Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2018 i Australian Motorcyclist

I’M KIND OF RAGING this month, I just simply do not understand why people cannot move to the left unless overtaking and why they seem not to understand how to use an indicator! Seriously, this is driving me insane. Let’s take the recent trip I had to make down to Campbelltown south of Sydney to grab a lump of 7075 grade aluminium so that Shaun at D Moto could make me a steering head stem for my Katana. I travelled along the M7 which merges onto the Hume Highway and people driving their cars seem to be all self-absorbed in their tin tops and seem to not know or comprehend the, “Move left unless overtaking” signs. I cannot count the number of vehicles I approached who did not move over.…

PRICE: $25,490 (plus on-road charges) WARRANTY:Two years, unlimited distance SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months ENGINE: Liquid-cooled V4 cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder BORE x STROKE: 81 x 52.3mm DISPLACEMENT: 1077cc COMPRESSION: 13.0:1 POWER: 129kW @ 11,000rpm TORQUE: 121Nm @ 9000rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain final drive SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 120mm. Rear, mono-shock, adjustable preload, compression, ride height and rebound, travel 130mm. DIMENSIONS: Seat height 825mm, weight 184kg (dry), fuel capacity 18.5 litres, wheelbase 1445mm TYRES: Front, 120/70/ZR17. Rear, 200/55/ZR17 FRAME:Aluminium dual beam BRAKES: Front, twin 330mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 220mm disc, twin-piston ABS caliper. FUEL CONSUMPTION: N/A THEORETICAL RANGE: N/A COLOURS: Silver VERDICT:THE ALL-ROuNDER…

YOU KNOW, SOMEONE was telling me just the other day how much they hated riding in the cold, so I thought: damn you, I’ll give you a map that will keep you nice and warm in far north Queensland. So, here it is, wonderful peoples! INNISFAIL Innisfail (from Irish: Inis Fáil) a town and locality in the Cassowary Coast Region. The town was originally called Geraldton until 1910. Innisfail is well known for its sugar and banana growing, as well as for being one of Australia’s wettest towns, so make sure you pack your wets! In March 2006, Innisfail gained worldwide attention when severe Tropical Cyclone Larry passed over causing extensive damage – and not just to the banana plants. Average daytime temperatures in winter range from 26 and 30…

IT ALWAYS A NICE thing when a bunch of new gear lands on your body, and it’s even nicer when it heralds a trip – this time to Sicily for the Metzeler Karoo Street launch. I was looking pretty cool when Stu got me decked out head to toe to check out this adventure style tyre. The gear came from Ficeda’s (www.ficeda.com.au) adventure-style range. OXFORD MONTREAL 2.0 JACKET Price - $319.95 The weather in Sicily ranged from 5 to 15 degrees during the day, so it was good having a jacket that kept me warm in the morning and gave me the option of taking out a thermal lining and unzipping a couple of vents once it warmed up somewhat. The Montreal 2.0 jacket features a fixed waterproof and breathable…

UNDER THE (let’s face it) garish World SuperSport stickers and without the mirrors and side stand this bike is just one thing: the pure essence of a sports /race motorcycle. With a sensational rorty engine hung in a trellis frame, it is as close to a factory team machine as you’ll get, and it’ priced at just shy of $27,000. This makes the MV Agusta F3 675 RC a bargain if you can ride it to within a mile of its potential. Otherwise it will just be a very expensive piece of jewellery. Very few riders are ever going to experience one of these homologation bikes; only 500 have been built in 675 and 800cc models. Those who do will not be disappointed by the looks and build quality of…

“I HADN'T THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT ANY ARMY TRAINS FOR. IT MERELY MAINTAINS ITSELF HERE FOR NO EXTERIOR PURPOSE.” ALLEN GINSBERG THAT’S A WONDERFUL description of the Bear Army except for one thing; twice a year it gathers on a Saturday night at one country pub or another for dinner, its so-called ‘manoeuvres’. But that’s hardly an exterior purpose. Our usual answer to the inevitable question “What’s the Bear Army for?” is “Buy me a beer”, and after taking a good long draught we usually continue, “It’s not for anything. It just is – although it is a way to get a free beer.” Not that that’s entirely true. In fact, the Bear Army is a bit like Dickens’ Pickwick Club. It provides an opportunity for its troopers to spend an…

YOU CAN NEVER be too careful. But sometimes it just doesn’t matter. And there’s often a pot of gold in one form or another even if the rainbow fades prematurely. I thought I would add a bit more adventure to a ride through lower New England by leaving the highway at Scone as I headed north. There were some faint, dotted lines of would-be roads discernible on my Australia Motorcycle Atlas, but the scale doesn’t exactly facilitate confident route planning at this level. And it’s nigh impossible to map out a route on Basecamp or my Garmin Zumo on such roads. You have to zoom in so far before they even appear that by then any perspective has been lost. Besides, the software constantly wants to make you back-track and…

