BLOG                                                     Subscribe to our RSS Feed

Another month as passed which means another new lot of prizes

Congratulations to Peter and Kevin who won last months giveaways

Remember anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw.

This months freebies:
1. One Crazy Rider - DVD by Gaurav Jani
2. A Meguiar's cleaning power pack

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Sydney riders, listen up! This could save your license

We have obtained some info about a covert operation running out of the NSW Police Traffic Services unit at Eastern Creek.

The Boys in Blue have two Honda Blackbirds which are set up with radar and camera for mobile detection of speeding vehicles (spell that m-o-t-o-r-c-y-c-l-e-s. One of the ‘Birds is blue, but we don't know the other colour.

It seems that this is a top secret operation; some of the Highway Patrol blokes we know hadn't even heard of it – and they ride the “proper” stickered-up Police bikes!

Remember when the cops had Mini Coopers? They were frequently accused of “pushing” drivers to speed. Well, from what we’ve been told those days might be back with the advent of these bikes.

“They follow you and sit quite close to you,” says our informant, “which in turn makes you accelerate away from them, which is the time they lock you in on the radar and snap away. [Expletive deleted]”

When you receive the penalty notice it comes with a letter explaining you have been nabbed by a covert unit. Presumably this would come from the State Debt Recovery Office?

Oh, and this “new” method of keeping us all safer is allegedly not restricted to the two Blackbirds. There are some Plain Jane cars out there as well with the same equipment, but we haven't been able to find out what type they are.

“They are only supposed to be patrolling the main roads,” according to our informan, “as in the M4, M7, M5, M2 and the F3, but knowing these [expletive deleteds], they could be anywhere!”

So don’t let anyone hustle you into speeding. Obey the law, the way we know you always do! Right?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

How long are we going to put up with this?

The Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads has tender number RSSM0610 out for the “Investigation of Zero Blood Alcohol Concentration for all Motorcycle Riders in Queensland”.

It is to “Provide research services to inform the development of government policy in relation to possible road safety benefits of introducing a reduced general limit (as defined in s.79A Transport Operations Road Use Management Act 1995) or zero blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for all motorcycle riders.”

I don’t think it is really necessary for me to go into details why this is a totally unacceptable project. Resons include punishing the victims, loss of civil liberties and so on and so on.

Let me just say this: if you put up with this, you deserve everything the bureaucrats hand out to you.

Stand up for yourselves, Queenslanders, as the Taswegians stood up for themselves when the government tried to impose a “safety” levy down there. Unlike the supine Victorians, who copped it. Stand up for yourselves and insist on being treated like adults, and like everyone else on the road.

Or suffer the consequences.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Police pull over riders to give safety lectures

Motorcyclists are being stopped by UK police under a controversial government-backed initiative to improve road safety. At least two police forces have begun campaigns that involve stopping riders who have committed no offence in order to give a lecture on safety. Hundreds of motorcyclists have already been stopped by Sussex police and Nottinghamshire police, and the Department for Transport wants all forces to adopt similar methods.

Officers flag down riders and give advice on visibility, speed and road behaviour before handing out high-visibility vests, jackets and backpacks. Chief Inspector Andrew Charlton, Nottinghamshire’s head of roads policing, said motorcyclists had by and large been happy to co-operate and had welcomed the advice. The force plans to step up the campaign.

Critics have said that car drivers are in greater need of road safety advice…”

But it’s the comments I really enjoyed.

Arcot Ramathorn wrote: “Can I give them friendly advice on crime fighting?”

Ian Beech seemed to agree with that feeling: “As a retired Police Officer, Ex-Traffic, qualified Class 1 Rider having held a full M'Cycle license for somewhay over 40 years, I await being pulled over on my Bike with some interest. I may even be able to hand out some words of advice of my own!”

Eric West was a little more blunt: “This is outrageous. The police do not have special powers to detain and annoy. Equally troubling, we're subsidising dozens of fat donut eating safety-nazis rather than hiring useful people like teachers, firemen, nurses. A waste of time and a dreadful infringement on personal privacy. Oh, and of course people are polite. It's natural to fear arrest or the possibility of having your DNA taken or being charged with some trumped up offense. Our police are pigs.”

Similar response from fred smith who wrote: “Interfering morons. What if the person doesn't want a lecture, has he got the right to tell them to bog off? What if he's on his way to an appointment. Is there no end to this corrupt Junta's interference in our every-day lives?

I’ll leave the final word with Andrew Thomas: “It's the dozy old fools in cars who need lecturing on road safety. Maybe then the bike accident statistics will come down.”

So what do you think?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Another month as passed which means another new lot of prizes

Congratulations to Paul and Peter who won last months giveaways

Remember anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw.

This months freebies:
1. Ewan McGregor and Charley Borman's - Long Way Down
2. Harley Davidson 100 years - Celebration of a Legend - by Tod Refferty

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Faster unfaired

This little story from Cruiser+Trike 5 will give you a chance to show just how much you know about motorcycle history...

Harley-Davidson built this EL record bike to promote the power and performance of the recently introduced 1936 overhead valve, 61 cubic inch knucklehead engine. The bike was equipped with twin carburettor and a fuel mixture of alcohol and benzoyl boosted output to 65 horsepower at 5700rpm. The little fairing is actually a half petrol tank.

According to the factory, this bike may well have been the first time streamlining was used in the United States for motorcycle speed record purposes.

Ironically, it didn’t work. When H-D’s factory race team member Joe Petrali set about practice runs at Bonneville Salt Flats, he experienced serious high-speed wobbles several times. The engineers at the site suspected that the streamlined bodywork was the cause. They removed it and taped a conventional seat onto the frame instead.

And lo: that did work. On the 13th of March 1937, Petrali broke the record of 123mph, which had stood since 1926, with two-way timed runs averaging 134.83mph. He bettered that the next day with averaged runs of 136.85mph. Runs were timed electrically by John LaTour, the same man who timed Sir Malcolm Campbell’s record attempts. The record was authenticated by E.C. Smith for the American Motorcycle Association.

Now here’s the trick: one of the assertions in the story above is incorrect. Which is it? Can you work it out - without looking it up? The answer is below. Don’t peek, now!
























Answer: The record runs were made at Daytona Beach, not Bonneville.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Want to know when your bike was mentioned in Australian Road Rider? Or which road to take in some part of Australia you have never explored before? Or, indeed, whether we’ve written anything about that gadget you’re eyeing covetously?

Well, no longer do you have to scrabble through back copies (or write to us and ask us to scrabble through back copies).

The ARR Index has been updated, all the way to issue #57! Go check it out now!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

…and more figures we simply don’t believe.

Here’s another press release from the National Motorists Association of Australia (NMAA) that’s worth reading. Especially in the light if the tragic crash just recently where a truck crossed to the wrong side of the road and killed a motorcyclist and his son, who was riding pillion. This crash happened in Tasmania, but it could happen – and similar things do happen – anywhere in Australia.

Please note that the figures for fatality reduction using speed-limiting GPS come from MUARC, whose figures we… well, let’s say “doubt”. We think these devices would increase the road troll, especially among motorcyclists.

I’d be very interested in your comments.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

National Road Safety Strategy betrayed

The National Road Safety Strategy has been betrayed by the NSW government.

Ten years ago the NSW government made a solemn commitment to the National Road Safety Strategy to reduce road fatalities by 40 per cent, based on 1999 road statistics.

It was recognised by the National Road Safety Strategy that nearly half of the reduction, 47.5 per cent to be precise, would come from government expenditure on road improvements such as divided carriageways. However, our state government failed to make this expenditure.

Instead of expending money on road improvement, the state government decided to focus on one issue: speed detection. With this contrived strategy, the government converted the roads portfolio from being a need for expenditure to being a cash cow for the State Treasury. We have reached the end of a decade of raising revenue from speeding instead of focusing on road improvements and other important factors in improving road safety. The horrific reality is that the population has suffered higher vehicle accident rates and far higher road fatalities than if the previous rate of reduction of fatalities up until 1997 had been maintained.

The focus of enforcement is imbalanced and ineffective, being primarily focused on speed. The reality is that exceeding the speed limit causes a very low percentage of road fatalities. Australian university research has shown that preventing every vehicle from exceeding the speed limit by means of GPS speed controllers would reduce road fatalities by less than 8 per cent and reduce road injuries by less than 6 per cent. It is not appropriate to focus on the cause of less than 8 per cent of fatalities and to ignore the causes for 92 per cent of road fatalities.

The National Road Safety Strategy recognised government expenditure on road improvements, such as divided carriageways, is the most significant means of reducing road deaths and injuries. The state government’s decision to not spend the money on road improvements was an act of betrayal to the National Road Safety Strategy and the public in general.

Divided carriageways on main roads are essential. An example of this construction is the concrete Jersey barrier on Mount Ousley Road. It separates oncoming traffic with a concrete barrier. This barrier effectively prevents most head on crashes that are so devastating to human life.

Providing divided dual carriageways on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne is reported to have reduced road fatalities by 80 per cent.

NMAA spokesman Michael Lane said “The only thing protecting oncoming traffic on most of our main roads is a line painted on the road surface. It’s cheaper for the government to blame the drivers than to make the roads safer. The state government should be improving our road network by providing more overtaking lanes and divided dual carriageways.”

“The small reduction in road fatalities in the past decade is directly attributable to improved vehicle safety that has been provided by vehicle manufacturers. Examples are ABS brakes, air bags and curtains, seat belt reminders and electronic stability control,” Mr Lane said.

Nationally, road fatalities increased by 60 over the previous year. However, in NSW road fatalities increased by 85 over the previous year.

The NMAA calls for improving road safety by three courses of action
• a vastly improved standard of driver training, requiring P-platers to complete a defensive driving course before being granted a full licence
• increased expenditure on roads, such as providing divided carriageways and more overtaking lanes
• employment of more highway patrol officers enforcing all of the road rules, not just the one road rule (speeding) where technology allows the most tickets per hour to be issued.

Mr Lane said “The decade has ended with a horrific toll of human lives on our substandard roads in NSW. Now watch the government spin doctors swing into action as they blame the public as the sole cause of all those fatalities. The government’s next proposed course of action is to increase state revenue with covert speed cameras and to allow private contractors to operate them. The state government has reduced the number of highway patrol officers to cut costs and now wants to use contractors.”

“The NMAA is concerned that the state opposition's main pressure on this issue is that Labor has not rolled out the speed cameras fast enough.” Mr Lane said “I would suggest that both parties are united in their betrayal of the NSW public by seeking revenue over safety. Both Liberal and Labor need to be pressured through the media into a change of policy. I can't see any good in having the opposition intending to do the same thing if elected. The state government cannot be allowed to use the excuse of waiting for the next National Road Safety Strategy to be published when the job of the last ten years is unfinished.”

Mr Lane said “The state’s road revenue strategy has cost hundreds of innocent lives each year for the past decade. We deserve better government than this.”

Big story or bull****?

Here’s an interesting story from Pressmart.com. What do you think of it, applied to magazines like Australian Road Rider and Cruiser+Trike (and this website)?

There was a time when, what you got out of the paper or the publication was the sole product of the news brand and the journalists responsible for telling the story to the masses. The millions of people out there? They were simply consumers, maybe helping to enrich the content through an eye-witness account or some inside information. But their participation was strictly left to the journalist, and the editor.

Today, there's a new form of journalism that materializing right before our eyes. It's called Citizen Journalism, and it's shaking the news tree like never before. Think about it...there are millions of people out there...each with a story, a new perspective, a different experience. With the propagation of modern technology like cell phone cameras, computers and the wealth of outlets the Internet provides, how people get their news is rapidly transforming from one stoic voice to the cry of millions of passionate people looking to be heard.

While the traditional news media has scoffed at the idea that common, everyday citizens have the power to enrich how issues and events are covered, the world is seeing examples of it everyday. The fact that consumers are everywhere, that virtually nothing that happens goes unseen, is creating a market for what's witnessed and bringing to life those first-hand accounts, adding depth and detail to a story.

Saying it is all fine and well, but what are the examples of Citizen Journalism, what's the proof that traditional news media and professional journalism aren't still in the drivers seat? There are hundreds of examples out there but let's just focus on a few.

The shootings at Virginia Tech just a few short years ago, the images from this horrible event weren't captured by a reporter and his trusty cameraman, but instead crudely captured on a cell phone camera...by a student...in real time. The bombings of The Tube in London, the crash of U.S. Airways Flight 1549...all examples of where everyday citizens have taken the lead on a major story, just by being there and having the technology to record the events that would create history.

But, these are major stories and not all news is of this variety. What's great about Citizen Journalism is that it doesn't have to be a headline story or big breaking news. In the digital press, Citizen Journalism can show up as a comment to an article, a piece of local news, a first-hand account of a local town board meeting. There are virtually thousands of avenues that Citizen Journalism can take.

Still, it can be an uncomfortable proposition for a publisher, allowing readers and interested citizens the chance to speak their minds. After all, it's your brand that's behind the story. But it can be controlled, your digital publication getting its proverbial feet wet by allowing simple reader comments to start. Or setting up an open source dialogue between Citizen Journalists and staff journalists. Over time, Citizen Journalism can evolve and become a valuable part of your content, supplementing stories and creating new venues for readers to explore.

Regardless of how uncomfortable the thought of allowing average citizens to create content for your publication, it's happening. Those who accept the change and embrace the propagation of Citizen Journalism, have the opportunity to do so at their own pace. Those who resist, will eventually fall by the wayside, their content diminished by the richness of their competitors.

Drop us a line with your opinions (see, it’s starting already!).

