSBK. Toprak’s manager, multiple World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoğlu has all but confirmed that the right offer from MotoGP could see Razgatlioglu bail on the BMW team at the end of 2024 although it’s unclear how he could score a competitive ride in that series given the top seats are already filled. But if the move did eventuate perhaps there would be fewer hard feelings from the BMW camp If he landed them the championship before he walked away. Whatever the outcome, this story has some way to go before we find out how it ends.
Whilst on the subject of BMW’s presence in WorldSBK, Michael Van der Mark signed on for another year with the factory team and whilst he’s not quite setting the track on fire the way Toprak is, VdM is delivering regular points for the team and currently sits ninth in the table.
But it’s not all positive vibes in the BMW ranks as Bonovo Action, also running factory spec bikes announced that it would exit WorldSBK at the end
WoRds And ImAges: nIck edARds hAlF lIghT phoTogRAphIc
Middle
Bottom
of the 2024 season which potentially puts Scott Redding and Garrett Gerloff on the market and looking for seats in 2025. Redding is contracted to BMW for 2025 and the Bonovo exit was as much a surprise to BMW HQ as it was to everyone else, so we’ll have to wait and see if BMW is able to field a second-team next season.
The oft-maligned Brit had another poor outing at Misano scoring only five points, but he finally found some form at Donington and was desperately unlucky to have a mechanical DNF whilst running strongly in Race One. He backed that performance up with two fourth-place finishes in both Tissot Superpole and Race Two demonstrating that he’s far from a spent force. Hopefully he can build on those results and deliver more strong performances as the season progresses into its second-half. Gerloff, Redding’s teammate continues to struggle to make the top-ten in any race which is a shame as he’s a talented rider.
In the factory Aruba.it Ducati stable, it was Nicolo Bulega who held sway at both Misano and Donington, outscoring his more experienced teammate at both rounds, results that see Bulega fourteen-points in front of Bautista heading to the Czech round. Bulega has outscored Bautista at every round in 2024 apart from Assen and Bautista throwing the Ducati down the road in the Misano Tissot Superpole race cost him points he couldn’t afford. Crashing out on the sighting lap before Race Two at Donington didn’t help his cause either but the team was able to fix up the damage on the grid and Bautista settled himself enough to bring it home in fifth place. One big problem for Bautista has been qualifying. His race pace has often been on par with the front runners but starting tenth on the grid as he did at Donington with Toprak on pole creates another level of challenge as he strives to win his third consecutive WorldSBK Championship. Bautista seems less comfortable this year, possibly because Toprak and Bulega are putting more pressure on him and possibly because of changes in the bike’s dynamic with the ballast he has to carry to make minimum weight. Either way, Baustista is making mistakes that he wasn’t making when he was the far and away the dominant force in 2022 and 2023. Regardless, there’s clearly
Left: Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Right: Alex Lowes.
right: Alvaro Bautista.
right: Bonovo Action BMW.
still a lot of fight left in the diminutive Spaniard and whilst he’s fifty-five points behind Toprak, there’s still plenty to play for and we know just how unpredictable WorldSBK can be.
In the Kawasaki camp Alex Lowes continues to be competitive and consistent. Whilst he’s too far back from Toprak to be a realistic championship contender, his Donington results narrowed the gap between himself, in fourth, and Baustista, in third on the championship table to twenty-one points. This is the best season we’ve seen from Lowes in quite a while and a remarkable turn-around from the last few seasons when he’s rarely been in the frame for podium finishes. Lowes’ teammate Axel Bassani in his first season with
KRT hasn’t yet come to grips with the Kawasaki. Misano was his best round to-date but Donington was another disappointment with a best finish of tenth in Race Two to see him sitting in twelfth in the series points heading to Round Six.
To call season 2024 a mixed-bag for Yamaha is an understatement. Locatelli has been dependable, scoring points regularly and placing fifth in the series coming away from Donington, some way adrift of Alex Lowes in fourth. Perhaps the most positive news for the team is that Jonathan Rea is finally starting to gel with the R1M. Sixth in Race One at Assen and fifth in the Superpole race were encouraging but a fall in Race Two, and a nineteenth-place finish after remounting was a disappointing end to the weekend.
Left: Jonathan Rea.
Bottom left: Andrea Iannone.
Right: Remy Gardner.
Bottom right: Danilo Petrucci.
But it was Donington where Rea finally tasted champagne with an excellent third place in the Superpole sprint race. His early season struggles see him way back in eleventh spot on the table leaving Donington but it’s clear that he’s not giving up and let’s hope that he continues to improve as the second half of the season looms large.
GRT Yamaha men Remy Gardner and Dominique Aegerter are still ahead of Rea on points. Gardner had an excellent outing at Assen scoring his first, and very well-deserved, WorldSBK podium with a third place in Race Two. This isn’t likely to be his last visit to the podium this season but, disappointingly, good qualifying pace at Donington didn’t translate into the race results that he would’ve liked.
Of the independent riders, Andrea Iannone hasn’t been able to maintain his stunning early season form and he’s dropped away from being a regular podium contender. He has enough selfbelief to think that he’s good enough for a factory ride in WorldSBK or even possibly a switch to MotoGP but he’s going to need to rediscover his early season form for those to be realistic aspirations. Bautista has yet to make his intentions for 2025 clear and if he did retire, perhaps Iannone would be a strong contender to take the vacant seat if it’s available but he’s going to need to start putting together the sort of results we saw at the start of the season or a factory seat is unlikely to come his way.
Iannone’s primary adversary in the chase for top independent rider was Danilo Petrucci who had been performing admirably on the Barni Park Racing Ducati in the early rounds but lost ground in the series after having to miss Assen as a result of the quite serious injuries he sustained in an MX accident. Petrucci returned to the field of play at Misano, an early return which had a lot of people wondering if he was really ready for it. Petrucci was one of those left wondering and by the time the first race came around, his goal was simply to finish. Not surprising then that three top-ten finishes with a best of sixth in the second full length race was seen by the paddock and spectators alike as an absolutely heroic effort. Coming away from Misano, Petrucci trailed Iannone by just seventeen points and in ninth place in the standings.
Respect. So much determination from one of the nicest guys in the paddock. He backed up his Misano performances at Donington with another three top ten finishes and a best of sixth in Race Two to narrow the gap between him and Iannone to just three points.
Honda, well they’re still in the game but with Vierge and Lecuona falling back to sixteenth and nineteenth respectively after Round Five, there’s not much happening of note there.
Round Six of WorldSBK is up next at Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic over the weekend of 19th-21st July. The Portuguese round takes place early August and then French, Italian and Spanish rounds make September a gala of WorldSBK action with the final two rounds taking place in October.
Toprak Razgatlioglu continues to demonstrate just how talented he is. Impressive early-season performances on what was assumed to be a bike with little potential has now turned into an almost unbeatable package. In all three races at Donington, he settled himself in the early laps, made the pass to take the lead and then basically just disappeared into the distance. It does mean that the excitement is in the midfield rather than that the front of the race but no one can fail to be impressed at just how good Toprak and BMW have become in such a short space of time. But with seven Rounds left to run, nothing is certain yet.
CElEbRaTINg
A cenTuRy oF speed
The 100 T h Ann I ve R s ARy o F T he F IR s T Aus TRA l IA n m o T o R cycle gRA nd pRI x I n g oulbu R n WoRds And ImAges: chRIsTIne FIsheR keeble
Proudly SPonSorEd By indiAn Motorcycles and orchestrated by a dedicated team, the 100th anniversary of the Grand Prix was a resounding success in chilly Goulburn on the weekend of June 22-23, 2024.
The centennial chase: A century of Racing glory
In the heart of Goulburn, where the thunder of engines harmonises with the cheers of the crowd, the 100th anniversary of the Grand Prix unfurled like
a tapestry woven with a hundred tales of racing glory. Picture this - With the sun rising over the iconic track, seasoned racers and emerging talents geared up for the ultimate test of skill and nerve.
Troy herfoss local legend
– The motorcycle dnA runs deep in this town!
Goulburn is hometown of Troy Herfoss, current record-holder on his Indian Motorcycle for King of The Baggers races. Troy couldn’t attend but he was cheering the event on from the USA.
Weekend highlights
Q Friday Night: A spectacular street parade featuring over three hundred bikes of all shapes and sizes enthralled the entire town, as locals gathered to cheer on the riders.
Q Saturday: A display day showcased motorcycles spanning from the turn of the century to the latest models. Enthusiasts and the public alike immersed themselves in Goulburn’s rich racing history, honouring a legacy of passion and perseverance on this storied circuit.
Q Saturday Night: A sold-out dinner event with guest speakers, panel interviews, auctions, and networking opportunities capped off the day’s festivities.
Q Sunday: Echoes of History: The Commemorative Rally: To commemorate the centenary, riders of all makes and models had the unique opportunity to join an escorted rally tracing the original 1924 route. Spanning 80 kilometres, the circuit featured motorcycles from every decade, from pre-1924 classics to the cutting-edge of today. Spectators
lined the route, cheering as the bikes roared past, creating an unforgettable sight and sound. A great community outpouring of support with locals and property owners out on the road set up in back of Utes, camps chairs waving us on.
legacy and Inspiration
As the sun set over Goulburn, the 100th anniversary of the Goulburn Grand Prix faded into history, leaving behind a legacy that will inspire generations of racers to come. The event also featured historical insights from Wayne Adams’ book “The Racing Boys,” displayed at the venue, offering a fascinating glimpse into the sport’s rich past.
“On a sunny autumn day in 1914, motorcyclists gathered in Goulburn, for the inaugural Tourist Trophy Race ofAustralia, marking the birth of a significant sporting tradition.A decade later, the First Australian Grand Prix would test riders over 200 miles of rugged country roads, solidifying Goulburn’s place in motorcycling history.”
With an outstanding display of machines, it is hoped that this event will become an annual one. Albeit with a new name. Keep a look out for that, Pack the thermals and head out to a beautiful
historic town. Australia’s First Inland City - Goulbourn.
“Goulburn is the hub of classic motorcycle collectors “ Darrell Weekes committee president said. “A Red Indian is owned by a local girl, one of only six factory racers built by Indian and a ‘sister’ bike to the one that won the original race”.
“These were bikes built by the factory, they’re not bikes altered for racing. We have one of the biggest collectors in the world in Goulburn, Steve Hazelton. The number of classic bikes here is extraordinary.”
“They are works of art. They almost have a personality,”
This writer thoroughly enjoyed the event and camaraderie. It has been documented on her YouTube Channel –@thecreativecruiser www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Fm0y3Z7LX5Y
The photographs here only capture a small portion. There are many more on socials and website. The organising committee seen in one of the photos is left to right: Howard Kneebone, Bruce Tinsley, Mick Jackson, Daler Towel, Julie Kneebone, Darrell Weekes, Caitlin Muddiman.
Until next year… Keep those fires burning Goulburn. We all want to come back in 2025!
Amm
Below: Michael Dunlop flying high.
The kIng Is deAd lONg lIVE ThE kINg
by Tug mccluTchIn - ImAges by AndRe beRnARd
ThiS yEAr, thE MAn known as The Bull, became the Goat. the image of the bull features proudly in the Michael dunlop Racing logo, and it is a moniker he has worn proudly for many years. But at the isle of Man tt races this year, Michael moved out of the shadows of his late uncle Joey and became the greatest road racer of all time.
The Dunlop name is legend in road racing. And I’m talking traditional road racing, not the other version of road racing on closed circuits we see here in Australia. Most “normal” road racers shudder at the thought of riding an event like the Isle Of Man TT. Streaking past hedgerows, stone walls, wire fences, trees, and even spectators hanging over the walls, all at speeds that make your spleen want to rupture just in anticipation of what could eventuate if it all goes wrong is not every racers’ idea of appropriate work health and safety protocols.
But for some, and particularly the old school racers of Ireland, that is the way things are meant to be. And thankfully for us all, some of these “old school” racers still exist, and Ulsterman Michael Dunlop is now the king of them all.
Early on in the event he earnt his 26th TT win in the first Supersport race, equalling his late Uncle Joey’s record. He then went on to win three more Supersport and Super Twin races over the weekend, and was cruelly robbed of another likely win in the Superbike race when his helmet visor came adrift.
Riders at the Isle Of Man do not use tear-offs to clear their visor when it gets dirty like you commonly see in other forms of racing. Instead, when they have their pit stops for refuelling and tyre changes, they usually either swap helmets for one with a clean visor, or a team mechanic will change the visor on the
Far left: I’m sorry officer, I didn’t see the sign. Top: Dunlop across the top of the mountain. Below: Dunlop won both Super Twins Races on board his Paton S1-R.
l ON g l IVE T h E k IN g helmet whilst the rider wears it.
The latter option is the one Michael Dunlop chooses to employ, however this time things didn’t go to plan, and after leaving the pits he was forced to pull to the side of the road, remove his helmet and gloves and fix the visor before putting his helmet and gloves back on and continuing the race. It was a heart-breaking moment, and one that dropped him from the lead down to an eventual 4th place.
Dunlop describes himself as “socially awkward” and isn’t one to mince his words. He’s happy to let other competitors know his feelings, and he is generally predisposed to disliking them. But he is loved by many of the fans, in part because his name is Dunlop. It is a big name to carry, but Michael is staunch. He has created his own fame alongside that famous name. He’s not just loved because he’s a Dunlop. He’s as good as it gets when you talk about road racing heroes, and is adored accordingly.
Part of the attraction for those who idolise him is the way he goes about his racing. He’s not the type to seek attention, nor is he one to sit back and let his crew do all the mechanical work. He’s regularly seen swinging spanners on his bikes
in the pits and does much of the bike preparation work himself.
Dunlop runs his own racing operation, on a much lower budget than some of the big name teams. In an interview in 2023 he said, “The problem is I haven’t got much of a choice, because I think I’ve pissed off every team manager, every manufacturer, probably 95% of the paddock, and most of the press because I’m never in any of their programs.”
It’s this plain-speaking, no-nonsense attitude to his racing that endears him to fans around the world. He just wants to race his bikes and beat everyone else. It’s that simple, and it is a truth that appeals to die-hard fans everywhere.
Michael Dunlop also doesn’t try to sugar-coat the sport. He’s not one to talk things up. It’s a tough, brutal sport. He knows better than most just how difficult and dangerous racing at the Isle Of Man is. Things happen at a frenetic pace, so fast that only these elite riders can process what’s before them and execute what they need to do in order not just to be fast, but to survive. The Isle Of Man’s reputation is well earned.
“You know when you ask and people (riders) will talk you through a lap, they’re lying to you, just so you know. There’s no way you remember it all. Unless you nearly put it through a hedge, you just don’t remember what happened. You’re that focussed on what you’re doing, you’re concentrating on this part of the circuit,
then you’re concentrating on the next part and before you know it, you’re through it.” said Dunlop, trying to explain the frenetic nature of TT racing.
He’s also one of the last of the elite traditional road racers. Many of his competitors don’t confine themselves to road racing alone, but also compete regularly in the British Superbike Championship and other championships, such as Australia’s own Josh Brookes who finished a brilliant 2nd to Davey Todd in this year’s Senior TT race (Dunlop was forced to retire on lap 1 of that race). Guys like that race more regularly than Dunlop, and on a variety of circuits. Dunlop tends to stick with the traditional road race format.
But it does leave him at a disadvantage. Seat time is important in motorcycle racing, and the less you have of it, the less prepared you tend to be. Dunlop knows this to be true.
“The job’s getting harder, you know. A lot of people who go road racing, probably 99% of the people who go road racing don’t go road racing the way we went road racing. I learned by heritage. I can only go by what me Dad done, and what way Joey done it. Those boys drunk beer and smoked cigarettes, now everybody’s wearing sunglasses.”
“Everybody’s now an athlete, which is hard too because I’m not an advertisement for an athlete a protein shake for me is a pint
Left: Superbike race winner Peter Hickman. Below: Senior TT winner Davey Todd sliding past a stone wall towards more stone walls. And light poles. And spectators.
of beer, It’s got all the stuff you need in it. It’s got Barley, and it’s got all the rest of the stuff you need.”
It’s hard not to love Irish road racers, huh?
