FURBALL

…being something the editor-in-chief wanted to bring up

Well, Editor-in-Chief no longer.

We are shuffl ing the deckchairs,and I am taking a well-earned step back to become Editor Emeritus. It seems that nothing else will change much, according to my “staff” (Stuart) who remains Editor with lots of added responsibilities. In fact, I will get paid less but will be expected to work just as hard and possibly harder. This was not quite what Mrs Bear intended when she suggested the change, but you can’t have everything…

So, meet the new boss – much the same as the old boss!

Peter ‘The Bear’ Thoeming

As most of you know, I have been with The Bear since late 2008. He feels my “apprenticeship” has been served and it’s now time to do it all. While it may seem I will have more work to do, not all that much will change. I have been doing most of the mag for a long time now and The Bear and I work well together, bouncing ideas off each other and producing what is most definitely the best motorcycle magazine in the country (in our humble opinions).

Some of you know who I am, where I’ve been, but for those who don’t, I started out my working life as a panelbeater and did that for ten years.

Now you know why I’m so fussy with paintwork and fit and finish on a motorcycle, and now you can be told that when we had our award winning Yamaha Bolt outfit painted by one of Australia’s leading painters – 2SUS Custom Resprays – Bassar (the owner) was my apprentice when I was tradesman.

From panelbeating I followed in the footsteps of my father, Ian, and become a police officer. It was a very proud moment for both him and me. This is also where I met my lovely wife, Alana, who is still a police officer. We have two lovely kids who think dad is a slow rider! Ha!

I left the police to work for NRMA Motoring & Services as a Motoring Advisor. While working there I started testing motorcycles for their website and Open Road magazine on top of my regular work. It was on a Harley Davidson launch in Western Australia that I met The Bear. It was a funnystory, we had a few beers and we actually had an argument, or maybe an “in-depth conversation” might be more accurate, over some point of law at dinner. He must have seen something in me at that time as it was not long after that I started doing some tests for him, then went full-time. Not long after that, we started AMM together and here we are today with a fine product.

I was brought up around motorcycling.

My father had quite a few bikes, all the way from a Honda CB250 up to a Suzuki Katana which had some go fast bits for fun. Dad and I would always make a point of going to the motorcycle show each year to see the latest and greatest. A fond memory was seeing the Suzuki Nuda concept bike – a bike that would still look futuristic in today’s day and age.

I owned a Yamaha XT250 and despite my mates and me trying to kill it, it wouldn’t die. A reason the XT is still wanted motorcycle for many. From there I bought a couple of Fireblades, then a CB900 Hornet, which, with a few mods was a deceptively fast motorcycle.

Over the years I’ve raced cars, go-karts (quite well actually) and motorcycles. I got the Post Classic Racing bug through a mate Chris, and I have my Pre Modern F1 CBR900RR. Chris and I are building a Period 6 1989 Yamaha FZR1000, which will be a very fast motorcycle.

We also have another very special motorcycle waiting in the wings, which I’ll tell you about at the right time. The aim is to get IoM TT racer, Alex Pickett to race it at the 2016 Classic TT – watch this space.

So, that is me pretty much in a nutshell. Apart from loving everything motorcycling, there is nothing better than touring our great big land on two wheels. Don’t you just love being an Australian Motorcyclist!

Cheers, Stuart