Australia's best motorcycle roads. Snowy Mtns via Mt Panorama

To the Snowy Mountains via Mt Panorama.It was difficult to decide if I should post this as a 'best ride' or not try string things together for people wanting to visit Bathurst. Most motorcyclists I have met want to visit and ride the famous Mt Panorama either on the way to or from the GP or Superbikes so here is my take on how to see it and tie together riding Putty, the Bells line of Road and

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Bells line of road.

Bells Line of Road (The Blue Mountains) NSW.After the Putty Road one option is to head west via this road to Lithgow and then make you way to the Snowy Mountians region. My suggestion is try via Bathurst, Cowra, then Lachlan valley h-way, and via Harden on to Tumut - excellent scenery and not unpleasant road. I will post more about this route elsewhere.So leaving the putty you may have bypassed

Grow old, ride safe....enjoy the ride

Here is some scans of a superb brochure I picked up from the cafe in Walwa on the Murray River Road, Victoria (post for this road coming up) produced by motorcyclists for motorcyclists. Its not saying the usual speed kills dribble just to ride within your limits and has some excellent advice that will have you nodding your head regardless of your riding skill.This is the sort of thing I would

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Whitfield

Mansfield to Whitfield.Here is another great ride in the north east highlands of Victoria. This road has plenty of variety for a motorcyclist to enjoy, its almost like 4 roads in one. I will describe the road from south to north.Mansfield is a town servicing the snow resorts you are spoilt there for choices when it comes to good food and coffee. Along with Bright it would make an excellent base

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Murray valley highway.

Murray Valley HighwayVictoria really has one thing over the rest of the east coast - roads with great sweepers. This is yet another Vic road with those rare sort of magic sweeping bends enjoyed by all on any sort of motorbike.You will ride this either having just come over the snowy Mtns or heading towards them. Either way it flows just as good and the scenery in this part of the country is right

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Putty Road.

Revised 29.12.2007Putty Road.This is probably the first interstate road that I read was a popular motorcycle ride. Now days we have the top 100 rides atlas and internet forums its all too easy to find where to ride however when I first thought out some roads I wanted to ride I was relying more on things mentioned in motorcycle magazine, sometimes places where a road test had been done.I have

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Bulahdelah.

Bulahdelah - the other "Old Road"It's a magic bit of tar..Here is a road that you would never find if not for local knowledge.The Pacific highway in it's older form was a far more interesting road than it is now. Twisting and turning its way around every mountain and valley road surveyors sure earned their money in those times. I recall as a lad my parents with caravan in tow cursing the

Australias best motorcycle roads - Kangaroo Valley

Revised & reposted 20.12.2007Kangaroo Valley NSWThis is a really beautiful area. It reminds me a little of the Numinbah valley in QLD I ride often, but only in passing as both are unique places.I have updated this post with some new info and photos.From Nowra NSW there is a superb ride from what is basically sea level straight up the side of the two mountains that lie to the northwest. The first

Tweed valley revisit

Ride reportI went back to one of my favourite areas on Sunday for some more exploring and enjoyable motorcycle riding.I had two ideas one was to take a look at a new way to ride from Mudgeeraba to Tallebudgera Valley without using the highway. Via Old coach road is what I do now but there is another way looking at Google maps however I got lost on the day in an lovely area called Bonogin. I did

Australias best motorcycle roads - Nymboida

Grafton's historic rail/car bridgeNymboida/Ebor.Grafton to Armidale, NSWOften refered to just as Nymboida on some bike forums, the whole road to Armidale via Nymboida and Ebor is very good as is the Waterfall way.Heading south you can obtain fuel at Courts Crossing if you wanted to skip Grafton. Depends on the times of travel but Grafton is about a lunch time stop from Brisbane if you leave at a

Australias best motorcycle roads - Thunderbolts way

Updated 08/12/2007 Thunderbolts Way.I am continuing to update my older posts on some of the best motorcycle rides in the country with some new photos and observations from my revisits on my recent Moto-Gp tour. In NSW this was the road I enjoyed most on my recent tour - yes more than the Oxley highway.I rode it in both directions and it does perhaps ride a bit better south to north, simply for

