Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 143 i Australian Road Rider

Here’s one for the, "umm… okay…" file. It seems members of the Indian army have set a new world record — with 58 men riding on a single motorcycle. Must have been a bit light-on for skirmishes and battles on the sub-continent that day. The stunt was performed by the oddly named Tornadoes, a motorcycle display team of the army’s logistics arm, Army Service Corps. Dressed in the colours of the Indian flag (clever that), they flanked either side of the moving 500cc Royal Enfield (of course), covering a distance of 1.2km at Yelahanka Air Force Station in southern Bengaluru city. Says a bit for the Enfield, huh? The act was performed for the Guinness Book of World Records, Limca Book of Records and Unique World Records, according to local…

Baby Bear, as Goldilocks so convincingly proved, got it just right. Not too hot, not too cold. Not too high, not too low. Not too hard, not too soft. Just right. This is Baby Bear’s Multistrada. The smallest Multistrada is not too roadie, not too adventury. Not too high-tech, not too low-tech. Not too big, not too small. Not too tall, not too short. And certainly not too expensive, not at around 20 grand ride-away. After about 2500km on it, I’m convinced it has established the sweet spot for Multistrada design. I’ve spent a lot of time on Multistradas and have developed a real affinity for Papa Bear’s 1200 Enduro, but the Goldilocks inside me is telling me I’m wrong. You see, even though the new 950 and mighty 1200…

I was going to start this article with a couple of paragraphs of facts and figures showing how well Polaris as a company and Indian as a brand have done in the last 12 months or so. However, after she’d cast a shrewd eye over the copy my pet copy-editor (or my wife as most people call her) asked when I was going to actually talk about the bike. So in a nutshell, by the third quarter of 2017, Indian had increased its market share from only three per cent in 2016 to well over 10 per cent — particularly noteworthy in the face of an overall declining market. Hand-in-hand, the value of Polaris’ shares have soared dramatically while those of its main motorcycle rival, Harley-Davidson, have gone in the…

SCOUT BOBBER From $18,995 ride away Colours: Indian Motorcycle Red, Thunder Black, Bronze Smoke, Star Silver Smoke, Thunder Black Smoke SCOUT UPDATED FOR 2018 From $19,495 ride away Scout has had some strong updates for 2018. It will now come as standard with a pillion seat on the rear and foot pegs for a passenger. The Scout’s existing telescopic front forks have now been replaced with cartridge forks, and Pirelli tyres as standard. Scout’s existing colours of Thunder Black, Burgundy Metallic and Brilliant Blue over White will continue for 2018, but will be joined by two new colour schemes — Metallic Jade and a Willow Green/Ivory Cream. SPRINGFIELD DARK HORSE From $34,995 ride away Like the other existing Dark Horse models, the Springfield Dark Horse has matte black paint with…

A midsummer ride in NSW’s Central West was always going to be risky weather-wise, but the Sky Gods cut us some slack. The plan was hatched with the “Grey Ghosts” months ago to ride out via the Putty Road and the Hunter to Mudgee astride a “Triumphant Quartet” comprising a pair of sensational Triples, the new Bonnie Bobber and tenacious Tiger Explorer 1200. Of course, a ride anywhere should begin with the Putty Road, so after a fortifying Big Breakfast at McGraths Hill, the four follicly challenged riders headed north on Sydney’s arguably greatest riding road to Denman in the lower Hunter for lunch. Unsurprisingly, the two Triples (a Street 765 R and Speed 1050 R) set the pace, with Paul in his usual lead position and the rest trying…

The plane descended into Cape Town on a beautiful clear late-winter afternoon and we were greeted with superb views of the iconic Table Mountain and the city. Later we were to join Charley Boorman for his first tour since his terrible motorcycle accident 18 months prior. With our new BMW R1200, F800 and F700 GS bikes collected, we left Cape Town in very wet weather, so wet in fact that it had caused a landslide on the Chapman’s Peak drive, forcing a detour on our first ride. We eventually reached the western-most point of the African continent at the beautiful Cape of Good Hope, home to countless baboons and, surprisingly, beachside ostriches. Seeing whales as we rode added to what was already a great day. Riding out of the clouds…

Ok, folks, forget the argument about whether or not Donald Trump is mad, bad, an alien from Planet Idiot — or all three. Ignore the #MeToo brouhaha as well. The karma fairies will take care of it. As for climate change, it’s a third-tier issue compared with the great moral and ethical question I want to put to you today — which is: If, or when, you can no longer ride your motorcycle, would you compromise the purity and joy of the motorcycling experience in return for extending your riding life, by putting your money down on a trike? If your answer is yes, Harley-Davidson might just have what you’re looking for. For the first time, its trikes are now available as series production models in Australia, with full dealer…

