It’s what we do

This entry is part 1 of 19 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #34

It came up in office conversation that the sportsbike market in Australia is struggling.

This isn’t news to anyone, least of all the importers.

I’m an enthusiastic road-bike rider and if there’s ever a chance to get a run on a race track, I’ll barge people out of the way to be first in line. I love it. If it’s one of the big tracks, like Eastern Creek or Phillip Island, I may actually injure other people in my efforts to make sure I don’t miss out.

That underlines for me the problem with a sportsbike.

Even a four-cylinder 600cc production bike is a serious, high-tech, high-speed proposition these days. The modern litre-class bikes are beyond that kind of description. They’re straying into areas which need adjectives like ‘ballistic’. The 300kph barrier ceased to be a barrier a long time ago.

So why do people buy sportsbikes? Naturally they want to look like their idols, and for road riders, that means MotoGP and SBK.

The problem is, where can you enjoy what a bike like that has to offer?

The days of hooning around and thinking it’s unlikely you’ll be caught are long gone. That’s 1970s thinking. Plus, a bike capable of the kinds of speeds the modern sportsbikes can do, just aren’t safe on Australian roads. Europe has motorways which will legally allow the big bikes to stretch their legs, but not here in Australia. Our roads are extremely poor surfaces for thoroughbred performance bikes. Owners can only doddle along, fighting the bike’s natural inclination to surge away, dreaming of what their bike could do if only it were allowed to. What kind of life is that?

In Australia it’s a race track or nowhere, and it’s a problem getting on to Australia’s circuits. It’s expensive, very heavily regulated, and the circuits are usually a long way from anywhere.

But then think about riding adventure.

The size, make and style of the bike doesn’t matter much, speed limits are a lost dream while you’re trying to read a map or follow a GPS track, and the further away the destination, the better.

And which country in the world can offer truly majestic terrain and long, long horizons? Which island nation has deserts, hills, history and challenges around every turn? Which sunburnt country doesn’t even cater to high-speed vehicles or ultrafast trains?

“The days of hooning around and thinking it’s unlikely you’ll be caught are long gone. That’s 1970s thinking.”

Sportsbikes aren’t doing well in Australia, and you don’t have to be any kind of high-powered market analyst to see why adventure riding is the fast-growing category in this country.

And how lucky are we to be part of it?

Don’t let it slip by. Stick this magazine in a pannier and start riding. It reads best by the light of a campfire.

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