Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i Australian Motorcyclist

SOUTH AFRICA RIDE THE WORLD MOTORCYCLE TOURS TOUR 10 Days - Royal Enfield South Africa Tour - Cape Town round trip. DURATION 11 days in total DATES 9 May 2020 and 19 September 2020. COSTING 1 Rider / 1 Bike / 1 Room: From AU$ 5,950.00 per person 2 Riders / 2 Bikes / 1 Room: From AU$ 5,490.00 per person Price for Pillion Passenger - From AU$ 2,745 per person BRIEF DESCRIPTION Explore the Cape Peninsula, South Africa on a Royal Enfield Bullet. Starting in Cape Town we ride along the coast on Route 44, visiting ‘Shark Alley’, Cape Agulhas, Route 62 through the Little Karoo, Meiringspoort. Try cage diving with sharks. Spend a night in a tented game lodge with an afternoon game drive. Ride over the Swartberg…

2020 INDIAN CHIEFTAIN LIMITED PRICE: $38,995 Ride away WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance SERVICING INTERVALS: 800km, 4000km, 8000km then every 8000km or 12 months ENGINE: V-Twin cylinder, 4-stroke, air-cooled, 2-valves per cylinder BORE x STROKE: 103mm x 113mm DISPLACEMENT: 1890cc COMPRESSION: 11.0:1 POWER: N/A TORQUE: 168Nm @ 2800rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate clutch, belt drive SUSPENSION: Front, 46mm telescopic fork, non-adjustable, 119mm travel. Rear, monoshock, air adjustable, 114mm travel. DIMENSIONS: Seat height 650mm, weight 375kg (wet), fuel capacity 20.8 litres, wheelbase 1668mm TYRES: Front 130/60/B19. Rear 180/60/R16 FRAME: Cast aluminium BRAKES: Front dual 300mm discs, four-piston ABS calipers. Rear 300mm disc, 2-piston ABS caliper FUEL CONSUMPTION: 5.0 litres per 100km, premium unleaded THEORETICAL RANGE: 416km COLOURS: Thunder Black Pearl, Radar Blue and Thunder Black Pearl with graphics VERDICT: THUMPINGLY AMAZING!…

A RED DOT IN THE hazy western sky descends to the horizon while the evening news shows fires on Sydney’s rim. Thousands of people have volunteered their time to fight the fires or to support the fire fighters by feeding, watering and sheltering the crews. Houses and sheds had been lost; many had been saved. As informative as the news reports have been and as graphic as the footage is that we saw, the real impact of the devastation to the communities is only clear when traveling through and seeing for yourself what has happened. The TV is graphic, but it is still only a window, almost like a barrier that dissociates you from what you are seeing. From Razorback south of Sydney, a smoke plume rises in the distance…

NOTHING LIKE A SUNNY day to get the bike out for a ride. Provided there isn’t too much sunshine, that is. After the recent fires it seemed like a good idea to go and see one of the people most affected by the fire, Kim at the Grey Gum café on Sydney’s Putty Road. Kim has a long record of looking after motorcyclists so I thought the best thing I could do was go and spend a few dollars at the café. The day was looking pretty good; admittedly the temperature was forecast to reach 40 degrees at Windsor on the Hawkesbury River, but hey – I’ve ridden in 55 degrees in the Ganges valley in India. Surely I would be able to handle a mere forty. I had conveniently…

IF I’D KNOWN THEN what I know now… I would have done exactly the same thing I did back in 1977 when Charlie and I built our round-the-world (rtw) bikes on the basis of Honda XL250s and created a pattern that’s still used today. But since I know some more things now, and the technology is there to apply them, I’m going to do something a little different. This business started at the bar of the pub formerly known as the Geargrinders’ Arms. It began with a casual discussion of which bike you’d want if you were going to do something or other, and ended (after a liberal application of Guinness) with me promising that I’d build the bike I would want for a rtw bike if I was to…

