Indholdsfortegnelse for Oct 2017 056 i Australian Motorcyclist

WHEN SOMEONE copies what we do I consider it a form of flattery. Some people would be mighty pissed off, but it just shows that we are in front of the field. I’m talking about a particular magazine that has copied a number of things we have done recently. I guess they lack imagination? Whatever it is I guess it shows we’re doing it right and I can hear Ralph saying to me, “It shows that we’re the leader”! Did you notice the deliberate mistake I put in the last issue? I want to stir your emotions and get you writing to us. The mistake, if you missed picking up on it was about our pullout map. I said that it was our first New Zealand pullout map when in…

“The problem with driving around Iceland is that you’re basically confronted by a new soul-enriching, breath-taking, life-affirming natural sight every five goddamn minutes. It’s totally exhausting.” - STEPHEN MARKLEY, TALES OF ICELAND THE MOST COMMON nickname for Iceland is ‘Niceland’, and although they came up with it themselves, the locals resent it fiercely. To compensate, they have built up a public image of themselves as rumbustious badass drinking and fighting Vikings, complete with horned helmets (for sale in every tourist shop and even some convenience stores) and wild beards. This can’t hide their essential niceness, which shines through despite all of their efforts to the contrary, but it still annoys more thoughtful Icelanders. “The original settlers were tax-dodging peasants, not Vikings,” said one stylish young lady with whom I had…

DURING THIS SERIES we’ve pretty much concentrated on good pubs with good accommodation but there are some wonderful pubs in the bush which despite not offering sleepovers are so bloody good that they deserve a visit from you. Yes! You! This month we’ve got a brace of beauties: two pubs, both Royals, and both run by young couples with the sense of custody of a living organism which a pub is, the vision to see just how good a small town pub can be, and the energy and skills to bring it off big time. THE ROYAL HOTEL, BINNAWAY, NSW When a publican recommends another pub to me, I listen. When three people in a row tell me I simply must drop into a certain place, there’s no chance I’m…

MOTO GUZZI has been rocking and rolling along in its own authentic, traditional way for 96 years. The classic and equally unique transverse air-cooled V Twin breed has been in nonstop production for fifty years and the format is recognised by generations of riders. You could say change is something Guzzi resist. The bikes have been built in the same location, beside the impossibly beautiful eastern shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. The production line, although modern in terms of layout, has the look of an artisan’s workshop where they hand-build the latest products. I have to admit I thought the beginning of this review would be different. I was expecting to turn up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney to be riding the very updated third series of…

THE FJR1300 has long been a stalwart of the fast tourer scene. Its success has been thanks to the silky smooth, powerful in-line four, its relatively light weight and the ‘sporty’ handling. Add to that all-day comfort and good sized, 30 litre panniers and the FJR feels like a business class flight. Minor updates have been floated through during the years but the changes to the latest release are probably the most significant. There’s now a 6-speed gearbox and, bringing the FJR in line with its competition, adjustable electronic suspension is fitted, but that’s not all. Further adding to the FJR’s electronic wizardry is the Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle (YCC-T), or fly-by-wire to the rest of us. This system monitors your throttle action, which is then fed into the ECU.…

MONSTERS CAN BE scary, monsters can be ugly but when you ride the latest version of Ducati’s Monster 1200, in particular the S version we test here, your outlook on monsters will change. They are actually pretty and not so scary. They might still bite you if you mistreat them, but that’s pretty hard to do. If you scroll back a few months to when we tested last year’s Monster 1200 R you could quite easily be forgiven for thinking the new S is the same bike sans special decals and paintwork, and you’d be pretty much on the money. I felt instantly at home jumping on the 1200 S. The 1198 Testastretta has mega amounts of power (although 7.5kW less than the R version) and torque to get the…

THANKS TO THE wonderful people at Rocky Creek Designs this month’s letter winner gets a set of the NoNoise Motorsport earplugs valued at $35. To give you an idea how good they are, here’s the blurb… Why do I need NoNoise Hearing Protectors? Wind noise on a motorbike produces noises levels up to 105dB; levels can reach 130dB for motorsport spectators. Permanent hearing damage can occur from 85dB so it is essential always to use hearing protection. Why are these Hearing Protectors different? Developed over 20 years by leading experts, NoNoise MOTORSPORT Hearing Protectors are (claimed to be ) superior to traditional foam, wax or silicone earplugs. Precision-tuned, patented ceramic filters ensure maximum protection from dangerous levels of engine, wind and road noise. Unique filtration allows conversation, sirens and horns…

