Zac Speed: Shaun MacKenzie

This entry is part 10 of 19 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #33

Why would a commercial airline pilot make riding gear? We asked Zac Speed’s founder and managing director.

Zac Speed’s founder and managing director, Shaun MacKenzie.

Adventure Rider Magazine was hugely impressed with Zac Speed equipment.

The build quality and design was, as we found last issue, clearly handled by someone who understood riders and what it meant to spend long days and cover big distance on a bike.

We decided to track down the driving force behind the brand and ended up chatting to an enthusiastic 48-year-old Melbournian who flies commercial jets for a living.

Why would a commercial pilot want to make motorcycle gear?

“Not many people know, but I’m actually a motorcycle mechanic by trade,” explained an enthusiastic Shaun MacKenzie. “As a young bloke I was into racing motocross and that’s where the interest in motorcycles began.

“I broke my leg racing and that gave me some thinking time. I’d always loved the idea of becoming a pilot, and I happened to see a magazine ad that said I could be flying in 52 weeks. It had a pic of a 747 taking off, and I thought, ‘Wow!’ It took a lot longer than that, but it was a start.

“I worked at the bike shop part time while I learned to fly.”

A successful career flying for various airlines around the world followed, and it was a return to Australia that saw Shaun back on a bike.

“I joined Virgin Blue at start-up in 2000, and as part of that I read Richard Branson’s book Lose Your Virginity, about his entrepreneurial journey with all the businesses he’d set up. I still love flying for this game-changing airline.

It’s taught me how quickly things change.

“In the back of my mind I’d always thought I’d love to have some sort of business associated with motorcycling.

When I came back to Australia in 2000 after being based overseas, I started trailriding, and wearing pressure suits and body armour just wasn’t working for me.

I got way too hot and I couldn’t stand the restrictive feeling. I had a roost protector and I tried to put a backpack over the top of it and I kept getting all tangled up. It was too difficult. I thought there had to be a better way.

“At that point I had an epiphany. I thought, ‘There is actually a better way.’

“I thought about what would work for me, and I started running the idea past a few people. We’ve never looked back.

Zac Speed was founded in 2003, and the next two years were spent developing the product, trying all the different prototypes and getting all the vendors, manufacturers and industrial designers to mesh together to create something.

That was the hard part. There was a lot to learn. You don’t know what you don’t know, and it took a few years. We launched the first product in 2005 and we’ve progressed through the years. Now we have the CONFIGR8 system that lets everyone adapt the protective gear and backpack/utility-carrying equipment to their own riding style, climate and terrain.”

Adventure Rider Magazine is happy to vouch for the quality and adaptability of the Zac Speed gear from first-hand experience.

“We just want to enhance the rider’s experience and encourage people to get back into riding,” Shaun continued.

“I had a hiatus from riding when I started flying, and I think a lot of people go through that. Adventure riding is gaining a lot of popularity. People who’ve come from racing and riding as youngsters realise it’s such a big part of their life and they come back to it through adventure riding. Everyone has their own idea of what works for them, and there’s no real system when it comes to backpacks or hydration or carrying utility-type items that suits everyone. Zac Speed allows riders a lot of room to build the set-up that works for them personally.”

Shaun and Zac Speed are both clearly very much in motion all the time.

What’s in store for the pair in the future?

“We realised we’re a little niche as a company,” said the captain in his best message-from-the-cockpit voice. “We needed to expand to cover a broad range of the action sports. A lot of motorcycle riders also get into snow-boarding, mountain-bike riding and other action sports, so we’re looking to produce equipment that’ll work for a number of different sports now.

“Also, we’re trying to make a lot of what we do a lot easier, and to integrate as much protection into the gear as possible. The idea is to make something as simple as we can, and ultimately as reliable and comfortable as possible for the individual. There are some guys who like to take everything on a ride, and some who take very little. We want Zac Speed to be able offer something to everyone. The humble backpack has a lot more to offer.

“We’ve got a whole lot more product coming.

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