"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