Future Perfect

Ah, springtime, when a motorcyclist’s thoughts turn to travel — but how many seasons do we have left and how will we spend them?

Motorcycle touring goes back a long way. The very first recreation for which the motorcycle as enlisted after its invention was travel. If you look at a lot of the early advertising you’ll see motorcycle-mounted picnics, views of scenic wonders obviously reached by the bike in the foreground and romantic trips two-up (and helmetless) through country lanes. Reliability trials to demonstrate the touring capability of the various bikes competing for “motorbicyclist’s” cash were among the most popular competitions.

And the popularity of touring has never really disappeared. Even in the time after World War II when cars began to displace bikes as family transport, the two-wheelers were still the choice of many adventurous travellers.

That popularity grew as motorcycling returned to favour. For a while there you couldn’t move on the Silk Road for touring bikes on their way through from Europe, or along the Panamerican Highway for hordes of riders heading for Tierra del Fuego or Alaska. Many were minor celebrities of some kind or other, accompanied by trucks filled with TV crews.

But we live in a changing world, indeed in a rapidly changing world. Can this go on? What does the future hold for motorcycle travel? Given the increasing hold that the safetycrats have on our lives, and the allegedly dwindling supplies of potential fuels, will there even be any motorcycling in the future? It’s probably easiest if we break the question down into some smaller headings.

Absolute comfort - the Peraves 'flying egg

The main reason why I think this form of travel will grow, though, is that it combines adventure with minimal risk. Yes, there is some risk – and it’s partly this that makes it an adventure – but just about every kind of motorcycling has steadily been getting safer, and development will continue along that path.

So motorcycle touring is fun, it’s relatively safe but it’s still an adventure. Baby boomers love that kind of stuff. And of course the bikes are getting better (or at least more sophisticated) all the time too, in many ways. Some are becoming more specialised, like the version of the Yamaha FJR1300 with clutchless operation, while others are more versatile – allowing you to use them for everything from commuting to long distance touring.

In a world that is steadily reducing the number of risks that people are encouraged – or even permitted – to take, motorcycle touring stands out as a still-exciting activity. Mind you, it may not stay that way for long unless we’re prepared to defend our turf.

Remember the ‘safetycrats’ I mentioned above? They’re a bigger threat to us than the triffids (nee Volvo drivers) turning right without looking will ever be. With their untiring dedication to the Nanny State, they’re introducing more spurious rules and mindless ‘safety’ initiatives all the time. If they can’t regulate us off the road they’ll try to price us off it with their levies and compulsory insurance increases.

Watch these people, and fight them whenever and wherever you can. You owe it to yourself and to all the other motorcyclists, present and future, on our roads.

Want some current examples? Well, how about the Victorian registration levy; the Queensland requirement that new riders have a car licence for a year first; or the ubiquitous new ‘legslicer’ flat Armco ends? See if you can join the fight against any one of them, to make sure we don’t see more of this kind of stuff in the future.

GPS systems will proliferate and become useful

Triumph is putting the finishing touches to a touring version of the 2.3 litre Rocket 3 and BMW has a six cylinder 1850 cc tourer in development that is intended to replace the K1200LT. I can’t imagine that Suzuki and Yamaha will lag far behind this tendency, and Honda should be just about ready with the next generation GoldWing – although there’s no telling what Honda’s doing these days. Kawasaki of course has just given us the staggering GTR 1400, the high speed ‘transcontinental’ tourer.

The same thing is happening further down the engine size scale with scooters. We have had Suzuki’s 650 Burgman for quite a while, but there’s also the 600 SilverWing from Honda (and if that name doesn’t tell you what they expect you to do with it, you’ll need a written invitation) and things like the 500 Scarabeo from Aprilia and various offerings from Piaggio. That company is even building an 850 scooter, which we won’t see here for a while at least because it carries a humungous price tag.

And just because they’re called sports tourers don’t discount the fascination that such bikes as Yamaha’s FJR1300, the Honda ST1300, Triumph’s Sprint ST, the Moto Guzzi Norge and Ducati’s ST3 exert on the more mature rider. Expect manufacturers to devise more bikes in this category to cash in on the popularity of the current machines.