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Another kneejerk reaction from the Queensland government

Incapable of interpreting statistics and unable to come up with sensible idea, the Queensland State government has flagged the idea of zero alcohol limit for Queensland's motorcyclists. Promoted as a response to that state's worrying road toll statistics for 2009, it is in fact more like a populist attack on a pretty much defenceless minority group - motorcyclists.

Motorcycle statistics are showing a rise over the last five years, but the numbers are far below the increase in motorcycle use. In other words, it’s like employing more people in your company and then complaining that the wage bill has risen.

Once you consider the full figures, it looks as if motorcycling is actually becoming safer. But it’s also looking as if the Queensland government would prefer to wipe motorcyclists off the map entirely – witness the nonsensical decision to require potential riders to have a car licence for a year before they can apply for a bike or scooter permit.

And they’re reviving the idea of radio tags for bikes, an invention George Orwell would have loved for his book 1984.

According to the Brisbane Murdoch paper, the Courier Mail: "Queensland Transport is investigating the benefits of a zero alcohol limit as part of its four-year motorcycle safety strategy, along with new technology to prevent bikes escaping speed camera detection.

"Radio Frequency Identification Devices are being developed to help overcome the problem of motorbikes not having a front registration plate by allowing bikes to be identified through other means.”

And it’s never really hard to find someone who hasn’t thought things through to make a comment, is it?

Also in the Courier Mail, the clearly confused Terry Walker of the United Motorcycle Council of Queensland said: "Make it zero tolerance on the road everywhere. But certainly we'd support a zero limit for bikers because you need to be as alert as possible when riding.”

And make motorcyclists wear yellow hats while you’re at it, Terry. And when they’re not on their bikes, make them ride in the back of the bus.

Mate, think before you comment: anything that discriminates against riders only makes it easier to target them.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Another month as passed which means another new lot of prizes

Congratulations to Steve and David who won last months giveaways

Remember anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw.

This months freebies:
1. Charley Borman's Race to Dakar
2. The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Travel by Dale Coyner

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.
Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

And I’ll see you on the road in ’10

The motorcycle industry is still suffering as I write this, but I hope it is in the process of recovering – I’m waiting for the 2009 sales figures and will pass them on when I get them. But it’s important to remember that we, the riders, are not suffering nearly as much. In fact we’ve had a bit of a bonanza with some amazing discounts.

It will get more expensive as the year wears on, and the manufacturers try to claw back some of the money they’ve lost. Yes, they have taken a pretty spectacular bath; one Australian subsidiary lost $33 million in 2009… although worldwide the company lost more than a billion.

Prices are one thing. The unceasing onslaught of restrictive legislation, mainly from State governments, is another threat and it’s one we intend to fight as hard as we can this year. With your help I hope we can roll back some of the more punitive and nonsensical laws and regulations.

But the main thing is to remember to have a good time as we roll into the second decade of the 21st Century.

After a really big and extremely busy year, what with launching Cruiser+Trike and finally (I hope) completing the last of my major non-motorcycle writing projects, I’m declaring 2010 the year of The Rides.

I’ll see you on the road!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

"Motorcycling has lost none of its attraction”

The Vietnamese people use a simple scale from one to ten to judge events, things and feelings. Number 1 is the worst, number 10 is the best. Going with that measurement, next year will be the best one yet.

Let’s hope so.

The problems of the international banking system certainly cast a pall over the motorcycle industry in 2009. We in Australia have been relatively well off; our market is down, but not disastrously. It’s more like a correction after several years of very strong growth. Things have been considerably worse overseas, especially in the US.

What we need to remember, though, is that motorcycling has lost none of its attraction just because the bankies stuffed up. It’s still economical, enjoyable, time-smart and a great way to express yourself. There is no shortage of new bikes – the total number may be down, but if there’s anyone out there who can’t find exactly what they’re looking for (albeit at a price, but it was ever thus) then they’re just plain too fussy.

So I reckon it’s going to be a pretty good year if we only let it!

Just as well. The past year was not really a keeper. Apart from the Big Money Shamozzle or whatever it was called, 2009 also held some more intimate tragedies. Here are just a few.

The greatest shock was the death of David “Davo” Jones, one of the best-loved motorcyclists in Australia. Davo, who rode the new 1400GTR Kawasaki across Australia and back for us, leaves not only a grieving family but also a devastated long distance riding community.
We lost a good friend, and many people lost an irreplaceable mentor.

Very sadly, we also just lost Peter Smith. I’m going to his funeral tomorrow.

Better known as Mr Smith, he enlivened first the pages of BIKE Australia and subsequently Two Wheels with his own anarchic brand of gonzo “journalism”.

Smith was an original, and we shall not see his like again – we’ll have a bit of a tribute in ARR in the New Year.

And Pete Lawrence from Adelaide has news of a truly despicable theft.

"Ian Corlett, late secretary of the SA Historic Motor Cycle Racing Register, passed away just before Easter 2009.

“In a sad postscript to his death, Ian's 1912 Triumph racer was stolen from a locked garage at his family's home in Adelaide in September 2009. Ian's restoration of this bike was a labour of love over a 10 year period. Its last outing was in the parade laps at the 2009 Adelaide Clipsal 500. Ian's Triumph was displayed in pride of place inside the Church at his funeral.

“His family are quite distressed at this loss, and would love to see this tribute to Ian's love of motorcycling returned to them.

“If you see this distinctive and rare Triumph, or any bike which you suspect may be Ian's Triumph, please report the sighting to BankSA Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000."

But that’s all the sadness you’ll get out of me. Now’s the season to be jolly – until ’10 kicks in! It’s going to be a huge year, folks, with lots of projects, trips and other plans.

Hope I survive it.

With good will to all womankind and mankind and whatever other kind there is out there, and all the best wishes to you and yours, your Bear.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Vote and win!

What’s the best bike road you’ve ever ridden? Come on, it’s a simple enough question. We all have favourites, and sometimes those favourites are not at all what someone else might expect. For example, my favourite movie is Julie and Celine Go Boating, or Phantom Ladies Over Paris. Never heard of it? It’s your loss. But I must admit that I’m the only person I know (or have ever heard of) who even likes this film.

So we’re not going to impose anything on you. In the interest of democracy, we’re going to ask you to vote instead. Oh, and I do understand that your “favourite” road might not necessarily be the “best” road you’ve ridden. If there is conflict within your mind about this, and I imagine that, as always, there will be for some people, go for “best”.

Ready to rock? Just answer this question:

What is the best motorcycle road you have ever ridden (anywhere in the world)?

Answers will appear on this website. Make sure you identify the road properly. For example, you might write “Silver City Highway (B79), NSW Australia, Wentworth to Broken Hill”. You might, but we hope you won’t because that road is so boring we’re falling asleep just thinking about it.

Okay? All set? Get your answer in soon and we’ll announce the results on this website and possibly in ARR.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Another month as passed which means another new lot of prizes

Congratulations to Stephen and John who won last months giveaways

Remember anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw.

This months freebies:
1. Ewan McGregor and Charley Borman's Long Way Round
2. Barry - The Story of Motorcycling legend Barry Sheene

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.
Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

As if being a motorcyclist isn’t enough

I’ll bet you sometimes feel that motorcyclists are considered, shall we say, less than completely worthwhile members of society. Someone says “temporary Australia”, someone cuts you off in traffic after making eye contact, your local authorities spend millions of dollars on cycle paths and not a single buck on motorcycle facilities… it can all add up.

But consider me.

I’m a motorcyclist, and I get all that. At a recent school function one of the other dads actually called me a temporary Australian. But for me, that’s not all. As if being a motorcyclist isn’t enough, I’m also a member of “the media”. And if you think you’re reviled for riding a bike, you should hear what we get for riding a word processor.

Most of the time I defend myself and my fellow scribblers by reminding people not to shoot the messenger, and so on, But there are times when I run out of defences… like right now, for example.

In front of me I have a story from the Sydney Morning Herald entitled “Runaway road toll blamed on rise in motorcycle use”. It quotes the director of the NSW Government’s Centre for Road Safety, a certain Soames Job, who apparently said that “a major cause of the sharp increase in the road toll – up from 321 deaths in 2008 to 415 deaths in 2009, as of Wednesday – was the increase in ‘two-wheeled vehicles’.”

Deaths are up 96, a terrible toll. But the story goes on to say that motorcycle fatalities are 65 as opposed to 44 in the previous year. That’s an increase of 21, if my arithmetic serves me, leaving eight additional fatalities among bicyclists and the rest – 68 – to be spread among pedestrians and the occupants of cars.

Now, I feel safe in assuming that in that year, neither the use of their feet by pedestrians nor the use of cars by their drivers has seen much of an increase. But there are lots more bicycles out there, as well as lots and lots more scooters and motorcycles. So in fact the increase in two-wheeled rider fatalities can be explained simply by the increase in the use of two-wheelers. I’ll bet that there is no increase in the rate of fatalities per kilometer travelled – unlike the rates for walkers and drivers.

And yet we get it in the neck with that headline and the story.

The journalist who wrote the story, and the sub who wrote the headline, simply took Mr Job’s interpretation at face value. No attempt to get behind it, no attempt to tell the truth.

No wonder people get annoyed with the “media”.

Oh, and there’s an agenda behind this as well, of course. Mr – sorry, “Dr” Job has “raised the possibility of new laws requiring the riders of mopeds [there are no mopeds in Australia] and motor scooters to wear protective clothing in addition to helmets”.

Protective clothing won’t save your life. But hey – why not stick riders with yet another restriction that doesn’t work?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Try selling to them...

A few years ago, inspired by the large number of empty shops in Sydney’s CBD, I went to one of the more innovative bike importers with an idea. Why not, I suggested, set up simple displays in some of these shopfronts – just some posters and a few bikes or scooters – and use them to either actually sell bikes, or just to refer potential buyers to the nearest bike shops? It would have been an opportunity to reach potential buyers who would never think of setting foot into a suburban bike shop.

That idea now has a name, it seems. It’s called a “pop-up store” and is being used, among others, by eBay to allow shoppers to actually see and touch products before ordering them.

Nothing came of my idea at the time – another case of bears being ahead of the times – but it made me think a little bit more about a recent story we ran in Cruiser+Trike. We looked at buying your accessories on-line (usually from the US) or in a local shop, and concluded that the choice between them is a case-by-case matter. Sometimes it will be better (and possibly cheaper) to buy on-line from overseas, at other times you’d be smarter to stick to your local bike shop.

But the story in the Financial Review which tipped me off to the “pop-up store” name also noted something else that I thought worth passing on. It seems that retailers are fighting back against on-line shopping in an interesting variety of ways.
Let me quote a few sentences.

“Retailers are… trying to make shopping seem fun and exciting… The Walt Disney Company… is rumoured to be redesigning its stores to attract shoppers looking for entertainment, with new features such as magic mirrors, which allow children to play with Disney characters… Stores are also trying to lure customers by offering services that are not available online…”

Now it seems to me that motorcycle shops would be the perfect places to try this.

Apart from improving the standard of service overall (which is something I’ve been banging on about for years, and am frankly tired of pushing), how about making shopping seem fun and exciting? How about providing entertainment? And offering some services that are not available online?

Let’s see, maybe they could encourage the sales force to tell potential buyers what they can do with the bike – other than just imitating the racer du jour? Maybe a selection of pamphlets describing day tours in the general area of the shop, or some recommendations for motorcycle-friendly cafés and good roads to get there? How about a wide screen TV (even my local café has one) showing something other than last week’s racing? Or how about offering a loaner bike when customers leave theirs for service or to have accessories fitted – free of charge?

I know some bike shops already do these things and more. Funny how I hardly ever seem to encounter them, though…

The point, of course, is that these things will make it easier to sell bikes, accessories and services. And that’s something we really need to do in these rather grim days.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

“Please find attached a news release regarding a new road safety campaign aimed at motorcyclists and headed up by five-time 500cc MotoGP World Champion Mock (sic) Doohan,” said the press release from Hughes PR. It included this “fact sheet”. My comments are in red.


• Motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to be killed on SA roads than motorists (I’d love to see the statistics which led to that conclusion. We’ve now been told it’s six times, twenty times, thirty-four times, etc etc. None of these figures that I’ve seen have been backed by credible statistics.)

• Between 2004-2008 there were 94 fatalities, 861 serious injuries and 2826 total casualties from motorcycle crashes (I bet that smoking/drinking/football/you name it caused more fatalities.)

• In 2007 there were 10 fatalities, 174 serious injuries and 620 total casualties from motorcycle crashes (As above.)

• In 2008, motorcycle fatalities increased to 17 and motorcycle injuries accounted for 10% of all compulsory third party (CTP) claims costs (And what percentage was caused by cars?)

• So far in 2009, 12 motorcyclists have died on our roads (That’s terrible. Any death is terrible. And who caused the majority of the crashes that led to death? Drivers, that’s who. This is a checkable statistic. Why didn’t you include that – AND AIM YOUR CAMPAIGN AT THEM?)

• The fatality rate for motorcyclists has remained stable throughout the 2000s, however, total fatalities for all drivers has trended downwards, leaving motorcyclists as an increasing proportion of fatalities (The number of motorcyclists grew almost exponentially in that time, as did the distance they covered. This is a meaningless statistic.)

• In 2008, motorcycle crashes cost the CTP fund $43 million and in the five-year period between 2004-2008, motorcycle crashes cost the CTP fund $185 million (You’re saying you can’t afford to fund your own statutory authorities? Or what?)

• Males between 20 and 45 are the most vulnerable motorcyclists on the road. (Bet they’re not, especially when you include dirt “roads”. Bet the most endangered group is younger.)

• Motorcycling is increasing in popularity, with motorcycle registrations having increased significantly between 2007 and 2008, with registrations of the fuel-efficient scooter increasing by 232% in metropolitan Adelaide (And this is ... bad? By the way, it just proves my point about the increase in riders, above.)

