GRIZZLING FROM THE BEAR

BEARS ON A ROLL

The café at the eastern base of Cherry Tree Hill, on the Castlereagh Highway in NSW, is open again. There have been a few attempts to make a go of what should be an excellent location, so let’s hope that things go better this time – and let’s also hope that these bears, attempting to make their escape, have had a substantial breakfast at the café!

YOU’RE NICKED – OR MAYBE NOT

In the German state of Nordrhein West falen, concern about motorcycle crashes was growing to the extent that the police set up a targeted speed control program. Two hundred and fifty police, 50 radar units and video motorcycles were assigned to the job.

Result? A few surprises.

Over the first weekend, the fastest lawbreaker caught, at 129km/h in a 50 zone, was… driving a car. And one of the police units reported that of the 470 speeding tickets they handed out, most went to drivers, not to motorcyclists.

MOTOMANTIS

Regular reader Ian Window sent us this little gem. He’s captioned it “Aw c’mon… I’ve got the body armour and helmet. Take me for a ride!”

“Hi Bear,” he adds. “I found this little bloke on an old CB outside the local Honda shop. I sent the original pic’ to my daughter who has been keen about all creepy crawly slithery things since she was a toddler (now doing willdlife biology at Uni) and she sent it back with the skid lid added. Good to see the young folk being safety conscious.”

EAR, EAR

Still in Germany, our friends at MOTOR RAD magazine, the biggest selling motorcycle magazine in Europe, have done an ear plug comparo. They took 12 different brands (some of which look disturbingly like little condoms) and tested them every which way.

The winners were the Moto Safe earplugs that we use. It’s always good to see your personal and unscientific choice justified by a thorough and reliable test!

HAT HEAVEN?

Will the other States follow Queensland and Victoria and accept helmets that meet the European Standard without Australian Standard certification? If they do, we can probably look forward to quite a few new brands and helmet styles.

Will we be able to wear highly ventilated helmets like this one?

One brand that has seen a lot of interest recently in Australia is Schubert, and this change will almost certainly make it available here. And what about that ventilated BMW helmet? I can’t wait to get my hands on (and my head into) one of those.

This looks to me like a move in the right direction, although we haven’t heard the side of Australia’s helmet importers yet.

But it should result in lower prices, too.

Peter ‘The Bear’
Thoeming

Series Navigation

<< EDITOR SPEAKSNEWS >>