Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Australian Motorcyclist

Race Ya! IT’S AMAZING what can be hiding in someone’s garage. Take, for example, the bike I had the pleasure of working on recently at D Moto Motorcycle Engineering. It’s a Bimota YB4 EI which was raced by New Zealander, Andrew Stroud at the Manfield NZ World Superbike round in 1988. This was the first year of the World Superbike Championship and the bikes had to remain very similar to their road going version, including the tail lights, just without the wiring and globes. This particular YB4 I worked on is being recommissioned as a running ex-world superbike and is to be sold by its current owner, Marty. Marty bought the bike from Shanton Racing NZ back in 1989 and basically it has sat in his shed ever since. If…

PRICE: $7699 (ride away) WARRANTY:Two years, unlimited distance SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 12,000km or 12 months ENGINE: Liquid-cooled parallel twin cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder BORE x STROKE: 70 x 51.8mm DISPLACEMENT: 399cc COMPRESSION: 11.5:1 POWER: 33.4kW @ 10,000rpm TORQUE: 38Nm @ 8000rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate assist/slipper clutch, chain final drive SUSPENSION: Front, 41mm telescopic fork, non-adjustable, travel 120mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload, travel 130mm. DIMENSIONS: Seat height 785mm, weight 168kg (wet), fuel capacity 14 litres, wheelbase 1370mm TYRES: Front, 110/70/ZR17. Rear, 150/60/ZR17 FRAME:Tubular steel trellis BRAKES: Front, 310mm disc with twin-piston ABS caliper. Rear, 220mm disc, twin-piston ABS caliper. FUEL CONSUMPTION: N/A THEORETICAL RANGE: N/A COLOURS: Lime Green/Ebony (KRT), Metallic Spark Black, Candy Burnt Orange/Metallic Magnetic Gray/Metallic Spark Black VERDICT:THE HIGHEST OF BLACK BELTS…

DOWN ON THE southern coast of Victoria, the Royal Hotel at Portland used to be the favoured watering hole of both the tough working waterside workers and tug crews from the port, and also the blokes from the Borthwick meat works who’d spent their working day with blood on their hands and saw little reason that the evening should be any different! They didn’t care too much for each other and the endless blues earned the pub the moniker of the Duck and Weave – you needed a degree in both to survive any kind of bout at the bar. Still one of my favourite pub aliases and I was thinking about it riding around the back streets of Koorawatha, 25kms south of Cowra, searching for remnants of an ex-pub…

ROYAL ENFIELD is busy behind the scenes, working hard on many new models at both the India and United Kingdom bases. The Rumbler 350 is just one of the new models to come out of this. The Rumbler, called a Thunderbird overseas, is Royal Enfield’s modern take on a cruiser. I expect a modern take on their classic naked bikes later in the year, but we’ll have to see if I’m on the money. Of course the new twins are coming very shortly. As you can see from the pictures, the Rumbler isn’t your typical ‘cruiser’, it is something a little different and when it comes down to it, we all want to be a little different. If we all had the same motorcycle we’d all look a little boring,…

A FEW YEARS AGO, Harley-Davidson asked its customers what they wanted. That might not seem too surprising, but I can’t recall any other motorcycle manufacturer that’s ever done something like that. Not at that scale. I’m sure that the responses to that request were considered when the new range of Softails was designed. For those of you who have not been keeping up with the news from The Motor Company, 2018 sees Milwaukee combining its Dyna and Softail ranges to produce eight new – and I do mean new – Softails. A lot of effort has gone into giving each of the bikes its own character; none more so than the Fat Bob. Before I start in on the bike, let me admit that I have always liked Harleys. Unlike…

WELCOME TO A NEW section in MOTORCYCLIST, where we look at some of the great bikes from the days when we were often only dreaming of owning such machines. DAVIES MOTORSPORT has turned Honda’s humble 500/4 into an exotic racing machine, potent enough to take the challenge to the Europeans. Honda’s 500/4 was the first production road motorcycle to hit the magic 100hp per 1000cc with 50hp, on paper at least, making it a pretty quick motorcycle in the early 1970s. With good handling and strong engine internals, it became one of the most popular motorcycles Honda ever built. And the mid capacity Hondas, including the 550/4 and 400/4, remain sought after today. They were never really designed as racing bikes though, with Mike Hailwood’s 297 and 500cc works machines…