Australia's best motorcycle roads. G.A.R

The Great Alpine Road.Top to bottom the Great Alpine road starts more or less at Myrtleford and runs all the way to Bairnsdale. If your heading south from Sydney or Brisbane then you may arrive on to the road just south of Bright having traveled across the excellent Tawonga Gap road. The lead in roads from the north are the excellent Murray Valley highway and even better Murray River road after

Cutting corners

Hey - its a bike not a Hummer.Soap box time...Whats the go with riders cutting corners on mountain roads? I saw some guys doing this on weekend for no good reason that I could fathom and it reminded me of how often I have seen this of late. Perhaps its just laziness however my first thought whenever I see this is ' don't do that you idiot I don't want you to crash and take me with you' . If

Good motorcycle roads #40 - Tweed Valley, Nunderi.

Dodging rain clouds






First ride today since my tour. Forecast was morning showers clearing, well it was not raining in the morning thankfully to cancel the ride however the rain clouds circled the Gold Coast and northern NSW mountains all day and my ride partner and I had to alter our ride plans accordingly to avoid getting wet. Good thing we have developed some reasonable skills on reading

Australia's best motorcycle roads. G.O.R

The Great Ocean RoadThis is Australia's most well known scenic drive and is a road every rider has probably thought about visiting at some point. I was told many times it was overrated but thats rubbish it is a superb road and wonderful ride On a fine day like I encountered the views are wonderful, something really uplifting.The road follows the ocean at first and later into the countryside a

Australia's best motorcycle roads. The Oxley.

The Oxley HighwayUpdated and reposted 8 Nov 2007Start of the mountain eastern sideHigh countryI now have some new photos of the Oxley after my recent tour so I shall kick off my posts of the best bike roads in Australia with a refresh of this previous posting. This is now a post I can look back at and see photos of the last three motorbikes I owned.The sign is now gone but gingers creek

Australian motorcycle tour - review.

Revised 24.10.2007Wow what a road trip!Back home after my sometimes challenging but enjoyable motorcycle tour. The weather and a lack of cold or wet weather experience on my part tested me on a few occasions however I overcame a number of difficulties to complete the trip and am very glad I gave it a go.This is a report on the ride, the road reviews will follow, but I have included a preview

20 short rides

Revised 11.05.2008There are many short side roads I use that do not warrant a post of their own. I shall mention the ones that I feel may be of some interest to riders having nice curves or other features and repost this as it grows.Edit: Now retitled 20 short rides as this post has altered from listing a few side roads or short cuts to include many short rides that can be added on.NorthMountain

Australian Moto-GP tour

No rides at the moment however I preparing to leave in one week for my tour south to Phillip Island, Melbourne, to attend the 2007 Australian round of the Moto-GP.I am in no rush, so I am taking 2 weeks to ride down and back. The journey is the destination for me so I plan to ride no more than 600km per day (easy on a motorcycle) which means I can stop as I please to enjoy the sights along the

First summer ride

One of the best views from Beechmont - that few people know about...Phew - what a scorcher today turned out to be - and as usual I struck out with my winter jacket.Actually is wasnt that bad, in the mountains the leather jacket was fine and a mesh jacket may have been too cool. It was really just the afternoon run home where I was hot.I wasn't going to ride, I should be conserving my tyres for

Good Motorcycle rides #39 Binna Burra

Green high country
Binna Burra

I have written briefly about this previously. The Binna Burra road from Beechmont isnt a long one so I have held off on posting it as a stand alone ride having already written about Beechmont which you need to ride to get to here. I didnt want you to think I post up just any old bit of tar.

I have changed my mind today after seeing a good number of motorcycles

Alpinestars Jeans

I am now the owner of a new pair of riding jeans made by Alpinestars.These are not yet available in Australia (well not in Brisbane so far as I know), I ordered them from the USA via ebay. Similar jeans by Draggin cost $199 here, so at $99US these might be good value.The have a lining in them that is not kevlar so they are more comfortable - tear wise however I do not know how this liner

Something different

Here is something you won't see everyday.A German bike with an Italian number plate - in Australia.I ventured out yesterday into the northern hinterland again. I was invited by a friend to meet a couple from Italy who were here on their honeymoon and had brought their BMW along!It was a real pleasure to meet and talk with Antonio and Laura. (I hope I have spelling correct) They have just

Good Motorcycle rides # 38 Teranora

I have another new excellent riding road to tell you about. A big thanks to the Motorcycle Paradise reader who suggested I look at Hogans Road Terranora. I have no name to credit this to which is unfortunate as this tip very much appreciated.