Between those categories, and occasionally even below the maxi scooters, there will be more and more touring (or at least touring-capable) bikes on the market. The Honda Deauville, the faired Suzuki GS500, the Kawasaki ER6n and Yamaha’s TDM900 are all just waiting to be taken on long trips, and so are many others. Moto Guzzi’s Brevas, Triumph’s Tiger, several of BMW’s R and new K series bikes… the list is long.

And that’s before we even begin to look at the dual sports segment where every manufacturer seems to have a starter now, except for Triumph (although there’s bound to be something happening there, too). Many riders swear by the likes of the BMW R1200GS, Honda’s Transalp, the big and ‘small’ KTM Adventures and so on and won’t even consider anything else.

There is no doubt that technology will continue to make inroads (sorry…) into motorcycle touring. GPS units will get cheaper and just about everybody will have one if they go touring; the advantages are simply too great to resist. Imagine always being able to find out where the nearest fuel is – and if the servo is open! Likewise, ABS will become pretty much standard (it may even be required by law, according to one industry insider). BMW has relaunched traction control, abandoned by Honda some years ago. Sports bikes have electronic steering dampers now. But you get the idea.

Honda will be re-introducing it's Varadero soon

How?
It’s pretty likely that we’ll keep rolling along on two wheels, but it’s also clear that eventually we will need an alternative to petrol to power our bikes. Don’t look for this for a good long time, but in the end it must come because, frankly, oil is too useful as a feedstock for the chemical industry to just burn.

Do not get too carried away by the alarmists who reckon oil is running out; not just yet, folks, not when there are vast reserves in oil-bearing sands and shales. It is, however, true that it will be more expensive to extract, so expect it to increase quite significantly in price. That’s okay; bikes are relatively fuel efficient and can be made much more so without a huge leap in technology.

Don’t get too excited about the diesel bikes we see popping up in various places, either. BMW’s Juergen Stoffregen has made the very reasonable point that the performance characteristics and all the noise insulation you need on a diesel make it a profoundly unattractive choice for a production bike from a major manufacturer.

That’s not to say we won’t see ever more of them, especially in turbo-charged form, but it suggests that they will not gain mainstream support. Anyway, they currently still use a fossil hydrocarbon product themselves. Diesel may be more efficient than petrol, but it’s still made from oil. That will change as bio diesel becomes more generally available, but the above objections still hold.

Most effort seems to be going into ethanol (and if you’re a regular reader you’ll know my opinion of that, which is best summed up as ‘no thanks, for now’) and fuel cells. But nothing will really change in the immediate future, such as the next decade or two. BMW’s engine development boss Dr Christian Landerl can see the addition of bio-mass fuels (which probably means ethanol) to petrol as a future trend, but his main prescription for saving fuel (and the planet) is technology. Direct fuel injection technology, to be precise.

The Vision might look outrageous now but...

Where?
My friend David McGonigal, who may or may not be related to the famous poet (although he definitely has a way with words), has ridden his bike in Antarctica, but while that’s clearly a cool place to go (sorry…) I don’t expect it to catch on as a touring destination.

There are many other places to choose from. Yes, there is some trouble brewing around the world for anyone who’s not a local, not that it was ever much different. Well, actually, if you go back far enough it was better; see the wonderful book ‘One Man Caravan’ by Robert Fulton for examples of truly spectacular hospitality back in the 1930s. Its equal can be found today; just don’t rely on it. And things are rarely as bad as they look in the news. Television is by its nature a sensationalist medium. In fact, they all are.

I remember once listening to the BBC Foreign Service at a small campsite in the hills behind Izmir in western Turkey when news came though that there had been a military coup. The first sign I saw of it was two weeks later when I rolled into Ankara aboard my XS11 and saw some tanks positioned at major intersections. It had no effect whatever on my travels, but it was big news all around the world and worried my poor old Mum no end.

The Muslim world is probably still as rewarding and welcoming as it ever was to motorcycle tourers. There are some hot spots it would be best to avoid, of course. Afghanistan is, sadly, one, and our military involvement there and in Iraq has made the word ‘Australian’ far too well known in the area. Once upon a time I had to show my passport at a roadblock in Afghanistan. The officer in charge looked at it and said, ‘Australia… I guess you don’t speak English then?’

