WORDS: TUG MCCLUCHIN I have little time for The Bronze. I understand they have a job that contains some shitty responsibilities, though that fails to buoy any empathy for them. They see and deal with some pretty gruesome shit, but so do Ambos and Fire Fighters, and they don’t expect special privileges or behave like they are our rulers. I’ve heard NSW cops refer to themselves as “zookeepers”. I’ll let you figure out who they think the animals are.
WORDS: BORIS MIHAILOVIC. From the day I first snicked a bike into gear, speed has enthralled me. The acceleration, coupled with your essential exposure to the elements, and the thrilling fact that bits of you are scant centimetres away from being ground into meat paste, became a drug I still mainline every time I go for a ride.
WORDS AND IMAGES: COL WHELAN Never been much of an each-way or exotics bloke. When I bet, I prefer to put it all on the nose. Backing just a single horse for the win leaves me hating just one horse and jockey each time I lose. Like most of us I bet once a year and with the Melbourne Cup` coming up, it was that time and I wanted to watch it somewhere suitable.
MY TOP TEN MOTORCYCLE CHOICESWORDS AND IMAGES: NICK EDARDS Valentino Rossi. ‘nuff said. Being asked to pick ten photos for a gallery of my stuff in AMM created a bit of a dilemma. How to find ten that were representative of my shooting and didn’t make me cringe. Yeah, I’m often not a fan of my own work. Don’t get me wrong, I know some of my photos are nice enough, but I don’t have any of them up on my wall at home. The only way to approach the challenge was to sit in down and see what photos I’ve taken since 2014, because that’s when I started shooting bikes seriously, although, I’d been shooting wildlife for a while already.
WOULD YOU LIKE SOME ?WORDS AND IMAGES: BORIS MIHAILOVIC It’s fair to say marketing is marketing and truth is truth. And never the twain should meet. Obviously, any bike review worthy of itself must concern itself entirely with truth. Anything else is marketing, and grovelling at the altar of a manufacturer’s advertising dollar. Which is pretty much what happens whenever a Royal Enfield “review” appears on or in the few remaining Australian motorcycle magazines and digital media platforms.
IS THIS THE WEAPON YOU’RE LOOKING FOR? I try not to read bike reviews. Life is too short to subject myself to the feckless word-salad so many offer these days. I am not alone in this. The industry is also pretty much over the tosh being served up by the mum-and dad concerns, the family-based nepo-baby platforms, and the old school still-doing-it-because-can’t do-anything else.
It’s usually best when you can only hear your engine, the wind, and the voices in your head.WORDS BY BORIS MIHAILOVIC Pillions are the most wretched of creatures. Male or female – I do not discriminate. But the simple fact of the matter is the vast majority of pillions are females. So, I have pillioned far more girls than boys. And all are wretched.
BY TUG MCCLUTCHIN – IMAGES BY SDPICS.COM Tug getting ready to begin a session. Which way does the track go and what’s the lap record? The very best bike racers in the world have coaches. Not only does raising their skill level improve their chance of winning, but it also enhances their ability to stay in one piece. Our sport, and for us road riders our chosen method of transport, comes with some inherent perils.
WORDS BY TUG MCCLUTCHIN – IMAGES BY MOTOTHING Way back in the late 80s and early 90s, the big four Japanese factories all produced a 400cc version of their 750cc superbikes. Kawasaki’s ZXR400 of that time was the mirror image of its ZXR750 big brother, with a twin-spar alloy frame, cool paint job, funky air intake tubes, sports exhaust, flat slide carbs, the lot. The same went for Suzuki’s GSXR400, Yamaha’s YZF400RR and Honda’s uber-cool RVF400, which came complete with a single-sided swingarm and V4 engine. Pretty trick, with lots of fruit.
WORDS AND LIFESTYLE IMAGES BY BORIS MIHAILOVIC – RaCING IMAGES rOSS GIBB This is the greatest sport on earth. There is no doubt in my mind about that. If there is any doubt in yours, then you have not seen it up close and personal,or if you have, maybe you just don’t understand what it is you’re seeing.
