It’s what we do

Adventure Rider Issue #34

• Checkout
• Fit Out
• Fanging about with Karen Ramsay
• Camper Or Pamper with Andy Strapz
• Five Points Of Control with Miles Davis
• Over The Border
• On The Trail Of The Incas
• Embracing Adventure
• One Very Lucky Man
• Company Towns
• The Big Hill
• Triumph Scrambler 1200XE
• Temujin Mongolian Crossing
• TomTom Winners
• On Top Of The World
• Hard Kits 710RR
• Boots
• BMW R1250GS
• It’s what we do

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.