Issue 159

Australian Road Rider

The real ride

Australian Road Rider1 min read
Australian Road Rider
EDITOR Nigel Paterson npaterson@umco.com.au ART DIRECTOR Martha Rubazewicz REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS Geoff Seddon, Brian Rix, Phillip James, Nigel Crowley, Ian Neubauer, Roderick Eime, Damien Paterson EDITORIAL roadrider@umco.com.au SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES
Australian Road Rider3 min read
Covid Travels
This year we should all get vaccinated against COVID-19, but that doesn’t mean overseas trips are on the cards yet. I’m expecting a big year of international travel in 2022, but not this year — so I’m thinking about the big trips we could do while st
Australian Road Rider1 min read
Design, Art, Desire
“The Motorcycle — Design, Art, Desire” is a stunning display of rare and valuable motorcycles curated by the team at Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), led by Michael O’Sullivan, himself a collector of classic motorcycles. The 100 hand-pick
Australian Road Rider6 min readAutomotive
HARLEY’S UPDATES & THE PAN AMERICA
Harley-Davidson was rocked in 2020 by the pandemic, by tough sales conditions in its home country and a change to its CEO, so it was no surprise the 2021 model updates were delayed. Indeed, the new Adventure bike, the Pan America, wasn’t even announc
Australian Road Rider5 min read
Rajasthan Rambling
If exploring independently, living dirt cheap and getting around on a fast, nimble Adventure bike ticks your box, then perhaps this trip (and article) may not be for you. If soaking up a vastly different culture, assaulting your senses, marvelling at
Australian Road Rider8 min readAutomotive
A Special Bagger
The open road beckoned. With a Harley-Davidson Street Glide Special in the garage, the idea to fill the panniers and Head Out on the Highway Looking for Adventure was filling my head. Not that I have any guns to fire or felt like exploding into space
Australian Road Rider2 min readAutomotive
Rdrs
Harley’s proprietary Reflex Defensive Rider Systems (RDRS) is “a collection of technology designed to match motorcycle performance to available traction during acceleration, deceleration and braking. The systems are designed to aid the rider in contr
Australian Road Rider1 min readAutomotive
The Competition
A new take on the American Bagger-style machine, the Chieftain Limited is a little cheaper, a little bigger and a little lighter than the Street Glide. Lots of tech and standard features. Like the Street Glide, the Gold Wing is built for the American
Australian Road Rider8 min readAutomotive
Designed In Pesaro, Italy…
A new Benelli 750 is on showroom floors. Back in the 1970s, the Benelli 750 Sei was one of the most radical motorcycles of the 1970s – not for its appearance, but for its engineering. Six-cylinder motorcycles were rare and expensive, but oh-so cool.
Australian Road Rider1 min readAutomotive
Competition
It’s 25kg lighter and a lot cheaper. The respected 650 V-Twin engine matches the Benelli’s power output, is super reliable but feels physically smaller. Ancillaries, like suspension, aren’t as good as the Benelli’s. A direct competitor on price, but
Australian Road Rider1 min read
Prospects In The Australian Market
The Benelli is unlikely to sell in big numbers for a couple of reasons. First, Benelli is a niche brand in Australia and it takes time to become “mainstream”. At the moment, Benelli only attracts buyers willing to look “outside the square”. Second, t
Australian Road Rider9 min read
Corona Touring
The tyre was cactus. OK, it was still round and black, but it had gone from borderline to “stuffed” inside 150km, and we were less than one-third of the distance into a multi-day ride from our base in the Hunter Valley through the Blue Mountains and
Australian Road Rider5 min readAutomotive
Seddo Gets Scrambled…
Like many people of a certain age, I sometimes struggle with technology. I use maybe 10 per cent of the capacity of my iPhone, and can operate a computer just well enough to work as a journalist. Little of it is intuitive. If something doesn’t work a
Australian Road Rider8 min readAutomotive
Modern Café Racer
The corners were flowing into each other, with only short straights connecting the fun bits. I’m on an old road and it’s perfect for the Triumph Thruxton RS. I was riding at a pace I’d describe as fast (that’s where you get a big ticket, but not arre
Australian Road Rider2 min read
Yes To Yea
Situated 130km north of Melbourne, Yea is the perfect location for day rides for our brothers and sisters confined to stop-start city traffic. As a bonus, getting there can be fun. After a trundle through the suburbs, leaving Whittlesea, long sweeper
Australian Road Rider4 min read
BEYOND BEEF & BRASS MONKEYS
With the coronavirus circulating and borders closed, Queensland as a riding destination has been neglected in recent issues. To correct this glaring oversight, we called out to you, our loyal and well-ridden “ridership”, for suggestions. The answer c
Australian Road Rider1 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Some Southern Downs And Granite Belt Highlights
Meet the eccentric and ebullient Cedric, who brews, distils and ferments a staggering range of beverages, including many award-winning spirits. Location: 3184 Amiens Road, Thulimbah Qld www.castleglenaustralia.com.au More than 20,000 items in 15 buil
Australian Road Rider1 min readRegional & Ethnic
Some Lockyer Valley Highlights
Features a magnificent display of different forms of transport of various ages and a display of 200 models exploring the founders and functions of the transport industry. Location: 34 Lake Apex Drive, Gatton www.facebook.com/qldtransportmuseum Call i
