Indholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2023 i Australian Motorcyclist

The pinnacle of motorcycle racing returned to Phillip Island on October 21st and 22nd. It was a mixed bag of excitement and drama, for spectators and organisers alike, with bikes and cargo arriving late to the island, and teams and organisers rushing to be ready in time for the weekend’s racing. All turned out to be OK as far as logistics were concerned. The next worry was the weather. As always, the island’s weather was a major concern. The weather was perfect for both Friday and Saturday, and riders made the most of the good conditions. But it was the Sunday forecast that had Race Control concerned, with strong winds and rain on the cards. The decision was made to move the main race to Saturday with the possibility of…

Giving the nod to its racing heritage, Yamaha is set to release the XSR900GP. Painted in the most iconic Yamaha Grand Prix colours of all time, the bike also gets yellow number boards on front and rear cowlings. Combining 80s nostalgia with modern technology, the new XSR900GP features six-axial IMU lean-sensitive rider aids, including slide control, wheel-lift control, and brake control, as well as new clip-on handlebars that move the rider slightly more forward to give a sportier riding position. This is balanced out with a thicker and more supportive seat. To accommodate the extra load over the front-end with the new riding position, the frame has seen some slight adjustments to optimise stability in cornering, and the subframe has also been reinforced. The new bike comes with KYB fully…

PILLIONS ARE THE MOST wretched of creatures. Male or female – I do not discriminate. But the simple fact of the matter is the vast majority of pillions are females. So, I have pillioned far more girls than boys. And all are wretched. Happily, and science will back me on this, girls are easier to pillion than boys. Girls tend to weigh less, and weight is a major factor in pillioning. The less you weigh, the less you screw with the bike’s handling. Boys who are being pillioned, for the most part, are usually also riders as well as being bigger than girls. And riders make garbage pillions. They know how this shit works. Girls who don’t ride, on the other hand, usually have no idea how terrified they should…

BEING ASKED TO PICK ten photos for a gallery of my stuff in AMM created a bit of a dilemma. How to find ten that were representative of my shooting and didn’t make me cringe. Yeah, I’m often not a fan of my own work. Don’t get me wrong, I know some of my photos are nice enough, but I don’t have any of them up on my wall at home. The only way to approach the challenge was to sit in down and see what photos I’ve taken since 2014, because that’s when I started shooting bikes seriously, although, I’d been shooting wildlife for a while already. Some, like the one’s of Troy Bayliss, Marco Melandri and Damon Rees wrote themselves into the plot quickly; some of the others,…

ADVENTURE RIDER MAGAZINE, AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLIST MAGAZINE – WITH THE GENEROUS SPONSORSHIP COOPERATION OF WORLD ON WHEELS – ARE OFFERING 6 EXPLORE RIDE EXPERIENCES IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2024. You must be a subscriber to apply for the rides. Participants will be chosen based on a draw if numbers are high. THE CURRENT RIDES: Victoria: VIC Ride 1: Day ride tour of Mornington Peninsula with Andy Strapz. www.andystrapz.com Your lunch is included (exclusive of alcohol). Date to be announced. VIC Ride 2: Day ride tour of with Heather Ellis (Sunday 24th March). We will ride Don Road over to Don Valley. A short stretch of dirt on this section. Then through Warburton and up to Donna Buang and the tower then down where we take the turn off along Acheron…

RIDER TRAINING (Including online programs) I participated in this ADV course in South Australia, and it was an excellent experience. Highly recommended for beginners looking to get into ADV riding, those aiming to enhance their skills, or even individuals seeking to evaluate their current abilities. https://youtu.be/NdecDY7KC8A Martin Winters ALERT MT Motorcycle Training Great operator knows his stuff and great instructor Dan Diesel There is no chance of something you do physically ever being fully trainable on ine. I have watched countless videos and these are great to understand and compare nuances in technique, or different ways of explaining a technique. But nothing beats hands on and direct feedback. I can’t talk highly enough of BMW Off Road Training Australia, they have it absolutely dialled (sic) and consistent. Lisa Potter I…

The 2023 MXON was held in Ernee, France from the 6th to the 8th of October. Australia had a solid team this year, with both Jett and Hunter Lawrence, along with newly-crowned Aussie champion, Dean Ferris. The MXON is regarded as the Olympics of Motocross. Each participating country selects three riders to form a team. The scoring works almost reverse to what we are normally used to, i.e., one point is awarded for first place, two points for second place, and so on. There are three races, and the worst score out of three races for each team is dropped, and then the final two scores added together and the lowest combined score wins. Three riders compete in three classes, MXGP, MX2, and the Open class. Jett finished second in…

THIS IS THE GREATEST sport on earth. There is no doubt in my mind about that. If there is any doubt in yours, then you have not seen it up close and personal, or if you have, maybe you just don’t understand what it is you’re seeing. But since it’s fair to assume if you’re reading this, you’re a motorcyclist, I’ll do my best to couch this in terms you can relate to. MotoGP is a sport that serves up appalling danger, vicious cruelty, breath-taking thrills, other worldly skills, and dizzying exaltation – sometimes all at once and often in amounts too large to immediately comprehend, and you have to walk off and process what it is you just saw. It is a sport of savagely intense passion – fans,…

THE VERY BEST BIKE racers in the world have coaches. Not only does raising their skill level improve their chance of winning, but it also enhances their ability to stay in one piece. Our sport, and for us road riders our chosen method of transport, comes with some inherent perils. But you know that. The thrill is one of the reasons we ride, and thrill cannot exist independently of peril. Motorcycling is a wondrous mistress, but she is intolerant of ineptitude and laziness. So how can we ameliorate the inherent risks of what we love doing, at least to some degree? The simple answer is, be better. Becoming a better rider is the only way to be safer on the roads than you are now, other than choosing not to…

