Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 168 i Australian Road Rider

I bet there were some stormy arguments at BMW a few years back. “Our touring bikes are more comfortable, better handling, lighter, smoother and less expensive than the Harleys and Indians,” an engineer would be saying. “The marketing department just needs to get Americans to ride the bikes and they will know they are better machines,” he would continue. “We have been trying to do that for decades,” a veteran of the marketing department would respond. “It’s not about the bikes. Our touring bikes are the best in the world. But Americans, they don’t buy touring bikes, they buy Baggers.” “Isn’t that a touring bike with pannier bags?” the engineer fires back. “No,” says a voice from the other end of the room. “And that’s your problem,” says the wise…

Just 20 examples of Indian’s special Elite baggers are coming to Australia. A dozen examples of the Challenger Elite ($45,995) and just eight Chieftain Elite ($49,995) machines are expected to make their way to our shores. Indian claims they “deliver the ultimate in style and exclusivity”. “From factory-custom details to premium amenities and advanced ride-enhancing technology, we left no stone unturned when designing our new Elite baggers,” said Aaron Jax, vice-president of Indian Motorcycle. “Whether you prefer the liquid-cooled power and performance of the Indian Challenger or the more organic growl and unmatched air-cooled power of the Chieftain, these two Elites elevate both platforms with gorgeous custom-inspired design elements straight from the factory.” The new bikes are arriving soon. See your Indian dealer for more information. CHIEFTAIN ELITE “Designed for…

And so the circle of life gets ever closer to the starting point. You know how it goes. We start out helpless, incontinent and talking gibberish. A lifetime later, we end up helpless, incontinent and talking gibberish. Bad jokes aside, there’s plenty of truth within those extremes. In the very early years of my motorcycling life, for example, I mostly rode alone, just as I find myself doing once again in my dotage. Apart from writing this column every two months, I am to all intents and purposes retired. It’s something I never thought about for the first 67 years of my life, but I’m rapidly getting used to it. The absence of income is the only scary bit. Instead of earning a quid and slowly accumulating wealth as I…

Maybe BMW was grumpy Harley-Davidson decided to build an adventure bike, or maybe the Germans finally decided they weren’t going to make new headway in the American touring market without some classic style. I really don’t know why BMW decided to build a German version of the Grand American Tourer; all I know is they did it, and did it well. Compare the specifications to the big Harley or Indian tourers and the similarities are there: engine capacity, performance, seat height, luggage, wheelbase, weight, fuel capacity… the new Transcontinental slots right in there. Except the Transcontinental isn’t a Grand American tourer – it’s Berlin built and something different. Very different. STYLE AND HISTORY The BMW R 18s are part of the company’s range of heritage machines alongside the R nineT…

One can’t help but feel a bit superior to the great unwashed, sitting at the lights in their very clean SUVs. Whilst they have discussions with their smartphones, I’ll be floating along the back streets, smoothly applying power and brakes, getting me to my destination long before they even start to look for a parking spot. This is the world of the urban sportsbike and it’s best entered on smaller or mid-size machines. Full-size blasters are overkill; the smaller machines make the rider work for maximum safe pace, a riding experience which is very satisfying. Being able to rev the bike without blasting through the speed limit, being able to keep it on the boil without setting land-speed records — heaps of fun. Options for this type of bike are…

Riding new roads will spark excitement in even the most jaded. The panoramic vistas, the smells and sounds, new people and places, anticipation of what the next corner will reveal, and… the peace of the open road. All of these hark back to the reasons most of us started riding in the first place. This is motorcycle touring, and there’s a dish for every taste. One may fancy A-road cruising, B-road sport-touring, or C-road adventure touring. It doesn’t matter which, as boldly going where one has never gone before is a basic human need, one motorcycles fill superbly. It doesn’t matter if you decide to travel solo, with a friend on the back or with a group — each mode has its benefits and challenges. Here at ARR we’ve done…

