Posts Tagged ‘australia’

Travelling Australia By Motorcycle. Guest Post By Sarah Kearns

Posted: October 18, 2017 in Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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Australia-Flag-Map

Travelling the AU By Motorcycle

When I decided to tour Australia by motorcycle, most of my friends and family thought that I had lost my mind. In truth, I really wanted to enjoy some solitude and forge a stronger connection with nature. By exercising my independence and absorbing new sights and sounds, I came away from my trip feeling better as a person. While it was admittedly difficult at times, I have no regrets. The challenges were merely opportunities to learn, and I’m never one to turn down a challenge.

Preparing for My Trip

I planned to be gone for a month. I don’t have any pets, so I didn’t need to worry about them. I threw away all the perishables in my refrigerator, unplugged all the things I wouldn’t be using, and made an arrangement through Spacer to find a storage and have my valuables stored somewhere safe in my absence. I made sure I let my family know the places I was going, when I intended to be there, and how long I planned to be gone. It was easy to get a hold of them by phone, but it always helps to have someone who knows your whereabouts just for the sake of safety.

Packing Smart

Between the motorcycle and the weather, I needed to make sure I was wearing appropriate clothing. Light, breathable long sleeve shirts were the best bet. My skin was motorcycle-933022_960_720protected from both the sun and the wind. I also brought a lot of extra sunblock so I could remember to reapply it every few hours, and enough refillable water bottles so that I’d never run out before I had a chance to stop.

I also brought some campsite tools with me. I had a camping hammock, a small tent, and some basic campfire cooking tools. There are plenty of beautiful places to motorcycle camp in Australia, and it was much cheaper than relying on a hotel every night. I wanted the full experience, and I could only get that by sleeping in nature whenever possible.

Setting Up My Itinerary

I mapped a general route before I went, but I was careful not to put too many specifics on my map. There were a handful of landmarks I wanted to see, mostly beaches and natural formations. I also gave myself a rough time estimate for how long it would take me to get from point to point along that route. By not meticulously overscheduling, I was able to live in the moment. I could find campsites that seemed interesting to me, rather than limiting myself to things I chose before I even got a chance to see them.

Planning my Long Stops

I was eventually going to need to shower and wash my clothes – being on the road for a long time is no excuse to smell bad. While I brought camp hygiene products with me, nothing is a legitimate replacement for an actual shower. I found all the places along my route that I could stop at night to sleep in a real bed and get access to a shower and laundry facility. You never know when you might need one of these places, so it’s best to be aware of how many you can potentially encounter.

Although it was exhausting and trying at times, it was a worthwhile experience. I got to enjoy some time to get my head together and experience the world. If you’ve ever read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance, you’ll find that most of its sentiments ring true. It’s half hard work, and half finding yourself.

Sarah Kearns is a hard working mother of three daughters. She is a Senior Communications Manager for BizDb, an online resource with information about businesses in the UK. She loves cooking, reading history books and writing about green living.  Her dad was a motorcyclist and he passed that passion on to her. Sarah loves to travel the world on her motorcycle and she hopes that one of her daughters will become her partner in the near future.

The Most Expensive Harley Davidson Motorcycle Sold At Auction

Posted: October 26, 2015 in Motorcycle news
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HD-LHS

Based on what I can find this is the most (and only) Harley Davidson Motorcycle in the top 10 list.

When a “barn-find” Harley-Davidson racing machine and sidecar is found after 50-plus years in storage in Australia and then sent to auction, the bidding is sure to be fierce. The expectations were that the bike would go for about US $100,000.

But the bidding was greater than expected.  The bike set a new Australian auction record with a final winning bid of AUD$600,000 (US$420,000).

What caught everyone’s wallet on fire? A circa-1927 FHA 8-Valve V-Twin racer complete with its scramble-type sidecar.  (The motorbike’s side car was added to the motorbike after it made to Australia and can be angled to adapt to what tracks the bike was running on according to the auctioneer.) hd2

The 8-Valve racing Harley is one of the rarest and most collectible models in HD circles.There were fewer than 50 built which makes it an exceptionally rare machine anywhere in the world. So for one to turn up in an Australian shed after decades certainly set the motorcycle collector world abuzz.