MECUM AUCTIONS in the US has long been associated with high quality vehicles crossing its auction floor – whether that be on two or four wheels. The recent Las Vegas motorcycle auction was set for a full week of bidding and there have been some amazingly big dollars splashed out for top quality bikes. If you’ve a classic/vintage motorcycle, these high prices will only push the dollar value of your pride and joy upwards; they will even move the rusty bike that’s covered in dust in the barn skyward. Here’s a bit of a look at just some of the big money bikes that were auctioned for. A Green Frame Ducati 750SS sold for US$247,500; a Honda NR750 (RC40) sold for $181,500; a Honda VFR750 (RC30) sold for $121,000; and…

WHAT A CHAMPION! The beginning of the year always marks the time when Dakar Rally kicks off. Held in Saudi Arabia for the first time, the 42nd edition of the event saw many challenges for all competitors. Aussie Toby Price claimed an impressive third-place finish at the close of the final stage. With two stage wins during the course of the event, the outgoing champion showed outstanding pace, resolve and compassion, having come across the devastating crash of friend and competitor, Paulo Goncalves (who sadly died) and staying with him until he was airlifted out, causing Toby to lose a lot of time. Toby rode on with a heavy heart and made up time, being 24min 6secs from the lead after the final 12th stage. After following the event on…

LET’S GO WITH THE facts first. The empirical hard-torque ones, the put that in your pipe and smoke ’em ones. In the Milwaukee corner, if you opt for the new 118ci, 1923cc, 169.4Nm engine vs the Wisconsin-made Indian Thunder Stroke 116ci, 1890cc, 168Nm powerplant - then you add the slip-on accessory mufflers ($2000) and freer-flowing air filter ($800), which includes a retune you get a claimed seventeen percent more American grunt dished out in the lighter Indian package. Yes, you can feel the extra kick in the butt despite the minuscule capacity difference. Now you may feel that size and tugboat-like pulling power isn’t the first port of call for buyers in the cruiser market? Better think again because just like Hollywood power couple George and Amal Clooney – both…

SO ANYWAY, THIS LAST year of riding the Murray has reinforced in me the abundance of beautiful locations along its length. And it’s revealed a plethora of damn fine pubs (and camping spots) along its banks. But just maybe, the southern run of the Murray, from Nor West Bend to Mannum has the most beautiful spots - some secluded, some open - of the river’s two and a half thousand kilometres. It also has some of the very best pubs. Some are memorable for their history or their service or their publicans or their characters or their view. Few boast all of these to a degree that equals the Swan Reach Hotel’s. I rock up after an eventful day which has just climaxed by exquisitely timing my arrival on the…

AT THE BEGINNING of 2014, Yamaha unveiled the MT-07, a versatile, lightweight, learner-friendly middleweight that punched well above its weight. It also appealed to the commuter, the more experienced rider who was after a bit of weekend fun…and pretty much anyone in between and either side! Priced extremely sensibly and oh so rewarding to ride, the MT-07 gained plaudits globally and is still one of the best-selling bikes on the market after all these years. To complement the MT-07, Yamaha released a retro model, called the XSR700. LAMS approved and a bike that mixes all the good bits from the MT-07 with the learnings from the “Yard Built” philosophy since its inception back in 2010, it too has been a hit, especially among those looking for something a little different…

DECEMBER 2019, ROLLIES Speed Shop is celebrating 40 years in the Australian motorcycle industry. From humble beginnings, it has grown to become Australia’s largest distributor of parts and accessories for V-Twin motorcycles. In 1979 Rollie Callow was a keen uni student with a passion for motorcycles and a natural talent for making them go fast. The original Rollies Speed Shop was a small workshop located in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley. Rollie gained a reputation as one of the best Harley-Davidson specialists in the country and soon had to relocate Rollies Speed Shop to larger premises in neighbouring Newstead. Business continued to grow rapidly and to meet the needs of his ever-increasing customer base, Rollie started sourcing performance and custom aftermarket parts from American suppliers. Due to the limited availability of parts…