In my never-ending quest to find the perfect balance between hearing protection and smartphone connectivity, I’ve recently been trying out Plugfones’ individual Bluetooth audio earplugs named Sovereign. At $124.95 they are considerably cheaper than many famous-brand headphones, but they are designed first and foremost with hearing protection as their primary responsibility, which is the most important thing to me. I rode for more than 35 years without being able to listen to music or my phone, but I’ve long ridden with hearing protection. In the box is a case, in the case are spare earplug tips, a charging cable and the charging case. In the charging case are the two Sovereign earplugs. The plugs themselves are rated to six hours, the case for 24 hours of charge. They are supplied…

LOOKING BACK I had the opportunity to ride a Honda CX500 recently… no big deal you’re thinking, just a slightly overweight shaft-driven all-rounder from the late 1970s… until you realise I got to ride the rare turbocharged model. When I was a teenager, turbos were going to change motorcycling. They were going to be the standard way to get high performance and fuel economy, the way to prevent bikes getting bigger and bigger, heavier and heavier. Of course, it didn’t work. Honda introduced the CX500 Turbo and the larger CX650 Turbo and ended up being the only manufacturer to have two factory-built turbos; each of the other Japanese manufacturers stopped at one. I know why now. Apart from the price (stupid high), perceptions of unreliability (turbocharging was a great way…

“Increasing fuel prices are expected to keep motorcycle sales strong despite the inflationary pressures increasing the price of many new bikes,” ARR has been told. Our industry insider, who does not want their identity revealed, believes big bike sales will soften, adventure and off-road will remain buoyant, but small bikes might boom as people look for ways to spend less on travel. “Sydney had its wettest start to the year ever and yet despite that, scooter and small bike sales are very strong and I put that down to fuel prices. With petrol running to over $2 a litre and the government excise – temporarily cut in half by the Morrison government in a vote-buying exercise – expiring, drivers will feel the pain at the pump. Many people are expected…

In 2023 Ducati takes over as the sole supplier of machinery for the MotoE World Championship, the electric racers that may one day take over the premier class. Ducati CEO, Claudio Domenicali, has ridden the new bike and is impressed. “A few weeks ago I had the extraordinary opportunity to ride the Ducati MotoE on the track and I immediately realised that I was living in an historic moment. The world is going through a complex period and environmental sustainability is an element that all individuals and all companies must consider a priority if we want to preserve the delicate balance of the planet. At Ducati, we have grasped this need and we went in search of a challenge that would allow us to contribute to the common goal of…

It’s the 30th year of the Ducati Monster, with the first model launched way back in 1992. Today, we’re back to one open-class Monster, and interestingly it’s also a 900 – well 937cc to be exact. It’s still aimed at being a great city bike and fun weekend ride – sporty without having an aggressive riding position, fast without being threatening, good-looking and easy to live with. Of course there are no interchangeable parts with the original air-cooled machine – indeed, this model represents a real break with the past. The trellis frame is now completely gone, replaced with a chassis that uses the engine not just as a stressed member, but as the basis for the chassis itself, with front and rear sections of the frame bolted on. Where…

If the first motorcycle race happened just after the second motorcycle was built, this article is about the descendants of those machines. Many believe a motorcycle should be two wheels, an engine, a seat and some footpegs. The ARR crew is a bit more diverse than that, with passions for race bikes, cruisers, adventure machines and lots more among the people who put the magazine together, but there’s definitely a shared passion for simple high performance. Of course, we’ve come a long way from a powerful engine and a set of wheels — the poor-handling, difficult-to-ride and impossible-to-stop Superbikes of the 1970s meant development of sticky tyres, stiff chassis, effective suspension, powerful brakes and lightweight wheels brought handling and control to big road burners as we raced into the 21st…

The loud bang and the crunching sound of breaking plastic when we were hit still stands out in the memory. The bike seemed to bounce off the side of the black SUV, skidding sideways on the wet road, yet somehow I managed not to drop it. I thought our trip was over. I could see the left mirror and indicator were gone and I thought the left pannier and fairing were probably busted too. And what about the frame? Was it damaged? We were in the northern US state of Montana, 13,000km from home, and still had more than 2000km to ride back to Phoenix, Arizona. This could ruin a holiday. We had just spent two weeks in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia after riding there from…