These powerful bikes were only offered to up-and-coming racers of the times and were not available to the general public. “To many collectors the engine is really what makes this bike. This was probably the holy grail for Harley-Davidson in this era” stated Mr. Boribon the auctioneer.

As noted above the fact that less than 50 were built makes it rare, the fact that a lot of race bikes ended there racing lives in spectacular fashion contributes to even lower numbers left in existence.  I am sure more than a few of the 50 blew up or crashed on the track. So based on those facts it is very surprising that very few 8-Valve racing bikes have survived from that era.

This is the only Harley in the top ten most expensive bikes at auction coming in at

1 – US$580,000 – 1910 Winchester

2 – US$551,200 – 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer

3 – US$480,000 – 1939 BMW RS255 Kompressor

4 – US$463,847 – 1922 Brough Superior SS80

5 – US$452,234 – 1926 Brough Superior SS100

6 – US$450,000 – 1958 Ariel 650 Cyclone

7 – US$448,156 – 1929 Brough Superior SS100

8 – US425,943 – 1939 Brough Superior SS100

9 – US$420,000 – 1927 Harley Davidson FHA 8-Valve V-Twin racer

10 – US$394,101 – 1934 Brough Superior SS100

(Bumped from the top 10 –  US$383,317 – 1949 Vincent Black Lightning)

winchester-1910-

Motorcycle Lane Splitting…. What’s happened in 2014 (so far)

Posted: November 2, 2014 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, Motorcycle news, motorcycle safety
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ijustwant2ride.com

A lot has occurred on the subject of lane splitting (or filtering depending on where you are) this year to include the following:

>  A complaint from one person forced the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to remove lane splitting guidelines from their website.

>  In Australia, New South Wales is now allowing lane splitting and Queensland is will be legal in 2015.

>  Change.org has a petition to make lane splitting legal in the state of Virginia.

>  UC Berkeley issued a study, commissioned by the CHP, finds the practice does not increase safety risks.

 

The most important item of the year on this subject is the UC Berkleley/CHP study. The study shows that lane splitting is, mostly, as safe as riding in a standard lane. I can see this report supporting the movement to allow lane splitting in other states in the very near future. The report, titled “Safety implications of lane-splitting among California motorcyclists involved in collisions” studied the “prevalence of lane-splitting among approximately 8,000 motorcyclists who were involved traffic collisions in June 2012 through August 2013”. Some of the highlights of the UC/CHP study: (LSM=Lane Splitting Motorcyclist)

 

>  The practice of riding in between marked lanes to filter through slow-moving or stopped traffic, is just as safe for riders as traveling in normal lanes

>  Riders who split lanes are less prone to getting rear-ended; however, the likelihood of a rider rear-ending a car is greater.

>  Danger level does increase for riders who are splitting at speeds of 10mph or faster than the surrounding traffic.

>  They found that lane splitters were splitting at lower speeds and in slower moving traffic than they had been previously.

>  Time of day also varied greatly by lane-splitting status 59.5% of LSM were involved in collisions between 6-9 am or 3-4pm, compared with 37.3% of motorcyclists who were not lane-splitting.

>  Patterns of injury were significantly different comparing LSM and other motorcyclists. LSM were notably less likely to suffer head injury (9.1% vs 16.5%), torso injury (18.6% vs 27.3%), or fatal injury (1.4% vs 3.1%) than other motorcyclists. The occurrence of neck injury and arm/leg injury did not differ meaningfully by lane-splitting status.

The authors of the report have promised further analysis on the data they collected. They plan to look at things such as age, gender, rider characteristics, and roadway conditions to further dig into what exactly is and isn’t dangerous on the roads.

You can read the summary of the UC Berkeley/CHP study yourself at this link.