HEDON HEROINE The exclusive European helmet brand Hedon recently launched its first full-face model in Australia. It’s called the Heroine — and like most Hedon lids it features bespoke retro styling with a modern construction and uses exotic materials throughout. The Heroine comes in two variants: Classic and Racer. Both feature fine calf leather, brass fittings, Merlin fabric lining, three-channel ventilation and a lightweight carbon-fibre shell. The Classic has no visor, so it can be worn with goggles. The Racer, however, has a flat anti-fog visor that closes over a wide-aperture opening. The Heroine range is available in a wide variety of colour schemes. Price: Classic $849 Racer $1100 Visit: hedon.com TOMTOM RIDER 450 GPS • Winding roads Find the most exciting winding roads and avoid the boring straights. Select…

So, you’d like to see your beastie featured here? Only too happy to oblige... Send a good pic and a bit of a blurb on your bike to gleech@universalmagazines.com.au or message us on Facebook.…

What a charming little bike. I’ve been hanging for a ride on the relaunched V7 Guzzi for years but the planets never aligned, so I was especially chuffed to have one for a fortnight to get to know it well. My test bike was a new Series III Special, a stablemate to the stripped-back Stone and the sporty Racer, all of which share the same basic chassis and engine. Although to untrained eyes they look almost identical, changes from the Series II models are significant. The engine is still OHV and just two per cylinder, but has been redesigned from its lightened crankshaft up to its hemispherical combustion chambers, and looks much beefier with extra finning on the heads and redesigned rocker covers. It also has a new adjustable traction-control…

Next time you stroll up to a Fireblade — or if you’re lucky throw a leg over — spare a thought for the “father” of the series, Tadao Baba. The project leader on the first ’Blade, and many subsequent models, comes across as the sort of nutter we’d all like to spend a bit of time with. We’re talking of a gent with no formal training beyond high school, but who joined Honda when it had been going just 10 years and worked his way up through the ranks. A bloke who started off machining engine cases for CB72s, he managed to turn the sports bike world upside down through sheer bloodymindedness. The first Fireblade really was that important in its day. Why? Because it was the size and weight…

“Are they going to take my leg off?” As Tyson Clark was shunted between doctors and specialists, that thought crossed his mind many times. Then thoughts changed to how many of his mates would be happy to just lose a leg and not their life. Tyson, after all, was a soldier and somewhat immune to the terrible toll war takes on human beings after tours of Afghanistan and Iraq. His mind in turmoil, Ty began wondering how he could fulfil his dream of riding a motorcycle around the world. I first met Ty at the 2015 Sydney Motorcycle Expo when he purchased a couple of our books and my wife Shirley discussed sending him a copy of our then unpublished, The Long Way to Vladivostok. He handed her his business…

“It seems like I’m the only member of the family who has inherited my father’s love of motorcycles and that passion helps me connect with him” In truth, this story begins in January 1952 when two 20-something adventurers climbed aboard a spluttering 1939 Norton 500cc motorbike, dubbed La Poderosa (“The Mighty One”), and set out from Buenos Aires on a grand adventure across South America. That “grand adventure” evolved into the seminal book and film, The Motorcycle Diaries, which quickly rose to cult status and set in train a series of momentous events that preceded my arrival in Havana. The man at the centre of these events was none other than Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the Argentinean Marxist revolutionary and posthumous pop art icon who, along with Fidel Castro, yanked Cuba…

Don’t forget to write! We mean it. We love to hear from you and everyone else does too; these pages are among the most popular in the magazine. Preferably, keep letters under 300 words so we can fit more in, though we will allow the odd exception without taking to it with the editorial knife. Yes, we will chop ’em when we have to. Do include your real name and some contact details just in case we need to clarify something. Please write to gleech@universalmagazines.com.au or send mail to Road Rider, Unit 5, 6–8 Byfield Street, North Ryde NSW 2113. TALL IN THE SADDLE Your launch story for the new KTMs in issue 140 was, as usual, entertaining and informative, but it might be time for a magazine like Road…

LOOKING BACK Talk about automotive achievement. Imagine wandering into your shed to muck about with a few motorcycle bits, and coming out a few months later with something that wins a national championship and goes on to set a heap of world records in the bargain. John Britten thought big — some would say too big — but he had that magic ability to not only conceptualise and technically plan, but also the smarts to actually fabricate those dreams into hardware that worked, and was groundbreaking and totally different from the mainstream. A rare talent indeed. All of that was thrown into stark reality when it came to the production and implementation of the V1000 from 1991 to 1998. In 1992, motorcycle scribe Alan Cathcart heaped praise on the bike,…