Indholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2024 i Australian Motorcyclist

THE HARLEY-DAVIDSON BIAS Since taking this role I have received a few emails complaining about the inclusion of Harley-Davidson bike in this magazine. One thing I share with each correspondent is that H-D are incredibly generous with their test bikes. This means that most reviewers can have the bikes for a fortnight and really put them through their paces in different conditions. It’s obvious I believe that this is preferable to a few hours or day loan unless a reviewer makes it clear their time spent was limited. But in terms of offering a realistic riding experience, H-D is one of the top brands. They also put a load of work into initiatives to demonstrate their regard for growing market sectors. This edition offers Pete Vorst’s analysis of the 500.…

Aussie Moto3 racer Joel Kelso has launched a fan club, with exclusive giveaways and content available to members. There are numerous membership levels available, ranging from a Junior membership for $200, which scores you a Joel Kelso sticker kit, poster, key ring, flag and access to an exclusive blog, right through to Elite and Corporate memberships where you get extras, such as autographed knee sliders, extended post race interviews and other goodies. It costs a lot of money to score a ride in the world championships, and most of the riders in Moto 3 are not paid riders, they actually have to pay to have the ride. Joel is in that boat, and needs to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to fund his racing. Joel had a…

We all knew it was going to happen, it’s just been sped up a little. Back in 2022 KTM AG (a subsidiary of PIERER Mobility AG) purchased roughly a quarter of MV Agusta. That initial buy-in led to KTM taking control of the purchasing and supply chain management for the Italian brand, because purchasing power is a very real thing. KTM was also given an option to take a controlling stake in the company, depending on financial performance, in 2025. Given the impressive performance of the company since 2022, that process has been brought forward, and KTM now has a controlling share of MV Agusta. MV has certainly made progress in recent times, introducing numerous new models, and selling out of every limited edition bike they produced. They are also…

CLOSE YOUR EYES FOR a second. Well, not right now, obviously, because you’re trying to read. But maybe when you finish here, close your eyes, and picture yourself as a 17-year-old, back at high school. It’s Monday, and you’re on your way to school on a fresh Spring morning. You’re only on your Learner’s permit, but that doesn’t stop you from riding your motorcycle to school. Because motorcycles rock. You rumble into the school carpark and find a spot between all the teachers’ Corollas and Teslas. You park your bike and get off, and as you remove your helmet you notice the sun glinting on the tank, the Harley-Davidson logo gleaming. You look across to the edge of the carpark, where a group of girls are standing, looking at you…

I LOVE THIS THING. I cannot help myself. Look at it. How can a man not smile when he beholds such a creation? This is absolute function over form. If it had “I go bloody everywhere”, written on it, no-one would be in any doubt. It even comes with a goddamn shovel. The Ural outfit makes utter sense when you want to ride across the endless Russian steppes, its boundless taiga forests, fording mighty rivers, and wondering if the bears will eat your head first or last. And you thought that shovel was just for digging, huh? So, if it makes sense in that environment, then it makes just as much sense here in Australia – where we have far fewer bears, and the temperature doesn’t quite get to minus-60…

Ninth of February 1700 hrs. A Ural pulls up in my driveway. Its unmistakable sound made me quickly swallow the last mouth full beer, before removing myself from the lounge and heading outside. It was a warm summer afternoon, and I was greeted by Boris and Matt McIntyre (photographer), and the Ural was surrounded by children admiring/pondering it. After Boris took my daughter Maisy for a spin, he looked at me and said: “Come on! What are you waiting for? We are off to defeat fascism…and do you have pants?” Fair enough I thought. Fascism will not easily surrender to a beer-breathed Aussie in a pair of board shorts. I went in search of the most military, antifascist gear I had. As I dug through the clothes in the wardrobe,…

SO, A COMPLETELY ORDINARY 125 Suzuki GN, in its Japanese mini custom style, full stock. The idea, to make it a fun little café racer, with a complete and unique preparation (due to its parts from the workshop and the careful finishes. It bears the “Rage” coat of arms which represents the complete and unique preparations from Cus’Tom Motorcycle. The aim was a change in general style, a complete rebuild of the motorcycle, an increase in power, custom parts made in the workshop, and the details that mark the preparations (X-stitched leather handles, Rage engraving, stainless steel screws, Titanium nut, details Cus’Tom) The cycle part: Creation of a custom upper tee using traditional machining to accommodate a motogadget speedometer, a “neutral” and a “full headlight” indicator light. The front wheel…