• 35 per cent of motorcycle crashes where the motorcyclist is at fault show they hit a fixed object such as trees, stobie poles or parked vehicles. (They wouldn’t be serious crashes if they didn’t hit something.)

• 58 per cent of motorcycle crashes where the riders is not at fault occur because of collisions at t-junctions or right angle turns, indicating a need for greater vigilance on behalf of other drivers. (Hallelujah! Although of course you mean “on the part of other (?) drivers”)

• Drivers report seeing motorcyclists everyday but say they are more cautious because of the motorcyclists vulnerability and perceived sense of unpredictability. (Ha ha ha ha haa... oh, I really needed a good laugh after all that nonsense above.)

• Motorcyclists are aware of their vulnerability and claim they adhere to safe behaviour, however admit to relaxing this behaviour if they believe they are in control or because they want to experience the thrill of riding “dangerously”. (Look, I’ll wear this one. Sure.)

• Motorcyclists are aware of the needs and benefits of safety gear, however, most rarely wear the entire kit – even if they own it (Unlike you; you always wear a raincoat and take your umbrella if it looks like rain, yeah?)

Why do I even bother to read these things? Because they make the road even more dangerous for you and me, I guess...

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

The locals fly the flag – a bit, anyway

The Milan Motorcycle show, better known as EICMA, is amazing. I don’t just say that because they fly me over here every year to enjoy the madness; it’s true. The halls are huge – in total, the floor space the bike show uses is something like six times the total hall space at Jeff’s Shed in Melbourne – but it’s not just that. There are not just one or two but four small racetracks laid out next to the halls, and instead of a few blokes jumping dirt bikes the top stunt riders in the world (including Chris Pfeiffer) amuse the punters.

I wrote about some of the headline models last time, but of course there’s always a lot more going on. Take the re-launch of Ossa – yes, the cloverleaf brand from Spain is back, albeit only with a pretty unimaginative trials bike. On of the American journalists put it into perspective when he called it another t-shirt company with a bike – like Indian…

Ooh, smacks for the Bear…

Apart from the Terblanche Guzzis, the big news from Italy was an all-new Multistrada from Ducati. It’s grown to 1200cc and puts out a most impressive 150 horses, and with upgraded suspension and a dry weight below 200kg it’s clearly meant to finally tackle BMW’s GS.

Ducati did quite a bit of upgrading on the rest of the range, too, as well as introducing the new “baby” Hypermotard 796 with 81 horses.
BMW’s satellite brand, the Swedish/Italian/German Husqvarna, launched a very sweet-looking 630 supermotard. That was matched by KTM’s Duke 690R with 72 horses and less than 150kg weight.

Benelli is taking advantage of the deep pockets of its new Chinese owner; the marquee showed the new TNT R 160 with just exactly that many horses, a dry clutch and a lot of carbon fibre.

Aprilia’s RSV4 R offers precisely the same power from only 1000cc, and presents as the people’s version of Max Biaggi’s Superbike. MV Agusta doesn’t seem unduly concerned by Harley-Davidson’s decision top put the company back on the market. It showed an upgraded F4 on a substantial stand that also included a full-on desert racing “Lucky Explorer” Cagiva.

You’ve seen most of the news from America, including the new touring Spyder from Can-Am and the upgraded Harley range, but there’s more to come. The Hammer S from Victory is a factory chopper rider’s factory chopper with 1721cc, 97 horsepower and 153Nm torque.

And of course the place is absolutely full of scooters, including a new electric-powered three wheeler from Peugeot which will remain a mystery to me (and you) because the tight-lipped girl on the desk refused to give out a press kit to anyone who wasn’t Italian…See you back in Oz!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

It’s cold in the motorcycle business, but not all that cloudy

The biggest motorcycle show in the world is off and running again, and there is no reason to believe that they’ll get fewer than the half million visitors they had last year. Advance bookings from punters are actually up.

It’s not looking too shabby from the exhibitors’ side either. Despite the fact that Honda and Yamaha did a no-show this year, choosing to launch their new bikes more cheaply at the Tokyo (car) show, the halls are full and buzzing. Admittedly a lot of the buzz is in Mandarin – there are lots of Chinese stands, and one of the biggest pieces of news was that the Milan show people will help the Chinese to run a show in Canton next year.

Yes, we have an invitation – that should be interesting!

Of course the main news was bikes, bikes and more bikes. But what I didn’t expect, and nobody else did either, was that the biggest news would be from one of the smaller and definitely more troubled local manufacturers. Moto Guzzi outshone even BMW’s flash new six cylinder “sports tourer” with no less than three “studies” based on the V12 and designed by no less than Pierre Terblanche. The ex-Ducati star designer outdid himself with these minimalist machines. Mind you, he was a long way from certain that the bikes would see production.

“The ways of management are inexplicable…” he said when asked, echoing the feelings of many of us moto-scribblers.

There were also a couple of V7 specials on the stand which attracted almost as much attention. On the public days it was almost impossible to see anything on the stand, the crush of fascinated punters was so solid.

I don’t mean to take anything away from BMW’s latest design study. That across-the-frame six cylinder bullet with its sobering resemblance to Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett would be a very welcome addition to the range from the buyer’s point of view – even though it’s hard to work out if BMW really needs another sports tourer… Nothing more was ever seen of the prototype bike that stood in the same place last year, the Lo Rider, so we can but hope that the six will fare better.

Mind you, the bike looked a runner – and the investment in the engine would have to be recovered somehow! I think they’ll build this one.
The R1200GS got a general upgrade ready for the 30th birthday of the GS (or initially G/S) sticker.

Honda’s BMW competitor, the VFR1200F, didn’t make it to the show but the Japanese didn’t exactly set the word on fire this year anyway. The upgraded ZX-10R from Kawasaki, with 188 horses and 208kg wet was welcome, certainly, but not especially different from the bike it succeeds. Suzuki’s star of the show was the GSX 1250 FA, a sports tourer that will win a lot of friends but that isn’t actually terribly… new, you know. It was flanked by the M800 cruiser and the updated GSF 1200 Bandit.

Whew! I need some sleep. More from Milan and EICMA in a couple of days!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Another month as passed which means another new lot of prizes

Congratulations to Doug and Stuart who won last months giveaways

Remember anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw.

This months freebies:
1. Charley Borman's Race to Dakar on DVD
2. A hardcover edition of Dave Nichols's One Percenter - The legend of The Outlaw Biker.

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

What if you went to the GP and couldn’t get a beer?

Here’s the letter Pat Lane wrote to the organizers of the Malaysian GP. He wanted you to see it. I sincerely hope it doesn’t cause another diplomatic incident like Paul Keating’s “recalcitrant” comment of a few years ago…

Dear Sir,

I made a mistake! Nothing new in that, I’m human I make them all the time.

However this one was monumental.

Having attended every motor cycle GP in Australia since 1989 (still got the very first Wayne Gardner T shirt to prove it) I decided for 2009 I would venture to Malaysia. Arriving Saturday, a mate and I made our way to K.L. found our hotel. Arranged and paid for A/C and towels as extras. We ate at a nearby market, had a few beers and went to bed early for a first up start on race day.

We arrived at the Sepang circuit just before 10.00am.

First issue an hour plus wait in line to purchase tickets. Those who pre booked tickets and didn’t attend on Friday or Saturday had the same wait.
Second at the entry gate we asked to surrender all bottled fluids before entry. Presumably so they could sell us more inside. Temperature at this time was about 32 degrees C.

Thirdly once inside we were asked to purchase coupons to be used to in exchange for food and drinks. Fortunately we decided not to purchase these. I saw a number of people at the end of the day with handfuls of these and nothing to spend them on.

Finally after three failed attempts to buy water or beer (we both had two goes at standing in lines that just didn’t move) at 2.30pm we were rewarded with two beers and two bottles of water from the one and only beer vender at the circuit. My mate missed the entire 250cc race while standing in line. Food outlets were either sold out or had lines that disappeared in the distance.

I brought a race program on exiting, which I read on the plane home, the foreword by the Malaysian Prime Minster had me laughing with rage when he stated Malaysians can match the world in international events and wished all fans to enjoy the 1Malaysia warm hospitality. His final comment “1 Malaysia” People First. Performance Now” may have some meaning to locals but my experience at this event would suggest the people first comment does not extend to people attending this event.

The best advice I could offer the event organizers is attend an Australian Moto GP and see first hand how its all done.

As I said at the start I made a mistake, one I won’t make in the future. From now on my Moto GP money will be spent in Australia.

Oh finally, the racing was great, Casey won, Vale is world champ and the 250’s are still alive. Great racing, but that’s put on by the FIM and Dorna isn’t it?

Pat Lane.

So… everything considered, it was a fail, right, Pat?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Found a fascinating article from The Wall Street Journal that explains the way the bureaucracy keeps us in line. The Victorian crowd seems to be particularly expert at this.

“Deer Still Prisoners to Cold War Borders

“A red deer called Ahornia apparently never got the memo that the Iron Curtain doesn't exist anymore. The deer lives in the mountains that were once the site of the electric fence that stood between West Germany and Czechoslovakia. Where the fence once stood is one of Europe's largest nature sanctuaries, and while all sorts of animals have moved in, the Ahornia have mostly refused to cross the long-gone border. "The wall in the head is still there," a producer of nature films said. The amazing part is that the deer alive today were born long after the fence wasn't there anymore. Yet deer have an impressive collective memory of their trails that is passed through generations, so stopping at the border continues to be passed on. A few rebel Ahornia have made it to the other side, and experts say it's only a matter of time before adventurous young ones begin to explore beyond the imaginary fence.”

A bloke called Jim Finley explained this on the website Slatest.

“Learned helplessness, they call that. If an animal (or person) is stuck in an unpleasant situation for long enough and tries unsuccessfully to escape it enough times, they give up, and then don't escape it even if it becomes easy to do so. The original experiment was with dogs. The experimenters would put a dog in a small enclosure with a metal floor and high sides, then give it electric shocks through the floor at random intervals. At first the dogs would go into a frenzy trying to get out, but eventually they'd give up and just stand there whimpering and shivering while they got shocked. Then the high sides of the enclosure were replaced with ones low enough for the dogs to easily get over, but the dogs would still just stand there shaking and whimpering and get shocked without trying to get out. A grim experiment - I couldn't do it. Some abusive situations produce similar results in humans; I think it's related to Stockholm Syndrome.”

“Some abusive situations produce similar results in humans”, eh? See how it’s done in our case? Treat motorcyclists like outcasts, charge us “road safety levies” that nobody else has to pay, tell us porkies about how dangerous riding is, show us television commercials that misrepresent riding, demonise us as drug-selling bikies (and don’t listen to reason, because that’s not what you’re after) – and eventually we won’t even complain any more. We’ll just stand there whimpering and shivering.

Don’t put up with it. Complain to their political masters, as hard and as often as you can. Stop them!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Remember Austen Tayshus’ routine? Now it’s your turn!

Yes, venting your spleen can make you feel a whole lot better. I’m going to be away for a while (EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, and then a short break in the UK to check out the rebuilt Birmingham motorcycle museum etc) so I thought I’d leave you a task while I’m gone.

Write in and tell us what you really hate about motorcycling.

I just read this morning about the criminal gang Notorious in the paper – and it was referred to as a “bikie gang” even though the members never go near bikes and there is no connection with motorcycling in the gang’s operations.

I hate that.

We just recently had someone write in to tell us that the bill for servicing his bike included a charge for checking the battery and cleaning the battery terminals. When he took a look he found a very much uncleaned battery with extremely grotty terminals. On mentioning this to the shop, he was told that the bill was computer generated and the battery must have been missed.

Ooh, he hated that!

And so on. What are your pet hates?

Maybe bloggers who ask you what your pet hates are?

Come on, write in - and tell your friends to do the same. Let’s get a really good list of motorcycling hates together. Could make a story for ARR?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

What will happen to printed newspapers and magazines – like ARR?

My daily update on the staggering craziness of the world is, first, my local daily paper and, second, the web feed Slatest. The paper essentially keeps me up to date with the latest moronic kneejerk reaction by my State government (no, I didn’t vote for them but I live here…) and public opinion, via the letters page. The web tells me what’s happening in the big wide world. Well, mainly in America.

Now it’s been considered a truism that we follow the Yanks – everything that happens over there, happens here a few months or a year later. Of course I’m still waiting for us to get our independence from the UK after more than two centuries, and it will be interesting to find we have a black head of state (Noel Pearson, anybody?) but in many ways that really has been true. Motorcycle fashions are a case in point.

But I wonder whether we’ll follow America in the way we deal with the print media. Here’s a short piece from this morning’s Slatest. The McArdle person appears to be a blogger, and is no apparent relation to infamous Australian BMW outfit rider Chris McArdle.

Hi, Chris.
“McArdle: The Newspaper Business is Over. Period.
“The numbers are grim: over the past six months, circulation at the top 25 newspapers has declined by more than 10 percent. The Washington Post's numbers fell by more than 6 percent, while the New York Times' dropped by more than 7 percent, making it the third most-read paper after the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. This isn't a sign that the newspaper business is changing, Megan McArdle says. It's a sign that it's over.”
US magazines, including motorcycle magazines, are in a similar position. Heck, so are most motorcycle magazines here in Australia (except ARR and C+T, phew and thanks to you) although Australian newspapers are holding up much better.

But what do you think? Is the era of the printed word really over? How are you changing your reading habits? Why are Australaian papers, and our two magazines, holding up?

I’d love to get your feedback and ideas.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Is everything fair in love and war… well, apprehension of “lawbreakers”?