I GOT SPIKES In Southend, England, the police deployed road spikes – you know, those scissor-like extendable tyre-puncturing things – against motorcyclists taking part in a local gathering. One officer actually threw one of these weapons directly in front of a rider on a Suzuki. Fortunately the rider managed to evade the spikes, but they were left on the road in front of other bikes. Postings on Facebook have since accused the officer of attempted murder, which might be going a bit far – but then again, if you or I did something like that our sky would be filtered by iron bars pretty quickly. Just to show how ignorant some people in power can be, the officer in charge later said that she had ordered deployment of the spikes…

NO, IT’S NOT APRIL 1ST Apparently, no one has thought to employ rockets to help a bike stay upright. Until Bosch, that is. Bosch is currently working on the “sliding mitigation research project” a kind of “magic hand” stepping up to save a spill. The whole idea revolves around using a well-established technology in a completely new way. For the role of the magic hand, Bosch suggests employing side thrust to counter the bike’s slip. Most modern motorcycles are already equipped with sensors that can identify when a wheel drifts sideways, so, when a certain amount is exceeded, a nozzle sprays gas in a direction that will counter the slip, keeping the bike upright and on its trajectory. It sure sounds a lot like the principle of rocket propulsion, and…

THREE MATES GO into a pub…no, no I’ll cut the jokes ‘cause I’m crap at them. I recently had the opportunity, courtesy of Aprilia to ride three of their very potent weapons out at Sydney Motorsport Park – the Tuono 1100 RF, RSV4 RF (imitation W) and the bike I had been riding for the couple of weeks previously on the road, the base model RSV4 RR. The Tuono RF is the upspec version with Ohlins suspension; otherwise it is basically (other from a few other tuning differences) the same as the RSV4 sports bike, just with an upright handlebar and a tiny half fairing. The last time I rode the Tuono at the track it was a barrel of fun as it loves to wheelstand out of every corner.…

PRICE: $30,790 + kit SERVICING INTERVALS:As per your racing/ track day schedule ENGINE: Liquid-cooledV4 cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder BORE x STROKE: 78 x 52.3mm DISPLACEMENT: 999.6cc COMPRESSION: 13.6:1 POWER: 148kW @ 13,000rpm TORQUE: 115Nm @ 10,500rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain final drive SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 120mm. Rear, mono-shock, adjustable preload, compression, ride height and rebound, travel 130mm. DIMENSIONS: Seat height 845mm, weight 180kg (dry), fuel capacity 18.5 litres, wheelbase 1420mm TYRES: Front, 120/70/ZR17. Rear, 200/55/ZR17 FRAME:Aluminium dual beam BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 220mm disc, twin-piston ABS caliper. COLOURS:WSBK VERDICT: HELLO,WORLD SUPERBIKES…

VOLKSWAGEN BUILT twenty-one and a half million of the classic Beetle. Royal Enfield is still a bit short of that number, but if company boss Siddhartha Lal has anything to do with it, the Indian company is set upon the path to one day match that number – and match it with a range that will still include the classic Enfield Bullet. Although the original Beetle finally hit the wall (the new one is being dropped, too) and ‘classic’ cars in general are not setting the tarmac alight, classic-style motorcycles are doing nicely – if they’re done right. Ducati might have missed the mark with its Sport Classics, but it’s made up for that since with the Scrambler range, which is creating the biggest success story in the company’s history.…

THE STARS WHO attend the QBE International Festival of Speed each year keep surprising us, and they make the weekend a great spectacle for all – spectators and competitors alike. For 2018 the theme was a celebration of 30 years of the World Superbike Championship and many past WSBK riders turned up to enjoy the celebration. For me, racing was where the action was at and the races to watch was the QBE Superbike Shootout Top 50. This involved the fastest 16 qualifiers (plus a couple of throw-ins) from Period 5 Unlimited, Period 6 Unlimited and Pre-Modern F1. The man to beat from last year was Aaron Morris who blitzed the field on the C&M Motorcycles P6 FZR1000. Aaron was riding the mighty FZR1000 fresh from taking out the Australian…

THE HATS FROM ITALY AGV VELOCE S and K-5-S Price - $549 TO $849 AGV’s latest Veloce S (and K-5-S see below) fit in between the cheaper K-3-S and the higher spec Corsa models, and they’re a bit like an open-wheeler race car. Every item serves a very distinct purpose. My experience in a Formula Ford car tells me strength, light weight and performance is what it is all about. Comfort and noise suppression go out the window (or would if there was one) in the pursuit of speed and the winning edge. This likeness came to me by the time I reached the M1 freeway after the clogged traffic snarl of my afternoon commute. The Veloce S puts aside a lot of practicality to put you on pole. The…