SOUTH AFRICA and Australia have much common heritage, both historical and geological. Both countries were British colonies. Australia has more desert, coal and iron ore. South Africa has more gold, diamonds and magnificent mountain passes. Some of Australia’s best mainland riding are the passes of the east coast hinterland on the escarpments that lead to the northern, central and southern tablelands. Double, treble and quadruple the altitudes and distances and this becomes the passes of the Drakensberg Mountains running for most of the length of South Africa and of the interconnected ranges demarcating the Great and Little Karoo across the bottom of the country. This was the setting for three weeks and 5000km of amazing riding, scenic wonders, fascinating history, superb wining and dining, and luxury accommodation. Such is motorcycling…

BLINDING RECORD BEN FELTEN REWRITES THE BOOKS Ben Felten has overcome uncertain weather conditions and clinical blindness to break both the Guinness World Record and FIM records for the highest speed for a motorcycle ridden blindfolded (pending ratification), on his standard Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R. The Blaxland, NSW man, completed his record breaking feat at the FIM sanctioned World Speed Trials Australia 2018, held directly after the Speed Week 2018 event at Lake Gairdner salt flats in South Australia. He set his best result of 266.685 km/h average speed for a two way run (pending ratification), beating the Guinness World Record by a total of 1.355 km/h. The official records broken were the Guinness World Record for fastest speed for a motorcycle ridden blindfolded and the FIM 1000cc Class Naturally Aspirated…

BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, winter and the cooler riding months will be upon us. As most motorcyclists know, this means that you should get the right riding gear to keep yourself warm. The Bear has just been riding in America in -1 temperatures and he seconds that enthusiastically! So we thought it was about the right time to give you a look at what’s new and warm so you’re prepared for the old cold. SW DRIRIDER www.dririder.com.au SPRINT JACKET - $369.95 An all season sport jacket made from 900 Denier polyester with carbon shoulder cups, CE armour with hi-density foam back pad, D30 CE back and chest protectors available as optional extras, waterproof and breathable liner, removable 100g thermal liner, mesh comfort liner, microfibre inner collar, neoprene top collar, air-vent…

Get it done EXCITE SIGNS (WRAP) 18 Production Pl Jamisontown NSW 2750 Phone: 02 4722 3011 SYDNEY COMPOSITES (SIDE COVERS) 2/14 Welder Rd Seven Hills NSW 2147 Phone: 02 8625 3052 TAKE THE VERY customisable Yamaha XSR900, whack on a set of side covers from Sydney Composites and then send it over to the guys at Excite Signs to wrap it just like the old RD series of two smoker weapons, and this is what you get – the “RD900”. The Yamaha RD range of 50, 100, 125, 250, 350 and 400cc twins, can trace its ancestry back to the 1957 YD 250 racer. The twin cylinder, piston ported 2-strokes raced in the ‘60s and helped to make Yamaha the household name it is today. In fact, the winningest race…

ONE WAY DUCATI doesn’t want you to see its Panigale 959 is as a touring motorcycle. Nor do they want you to contemplate the SuperSport as a pure sports weapon, ready to take to a racetrack near you. That would mess up all the imagery and marketing spend, although I’m happy to say the lines are a little blurred, especially when there is only $300 between them. The $20,190 SuperSport S, which is nicely kitted out with a rear seat cowl, an up and down quickshifter and best of all - Öhlins front and rear. The yummy 959 is even more of a bargain for a pure sportsbike, coming in at $20,490. Both are plus on road costs. Both justify themselves in the market at those prices with a good…

WE ASKED Mr Dong (aka Mr Money Bags) to take our readers to places the other tours don’t reach. From what you’ll read over the next two issues, our Vietnam reader’s tour certainly met that requirement. Stuart unfortunately couldn’t make the tour which was a bit of a shame, but the guys had an awesome time with Mr Dong and his crew from Vietlong Travel. Anthony Morrison has kindly written his thoughts from the tour which we’ve had to cut quite a bit as he would have near filled the entire magazine! Thank you, mate. SW VIETNAM HAS ALWAYS interested me and I have wanted to visit places I have seen on the news during the Vietnam War. Da Nang, Saigon… mind you, we will not be going to these…