Here’s a letter from Dave Williams. Now he sent this to several magazines, which precludes it from being published in either ARR or C+T – we believe that if you want to tell our readers something then they deserve to be addressed directly – but I just couldn’t help putting it on the web.

Why? Because I’d like to get your responses.

Does Dave have a point? Considering that he was breaking the law, does he have the right to criticize the actions that the boys in blue took to apprehend him? On the other hand, did the boys in blue have the right to risk their own and other people’s lives in order to catch Dave?

What do you think?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming


CIVIC COMPLIANCE VICTORIA
Ground Floor, 277 William St.
MELBOURNE VIC 3000


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.


Please find enclosed a cheque for $503.00.

This is for Traffic Infringement Notices 50619931 5 & 34349041 6…crossing centreline and 131kms ph in 100km zone……Cann River to Orbost…October 15 2009.

Yes, I know you patrol this road passionately during the start and end of your financially lucrative Victorian tourist attraction,….which is more commonly referred to….as the annual motorcycle pilgrimage to Phillip Island!……

I am 48 years old, with over 25 years of road riding experience under my various two wheels. I have been coming to Phillip Island on a regular basis since the inaugural ‘Gardner’ GP’s of ‘89 & ’90. I also know the other various routes……traveled them all many times!…Cann Valley,.Omeo,. MittaMitta, including . the dirt through Sassafras Gap on a ‘916!…..

In fact, I have only recently completed an overseas trip through the UK & Europe on my Australian registered motorcycle, traveling over 9000kms in a little over 2 months…..where, ironically,….you would have been ‘run over’ in the ‘slow lane’ for doing 130!…lol!!

So I am not a pimply faced 19yo riding a LAM!

The ‘freight train’ I was leading, ( if you ride within a group of sportsbike riders…u know what I mean) … were maintaining a constant 130, overtaking safely ( although illegally in this vastly overlegislated land of Australia which has sadly become only a shadow of the ‘Oz I was born in!)…
but please,… don’t get me wrong!…. These ‘Jacks’ were extremely obliging…..even tried to find a piece of wood for the sidestand of my old ‘851!…..We even had a laugh…..about me taking it for the ‘team’…….and his admittance he was actually trying to nab all 5 of us!…….

Now you know the background….. THIS IS MY GRIEVENCE!!!

Where has this particular unmarked Ford Territory come from? Although he stated he was traveling toward me…..nobody in the group could recall passing this vehicle…Obviously, he was lurking in the undergrowth…. awaiting his prey??! …Sneaky, revenue raising!….but with the opportunity to have some legal fun….’cause I gottabadge!!..

Subsequently, he successfully did his best impersonation of ROADRAGE I had seen?!…Firstly, ..the unmarked vehicle did not display the ubiquitous ‘blue lights’ until after he had finally caught me, that is,… the one in front?!!… ‘patsy’ leading??!…..Yet… …severe carnage could of occurred for both myself and my equally experienced fellow riders! My following cohorts, unaware, due to the non display of identification of the supposed police vehicle involved, all thought some idiot was out to get some motorcyclists for some reason, possibly for overtaking him earlier!… As he attempted to overtake each one of us, he came perilously close to wiping out, not only me, but two other riders behind me!!…He had overtaken two motorcycles over centerlines having to resort to having his outside wheels in the gravel on the righthand verge of the road!…This was not done once…but 3 times!! All because he wanted to gather in the leader?!?

The way that guy drove was absolute bullshit!!…

- why were no sirens or lights utilized until he finally managed to catch me…..he told me that he had been pursuing us for about 5-10kms?
- Why did he not show me the supposed locked in speed?
- Are ‘ in car ‘ Police audio and video utilized in Victoria?…If so, I was not advised of this.
- Why not radio ahead when it is obviously dangerous to pursue in this area on the Princes Hwy?
- Furthermore, if he had have come from the opposite direction as advised, he would have had to been doing some crazy speeds to catch us!..Remember, we are traveling at 130 in the opposite direction. He still has to safely turn around and then engage the normal highway traffic on a road that constantly winds for over 80kms??!
- I also noted that both Officers were not wearing reflective jackets.

Does law enforcement “Victorian style” mean endangering the lives of experienced motorcyclists that have covered more miles….than his junior Officer will probably cover in two of his own lifetimes??!

Please spend this money wisely…..and also please note, a copy of this letter has been sent to Australian Motorcycle News, Road Rider, & Ulysses Club……

.&….. I would also be interested to hear if anybody else traveling to the GP had any similar experiences with these licensed ‘Cowboys’….that carry a ‘blue bankcard’!!

So, if you wish to respond ( which I doubt! )….or act upon this letter ( which I further doubt! )…..I will provide more detail….witness statements included.

Yours faithfully.
Dave Williams
23 October 2009

MV Agusta to be sold

Harley-Davidson, Inc. has announced decreased revenue, net income and earnings per share for the third quarter of 2009 compared to the year-ago period, although the slowdown of retail sales is not as great as it was in the second quarter.
 
Sales are down some 10 per cent in Australia which compares well with worldwide retail sales. These declined 21.3 percent in the third quarter compared to last year, and were accompanied by an 84.1 percent reduction in net income.

The Motor Company also unveiled major elements of its revised business strategy to drive growth through a single-minded focus on the unique strengths of the Harley-Davidson brand. How is that going to happen? Well, the Board of Directors has decided to close Buell and sell the recently-bought MV Agusta.

“While the environment remains challenging for us, we are mildly encouraged by the moderation in the decline of dealer retail Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales,” said Keith Wandell, Chief Executive Officer of Harley-Davidson, Inc. “And moving forward, our strategy is designed to strengthen Harley-Davidson for long-term growth and deliver results through increased focus.

“As our announcement regarding Buell and MV Agusta indicates, we are moving with the speed and decisiveness required to bring our business strategy to life,” said Wandell. “The fact is we must focus both our effort and our investment on the Harley-Davidson brand, as we believe this provides an optimal path to sustained, meaningful, long-term growth.”

So Erik Buell, America’s Bellerophon, will no longer be able to ride his Pegasus. The flying horse, in various versions, has been the logo of the sports bike manufacturer since the beginning – but this is, it seems, the end.

Effective pretty much immediately, the Motor Company will stop production of Buell motorcycles. Remaining inventories of Buell motorcycles, accessories and apparel, while they last, will continue to be sold through authorized dealerships. Warranty coverage will continue as normal for Buell motorcycles and the Company will provide replacement parts and service through dealerships.

The decision will result in a reduction over time of about 80 hourly production positions and about 100 salaried positions at Buell. Employment will end for a majority of Buell employees in the week before Christmas.

“Buell and MV Agusta are great companies, with proud brands, high-quality exciting products and passionate enthusiasm for the motorcycle business,” said Wandell . “Buell has introduced many innovative advancements in motorcycle design and technology over the years and MV Agusta is known in Europe for its premium, high-performance sport motorcycles. However, our strategy to focus on the Harley-Davidson brand reflects the fact that we believe our investments in that brand are a better utilization of overall company resources”..

Watch for a pictorial review and tribute in Australian Road Rider soon.

This message from Erik Buell is one of the most touching things I’ve ever seen.

Long live the name, even if production has ceased.

http://www.buell.com/en_us/
Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Can this be the beginning of the end for speed cameras?

According to a news item sent to me by reader Gary Pearce, a Conservative government in the UK would stop funding new fixed speed cameras
Theresa Villiers, the party's transport shadow minister, speaking at the party conference in Manchester, attacked fixed speed cameras.

"Under Labour they've almost trebled. The truth is the fines they generate are blinding Labour to the proven merits of other better ways to keep our roads safe: like education, like vehicle activated signs, like traffic police."

In a move that would affect the introduction of computerised average speed automatic numberplate recognition cameras, she said a Conservative government would not provide central funding for new fixed speed cameras, and would publish data on the effectiveness of the existing ones. "If local authorities want new cameras they'll have to prove nothing else works better and they'll have to find the money themselves," she said.

Villiers added the Tories would abolish the partnerships that currently run speed cameras, and make their use more transparent. "That means publishing the information that's now kept secret on each speed camera's record on safety and on fines, so local communities can judge for themselves whether a camera should stay or whether it should go," Villiers said.

"I believe that fixed speed cameras have reached their high watermark in this country. It's time to put a stop to Labour's cash cow camera culture," she added.

Hmm. How do you think that would translate to Australia?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Another month as passed which means another new lot of prizes

Congratulations to Ross and Raymond who won last months giveaways

Remember anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw.

This months freebies:
1. Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman's edition of "Long Way Down"
2. Blood, Swear & 2nd Gear - More Medicine for Motorcyclists book

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Things are not going smoothly at Moto Guzzi – here’s the inside story!

Despite the bad weather and rain about 1,500 Italian and European motorcyclists rallied to the support of the factory workers concerned at the possibility of closure of the historic Moto Guzzi factory in Mandello del Lario. The protest was supported by the local council who closed the street outside the factory for 3 hours and allowed camping in the grounds of the lakeside park. The parking area opposite the station was closed to cars and completely filled with motorcycles as was the closed section of roadway. Three booths were allowed to sell essential refreshments and, naturally, the event t-shirt. The complete supply of t-shirts carrying the 'Moto di Protesta' logo was sold out. 'Moto di Protesta' is a play on words that can be freely translated as 'Motorcycle Protest' or 'Protest Movement'.

Brief speeches were made by union representatives and the mayor of Mandello before a parade of over 1,000 motorcycles parted for the ride to the administrative office of the Province in nearby Lecco. The parade was assisted by the support of local and state police and the Carabinieri to control traffic and escort the riders. With improving weather the parade returned from Lecco led by two State Police incongruously mounted on BMWs.

Due to the economic crisis and low production the factory, which has maintained almost continuous production since the foundation of Moto Guzzi in 1921, is temporally closed for 3 weeks. Under the Italian system of social support factories can program a temporary closure and workers receive a Government subsidised three quarters pay. Whilst hardly a satisfactory situation this is better than unemployment benefits, reduces the probability of permanent sackings and allows the workers to return to their jobs after the programmed closure.

Two days before the protest Roberto Colaninno, President of the Piaggio Group, in a pre-emptive response declared “We will not close the plant at Mandello of the Lario but will make important investments in industrial and technological restructuring and in the way of new models and new lines of product on which we are working.”

The representatives of the workers trampled by the crisis naturally have a different point of view.. “The proprietor is in fact trying to empty the factory” according to Mario Venini (trade union spokesman), “centralising the project offices in other sites of the Piaggio group such as Noale (Venice) and Pontedera (Pisa) and leaving to Mandello only the production line assembly of the motors and the final assembly of motorcycles. In this way marque of the Eagle (sic - Moto Guzzi) seriously risks to lose own identity, without considering that approximately a third of the 150 dependants risk to loose their jobs.”

The existing staff levels are already a far cry from the early 1950's peak of over 1500 workers. It is a simple fact that no production machinery remains at the factory. Much of what remained when Piaggio took control was already obsolete and in bad condition. A good part of the machinery was simply scrapped and the rest sold. The facilities at the factory are now reduced to the assembly lines previously mentioned and most of the factory buildings are now empty shells. One can only hope that the market for Moto Guzzi improves allowing the projected development to take place. There is a possibility that other brand models may be assembled at the factory which needs a minimum production of over 10,000 units to be considered viable. Some new Guzzi models, or at least variations on existing models, are likely to be displayed at EICMA at Milan in November. The new 8 valve motor (4 valve heads) after some minor teething problems has now proven to be a robust and reliable engine and can be expected to spearhead the product range for the next year or two.

Unfortunately the cause of Moto Guzzi has not been helped in the past by a series of bad management decisions and simple mismanagement. Amongst these can be cited the failure to produce a road going version of the MGS, particularly in light of the wins at Daytona, and the decision to develop an automatic gearbox for the Aprilia Mana instead of the Moto Guzzi California. The American Market in particular has be requesting an automatic version of the California ever since the demise of the much appreciated Moto Guzzi V1000 Convert. Further strain has been placed on the marque by the late release of accessories. The Bellagio, for example, was on the market for over a year before any accessories were available. Marketing and planning executives have demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the Moto Guzzi client and failed to capitalise on the loyal following of Guzzisti around the world.

After the protest ride the motorcyclists assembled in the market square to enjoy an afternoon and evening that amounted to a small rally with several hundred motorcyclists remaining for the night. The motorcyclists and many locals enjoyed good food prepared by a local non profit organisation. The evening entertainment commenced with Simone and Tamara Marchetti (http://www.marchetti.ws) projecting film of their South American adventure on a Moto Guzzi California. Simone and Tamara inspired the crowd with their example of long range touring in remote and difficult locations. The evening's entertainment was completed by the energetic 'Bepi and the Prismas' (Moto Guzzi Rock and Roll) and the 'Train Time Blues Band'. Despite the serious nature of the event a good time was had by all. In the end that's what it's all about, isn't it.

Postscript:
In a meeting with executives of the Piaggio Group on the 22 September the unions representing the employees were advised that 50 places would be cut. This removes nearly all of the office staff from Mandello and reduces the factory and logistics staff by a small number. These cuts allow a break even production of 7,000 units. As current sales worldwide are in the region of 7,000 units per annum the target would seem to be realistic. As the economy improves over the next few years Guzzi should be in a good position to expand sales beyond the magic 10,000 level. It should then be able to capitalise on the release of new models timed to be available as the motorcycle market improves.

In other sad news from Italy; Moto Morini filed for voluntary liquidation on the 23 September and is currently seeking a financial partner to help keep the motorcycles in production. This does not mean that the company is bankrupt but it does mean that they have severe cash flow problems and are currently unable to meet outstanding debts to suppliers. The move is in fact calculated to avoid bankruptcy and allow time to find a solution to satisfy the creditors. The company employs 65 people who are still producing the motorcycles, predominantly the Granpasso and the Corsaro.