MV AGUSTA F3 675 RC PRICE: $26,990 (plus on-road charges) WARRANTY:Two years, unlimited distance SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months ENGINE: Liquid-cooled 3 cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder BORE x STROKE: 79mm x 45.9mm DISPLACEMENT: 675cc COMPRESSION: 13:1 POWER: 97kW @ 14,570rpm TORQUE: 71Nm @ 10,900 rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain final drive SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 125mm. Rear, mono-shock, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 123mm. DIMENSIONS: Seat height 805mm, weight 163kg (dry), fuel capacity 16.5 litres, wheelbase 1380 mm TYRES: Front 120/70/ ZR17, Rear 180/55/ZR17 FRAME:Trellis steel, alloy subframe BRAKES: Front, twin 320 mm discs with 4-piston radial calipers. Rear, 220mm disc, 2-piston caliper. FUEL CONSUMPTION: 6.8 litres per 100km, premium unleaded THEORETICAL RANGE: 242km…

TWO YEARS AGO, the Cologne international motorcycle show INTERMOT introduced a new theme: INTERMOT customized. The displays were received enthusiastically and reflected both the V-twin custom scene and the New Wave scene relating to café racers and modern custom-builds. We covered the 2016 exhibition in a special story which you really liked, going by the response. “The motorised two-wheeler industry is innovative and lives on the creativity of its members, who also use the INTERMOT network widely and exchange ideas with the brands and with the scene,” says Communications Manager Volker De Cloedt, “and accordingly, customising is being given more space with the intention of making it significantly bigger and raising its international profile.” Early signs are impressive: out of the major manufacturers, BMW Motorrad, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki, Yamaha and,…

TWO YEARS AGO, I was one of the 1004 women who rode into Dubbo NSW to smash the world record for the most women at a motorcycle meet and most women on a ride. In the end the number was 1002, as two bikes broke down on the oval just before lift-off. Now that was frustrating! This event was in response to our UK sisters who beat the original Australian record set in 2015 at 618 riders. In 2016 we smashed it out of the park, but that didn’t last long with the UK sisterhood having 1132 turn up at a 2017 event on a miserable day in Silverstone UK. The USA has tried but only mustered around 600 odd gals, which is surprising given the huge number of riders…

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. LETTER OF THE ISSUE has to go to Peter for this hilarious (claimed) true story. Peter, for your troubles you get the Rocky…

BACK IN ISSUE #63 we featured what Yamaha Australia had done with the XSR900 – turning it into a replica RD special with some aftermarket side covers and vinyl wrap. Now it’s the XSR700’s turn with Yamaha Australia turning this great mid-sized delight into an XT600 Tenere replica. Rather than wrapping the bodywork this time, Yamaha opted to get the panels painted for a longer lasting finish. The cost is apparently about the same ($1000) with the painting being done by MotoTech at Smithfield NSW. But, rather than stop just at some nice paint, Yamaha wanted the XSR700 to look as much like an old XT600 Tenere as possible. This meant getting the wheels painted gold, putting an accessory Akrapovic high pipe on it ($1749.89 for the full system) as…

THERE ARE A LOT of LAMS (Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme) motorcycles available so we thought we’d give you a bit of a look at what is out there. We wouldn’t want you to miss something that might be just the bike you’re looking for. And, as there are a lot of fish in the sea, if you don’t like one then you can always throw it back into the sea and look for another! We’ve quoted many of the comments from the manufacturers, so keep that in mind. If a bike doesn’t live up to the description below, you can go back to them and complain! (If you find that a bike you were looking at doesn’t feature in this story, that will be because it contains only bikes from…

PRICE: $24,990 (plus on-road charges) WARRANTY:Two years, unlimited distance SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months ENGINE: Liquid-cooled V4 cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder BORE x STROKE: 78 x 52.3mm DISPLACEMENT: 999.6cc COMPRESSION: 13.6:1 POWER: 148kW @ 13,000rpm TORQUE: 115Nm @ 10,500rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate slipper clutch, chain final drive SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, adjustable preload, compression and rebound, travel 120mm. Rear, monoshock, adjustable preload, compression, ride height and rebound, travel 130mm. DIMENSIONS: Seat height 845mm, weight 180kg (dry), fuel capacity 18.5 litres, wheelbase 1420mm TYRES: Front, 120/70/ZR17. Rear, 200/55/ZR17 FRAME:Aluminium dual beam BRAKES: Front, twin 320mm discs with radial mount four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 220mm disc, twin-piston ABS caliper. FUEL CONSUMPTION: N/A THEORETICAL RANGE: N/A COLOURS: Silver, Black VERDICT: COMFY SPORTSBIKE…