Three-time Australian Superbike champ Troy Herfoss will be working overtime this year. Not only is he racing his XXXX Ducati in the Australian Superbike Championship, he will also spend he “off weeks” heading to the USA to race for Indian in the King Of The Baggers and Super Hooligan classes. These classes are quickly gaining popularity in America, and Troy is looking to add to his tally of American Championship titles. The Americans don’t like to be reminded, but Troy won a Supermoto title there some years ago. “We’re excited to welcome Troy to the Indian Motorcycle family, as he’s a seasoned road racer with a wealth of experience competing at a high level,” said Gary Gray, Vice President Racing and Service for Indian Motorcycle. “Backed by the performance capabilities…

BIKE RACING AT ALL levels is an expensive sport and the costs involved are a hindrance to getting young riders into the sport at the earliest possible age to maximise their chances of developing into national or international grade competitors. it’s no secret that getting them young is part of what makes countries like Spain and Italy such prolific sources of racing talent. The FIM MiniGP Series, a global series that had its first Australian outing in 2022 and goes from strength to strength as the 2024 season gets underway, has become a compelling option as a development series for younger riders. FIM MiniGP is part of an overarching program of rider development with the top riders in the local series having the opportunity to participate in the FIM MiniGP…

“THERE’S ALSO NO SINGLE RIGHT WAY TO HAVE A MOTORCYCLING HOLIDAY IN TASMANIA. THERE’S LOTS OF WAYS YOU CAN DO IT, AND DIFFERENT APPROACHES WILL SUIT DIFFERENT PEOPLE.” MOST MOTORCYCLISTS PROBABLY HAVE “Tour Tasmania On A Motorcycle” written on their bucket list somewhere. If you don’t have a bucket list (I don’t), maybe you should start one and just write “Tour Tasmania On A Motorcycle” on it, then don’t bother writing anything else. That is all you need. I have recently returned home from my first trip to Tassie, more than 20 years after I first decided that I would go “one day”. Yeah, I know, what took me so long? I guess life gets in the way. I’m going to assume that most readers probably have the same intent…

IN CASE YOU MISSED the first part of this tale a quick summery of the story so far: Six of us rode from London to Assen for two days of track time at the legendary Dutch TT circuit. I left my newly pregnant wife at home in tears. I got life threatening blood poisoning from a cut in my foot. I witnessed an enormous crash right in front of me. No-one died…yet. The start of day two dawned bright and sunny, which is a rarity I’m told in these parts. Not only that but no part of my foot had glued itself to the bedsheets overnight with unwelcome oozings from my hideous blood poisoning. Things were definitely looking up. I was feeling, if not exactly normal, at least way better…

HANDS UP IF YOU remember AGVSPORT. You should. It used to sponsor and provide top-end riding gear to just about every Aussie and American Superbike rider worth his leathers. Just be aware AGVSPORT is not AGV Helmets. It was once part of the Italian helmet company, but became its own, American-based motorcycle gear company under the stewardship of Michael Parrotte. Michael has been riding all his life, and takes great pride in the gear he offers to riders all over the world under the AGVSPORT brand. And so he should. It’s great gear. AGVSPORT is looking to make its way back into the Australian market and has kicked off with a few products on an Amazon page, which you can see here: www.amazon.com.au/s?k=agvsport Michael and I have been mates on…

SHALL WE DEAL WITH the elephant in the room? Yes, let’s. It seems my previous column upset a couple of you. Only a couple though. The editor passed your feedback on to me. It ranged from casting aspersions on my character, to demanding me be sacked from writing for the magazine. Jolly good. I’m still here. And you’re still reading my column. Because that’s how this works. I’ll simply make two points. Firstly, who on Earth buys any publication with the expectation that every word written will ascribe to their own point of view, then when it doesn’t, demand the writer be sacked? What warped world do you live in? Secondly, perhaps the story cut a little close to the bone, huh? But I do appreciate your passion. It’s why…

The 2023 Australian Supersport 300 championship was a hotly contested series, with a number of riders still capable of winning as the series came to its final round at The Bend in South Australia. Marcus Hamod, Cameron Swain, and Brandon Demmery were all battling for the crown. At the completion of Race 2, Marcus Hamod lodged a protest against Cameron Swain for passing under yellow flags. The MA Stewards upheld the protest, and demoted Swain a position in the race results, resulting in a narrow championship win for Hamod. Following the event, Cameron Swain lodged an appeal against the Steward’s decision, which was referred to an independent review tribunal for determination. After hearing evidence from officials and both riders, as well as reviewing video evidence, the panel upheld the decision…

2023 model run outs are on. Triumph has announced massive savings on bikes across their entire range, so there’s something here for everyone. The biggest savings come on one of their most lusted after models, the Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer, which will now head out the door for $29,390.00, and the Tiger 1200 Rally Pro drops to $27,190.00, both saving you a cool $5k. There’s even something for the learners, with the Trident 660 LAMS model slipping under your bum for $13,240.00 For those with a lust for torque, there’s some Rocket 3 variants on their way to your garage as we speak for $4500 off the regular price. See your nearest dealer for all the details.…