THE RESTORATION OF my ’76 Z900 has slowed a bit recently. The main reason for this is blowing up the engine in the FZR1000 race bike. That has taken money I’d be using for the Z900 resto. However, in the meantime I have put the new instruments together and fitted them to the bike. The A4 has a different set of ‘idiot’ lights up the middle and trying to work out what globe goes where was a bit of a headache. The wiring diagrams I have don’t indicate wire colour, so I put the call out on the Z1 Owners page on Facebook and a guy overseas had a colour diagram for me. I have also fitted up the starter gear, rotor and all that business that lives under the…

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 MONTH PETER AND HIS WIFE, Diane are long time readers of AMM and Peter has come up with a…

Why take an organised tour?“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”SOUTH AFRICAN PROVERB SOME YEARS AGO, we ran a survey to find out just which destinations really revved your engines. With one exception, the places you voted for were in the northern hemisphere; the exception being New Zealand. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. After all, the traditional motorcycle destinations like Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway in the US, the Alps, the Isle of Man and the Norwegian fjords were all up there. It was reasonable to find them the most popular. Since then, however, I’ve found so many wonderful destinations down here south (or nearly south) of the equator that I thought we’d better put…

YAMAHA XTZ1200 SUPER TENERE PRICE: $21,999 (plus on-road charges) WARRANTY: Two years, unlimited distance SERVICING INTERVALS: Every 10,000km or 12 months ENGINE: Liquid-cooled parallel twin cylinder, 4-stroke, DOHC, 4 valves per cylinder BORE x STROKE: 98 x 79.5mm DISPLACEMENT: 1199cc COMPRESSION: 11.0:1 POWER: 81.8kW @ 7250rpm TORQUE: 117Nm @ 6000rpm TRANSMISSION: 6-speed, wet multi-plate clutch, shaft final drive SUSPENSION: Front, 43mm inverted fork, electronically adjustable, travel 191mm. Rear, monoshock, electronically adjustable, travel 191mm. DIMENSIONS: Seat height 845-870mm, weight 261kg (wet), fuel capacity 23 litres, wheelbase 1539mm TYRES: Front, 110/80/R19. Rear, 150/70/R17 FRAME: Tubular steel BRAKES: Front, twin 310mm discs with four-piston ABS calipers. Rear, 282mm disc, single-piston ABS caliper. FUEL CONSUMPTION: 5.02 litres per 100km, premium unleaded THEORETICAL RANGE: 458km COLOURS: Ceramic Ice VERDICT:TRUSTY STEED…

IF YOU’RE NOT KEEN on riding in hot, humid conditions then Malaysia may not be for you. You can expect temperatures in the low to mid 30C’s year around, and you can expect your smartphone weather app to tell you that it feels like 40C+ on a regular basis. Add 80% humidity and rainfall that explains why some of the roadside gutters are 2m deep and you’d think you were looking at a place where a 2000km guided motorcycle tour would make for a great survival challenge. The thing is that yes, it’s bloody hot and humid and can be wet, but Malaysia has some of the most awesome bike-friendly roads you’ll find anywhere, with hundreds of kilometres of well-surfaced sweepers and hairpins with light traffic and drivers who pay…

TOUGH STUFF Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 I THOUGHT I’D GIVE you a bit of an update this issue of how the Interceptor 650 has been going. It has been ridden near daily in all types of weather (mostly stinking hot) but it’s also done the trip to Phillip Island and back (which we wrote about a few issues ago) and has now clocked up just over 10,000km in our care. Apart from the usual service the only things that have required maintenance were a new set of tyres and one fork seal. The left fork seal blew on the trip back from Phillip Island on a stretch of dirt road where I’d say it was being ridden a bit beyond the design brief. That’s what you get when ex-racers get…

“if you can’t be a shining example, at least you can be a terrible warning” “WARTS ON your acne?” “Uh huh.” Actually, I had no idea what she said. Maybe it was “Want some action?” Did that mean I was headed for a good night or a knee in the groin? When my hearing went and confusion took over, my slide towards deafness was probably the crappiest experience of my entire visit to this planet. My riding mates have grown used to it. Mostly. If we stop by the roadside to discuss where the next turn is, I have to take my helmet off, remove my earplugs, stand close and cup my hands to my ears. Even then, I’ll struggle to follow what they’re saying. It’s much simpler instead for…