YOU MAY HAVE READ that the world’s frog populations are recovering after a health scare. Sadly, that’s not true for one much-loved frog. Australia’s only scooter-riding, shock-absorber-selling, movie star French Mayor hung up his Honda SilverWing in April. Not literally; Bertrand “The Frog” Cadart handed it over, in perpetuity, to the Swansea local history museum in his old municipality of Glamorgan Spring Bay on Tasmania’s east coast. It now sits proudly on display along with his riding gear, including some unique French helmets, and the boots from his role as Clunk in the first “Mad Max” movie. Since rolling ashore in Australia in 1972 aboard a BMW R69S, bought from the Gendarmes in New Caledonia, the Frog (as he became affectionately known) has had a major impact on motorcycling in…

BACK IN THE 1890’S the various colonies of the antipodes got together and drew up a joint constitution. After a few referenda they’d all decided to live together as one. Being old school, they sought parental permission and the Poms passed the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act for us in 1900 and the whole thing was consummated on January 1st, 1901. It’s article 44 of this constitution that’s been forcing the dual national parliamentarians out of their offices and back to reality, but let’s get onto another part. Further down, Article 125 of the Constitution mandated the creation of a national capital somewhere within NSW but more than 100 miles from Sydney. It took ‘em nine years to get their shit together and actually settle on the location near Yass…

“The river flows, it flows to the sea, Wherever that river goes that’s where I want to be…”ROGER MCGUINN/BOB DYLAN ROUTE 66 IS NOT the only road in the USA that has a loyal following. Down in Louisiana is a narrow country road that was the scene of one of the most shocking movie endings ever. Yes, Mike and I followed in the wheel tracks of Captain America, Billy and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, but unlike them we did find something; not least the site of the former pair’s demise by courtesy of a hillbilly’s shotgun. Every great road ride has a theme. Admittedly, not every themed road ride is a great one, but so what. The theme for Mike’s and my days in Louisiana aboard a couple of…

We continue the tale of our readers’ tour of Vietnam. Last time the boys had settled in nicely to the daily routine of riding together and drinking, eating and laughing, making up a great tour. Mr Dong (aka Mr Money and bags) continues has shown Letto ’do sthe go so boys until ! some the amazing tour sights wraps up, back in Hanoi. SW FRIDAY - SAPA TO BAC HA 120KM IT LOOKED LIKE IT COULD rain so on with the wet gear including my Aldi trousers. Leon lent me some warm gloves which was nice. Just as we left Sapa we turned off and followed a road up the mountains into the cold air. There were some good views and interesting houses/farms etc up there including a school and…

WE’VE ALL SEEN THOSE bargain classics for sale on the internet. I’m forever sifting through the usual websites to see what’s available, but I must admit that I’ve been doing less ‘sifting’ of late. I think the main reason is that I’ve been bitten financially by a few I-had-to-have bikes, ones I thought were bargains but which turned out to be anything but. I’ve got a few of these bikes kicking around awaiting my deft touch with the spanners. But I spend a few days a week working on other people’s motorcycles, and the remaining time I spend not wanting to work on motorcycles… which is probably why they are gathering dust. But I’m an addict. I just wish there was a group called Bikeaholics Anonymous where I could work…

WELCOMING Aprilia Shiver 900 A COMMON COMPLAINT about road tests is that they don’t look at the long-term aspects of owning a bike. Apart from providing a base for testing accessories, our long termers allow us to address that. The Aprilia Shiver is a good case in point. After riding the bike for a day or so I just plain liked it, but then after living with it for a couple of months, things I didn’t notice at first came to light. In the case of the Shiver 900 it was the handling. Having now lived with it for the last couple of months, it became obvious to me that it just didn’t feel quite right when I turned into a corner. This was something I hadn’t notice at the…

YOU DO NOT WANT to know some of the words we used about the Hume Highway back in the ‘60s. Sometimes it was because we’d hit an unexpected pothole and (usually) ridden out a humungous tankslapper; sometime it was because we were just about to run out of petrol in the middle of the night and that service station we’d been counting on had closed at 10pm; sometimes it was because tandem teams of half a dozen or more semis (fortunately no B Doubles in those days) were travelling nose to bum and making overtaking near impossible. I can’t remember who it was, now, but someone once told me about a mate who had a flat tyre on his Norton somewhere near Yass. Once again, as so often in these…