One can only hope that a solution is found which allows the company to stay in production and protect the positions of employees, the dealer network, and naturally owners of motorcycles from this exciting and innovative small company.

My sincere thanks to Peter Bradley, who sent me the above report. He also sent the pictures.

 

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Chinese utes have done badly in safety tests. Nobody tests bikes.

Australia’s peak motoring organisation, the Australian Automobile Association, has called on new car buyers to ensure safety is a priority in making their purchases, following the release of poor safety ratings for three low-cost imported utilities.

Australia’s leading independent vehicle safety advocate, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), today released its crash test results for two Great Wall Motors (GWM) utilities – the SA220 and V240...

The heavily promoted GWM utes scored only 2 stars out of 5… ANCAP described the ratings as poor.

AAA’s Director of Technical Services, Craig Newland, said the low crash test safety ratings showed consumers needed to look at a variety of factors in making their new car purchase.

The GWM vehicles have been heavily promoted in Australia on the basis of cost, not safety, and consumers need to weigh up issues such as safety against the cost of these vehicles,” Mr Newland said.

“Australia has a wide range of 4 and 5-star passenger vehicles and ANCAP only last month issued its first 5-star rating for a light commercial van in the Mercedes-Benz Viano and Vito, so these results are going against the trend towards increased safety for occupants,” he said.

“The results are a cause for concern at a time when we are seeing safer vehicles available for consumers.”

Might be worth re-thinking the decision to buy a cheap Chinese trail bike.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

A helmet is a helmet is a helmet – as long as it’s approved?

No, not really.

Here is a fascinating story from the New York Times, sent in by regular reader Lars. It’s worth reading and considering.

Sorting Out Differences in Helmet Standards
By DEXTER FORD
Published: September 25, 2009

THE surest way for motorcycle riders to avoid joining the rapidly growing ranks of fatality statistics — up 144 percent since 1997, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — is to wear proper head protection. A helmet increases the chances of survival in an accident by 37 percent, the safety agency says.

Picking the helmet that provides ideal protection is not easy, however. While all helmets sold for road use in the United States are required to carry the stamp of a federal safety standard established by the Transportation Department, riders may also find an independent certification label, from the Snell Memorial Foundation, on many helmets they are considering.

The certification by Snell, a nonprofit research and testing organization financed by helmet makers, is not mandatory for road use but it is for some racing series, which can lead consumers to assume that a Snell-compliant helmet is safer — an assumption that is not agreed upon by researchers.

Even knowing the differences between the standards is not enough: on Oct. 1, helmets meeting a new Snell test, M2010, with revised force limits, can go on sale, probably adding to the confusion among helmet shoppers.

The debate in the helmet industry and the scientific community about just what constitute the best design criteria for a motorcycle helmet — especially for riders with smaller heads — has been going on for years.

The conflict is between scientists and helmet designers who prefer the government-mandated helmet standards of the United States and Europe, up against the current Snell standard, called M2005, which Snell says provides “premium levels of protective performance.”

Many head-injury scientists, motorcycle-accident researchers and helmet makers say they are concerned that the “premium protection" proffered by current Snell-certified helmets may not be better after all. They argue that current Snell-rated helmets are too rigid and unyielding to properly absorb impact energy in the great majority of motorcycle crashes, subjecting riders to preventable brain injuries.

Why is this a concern, considering that the new M2010 standard — a major revision that addresses some of the objections scientists and helmet makers have raised for decades — is coming next week? It stems from the fact that the Snell Foundation will continue to certify helmets made under the Snell M2005 standard until March 31, 2012. There are now hundreds of thousands of pre-M2010 Snell helmets on rider’s heads, in garages and on retailer’s shelves, and hundreds of thousands more that will be made in coming years — which means that riders, especially those with smaller heads, will have to pay close attention when buying a helmet.

In one test the Snell M2005 standard requires each helmet to withstand two successive impacts against an orange-sized steel hemisphere without subjecting the aluminum “headform” inside to more than 300 times the force of gravity, or 300 g’s.

Hugh H. Hurt, a researcher who developed the Head Protection Research Laboratory at the University of Southern California, and author of the Hurt Report, a seminal study of motorcycle crashes, calls the current Snell M2005 standard “a little bit excessive.”

“What should the limit on helmets be?” Mr. Hurt asks, referring the g-force levels. “They should be softer, softer, softer. Because people are wearing these so-called high performance helmets and are getting diffuse brain injuries — well, they’re screwed up for life. Taking 300 g’s is not a safe thing.”

James A. Newman, a former director of the Snell Memorial Foundation, considers the Snell tests obsolete. “If you want to create a realistic helmet standard, you don’t go bashing helmets onto hemispherical steel balls. And you certainly don’t do it twice,” he said.

Mr. Newman has estimated an impact of 200 to 250 g’s to the head corresponds to a severe brain injury, that a 250 to 300g impact corresponds to a critical injury, and that a hit over 300 g’s is often not survivable.

“Over the last 30 years,” Mr. Newman said, “we’ve come to the realization that people falling off motorcycles hardly ever, ever hit their head in the same place twice. So we have helmets that are designed to withstand two hits at the same site. But in doing so, we have severely, severely compromised their ability to take one hit and absorb energy properly.”

Scientists and helmet makers have also objected to the Snell M2005 standard’s requirement for impact-testing all helmets with a headform of the same weight, regardless of the helmet’s size. Even Ed Becker, executive director of the Snell Foundation and its most outspoken defender, agrees that the weight of a wearer’s head is of great significance in helmet design. “These headform issues of mass and geometry are crucial. The mass determines the total momentum that must be exchanged in an impact.” The mandatory Transportation Department, or D.O.T., standard has dictated graduated-weight headforms since 1988, forcing makers to tailor the impact-absorption qualities of a smaller helmet to the lower levels of inertia produced by a smaller head. The European standard, mandatory in Europe, Britain and a total of over 50 countries, has required graduated-weight headforms since 1983.

David R. Thom, a respected helmet-testing scientist who operates Collision and Injury Dynamics in El Segundo, Calif., said of Snell’s one-weight-fits-all approach: “They are not in touch with reality.”

The standards disagreement has prompted some riders and racers to choose helmets that do not carry the Snell certification label — even though the most expensive and respected helmet brands available in the United States are predominantly Snell-certified. It has also inspired some helmet manufacturers, especially European makers, to forgo Snell, preferring to build their helmets to what they consider the more-appropriate American and United Nations ECE 22-05 standards.

In one comprehensive study of real-world impact performance based on research done for Motorcyclist Magazine, presented by Mr. Thom to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, a $79.95 helmet certified to Transportation Department standards performed the best of the 32 tested, withstanding the most violent hits while transmitting as much as 67 g’s less impact force to the headform than a $400 Snell-certified helmet.

The M2010 Snell standard will drop its maximum allowable g’s from 300 to 275. It will also adopt graduated-weight headforms.

According to Mr. Becker, the M2010 standard was designed in consultation with helmet manufacturers, to allow a single helmet design to pass all the world’s major standards. As it stands now, a Snell M2005-certified helmet may also pass the D.O.T. standard, but is unlikely to pass the ECE 22-05 standard used in European countries. Manufacturers must re-engineer their Snell M2005-rated helmets, making them “softer” in order to sell them in Europe.

So Snell M2010 helmets will, according to Snell, fall in line with both the D.O.T. and ECE 22-05 standards. As of now, no manufacturer has announced to market helmets that meet both Snell M2010 and the European standard.

It’s difficult to tell a Snell M2010 helmet from the outside; the label on the back of most helmets simply says Snell. But deep inside, stuck somewhere on the inner foam liner, should be a detailed Snell sticker that will reveal the specific Snell rating.

Of course, a rider can also do what some outspoken scientists have recommended for years: simply choose a non-Snell-rated helmet.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

...so let’s fix a problem that doesn’t exist, instead.

Sometimes I really do think I need to give up reading, especially stuff on the web. Here’s the beginning of an item that recently arrived in a motorcycle site newsletter:

Reducing the national blood alcohol limit for drivers to .02 could substantially cut the number of road fatalities, according to Victorian Assistant Police Commissioner Stephen Fontana.

Speaking at a binge-drinking forum in Melbourne, Mr Fontana said a third of Victorian road crashes involved excessive alcohol.

"We are still getting a lot of drivers who are well over the limit, so we might need to rethink that (.05 limit)" Mr Fontana was quoted as saying in The Age newspaper.

"We still have a lot of problems with alcohol on our roads.’”

Okay, Steve, let me see if I have this right. A lot of people are breaking the law, so let’s change the law to make sure that even more people break it. Has it occurred to you that the people you’re concerned about are already breaking the law? What makes you think that introducing a tougher law will suddenly not only make them drink less, but much less?

And a lot of people who can drive perfectly well with .03 or .04 or .05 of alcohol in their blood will suddenly be lawbreakers as well. To no benefit, by your own admission: these people are not the problem. I suppose the police will be able to say that drink driving has gone up even further, and insist on the limit being lowered even more!
This is rubbish. If you’re going to change the law, change it to something that will actually address the problem. Or maybe you could just work out a way of policing it properly in the first place. That’s your job, isn’t it?

Fail!

This makes almost as little sense as dropping the speed limit on the Old Pacific Highway out of Sydney. There is a problem here with speeding bikers running out of talent, but like the drinkers they’re already breaking the law, and they’ll continue to do it no matter what a sign says.

Lowering the speed limit just increases the speed differential between them and legal traffic – and that’s one of the biggest causes of crashes. A reasonable speed limit and proper policing is the answer.

Fail!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Having a garden stake driven through your body is not something we’d wish on anybody, but…

Sometimes it can be hard to know how to react to a news item. Take this one, from the Illawarra Mercury. If you’ve ever had a bike stolen from you, you will know how infuriating that can be. Here’s a bloke who didn’t get away with it…

A Nowra man who was impaled by a garden stake in a motorcycle accident is believed to have been robbed and assaulted while suffering his life-threatening injuries.

The 39-year-old allegedly stole a bike and was riding it along Adelaide St, Greenwell Point, when he lost control and slid into a garden bed at 1.45pm yesterday.

A timber metre-long garden stake was driven through his right armpit and out his back. A puncture wound was also found on his leg.

NSW Ambulance officers said they responded to reports of a man who had a garden stake in his torso and required surgical intervention.

Paramedics arrived to find the man conscious and the stake already pulled from his body.

Nowra police confirmed there was no motorcycle at the scene when authorities arrived.

A source said the owner of the bike had caught up with the rider, pulled out the stake and punched him on the nose before taking his wallet and reclaiming the motorcycle.

The injured man was airlifted to St George Hospital suffering internal injuries and a suspected broken nose.

It’s the broken nose that really gets me…

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Finally someone’s doing something, but not here – yet!

I don’t normally pinch stuff from the web but I couldn’t resist this one. It’s from the Sunday Times in England, and my only comment is: we need something like Big Brother Watch here! Who’s going to put up their hand to get it going? I’ll support it in any way I can.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Think tank: Be warned, Big Brother, I’ve got my eye on you
Matthew Elliott begins a campaign against our surveillance state
Matthew Elliott
In June, Stewart Smith, who suffers from arthritis, was handed a £50 fixed penalty notice after dropping a £10 note in the street. Last year Gareth Corkhill, a father of four, had to pay £225 and got a criminal record when magistrates found him guilty of leaving the lid of his wheelie bin open by a mere four inches. Last month Stephen White’s sister Helen was rung several times and visited at her house by police officers wanting to know the whereabouts of her trainspotter brother, who had been using her car while taking pictures of trains in Pembrokeshire.

What is going on? Over the past 10 years our government has become increasingly overbearing, creating a nation of criminals out of good British citizens. We are subject to ever more officious laws and intrusive means of surveillance. Britain has 1% of the world’s population but about 20% of its CCTV cameras; it has one camera for every 14 people in the country. Last year local authorities, the police and the intelligence services made 504,073 requests to access private e-mail and telephone data — that is nearly 10,000 requests every week.

Documents leaked earlier this year revealed that GCHQ, the government’s spy centre, had already awarded £200m to suppliers as part of Mastering the Internet, a mass surveillance project designed to enable the monitoring of all internet use and phone calls in Britain.

An Englishman’s home is no longer his castle: some 266 laws now grant the state the right to enter private homes. And if they can’t get you on tape, online or in your home, in recent months a slew of websites has appeared encouraging citizens to shop people dropping litter or acting suspiciously. Just as in Orwell’s dystopia, Britain is being turned into a nation of narks.

It is time to fight back. The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has already led the field in exposing the outrageous waste of taxpayers’ money and malpractice throughout all levels of government. Our campaigns on MPs’ expenses, the growth of the quango state and the rise of public sector fat cats have helped to shape public opinion and the policies of both the government and opposition. Now we are launching Big Brother Watch as a check on the surveillance state.

The campaign will be headed by Alex Deane, a barrister and David Cameron’s first chief of staff, supported by Dylan Sharpe, Boris Johnson’s press officer for his London mayoral campaign.

Big Brother Watch plans to produce regular investigative research papers on the erosion of civil liberties in the UK, beginning with a detailed investigation of the ways in which individual local authorities have encroached upon the lives of the ordinary British citizen, whether it be placing microchips in rubbish bins or snooping on your private telephone records. We will name and shame the local authorities most prone to authoritarian abuses.

We will also champion individual cases. We want to use the legal system to help the man in the street fight injustice and regain his personal freedom. We are building up a legal fund to back cases in which we feel a key principle is at stake.