Australian Road Rider1 min readComputers
The Map
https://bit.ly/38CSVjw Australian Road Rider, in conjunction with TomTom, is going to provide routes for tours where we can. The map published here points you in the right direction. Follow the link below or scan the QR code and you can see and follo
Australian Road Rider1 min readAutomotive
Events
It didn’t happen in 2020 but it might be a starter for ‘21. Annually in October and organised by the Historical Motor Cycle Club of Queensland, the Laidley Motorcycle Only Swap Meet is a venue for motorcycle enthusiasts to buy, sell and swap motorcyc
Australian Road Rider9 min readAutomotive
Small, Sweeter ‘Strada
The road, if I can call it that, wasn’t really there anymore. It was just a massive collection of repairs, patches of asphalt repairing the holes that had developed since the road was built, and I’d found it at a speed which was higher than I’d have
Australian Road Rider1 min readAutomotive
Competition
Nigel Crowley tested the GT Pro in the last issue of ARR and came away very impressed. It’s mostly aimed at the same buyer as the 950 S. Cheaper to buy, equipped with a famously bulletproof engine and robust as anything, the latest V-Strom is capable
Australian Road Rider6 min read
Wonderful Wauchope
When the Port Macquarie-Hastings council invited Australian Road Rider to visit its motorcycle-friendly town of Wauchope, I was pretty pumped. It’s effectively the eastern end of the Oxley Highway, one of Australia’s great riding roads. The highway a
Australian Road Rider2 min read
Accommodation
There are many accommodation options in Wauchope, from basic and cheap to luxurious. I stayed at the Timbertown Motel, which is an older place with decent-sized rooms and cabins. Being on the Oxley I thought it might be noisy, but it turns out not to
Australian Road Rider1 min readInternet & Web
GPS Maps
I’ve mapped out many of the various destinations and great roads around Wauchope: I rode the bitumen ones and some of the gravel, but I didn’t attempt Tom’s Creek Road on a big touring bike (I’m told it’s awesome on anything designed for dirt roads).
Australian Road Rider1 min readAutomotive
The Ride Guide
The council, business chamber and local riders combined to create the Motorcycle Ride Guide, maps of great riding roads in the region with list of places to stay, eat, and important services like bike recovery if you have troubles. It’s a free handou
Australian Road Rider1 min readAutomotive
Bikes And More
Annual event Wauchope declared itself a motorcyclefriendly town some years ago, and there’s even a banner saying so on the town’s outskirts. Not only that, since 2017 Wauchope has hosted Moto Fest, a celebration of motorcycling held at the showground
Australian Road Rider2 min readCooking, Food & Wine
EAT & DRINK
Wauchope is big enough to off er plenty of dining options, but small enough to still be homely and friendly. There are many choices when it comes to food and your preferred tipple. Lunch, Dinner Walking distance from the Timbertown Motel is the Bago
Australian Road Rider3 min readAutomotive
A Classic Love
My V7 Sport is still a bike I’ll never sell and still love to ride, despite it being 50-odd years old. I’ve been riding over 40 years, with six Guzzis, five Ducatis, 10 Beemers, many Triumphs and Nortons all passing through my shed at one time or ano
Australian Road Rider8 min readTechnology & Engineering
Whatz New
Respected author Ian Falloon is back with another motorcycle history book, this time an updated edition about Moto Guzzi, now encompassing its first 100 years. The oldest European motorcycle manufacturer in continuous production, Italy’s Moto Guzzi h
Australian Road Rider7 min read
When Guzzi Blew Them Away
On the shore of Lake Como at Moto Guzzi’s factory, there’s a unique, odd-shaped historic building quietly tucked away in a corner of the site that is almost 70 years old – a wind tunnel. Carlo Guzzi had a vision: With the increasing performance of ra
Australian Road Rider12 min read
Uluru Odyssey
Uluru was closing. There would be no more climbing of Australia’s giant monolith, and I wanted to get there while I still had the chance. That was the goal. The plan was to take a brand-new SWM RS650R from my East Coast home across the Great Dividing
Australian Road Rider2 min readAutomotive
Last Look
It came from New Zealand, was about as radical as you could get and looked like changing the world… but it didn’t, for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which was that its innovative engineer creator, John Britten, died young. Back in 1991, Britte
Australian Road Rider1 min read
That Bike Of Yours
Every issue we’re giving away this beaut pack of Motul cleaning gear worth $49.95. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is send us a pick of your shining steed and we’ll pick what we think is the best shot and comment and the top blok
Australian Road Rider5 min read
Covid Blues
Blue and reds flashing in the mirrors. Bugger, I wonder if they got me as I came off that dirt road and gave old Big Red a gutful. Despite her age she can get up and boogie. Nowadays there’s no way she could out-run the latest BMW Highway Patrol car,
Australian Road Rider1 min read
Competition
Ducati Scrambler Café Racer Retro style, 17-inch laced wheels, two cylinders and lighter than the Thruxton RS — but it’s down on power. Kawasaki Z900RS Café Based on a later generation of café racers, this four cylinder bike offers a sound and feel v

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