And in another interesting twist, Michael Dunlop is now, as of a few months ago, riding around public roads on a learners permit. He has never had a motorcycle license for riding on the road. You’d be surprised how many motorcycle racers don’t ride bikes day to day like the rest of us. Motorcycling for them is a very different beast than it is for you and I. It means something completely different to them.
Then there’s his family story, and when you combine his talents and demeanour with the history of one of the greatest motorcycle racing families we’ve ever seen, you get something that Hollywood really should be making a movie about.
Michael’s uncle Joey Dunlop is one of the most famous racers the world has known. 26 wins and 41 podiums at the Isle Of Man TT is one pretty obvious way to become a legend. He also won at the Ulster Grand Prix 24 times, and was awarded an OBE for his humanitarian work supporting children in orphanages in Romania, Albania, and elsewhere in the Balkans.
Joey died in a crash during a race in Estonia on the 2nd of July, 2000. It was reported that fifty thousand people attended Joey’s funeral procession, such was his impact on the people of Northern Ireland, the road racing community, and the motorcycling world.
Joey’s brother Robert, father to Michael and his older brother William, was also a top-level racer, with 5 TT wins to his name, as well as 15 wins at the North West 200. His career looked to be over when he suffered a high-speed crash caused by a collapsing rear wheel on his Honda RC45. He incurred terrible damage to his right leg and arm, but somehow returned to racing some time later. Joey once remarked that Robert was “ very unlucky. Every time he falls off, he hits something hard.”
In 2008 in practice for the North West 200, where both of his sons were also entered to race, Robert crashed due to a mechanical failure at high speed. He died in hospital that night.
Despite pleas from event organisers to withdraw from the event, both William and Michael fronted up to race the next day. Michael went out and took the first win of his career.
A new legend was forming right in front of the eyes of the road racing world. He took to the podium, collected his trophy, cried like a baby, and went straight home to his grieving mother. There were no celebrations.
In 2018, in practice for the Skerries 200 at Dublin, Michael’s older brother William was killed in a crash. William left behind his wife Janine, his first daughter Ella, and second daughter Willa, who was born two months after he died.
Michael Dunlop has lost his uncle, his father, and his brother to the sport that he loves so dearly. And now, he has become the greatest Isle Of Man TT competitor of all time.
If there is a more perfect allegory for the very core of motorcycle racing, and its effect on those of us who adore it, than the Dunlop family story, I am yet to find it.
Even after his 4th victory of the event, taking his total to 29 TT wins, Michael Dunlop was coy about what it meant. There was no chest beating. It was just Michael Dunlop doing Michael Dunlop things the way Michael Dunlop does them. Little fanfare, other than that which
was forced upon him by organisers and the media, and great reverence for his uncle whose record he had just smashed. He said “Everyone’s inspiration was to be a Joey Dunlop around the Isle of Man. I’m no better than Joey, never was,”. He added, “Joey’s record stood for 24 years and it’s an honour. Joey was a special talent. My record will be beaten one day, but I don’t care.”
Michael can be prickly. Brutish. Even rude. But I forgive him all of that. He is the fiercest of competitors, and in a sport that is probably the very last of the gladiatorial battlefields, I will admire him simply for who he is. The ultimate competitor.
In a little town in rural Northern Ireland sits a picturesque church, and next to it a beautifully tended graveyard. In it lay Joey, Robert, and William Dunlop, all buried by the same priest. One day, Michael will join them. But with a little of the luck that is overdue to the Dunlop family, it will be a very long way off.
Left: Australia’s Josh Brookes raced to 2nd in the Senior TT for
his best ever finish. Below: Supersport 1 Podium.
Amm
sIzE
does mATTeR
AuStrAliA iS rEnoWnEd For its big things: Bananas, Morinos and Prawns to name just three, and now the biggest dedicated Royal Enfield dealership in the country has been added to the list.
Located at 1/10 James Ruse Drive in Clyde, about half an hour East of Sydney on the M4, the newly completed Moto Machine premises hosted it’s VIP opening party on the 14th June with members of the press and top brass from India (including the
CEO B.Govindarajan) in attendance.
The flagship store is now part of the expanding RE retail network comprising 56 locations in Australia and New Zealand and offers clothing, accessories and servicing alongside the full range of Royal Enfield motorcycles.
In addition, the new location aims to be a focal point and community space for the RE riding community at large, organising special events such as ride-outs and bike displays in the future.
by lIne: WoRds And pIcTuRes nIgel cRoWley And Tom FossATI
What’s more the new store will be the first to offer what they’re calling the “Make it Yours” customisation station allowing owners to personalise their ride to suit their taste and style.
The new store is the result of a huge amount of effort and hands-on physical graft by David Song and his business partner Damien Llewellyn, co-founders of Moto Machine, who both put a lot of craftsmanship and passion into the fit-out. Operating under a philosophy of “built not bought” the pair saw more than their fair share of 3 a.m. finishes during the build process, whilst simultaneously running their existing dealership during the normal working day. Hard yakka indeed.
I asked David why he decided that Royal Enfield was the place to hang his hat and to paraphrase: one of the reasons he was so drawn to the brand was the fantastic experience he had dealing with personnel within the company from importer to factory and how refreshing it was as a dealer to have such a collaborative relationship. Not to mention the generally good vibes that go along with the RE riding community and the fantastic line-up of existing and proposed new models from the company.
Not that I can take even one molecule of credit for this enterprise, but he did specifically say that the day I rocked up at the old shop on my Interceptor 650 and blathered on endlessly about what a great and fun bike it was to ride really got him thinking with that in mind I will be popping in to drink free coffee every time I go past from now on.
If you’re interested in buying a Royal Enfield, want to have a good look at the range or just chat about what the current models offer, be sure to swing by Moto Machine…tell ‘em I sent you. Amm
EmbRaCE WINTER RIdINg fOR yEaR-ROUNd fUN WITh
heATed RIdIng geAR
I’vE nEvEr ConSidErEd hEAtEd riding gear, even heated grips, for i had mostly perfected the art of keeping warm on a motorcycle whilst motorcycle couriering in london during the winter of 1994/1995. Layering with merino wool thermals and a dense-weave polar fleece and thermals under leather pants; a wet weather jacket over my Belstaff to cut down wind chill; wool socks and GoreTex sock liners inside motocross boots and winter waterproof leather gauntlet gloves inside handlebar muffs kept me ‘relatively’ warm. But did I feel like the Michelin Man? you bet i did. And my fingertips always suffered on those really icy days so much so that i ended up with chilblains (the stage before frostbite), which left my fingertips, even to this day, extra sensitive to cold.
Fast forward to winter 2024 and when Melbourne-based motorcycle heated clothing distributor Zarkie offered me the Venture Heat jacket liner (from the US), and Komine EK-200 Protect Carbon heated gauntlet gloves (from Japan), I couldn’t believe my luck. The jacket liner and gloves arrived just in time for a string of cold mornings for my commute into Melbourne from the Yarra Valley when the temperate had dropped to a chilly 1°C on one of those early frosty and foggy mornings. For my day job in communications, I usually work from home, but there are times when the ‘powers-that-be’ say enough to Zoom meetings. Rain, hail, shine; winter and summer, I always ride into the city to save time, the fun of filtering and the convenience and cost-saving of footpath parking (the only Australian state where this is legal). So, the offer from Zarkie was perfect timing.
Setting up the battery harness to my Triumph Thruxton 900 to power the jacket liner and gloves was easy with clear instructions in the Venture Heat manual. After connecting to the bike’s battery, you just run the cable under the seat and using cable ties, secure it and take up
any slack so it can sit snuggly to where it’s plugged into the power cord on the bottom of the liner under your motorcycle jacket. The Komine heated gloves came with two converter leads to connect to the cables on the sleeves of the Venture Heat jacket liner making the two different brands compatible. If your bike has a power accessory port, you can also plug both the liner and/or the gloves into that. The kit comes with a set of different fuses with the manual instructing which one to use for various combinations of heated gear. You could buy the lot: jacket liner, pant liner, gloves and sock liner and be totally wired and totally warm for those long commuters and touring riders. If you just want the gloves, these are also battery powered and come with two rechargeable battery packs that fit snuggly inside a pocket on each glove at the inside of the wrist so you don’t even feel the batteries are there or you can buy the extra cable to plug into our bike if you have that function. The batteries give you 3.5 hours of heat at the low setting (30°C). It would be more than enough for my one hour commute and I could even run on high or medium for a bit, easily turning down the heat by pressing the control button on the end of each glove, which are touch screen sensitive.
On those few chilly days riding into the city with the liner and gloves powered on, I had been a bit worried about the drain on the bike’s electrics, especially while moving slow as I filtered through traffic and the stop go at the various lights. I’d checked the Thruxton’s manual and its electrics had more than enough amps to support the liner and gloves. But just to be sure, I ran the liner and gloves on low most of the time and still felt warm. It was all I needed once I’d reached the city’s fringe.
My leather jacket is a Belstaff-lookalike with a belted waist and once I’d warmed up the bike and then plugged in the jacket liner with gloves plugged in on each sleeve, I immediately felt the warmth
ooze into my torso and hands from the heat circulating around the gloves. The built in pre-heat function in the jacket liner means if you start off on high, after five minutes, the liner automatically goes to the medium setting. It also comes with Bluetooth App control so you can operate it from your phone attached to the bike’s handlebars. I skipped this step; it’s just not for me. With my leather jacket belted around my waist, I had a snug fit meaning the heat from the liner was close to my body, but I didn’t get this same warmth radiating down my arms and around the back of my neck. I chose the men’s size small. There are no women’s sizes. Same with the gloves, but with my long fingers, the men’s small fitted perfectly. While the liner fits like a jacket should, it is not snug. And after reading a few reviews on heated jacket liners, these do need to fit snug to work so that the heated
Left: To get the most from the heat, a snug fit is critical with heated jacket liners.
Below: The controller for the Venture Heat jacket liner sits just under your jacket. It goes from high to medium after the first five minutes, but low ‘green’ kept me warm enough on those chilly mornings.
WoRds & phoTos: heATheR ellIs
carbon-fibre panels are close to your body. Sizing then is critical.
To ensure the jacket liner was properly put to the test, I wore my leather jacket with the liner over a lightweight knit jumper for work. And textile pants with liner over jeans. My usual winter riding gear is a textile jacket with its thermal liner, a dense-weave micro-fleece and merino wool top. This combo had always kept me toasty on many a winter ride in the past. On my chilly morning rides into Melbourne that week, once at the office, the jacket liner and leather jacket came off as one. On the way home, it was still warm enough that I didn’t need to power up the heated liner and gloves. The liner is also wind resistant and without its powered heat was surprisingly warm. The gloves were just like wearing winter gloves but without the bulkiness. There’s no indication that these are heated gloves and it took me back to my motorcycle couriering days with my beloved Frank Thomas gauntlets, but the Komine gloves are just so much more silky smooth and soft. I didn’t get the chance to try the gear in rain, but both the jacket liner and gloves are water resistant and safe to wear in the wet.
Little did Zarkie know that I had been, for a few winters now, hunting high and low for my ideal gauntlet gloves to replace my Frank Thomas’s, which have lasted nearly 30 years up until recently. They’ve taken quite the beating and while there’s still some warmth there, the waterproofing membrane has long since disintegrated. Unfortunately, UK brand Frank Thomas sold out to the
Why he AT ed JA cke T l I ne R s AR e T he pe RF ec T pART ne R F o R le AT he R JA cke T s
It was one of those icy cold winter days riding the Yarra Ranges. Despite the cold, the sun shone down from a cloudless blue sky in all its glory devoid of heat of course. I remember it well. Rugged up in layers under my textile jacket with its thermal liner, I was cozy warm, although the tips of my fingers were chilled to the bone. I was in the zone laying into each tight bend but soon noticed my friend had dropped further and further behind. I pulled over and waited and when he did not appear, I back tracked. He’d pulled over and I found him standing next to his bike, his arms hugging his body. He was experiencing the first signs of hyperthermia and is it any wonder dressed in jeans, a hoodie and leather jacket that was somewhat loose around his waist.
Light weight summer gloves did not help either. He’d lost concentration and had wisely pulled over knowing a crash was imminent if he’d pushed on. We back tracked to the closest pub, which had an open log fire and over lunch, he thawed out. He’s now moved to Queensland, but I thought of him when I tested out the Venture Heat jacket liner and Komine heated gloves. I also thought of all the other riders I regularly see on the road in jeans and leather jackets riding in winter. Maybe they are made of tougher stock than me. Maybe I’m just getting old and soft. Riding in sunny bluesky days in the dead of winter in our southern states can be deceiving. And in these conditions, it’s the wind chill that is the killer.
Right: It’s easy to change the temperature settings on the Komine Gloves, even while riding.
Chinese and gauntlets are no longer part of their range. I’ve checked in many a motorcycle accessories shop for the perfect replacement. Enter the Komine EK-200 Carbon Protect heated gauntlet glove and I was absolutely beside myself. I have this theory that whatever you wish for in life as long as you wish long and hard for it (‘be absolutely committed to your wish’), it will materialise. It is just a matter of time. Even before I turned on the heat, when I slipped my hands into these oh so smooth and silky-feeling gloves, I knew I was onto a good thing. With knuckle protectors and palm sliders, a windproof outer layer and thin insulation inner layer plus a waterproof breathable liner, a secure velcro fastener around the wrist and another at the top of the glove as well as an inside tightener cord, I was one very happy motorcyclist. Once I powered them on, the heat radiated via a carbonfibre element around my hands, fingers and fingertips. And all was now right and perfect in my motorcycling life. Those few rides into the city were just over an hour commute with the afternoon ride being warm enough to ride without the powered heat. I needed a longer, much colder ride and so the real test came early one chilly Sunday morning long before Melbourne’s weekend riders had stirred. I headed up Lake Mountain in 5°C and a wind chill factor much lower and it felt well below freezing when I reached the top. The things we do in the name of research!
Before my Sunday morning gear test
ride to Lake Mountain, a motorcycle mate pointed out it was best I not turn off the bike when up ‘in them thar hills’, just in case the heated gear had sucked the battery of its power and I was left alone between a rock and cold place. Halfway on that chilly ride, I turned both the liner and gloves from medium to low ‘green’, just in case. By now my body and hands were warm as toast and with warm blood pumping to my extremities, I felt no chill in my legs with my Kevlar jeans and thermals and feet in thick wool socks inside my boots. But I didn’t want to remove my helmet, which meant I couldn’t see the built-in controller on the jacket liner and used the bike’s mirror to make this adjustment. Maybe, I should have set up my phone for the Bluetooth App control? As I was riding, I easily changed the settings on the controller on each glove and tried it on high to low at various times. But once my hands were warm all the way to the fingertips, the low setting was more than enough.
The night before at ‘shed night’ over beers with my motorcycle mates it seemed everyone had an opinion on heated motorcycle gear. One couple who tour regularly including Tassie, had used the Venture Heat jacket liner for three winters and absolutely loved it and never ride without the liner on cold days. Most of my friends had heated hand grips on their bikes and advised that’s all you need as if your hands are warm, everything else feels warm. ‘But are your fingertips warm?’ I’d asked. The question was avoided as none had ever tried
heated gloves and the conversation had turned into this ‘fors and againsts’ kinda discussion. It was later, that one friend whispered the answer: ‘No’. What a revelation the heated jacket liner and gloves has been for my winter motorcycling, especially with my hands, all the way to the fingertips, comfortably warm. While I’ve been warm in my usual winter riding gear, the Venture Heat jacket liner means I can cut down on the bulk. I can also now wear my beloved leather jacket in winter. I see so many riders in leather jackets and just a hoodie underneath. They must be bloody freezing. For some die-hards (and I was one of them back in the day), we just put up with the cold, but staying warm means a lot more concentration for a lot longer and that means more control and more fun. Winter can be long and cold down here in the southern States, and in recent years, a lot drier too. So far this autumn and winter, there’s been a good many days where we’ve been blessed with glorious sunshine and clear blue skies. The mountain roads are dry except for those bends in perpetual shadow (stay clear of the green stuff!), and with heated gear there’s now no need to say it’s: ‘too bloody cold for the bike’.