NEVER BEEN MUCH OF an each-way or exotics bloke. When I bet, I prefer to put it all on the nose. Backing just a single horse for the win leaves me hating just one horse and jockey each time I lose. Like most of us I bet once a year and with the Melbourne Cup` coming up, it was that time and I wanted to watch it somewhere suitable. Deloraine south of Launceston seemed a fair bet. Malua who won the big one in 1884 was bred there; there’s a statue to him in town and Piping Lane who took it out in 1972 was owned by a local publican. So, I sort the logistics of getting Super Ten to Tassie and get digging on Malua’s story. He was bred…

I HAVE LITTLE TIME FOR The Bronze. I understand they have a job that contains some shitty responsibilities, though that fails to buoy any empathy for them. They see and deal with some pretty gruesome shit, but so do Ambos and Fire Fighters, and they don’t expect special privileges or behave like they are our rulers. I’ve heard NSW cops refer to themselves as “zookeepers”. I’ll let you figure out who they think the animals are. Don’t get me started on the Police Unions and how the various State and Federal Police Forces around the country believe they deserve a seat at the table where legal and social policies get decided. That’s not your job, boneheads. We elect politicians to create laws, then police arrest people who break them, and…

The latest MT-09 has recently been upgraded with a heap of changes and improvements. Capitalising on its already agile-handling, Yamaha has taken inspiration from its YZ motocross range to improve the rider’s freedom of movement, engaging a “less is more” approach. The bike boasts a newly-designed fuel tank with clearly defined edges unique to the MT range. To achieve the freedom of movement, Yamaha has redesigned the rider triangle, changing the relationship between handlebars, seat, and foot-pegs with the aim of accommodating a range of different riders while maintaining its sporty feel. In conjunction with the slimmer fuel tank, the handlebars are now lower and the rider can choose between two adjustable handlebar positions, the foot-pegs are 30.6mm further back and have been raised by 9.5mm, and also have two…

The weekend following the Australian round of the MotoGP, the Phillip Island circuit hosted Round Six of the Australian Superbike series. The MotoGP boys left plenty of rubber on the track which forced track management to clean the surface twice before the ASBK. The result was a track with very low grip, in a very low grip situation, contrary to what most people were expecting. Cru Haliday topped the time-sheets on Friday with a 1m32.651, followed by Mike Jones with 1m.32.836, and Josh Waters on his Ducati with a 1m33.006. Race results saw Cru Haliday take the win with Josh waters in second and Max Staufer in third. Championship points: First – Troy Herfoss 276, Second – Josh Waters 268, Third – Glenn Allerton 213.…

WAY BACK IN THE late 80s and early 90s, the big four Japanese factories all produced a 400cc version of their 750cc superbikes. Kawasaki’s ZXR400 of that time was the mirror image of its ZXR750 big brother, with a twin-spar alloy frame, cool paint job, funky air intake tubes, sports exhaust, flat slide carbs, the lot. The same went for Suzuki’s GSXR400, Yamaha’s YZF400RR and Honda’s uber-cool RVF400, which came complete with a single-sided swingarm and V4 engine. Pretty trick, with lots of fruit. These bikes were shrunken versions of their full-sized namesakes and were epically popular in some parts of the world, particularly in Japan where registration laws made the bigger superbikes excessively expensive to own, if not impossible. The 400cc versions were fast enough, light, handled beautifully, made great noises…

Kellie’s teenage son introduced her to motorcycling. He obtained his licence, bought a Ninja 300, and shortly after attended his first track day. Knowing his mother was someone who thrives with a little peril in her life (Kellie competes in multiple equestrian disciplines, so she’s no stranger to horsepower), he suggested she would enjoy riding on track too, and not long after Kellie found herself at a Kawasaki dealer buying herself a Ninja 400 and heading off to get her licence. Her introduction to riding on the track was while she was still on P plates, when she did a rider training course on Eastern Creek’s South Circuit. Fast forward a year and Kellie was off her P’s and free to buy a bike more in keeping with the type…

IT’S FAIR TO SAY marketing is marketing and truth is truth. And never the twain should meet. Obviously, any bike review worthy of itself must concern itself entirely with truth. Anything else is marketing, and grovelling at the altar of a manufacturer’s advertising dollar. Which is pretty much what happens whenever a Royal Enfield “review” appears on or in the few remaining Australian motorcycle magazines and digital media platforms. You probably know almost all of the motorcycle media in this country long ago abandoned anything resembling quality editorial. Its only concern is raking in what advertising dollars and freebies it can still leech from the industry. There are a few notable exceptions, but you’re all grown-ups, and I’m sure you can work out who they are. All of which is…

FROM THE DAY I first snicked a bike into gear, speed has enthralled me. The acceleration, coupled with your essential exposure to the elements, and the thrilling fact that bits of you are scant centimetres away from being ground into meat-paste, became a drug I still mainline every time I go for a ride. Safety? Yeah, when has that ever achieved anything? I have told you before, only bizarre weirdos took up riding because they thought it was safe. The rest of us do it precisely because it is dangerous. So why make it more dangerous by speeding? Who told you that bullshit? Most accidents occur at or well below the speed limit. That entire line of heinous deceits the government pumps out about “Speed Kills!” is scientifically disprovable nonsense.…