Kabuto made its name as a manufacturer of quality helmets decades ago with advanced aero technology, smoothing out the way helmets punch through the air at high speed through wind tunnel development and its patented Wake Stabiliser. Making helmets in Japan but also keeping them affordable has helped Kabuto become one of the best-known brands around. The current top-of-the-range model is the RT33, nominally a sports-touring helmet but a model that is very versatile and gets used everywhere. The shell is five-layer Advanced Composite Technology: maybe not as light as carbon fibre, but nowhere near as expensive, either. Behind the shell is a dual-density EPS layer and the Coolmax removable/washable lining. The RT33 is glasses friendly, has lots of ventilation, has a Pinlock-ready thick visor (with lots of tint and…

“…YOUR STORY WILL RESONATE WITH OTHER READERS…” Australian Road Rider would like to publish your touring and travel stories. The magazine prides itself on the quality and diversity of its touring and travel articles and we’d like to include more from readers such as yourself. It doesn’t matter if your rides are close to home or on the other side of the planet – to others they will be stories of destinations far and wide. Your travels are unique, as is your perspective on the journey and the places you visited along the way. Where you ate, what you saw and the experiences you had are the result of planning, luck and maybe the companions you rode with. There’s a really strong chance your story will resonate with other readers…

As this issue of Australian Road Rider goes to press, rumours Royal Enfield is about to introduce a production version of the SG650 concept bike shown here are firming. Indeed, ARR has been invited to fly to Bangkok, Thailand in early August to attend the launch of a new bike… with Royal Enfield being hush-hush about what the bike will be. We are expecting a new 500cc single at some stage, but we also expected more variants to the 650s twin platform, which has been so successful raising the profile of the brand. The SG650, which will probably be known as the Shotgun, is expected to use the same motor as the GT and Interceptor, although we hope it’s an updated version of the powerplant. LAMS approval, a low, single…

It’s been cold, miserable and wet. You’re pacing around the house driving your partner mad. Every time the sun peeks out, you take the bike for a quick spin between rain squalls. Every now and then you get caught in a deluge and come home soaked to the skin, having forgotten the waterproofs, again. When the weather gets you down you yearn for a ride. A long, dry, warm ride. A good mate and regular riding buddy came around and invited me for a ride to meet his old uni mates. Bill and another regular riding mate who lives here, Grant, went to the same university and have mates from all those years ago who still ride. How could I resist? It’s a ride, so I’m in. That’s how I…

It was someone else’s bike, a long way from home. Travelling out of Mexico to the US of A, we crossed the border into Texas from the notorious Nuevo Laredo border town, where it’s not unusual for gangs to hang their rival’s corpse off the freeway overpass. It’s a culture shock that made us very happy to cross into the land of the free after six months south of the border. We met up with the group, a mix of Aussies who had flown over and hired bikes to join us for a ride and some of my American mates who planned a trip through the heart of the great Republic of Texas. Ron, Hans, Jay and their mates made us very welcome. They had their bikes all fettled and…

It’s raining hard. I’m chilled to the bone. The raincoat I’m using to substitute the touring jacket that was misplaced by an airline somewhere between Sydney and Bucharest along with everything else inside my kit bag is keeping my chest dry. But the rubbish bags I threaded around my legs blew away minutes after we hit the road this morning, leaving everything between my waist and knees soaking wet. I’m on day three of what was meant to be the ride of a lifetime in Romania with Nazario, an old friend from Spain I hadn’t seen in years, but everything is going wrong. On top of the near-constant rain and frigid June weather, our lives are continually put on the line by Romanian drivers who don’t give a rat’s arse…

Former builder Chris Dibb owned a Suzuki Katana back when he was young and the bikes were the sports machines of choice for thousands of young men around the world. Now he has another. “I used to own one back in the day and I love the look of them,” he told me during the photo shoot. Not an atypical reason for owning a classic, the passion for what was hot when you were young often drives the market for bikes eligible for historic registration. “It’s been very enjoyable as a standard bike with a few modern-day extras. I try to keep it in that era, with a lot of polishing to bring it back to the original condition. I get many comments about what a lovely bike it is…