Both available from Zarkie. To order online visit: www.zarkie.com.au
TOUR DATES
SEP 26 - OCT 11, 2024
APR 27 - MAY 12, 2025
SEP 25 - OCT 10, 2025
COUNTRIES
Italy, France
CapTaIN
sImplIcITy
kAWA s A k I kl R650 s
Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, “Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”
FAr BE it FroM me to argue with isaac. you’d be aware that he was the guy who mathematically mapped gravity. But you might not be aware that he also figured out that white light was made up multiple other colours which we call the spectrum, created the first useful reflecting telescope, invented the mind-blurring mathematics of calculus, and developed his understanding of gravity to the point where he could not only calculate the tides, but proved beyond doubt to everyone but the criminally stupid that our solar system really is heliocentric. that’s a fancy word that means the planets revolve around the sun.
So yes, Isaac knew his shit. If he were around today and were employed by a motorcycle manufacturer to design an adventure bike, I reckon the KLR650 might be something like the bike he would design. It is fundamentally simple. There is nothing on it that needs not be there. There’s not much missing that should be there. There is nothing about it that is confusing. And it certainly does not become bogged down with multiplicities. Isaac would likely approve.
That’s not to say it is perfect, either. There are a few things that could be improved upon, and probably should have been by now given how long the model has been around. But the KLR is built to a price, so change only comes when it is necessary, as is the way of things.
Take fuel injection for example. The KLR persisted with a carburettor long after most motorcycles had been fitted with injection. If it wasn’t broken, there was nothing to fix, and it certainly worked well with a carb. It’s likely that if it weren’t for the difficulties in meeting ever-broadening emissions rules around the world it would still have a carburettor today. And many riders would be just fine with that. Some would prefer it.
You see, we now live in a world where the adventure bike market has been commandeered into a spiralling
“ the KLR stiLL RoLLs out of deaLeR showRooms, and see how you go finding a suzuKi dR650 foR
saLe anywheRe. ”
avalanche of advanced technology and extraordinary performance. BMW’s latest GS attests to that. KTM pushed the engine performance envelope of adventure bikes to levels that are near useless to most humans, yet many of us lust after those machines anyway, because why the hell not?
Who doesn’t love an adventure bike with 180 horsepower? That’s a no-brainer. But then there’s all the things that come with that. Weight. Complexity. Computers. Confusion. Multiplicity. There it is.
And for some of us, like Isaac, multiplicity is not our thing. Simplicity is
not just all we need, but it’s all we want. And there are some good reasons for that.
Imagine for a moment you are riding your adventure bike and you are 250km from the nearest town with a bike shop. You are broken down on a dirt road, and you have exhausted your mechanical acumen and are still very much in “fail to proceed” mode. A local farmer drops by. He’s in a his 60’s and offers to help get your bike in his ute and take it back to his place where he will help you fix it with whatever mechanical knowledge and tools he can muster, which is likely more than you have of either at that point.
Do you reckon he’s more likely to help you figure out what’s wrong with a simple single-cylinder engine with a pretty rudimentary operating system, or would you prefer he was diagnosing a computer fault in your $35,000 toy with all the bells and whistles?
In 2016 I bought an Africa Twin, and a friend and I had a bunch of trips planned, including a Simpson crossing. As we went through the process of prepping the bikes by fitting better tyres, improving suspension, and adding things like bash plates and crash bars, it became obvious to us that maybe we’d gone about it the wrong way.
Two big things on our minds were that these bikes with their improvements were now worth over $20k, which isn’t a lot compared to what some people spend on their adventure bikes, but was still a lot of money to go and throw at a tree in the bush somewhere. We also realised that while we both had reasonable mechanical knowledge, even a 2016 Africa Twin was capable of discovering new ways to trip itself up that we couldn’t deal with mechanically.
The thought of a failure in a remote location gnawed at me, and every time it did so, I thought to myself we should have opted for a KLR or a Suzuki DR650 instead. Hell, we’d have backed ourselves to strip an engine behind a pub if we needed to on either of those. But the Africa twin, not so much.
And that’s not a criticism of the Honda,
it was a very effective bike. It’s just an observation of the frailties of most modern bikes. When they work, they’re magnificent, but when they don’t, we often need the help of professionals. And there’s not a lot of professionals in the middle of the Simpson Desert. Clearly plenty of people agree with me, because the KLR still rolls out of dealer showrooms, and see how you go finding a Suzuki DR650 for sale anywhere. They command top dollar. There is plenty of demand for these more simple types of motorcycle. Part of that demand is the price. It’s hard to beat the KLR if you’re looking for an adventure bike at a good price. This suits a lot of riders who have a bike for road riding and want a second bike for dirty weekends away. Some can’t justify spending a lot of cash on a second
bike. And plenty can’t justify spending it on a first bike.
Then there’s the LAMS market, which the KLR fits into as well. It’s a perfect bike to learn on, especially if you want to get out into the country and explore.
So now we know why people still want them, let’s look a little closer.
The KLR is still pretty much the same old 652cc 4-valve single it always was, but with fuel injection. It puts out enough power to get the job done. Do the numbers really matter? It can sit on 130 all day on the freeway and has enough grunt to slide the rear around on the dirt if you want to. With no traction control available, maybe 39Hp is enough.
I take no issue with traction control not being on this bike. If you need a computer to help you control what is a very smoothly delivered 39 ponies, then perhaps motorcycling isn’t for you.
Changing the exhaust and air filter and tuning it to suit might get you another 5-6 Hp if you want it. Many owners won’t bother.
One thing I do take issue with though is the ABS. It performs just fine, but when the Road Safety Deep State were putting together the regulations to make ABS compulsory on all bikes in Australia the various motorcycle industry advocates, including yours truly, worked very hard to lobby Government and convince them that bikes designed to go off-road needed the ability to have their ABS turned off for safety reasons, at the very least on the rear wheel. Kawasaki have not taken advantage of that and the ABS is on all the time.
For many riders that won’t be a problem, but for others who want to push things a little harder off road, it will, and
sales will be lost because of it. Hopefully Kawasaki can fix that on the next model. That one small change will make it a much more capable machine on the dirt.
Besides that little beef, the brakes work adequately. The rear offers plenty of feel, and the front could do with some more stopping power, but it’s acceptable as it is.
The throttle response and fuelling are smooth, with everything aimed at providing a beefy mid-range rather than a screaming top end, and that is as it should be for this type of bike. The fuelling can be a little fluffy sometimes on a constant throttle, likely thanks to ADR compliance issues, and sometimes you can get around it simply by shifting to a different gear. Either way, I’m being very fussy here. Most riders probably won’t even notice it. It is a very minor criticism.
There is no tachometer now that the dash has gone digital. At first I found that disturbing, but quickly realised it would have been superfluous anyway. I didn’t once look to see what rpm the engine was doing, because it just doesn’t matter. Even when thrashing it I never hit the rev limiter. I went looking for it once, but it was so far past where you would naturally change gear that it becomes irrelevant.
The model I rode is the KLR650S, the S standing for shorter. It has a reduced seat height of 815mm, compared to the 870mm of the standard bike. This will be a boon for shorter riders, obviously, but even at 6ft tall it left me wondering which one I’d choose.
The ride position for me was comfortable, and I could easily get both feet flat on the ground with my knees slightly bent. I can happily handle the taller bike, but I think there are a lot of riders who won’t necessarily need the
Left: Old Faithful. The 650 single first appeared in 1987, and is still loved by many. Above left: The headlight surprised me, in a good way. Above right: I’m 6 feet tall and the KLRS lets me get both feet flat on the ground with ease. The headlight surprised me, in a good way.
spECs
ENGINE
Type: Liquid-cooled, 4 stroke single
Valve System: DOHC, 4 valves
Displacement: 652 cc
Bore x Stroke: 100 x 83 mm
Compression ratio: 9.8:1
Fuel system: 40 mm fuel injection
Starting system: Electric
Ignition system: Transistorised ignition
Power: 28.5 kW (39PS) @ 6,000 rpm
Torque: 51.5 Nm @ 4,500 rpm
DRIVETRAIN
Transmission: 5 speed
Final Drive: Chain
Clutch: Wet, multi-disc
CHASSIS
Type: Hi-tensile steel semi-double cradle
Suspension: Front 41 mm telescopic fork
Rear Uni Trak single shock with adjustable rebound and preload
Wheel travel:
Front 170 mm
Rear 177 mm
Trail: 118 mm
Tyres: Front 90/90-21
Rear 130/80-17
Brakes: Front 273 mm single disc
Dual piston single caliper
Rear 240 mm disc
Dual piston caliper
DIMENSIONS
Overall length: 2255 mm
Overall width: 970 mm
Wheelbase: 1515 mm
Ground clearance: 185 mm
Seat height: 815 mm
Weight: 210 kg
Fuel Tank: 23 litres
shorter bike and will choose it anyway. It’s easier to handle in traffic, when parking, and particularly when you’re off-road and the going gets really snotty.
That said, the reduction in height comes from some suspension mods and a reduction in seat thickness. The reduced suspension travel may turn some riders off and send them back to the taller version, but if your style of off-road riding only gets as gnarly as dirt roads and reasonably well-kept trails, the S version will likely suit you fine. It has enough ground clearance and suspension travel to handle that job happily, and as a side benefit it will behave better on-road as it rides a little tauter than the taller bike.
The seat is also firmer than the standard bike. I didn’t love it, but seats are very much a personal thing. Everyone has a different bum.
The 23-litre tank will give you plenty of range, but your butt will be asking for a fuel stop before the tank does.
The big single still produces some vibes, as you would expect, but they are well controlled. This is aided by the large rubber padded and rubber
mounted foot pegs, though this will be one of the first things some owners will throw in the bin as rubber pegs are not great when your boots are covered in mud.
I found the handlebars to be well placed when standing up while riding, but some riders will want to fit bar risers or change the bars completely. That’s not an unusual thing when fitting out an adventure bike to suit a rider’s style and body shape.
The front screen is surprisingly effective and can be adjusted, though not quickly. You will need the allen key in your easy-to-access toolkit and the job takes less than ten minutes. Many bikes with adjustable screens have versions that can be changed with a lever or a button, but when you’re keeping costs down, this is the adjustable screen mechanism you get. I don’t see an issue though, most owners will move it once to the best position for them and never touch it again anyway. You don’t need an adjustable screen once it’s in the right spot.
The KLRS comes with some crash bars and luggage racks as well as a
really nice rear mounting plate. It also has protectors for the radiator (which you may choose to upgrade) and a bash plate, which is pretty good as far as plastic bash plates go. If you’re serious about off-roading your KLR you’ll fit a better one though.
One interesting point is the bash plate doesn’t cover the sump plug, which is great in one way and bad in another. You don’t need to remove the bash plate to change the oil, which is the great bit, but
the sump plug hangs lower than the bash plate and is a target for rocks, which is the bad bit. This is something that probably should have been redesigned over the years, as it’s always been an issue. If you decide to get a stronger bash plate, get one that protects the sump plug. Simple.
An area where the KLR has always been popular over decades is with commuters. I remember the days when couriers on motorcycles with milk crates on the back of their bikes and satchels over their shoulders blasted around our cities delivering documents across town. They loved the KLR, and for good reason. It is fun to ride in traffic, lane splits like a demon, is cheap to maintain, and goes forever. None of this has changed.
If you’re someone who rides to work on a bike, it’s hard to think of something better to do it on. The KLR is comfy, easy to ride, unstressed, and has decades of proven reliability.
There is space in the front fairing to fit the optional USB charger and power socket, and your dealer can fit those for you. Some of the more kitted out models come with them already fitted, as well as other goodies like extra lights and luggage.
And if you are looking for a bike to head bush on and want something that you know you can trust, just think of this; the KLR is heading towards its 40th birthday. The first one came out in 1987.
Not many bikes have a model run like that, and when they do, it’s because they are very good at what they are designed to do. The modern KLR is no different to the very first KLR in that regard.
I was saddened about 5 years ago when stories emerged of the KLR’s imminent demise. It’s hard to make big singles efficient enough to meet emissions regulations, and it was looking like the KLR would be another victim of the ever more stringent rules in Europe. Thankfully Kawasaki resurrected the big girl and managed to keep it on the straight and narrow.
That’s a very good thing for a lot of riders looking for a great value adventure mule. Long may the KLR stay with us. For the sake of simplicity.
Left: It’s not the most powerful adventure bike around, but it works. Above: Brakes are not incredible, but do the job.
RoAds baCk
by chRIsTIne FIsheR
The s ubu R b A n vARI e T y. b e A ches A nd bAys
It WAS A Chilly Saturday winters morning when I decided to explore my own backyard. My modus operandi is to get as far away from city riding and lights as soon as I can. The goal is to take the direct route out from newtown (inner west of Sydney) , heading north, west, or south—wherever adventure awaits. usually, it’s all about escaping the city as quickly and easily as possible. However, this time, I broke my routine, and let me tell you, it took some time to find the inspiration. But I did, and I discovered some great stops along the way. With suburban rides, it’s more about the destinations than the actual roads. Sure, there are some decent stretches, but they’re often punctuated with lights, people, and, well, more roads. Finding 6th gear is a rarity! So, here we go.
FIRsT sTop: la perouse
I headed southeast to La Perouse. The history of La Perouse is closely linked with Sydney’s earliest European history. The ill-fated French navigator, after
keeble – The cReATIve cRuIseR
whom the place was named, arrived just days after Captain Phillip’s first landing at Kurnell, on the opposite shore.
La Perouse has it all: the iconic Bare Island Fort, excellent sunset views, and lovely little bushwalks scattered around the area. It’s also a pretty, under-the-radar location for whale watching. I met some divers ready to brave the waters!
In the vicinity, there are a few lovely spots like Little Bay
The Little Bay area was first used as a sanitation camp during Sydney’s smallpox outbreak in 1881–82. As I headed north, I crossed through Malabar, named after a passenger cargo steamer called the MV Malabar that shipwrecked at Long Bay on 2 April 1931.
Next up was Maroubra, home of the notorious ‘Bra Boys.’ For those unfamiliar with this infamous gang, they ruled the area at one stage. The name “Bra” is a reference to the gang’s suburb. The gang’s story stretches from Maroubra to international surf stardom and includes the fateful events of 5 August 2003, when Jai Abberton shot dead Maroubra underworld figure and childhood friend Tony Hines, only to be acquitted on the grounds of self-defence.
The Eastern Suburbs boast both old money and new, and ironically here we are at Waverley Cemetery, a place that reminds us you can’t take it with you. Notable figures buried here include Australia’s first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton, poet Henry Lawson, and Archibald Prize benefactor AJ Archibald, among others.
From cemeteries to surf
Next, I head to Bronte Beach. Contrary to the popular misconception that Bronte Beach was named after the Brontë
Top: Le Perouse. Above: Little Bay Bush Walk. Below left: Malaba shipwreck. Below right: Bra Boys.
sisters, it was actually named after the British military figure Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, Duke of Brontë.
Then, it was on to Tamarama Beach. The name Tamarama is a derivation of the Aboriginal name ‘Gamma Gamma,’ which means ‘storms.’ How ironic, as a few storms were circling me all day, but I managed to outsmart and outride them!
No trip to Sydney’s beaches is complete without a visit to Bondi Beach. Is there any more famous beach in Australia? Or the world? Bondi is always bustling, so after a quick snap and a chat with a few locals and international travellers, I headed to Watsons Bay.
Watsons Bay is a mostly residential area with some recreational spots and beaches, including Camp Cove and the legal nude beach at Lady Bay. No nude shots today—you’re spared! Watsons Bay is also home to Doyles famous Seafood restaurant, which I believe has the most overrated fish and chips in the world. So, I skipped the $100,000 splurge and kept going.
Passing by Parsley Bay, I noted its narrow expanse with parkland and a suspension bridge, but no place to stop with this big Indian Roadmaster. The bay is thought to have been named for the native plant resembling parsley that grows there in abundance.
Next, I ventured through Rose Bay and Double Bay, affectionately known as “Double Pay.” Before heading back, I made a stop in Paddington to check out the famous Paddington Markets.
The markets are about a quarter of the size they used to be and it’s sad to see these once vibrant dynamic community standard events slowing closing up. Soon, it was time to return to the sanctuary of the Inner West and my hometown of Newtown. I feel much more relaxed here and at home. The Eastern Suburbs of Sydney can be exciting and beautiful, especially with their stunning beaches. Some might wonder why I wouldn’t explore these areas in summer. I almost don’t need to answer that question—even on a motorbike, parking is a challenge.