But there always were difficult places, and some apparently dangerous ones in fact seem to be becoming more pleasant. Iran is getting a good wrap from some of the people passing through at the moment, for instance. I guess I wouldn’t put ‘nuclear safety inspector’ as my profession on the visa application.

The countries of South-East Asia are probably the biggest growth area for Australian touring riders. They’re close and easy to get to, have huge motorcycle stocks (even if the bikes are small) and lots to see, as well as many English speakers among the population*. And the Vietnamese appear to have forgiven us our involvement in the war, or are ignoring it for reasons of profit.

China is becoming more and more accessible (although at this stage you still need a Chinese licence to ride there, and may need a tour operator to organise it), as are the various countries that used to be the USSR. I recently read an amazing story about some blokes who rode KTM enduro bikes through Kazakhstan, generally without the benefit of roads. There are no fences in the grasslands, apparently!

Other relatively rough destinations such as South America and Africa seem mainly to be settling down as well, but of course there are going to be Colombian guerrillas and Saharan separatists for a long time yet who kidnap motorcycle tourers for money or to make a political point. A little common sense will help here, but won’t necessarily protect you. You’re just better off staying away from some areas**.

In general, I think individual rather than organised tour motorcycle travel will continue to take place mainly in Western-type countries – if for no other reason than that is where most motorcycle travellers live. This means that we’ll see even more people riding in Australia and New Zealand, Europe and the USA, Mexico and Canada.

I think the greying of the motorcycle community (see below) will mean a major increase in organised tours, though, and they will go all over the place. Even now you can book yourself a ride with a group in South America, Turkey, Bhutan, India, Mongolia, China and of course all over Europe and the US and Mexico, among many other places.

I’ve no doubt that this tendency will grow strongly. After all, if you’re going somewhere a little off the beaten track it’s nice to have a guide who can arrange the accommodation, meals – and bribes – for you every day as well as getting you to medevac if that turns out to be necessary.

Who?
Once upon a time, serious motorcycle travel was a young man’s (or couple’s) recreation. Older blokes and solo women of any age were a rare, though not unknown, sight. This has changed in a big way.

Just as motorcycling has become less popular with young people, so touring has, generally speaking, dropped off their screen. Improvements in bikes, security and general conditions, in turn, have meant that more mature blokes and blokettes feel a lot more comfortable getting out there. We grown-up people (aka ‘wrinklies’) also have the money and the time, two resources that the young frequently and deservedly lack.

This trend will continue, I think, and we can all look forward to easily available opportunities to go places on our bikes, with or without our friends. A natural corollary is a continuing improvement in all sorts of conditions for motorcyclists, as well as better acceptance by service providers like motel managers.

In Australia, the growth of mature age groups, the main one of course being the Ulysses Club, has helped this along.

Kawasaki has raised the bar with the GTR 1400

When?
So we can expect more and more motorcycle tourers to be retired people, which means that they’ll be able to go travelling any time at all. No more ‘peak weeks’ such as the Christmas holidays, and less emphasis on just getting away for the weekend. That means people taking advantage of lower prices in the off seasons for all sorts of things.

What it also means is that a lot of Grey Nomads will be out there on long trips. Travel around Australia will become ever more common, as will extended touring in Europe or the US. That in turn means major changes for the industry. Manufacturers will need to make the bikes ever more capable of carrying the amount of stuff such long rides demand, and provide accessible service locations all over the place.

Any time, anywhere. It’s all good, really.

Footnotes:
* Please note that these countries are not universally welcoming, or even polite. I recently attempted to get a visa for Brunei in order to stop over and do a story about riding a bike there, but had no luck. Despite being sponsored by the national airline I simply got no response to my application. I actually think that was quite rude, apart from it costing me more money for a last-minute ticket on another route with another airline. Think twice about visiting bloody Brunei at all.

** The Federal Government’s website at www.smartraveller.gov.au is very helpful here. Check any countries you may be thinking of visiting, and make the final decision based on the recommendations you find there. As I write this, all the countries listed as most dangerous are in Africa, with the exception of Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor.