Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 152 i Australian Road Rider

The famous fundraising duo, Tex and Bundy, are coming to the end of their motorcycling days together, with Bundy retiring from motorcycle riding after more than 10 years on the bike and raising over six million dollars for charity. The good news is Tex is currently training Rebel — a two-year-old cattle dog — to continue Bundy’s great work. Altogether, trio Tex, Bundy and Rebel are raising money for the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation (POWHF), with all funds going directly towards the therapy dog program for patients at the Prince of Wales Hospital. Tex and Bundy are strong supporters of mental health and veteran health affairs as Tex was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a few years after leaving the military. Bundy is also an ambassador of…

Choices about “life partners” and where you’d like to live are emotionally charged and often filled with compromise. So it goes with motorcycles. Australian Road Rider’s advice on relationships and real estate would be crap, but we can help with motorcycles. Consider the hyper-nakeds, essentially Superbikes without the bodywork and clip-ons. Serious performance with less compromise. The practical Superbikes, as it were. They are the best choice for having your high-performance cake and eating it too. Not quite as “track fast” as the plastic-covered missiles, but way better at 60km/h on a congested road and even running through tight corners. The Aprilia Tuono Factory has always been a hyper-naked class leader. The MY19 bike makes another big step forward with the fitment of Öhlins semi-active suspension. The electronics package has…

Indian Chief Dark Horse — from $30,995 ride away More cruiser than performance, but this American machine is super-sculptured in its style and finish. With similar engine capacity from the Thunderstroke 111 motor, there’s heaps of torque on offer, but it doesn’t rev like the Suzuki. At 332kg it’s a big, heavyweight cruiser but its modern design makes it a credible competitor. Harley-Davidson FXDR 114 — from $35,495 This would be about the sportiest HD in the catalogue and broadly similar to the Boulevard in style. Same 1868cc Milwaukee-Eight motor as the Breakout, making identical torque as the Suzuki at close to same revs. Weighs 303kg, which is significantly lighter, so performance should be better. Same tyre sizes and USD fork matched to twin 4-pot calipers bring it even closer…

Is there anything worse than parking your bike, then discovering a cop has just boxed you into the spot with his patrol car and has that look on his face every P-plater hates to see? I had parked the bike so it could be photographed for this Australian Road Rider test, but first I would be “blowing in the bag” (as my old man calls it, no idea why a plastic box is called a bag) and getting my licence checked — again. I’m legal though, so once he’s done that I discover the real reason he pulled over. “I just got the same bike a week ago, how do you like it so far?” I breathe a sigh of relief. We start to chat about the bike — he…

They are round, black and stop your rims being scratched by the asphalt, right? And it’s a known fact that motorcycle tyre manufacturers are ripping off bike riders because car tyres easily last three, four or 10 times longer than bike tyres, yet bike tyres cost more. And bike shops rip us off because they won’t patch a tyre with a damaged sidewall, making us buy a new tyre instead. All of the above are urban myths, probably generated by cranky people who don’t really understand what a tyre does, how it does it and why you can’t safely repair the sidewall of a tyre. Motorcycle tyres are designed to be leaned over, up to 66 degrees if your name is Marc Marquez and you’re on your way to winning…

Do you do the dreaded east-west commute? Travelling east every morning and west every afternoon means riding into a rising sun and setting sun during the winter months, and often a tinted visor isn’t enough so your left hand comes off the ’bars to block the light. The solution is a multipurpose helmet like the AGV AX9 I was recently asked to test. With its peak in place it’s an adventure helmet, which is just what you need for that winter commute, shading your eyes from the direct sun. It also converts quickly to a conventional road helmet and the visor can be switched out for goggles in the dirt. The AX9 is a modern helmet constructed of carbon+Aramid+glass with removable/washable padding, excellent ventilation and an aerodynamic design. The AGV…

With the Triumph Speed Twin tested in this issue, renowned luggage manufacturer Hepco & Becker has released a range of options to suit the new machine. Using its C-bow mounting system, which allows for secure key locking, it’s really easy to fit and detach the new bags. The soft streetbags are shown (but there are other options). These feature an internal bag for waterproofing, 22-litre capacity, an external zip compartment, and a shoulder strap for when you’re off the bike. The bags are attached securely to the motorcycle and stay in position even when loaded. motorcycleadventure.com.au RRP: C-Bow Holder $295, Soft Bag Set $326…

I packed track leathers because I have them. I was going to a track and wasn’t thinking too hard. See, when I go to Sydney Motorsport Park it’s to go fast, get the knee down and write about how the latest sportsbike feels. Except, not this time. Today I was dressed all wrong. You don’t need full leathers for the Harley-Davidson Softail Experience. What you need is decent riding gear and a desire to try out a bunch of the new Harley-Davidson Softails in a controlled environment, where you can enjoy these new bikes without worrying about traffic, cops, people turning right in front of you, errant animals or oil on the road. You don’t even have to worry about being overtaken, because that’s against the rules. The Softail experience…

Riding an Aprilia Tuono Factory that started life just like the machine Australian Road Rider has tested in this issue, Rennie Scaysbrook has won the heavyweight motorcycle category of the Pikes Peak challenge. The victory has been sometime coming, with highly competitive runs in the past and some very tight finishes, but until now Scaysbrook wasn’t able to break through for a win. Scaysbrook set a new course record along the way, but the event was soured by the death of Carlin Dunne, a multiple former champion. Dunne was killed after he crashed his prototype Ducati Panigale Streetfighter just 400m from the finish line of the hill climb. “The event was spectacular, until we heard of Dunne’s accident. Carlin was a huge part of my Pikes Peak experience, helping me…

We head out of Dubrovnik and say goodbye for now to the awesome views from the clifftops of the Dalmatian Coast. We have three quick border crossings scheduled before lunchtime and we can’t afford too many delays, so we make up time with some spirited riding, first in Bosnia and Herzegovina and then back into Montenegro. We head back into Durmitor National Park via Pluzine and are straight back into the wilderness, climbing through rough-cut tunnels along sections of dirt on our way towards the peaks of the park. The ride is awesome and one of the best so far. Montenegro is a real eye-opener with some great natural scenery, and is merely waiting for tourism to arrive. For now we feel really lucky to have experienced this county in…

When we got invited to the Australian launch of the new Royal Enfield 650 twins (ARR#151) I dug out my coolest open-face lid, then looked around for some worthy eyewear to go with it. I’d seen the Ugly Fish stand at the last Sydney Bike Expo and gave them a shout to see if they’d like to furnish me with a pair of their excellent-looking and protective motorcycle sunnies. Ugly Fish makes a ton of different styles for everything from fishing to workplace safety or simply lounging in the sun drinking a cold one. They have plenty of motorcycle-specific frames ranging in price from 60 to 150 bucks that feature shortened arms to better fit inside a lid (also interchangeable with a supplied head strap if you’d prefer), as well…

There was a 20-knot cross wind, my elbows were mashed against my knees and therefore sticking out into the breeze, and I couldn’t get my head down behind the screen properly. Despite this, the speedo needle was pointing to 310km/h. It was 1999, I was at the Australian launch of the then-new Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa, and going that fast is something I hadn’t done before and haven’t done since (well, maybe for a nanosecond at the end of the main straight at Phillip Island). We had 3km of Avalon Airport runway that day, but the conditions weren’t ideal, that’s for sure; the crosswind meant leaning into the breeze just to go in a straight line. A combination of my physique sticking out into the wind and a lack of bravery…

The Moto Guzzi V85 TT — a classically styled mid-range Adventure bike — is now available with prices starting at $18,890. With the Adventure and Scrambler genres both doing very well, the new Moto Guzzi looks like slotting in between the two — more off-road capable than most Scramblers, not as aggressive as most Adventure bikes. It’s also an important new model for Moto Guzzi, representing the first of a new breed of models with some significant structural changes to the platform. The chassis is all-new, the first from Moto Guzzi to feature a combination of steel tubes bolted to the engine as a stressed member, aluminium details and a strong subframe to support a passenger and luggage. "THE V85 TT IS THE ONLY BIKE IN ITS CLASS TO RUN…

After I had a lean few months of not riding anything, the heavens open to deliver a pair of uber-desirable test bikes! First a famine, then a flood. Shame about the weather. The older I get, the more intolerant I am of a lot of things. Rain and the cold are among them, especially at the same time. How I wish I could turn the clock back 30 years or so to when I was a full-time motorcycle journo on the now defunct Two Wheels magazine. My commute was 70km each way and I rode to work almost every single day, rain, hail or shine. We were staunch, man! These days I am semi-retired and work from home. If I need to go out, I drive my ute. Like me,…

This is the latest iteration of the Suzuki M109R called the Black Edition, a name I checked twice given the amount of glaringly white pearlescent paint on our test bike (it makes a bit more sense with the more subdued Candy Red version). A combination of gloss and matte black parts make up just about everything that’s not bodywork or wheels, the acres of white on our bike split down the middle by a bold, metal-flake-blue stripe running from nose to tail. It’s a striking look that helps make the bike appear lower and longer — as if it needs help in that department with a wheelbase of 1710mm and a 705mm seat height. When I was doing my research on the M109 (and you lot think we just make…

The conversation went a little like this. Me to the pillion in a million, “You don’t mind if I clear off with the mistress for a few weeks, do you?” Her reply, “No dear. Of course not, but be careful.” What a woman. She knows me well. The mistress, of course, is “Big Red” the Beemer. She’s primped, preened, loaded with fresh rubber and ready for a hot lap — of Australia. While we’re both going to miss the pillion in a million, this ride is with good mates and with a purpose dear to my heart. Most readers know my previous work history, but if you’re new here, I was a police officer for many years. I’ve had a few mates pay the ultimate price, quite a few damaged…

CRUISETEC Gutless, lame cruisers have given way to asphalt-melting muscle bikes in recent years, with many new models having arm-wrenching power and rubber-melting torque available at the flick of the wrist. And that’s just the power outputs. Over the last decade or so we’ve also seen a huge improvement in the handling of cruisers and American-style tourers as well. Maybe it started with the release of the Indian range, but whatever caused it, the current crop of cruisers from Triumph, Indian, the Japanese and especially Harley-Davidson are much, much better at going around corners than their predecessors. So where once upon a time most standard cruisers struggled to outdrag a Commodore from the lights, today they will not only leap from the lights, they will also get through the twisties…

Not far outside Sydney is one of Australia’s most popular motorcycle roads, the snaking piece of tarmac following the Hawkesbury River starting at Wisemans Ferry. The Wisemans Ferry Hotel is a popular joint for riders to enjoy a nice (if a little expensive) lunch, but if you go there from Sydney then head home afterwards, you’ve missed the best part of the ride. The Wisemans Ferry Road to Wollombi is great, twisting and turning as it follows the river through small towns, farms and national parks. There are great little spots along the way, like Spencer (with its sign proclaiming it to be the “Hub of the Universe”, and who are we to argue?), Kulnura and Laguna on the way to Wollombi, which is more of a tourist town than…

LOOKING BACK There’s a feature in this issue on the Suzuki Hayabusa. It was first launched in 1999, but that year Yamaha released the sportsbike of the year, the limited-edition YZF-R7, which was also known as the OW-02. Even by 1999 Yamaha didn’t see a future in 750cc sportsbikes, but the Superbike World Championship was limited to 750cc for four-cylinder bikes, so for its superstar rider, Noriyuki Haga, the company built a very special machine. The R7 featured titanium valves, conrods and top-shelf Öhlins suspension, wrapped in a chassis derived from the 500cc Grand Prix era. In standard trim the bike cost more than 50 grand and produced just 106hp… racers were expected to stump up for the race kits, which could boost the horsepower to 165 but added over…