That city parking!
While I have you, let’s chat about parking in the city. Parking in Sydney with a
motorbike can be a bit challenging due to the prevalence of metered parking and restrictions on footpath parking -unlike Melbourne where footpath parking is quite OK and a fabulous idea!
The benefits of having a motorbike or scooter are immense for city parking in many ways. I also have a scooter, and it’s my go-to ride in the city. However, this ride was on the big boy, which requires a bit more creativity.
Sydney streets are almost all metred. Here are my tips for parking in Sydney:
1. Look for Small Cars in Spaces: Find small cars that don’t take up the whole space and back your bike into that spot either in front of behind.
2. Parking Stations: It’s quite easy to scoot around the barriers at parking
Bottom
Above: Watson’s Bay Hotel.
Above right: The enterance to HMAS Waston.
Below: Rose Bay.
Below right: Off to the famous Paddington Markets.
stations. I do this all the time at the Opera House parking saving $25 a pop! Sometimes the barriers are too close to scoot around, so I tailgate my way out. Probably illegal but catch me if you can.
3. Sydney Airport: Did you know you can park for free at Sydney Airport when on a motorbike?
4. Utilize Free Motorcycle Parking: Look for designated free motorcycle parking areas around the city. However, they fill up quick. For some helpful tips from Sydney City Council please see: www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/transportparking/park-motorbike-or-scooterin-city Note that: “Motorcycle and scooter riders don’t need to pay at any
of the parking meters in our local area, including central Sydney”
5. Avoid Peak Times: Try to avoid peak traffic hours. Even weekends are busy these days. My advice - Just avoid!
6. Check Local Regulations: Different areas may have specific parking rules for motorbikes. A quick google of the council area can help. But again, I just wing it!
7. Use Parking Apps: Apps like ‘Parkopedia’ can be helpful but, if you are like me, who has time for that! My advice is to avoid trying to find parking right in the middle of the CBD – it’s just too hard and the parking cops work 24/7. Park on the outskirts, it’s not so bad. Find a parking station or park a little further out and take a tram, bus, or walk to your destination. Or better yet, don’t stop – just get out of the city and hit the open road where you truly belong!
Another tip: Bus lanes. Motorbikes are allowed to travel in bus lanes but be cautious of the signs. If you see the word “ONLY,” such as “BUS ONLY,” it means
exactly that – it’s exclusively for buses. Do not use those lanes. There are eyes everywhere!
There are many things to explore around Sydney. I hope to do a few more soon. I’ve been told of some fabulous night rides that capture 8 bridges! Maybe even a Graffiti tour.
This trip was documented and can be seen on my YouTube Channel @ thecreativecruiser – Under the playlist – 2024 season – Sydney Bays and Beaches a Suburban ride and discovery.
QR video link below.
Thanks for joining me and until next time. Ride safe and see you at Lady Bay.
Left: Waverley Cemetery, Bronte.
left: The busy Bondi Beach.
A dAm FIne dAy fOR a dam fINE RIdE
CoME any WEEKEnd and you will see groups of riders or just those riding alone on the highways leading out of Sydney. It makes me wonder sometimes if they are going to the same place, stopping at the same cafes and service stations, having lunch in the same pubs seeing the same things over and over again. humans are creatures of habit, so it stands to reason that we tend to gravitate to the most comfortable and familiar. Sometimes you need to get away from the norm.
Just as any capital city in Australia, there are numerous roads around in and around the suburbs or on the fringes of capital cities that are just as interesting to discover as those heading way out
of town and make a very good days ride. Some of these are off the main tourist maps, to a degree, that may not be such a bad thing.
These rides can be done on adventure or road bikes. Some rides might be cool to do on a vespa.
One such ride highlights some of Sydney’s history, it’s future planning and gives an insight to architectural design over the years. It also showcases marvelous roads to explore from expressways to avenues of trees and meandering single lanes leading to old stone walls.
On a crisp sunny morning with the urge to swing your leg over the saddle of your bike and visit new, follow the traffic south out of Sydney towards Wollongong. Just South of Waterfall, veer onto the
WoRds And ImAges: bob WozgA
Princess Highway and turn right on the Woronora Dam Road. This is a pothole free concrete road that is cut through the open forest and woodland heath. It brings you to parklands and picnic areas with BBQ’s facilities. It was built between 1927 and 1947 to supply water for Wollongong and the Sutherland Shire. Being the drought-stricken nation we are, by 1852 with an increasing population, plans for a more permanent water supply were placed in motion. The dam’s construction began in 1927, however in 1930, the great depression halted construction. Work resumed four years later, and the dam was completed in 1941. After completion, the workers village was disbanded, and the site turned into gardens and picnic areas. As you walk around the grounds, you can still see remnants of the decorative gardens and a couple of the workers’ cottages still exist. A walk along the dam wall gives views of the lake on the west and a view of the gorge on the east.
As you leave Woronora Dam, head south and stop off at Sublime Point Lookout. The coffee shop may be closed, but the lookout gives an unbridled view of the Illawarra. This would be a perfect place to watch and photograph an approaching storm or a full moon rising over the ocean.
Take the Campbelltown turn off on the Princess Highway and head to Appin. Along the way, coffee caravans are parked in rest stops in case you need your morning fix. Take the exit to Cataract Dam.
Built between 1902 and 1907, this is the oldest of the four dams built in the Upper Nepean Scheme. It was the
Left: Cordeaux Dam. Above: Woronora Dam.
largest engineering project in Australia at the time and fourth largest project in the world. Inspired by castles and battlements on the dam wall, the weathered sandstone makes it the most picturesque of the four dams. I wonder how many people yelled out from the battlements in bad French accents “I fart in your general direction?”
The architecture reflects 1900’s Australia and out links to England. The grounds have large picnic areas with paths passing by original builders’ cottages while walking to the dam wall.
Head west from Cataract Dam into Appin and turn left toward Broughton Pass. The road is closed to long vehicles
and once you wind down to the crossing, you’ll understand why. The road is narrow and steep with nowhere to pull over. Once on the other side of the gorge, head to Cordeaux Dam. Turn left onto Picton Road and follow the signs.
As you arrive at the dam wall, you are suddenly transported to 1900’s Egypt. Palm trees line the paths and giant stone gateways guard the entrance to the dam’s wall. Construction began in 1918 and was completed in 1926. The 1920’s was the era of Egyptian archaeology. Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon had only recently discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun and the world was still abuzz. Reflecting the era and vogue of the 1920’s, Egyptology was at its height, and this also influenced the architecture of important buildings and monuments. The Australian soldiers had been stationed at Cairo prior to being sent to Gallipoli and were no doubt inspired by the temples they saw and brought back these
Above: CataractDam
memories and channeling those into things they designed and built. This is seen in the post and lintel constructions, massive walls, ornate columns, and flat roofs that we see on some of our dams built in this era.
A memorial plaque paying tribute to the then resident engineer Guy ChalmersClift is on the valve house. Clift and a local Constable, James Flyn were shot and killed while taking a suspect to Appin Police station after a bungled payroll robbery on 10 March 1924. William Simpson was later apprehended, charged with the two murders, and hanged at Long Bay Goal in December 1924. Men were tough in those days.
Ride to Wilton and turn left onto the expressway towards Bowral. Take the Bargo turn off, this will take you straight
onto Avon Dam Road leading you to both Avon and Nepean Dams. Avon Dam was built between 1921 and 1927, it is the largest of the four dams build in the Upper Nepean Scheme to supply water for the Illawarra. Designed to look like an Egyptian oasis. Stone gateways at either end protect the dam wall. The roadway leading to the dam site was built by WW1 veteran’s staying at a nearby rehabilitation camp.
A short distance up the road is Nepean Dam. The last and smallest of the four dams in the area. As a contrast to changing times, Nepean dam has art deco style architecture which shows the change in trends of the time. Going from the ancient to modern. Geometric lines, smooth wall surfaces, set back front facades now typify the architecture of
government buildings symbolizing the country’s progression.
Both dams have large picnic areas with electric BBQ’s and huts. The roads travelling to each dam wall are well maintained, narrow and you waltz your bike around the bends while eucalypt trees line one side of the road and sandstone walls line the other.
A tour of the dams would not be complete without visiting Warragamba Dam. When leaving Nepean Dam, cross the motorway and turn right onto Arina Rd. This will take you past farms and on a hot day, stop at Mermaid Pools and soak your feet in the Bargo River. Follow this till you meet the Old Hume Highway at Bargo. Follow the Old Hume Highway to Picton. Turn Left at the George Hotel (after you stop for a coke and lemonade
after a rebel, patriot and some might say mercenary, and saved thousands of starving children during the Irish famine 1847 – 49).
Once out of Warragamba, head down to Wallacia, through to Luddenham and work your way back home.
All the dams have very well-maintained picnic areas. If you want to throw a steak and sausages on a hot plate or boil water for a noodle cup there is plenty of space and amenities to cater for you. The roads are good enough for a motorcycle or a scooter. You don’t have to do all the dams in one day, take your time to do them at your leisure and admire the architecture and surrounds. Great pride was once taken by grounds staff at the dams with a trophy handed out for the best gardens and they were very popular. Remnants of these gardens are still visible. The trophy only stopped in the 1990’s.
or two) and follow Barkers Lodge Road a few kilometres and turn right on to Montpellier Drive. Ride along the ridge line admiring the views of the valleys on either side. Ride through the Oakes and follow Silverdale Road past fields of sheep cattle and goats.The signs at Silverdale will show you the way to Warragamba Dam.
Warragamba Dam is the last and largest dam built in the Sydney region. Initially suggested as a dam location in 1845 by Count Paul Strzelecki (Yep, the same Paul Strzelecki that surveyed the Snowy Mountains and named Mt Kosciuszko
After numerous droughts, the worst lasting eight years 1934 to 1942 a population explosion after the second world war and water restrictions, work commenced in 1948.
Although it was in the pipeline for 80 years, two world wars, a great depression and the completion of the Upper Nepean Dams deferred its construction. A major mid- century engineering feat, it took 1800 workers and 12 years to complete. There is a very informative centre and relics around the site to give you an understanding of what lays underneath and how we get clean water to our kitchen taps.
So, it does not matter if you go on your own, in a small group, maybe take an interstate or international mate for a day tour around the outskirts of Sydney. You will experience everything from suburbia, grass plains, forested roads, great lakes, and dam walls. Don’t forget the cheeseboard. Amm
Left: Cordeaux Dam.
Above: Avon Dam.
Below: Mermaid Pools Bargo River.
The spuRs
WoRds & phoTos: heATheR ellIs
For A SMAll StAtE, victoria has much to offer both the road and off-road motorcyclist. When i moved to the yarra ranges from Far north Queensland in 2001, I knew I had arrived in motorcycling nirvana. So, after 23 years riding the Spurs (the Reefton Spur and Black Spur), I know these roads well. I know the corners. I know the few sections where you can overtake – safely. I know where the police like to nab those speeding riders who don’t know where they can get away with it. And i’ve seen the road evolve over the years from no guard rails and regular diesel spills on the bends from logging trucks. Fortunately, the log trucks are long gone but the oil slicks, forest litter and mould, where
Left: The Black Spur and Reefton Spur loop if riding from Healesville to Warbuton.
Above: Like many a motorcyclist (LtoR: Daryl ‘Shek’ and Dave), have found motorcycling nirvana in Victoria’s Yarra Ranges and called the region home.
Below: The 10km ride into the Lake Mountain Alpine Resort should not be missed for its few tight corners, sweepers and stunning views.
Bottom: The Reefton Spur is a popular haunt for all riders, but especially those on sports bikes.
the road, in perpetual shadow in winter, turns green, are all still there… on occasions. i’ve ridden the high sections in snow and used the Spurs to practise my corning for post-classic racing in times past. But most of all, i just enjoy riding the spurs for the sheer pleasure of its corners and smooth tarmac fringed by tall mountain ash forest and tree firms. as a motorcyclist, I’m lucky as the Black Spur and Reefton Spur are on my door step. i call it the loop. My favourite time is a week day on a balmy summer evening with daylight till 9:00pm and when everyone is home eating dinner and it is just me and the odd swamp wallaby.
The Black Spur starts at Healesville, 60kms east
of Melbourne and ends before Narbethong. From there it’s a pleasant ride through farm land through the top of the Yarra Ranges, the end of the Great Dividing Range. In Marysville, most riders stop for a coffee. Most pull up at the Marysville Bakery where there is plenty of bike perving on offer. Up to 40 motorcycles can be parked out the front on a sunny weekend. The quieter option with outside seating to soak up the winter sun is at Freshly Blended, a quaint little café (and where all the locals go). Access is via the car park behind the Marysville Bakery or a narrow laneway from the main road.
From Marysville, riders head up towards Lake Mountain and after a steep climb and mostly gentle sweepers with some great views, reach the Lake Mountain turn off. Don’t ride past but enjoy the 10km ride in and back for a few tight corners on mostly smooth tarmac to the Lake Mountain Alpine Resort (out of snow season there’s no entry fee). There’s a few pot holes just after the turn off, but the bigger ones are marked with a yellow and pink ring of paint so you’re easily forewarned. There’s toilets and the café at the Alpine Resort. Out of snow season, the cafe is sometimes open but after a quick stop to
Above: Look out for regular motorcycle charity Show‘n’Shine events in the Yarra Ranges, such as the Machine On The Green in Healesville. Below: Fortunately the pot holes on the Reefton and Lake Mountain road are clearly marked before being repaired. But we are still waiting.
Right top: On a sunny weekend, the Reefton Spur is abuzz with riders. Right bottom: Enjoying a quiet moment on the Black Spur on my Triumph Thruxton. Go early to avoid weekend traffic.
stretch your legs, just turn around in the huge car park and head back out. As you head down the Reefton Spur, the road narrows dramatically, so don’t take the corners wide as you could come to grief with oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, most of it will be other riders who have this inconsiderate habit and inexperience of taking corners wide. But there are a few rogue 4WDs too. There’s also some fairly extensive patches of pot holes to dodge, especially at the top of the Reefton. Most are marked with paint so can be seen even in the shadows, but some aren’t. I hope all have been repaired by this spring. There’s no excuse as the Reefton Spur is one of the 200 popular motorcycle roads tagged by VicRoads for extra special maintenance and repair funded through the Motorcycle Safety Levy, which you all pay ($78 on one bike only), on your motorcycle registration.
The Reefton Spur is the 20km that runs down the ridge from just after the Lake Mountain turn off to Cumberland Junction. Here you will often find a group of sports bike riders who use this as their turn around for their runs
up and down the Reefton. My preference is to ride up the Reefton Spur as most of the bends are righthanders so you can see what’s coming. The boy racers on their sports bikes are not as ‘kamakazee’ as in times past mostly due to the police hammering them. Regular riders know only an idiot will let loose on the few short straights. Plus, those sections littered with potholes in recent times have also slowed riders down. However, the Reefton Spur is still one of the top roads for motorcycle crashes in Victoria; some ending in fatalities. As your making a day of riding the spurs you’ll likely stop at the Reefton Pub (44kms from Marysville) for lunch. With new owners have revamped the menu with a modern Australian theme including a few Thai options with good sized servings. You won’t be disappointed and I personally recommend
The entire run of the Black Spur and Reeton Spur if you start in Healesville and end in Warburton is about 100kms but there are so many fantastic motorcycling roads to explore in the Yarra Ranges region and beyond and all are about
an hour from Melbourne. On a sunny weekend, these roads are often overrun with both motorcyclists and drivers and if you get stuck behind a line of cars, what’s the fun in that? Unless, of course, you’re confident at picking off the cars strategically. And I must admit, I often find that challenge rather satisfying. However, not when an irate driver sees me as queue jumper and inconsiderately closes the gap just as I pop back in. So, if you’re out for a weekend ride, you really need to ride these roads, especially the Black Spur before 10am. The earlier the better. Then you’re pretty much guaranteed a good clear run to blow away the week’s accumulated stress. I call it therapy.
To read more about Heather Ellis and to purchased her motorcycle books: Ubuntu and Timeless On The Silk Road visit: www.heather-ellis.com Amm
the Thai Beef Salad.