DUST IT OFF! RIDE TO WORK WEEK In a first for the Australian motorcycle industry, all the major motorcycle brands have joined forces to encourage riders across the country to get their motorcycle out of the garage and ride it to work. The “National Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Week” will run from October 8 to 15 under a dealer-focused initiative designed to offer riders every opportunity to “get back on the bike” after the winter sabbatical, despite many of us already riding just about every day, regardless of the weather! A dedicated website (www.ridetoworkweek.com.au) has been launched; as has a dedicated Facebook feed and other social media content, with the added bonus of the general public being able to upload images of their motorcycle, and related “ride-to-work” activities. There…

YOU’VE BEEN WAITING for it and here it is! Our next readers’ tour is to Vietnam and boy have we got a trip for you! We have an 11-day North Vietnam tour lined up with the experienced Vietlong Travel people. This tour will take in some of the most stunning sights and experiences there are to see and do in Vietnam. The route includes some dirt roads but Stuart will help you through if need be. It isn’t overly challenging so don’t fret. The Honda CRF250 is the perfect device to ride the route. We have also organised the days’ riding to not be overly long (although very visually appealing) so we can all soak up the atmosphere and take plenty of photos. This ride is for solo riders, there…

THIS IS A slightly unusual Used & Reviewed column. I arranged for the things listed here for my Iceland trip with Edelweiss Bike Travel which starts in this issue. Here then is the full-on report from the far north and a piece at the end from Ralph about his recent Held wearing joy. SHOEI TO THE RESCUE Shoei Neotec Helmet Price - $899.90 I know people are always trying to blind us with statistics, but here’s one you can trust: in 50 years of riding, Shoei helmets have saved my life at least twice, possibly three times. That’s not to say that another brand of helmet might not have saved my life as well; but the point is that in each case it was the Shoei that did its job.…

The Eurobodalla is an almost unknown region for some, and most probably only know it for the cheese! It’s a pocket of green rolling hills, aqua blue sea and more than its fair share of State Forests and National Parks on the South Coast of New South Wales. It’s bounded by Batemans Bay (well, slightly north at East Lynne) and Wallaga Lake to the south.The western boundary is the escarpment of the Great Divide and for the marine scientists among us the beautiful Montagu Island moored just off Narooma. For those in the know (and I bet they would prefer it kept as a well-guarded secret) the area has some of the best roads in the State and if you are belting down from Sydney or Canberra or making a…

I LAUNCHED FROM home in full wet weather gear, but fortunately, the further from the coast I went, the better the weather became. The large Visy factory just out of Tumut generates plenty of heavy vehicle traffic, which can impact on the way one attacks Gocup Road between Gundagai and Tumut. Just one of the burdens of a traveller, I guess. The run out of Tumut and up Talbingo Mountain was quite enjoyable, except for the sideways movement of the front wheel on some of the wet patches – time for a new tyre perhaps! We arrived at the rally site at Cotterills Cottage, and found Henning well established; and the fire wood had been delivered! Friday night is usually a quiet affair, and this one was no exception. There…

THE THING COULD be heard minutes before it arrived, rattling and banging like a badly loaded Simms scrap-iron truck with poor suspension, the exhaust back-firing badly when the throttle was closed off to change gears or as the traffic around it became heavy. And then, after an eternity with hands clasped firmly over both ears in a forlorn effort to subdue some of the noise, the source of that infernal racket finally arrived at my left elbow. It was an antique-looking, modern-day Harley-Davidson equipped with a pair of entirely illegal, aftermarket – if not home-made? – open, short megaphone exhaust pipes blaring its spent exhaust gases to a world which surely didn’t want to know anything about it. How the bike had managed to be ridden as far as it…

INTRODUCED TO THE supersport scene back in 1999, the Yamaha R6 was the first production motorcycle to achieve 200hp per litre – no mean feat, especially when you think back to bikes of the time like the heavy YZF600 Thundercat (which the R6 was based on) and YZF1000 Thunderace. The powerful engine combined with supreme lightness, great handling and braking saw the R6 dominate supersport racing the world over. In Australia it was the King, Kev Curtain, who made sure there was blue on the top step of the podium more often than not. Since the R6 introduction back in ‘99 there have been numerous updates and changes through the years, with the last changes back in 2010. Why change a proven and race winning package if you don’t have…

BMW HAS JOINED the small capacity market with another single cylinder treat called the G 310 R – a naked roadie with family resemblance to the R 1200 R and even more so the S 1000 R. Since the end of the LAMS approved 650 range a couple of years ago, BMW hasn’t had a LAMS motorcycle available, but planning and designing was already far advanced for BMW to hit back in the capacity that is providing top sellers for a number of manufacturers – namely the 300cc segment. With the likes of the Kawasaki Ninja and Z300, Yamaha R3 and MT03, and the KTM 390 Duke and RC390, BMW has a lot of competition. While the G 310 R doesn’t really have the amount of power that some of…

YES, IF THERE IS a cockup that you can make out on the road or during the planning process, I suspect I’ve made it. But then I have had half a century and better than half a million kilometres of experience. And while a lot of that was in Australia, a lot was also in all sorts of other countries scattered around the globe. I can’t match my friend David McGonigal’s record – he’s ridden on seven continents – but I can claim six. So trust me, and make the most of this little guide I’ve compiled for you. And if you’ve discovered and are happy to suggest any other rules for the long (or short, for that matter) road, drop me a line! HAVE A PLAN Load ‘er up…

KAWASAKI Z650L HERE IT BEGINS! THE NUMBER OF amazing accessories we’ve already received for our Z650L has been overwhelming. I have also removed the pillion pegs/brackets to clean up the look of the bike. If you remember how exotic our MT-07 long termer looked, the Z650L is going to be even more so! So let’s get the ball rolling… OGGY KNOBBS FENDER ELIMINATOR KIT PRICE - $169 The standard rear number plate fender looks a little obscene so I couldn’t wait to get the Oggy Knobbs fender eliminator kit. The kit comes with everything you need including an LED number plate light. Fitment took about half an hour – it is that simple. The kit uses the standard indicators and the only (very basic) wiring needed is for the number…

I FINALLY UNDERSTAND completely why Grey Nomads venture north every winter. I had spent four months travelling north on the Queensland coast road and now it was time to explore the inland route south. My cousin David was managing a cattle station at Mt Garnet and had invited Mo and me to come and stay. This was a real working station, not some glossed up tourist farm-stay and David is the quintessential Boss Cocky straight from a Henry Lawson poem. I’m not sure if this pampered city-girl was much help with the chores but they indulged me and it was terrific to observe and absorb the challenges of the bush. South from Mt Garnet was the Undara Lava Tubes where Mo and I were the centre of attention at an…

BARKING AWESOME! BARKBUSTER MODEL SPECIFIC KITS A growing range of model-specific hand guard kits is now available from Australian hand guard specialist, Barkbusters, allowing owners of adventure motorcycles, as well as a number of street bikes, to switch out inferior OEM offerings with the best quality hand protection on the market. Although the focus is mainly on adventure motorcycles, a number of the hardware kits are custom designed to fit many street, dual-sport, trail and rally bikes. The full wrap-around aluminium hardware is compatible with Barkbusters JET, VPS, STORM and CARBON plastic guards. All recommended fitting options are for motorcycles with OEM specifications and details of the full range can be found on the Barkbusters website: www.barkbusters.net/products/model-specific or www.barkbusters.net I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED FOR SPEED ARAI RX-7V PRICE…

WE PRIDE ourselves on the freedom that riding a motorcycle gives us, but places exist that we can’t visit on our bikes. There are very different reasons for this; here’s a selection. NORTH KOREA I need hardly tell you that you may find yourself returning from a visit to North Korea with terminal brain damage after being a guest of the State for a year; and that’s if you take a formally approved bus tour. Not only will you not get approval to enter the country with a motorcycle, you don’t want to get approval. Trust me. There’s a bloke who talked his way into China at the Pakistani border and managed to get a few hundred kilometres into the country before he was caught. The cops turned him around…