Australian Road Rider

The Moto Guzzi V85 TT — a classically styled mid-range Adventure bike — is now available with prices starting at $18,890. With the Adventure and Scrambler genres both doing very well, the new Moto Guzzi looks like slotting in between the two — more o

I packed track leathers because I have them. I was going to a track and wasn’t thinking too hard. See, when I go to Sydney Motorsport Park it’s to go fast, get the knee down and write about how the latest sportsbike feels. Except, not this time. Toda

I’ll be blunt: motorcyclists should stop at 50. Seriously, if you need more than 50 motorcycles, you’re being greedy. Even more seriously, how many motorcycles do you need? Well, I know I need at least one in my life at any given time (if there’s no

Riding an Aprilia Tuono Factory that started life just like the machine Australian Road Rider has tested in this issue, Rennie Scaysbrook has won the heavyweight motorcycle category of the Pikes Peak challenge. The victory has been sometime coming, w

Choices about “life partners” and where you’d like to live are emotionally charged and often filled with compromise. So it goes with motorcycles. Australian Road Rider’s advice on relationships and real estate would be crap, but we can help with mot

The famous fundraising duo, Tex and Bundy, are coming to the end of their motorcycling days together, with Bundy retiring from motorcycle riding after more than 10 years on the bike and raising over six million dollars for charity. The good news is T

After I had a lean few months of not riding anything, the heavens open to deliver a pair of uber-desirable test bikes! First a famine, then a flood. Shame about the weather. The older I get, the more intolerant I am of a lot of things. Rain and the c

This is the latest iteration of the Suzuki M109R called the Black Edition, a name I checked twice given the amount of glaringly white pearlescent paint on our test bike (it makes a bit more sense with the more subdued Candy Red version). A combinatio

We head out of Dubrovnik and say goodbye for now to the awesome views from the clifftops of the Dalmatian Coast. We have three quick border crossings scheduled before lunchtime and we can’t afford too many delays, so we make up time with some spirite

More cruiser than performance, but this American machine is super-sculptured in its style and finish. With similar engine capacity from the Thunderstroke 111 motor, there’s heaps of torque on offer, but it doesn’t rev like the Suzuki. At 332kg it’s a

The conversation went a little like this. Me to the pillion in a million, “You don’t mind if I clear off with the mistress for a few weeks, do you?” Her reply, “No dear. Of course not, but be careful.” What a woman. She knows me well. The mistress, o

Is there anything worse than parking your bike, then discovering a cop has just boxed you into the spot with his patrol car and has that look on his face every P-plater hates to see? I had parked the bike so it could be photographed for this Australi

They are round, black and stop your rims being scratched by the asphalt, right? And it’s a known fact that motorcycle tyre manufacturers are ripping off bike riders because car tyres easily last three, four or 10 times longer than bike tyres, yet bik

Gutless, lame cruisers have given way to asphalt-melting muscle bikes in recent years, with many new models having arm-wrenching power and rubber-melting torque available at the flick of the wrist. And that’s just the power outputs. Over the last dec

I’ve been a bike journo longer than most new riders have been alive, and my commute to work these days is walking down my back stairs, so I am a long, long way from being a prospective Z400 buyer. My son Damien, however, has had his licence less than

The Macna Vosges Nighteye jacket is comfortable, versatile, protective and even reflective. If you’re looking for a four-season textile jacket, it’s pretty close to perfect, featuring three layers (outer, rain liner and thermal liner), ventilation fo

When we got invited to the Australian launch of the new Royal Enfield 650 twins (ARR#151) I dug out my coolest open-face lid, then looked around for some worthy eyewear to go with it. I’d seen the Ugly Fish stand at the last Sydney Bike Expo and gave

There was a 20-knot cross wind, my elbows were mashed against my knees and therefore sticking out into the breeze, and I couldn’t get my head down behind the screen properly. Despite this, the speedo needle was pointing to 310km/h. It was 1999, I was

Do you do the dreaded east-west commute? Travelling east every morning and west every afternoon means riding into a rising sun and setting sun during the winter months, and often a tinted visor isn’t enough so your left hand comes off the ’bars to bl

Not far outside Sydney is one of Australia’s most popular motorcycle roads, the snaking piece of tarmac following the Hawkesbury River starting at Wisemans Ferry. The Wisemans Ferry Hotel is a popular joint for riders to enjoy a nice (if a little exp

Now 12 models strong, Triumph has answered the fairly universal call to offer a Bonnie that carries the DNA of the Bonneville T120 with more engaged ergonomics, all the power and torque of the much-lauded Thruxton R in an even more accessible modern

Travel the Thunderbolts Way and Oxley Highway to find yourself in the beautiful township of Walcha, nestled high in the NSW tablelands. A pastoral wonderland, the Walcha district is home to some of Australia’s finest grazing land for merino wool and

There’s a feature in this issue on the Suzuki Hayabusa. It was first launched in 1999, but that year Yamaha released the sportsbike of the year, the limited-edition YZF-R7, which was also known as the OW-02. Even by 1999 Yamaha didn’t see a future in