AUSTRALIA HAS THE PRIVILEGE to be a continent and a country at the same time. It makes for much grander communication when you hear roadtrippin’ across a continent. And it makes for an even grander one when you can say you have gone around this country of a continent not once, but three times. Yes! I have done three big laps of this insanely vast country that was once part of ancient Gondwanaland. First in 2007 with two relatively modest Hyosung GT650Rs, then in 2013 with a Ducati Multistrada 1200, and then in 2017 with a Kawasaki Ninja H2 and a Ducati Panigale1299. Each time at least 20000 kms, the big lap and the center included. And here we are, six years later, still flippin’, still twistin’ and still wanting…

BACK IN 2020, WHEN the world lost its mind over the Rona, Harley-Davidson discontinued its last learner-legal bike available in Australia, the Street 500. It was a sad day for many, the Street had enjoyed immense popularity after its release, with Harley-Davidson selling bucketloads of these bikes to riders seeking a learner-legal experience, complete with the iconic Harley logo. Now, may whatever sky-God you believe in strike me down for saying this, but the Street 500, although a ridiculously popular bike, was, well, not a particularly good motorcycle, but such is the way of things with a Harley badge on them riders still bought the sucker. “IS IT AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE STREET 500? YOU BET IT IS, AND I RECKON THE MOCO IS GOING TO SELL BOATLOADS.” Four years…

ARUBA.IT RACING – FACTORY DUCATI Double-WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista’s attempt to win the series fora third time in a row is made a bit more challenging by the new combined bike/rider minimum weight limit. This requires his bike to carry around 6kg of additional ballast and whilst he’s clearly not happy with this development, his performances at Round One, despite a crash in Race One, seem to suggest that he and the team are working the problem well. Even bigger news was 2023 World SuperSport champion Nicolò Bulega’s elevation to a factory seat in Superbikes and almost instant adaptation to the bigger bike. New lap record and pole position in Tissot Superpole, a win in his first race in the series and strong performance through the weekend put him in…

Well, yes. And no. The first Ural was modelled on a BMW sidecar called the R71. Legend has it five of these were secretly purchased by helpful Swedes and brought to Russia in the late Thirties. In all likelihood, the Germans (ironically, as it turned out) simply supplied their Russian then-allies with the drawings. In any case, Soviet engineers created or reverse-engineered the Beemers, and in 1941 showed Papa Stalin the Dniepr M-72 – one of which still exists in the IMZ-Ural factory in Irbit, Russia. IMZ stands for ‘Irbitsky Mototsikletny Zavod’ (Irbit Motorcycle Factory). But where is Irbit? It’s a few hundred kms north of Kazakhstan in the Sverdlovskaya Oblast region of Russia – which is sort of in the middle there. If you get to the town of…

CAME OVER CYCLES, A custom bike company from Poland, won 4 awards at 2 competitions organized during Daytona Bike Week 2024, one of the largest motorcycle festivals in the world organized annualy in Florida, USA (over 600 000 participants in 2023). In the prestigious Boardwalk Bike Show, the GOC motorcycle won first place in the “Extreme Bagger” category and the “Best of Show” award for the best vehicle in the competition. In the Rat’s Hole Custom Bike Show, the oldest custom competition in the world, the Polish vehicle again won the “Extreme Bagger” category and one more time was recognized by the jury as the best motorcycle in the entire competition winning “Best of Show” for the second time. The Boardwalk Bike Show was attended by 136 motorcycles from the…

“WE SHOULD GO,” Biff said. “They’re just fifteen minutes late,” I replied. “You’ve left without them before.” “I have, but then there were twenty people waiting. Now there’s just you and me.” “I’m not waiting,” Biff declared and pulled on his helmet. I had no problem with this. Both of us were keen to get onto the Snowy Mountains Highway and we had some awful Hume slabbing to grind through before that happened. Also, the Kursed Brothers were grown-ups whose feelings were of no consequence to us. The pair of them had never been on time for a departure in all the decades I’d known them, but they both rode fast enough to catch up, and everyone knew were we had to end up on the day if that wasn’t…

TWO FAT LADIES BOUGHT the glories of the sidecar to millions and to children via the animated series Wallace and Gromit. Motorcycling couples and riders who have significant physical/health issues can come to consider sidecar outfits as an option for both togetherness and a pillion option not dependent on the same ‘climb on/over’ movement a usual pillion requires. And of course, some simply desire the sidecar combo because of its funky, travelling appeal. But how do you know if a sidecar unit will be accessible for anyone with physical issues? Of course, the ultimate way is to give it a go. Try it out and see. However, there are other ways to determine if a sidecar is likely to suit you and if modifications you can make to the outfit…