TuRF And suRF
LuRKInG doWn In SouTHERn nSW, approximately 160 km from the guts of Sydney, is one of the most scenic little towns in nSW. it’s a hotspot for tourists, grey nomads, and yuppies alike, but to motorcyclists, the small village of Kangaroo Valley, between the Southern highlands and the coastal city of nowra, is but a place to rest the arse, fill the gut, and steel
the nerves for the remainder of the journey. the route from Sydney to the commercially rustic township and back is one of the best day-rides nSW has to offer.
Depending on your coordinates, the trip from Sydney to Sydney via the Southern Highlands and back via the coast is roughly 450 km. On a day trip of this duration and quality, it’s best to get the
l OC al RI d E s
“shit bit” out of the way first, I reckon. The “shit bit” is the mind-numbing section of the Hume Highway that must be endured before exiting at the Mittagong exit, the gateway to the rolling green pastures and beauty of the Southern Highlands and heading towards Bowral. It’s worth filling up at Bowral if you don’t have plenty in the tank, as, like most things in Kangaroo Valley, fuel is hideously expensive.
Once you’ve left Bowral, follow the signs to Nowra via Sheepwash Road and Nowra Road as you take in the beautiful scenery that is sure to conjure thoughts of Mother England if you’ve been there, come from there, or watched episodes of the original River Cottage TV show.
It isn’t until you’ve turned left onto Nowra Road and passed the moist but stunning Fitzroy Falls, with the forest gums starting to envelop the road, that you’ll need to bring your A-game and ply your trade.
Nowra Road is in pretty good condition as Australian roads go, and this hairpinlittered section offers all-around glorious riding for those who wish to apply themselves. It is also quite narrow in places, and overtaking sections are at a premium. Due to the coverage provided by the forest canopy, many sections are carpeted with a fine layer of moss. It is also worth being mindful of glacially slow weekend drivers and conservatively-clad wankers in Range Rovers from Bowral as you come around some of the blind corners.
Due to the alleged quality and abundance of its culinary delights, and an obvious overindulgence in cannabis use in the area, Kangaroo Valley has labelled itself as ‘the Paris of regional NSW’. It is a decent place to stop for a feed, and there are plenty of opportunities to feast on everything from bakehouses selling allegedly award-winning pastry vessels of offal to food trailers flogging burgers and coffee – so Paris! If coughing your lungs up after inhaling the flaky pastry from a Kangaroo Valley sausage roll or choking on a selection from your $40 bag of handselected lollies doesn’t fill your heart with glee, the Friendly Inn, whose staff are generally as friendly as the name suggests, serves decent meals, potions to warm your cockles, and has play equipment for motorcyclists out the front.
Once you have devoured your rich, rustic refreshments, it’s time to head for the coast. There’s only one road in and out of Kangaroo Valley, so just head in the opposite direction from whence you came. Just 11.5 gloriously curved kilometers after you depart Kangaroo Valley is Cambewarra Mountain, which is well worth a look.
There’s a café up at the lookout, and on a clear day, the view extends all the way to the South Pacific Ocean.
Nowra Road ends at a roundabout at Bomaderry, and hanging a left has you heading back towards the big smoke via Berry and Kiama, with its famous blowhole and the smell of the sea in your nostrils. Follow the signs to Wollongong and then onto Bulli before turning right onto Lawrence Hargraves Drive, which winds its way up to the stunning, bike-frequented views of Stanwell Tops, via the most picturesque Sea Cliff Bridge.
From here, you should veer right again onto Lady Wakehurst Drive, and then right again onto Sir Bertram Stevens Drive, which eventually spits you out onto the Princes Highway at Loftus. The sprint from Stanwell Tops to Loftus is glorious and travels through the Royal National Park, or ‘The Nasho’, to Sydneysiders. This section is an unofficial racetrack for Sydney’s hoons and a magnet for dim-witted suburbanites looking for ice-cream and selfies, so it pays to keep a keen watch out for SUVs with stick-figure family stickers and Ninja 400s sliding across the road.
The Hume and Coast route is a fantastic day loop of around 450 kilometres and really does take in a massive variety of scenery and road types. Whether you’re a sports rider out to risk life, limb, and licence, or the touring type that’s out to see gorgeous scenery, eat some good grub, and shake your head at the sports bike knobs, there really is something good for all kinds of riders on all styles of bikes on this ride. There’s even a good variety of adventure bike routes, but that’s a story for another day. Amm
Ifyou’re scared of saltwater or don’t live in the guts of Sydney, there’s always the option of chucking a 180 after luncheon in Kangaroo Valley and heading back to Sydney via a similar route from whence you came, but that takes in
the adorably quaint township of Berrima.
After enjoying the twisty climb out of the valley, continue along Nowra Road rather than turning right onto Sheepwash Road and heading back into Bowral. Follow the signs to the charmingly uncharming town of Moss Vale, where you can enjoy a Devonshire tea while trying not to slip into a boredominduced coma.
Head along Berrima Road, which unsurprisingly takes you to the historical township of Berrima. Berrima is a very pretty little old town that has decided that the best way to endear itself to tourists is to charge the GDP of Madagascar for a coffee and a muffin. The grub, although expensive, is good, and the opportunity to acquire all manner of knick-knacks, from teapot dollies to dream catchers, is vast. It’s worth a walk around to check out the old buildings, and the Surveyor General Inn is worth stopping in for a pint for the atmosphere alone. Berrima is the end of the line for interesting riding, with the only challenge being the effort required to try not to bowl over a grey nomad as they search for the motorhome effluent dump on your way out of town.
dAshcAm NaVmaN
mIv ue m 820 d m o T o R b I ke
WoRds And ImAges: bob WozgA
IWaS aSKEd a WHILE ago why don’t they make a dash cam solely for motorcycles? Enter navman.
Navman have been renowned for their navigational devices for over 20 years and have built a solid reputation for their quality and reliability. In recent years with the growing use of navigational devices incorporated in cars and trucks as well as apps on your smartphone, Navman have shifted their focus on developing dash cams.
With the increase of vehicles on the highways, peoples’ frustration in traffic queues during the week and weekends these days an emphasis has developed to record your trips to use as evidence just in case something happens. It gives that peace of mind while riding, as well as security when being parked, and of course this can affect your insurance premiums.
The MiVue M820D Motorbike is specifically designed for motorcycles. The unit comes with 2 cameras - front and rear, the main module, GPS Control box, power leads and a 64GB Micro SD card to capture your video.
Speaking to Elvis Tran, the Product manager from Navman, a considerable amount of time had been spent developing the MiVue M820D to ensure it is compatible and easy to install on pretty much every motorcycle and scooter. The furniture is designed to be small and unobtrusive. The cables supplied are of enough length and durability to be hidden under fairings and routed so minimum cable is exposed. An extra lead is provided in the kit to extend a camera cable if required. Of course, it is preferred to move the main module to make things fit. This prevents you from trying to hide excess cable on the frame or under the seat.
The MiVue M820D Motorbike enables continuous capturing of your ride in HDR as well as Event capture and Trip Lapse capturing. These are all recorded in 1-, 2- or 3-minute intervals depending on your preferred setting. The automatic optical sensors provide surprisingly clear quality images both day and night and the cameras’ stabilization omits any camera shake that I thought would be evident on a motorcycle mounted camera. Continuous recording automatically activates a few seconds after starting your motorbike – for those that are forgetful. The handlebar controller, by a press
of a button, allows you to toggle from continuous to Event capturing if you want to quickly record something on the road ahead. It also cuts in automatically when the G-sensor recognizes high speeds, sharp turns or a collision. They think of everything.
The Trip lapse recording – an option that is activated allows you to condense a long ride to a roughly eight-minute video. This allows you to share a clip without having five minutes of wheels going around following dotted lines on one stretch of road. Some enjoy long stretches of dotted lines, but it can be very boring. Continuous recording still goes ahead while Trip Lapse recording is activated. The Park Mode is activated/ deactivated in the system settings. The device will sit idle monitoring the surroundings and will start capturing images when it detects sudden movements or vibrations. This is a handy security feature when parked in congested bike parking in the city or parked in a dubious location when on a long road trip. To prevent a flat battery, placing the device in Smart Mode will deactivate the Parking Mode if it detects the battery fall below 12.4V. The MiVuePro App constantly monitors your battery voltage which allows you
Above: Recorded image showing time, date, speed and co ordinates. Below: What you get in the box.
NEW PRODUCTS
to monitor which helps if you have any power issues.
The built-in GPS also tags your route and records your location, speed and direction you are traveling. This can be downloaded and stored for future reference if you can’t remember where you were on a particular ride or where that ruin was that you wanted to revisit and get those afternoon photographs.
The MiVue M820D Motorbike comes with all the bells and whistles. It beeps
when applications are activated and will also beep and ring when you are approaching redlight cameras and alert you if you are travelling more than the speed limit. The lights on the controller will also indicate what mode you are working in.
The instruction manual gives a good rundown of the meaning of the controller lights. I did get caught out with the switch 1 light constantly in a slow blinking instead of a steady glow as
per the instruction manual – This was due to the “Trip Lapse” function accidently being activated while I was setting up. No big issue and easily rectified.
The installation of the MiVue M820D Motorbike is straight forward, and the installation manual is easy to follow. All cables are colour coded and labeled. Depending on your motorcycle, you may have a spare accessory cable located under the seat and use a multimeter to determine the positive wire to the plug. The devices’ power leads do not come with plugs or eyelets to connect to the battery terminals, so you may need to stop off at an auto parts dealer or Jaycar to get some connectors.
It may take a little experimentation to get the camera mounting locations to their best positions. The cameras give 140-degree field of view which covers the whole road and the surrounds. The instructions recommend a central horizon. (Speak to a photographer and that will vary). The live view option with assist you with the camera placement and alignment. Try to have the motorcycle on a center stand when mounting. Take care with the placement of the wiring loom so it isn’t near hot surfaces, rubbing on any movable parts or getting damaged when remounting the fairings and seat.
All the data is collected and stored in the SD card and placed in the appropriate folders that can then be downloaded via the MiVuePro app on your smartphone. Connectivity to your smartphone is via the Navman MiVuePro app for free and can be downloaded through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. It is compatible with iOS 9.0 (and above) and Android 5.0 (and above). Updates to the software are downloadable.
When downloading the files, keep the engine running so you don’t drain the motorcycle’s battery. Motorcycle batteries are smaller than car batteries so are quicker to drain when lights and other equipment are active.
Is it worth investing in a Navman Dash Cam for your motorcycle? When you consider that many cars have dash cams mounted for the same reason of peace of mind to cover yourself in the advent of an accident, and the security of monitoring the welfare of your motorcycle when parked, the short answer is “yes”. The added advantages of recording your rides and complimenting the captured footage with still shots to share with friends, yes, once again, well worth the investment.
I can’t wait to ride this into an electrical storm to film lightning strikes! Amm
Above & below: The Navman MiVue M820D controller.
Left: What you see on your smartphone. Above left: Main menu - MiVuePro app. Above right: Battery indicator.
The deTeRmInATIon
oF eduARdo IglesIAs fallINg aNd gETTINg baCk Up:
WoRds And ImAges: pAblo pIllAdo/ eduARdo IglesIAs
JuSt AFtEr thE StArt of the prologue of the 2023 dakar Rally, Eduardo Iglesias broke both clavicles in a spectacular fall that sent him straight home. once again, the world’s toughest motor race dealt a severe blow to one of its steadfast riders.
We navigated with the Galician rider from that fateful moment, through his battle against his own fears, to his most immediate goals.
Eduardo arrived more prepared than ever for Dakar 2023: “I qualified very well in both the Hellas Rally in Greece and the Dinaric Rally in Croatia; and the 1000 Dunas had been great
training.” But in the early stages of the prologue, Edu was forced to abandon the Dakar. A disastrous fall broke both his clavicles. Despite the moral blow and the physical pain being so present, Edu was clear about one thing. “When I was on the plane after breaking my clavicles, I already knew I had to return to the Dakar. I told my mother right after the operation, and she couldn’t believe it. I knew this couldn’t end like this. After finishing three editions, I didn’t want this to be my story in the Dakar. It couldn’t be. I had to fight to be at the start again.” He recalled with calmness: “The accident was a very hard moral blow, but I wanted
to get back on the bike as soon as possible to recover from the psychological damage. After ten days, I was already going to the gym and shortly after, I was back on the bike.” But once again, reality hit hard. “In April, I went to train in Morocco with the idea of running the Sonora Rally, but even though my clavicles were healed, the psychological part was still missing. I wasn’t ready, and it took me a lot to feel comfortable on the bike again.”
Returning to competition, he discovered that he still had a long way to go in his recovery: “I arrived at the Hellas in May 2023 and realized it. I had tremendous stage fright. It was a very rainy rally, so I was afraid of getting hurt in every stage, and even though I finished 1st in M2, I placed in the twenties overall. In September 2023, we did the Rally Adventure Galicia. I felt better, but on the first day, I had a very hard crash and thought I had broken my clavicles again.”
Concluding, he said: “I spent the whole year fighting against my mind, and even feeling good, I was cutting the throttle.”
In January 2024, the moment of the ultimate test arrived. After a year of searching for good sensations, it was time for Eduardo Iglesias to face his ghosts, and with clear ideas, everything seemed to fall into place. “To go to the Dakar, you have to find
a goal. After finishing it, you need to motivate yourself to train and be at the start again. If my goal for other editions had been to improve my position, for this 2024 edition, it was to remove the thorn and prove to myself that after a traumatic injury, because of how it happened, the Dakar couldn’t finish me.” But the uncertainty was total: “I was in good physical shape, but I didn’t know how I would respond psychologically in a race as tough as the Dakar and with last year’s tragedy in my mind, you can imagine.” Even though he was making progress in the right direction, the harshness of this race imposed itself once again in the worst possible way. “The prologue was very tense but once it was over, in the early stages, as complicated as they were, I started to feel good until Carles’ accident. It was another very hard psychological blow that hit us closely. Very difficult to take.” -Spanish rider Carles Falcón passed away days later as a result of the accident-.
Edu was determined to finish the Dakar but was still unaware of the harshness that was yet to come. “I encountered the toughest Dakar in recent years.” The 48-hour stage seemed to have left a mark
on his memories that he hurried to recount: “At km 2, I was already stuck in soft sand; at km 3, on a huge dune with a terrifying descent, I overdid it with the throttle at the top, and the bike fell. I struggled a lot with the bike and the sand to continue; and at km 9, I found Zacchetti in a hole, and by looking at him, I got stuck too. We helped each other to get out, but all this happened before reaching km 10 of a 600 km stage. Imagine! We spent a good while pushing the bikes. At that moment, I must have been almost the last of the stage, but little by little, I caught up with other riders as I crossed incredible dunes with vertigo-inducing descents.”
Aware of the harshness of the stage, Edu decided to recalculate his objectives to reach the bivouac at km 300: “At around three in the afternoon, I refueled, and with the mandatory twenty-minute stop, I left around twenty to four. With 100 km ahead, I thought I wouldn’t make it to the bivouac at km 300, but I had to keep going even if I had to sleep in the dunes. With a good pace at first and suffering a lot, I reached the camp just as night fell.”
The second half of the 48-hour stage was still ahead, and the price for removing that thorn involved a degree of suffering previously
unknown to him. “The next day, the first few kilometers were very tough, and around midday, with the sun overhead, the bike fell on me many times. I’ve never had to lift it so many times in my life.” Reaching such a physical extreme that: “I wished the bike would break so I could call the helicopter and go home. I think I never pushed my body to such a limit. I don’t even know how to explain it: You can push yourself to the max on a gym machine, but it’s not the same; it’s a limit you can’t control. It’s a limit I had never experienced in any other Dakar. I had cried on other occasions, I had suffered a lot, but I didn’t know that physical limit,” he affirmed with conviction.
Having finished Dakar 2024 and overcoming the trauma, Edu is now facing two races in the European championship. One in Galicia and another in Greece, with their ups and downs. “The Rally Adventure Galicia benefited me a lot. Without navigation errors or falls, I finished 1st in M2 with the 350cc, which was a great option for this rally; 5th in the national classification and 2nd in the European one, so I ended up very motivated for the Hellas Rally,” where he didn’t feel as comfortable. “The type of tracks and trails in the Hellas
were more suited for the 450cc than for my 350cc, with which I suffered more than usual. Besides, the level increased dramatically with many top Dakar riders, and even finishing 2nd in my category, I placed 22nd overall.” Edu lamented, concluding with a positive reflection on his performance in the European circuit: “But I’m happy. I’ve competed in two races in Croatia, three in Greece, two in Galicia and I’m always at the top.
I’m not one of the fastest riders, but I always manage to maintain a consistent average with few navigation errors, avoiding many troubles, and preserving the mechanics.” Fundamental keys to achieving these endurance races. Edu faces the rest of the year with the uncertainty of someone whose ultimate goal is the Dakar Rally. “I don’t have confirmation for Dakar 2025. No matter how much intention we have,
SPARK PLUGS
we ultimately depend on sponsors, so in these months, we’ll have to make the final decision.” So his proposals include a continental championship: “I’ll try to finish the European championship in August, in Romania, to fight for the title, which will also be another race towards the Dakar if we finally decide to go.” And another more domestic, albeit international in nature: “I will also run the Six Days in October, here in Galicia.” A race the Galician rider had already competed in 2009 in Portugal and now repeats at home with friends. “It’s the Enduro Olympics. It’s a race with a lot of international atmosphere, and being here, I had to be there. I will participate with Alejandro Vieitez and Giovanni Pérez, classifying for clubs in teams of three riders,” he said with the enthusiasm of someone competing at home.
As a true Dakar participant, Edu does not lose sight of his goal or the necessary tasks to achieve it, assuring that: “If I finally go to the Dakar, I will participate in the Addax Rally in November to be as well-prepared as possible.” Amm
ENd Of WEEk
menTAl ReseT
With A dEMAndinG MondAy to Friday job and family commitments taking over the weekends, I have needed to find a few loops that I can squeeze into a Friday afternoon / evening from Sydney.
Whilst I love the off-road, I still like a bit of twisties and really need a combination to feel like I’ve made a good effort. Living in Sydney, I have to commute a couple of hours to get to worthwhile dirt. Each route is approximately 500kms and provides variety. The one I chose today runs through the Blue Mountains, around the back of Lithgow, Lidsdale area and back to Sydney.
Heading out at about 2:30pm usually sees me return home by 9pm, physically exhausted but mentally exhilarated and ready to take on the weekend and the following working week. Both of these routes are mid-size and big bike friendly. I typically run hybrid tyres on the 1190 with more aggressive tyres on the 701 to maximise off road fun.
Being summer, I know the sun will set around 7:30pm. All going well, I’ll hit the dirt by 5pm at the latest, giving me a few hours of sunlight in the dirt before I head back on the tar to Sydney. Job done.
The roads are surprisingly quieter heading up on a Friday afternoon with most of the traffic heading the other direction.
I arrive at Mount Victoria and turn into the Darling Causeway. This road was closed for many months when the 2019 fires came through and provided a glow at night, which I hope I never see again. I reach Bells Line Road and head towards Newness Forest. With the NSW Government investing millions into Newness and Wollemi National Park, the roads have been freshly graded, and you really can take a Corolla down most of these roads. This makes it easier for bigger bikes with a mostly pothole free run. There are trails running parallel with the road with varying levels of difficulty to make the journey even more interesting.
Heading out of Sydney down the M4, M5, M7 I reach the A32, which is where the twisties start. The A32 twists and turns and I can already feel the stress from the week peeling away with every kilometre.
The dirt loop runs for about 80kms, in arguably some of the best trails NSWs has to offer. Starting off at Newness Zig Zag Railway entrance, heading into Blackfellows Hand Trail, crossing over Wolgan Valley Road onto Bicentennial National Trail and then Moffitt Trail before heading towards Capertee, and then back onto the tar via Castlereagh Highway to Lithgow and onto the A32 to head home.
It always amazes me that in this day and age, there are so many things vying for our attention. Everyone is either focused on what happened in the past or what is happening in future and not enjoying the
WoRds And ImAges: RIAAn husselmAnn
present. Riding motor bikes for me means I am totally committed and focused on the here and now, a mental reset and a reminder of how grateful I am to be able to do this.
The trail through Newness and Blackfellow Hand Trail is fast and flowy. Even though I have been here a hundred times before, the surroundings take my breath away every time I visit. As the wind hits my face and I hear the roar of the engine, I’m stuck in the moment and no longer thinking about work or what is happening on the weekend. The furthest into the future I get is what obstacles are coming up in the next 200 metres. I feel alive and am grateful for the opportunity to have my health, be on a bike and surrounded by such beauty.
anyone on these trails at this time of the day, which is one of the reasons I like this loop on a Friday afternoon.
Heading into Bicentennial National Trail, I can either chose to attempt the step up, or go around and take the easier path a kilometre down the road.
“ i feeL aLive and am gRatefuL foR the oppoRtunity to have my heaLth, be on a biKe and suRRounded by such beauty.”
At the end of Blackfellow Hand Trail you reach historic caves, which was a meeting place for the Aboriginal tribes of the area who named it Maiyingu Marragu. The large rock overhang and shelter is a place of cultural significance, and shows well-preserved Aboriginal drawings of hands and weapons.
Crossing over Wolgan Road and into Bicentennial National Trail I get to my favourite part of the loop. Fast and flowy, but with a lot of technical terrain to catch you out if you aren’t paying attention. On the right I am flanked by the Newness Valley Plateau, with very long drops and breathtaking scenery. It is rare to see
A kilometer before Moffitt Trail, I head right onto an unmarked trail to get another view of the Newness Plateau. More narrow track, but the end result is absolutely beautiful. A good place to have a snack and something to drink and take in the different colours brought by a sun preparing for its slumber. I head back towards the Moffitt Trail entrance and stop at the bottom of the valley. I wonder what this was like thousands of years ago, but don’t think it was much different.
Heading into Moffitt Trail, the steep hill keeps me on my toes followed by many steep contour mounds. The contour jumps make me feel like a child who discovered a trampoline for the first time. A great way to end the dirt portion before getting back onto the tar.
Being a little later and the sun starting to set, I have to be more vigilant with wildlife about before I get back to Mount Victoria area. I decide not to go via Bells Like Road for that reason. By this time, there is little traffic on the roads and I can enjoy heading back with very little slowing down my return trip, with a big smile on my face and another mission accomplished.
AusTRAlIA EasT TO WEsTERN aNd baCk
PoWEr triP SydnEy to Perth 2024 saw yours truly, Sundeep Gajjar (aka MotoGrapher) and Manan Chaturvedi (aka Shuttervedi) ride across australia: from Sydney to Perth and back. the machines of choice this time were the world’s fastest production motorcycle, a 2017 Kawasaki ninja H2 and a 2022 aprilia Tuono V4 Factory 1100.
Route
While we have ridden in Australia a fair few times, it just has so much to offer that there’s always something left. So, while charting out the route this time, we decided to touch upon a lot of places that we have not been to before. We crammed as much as we could in these 12,000 km. From bustling cities like, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, adelaide, and Perth to the isolated nullarbor, Pinnacle, and Iron Knob, this road-trip proved to be everything a rider can ask for. as you can probably tell from the map alone, it was a heck of a trip and we hope our story and images inspire you to take a similar journey to ours.
WoRds And ImAges: sunny moTogRApheR
Waverley cemetery
The most beautiful cemetery in Australia? That is what the Waverley Cemetery is often considered to be. One of the shot locations of the song ‘Tanhayee’ in DIl Chahta Hai, which was also one of my favourite movies, this cemetery goes right to the edge of Australia in Sydney.
Established in 1877, this cemetery is counted as one of the most significant in Australia, especially for New South Wales since it has many important personalities buried here, including the famous Australian poet, Henry Lawson.
The Newtown suburb of Sydney has
been for long one of the most densely populated with artworks.There are designated areas for street artists and the residents take pride in the colours and importance of these artworks.
sea cliff bridge, Wollongong
This is the Lawrence Hargrave Drive in Australia, originally constructed in the 1870s as Lower Coast Road, later named after the aviation pioneer Lawrence Hargrave, home to the iconic Sea Cliff Bridge. Nestled between the cliffs and the Tasman Sea, this engineering marvel stretches 665 meters, offering views that are nothing short of spectacular. But it’s not just the view; it’s the ride. This road is
9-10
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a ribbon through history and adrenaline, a must-ride for every bike enthusiast passing through this area.
The famous 665-meter-long and 41 meters in height Sea Cliff bridge on Lawrence Hargrave Drive was originally built in 2005, so the piers and bridge deck are well away from the rock fall hazard.
canberra parliament house
Canberra is the capital of Australia. It is considered to be a relatively boring city but in 2024 it has been ranked to have the second highest quality of life in the world. And that is saying something! This is also the political capital of Australia. The Aprilia Tuono V4 can be seen
against Capitol Hill which also has the Parliament house. The flag seen is the largest in Australia measuring a cool 21ft x 41ft atop an 81-meter flagpole! If you are passing through here like us on a much bigger ride, try riding to the Black Mountain which also has the Telstra Tower that rises 195 meters from the summit of this mountain.
snowy mountains highway and scheme
The Snowy Scheme: Described as one of the civil engineering wonders of the modern world, the Snowy Scheme consists of sixteen major dams, nine power stations, two pumping stations,
and 225 kilometres (140 mi) of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts that were constructed between 1949 and 1974. Just 2% of the construction is visible above ground.
This is the largest engineering project ever undertaken in Australia. This project generates electricity and also provides water for irrigation at the same time.
Far top left: Leaving Sydney.
Top left: Wollongong Bridge.
Above: Canberra, ACT.
Below left: Snowy Mountains Way.
Below: You need to be aways on guard road kill.
It utilizes the water of the Snowy River. Two towns Khancoban and Cabramurra were constructed for the scheme itself. In fact, Cabramurra is Australia’s highest permanently inhabited town at 4882 feet. It is spread over 5100 sq kilometres and took one hundred thousand people from over thirty countries to finish it.
“ the dangeR of hitting KangaRoos and otheR wiLdLife such as wombats, is veRy ReaL on Roads LiKe these at dusK.”
But the direct benefits of this massive engineering project to a couple of motorcyclists like us? Good asphalt roads like the Snowy Mountains Highway and the Alpine Way!
The Snowy Mountains Highway (B72) is a 333-kilometre-long road, starting near Bega Valley in the east and ending at Mount Adrah.
blowering Reservoir
This is the Blowering Dam Reservoir. It is one of the biggest dams in the state of NSW. It is also famous for being the site for the world water speed record in 1978 when a speed of 511.10 km/h was set by a boat named ‘The Spirit of Australia’ built by Ken Warby in his Sydney house backyard!
charlotte pass and mount kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko is mainland Australia’s highest mountain peak. It is at 2,228 metres above sea level. If you are used to riding in the Indian Himalayas or the European Alps then the Australian alps might underwhelm you but it is still a beautiful area; worthy of a ride visit. Charlotte Pass is the closest village and snow resort to Mount Kosciuszko. It is also the coldest location in Australia with
a record low of 23°C. It is a one-way toll road which means traffic is minimal if you go in the summer months at the right time and the tarmac is amazing!
Jindabyne
Jindabyne Dam is also part of the Snowy Hydro Scheme. Jindabyne is a town that lies on the foothills of Mount Kosciuszko National Park and also has the beautiful Jindabyne Lake which is a popular sailing and fishing destination.
The Alpine Way starts in Jindabyne and ends after 122 km at Towong. You can do these two in a loop, but you cannot really go wrong with any of the roads in this region. In the winter months, many of these roads will not allow motorcycles and cars must have snow chains with them.
snowy River Way
There are many beautiful roads in the NSW high country, and many of them are named like in a fairy tale story. The Snowy River Way is one of them. This 108 km stretch starts from Jindabyne and ends in Bombala in New South Wales with many great corners and open country like this. Windmills are also abundant on this route with tall golden grass swaying in the wind completing the dreamy look. The tarmac quality in some places is not
good, but nothing to seriously hamper the overall riding experience unless you have a suspension tuned for the racetrack!
The Great Alpine Road is a road that runs from Bairnsdale to Wangaratta in the state of Victoria, for a total of 300 km. It is one of the most famous mountain roads in Australia that has some amazing tarmac and views and is one of the highest all year accessible roads of Australia. However, we did not do its entire length as we joined it while coming from Jindabyne. Dinner Plain, which is at 1570 meters, is one of the highest points on this road with the section at Mount Hotham, just a few kilometers from here being the highest at 1840 meters. Dinner plain is also the highest permanently inhabited freehold village in Australia and it is called so because a weekly horse-drawn coach service operated in the summer months around 1900. They would stop for a midday meal here. The danger of hitting Kangaroos and other wildlife wombats is very real on roads like these at dusk. The risk multiplies in the mountains since these animals come out earlier than sunset since its cooler must faster. A good sized Kangaroo can easily kill a motor-cyclist and even veer a big car off-track! So, you can never be too careful.
lakes entrance
Lakes Entrance is so named because it was the entrance for ocean-going vessels to access the Gippsland Lakes which are the largest navigable inland waterway in Australia. This is a town which most people won’t visit but serves as a good stop with many staying options. Also, as you can see in the inset photo, Australian police are serious (and creative) about reducing road accidents and the fines are high, so you would do well to stick to the speed limits if you value your money.
melbourne
Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia and the capital of Victoria. It is also considered to be the knowledge and cultural capital with many museums and open-air art districts. One of the best things about this city are its many roadside cafes and the fact that you can park your motorcycle on the pavements unlike Sydney which is relatively bad for accommodating two wheelers like this.
The main photo has the Ninja H2 with the famous Bolte bridge over the Yarra river. Melbourne has many such waterfronts that look beautiful at sunset and beyond it because of the colorful lighting.
The smaller inset photo shows the Melbourne skyline, which surprisingly has the highest number of skyscrapers, with the total standing at almost 80.
oakwood premier melbourne
Melbourne is also home to many amazing hotels. We stayed in Oakwood Premier, which had amazing facilities like in-room laundry, kitchen and more while affording some amazing Melbourne skyline views. The hotel is also located almost in the heart of the CBD (Central Business District) so it has all the amazing building vistas around it.
Albert park, melbourne
Albert Park is famous for being the venue for the Australian GP on the F1 calendar, which happened just a weekend before we reached Melbourne. This meant that many of the scaffoldings and set up for the GP were still there since this was actually a public road circuit. And I took this chance to ride the whole circuit and even did some slow-speed knee-downs with all the stuff on the bike.
hosier lane, melbourne
Melbourne has a very vibrant outdoor graffiti scene. Hosier Lane is one of the hotspots where you will find many murals
and even live artists as well. The city also has an amazing array of architecture. In inset on the opposite page, Flinders Street railway station is one of the most beautiful buildings in Melbourne. Below it is the Melbourne Parliament where a few movies have also been filmed. The Princess’s Theatre is also a magnificent building that you should not miss.
The great ocean Road
“ the gReat ocean Road is peRhaps the most gLobaLLy famous Road in austRaLia.”
The Great Ocean Road is perhaps the most globally famous road in Australia. This has been marketed quite well and its proximity to Melbourne and the length of 240 km makes it a good week-long drive for many tourists. This means that
Top left: Charlotte Pass.
Far bottom left: Melbourne city lights.
Bottom left: A quick blast around Albert Park.
Above: The Kawasaki Ninja H2 on the fly.
Below: The Great Ocean Road.
it is not really to enjoy motorcycling as tourist traffic can be a lot over weekends and holidays. But motorcycles can filter through the lanes of traffic that one encounters, so it is much less harrowing to do than in a car.
Having said that, the road quality is very good and the vistas are also worth a drive. But for us, this was simply on the way to Perth, so it was a no-brainer. Another downside is the relatively lower speed limit posted in many sections of the road due to tourists.
The photo on this page shows the ‘London Bridge At sunset. There are many such rock formations all along
the coast. The bridge itself collapsed in January 1990 leaving just the arch beyond and leaving two tourists stranded on the arch. They had to be rescued by a helicopter.
The Great Ocean Road is 240 km long and starts from Torquay in the east (near Melbourne) to Allansford in the west, which is near Warrnambool. It is the world’s longest war memorial. WWI veterans built the road from 1919 to 1932, the dedication to which can be seen at the start of the road (inset photo).
great ocean Road
The road passes through different kinds
of terrain including rain forests. There are a lot of beaches and limestone and sandstone formations, due to which erosion has created some interesting formations to look at like the London Bridge and rugged cliffs.
This is called The Baker’s Oven, perhaps named because of the oven-like hole in the island. It is one of the quieter spots on the Great Ocean Road and is great for watching a sunset! In the inset photo, you can see the 12 Apostles, perhaps the most famous of all rock formations on this road. However, only eight of them remain as the rest fell due to erosion.
enroute to Adelaide
As you go further towards Adelaide, the landscape starts getting more stark, with fewer greens and more browns and reds.
I am quite fascinated by the kind of leafless trees you can find from here and in general all over Australia, giving it a very eerie otherworldly look.
Adelaide
Adelaide is Australia’s fifth largest city. It is also sometimes known as the twentyminute city, due to its rather compact nature compared to the previous two metropolitan cities of Sydney and Melbourne. The rolling hills and beaches also provide some great vistas. It also has decent graffiti and street art along with some radical lighting on buildings.
bumbunga lake
Lake Bumbunga is a salt-lake that also turns pink in spring. There’s also a huge fibreglass sculpture depicting the Lochness Monster.
port Augusta
Port Augusta is also called the crossroads of Australia because it is at a strategic position at the junction of three major Australian highways. From here your choice will take you to either Darwin, which is a cool 2700 km away up north, or Perth on the Eyre Highway at 2300 km away, or back to Sydney on the Princes Highway which is 1500 km away! This is also the gateway to Flinders Range. Horrocks Pass Road is a great mountain road that feels right out of a movie. There are also a lot of windmills around here.
Wudinna and further west...
The name ‘Wudinna’ literally means ‘The Granite Hill’ in aboriginal language. This town is known for its interesting rock formations, especially Mount Wudinna which is the second largest monolith in Australia, after Uluru. Australia is a huge country. It has got huge farms which require machines like these, a Hardi Saritor 7000, which is a sprayer powered by a 300 bhp motor. The feature list reads out of a sci-fi movie - “GeoSelect, the manufacturer’s selective spraying technology which was first launched at last year’s showcase, and which uses drone mapping of weeds rather than on-machine cameras that
add weight.” This looks more like a transformer than a farming machine!
Iron knob
Iron Knob obtained its name from its proximity to large deposits of iron ore and is also known as the birthplace of the steel industry in Australia. It provides for a MadMaxish kind of landscape from the road level and is just very cool to see.
penong
Penong is a small settlement at the eastern edge of the Nullarbor with a population of less than 250 people. This has a windmill museum that stands out on this route, giving it MadMax vibes. They also claim to have Australia’s largest windmill (traditional) called the Comet or Big Bruce.
“ fRom heRe youR choice wiLL taKe you to eitheR daRwin, which is a cooL 2700 Km away up noRth, oR peRth on the eyRe highway at 2300Km away. ”
Top left: The Great Ocean Road. Bottom left: We pull into Adelaide. Above left: The roads out here aren’t always sealed. Above: Port Augusta. Below: Lake MacDonnel.
lake macdonnell
Lake MacDonnell is a salt-lake near the Nullarbor plains. It is just 13 km near the town of Penong and worth a visit because of its otherworldly landscape. It is now the largest gypsum mine in Australia on the largest gypsum deposit in the southern hemisphere. Salt is still mined but as a secondary product.
There is also a pink lake here, Lake MacDonnell. It gets its colour from the algae that crop up during the harsh summer months acting as sunglasses to the harsh light!
The Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory 1100 is one of the most capable bikes I have ridden. Seen here is it traversing one of the many off-road excursions that we took in this region to explore places like Lake MacDonnell.
Into the nullarbor
Nullarbor literally means ‘zero trees’. It is a huge area that starts in Norseman in Western Australia and finishes in Ceduna in South Australia. Crossing the
Nullarbor is considered to be one of the most spiritual roadtrips in the world. The nothingness beckons you to think about how insignificant one is. But it is far from boring, the treeless plain section itself feels surreal, especially if you manage to see it from a drone’s eye. It is the largest exposure of limestone bedrock in the world – an empty expanse that stretches over an area of 200,000 square kilometres. We will revisit the Nullarbor a bit more when we are making our return journey.
The Nullarbor plains can be an incredible place to witness the golden hour. There are over 100,000 camels that are said to roam in the Nullarbor, but we somehow didn’t even see one, even though we traversed it twice on this very roadtrip.
One of the most beautiful sights is to watch the sunrise on the Nullarbor. If you look carefully, you will see a blanket of mist that can prove to be dangerous early mornings.
En route, we also came across a lot of
straights and Australia’s longest straight road as well which is 146.6 km straight. However, it doesn’t mean that one can just twist the throttle and go flat out as it is going to cost you a lot more fuel for the same distance and hardly makes a time difference in the end. This means more fuel stops. At every fuel stop, you have to take a photo of the receipt with the timestamp along with the odometer. Road trains are an integral part of most of Australia. They are beautiful man-made creatures, gentle giants and a sight to behold on the roads. They range from 28 to 60 meters. Just for the record, pun intended, the world record for the longest road train was set in the year 2006, one year earlier than my first ever Australian big lap (that was done in 2007). The road train was 1475 meters long and had 113 trailers.
Overtaking a road train on a motorcycle can be dangerous at times. Vacuum and sudden wind blasts upon crossing one can throw the motorcycle off in the other direction and off the road
Left: An early morning start to their Ironbutt run. Main: The early fog across the Nullarbor. Top right: Finally arrived in Perth.
shoulder. Sometimes the road trains are going close to 100 km/h. At night it is sometimes difficult to judge if a road train is coming from behind if it has its top lights switched off, which they do to protect you from their incredible brightness and glare. When you are parked on the side of the road, and you see a road train that’s going to cross you, hold tight to the bike and your belongings as the wind blast is incredible!
The RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) is a non-profit charity organization that provides emergency medical and primary health care services to anyone who lives, works or travels in rural and remote Australia. In August 2020, a plane had to land on the highway at Eucla on the Nullarbor to save a man from a stroke. They did save the man because of this, considering the nearest hospital is 500 km in the town of Ceduna! There are around four widened sections of airstrips on the Nullarbor that are part of the main highway. Another thing to consider is that the Eyre highway is the
only road linking South Australia and Western Australia, and that makes it an extremely important road in Australia.
This is me with the Australian Motorcyclist Magazine which had a contest run to spot me and with 1000 AUD. It was but a perfect moment to get a photo clicked with these fine officers in the middle of Nullarbor.
We also used the ADV Worx fuel bladders a couple of times during our IronButt run. If you are looking to get rid of the bulky jerry cans without worrying about not finding fuel, Fuel Bag from ADVWorx Australia is the way to go about it.
The IronButt almost always involves riding from sunrise to sunset, unless of course, you are doing it in the summer months above a particular latitude where the sun doesn’t set! Watching the sunset again on the Nullarbor on the same day was a gift!
We did complete the IronButt in a total saddle of time of just 15 hours for 1650 km; from the nothingness of the
moTogRApheR’s
4Th IRonbuTT
IronButt is an association based in the USA that started in the 1980s to test man and the machine’s endurance. The most famous of these certificates is the SaddleSore1600, where we have to do 1600 km in less than 24 hours. So far I have done three IronButts, the details of which are in the inset photos on the right.
My fourth (successful) attempt was on this ride. There’s a detailed video on my YouTube channel that you can watch by scanning the QR code on this page about this attempt. There are a lot of considerations before you attempt something like this, but I will not delve into it for now.
The route was from Nullarbor Roadhouse to Perth for a total of 1624 km. We started at 6 AM in the morning from the Nullarbor roadhouse when it was pitch dark and close to zero degrees. I wore rain gear on top of my leathers that protected me from the icy cold winds. The fuel station hadn’t opened up yet, that’s why we took a witness form from a roadhouse attendant last night at check in. And this was verified by the IronButt volunteers while assessing my application.
The ultimate Ironbutt guide!
Nullarbor Roadhouse to the most isolated megacity on planet Earth - Perth.
This was the most beautiful Ironbutt so far out of the four that I have done and one of the easiest for us, even though we lost almost three hours due to a leaky valve in the rear tyre of the H2!
perth
Perth is a beautiful city. It is hard to imagine how isolated it is. The closest neighbouring city with all facilities that’s not a small village is 2100 km away and it is Adelaide in South Australia. It was founded just 200 years ago, yes, it is that new! It is closer to Singapore than it is to Adelaide. The time difference between India and Perth is 2.5 hours while between Perth and Sydney, it is 3 hours in summer! The time zone of Perth and Singapore is the same!
But once you are in Perth you will forget how isolated it is, it has just five skyscrapers (buildings that reach a height of at least 150 meters), compared to Melbourne which has 77.
duxton hotel
Duxton is a five-star hotel located in the centre of Perth that has all the facilities that you could want. They were also kind enough to let our bikes be parked right outside the main entrance under the watchful eye of the door usher and the CCTV cameras, even though Perth is considered to be a relatively safe city compared to other big cities.
supercars meet
The last thing we expected to see was a supercar meet in Perth. This was an open event where kids, families and petrol heads came together in a vineyard in the Swan Valley near Perth. But it was extremely hot!
6000 km service
Perth was the end of our first leg before we had to take a turn back towards Sydney. This was also a good point to do a preventive checkup and service with more than 6000 km done. We got fresh Castrol POWER1 ULTIMATE in both the bikes and a fresh set of Vredestein Centauro NS tyres.
Two Rocks
Two Rocks is a small town en route to the Pinnacles desert, it is worth a visit for its beautiful and rugged coastlines and white beach.
The 4th Ironbutt
omeo Wreck
Omeo shipwreck as seen from above. This was a trading ship that was driven ashore in 1905 and has been there since then. This is just 30 km south of Perth and offers an amazing sunset too!
The blue boat house
The Blue Boat House is perhaps the most
2nd hA l F
photogenic spot in Perth. This is actually a boatshed that was built in the 1930s over the Swan River. This river is one of the cleanest inner-city rivers in the world.
The pinnacles
The Pinnacles is a must-visit if you are in Perth and even remotely, pun intended, interested in photography and a roadtrip.
heading east...
From Perth we start riding back towards Sydney, but from a different route. We went down south via the coast and en route we hunted for the Giants of Mandurah, which are giant outdoor installations made from recycled wood to celebrate the extraordinary beauty and the importance of protecting our natural
Then north to see the Pinnacles.
This will give you one of the most surreal backdrops for your machine as you can drive through this section of the Nambung Desert with any road bike. It is 190 km north of Perth and can be done in a day. They are 30000 years old limestone outcrops.
The Pinnacles marked the end of our leg 1 of xBhp Power Trip Sydney To Perth.
Day From To Via
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Perth Augusta Gnomesville, Australind
Augusta Albany Cape Leeuwin
Albany Esperance Sterling Highway, Bluff Knoll,
Day 22 Esperance Norseman Tiger Jetty,
Day 23
Norseman Madura Australia’s Longest Straight Road
Day 24 Madura Nullarbor Great Australian Bight
Day 25
Nullarbor Ceduna
Day 26 Ceduna Port Augusta Murphy’s Haystack, Streaky Bay, Eliston
Day 27 Port Augusta Yunta Dawson Ghost Town
Day 28 Yunta Broken Hill Silverton
Day 29 Broken Hill Cobar Barrier Highway
Day 30 Cobar Mudgee Wellington
Day 31 Mudgee Sydney Katoomba
world. Then there was Gnomesville, in the middle of nowhere at a roundabout, thousands of gnomes placed by thousands of people.It is quite an interesting sight.
We saw a sign saying Australind and immediately thought something was going on. And as we suspected it did turn out to be a name amalgamating the
two, which was chosen due to the belief that the area could be used for breeding horses for the British Indian Army.
mill brook state Forest
Millbrook State Forest and many other forests are en route to Augusta in this area. There are inroads that you can take to really take in the wilderness.
lake clifton Thrombolites
Lake Clifton is in the beautiful Yalgorup National Park. At the edge of Lake Clifton, rock-like structures called thrombolites (similar to stromatolites) can be seen, built by tiny micro-organisms believed to resemble the earliest forms of life on Earth. Scientists have suggested their presence here may be due to upwellings of fresh groundwater high in calcium carbonate. (Source Wikipedia)
Augusta
One of my favourite towns in Western Australia is Augusta. The Augusta boat harbour is a great place to go with a motorcycle, you can go right to the end of this pier with the bikes.
Augusta cape leeuwin light house
It is beautiful and Cape Leeuwin is a landmark that should not be missed if you are on such a roadtrip. It is the most southwestern point of the Australian continent, beyond this there is just Antarctica in the south or Africa in the west.
Albany
Close to the city of Albany is the Torndirrup National Park which has rock formations over 1300 million years ago! At the place called the Gap, you can literally feel something supernatural with those vertical dramatic cliff drops, and the layers of rocks packed into columns with the water violently splashing down below. It is insane and one of the best coastlines I have ever seen.
In Google satellite view you can see a plane and a windmill in this unbelievable resort in the middle of nowhere. In both of these people can stay at a hotel. This was quite unexpected and made for an amazing backdrop in this area.
stirling Ranges
The Stirling Ranges National Park was a welcome surprise. We went a few kilometers inside on unsealed roads but the whole approach and place was dreamy.
bluff knoll
Nearby you have the highest mountain of this region - Bluff Knoll, at 3600 feet above sea level. A ride to the summit is one way and highly recommended.
esperance
Esperance is one of the most beautiful
towns we came across on our roadtrip. It has some of the most beautiful beaches in Australia with turquoise water, pure white sands and extremely dramatic rock formations and coastlines. But the best part about this town for motorcyclists is The Great Ocean Drive
But before we move on to the best part, we want to thank Hospitality Esperance SureStay for a wonderful stay at their hotel. Our rooms were also facing a tank that was donated by the Australian Army. This Leopard tank was used to train the army and never actually participated in any wars.
great ocean drive
The Great Ocean Drive near Esperance can be mistaken for the Great Ocean Road which is thousands of kilometers away in Victoria. This is actually a
40 km loop, but in these forty kilometers, you will see incredible winding roads, beautiful coastlines rivalling its bigger namesake, dramatic coastlines and some of the best beaches and rock formations in all of Australia.
From Esperance head to the Twilight Beach road towards the west that turns into the eleven-mile beach road crossing by the Pink Lake (that unfortunately doesn’t turn pink anymore) and eventually ends back in Esperance. If you do this on a sunny day with a slight breeze and fews clouds like we did then prepare to come close to riding nirvana. Just try and skip weekends or public holidays.
mad max country
This photo from near Norseman on the Eyre highway sums up Australia through the sealed outback. It shows the next
Below left: Stop for a quick photo at Esperance. Below: Hwy to Madura.
“ the gReat ocean dRive neaR espeRance can be mistaKen foR the gReat ocean Road which is thousands of KiLometeRs away in victoRia. ”
Above & top left: Mill Brook State Forest. Bottom left: Stirling Ranges.
very rest stop where you have a table and maybe a couple of trees. In between there will be nothing.
The road train is probably hauling something from a quarry a few thousand kilometers away. The wind draft from this is enough to blow the helmet off a motorcycle from the other side. In the inset photo you can see a double- decker livestock hauler which is a typical sight for this country.
The road quality is mostly very good, without any potholes for thousands of kilometers unless there has been an accident. This is critical since repairs in these areas would be extremely expensive and any accidents due to potholes can cause huge losses to the government’s reputation and wallet if sued and proved in court.
The cloudless sky with the harsh sun is on point with the reddish soil completing the rustic look.
The great Australian bight
And then there is the Great Australian Bight, which is a huge open bay just
south of the Nullarbor. In some places, it comes very close to the road itself offering spectacular views and very high cliffs that just drop into the southern ocean. The Great Australian Bight came into existence about 50 million years ago when the supercontinent Gondwana broke apart, separating Antarctica from Australia. You can also spot whales if you come here in the right season.