Not many people realise they can use the Freedom of Information Act to demand to see data held about themselves by the authorities. The Human Rights Act, which came into force in 2000, makes it unlawful for any public body to act in a way that is incompatible with the European convention on human rights. The convention includes the right of access to documents and we want to help people to use this and other provisions to extend our right to government information.
In the same way that the TPA has pioneered the use of the Freedom of Information Act to bring transparency to government spending and expose the full horrors of the wastage, wages and expenses of our public representatives, we intend to unearth the reality of the Big Brother state.

Last year the TPA produced a report that put the total cost of Big Brother government at about £20 billion — or almost £800 per household. We want Big Brother Watch to become the central hub for the latest on personal freedom and civil liberty — a forum for information and discussion on something that directly affects British citizens in their everyday lives.

Big Brother Watch also aims to expose the extent to which the web has become the first line in state surveillance. Recent examples of web companies being leant on to release personal data have opened the floodgates for the co-opting of internet activity into the state’s control. Safeguards are needed before it’s too late.

We hope Big Brother Watch will become the gadfly of the ruling class, a champion for civil liberties and personal freedom — and a force to help a future government roll back a decade of state interference in our lives.

Matthew Elliott is chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance and founder of Big Brother Watch (www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk)

Never let it be said that I don’t give credit where it’s due. UIt seems that things in Victoria are getting so bad that even the normally supine MRA Vic is developing some backbone. Here’s a press release they’ve put together, and a good one it is.


Disturbing reports have emerged that the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is penalising some seriously injured riders with serious injury payouts automatically reduced by up to 50% for "contributory negligence" – even though they have not committed any offences. The concept of "no fault" appears to be inappropriate, with riders presumed by the TAC to be negligent simply for riding a motorcycle or scooter.

MRA President John Karmouche today called on the TAC to tell the truth about its treatment of seriously injured motorcycle and scooter riders.

Mr Karmouche stated, "we recently became aware of an allegation that the TAC was attempting to reduce compensation to riders where they determine the clothing being worn is not meeting TAC standards. We are aware of incidents where the protective clothing was highly unlikely to reduce injuries. The TAC representative on the Victorian Motorcycle Advisory Council (VMAC) stated that she was not aware of this."

"Since that time, information has emerged to confirm that although the individual concerned may not have been aware of this, the TAC is indeed regarding a lack of “protective clothing” as contributory negligence – despite the absence of any standard stating exactly what protective clothing is. The incidents uncovered appear to be merely the tip of the iceberg. Using the same principle we must now ask whether drivers of older cars that lack modern safety features and bicycle riders wearing Lycra and bicycle shoes will also be penalised?

Mr Karmouche went on to say it appears that riders are seeing a pattern of secrecy and misinformation again emerging from the TAC.

“Riders have engaged in consultation with the TAC in good faith. It appears that the TAC have chosen to withhold information and misdirect questions”, said Karmouche.

There is a reasonable provision for the TAC to deny loss of income claims where a serious offence has been proven. However, reducing compensation to injured riders when no offence has been alleged is reprehensible.

Well, it’s a pity they couldn’t have picked this up earlier – this story was actually broken in the Ulysses club magazine “Riding On” – but I quite agree. Now, what are you going to do about it, MRA Vic?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

As you’ll know if you follow this site, we lost our very good friend “Davo” in the US recently after a collision with a deer. He was on the Iron Butt ride. Here is a message from his family:

We have made arrangements for Davo's funeral to be held at the Outreach Centre on Saturday 19th at 11 am. The venue is located at the roundabout of Eumundi road & Beckmans road at Noosaville.

During the ceremony that Russel (Rusjel) will be kindly taking for us, there is a small window of time that is available for a select few (probably around 5-6 people I estimate) to hop up and give their experiences of Davo. After the ceremony is over, we have asked Paul (Ghostrider) to organize everyone immediately afterward, to form a final guard of honour and ride along as we follow FarRider #1 on his final journey which will be around a 5 minute ride from the original venue. From the funeral home, we would like the celebration of Davo's life to continue at the Victory Hotel in Cooroy (38 Maple St, Cooroy) which is next to Davo's office, and we were quite a few family meals and also the FarNat lunch at recently.

Hope to see some of you there.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Another month as passed which means another new lot of prizes

Congratulations to Bruce and Peter who won last months giveaways

Remember anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw.

This months freebies:
1. Charlie Borman's edition of "By Any Means"
2. A Raven Hood Motocycle Cover - Waterproof, Breathable, Full Synthetic

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

This is one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to write. David “Davo” Jones, he of the transcontinental rides, the FarRiders, the GTR forum and so much else, has died as the result of a bike crash.

Davo was in the United States living his dream – he was taking part in the Iron Butt ride, one of the few Australians ever to get the nod for this invitation-only event. It seems he was only about 65 miles from the end of the ride when he collided with a deer. He suffered a broken hand, and head injuries from which he died in hospital in Coeur D’Alene.

This is where the story becomes bizarre. The State Trooper who attended the crash reported that Davo had not been wearing his helmet.
While I certainly don’t want to question the Trooper’s report – after all, he was there – I simply cannot understand this. Davo was one of the most safety-conscious riders I have ever known. When we planned his ride across Australia and back for ARR to assess whether the Kawasaki 1400 GTR really was a “transcontinental” motorcycle, both his and my priority at all times was safety. He could have done the ride much faster, but at a risk – and we decided that that risk was simply not worth it. Davo was a father figure for many riders, and one subject on which he knew no compromise was safety.

I just can’t believe that this was the same man who was supposedly out there with his helmet strapped to the back of his bike. My first reaction was – maybe he’d swapped bikes with someone else, for some weird reason, and it was the other person who crashed. Silly, I know, but you reach for the strangest explanations when reality doesn’t make sense.

To bring the whole thing into absolute relief, it seems that one of the doctors treating Davo said that if he’d been wearing his helmet, his worst injury would have been the broken hand.

But enough of that. All of our thoughts now are with Davo’s wife Wil and the rest of his family. The wider motorcycling family, including the Ulysses Club and Davo’s own beloved FarRiders, has been inundating his son-in-law Jim with offers of help. We’ll help, too, in any way we can – and eventually, with the agreement of the family, we hope to organise some kind of memorial for Davo. Probably something relating to road safety.

In the meantime, all I can really do is write “goodbye, mate… I’ll miss you”.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

I’ve just seen the June Australian magazine circulation figures. About a quarter of the magazines checked by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) have seen increases, the other three quarters have lost sales.

Not to drag this out for too long, Australian Road Rider’s circulation has grown by 4.54% to 21,971. We are the only motorcycle (in fact, the only motoring-type) magazine to have increased sales. Australian Motorcycle News, the closest comparable magazine on the market, lost 6.69% with sales dropping to 21,001.

That means we’re the best-selling pure motorcycle magazine in Australia once again. And we have you to thank for that. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Be assured that we feel suitably humble that you should take us to this position, and that we will do our best to keep providing you with the content, the look and the attitude that you obviously want.

I’m not counting the trader-type publications, which contain mostly classified advertising. As it happens, both of them outsell us but both of them also lost sales in June. Motorcycle Trader is down 2.93% to 26,945, while Just Bikes has lost 3.65% to finish at 33,692. I’m also not counting dirt bike magazines, although only one of them (ADB) is audited anyway, and it lost 2.64%. Two Wheels is not audited and I’m not going to speculate on its sales although there is no doubt in my mind that they are well below ours.

Australia’s two big motoring magazines have copped a hiding with Wheels down 17.93% to 55,868 and Motor down 20.16% to finish at 35,160. Mind you, Diabetic Living is up 18.58%, and Sporting Shooter is up 9.05%. It still only sells 13,963 copies.

The biggest growth for a mass circulation magazine was seen by Famous, which went to 80,593 sales for a growth of 20%. Yeah, yeah, I know – I don’t care either…

Anyway, thanks again for taking us ahead.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Earnestness and self-righteousness are not restricted to car drivers and bicyclists, although they (and especially the latter) seem to abound in both. We get them in the motorcycle fraternity and sorority as well. Currently there’s a bit of a to-do about wearing coloured clothing, which I guess I stirred up in the first place but which has well and truly got away from me.

Just to set the record straight, I do not advise anyone to not wear brightly-coloured clothing, even fluoro vests. All I say is that you shouldn’t rely on this stuff to keep you safe. That takes a bit more than just advertising your presence to those few drivers who actually care about us.

But there are riders who would cheerfully damn anyone who doesn’t dress like an organ-grinder’s monkey, and who are (advertantly or inadvertently) encouraging government authorities to think about mandating it. You might have seen that the Victorian TAC intends to discount compensation payments for riders who were not wearing padded safety gear when they crashed; how long will it be before that includes day-glo clothing as well?

What the people who are so keen to tell other riders what to do are forgetting is that motorcycling is a recreation that is meant to be fun. I have spent many (far more than I care to remember) years trying to reinforce that in everyone’s mind, and to make it possible for as many people as I could to have a good time on bikes.

Please, all of you: go for a ride. Enjoy what you do. Leave other riders alone – except at a personal level, where I think it is an excellent idea to take someone aside and suggest they improve their riding, clothing or attitude.

But while lots of people seem to be happy to write letters and give the gummint ammunition to reduce our freedom, very few seem to have the guts to put their ideas into practice face-to-face.

That’s no fun, eh?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Maybe it’s a side effect of advancing age, but I enjoy the ramblings of the Republican American writer P.J. O’Rourke. Unlike most conservatives he comes up with quite a few fresh ideas, and manages to serve up even the slightly stale old ones in an attractively humorous new coating.

In his recent book of collected articles and columns, “Driving Like Crazy”, he tells of a bike tour that he and some friends went on in 1979, and muses on danger as an element in the attraction of motorcycles, and the effect this has on riders.

“Motorcycles are dangerous,” he writes to non-riders. “You should be scared of them… people who ride motorcycles are doing something that’s so scary in the first place that they are statistically unlikely to be scared of you…”

He thinks that both Thomas Keneally and Stephen Spielberg missed a vital aspect of Oskar Schindler’s character in both the original book and then the film “Schindler’s List”.

“Oskar Schindler had been a successful motorcycle racer,” writes O’Rourke. “[So] There’s no mystery about what he did at his factory. He felt like it. And there’s no mystery why he wasn’t afraid of the Gestapo. He wasn’t afraid of anything. Pencil-necked punks in fake leather raincoats…”

And while he admits that “the appeal of the motorcycle is not rational” and despite the danger, he’s very much in favour of being able to yield to the siren call of the powered two-wheeler.

So am I. Oh, maybe I should have mentioned right at the beginning that I’m currently riding a Harley-Davidson V-Rod Muscle. I should probably be scared of it, or at least of what it keeps telling me to do… but I’m having too much fun.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Sometimes you really do have to wonder where academics and bureaucrats get their priorities from. Here’s a quote from a Sydney Morning Herald story, published today (14-8-9). It concerns a proposal by a couple of La Trobe University academics to introduce so-called “telematic technology”, with all vehicles fitted with tracking devices.

“The devices… would feed information to a database that would then level charges, which would vary according to vehicle type, the road being used and the time of day.

“[One of the academics] said that by charging more for busier roads and during peak hours, motorists would change their travel habits and ease congestion, which is projected to cost $20.4 billion by 2020 unless action is taken.”

Right.

What I’m hearing here is not that the roads are there for us, to get us to where we need to be when we need to be. It’s not the road network that needs to be fixed. No, it’s us, the road users, who need to be penalized until we can’t afford to even get to work or get the kids to school any more. Make no mistake about it, that’s what this means. If we’re priced off the road there’s no more congestion! Bingo!

The fact that people don’t drive or ride in peak hour for fun seems to have escaped these blokes. We don’t choose to do this, we need to drive because public transport is rubbish or overloaded already, or because there is no public transport where we live or work, and for any number of other reasons.

Let me repeat that. We need to drive or ride. Making it prohibitively expensive is going to make our lives harder, and more unpleasant.

What do you reckon, is mum going to start dropping the kids at school an hour or so early (and who will look after them?) to avoid congestion tax? Is dad going to go to work an hour late (and what will his boss think of that?) for the same reason?

No.

What they will do is scrape up the extra money, because they have no choice. It’s yet another tax, and on some of the people who can least affords to pay it.

Oh, and if you don’t like that idea, our friendly academics have an alternative ready to reduce congestion. Increase petrol excise by 10 cents a litre. The effect is the same, a tax on working people, but I guess at least we save the enormous expense of fitting those tracking devices so Big Brother knows what we’re doing.

And let me just say that I have a very simple way of answering the question I asked at the beginning of this blog. Are the roads there for us, or are we here for the roads? Well, we paid for the roads. They didn’t pay for us.

Damn these people. And the worst thing is that we pay for this mindless, heartless nonsense with our taxes.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Okay, here’s the deal.

We get a lot of stuff either to test, or at launches, or just out of the goodness of the bike industry’s hearts (no, seriously). Some of it we truly love, like the Ducati USB drive I have with my name engraved on it. You ain’t gettin’ that. But some of it gets a bit... well, duplicated. Or we feel a bit bad about hanging onto it. Or our garage reaches bursting point. Or whatever.

Obviously we wouldn’t want to sell this, because we didn’t pay for it in the first place. Equally obviously we don’t want it just lying around because that’s not fair to the people who gave it to us. They want some value from it, see it out there, and if it gets exposure here on the website then so much the better.

So... we’re going to give some of it to you. Every month, we’ll announce the giveaways in the Road Rider newsletter and put something up here on the website. Anyone who leaves a comment on any blog post within the month goes into the draw. We’ll pull a name out of the hat and advise the winner at the same time as we post the next item.

