Where to next

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Warren

Welcome to my two wheel travel blog. You can view my photos in higher quality by clicking on them and I love to read your comments.

Latest posts by Warren (see all)

• Where to next - January 3, 2025
• China Motorcycle Ride Part Two - November 30, 2024
• China Motorcycle Ride - November 27, 2024

My motorcycle riding has changed over the years.

I got my motorcycle licence at 24, later than most people but that was the earliest I would have not instantly killed myself. I was a very reckless young man. I still nearly died when learning to ride and lacking any riding lessons or knowledge ran off the road and through a barbed wire fence. One of the strands of wire ripped open my neck and another my arm. But it was not my time. A car stopped and was a doctor who picked me up and took me to the Murwillumbah hospital.

Not deterred (because I’m stupid) when recovered I decided to buy a Kawasaki superbike before having my open licence. I had a friend in Canberra ACT which at that time did not have the (first year) 250cc limit rule, so I visited with one of my (Telecom) phone bills and cut my name from it and pasted over his identical phone bill then went to a copy shop. Armed with that as proof of residence, I transferred my licence to ACT and got an open class bike endorsement.

Initially I couldn’t imagine riding not being a group activity. I was constantly phoning people to join on Sunday rides which inevitably turned into competitive events. But my friends with more sense than me soon tired of that. Except for my mate from Alstonville. Together we tore up the roads before both losing our licences from speeding. Him quite spectacularly with road block on the old pacific h-way to capture the group of high speed riders he occasionally hung with.

It was fortuitous I lost my licence. I was a jackass on a motorcycle – as blogger Fuzzy Galore put it. I sold my ZXR750R and switched to riding farms and moto-x tracks. I’d previously done an advanced rider course but learning to control a dirt bike constantly sliding with ever varying amounts of tyre grip was by far the best thing I ever did to improve my riding skills. It still assists me to this day.

But even wearing armor and relatively low speed the falls hurt. After a simple crash turned into a bad knee injury I was left with a long recovery. Tired of hurting myself I sold the KX. That knee injury still bothers me occasionally 36 years later.

I wanted to avoid slipping back into fast road riding so I purchased a Honda VFR400R which I thought might still be fun but keep my speed down. And this worked. I enjoyed being able to spin the beautiful sounding gear cam V4 up without it delivering speeds that risked my licence. It was a great bike but I never owned it for long. It was written off by a mechanic on a test ride when getting serviced.

I took a riding break then one day I saw a 1998 Triumph Speed Triple and had to have this bike. The look of it was so unique at a time when everyone was riding full fairing bikes here was this stripped down machine that looked like a shed build. The 885cc triple was modest power compared to modern Triumph’s but ample for public roads.

I then stayed on naked bikes. I had a Buell XB9S which had smaller wheelbase than a RGV250 with a 900cc V-twin shoehorned in. Haters could not understand Eric’s ideas but it was such a fun bike. Since then KTM made that style popular and every manufacturer copies his underslung mufflers.

I moved to a MV Agusta Brutale 750 just because it was so beautiful. Build quality proved to be disappointing, still I rode much further afield on it including my first solo tour to Philip Island for the Moto-GP.

I wish I had stored my Honda CB1100 when I went to Japan. It is the one bike I regret selling. Another bike our Aussie motorcycle press obsessed with machismo and power could not understand. Very rare in Australia now.

Looking forward

My cancer is so far in remission and I reach a milestone of officially becoming an old guy in 2025. I’ll be very happy to do so too. Achieving that was in doubt when diagnosed in 2022. I’ve been thinking do I buy myself a retirement motorcycle or does that make no sense and whimsically pondering should I relocate and live in Thailand for 1/4 of the cost of Australia and have women pretend to be interested in my money me.

Big questions. I’ve considered relocating a few places but obtaining health insurance overseas with an existing condition is an issue. I get free hospital and medical in Australia so realistically I should stay where I am.

My BMW G310GS was stolen in November and I currently have no motorcycle. I rode the little G310GS on local dirt roads to see if I wanted to do more dual sport touring and concluded I don’t want to make that my focus going forward.

I live in the far north at the beach which offers me a great lifestyle but is poor for motorcycling. There are no fun roads for riding, just highway. It’s a whopping 1500km south on the slightly less boring inland route to reach any good motorcycling roads. I’m having a hard time justifying the purchase of another motorcycle when it will not be used for any local riding.

Despite expensive bike rental fees and the Aussie airline duopoly it might make more sense for me to fly and rent. There is a range of rental motorcycles in Sydney and Melbourne. Adelaide nothing but Perth has rentals. Brisbane rental locations are poor but Tasmania is fine.

Cost wise for good bike is about $250 a day which is a lot however besides purchase cost owning has ongoing expenses of insurance, registration, servicing and tyres which I would need replaced every tour from so far north. But on the positive side I could choose a model I want to ride rather than be limited to rentals available. Owning also permits the flexibility to extend my touring however long as I wish – and I am retired with nothing much else to do so that needs to be weighed up.

If I was to buy another bike then what would I get? Adventure bikes are popular but my interest in riding dirt is limited. Once I am interstate there is the odd dirt road I’d like to look at but I don’t want to be on a ADV bike for the long highway ride to reach those roads. To do that seems out of balance when dirt roads might make up 1% of my touring.

Ultimate long distance bike? – I rode the Goldwing in USA. Realistically motorcycles don’t get any more comfortable. The ride quality, seating and legroom is superb. As far as corner clearance it is ok for me 99% of the time as I mastered the slow ride in Japan. However I still enjoy the feeling of leaning a bike into corners and the Gold Wing is not as much fun on twisty roads. But those tight roads would comprise only 1% of my tour, should they hold veto power.

I don’t need the sporting prowess or high tech of the new Tracer but if I could find a dealership interstate that offered a service like your find in Europe where the bike is stored for you and is serviced with new tyres fitted in advance of you arriving then the sort of bike I might buy would be expanded to ADV and Sport Tourers.

I’ve already owned a Yamaha FJR1300 for 9 years and would like something new however it is the bike of choice for Iron Butt riders, ultra reliable and cheap to maintain. I can’t rule it out.

I’ve ridden the R1250RT but disliked it’s aerodynamics however there is a new RT coming this year. I do find BMW’s six cylinder highly entertaining. I like it almost as much as the Honda flat 6. The K1600 is the more sporting of the two uber tourers but the GL1800 is the Rolls Royce of motorcycles. Both six cylinder engines are so impressive, a real event to ride but maybe more than I need given I have no passenger to carry.

For me riding new roads and places on an ordinary older bike beats riding same roads on the best new motorcycle. I want to keep feeling the magic of first ride on a scenic or winding road somewhere I have never been before and thus the amount of riding I might do in Australia may not justify buying a bike but then I am also retired and have way too much spare time!

I am going to try a couple of fly/ride tours in Australia next. See if I am satisfied doing that while looking at what new bikes are released in 2025 and then try answer the question is renting much smarter for me and should I forget about owning another bike. That would be a big change in my motorcycling after so many years of owning different bikes.