Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 35 i Australian Adventure Bike

700 REASONS TO EXPLORE A mark of a brilliant adventure riding photo is the answer to this question: does it make you want to go and ride there? And when the answer is yes, you know the photo is something special. Like this one. It’s from CFMOTO and features the new 700 MT blazing through the middle of nowhere, with rolling green hills behind and snow-capped mountains in the distance. All we have to do now is find out where in the world this actually is … and go ride it! GELANDE STRASSE! BMW’s retro-flavoured R 12 G/S has touched down in Australia, and BMW Motorrad Australia were that confident of the bike’s off-road chops that they hosted a new model launch of the machine at Queensland Moto Park. And…

CFMOTO Australia has announced the arrival of the all-new 2025 model 700MT. This refined second-generation model sets a new benchmark for value, comfort and versatility in the competitive mid-capacity adventure-touring segment. Inspired by the flagship 800MT range, the new 700MT blends long-distance touring capability with everyday rideability and premium features that redefine expectations at this price point. Powered by CFMOTO’s proven 693cc parallel-twin engine, the MY25 700MT delivers smooth, usable torque and confident performance across a wide range of riding scenarios. With Bosch EFI, optimised intake and exhaust tuning, and a slipper clutch as standard, the powertrain offers real-world versatility. Designed to take riders further in total comfort, the 700MT features a relaxed upright riding position, wide handlebars, an adjustable windscreen and a narrow 800mm seat height, making it accessible…

Suzuki has announced that its fast-approaching new DR-Z4S dual-sporter will be priced from $14,490 ride-away. Customers who had registered their interest in the new Suzuki thumper would be emailed to arrange pre-order purchases, in an effort to “honour (the brand’s) commitment to its most loyal customers”, a Suzuki Australia press release said. The DR-Z4S is powered by an all-new 398cc single-cylinder, four-valve DOHC engine, with dual spark plugs and a choice of multiple ride modes and traction control modes. The bike features a new twin-spar steel frame and long-travel adjustable KYB suspension front and rear. Wheel sizes are 21/18-inch front/rear with switchable ABS, while fuel capacity is 8.7 litres and the bike weighs in at 151kg. A motard-ready DR-Z4SM will also be available and priced at $14,990 ride-away. For more…

Are you keen to get a close-up look at the massive range of Mosko Moto luggage? And would you like to try it before you buy it? If so, the Bike Butler is ready and waiting! They’ve got a full range of Mosko Moto luggage, from tanks bags to gear haulers. And how’s this? The Bike Butler is offering an exclusive try-before-you-buy service. Then if you want to buy it, the hire fee is deducted from the purchase price. Awesome. The Bike Butler is located in the northern suburbs of Sydney, and there’s stacks of parking at the door. Check out more details via the website and then get into the Bike Butler and give the Mosko Moto gear a try. www.thebikebutler.au…

Motorcycle Holdings Ltd (MCH), one of Australia’s largest motorcycle dealership groups, has confirmed the strategic acquisition of key assets from the Peter Stevens and Harley-Heaven networks, significantly expanding its national footprint. The acquisition includes dealerships in Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Penrith and Dandenong, along with Savage Motorcycles Perth as well as Triumph Sydney. MCH has also acquired Peter Stevens’ BRP Sea-Doo and Can-Am operations, marking the company’s entry into the recreational powersports market. “This is not the end of Harley-Heaven or Peter Stevens, it’s a new chapter,” said MCH CEO Matthew Wiesner. “These iconic brands are here to stay. With MCH’s comprehensive industry knowledge, strong financial backing and proven track record, we’re committed to ensuring the new Harley-Heaven and new Peter Stevens dealerships continue to deliver for bikers across the country.”…

I thought I’d experienced riding over just about every slippery snot-like surface known to man, but I’m now officially adding yellow Otway clay-tops to the list. It’s an especially slick substance, generally surrounded by sandy white ground that does its best to lull you into a false sense of security. But before you can say, “It’s only a small patch of that glass-like yellow muck, she’ll be right …”, the back wheel is instantly trying to pass the front and you’re hanging on like a passenger. A passenger reaching for a fresh white Jockey tear-off! Welcome to the Otway Ranges and the lush green forests perched high above the Great Ocean Road on the Victorian coastline, a couple of hours south-west of Melbourne. It’s an especially gorgeous part of the…

You’ve got to have goals in life, and for us the famed Canning Stock Route (CSR) in Western Australia had been on our to-do list for quite some time. Over recent years we had done the Madigan Line, the Simpson Desert (French Line), the Hay River Track, Cape York Peninsula, the Gulf, the Victorian High Country, the Darling River Run, the Border Track and numerous other tracks in between, so finally checking off the CSR was next on the agenda. We had also been wanting to do an east-to-west Oz crossing at some stage as well. So … while mapping out our assault on the CSR, it seemed to make sense to combine both! We could start and finish at Bundaberg near where we are all based in northern Queensland,…

We congregated in the heart of the Spanish capital, Madrid. Fifteen of us, most of whom had not been to this part of Europe before. While our bike supplier delivered 12 shiny new BMWs to our hotel, we engaged the services of a local guide and embarked on a walking tour of the Old Town centre. It was a pay-as-you-see-fit arrangement, and our young man did very well out of his two-hour gig, with all us, plus another dozen or so foreigners, each chipping in generously for his splendid and informative meander through the historical heart of the city. Our first riding day saw us heading south for lunch in Toledo, with its impressive citadel skyline. This was the first of several UNESCO Heritage sites we would visit on this…

In most parts of Australia, you don’t need to head too far from the coast to find vast and open country filled with unsealed roads. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to hear that some riders don’t end up finishing their dream outback ride and the consequences can be very serious. There are some real traps out there. I’ve been riding in these environments for 20 years and have learnt lots of tricks and strategies to reduce risk. Some riders on their first outback adventure can be in a high-risk situation due to their lack of experience. THE SPEED TRAP On outback roads, most people often ride at much higher speeds than they are used to. They channel their Dakar dreams, despite potentially not having much experience in this environment. It seems…

ZETA ADVENTURE FOOTPEGS One of the golden rules of riding adventure bikes off-road is to be in the standing position to help improve your visibility of the trail and to let you be ready to react to any sudden obstacles or hazards. For long periods of stand-up riding, larger-sized footpegs like these ones from Zeta are a godsend to help make your ride way more comfortable. + Ultra-wide footpegs designed specifically for adventure touring. + Stainless-steel teeth for added grip of the soles of your boots for aggressive riding. + Adjustable backwards or forwards by plus or minus 5mm. + Available to suit most popular bike models. RRP: $275www.monzaimports.com.au ACE BIKE-A-SIDE MOTORCYCLE DOLLY From the “How come no one has done this before?” file comes this new Ace Bikes Bike-a-Side…

“C’mon Clubby. Rise and shine, old son, it’s golden hour. Up and at it, get amongst it!” My old mate Rocket Rod was being way too chipper for this early in the morning. “Err, umm, what? Who is this?” I stammered. “Don’t give me that carry on, mate!” Rocket barked back. “Take a look at this view … I’m switching over to FaceTime … now!” I scratched my sleep-ridden eyeballs, pulled my head out from under the pillow, fumbled with the iPhone and somehow managed to grapple the right buttons and up came Rocket’s helmet-clad head on the screen. And he looked positively glowing. Or should I say, something looked red-hot glowing: it was the sun, actually, which was peeking up over the horizon. Only thing was, I had no…

KTM is keen to let the world know it’s back in business, and it has already pulled the wraps off the 2026 range of KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas off-road bikes that will be landing in Australia through the second half of this year. As for adventure riders, the all-new 390 Adventure R and Enduro R models, which are manufactured in India, have also touched down in Oz, while the wraps have also come off the 2026-model 690 Enduro R. The new 690 has actually received a fair stack of updates, not the least of which is a boost in maximum power to 79hp, up from the previous model’s 74hp. KTM says some 50 per cent of the latest engine’s components are new, highlighted by a new crankcase, clutch cover, stator,…

A AB columnist Miles Davis was recently invited to attend the launch of BMW’s new R 12 G/S, held at Queensland Moto Park near Beaudesert. The retro-styled R 12 G/S, which is powered by an 1170cc Boxer engine that produces 80kW power and 115Nm torque, pays the ultimate homage to the bike that started the entire G/S legend, the mighty R 80 G/S from over 40 years ago! “The R 12 G/S bikes we rode came complete with the Enduro package, which adds extra off-road features including an 18-inch rear wheel, off-road tyres, enduro foot pegs, bar risers, hand guards and more,” Miles explained. “We got to ride at QMP on a variety of tracks including a freshly ripped motocross track, which was tricky in places for some riders. We…

Dakar Rally champion Sam Sunderland has set his sights on a world-record attempt — to become the fastest person to circumnavigate the globe on a motorcycle. After a stellar rally-raid career that included twice winning the Dakar, Sunderland has set his sights on breaking the current record of 19 days, eight hours and 25 minutes set by Kevin and Julia Sanders in 2002. To reach his goal in the required time, Sunderland will need to ride nearly 1600km daily for 19 days. He will set off from London on a Triumph 1200 Rally Explorer and it will take him around 30 days, including flights and crossings, to cover 15 countries and the different global time zones. The first leg of a six-stage global adventure will see him traverse Europe,…

Massive congrats to Lincoln Brien, who has topped the charts at this year’s Yamaha Oceania Technician Grand Prix. We’ve known Lincoln since his early days with Readford’s Yamaha at Dubbo, and more recently through his current role with Chris Watson Motorcycles at Cessnock, and not to mention his ‘after-hours’ job as a sweep rider and all-round tech guru with RideADV. As the first-place finisher, Lincoln has scored a ticket to Japan to take on the Yamaha Technican GP world championship … woo hoo! Tim Saint from Yamaha Pitmans finished runner-up, while William Mason from Brisan Motorsports rounded out the podium. Throughout a challenging day, participants rotated through a series of workstations under the watchful eye of a panel of expert judges. Among those observing was Yukio Tanaka, General Manager of…

The team at Vagabond Moto have pulled the wraps off the 2026 Adventure Moto Big Bore Six Day ride after this year’s debut event was heralded as a mega-success. Next year’s Big Bore Six Days is scheduled for March 21 to 27 and will start and finish in Canberra, traversing a huge six-day route down into the best of the Victorian High Country and back again. Vagabond Moto will also be hosting rides in Tasmania and the north coast of NSW over coming months. Plus, they will soon be releasing details of another mega tour in August 2026 … all the way to Mongolia and the high plains of the remote Gobi Desert! This one is going to be a ripper, with traditional Ger camps, all-inclusive features, wild horizons and…

Let’s face it, for most Aussie adventure riders, it was kind of tough to get really stoked on KTM’s 390 Adventure when it was introduced in 2020. Small 19/17-inch wheel sizes, and cast alloy wheels at that, and a real soft-roader persona that carried over from the 390 Duke road bike it was derived from, left those of us with a penchant for pushing the off-road edge of the ADV riding world wanting so, so much more. Fast-forward to 2025 and KTM, with more than a little thanks to Indian manufacturer Bajaj, has unveiled not one, but two versions of all-new 390s that push way deeper into the bush and deliver genuine off-road road capabilities. And they’re doing it at super-competitive price points. Without further ado, meet KTM’s new $10,695…

Over the past seven years I’ve been lucky enough to ride in some exotic international locations and meet hundreds of like-minded adventure riders from pretty much every corner of the earth. This has been due mainly to my involvement in the International BMW GS Trophy event and the associated Follow the Trails tours. My first BMW GS Trophy event was in Mongolia in 2018, then New Zealand in 2020, Albania in 2022 and, most recently, Namibia in 2024. A FAST HISTORY LESSON The event actually started in Tunisia back in 2006 with the staging of the first GS Trophy competition, which is an international teams contest for BMW GS riders. The event takes place every second year, while the in-between years are for participating countries to run qualifying events. As…

We wouldn’t mind a dollar for every time someone said to us: “Yeah, Yamaha should build a Ténéré 900, that MT-09 motor would be awesome in an adventure bike …” It’s no secret the wildly popular Ténéré 700 has been built off Yamaha’s long serving MT-07 and XSR700 platform. So a T9 based off the MT-09/XSR900 platform would surely be a goer, right? Well no, actually. At least not yet. Whenever we broach the subject with Yamaha’s local reps, all we get is the sound of crickets. Go figure. ONE MT-09 WITH THE LOT Purpose Built Moto is a custom bike building shop based on the Queensland Gold Coast, and owner Tom Gilroy is one of the most gifted two-wheeled craftsmen we’ve ever met. So when a customer came to…

Introduced in the year 2000, Honda’s XR650R was a revolutionary liquid-cooled open-class four-stroke enduro bike designed for desert racing. It had evolved from the air-cooled XR600R but boasted a boost in capacity, an aluminium frame and advanced KYB suspension. In the hands of legendary American desert racer Johnny Campbell, the thundering red thumper succeeded in its primary mission to dominate the prestigious Baja 1000 desert race down the Baja peninsula of Mexico. Often dubbed the ‘Big Red Pig’ or the ‘Dominator’, the 650 won no less than eight Baja 1000 races before being discontinued from production in 2008. Renowned for its powerful engine, impressive straight-line stability and unbustable reliability, the XR650R has gained a cult following on the west coast of the USA, where desert riding continues to be so…

Every time I swing a leg over my KTM 690 Enduro that I rode from London to Sydney back in 2011, I’m flooded with ripping memories of epic rides. Blasting across the plains of Kazakhstan in the twilight, the air warm and still — it doesn’t get much better than that. Then again, there’s the time we crossed the Simpson Desert unassisted, right when the rear sub-frame of Nugget’s DR650 sheared clean off. That one ranks pretty high too. But even memory machines need some love. After 14 years of reasonably loyal service, it was time to give the old Austrian girl some well-earned TLC. And I say reasonably loyal with good reason. She’s let me down spectacularly a few times: roller rocker arms, blocked injectors, fouled fuel pumps and…

KTM is clearly showing it’s back in business, unveiling a feast of new dirtbike models for the 2026 season that have already been rolling off the production lines in Austria. Also coming is an all-new 1390 Super Adventure R, which is sure to get fans of the ultimate Austrian ADV machine frothing at the mouth. KTM boldly claims the new 1390 Super Adventure R “sits at the top of the off-road adventure food chain and obliterates all challengers”. And with a massive 172hp on tap from an all-new 1350cc V-twin engine, this beast surely does stand tall amongst the most powerful of ADV machines. The 1390 features new Camshift technology that provides variable valve timing with two individual cam profiles. At higher revs, the inlet cams shift sideways, opening the…

It’s been a roller coaster ride for the past 12 months or so, but KTM is excited to announce it has restarted its production operations in Mattighofen, Austria, with the factory returning to a full-time, five-day work week. This marks a significant milestone for the company and its global community of riders, dealers and employees. Production was all set to kick off with the latest Off-Road lineup, and it will then resume production of the LC4 platform models, including the KTM 690 Enduro R and SMC R models. KTM AG CEO Gottfried Neumeister expressed his gratitude to the entire KTM family: “A special thank-you goes to our employees, who have made this restart possible through their tremendous dedication, flexibility and team spirit over the past months. Their commitment during one…

This is it: New Zealand’s toughest, wildest South Island motorcycle tour you’ll find. Ride alongside Ultimate Adventure Moto NZ and KTM adventure ambassador and enduro legend Chris Birch on a totally new, off-road-focused route that’s bigger, harder and more remote than anything they’ve run before. Forget the tar seal, this tour avoids it like the plague, touching asphalt only to link one epic backcountry track to the next. From gnarly high-country 4WD trails to river crossings, alpine passes and hidden tracks, you’ll be deep in the South Island’s raw, untamed heart from start to finish. And if the weather plays nice, they will even throw in an unforgettable scenic helicopter flight over one of NZ’s most jaw-dropping landscapes. This is a tour for experienced adventure riders only. No big crowds,…

THE FESTIVAL HAS ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS THE PREMIER GATHERING FOR ADVENTURE MOTORCYCLE ENTHUSIASTS ACROSS EUROPE AND BEYOND. What began as intimate gatherings of like-minded riders around the UK’s Adventure Bike Rider magazine has evolved into something truly spectacular. The ABR Festival, now running over a summer weekend in the heart of England, has become one of the biggest motorcycle events anywhere, and its primary focus remains firmly on adventure riding. This year, a record-breaking 17,392 people poured into the sprawling estate of Ragley Hall, south of Birmingham, for three days of bikes, entertainment, food, stories and so much more. The numbers alone are staggering: 1500 crew members orchestrating the entire operation, 60 caterers including mainly food trucks serving everything from gourmet burgers and crispy duck rolls to authentic Nepalese curries…

You’ve heard of the Trans Euro Trail (TET), right? It’s the one that snakes through Europe like a dusty ribbon of promise. It features more than 100,000km of legal trails, built and maintained by a community of madcap trail riders and visionaries. But few people have tackled it quite like John Mitchinson, the man behind Rally Raid Products UK. Over the last few years, John and his mates have quietly been stringing together sections of the TET in an unconventional, totally D-I-Y style. So far they have racked up more than 35,000km, and they’ve done it without the need for big budgets, big bikes or big egos. We recently caught up with John to dig into what’s become an absolutely monster adventure, but one built not on bling, rather on…

This is the fourth T7 I’ve had parked in my shed on a permanent basis, and the thing that still sucks me in every time is the motor. That 689cc twin-cylinder CP2 powerplant certainly isn’t the most rip-snorting, fire-breathing ADV engine known to man, but it is fun to ride. It’s torquey, it’s grunty and it’s so easy to live with. It pulls from nothing yet is happy to rev out, too. It’s just so easy to get along with and you can make use of each and every one of those 72 horsepowers it delivers. And now, with the latest 2025 model, the T7 comes complete with ride modes and traction control, which I have to say are two features that I can never remember any T7 rider asking…

When it comes to tanks bags, they’re like an American Express card to me: I can’t leave home without it. Why? Because I always carry a camera with me on every ride. It’s part of the job description when you’re a magazine editor: have camera, will travel, will shoot. Of course, tank bags come in all shapes and sizes, and for me, choosing a tank bag comes down to the size of it. It has to offer enough capacity to carry my Nikon D-SLR camera, and it has to have enough room in there for me to get some padding around the camera for protection, and to carry a few other bits and pieces like a cap, pens, memory cards, wallet and phone. Experience tells me I need at least…