Just to kick things off big time, we’re offering two items:

FREEBIE THIS MONTH:

1. The hardcover edition of Ewan McGregor and Charley Borman’s amazing ride around the world, Long Way Round: Chasing shadows across the world; and

2. The DVD of the the Troy Bayliss story, Troy’s Story, narrated by Ewan McGregor with exclusive interviews and special features.

Go for it! And remember, check here every month to see what we’ve found to give away – it could well be a one-off that you’ll never find anywhere else.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Reality check time. If you’re squeamish, don’t read on.

How many motorcyclists die in Australia each year? Six hundred or so? Each one is a tragedy; it would be better if each death could be prevented. And it’s up to all of us who ride to keep that number down as much as possible.

How many people do hospitals in Australia kill each year? Kill, not allow to die or watch over while they die etc etc. According to a Sydney Morning Herald cover story, Australia’s hospitals cause 4550 unnecessary deaths a year. Each of these is a tragedy too, but while most of us (those who aren’t doctors or nurses) can’t do anything about them, we hope that that number will be minimised as much as possible too.

Now, on a regular basis an organisation of doctors (from memory, the Royal College of Surgeons, is that right?) obtain money from the government (that’s you, the taxpayer – they don’t use their own money) to run campaigns on the backs of buses to tell you how to ride your bike. To save lives.

Err, please sir, please sir – can I make a suggestion?

If surgeons want to save lives, how about you wash your hands? Apparently lack of hospital hygiene is one of the prime causes of those 4550 unnecessary deaths. Think of all the lives that could be saved that way.

I’ve got an idea. Let’s get the government to give money to the Motorcycle Council to run a campaign to improve hygiene in hospitals.

Makes just as much sense to me.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

I was down at the newsagent’s this morning, talking care of my usual chores – you know, putting copies of ARR and C+T in front or on top of all the other bike magazines – when I saw a cover that stopped me in my tracks.

It was one of the “comics”, as Lester refers to them, the magazines devoted to pages and pages of small ads flogging second-hand bikes or end-of-range runouts that the shops haven’t been able to sell off the floor. The cover, at first glimpse, looked very familiar.

Now you need to know that I’ve just been to the US to ride Honda’s new chopper, the Fury, for Cruiser+Trike. First ride by an Australian motorcycle writer, folks, and the first time anyone put a decent bit of distance on the bike: I did 2000 miles.

It is a knockout both to look at and ride, and going by the reaction I got from everyone who saw it – riders and non-riders alike – then it will sell its wossnames off. But here it looked like the Fury was on the cover – of another magazine!

A closer look disabused me of that idea. The bike was actually a specially-built chopper, although it did look remarkably like the Honda – even down to the shape of the tank and the front guard.

But here’s the crunch: the bike on the cover was advertised for $39,000. The Fury will probably cost half that, or less. And it will come with a full factory warranty, Honda’s usual reliability etc etc.

The line forms on the right, folks!

Oh, that’s after we get ours. We’ve put our hand up to customise one.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Here’s your chance to see BMW’s fantastic new S 1000 RR superbike in the metal! IT will be doing the rounds of BMW shops and sports events from right now until October. Make sure you get along to the venue nearest to you, and check it out!

July                          

25 Southbank Motorcycles Southbank VIC

August

5 Fraser Motorcycles Concord NSW

6 Procycles St Peters NSW

8 - 9 ASBK Rd 4 Eastern Creek NSW

11 Procycles Hornsby NSW

13 Worthington Motorcycles Kariong NSW

15 Eastern Creek Ride Day Eastern Creek NSW

18 Brisan Motorcycles Newcastle NSW

20 City Coast Motorcycles Wollongong NSW

22 Rolfe Classic Motorcycles Philip ACT

27 Adelaide Motors Fullarton SA

29 - 30 ASBK Rd 5 Mallala SA

September

8 Auto Classic Motorcycles Victoria Park WA

11 - 13 Perth Motorcycle Show Perth WA

22 Morgan & Wacker Newstead QLD

23 Morgan & Wacker Southport QLD

24 Coastline BMW Caloundra QLD

28 Mackay Motorcycles Mackay QLD

October

3 Euro Cycles Townsville QLD

5 Westco Motors Cairns QLD

16 - 18 Moto GP Phillip Island VIC

21 Phillip Island Ride day Phillip Island VIC

27 Seaside Moto Cycles Ballina NSW

29 Rock Motorcycles Port Macquarie NSW

November              

3 Blacklocks Prestige Albury NSW

9 Launceston BMW Launceston TAS

20 - 22 Sydney Motorcycle Show Olympic Park NSW

28 - 29 ASBK Rd 7 Venue TBC

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Many of you will know that I produce a weekly motorcycle column usually called, predictably enough, Motorcycle Weekly, for some 100 newspapers around Australia.

Well, it used to be 100 newspapers. Now it’s more like 80, because Rural Press, one of the newspaper groups that used to run the column, has dropped it as a cost saving. This means that I will be drinking generic bourbon from now on, an unacceptable situation.

So what do I want you to do about this?

Well, if your local paper (be it the Wooglewomp Gazette or the Canberra Times) does not run the column, I’d like you to contact them and ask them to. It’s available from marque.com.au Automotive News Service, which is Australia's largest independent motoring news service. For over 50 years it has been providing high quality, independent and unbiased automotive news to newspapers in every Australian state as well as several overseas publications. And it distributes my column as well…

You can see how that’s going to help me.

How will it help you?

Well, you’ll be able to read somewhat different versions of the bike tests that appear in ARR and Cruiser, but much earlier!

And it costs you nothing…

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Yep, the latest news is that bikies are even worse for the country and for each of us individually than the various governments had thought. Recent figures estimate that rather than killing one bloke at Sydney Airport, they kill 4550 each and every year. Worse yet, they knock two years off your – yes, your! – lifespan. Time to do something!

Oh, sorry. That’s hospitals that kill 4550 people each year, and the current standard of health care that reduces all of our lives by two years. Not bikies at all. Whew. That’s great. Now we don’t need to do anything about it.

If you’ve ever needed to have the government’s bikie panic put into context, that should do it.

But why was the official reaction to the bikie “threat” so severe, while nothing at all seems to be being done about the vast number of unnecessary deaths in hospitals?

Why are doctors pushing “road safety” scare campaigns that, let’s face it, affect very few people when they can’t even keep people alive in their hospitals?

What is it about motorcycles and motorcyclists that brings out the red-eyed control freak in officials of all persuasions?

I’d like to see everyone who has any input into motorcycle laws and their enforcement pass a simple test. I’d like them to prove that their mum or dad never forbade them to have a bike when they were young.

Yes, I think there must be some jealousy there somewhere.

How else do you explain it?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

You may have noticed over the past few days some new buttons have popped up on the blog and new item pages.

The buttons under ‘Share this’ help you send that particular news item or blog to friends through email and social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. You can also bookmark the page, print it off or post it on your own blog if you have one.

The ‘RSS Feed’ buttons let you subscribe to Bear’s Blog or news items so that we can let you know when the website is updated. Clicking on the left button will let you subscribe on your computer (through the web browser). If you have a web-based service iGoogle, My Yahoo or myAOL, you can click on the plus symbol to subscribe directly to these.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Here’s an interesting idea from Motorcycling Australia, which now styles itself “Australia’s peak body for motorcyclists”. Has anyone told the Motorcycle Council about this?

Anyway, here’s a quick paraphrase of the press release:

When it comes to road crashes, motorcyclists and scooter riders are vulnerable and restrictions on the use of bicycle lanes should be lifted.

“There has been an enormous investment in creating safer lanes for bicycles in capitals and major cities across the country,” said Motorcycling Australia’s Dan Rotman, “but riders of scooters and motorcycles- Powered Two Wheelers (PTWs) - are locked out of them because of legislation and regulation.”

He said that there had rightly been an effort to protect bicycle riders from other traffic, but that legislators and road constructors seemed to have forgotten that riders of PTWs were even more vulnerable than bicyclists.

“While injury trends for bicycle riders and car occupants are in decline, riders of PTWs remain highly vulnerable, and part of the solution could be extending the use of bicycle lanes in selected locations,” Rotman said.

Bicycle and PTW riders have a lot in common - a similar exposure to risk, size and footprint - and much of the new bicycle lane infrastructure could safely and easily accommodate both user groups.

“Not every bicycle lane would be appropriate,” Rotman said, “but there’s a great opportunity to conduct a trial to establish how and where the protection of these exclusive lanes could be extended to all vulnerable road users.”

Motorcycling Australia said that it would like to work with bicycle user groups, the MRA, car user groups and Government to work out how this could be best achieved.

For more information check out www.ma.org.au/rights.

Remember Laugh In?

“Interesting... but...”

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show 55,500 motorcycles, scooters and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) were sold in the six months to the end of June - a 14 percent decline compared to the same period in 2008.

"This result reflects the impact of broader economic conditions," FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said. "Motorcycle sales are now at the level we would expect them to be and are broadly consistent with the trends in new car sales."

Road bikes lost only 13.4 percent of sales compared to last year, with 20,763 sales. Scooter sales fell 29.3 percent. Cruisers remained the strongest selling road bikes with 22.5 percent of the market followed by 250s on 15.5 percent and supersport bikes on 12.5 percent. Interestingly, Suzuki, with 3563 sales, actually led the road bike market in front of Harley-Davidson with 3548 sales, with Honda third on 3477.

So… yes, sales are down and there is clearly more pain to come by way of unemployment, although it looks more like 7.5 percent rather than the 11 percent the Americans expect. But all the Hanrahans who reckoned we were “rooned” might like to have a look at the general economic indicators.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment rose by 23 percent in the past couple of months, to its highest level since December 2007. New Housing loans are at a 16 month high. House prices are up everywhere but Perth. And the Reserve bank’s estimate that real gross domestic product would shrink by 1 percent in 2009 is about to be revised – probably to growth of half a percent.

Things are tough in the rest of the world, true. But Australia, probably more by luck than good management, has avoided the worst of the recession.

Most of the motorcycle industry seems to agree.

“All things considered we're doing quite well,” says Harley-Davidson’s Adrian O’Donoughue. Honda’s Tony Sesto reckons that “for the remainder of the year, we have a couple of all-new bikes to look forward to” and that will stimulate sales. For BMW, Cameron Cuthill sees that “the outlook for the remainder of the year looks very positive”. Over at Triumph, Mal Jarrett is “particularly pleased to be in a positive position, given the current economic climate”.

Obviously I can’t see the future, but the glimpses I get are pretty positive. I’m going to stop worrying, and I’m going to book a doozy of a holiday.

Want to join me?

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

No doubt you’ve noticed the travel stories about America that run in both ARR and Cruiser. We’ve had a mixed reaction to them, with some readers dying to take the trip themselves and others annoyed because we’re not covering Australia enough.

Okay. Apart from the fact that there is no other motorcycle magazine in this country that runs anywhere near as many stories about Australia as we do, we also write about places that are not just the obvious travel destinations. When did you last read in any other magazine about riding to,  say, Woomera?

There is also a wealth of Aussie travel information in both the Hema Maps motorcycle Atlas and my book “On the Road Again”, all provided by me.

And then there’s the fact that we really like the US.

Even when, as happens occasionally, their dollar is inexplicably worth two of ours. And we still reckon that it’s a great destination – and not necessarily expensive. On our swing through the South last year, Mike and I found a pork restaurant where we got a huge helping of roasted meat plus potato salad plus coleslaw or beans plus a beer, all for ten bucks – hey, you’re not going to get that for even $20 in good old Pacific Pesos back here!

And check this. On a trawl through the Internet to find some info about Vegas (yes, Leanne of all people is going there for a nudge nudge conference) we came upon this review of Circus Circus:

“…from 11 a.m. to midnight, a different circus act performs on the midway above the casino. Once we saw a man spinning with towels in his mouth. On the other end of the towels were dogs, swinging through the air. Now that's entertainment!”

Is there any doubt that America still leads the free world??

The US is an absolute top motorcycle travel destination. You’ll be reading more about my recent ride in California soon – and no apologies! Especially when it now costs less than $A1000 to fly to LA and back.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Well, it’s come to this: motorcycle-mounted paramedics in Sydney are being spat at and insulted by pedestrians on their way to urgent cases. These blokes have saved a lot of lives because they can get to someone very quickly after they’ve suffered (especially) a heart attack. The quicker you get medical attention, the less likely you are to sustain brain damage or die.

They don’t just do a good job, they do a life-and-death job. And yet

I don’t know whether aggression against bike paramedics has increased since the launch of the State government’s hysterical anti-Bikie campaign, but I’ve never heard of anything like this before. What it looks like to me is a government well past its use-by date trying to create a sense of fear – because a scared community is more likely to stick with the devil it knows, come election time. And all motorcyclists are suffering.

From South Australia, for instance, I’m getting reports of Ulysses Club members being refused service in pubs. For those who don’t know about this organisation (about two or three of you, I’d say), it’s an almost painfully respectable social club made up of motorcyclists aged at least 40. Not a major threat to public order anywhere, except perhaps if the glucosamine supplies run out.

It’s very easy for the government to say that of course they’re not the intended target of the various campaigns, but if you fling enough mud a bit of it will always stick – and not just to your intended target.

Maybe you’d like to consult Brendan Nelson’s excellent guide to affecting the political process (in ARR #53) and let your representative know that you don’t appreciate this. The paramedics certainly don’t.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Well, it's been a couple of interesting days. I managed to put in some time with Arlen Ness (read all about it in Cruiser) and Mike Corbin (read all about it in ARR). When I arrived at the Corbin "base" in Hollister (yes, that Hollister, from The Wild One) - Mike said "I thought it would be cool to have a Hollister address" and of course it is.