WE LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU, the letters are among the most keenly read parts of the magazine. Please try and keep letters down to no more than 300 words.Then you can read many, not just a couple.We do reserve the right to cut them and, unless you identify yourself and at least your town or suburb and state, we will print your email address instead. Please address letters to contactus@ausmotorcyclist.com.au or Australian Motorcyclist Magazine, Suite 4b, Level 1, 11-13 Orion Rd, Lane Cove West NSW 2066. All opinions published here are those of the writers and we do not vouch for their accuracy or even their sanity. I AN IS A REGULAR who writes to us to let us know when we’re great and not so great, and everything in…

“POPULAR” IS A WORD that can be (and has been) stretched quite a bit over the years but labelling the Kawasaki Ninja 250, 300 and now 400 as “popular” would be an understatement. They have sold massively across the globe and have cult followings. As for the other manufacturers trying to compete against the outgoing Ninja 300: Kawasaki has sliced them in half with the new Ninja 400’s Katana. No, wait… you know what I mean. Released in 2008, the Ninja 250R took the world by storm as a top-class package with racy Ninja styling in a fun and friendly package. I dare say that a number of you reading this now learnt to ride on a Ninja 250. Four years later the Ninja 300 was released and became even…

YOU WILL HAVE seen the devastating fires that ripped the Tathra region on the south coast of NSW recently. Okay, time to lend a hand! I reckon we need drop by and spend some hard earned to help the locals get back on their feet. There’s no better way than riding ‘The Tathra TT’ loop, staying overnight in the area and visiting the local cafes or pubs and contributing some money. This is a great ride with plenty to see and plenty of corners to enjoy. TATHRA Despite being heavily damaged by the recent fires you’ll still find just about everything still open for business in the main centre of Tathra. We are confident that you’ll find great coffee and good food as per pre-fire. As for accommodation, it depends…

WHAT, I CAN HEAR you asking, can he possibly be on to nominate this flat, straight and hot two-lane blacktop as a favourite road? Well sucks to you; these are my favourite roads, not necessarily yours. But let me tell you why I feel this way. Half of this ride is fine by anyone’s standards, and I like it very much for all the usual reasons. Once you get out of Adelaide and past Gawler, you find yourself on one of those lovely South Australian country roads that dip, rise and curve between rich grain fields and vineyards before the surrounds fade a bit to scrub and occasional stands of trees – and occasional ruins of old stone farmhouses. Then you pass Mount Remarkable National Park, slip through Horrocks Pass…

SHIVER ME TIMBERS! APRILIA SHIVER 900 WE’RE JUST A LITTLE excited with the new arrival into the gathering of long term motorcycles we have at Australian MOTORCYCLIST. Welcome to the Aprilia Shiver 900, which I loved so much at the recent Aussie launch that I thought it would be great to have one to tell you what it’s like living with it day-to-day. As usual we will be fiddling with the bike. There are a couple of things I reckon can be improved to make the Shiver 900 even better, namely the brakes and the suspension adjustment. Two perhaps apparently minor things to work on, but two very major elements that can make the difference between really enjoying a motorcycle or falling out of love with it after a few…

AGV Corsa R - Rossi Goodwood - $1399 FOR MY RECENT trip over to Invercargill for the Burt Munro Challenge, my wife Alana and I sported two very stylish helmets from the AGV range. I opted for the big dollar race replica Corsa R in the Goodwood Rossi colour scheme and Alana chose the unique Rossi Five Continents colour scheme from the well-priced K3-SV range, and wouldn’t you know it, she got more people talking to her about her helmet than I did about my much more expensive helmet! Or is it that she’s blonde and good looking? Hmm… CORSA R The AGV Corsa R is a premium sport-riding helmet for the most demanding rider and features a carbon-aramidfibreglass shell. The shell comes in four sizes and is designed to…

FOLLOWING the heatwave conditions of 2017 – 47 degrees – which saw the bush campsite closed by Forestry NSW as a bushfire precaution, it was a welcome return to the Frying Pan Creek campsite for this year’s rally. The BMWTCNSW have been reading the market and the BBQ on Saturday evening, and the breakfast Sunday morning meant we had less personal tucker to transport, which left more room for cool drinks. The road into the site had not seen a grader for a while so there were no recently formed piles of loose gravel to challenge the unwary. Provided you kept an eye on your mirrors you where seldom surprised by a fast moving KTM or BMW looming up from your dust. All the usual suspects were in attendance along…