Even though it is not recommended we more often than not ended up riding through dusk and into the night risking colliding with animals big and small. This is not a joke as there are plenty of horror stories of motorcyclists and car drivers getting into a big soup. We even had a couple of road trains swear at us for riding in the night due to the dangers posed by these seemingly cute postcard animals. Out of these Kangaroos and Emus can be the most dangerous as they will often cross you and they are incredibly heavy and strong. A big fun fact - none of them can walk backwards, so the only way for them is forward even if they are afraid of you. And both are national
Left: Shitbox Rally cars crossing the Nullarbor.
Below left: Here we go again.
Top right: Ceduna
Far top right: Elliston Clifftop Drive
Main right: The Nullarbor Plain from above.
animals representing how the country is supposed to move ahead and develop.
The shitbox Rally
We encountered something unbelievable on the Nullarbor. It was a convoy of more than 200 incredibly quirky cars. This was the Shitbox rally which is an annual charity event held in Australia where participants drive old and “shitbox” cars across some of the most remote and challenging roads in the country. The rally raises funds for cancer research and support services.
It’s not just about the journey; it’s also about the creativity and fun participants have with their cars, often decorating them in outrageous themes. It’s a unique way to combine adventure, philanthropy, and a sense of camaraderie among participants.
Each person has to buy a car for just 1500 AUD and then spend some more money on mods and safety and drive it to raise funds for charity. It was truly a unique experience that reminded us of MadMax!
fuRtheR east… murphy’s haystack
Murphy’s Haystacks are a unique geological formation located on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. These impressive granite rock formations have been sculpted over millions of years by erosion, resulting in large, rounded boulders that resemble haystacks or piles of giant marbles. The story goes that someone saw these rocks from a distance and thought they were
haystacks. The land then was owned by a man called Murphy. Hence the name! Unbelievable, right?
The photo in the inset shows another solo adventurer in a self-sustaining van that was going around Australia.
The eyre peninsula
The Eyre Peninsula is not on many people’s lists when going across Australia on a motorcycle. Even though I have done the big lap three times this was the first time I planned to visit and see a bit of this. It has close to 2000 km of coastline, which is a lot, so I was restricted to going down to the town of Elliston and then cutting across towards Port Augusta.
One of the most stunning drives that we came across on the trip was the Clifftop drive, though this is just 12 km drive just north of Elliston, the insane rugged and dramatic coastlines make you feel that you are in a Game of Thrones movie.
The massive sculptures on the cliffs lend a very different feeling to this whole area. Elliston Jetty is also a very picturesque place to visit and take photos of. It is also very fascinating and has lots of wonders to discover.
Australia’s abandoned sites
Goyder’s Line is an important demarcation in South Australia, identified by George Goyder in the 1860s, which delineates the boundary between areas suitable for agriculture and those better suited for pastoral activities due to low rainfall. This line, extending in a rough
arc across the state, marks a significant climatic threshold; regions south of the line generally receive sufficient rainfall for cropping, while areas to the north experience arid conditions, making them more appropriate for grazing livestock. Goyder’s Line remains a critical reference for land use planning and agricultural practices in the region.
Dawson is an abandoned town in South Australia that serves as a poignant reminder of the challenges faced by settlers in the early 20th century. Established in 1882 during a period of optimistic agricultural expansion, Dawson was part of a broader effort to settle and cultivate the arid lands of the state’s interior. However, the town’s location north of Goyder’s Line made it prone to drought and unsuitable for sustainable farming. Despite initial growth and development, persistent water scarcity and poor crop yields led to its decline. By the 1930s, Dawson was largely abandoned as residents moved away in search of more viable land and opportunities. Today, the remnants of Dawson stand as a
testament to the harsh realities of farming in marginal environments.
We had to ride around 40 km one way on unsealed roads without seeing even one single soul to visit this place that had two churches and a town hall.
All abandoned.
yunta, the barrier highway
Yunta, on the Barrier Highway, was one of the most unexpected night stopovers for us on the remote Barrier Highway. We got very late because of some valve
issues in the H2 and we had to find a stopover, luckily we somehow reached this small town with just one motel and two fuel pumps. The motel was full but we were helped by getting a lodge in worker’s rooms which were also decent and only 10 AUD for a night! This money went to the Royal Australian Flying Doctor service as a charity, we were told.
But since we had nothing to do in this town, we shot some night photos and watched the Milky Way. We also got
to know that Yunta doesn’t have main electricity from the grid but uses a series of diesel generators to support itself!
barrier highway, broken hill
This is the Barrier Highway near Broken Hill. In the inset on the left page, you can see strange things like trees with soft toys. This could be as a memorial to being just something so that the visitors remember their town. You can find such trees in a few places in remote NSW. On the right inset photo, you can see the Broken Hill Solar Plant.
silverton
Most of the Mad Max movies were shot around Broken Hill in remote NSW with places like Mundi Mundi Lookout that you can actually still ride to. Silverton’s connection to the “Mad Max” franchise has made it an iconic destination for motorcyclists, offering an exhilarating blend of cinematic history and thrilling riding experiences. The town’s rugged landscapes, featured in “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior,” attract motorcyclists like me, eager to traverse the same terrain as the movie’s characters.
The Mad Max Museum, with its extensive collection of film memorabilia, including iconic vehicles and motorcycles, provides a unique immersive experience. Additionally, Silverton’s frequent “Mad Max”-themed events and the dramatic, open roads of the surrounding outback create a sense of adventure and community, making it a must-visit for fans and enthusiasts seeking to embrace the spirit of freedom and excitement epitomized by the films.
If you are lucky, you will find some quirky vehicles based on the MadMax movie here as well. We got late and just reached when the sun was about to set, otherwise we would have shot a lot more at this iconic location.
cobar
Cobar is Australia’s largest producer of copper and this is the Cobar mine from a bird’s eye view Mining is one of the most important industries of Australia and the size of this mine is incredible, at 1.9 km deep!
The last day
Bottom:
The last day saw us ride through the Blue Mountains and into Sydney, concluding our cross-continental road-trip. The last day was a contrast to the days earlier, having lots of clouds and mountains. Australia is truly a vast country with a lot of variations, but the huge distances make it something to remember for a lifetime!
Amm
“ austRaLia is tRuLy a vast countRy with a Lot of vaRiations, but the huge distances. ”
Top left: Horroks Pass Port Augusta Bottom left: Dawson Ghost Town.
Top left: The Mad Max Museum at Silverton. Above: Barrier Highway, Broken Hill.
Below: On the road to Mudgee.
The last day of the trip, to Sydney through the Blue Mountains.
Tug McClutchin
WoRds And ImAge: Tug mccluTchIn
goIng on TouR
I’d ForGottEn WhAt it was like to organise a motorcycle tour. In a previous job some years ago, organising tours for groups of riders, and then leading them, was part of my gig. It can be great fun, but also hard work. And it can test your patience. It’s also not a holiday. Not when you’re the person running the show.
I’ve also met some people on tours who became friends, so the benefits can be substantial. Just as well, because it isn’t much of a way to make money. You certainly won’t get rich running bike tours.
A month or so back I started toying with the idea of resurrecting a tour I used to run from Sydney to Phillip Island for the World Superbike Round each
year. It was 3 or 4 days on the road, then the weekend at the track watching the races. They were great fun trips, with awesome roads, and obviously an international race meeting to go to, so what’s not to love?
And so, I decided that I would run it again next year. Then the planning began. And so did the headaches.
I should start by pointing out that bike tours in groups of more than about halfa-dozen is generally not my favourite way to travel. I’m impatient, and when I’m going for a ride, I want to ride. I’m worse when I have a destination. I want to get there.
I’m not one for standing on the side of the road chatting while Dazza has a smoke and Bazza takes a slash against
a tree. I am unamused when a 7 minute fuel stop becomes a 45 minute ordeal because there are 25 of you who need fuel, and Lozza can’t find his left glove and Shazza buggered off to the dunny to drain the dew off her Lilypad 30 seconds before it was time to put the helmets on.
And then there’s always a Wazza, who’s skinny as a rake but eats like a bear and is always wandering off looking for a pie, lest he die of emaciation between lunch and dinner.
Shit just happens slowly on tour with lots of people. And when I have ground to cover and somewhere to be, or good roads to ride, wasting time is eternally irrational to me. But not everyone sees the world in my zealous way, and some
people see touring in a group as a great way to see the world with like-minded people in a relaxed environment.
And that’s all fine.
It also means that when I organise a tour, I can’t organise it for me. I have to organise it to suit other people, and therein lies the challenge. Because there is a whole world of motorcycle riders who lie somewhere between the way I like to ride, and the type of rider who is happy chugging down the freeway on his Goldwing.
So how do you cater for everyone?
Take your choice of route for instance. If you are organising a weekend away with a few mates, there’s a pretty good chance you all have a similar view of riding, ride bikes with similar predispositions, and like riding the same types of roads. It’s likely part of the reason you are mates in the first place.
But how do you choose a route when you have a group of 20-plus people ranging from lunatic 22 year olds on Gixxers, to grey haired blokes on adventure bikes, to big guys on a Harley with so little cornering clearance they have panic attacks on roundabouts. And there will always be someone with a pillion.
All of that is to be expected. Motorcycling is a broad church and it would be boring if it weren’t.
Now, given your audience, your first choice of “all the twisty roads all the time” might not be looking like the best all-round option.
Like everything in life, there’s a balance there somewhere.
Then you have to look at the accommodation, because that plays a major role in determining what the tour will cost.
There have been times when I have shared a room with 3 other smelly, snoring, drunken riders in order to make a trip more affordable. These were trips when I was young and poor, and riding with other young and poor people. It wasn’t about the sleeping, it was about all the fun you have when you’re awake, right? Who cares if the sleeping accommodations are a little shitty.
Me, that’s who. When I take my lovely and patient wife away on holiday, I do not expect her to stay in shitholes. We’re both too old for that garbage. No, we must have decent rooms in hotels nice enough that never have you wondering if there are bed bugs.
So if you want to come on tour with me you’ll be paying for nice lodgings.
Sorry, not sorry. Life is too short to stay in bad hotels and crappy pubs. That’s the only thing I will not budge on. Thankfully, Australia, particularly in regional areas, is blessed with very good motor inn type hotels and lots of pubs that are well run and have quality accommodation, so finding places to stay isn’t too challenging, depending on your group size.
And then there’s the legal issues. Which one of these people has a family who is going to sue me when their loved one dies trying to keep up with the lunatic 22 year old on the Gixxer? Shit happens on bikes, we all know that, but sometimes people like to make things someone else’s fault, particularly if they think they can sue you.
“ i decided that i wouLd Run it again next yeaR. then the pLanning began. and so did the headaches.”
So, we have a lawyer look over the Terms and Conditions that everyone signs and we get insurance, just in case. That’s no guarantee you won’t get sued though. Then there will be the babysitting. Throw 20 or so people together and you can guarantee some won’t get on. There will be one creepy guy who gets a bit familiar with the ladies on tour. There will be the one who’s a bit racist but thinks it’s funny. There will be the one who bitches about everything, and is very particular about the softness of pillows, and thinks it’s my job as tour organiser to liaise with hotel management on his behalf about his neck support requirements while sleeping.
There will be people that are always late. If I say we leave at 8am, we leave at 8am. Well, in my head that’s how I’d like it to work, but some people have a different attitude to timeliness than me.
There will be the one who thinks you should change the route because he’s ridden this area before and knows an “awesome secret road that everyone will love”.
And then there’s the one who wants to throw their luggage in the support vehicle and the trailer so they can enjoy their ride more, even though the support vehicle is there for the benefit of anyone who has a mechanical issue and needs to stick their
bike in the trailer. That’s hard when the trailer is full of luggage.
There is also guaranteed to be someone who rides like a clown and needs to be spoken to before he hurts someone. There will be someone who is so slow it seems like you will never even reach your hotel before dinner. And there will be someone who feels it is their role as an experienced rider to point out the flaws in other people’s riding.
Someone will turn up with a rear tyre that doesn’t have enough meat on it to last the trip and expect you to find them a bike shop and have everyone wait for them while they get a new tyre fitted. There will be one who doesn’t maintain their bike and requires you and a couple of other mechanically handy people to help start their bike at least 4 times during the trip.
And there will be one who is just a pain in the arse because someone created them that way.
Then there will be the couple that comes and wants to upgrade from a twin room to a king spa suite. There will be a vegan who refuses to eat at the bakery you planned to stop at for lunch because they don’t sell salad. There will be a snorer whose beleaguered roommate demands to be swapped out, but nobody will swap in.
Why did I decide to do this again?
Oh, that’s right. Because it’s awesome fun, a great way to meet new people, and you’ll be left with memories that last a lifetime. Some of the best times I’ve ever had were on motorcycle trips.
I’m sure this one will be no different. I’m also thinking a tour to Tassie might be a good fun way to spend a week, but that’s a plan for another day.
Where else would you like to take a trip to? Any suggestions?
Bob Wozga my TAke on RIdeR ATTITude
AttitudE iS dEFinEd in the dictionary as a ‘settled mode of thinking’.
We all have an attitude, it varies individually. Our attitude defines how we work, interact with others and how we carry ourselves socially and professionally. Our attitude also has a great influence on how we ride. Being human, our attitudes to things are not static and can change depending on what is thrown at us at any given time, and this can have a profound effect on your riding regardless of whether riding to the shop for bread and milk or heading out for a month-long ride. Riding calm as opposed to riding agitated is a completely different experience.
When doing any sort of maintenance or construction, you need a calm mind and clear thoughts to concentrate on the task ahead. Being angry and agitated before throwing your leg over the saddle can affect your concentration levels, decision making and to a degree your reflexes as well.
Your attitude also governs the way you maintain your motorcycle. Some will keep their motorcycles in pristine condition while others do let theirs go and do the bare minimum to keep the thing running. This will inevitably cause faults and breakdowns on the road – feeding your bad attitude and making a bad day out. Most riders are in the middle. The cost of living can put priorities on the home.
Having an easy peaceful feeling before setting out will let you soar like the eagles while riding down the road trying to loosen your load. You will recognize obstacles easier, swerve around potholes, dodge rocks and more importantly, dodge animals or people running out in front of you.
Riding out with a bad attitude whether in a group or on your own will show in
your riding. You will no doubt be tense in the saddle affecting your reflexes and responses.
Taking quick take-offs from traffic lights and darting between lanes to the point of looking erratic will not only alarm drivers around you but be a concern to the riders with you, not knowing if they must tell your partner that you won’t be home tonight. An enjoyable ride, in turn, releases dopamine and endorphins while the adrenaline rush you get when taking that bend just a bit too quick makes the ride that much more enjoyable –even when it’s raining. Riding with an easygoing attitude also allows you to shrug off arrogant drivers and riders on the road. If they are driving like tools, don’t aggravate them, let them go past. You might see them a little further down the roads angrily showing their license to one of the boys in blue.
You also don’t need the attitude that everyone is out to get you because you are on a motorbike, and everyone hates you because you’re lane filtering in traffic. That’s just paranoia. There is a phenomenon called “Inattentional Blindness” where drivers don’t register what is in front of them. They are looking for another car and subconsciously blot out anything that is not a car. You need to make yourself seen without being obnoxious about it nor dress up like a Muppet. The reality is that most motorcycle accidents are self-inflicted.
This is caused by speeding – “riding faster than you can’t ride”, riding after too many drinks or drugs, tailgating and not riding to the road conditions. We’ve seen those ones on a Saturday morning. Ride to your ability – We often have thrown down our throats that a “Champion pushes themselves to the limit.” This is true, however, that champion usually rides on a track with a fully maintained bike, the latest safety equipment and a support crew. He is not someone in a tee shirt and pair of jeans on the Pacific Highway for the first time in two months. We really need to be responsible for our own riding skills and actions.
Have a little patience when on the road. The world isn’t going to blow up if you don’t get to the pie shop in the next half hour. Everyone knows the world will blow up next Thursday. The traffic will go as fast as it goes, and if it’s caused by an accident ahead, it’s probably the tool that was tailgating you earlier showing his license to a boy in blue.
Be polite to the people you come across while going through service stations, cafes etc. It makes the world of difference to them, and you’ll probably get better service. Have a sense of humour when out on the bike, except with the police if they pull you over for a breath test. They get grumpy when you say to them “If you’re really the police sing Roxanne.” You may not get the response you want, and they’ll tell you to change your attitude (if they have any idea what you’re talking about of course).
By the way, never forget that many police officers also ride bikes.