Mike looked at the Honda Fury's seat (which is actually fine) and effectively told me that I wasn't leaving without a Corbin seat on the bike. They were working on one, and had the basic moulding done - so while Mike showed me and my US sales manager Stacey around the very impressive factory, and bought us lunch, his faithful minions finished the seat and also manufactured a bracket that allowed me to carry the Andy Strapz AA Bagz which holds almost all of my worldly goods. They didn't yet have a moulding for the pillon seat, but these guys are good - and quick!

Is it more comfortable? Well, tomorrow's ride through Death Valley will be the proof of the pudding, but even today's ride was terrific.

By the way, do you have any idea now much terrific stuff (like panniers for bikes that were never meant to have panniers) Mike Corbin makes? Check out the web site.

You know, I'm picking up all sorts of useful stuff while travelling super-light on the Fury. For example, you don't need three pairs of underpants. If you take the right kind, you only need two.

I'm going to have to revise my advice on some of these subjects...

And talking of advice, is the Fury a knockout or what? The last time I rode a bike that attracted so much (positive) attention it was the pre-production 1100 Katana...

Okay, time to find somewhere to eat here in Mariposa, California. Tomorrow, Yosemite and then Death Valleys.

You're sure you'd like my job?

It'll be cold, and then it'll be hot...

Regards,

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

A long way away, with only one pair of spare underpants

Well, here I am in a bar writing my blog. In a way I had always imagined that this was the way my life would pan out, sitting in a bar somewhere with a beer - High Sierra Pale Ale in this case - earning my living...

Yes, you've worked it out, I'm in the US. Specifically in San Francisco, one of my favourite places in that great country. Sadly I'm not wriring this in Specs, my favourite bar here, because the light is just too bad in there. Never mind, this place is okay too down here by the Embarcadero.

So, I hear you ask, what are you doing in a bar by the harbour in San Francisco, Bear? Why aren't you in the office like everyone else? How come you get to goof off and drink High Sierra while the rest of us are, like, working?

Oh, the load of sheer jealousy I hear in those tones...

Let's make it worse.

I am here to ride a bike, of course. I collected it a few days ago in Los Angeles and I rode it up here by way of a friend's place and the Big Sur Highway. The friend is Clement Salvadori, who is sort of the US West Coast version of me - he writes for bike magazines and puts together touring books, and he lives in a wonderful house built by his wife Sue. And the Big Sur Highway is... glorious. Imagine the GOR ten, twelve times as long and hardly broken by towns. Anyway, you'll read more of this in ARR and especially Cruiser.

Why especially Cruiser? Because the bike I've been riding is a Honda Fury.

Yep, the factory chopper that nobody could believe would be made by Honda. I won't give too much away at this stage, but let me say that I cleaned up a Cavalcade 1000 on the coast road and a BMW K1300S in the hills on it. Yes! And I'm not even quick! Oh, all right, the bloke on the Beemer was a weekend rider - at best. But it was funny watching him check the mirrors repeatedly to make sure that was really a chopper sticking to his tail! And the Kawasaki rider was trying, seriously.

I was admittedly in "light" mode chasing the BMW, my luggage back in the hotel in Monterey. Luggage? On the Fury? Well, I've got one of Andy Strapz's AA Bagz on the minuscule pillion seat, and I'm wearing a Honda backpack. That probably looks a bit weird, but it works. Mind you, I'm down to the basics: one change of underwear and the smallest computer I could find. Plus cameras, maps, Old Bloke stuff like glucosamine tablets and a light jumper to wear under my Tiger Angel Guardian suit when I cross Tioga Pass in a couple of days - it was snowing there when I last looked.

Yesterday.

But I'll fill you in some more when I get to the other side - and the 44 degree temperature of Death Valley...

Here's to motorcycling.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

In East Germany, they had the STASI to do it. In America, they used the House Un-American Activities Committee. In Western Australia they haven’t got a name for it yet, but you’re being asked to do the same thing – inform on your neighbours.

The idea is that upright, decent Sandgropers should keep a note of what “the bikies” are up to – whom they meet for a drink, who comes to see them, where they might go for a ride and such - and ring the government’s bikie snitch line to turn them in. This is for activities that are not in themselves illegal, you might note.

There are few better ways of turning a community against certain members than by getting everyone to watch them, and inform on them. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s been demonstrated over and over again that the average bloke and blokette in the street simply can’t tell the difference between a patch club member and a Ulyssian or other perfectly ordinary motorcyclist.

Actually, I suppose you could have a bit of fun with this.

Ring, ring. “Bikie Hotline, whom would you like to denounce?”

“It’s my neighbor Frank. He’s a patch club member; he wears a patch with an old bloke on it and the words ‘Grow Old Disgracefully’, believe it or not. Last night he came home at nearly midnight, and that bloody GoldWing of his makes a sort of whistling noise when he rides it into the garage. Oh, and the garage door squeaks as well, I’m sick of it. And last weekend he and some mates went out on a poker run, supposedly to raise money for the Children’s Hospital. Hah! A likely story. Can you come and sort him out?”

“Certainly, sir. We’re here to keep the Western Australian community safe from this kind of scum.”

Markus Wolf and Senator Joe McCarthy would have been proud of the WA government. The rest of us should probably be a little ashamed.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

“I say, I say… do you like Kipling?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never kippled.”

One of the things you seem to enjoy about ARR is my penchant for inserting quotations into the stories with the slightest provocation and at every opportunity. I picked up this habit many years ago when I first realised that I was in fact A Bear of Very Little Brain and could use all the help I could get when it came to Profound Thoughts.

I’ve always read reasonably widely, and it occurred to me that many of the conundrums (conundra?) and frustrations (frustratia?) presented to me by everyday life had been experienced before, by others who could usually express and deal with them far better than I could ever hope to do.

Some, like the poet Robert Herrick, are pretty unfashionable while others, like the poet Robert Zimmerman, are very fashionable indeed; all are articulate and concise with their words (yes, I know, that’s not something I’d ever be accused of).

Perhaps the most rewarding of those people has been Rudyard Kipling, a figure either unfashionable or Disney-fied today but one who well repays closer reading than he usually gets. He’s often misinterpreted – the ‘lesser breeds without the law’ of the powerful Recessional, for instance, are not the Third World’s native peoples – but almost always has something relevant to say. Here’s one of his lesser-known poems, and one particularly applicable to motorcyclists; apart from being clearly relevant in the current Global Economic Screwup, to me it addresses a tendency that’s all too common all around us today. You know the one – it’s all ‘their’ fault.

The Gods of the Copybook Headings
Rudyard Kipling

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return.

Sounds like really good sense to me. Thank you, Mr Kipling…

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Okay, let’s sort the sheep from the goats. Here are some questions for you.

What is your favourite colour?

No, no, not that Monty Python crap again.

Here are some serious questions. Post your answers here. We will compile the answers and report back, probably in ARR. This is an opportunity to hand out some bouquets to the people who are doing it for you.

Why are we not asking for the worst brands as well? Because we aren’t interested in stirring up grudges and having to wade through complaints that may or may not have any justification. Frankly, we’re depressed enough right now with the way the price of single malt whiskey is going. Cheer us up instead! Maybe we’ll do a “worst of” sometime in the future, but for now we want to keep it positive.

Just one brand per answer, please! If you don’t know (for question 5, for example) just leave blank.

Which motorcycle brand sold in Australia do you rate as number one for:

1. Technical quality (the bike brand that works best and gives the least trouble)
2. Build quality (paint, welds, panel fit, comfort and durability of seat etc)
3. Spares and accessories supply (who has the best stock and supplies fastest)
4. Dealer quality (how well dealers look after customers, have the best staff etc)
5. Customer relations (how well does the company look after its customers)
6. Customer benefits (free road service, membership of club etc)
7. Warranty support (pretty self-explanatory)
8. Model range (not necessarily the biggest range, but the best – of road bikes)
9. Advertising (whose ads do you reckon actually work)
10. Technology (who offers the most advanced but still useful technology)
11. What is the air speed of a swallow? No, no, I told you…

Get your answers in by the end of July and we’ll draw half a dozen out and send you some goodies. What will they be? Who knows, but they’ll be good ones. Oh, and tell your mates about this – the more answers we get the better!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

I promised you that I’d occasionally use this column as a way of promoting rallies, and – wait for it – I’m actually going to do it! Right now! Who said “that makes a change” back there?

Get into hot water

The 22nd Ragged Fringe rally will be on the weekend of the 12th and 13th of September at Bretti Reserve, about 33 km north of Gloucester on Thunderbolt’s Way. Run by the Moto Guzzi Owners Association of NSW it is a back to basics rally but hot water, tea and coffee will be available. More information and bookings: The Secretary, MGOA of NSW, PO Box 392 Camperdown NSW 1450. Cost is $15 including a badge.

Get a plate

Don’t Moto Guzzi owners have anything else to do? The annual Spaghetti Rally will be held over the weekend of the 24th and 25th October 2009 at Edi Cutting camp ground on the banks of the beautiful King River in Nth Eastern Victoria, 10kms N/W of Whitfield in the King Valley. Organisers are the Moto Guzzi Club of Victoria.

Entries cost $25 for adults and $15 for children, and include the tradional feed of spaghetti on the Saturday night with a trophy going for the best/ugliest/strangest/most original plate. This will be a return to earlier Spag rallies where many punters used the side cover from their bikes as a plate, along with hats, hubcaps, headlight shells etc!

Check the club website www.motoguzziclubvic.asn.au for details and updates or contact Neil Hornsby for further information on 0402 784 745.

Get fishing

At the Fish Holes Rally on November 13th, 14th and 15th. To find the South West Touring Club’s rally, follow the signs from the Shell servo at Portland, Victoria. Fully catered, no B.Y.O. Showers and Toilets. Gymkhana, music Friday night and bands Saturday night. No glass, registered bikes only, no cars, no walk-ins. Entry fee prepaid $18.00 or at gate $ 20.00.

Enquiries David & Julie,  08 8723 2991 / 0412 838 765, Trevor 0418 528 002.

This is a good opportunity to get the word out, rally organizers. Just drop me a line to thebear@universalmagazines.com.au.

Get answers

Oh, by the way, we’re pleased to get comments on my blogs and others like to read them, but I don’t always get a chance to read them straight away. They also don’t allow direct answers. So if you want to ask a question please use the e-mail address above.

As for you, Spear, I’d call Yammy Venture a touring cruiser; and Ted E Bear, I’m afraid the outfit has gone to a good home in Queensland.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Well, on Tuesday the 28th of April we launched Cruiser+Trike in style at Sydney specialist bike shop Deus ex Machina – incidentally the people who built our cover bike.

The evening was terrific, many thanks to Greg and his staff at the Deus café. If the immediate reaction was anything to go by we’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head. And here’s an interesting statistic: we had nearly 800 subscriptions before anyone had even seen the magazine! Seriously, I feel truly humble (not a common emotion among bears…).

The magazine has now been out on the stands for two days, and I’m already getting mail. All good, so far! We look forward to satisfying all of your expectations over the months and years to come. Thank you all for your faith.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Why us?

I’m not going to get into the “anti-bikie legislation” question too deeply. It’s being discussed quite a lot, and that’s fine. Suffice it to say that whatever the problem really is, I don’t think special legislation is the answer. There are plenty of laws already that cover this, and it’s interesting to note that the arrests made so far here in NSW “under the new legislation” were in fact made under the old legislation.

What I’m really concerned about is that this is having an impact on other riders – we’re already getting stories of Ulysses Club members being refused service and perfectly ordinary citizens being abused because they’re on bikes.

A knee-jerk reaction from politicians is making life more difficult for us; I suggest you remember that when the polls roll around again.

Was that Casey?

That’s what they’ll be asking when you roar past on this bike: created in tribute to Casey Stoner’s amazing 2007 achievements, the Casey Stoner Tribute Ducati 1098 is now available for sale!

The bike is on show at the new Fraser Motorcycles Sydney store at Concord in Sydney, and it could be yours today for $29,990.

Why am I telling you this? Because the speed at which we can get this blog up on the site means that I can actually pass on news to you – and even a bit of racing stuff. I can also pass on my private thoughts and confessions – here’s one.

I don’t have the money to buy this bike, but I could raise it. Why don’t I? Because I’d look like a complete wanker riding it, that’s why. My riding style is more Casey Jones than Casey Stoner. I’ll stick with fantasizing about my race successes, thank you very much… and I’m sure whoever buys the bike will actually do it justice!

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming

Hi there, and welcome to the very first Bear’s Blog on our new website. I’ve spent almost all of the past week at the Ulysses Club AGM in Penrith, and managed to meet the usual cross-section of ARR readers. Thank you all for coming over to see us.

We also sold quite an amazing number of subscriptions for our new magazine, Cruiser+Trike. Not bad for a publication nobody has even seen yet! I guess we must be doing something right for you to trust us that much.

We auctioned off a complete set of Australian Road Rider on the stand, with the proceeds of $180 to our adopted charity MARI which looks after downed riders. The incidence of depression among these people is disturbingly high, and MARI takes care of them – initially at Sydney’s St Vincents Hospital, but soon elsewhere as well.

While I think of it, let me congratulate the entire motorcycle community, riders and industry, on your – our – reaction to the Victorian bushfires and the Queensland floods. I’ll just mention one initiative, we simply don’t have room for them all: Harley-Davidson riders and shops collected $40,000 and the Motor Company matched that to come up with a total of $80,000.

You’re a great bunch of people, all of you, and more power to your arms!

Well, I’ll come up with something a bit more amusing for my next blog – just be sure you check here regularly. You never know what I’ve dug up (so to speak).

Oh, and while I think of it: anyone who wants to promote a rally, just drop me a line and I’ll plug it here.

Peter “The Bear” Thoeming