You could ride this either way but if having come from either Brisbane or Gold Coast then you might best do a loop like this:

Riding down from Numinbah

Quick Saturday Ride

Numinbah ValleyWeather forecast was rain rain rain for Sunday so I went for a quick ride yesterday and yep today not a cloud in the sky.Anyway was a good run again on a Saturday, few cars and no speed traps - bet there are at least 2 cameras and a mobile on the M1 today.I started as always doing the mildly boring ride down the M1. Its not as bad as people make out. I ride from the CBD to

Good Motorcycle rides # 37

Riding north out of Brisbane there are a few ways to get here, my favourite way from the CBD is via Old Northern Rd, then Eatons Crosing Rd, then the excellent little twisty Clear Mt Rd, then onto Winn Rd and arrive past Samford on the road to Dayboro - which leading onto Mt Mee is the the well beaten path north other than the highway.







View Larger Map

Northern exposure

Wow what a great day after all that rain. I woke late and was surprised to see nothing but blue sky so quickly had some breakfast and because already 9.00am I decided to ride north.I can see the attraction of the north, 15-20 minutes from the CBD and I am already enjoying good roads. However the down side of this proximity is I am sharing with alot of other bikes and cars compared to the south,

Saturday ride

Why do bikers so often go for their ride on a Sunday. Is it just habit of do the chores and shopping Saturday then go for ride on Sunday.I went for a ride on Saturday, not the first time and may not be the last. Less cars in the mountains day tripping, less people in cafes so no problem to get a good table, no crowd at the pub for lunch. Not always going to work as you can go grocery shopping on

Good Motorcycle rides # 36

Tumbulgum (and Terranora)

I am breaking Tumbulgum out of the side roads listing to give it a post of its own as its too good to leave as simply a side road and if you add on Terranora then you have a fair distance of excellent riding to cover.

To do this ride you best approach from a position of having ridden down over Currumbin or Numinbah ranges or if returning from Murwillumbah or Tyalgum

More great motorcycle roads

Today I explored the Tallebudgera valley a little more and discovered a couple more fun roads.Tallebudgera Creek road is a dead end and I tend not to ride roads that don't connect to another very often. So I was hoping to find a side road to connect this and the other dead end (but fantastic) Currumbin rock pool road together.Unfortunately the Mt Cougal road at the end of each is dirt and not

Paradise lost?

I had a chilly but free flowing ride on the Sunday past with very little traffic.Riding the south west loop I was planning to explore a few more places but the cold took away some of my normal enthusiasm as the sun hid away until mid afternoon and when it did show it was too little too late.Not far south of Rathdowney you will see a sign on your right to Mt Barney national park. A few nice curves

Good Motorcycle rides # 35

Tullebudgera Creek RoadI found this one day by chance, as mentioned in another post I was investigating the ghost road on Google Maps that seems to go up the side of Springbrook mountain on the south-eastern side. Or in other words the Springbrook road appears to continue instead of ending at the English Gardens cafe. Knowing there was no road I decided to use it as an excuse to explore around

Review - Grip Puppies

The MV Agusta has a high frequency buzz that is invasive at certain rpm. All inline fours I have ridden buzz a certain amount as V-twins all seem to pulse and shake at low rpms. The fours tend to buzz more as the rpm's rise is to me this more invasive as the twins seem to smooth out after a few thousand rpm.

The Brutale's engine buzz is unfortunately the amongst the worst I have experienced as

Tour de Springbrook

Today I dared to venture out into the winter air again and decided instead of going to the Laverda club bike show (Brisbane's biggest bike show) I would do a tour of my own around Springbrook mountain inspired by the mystery of Google map showing a ghost road.The show would have been good, I saw many bikes heading north on the M1 as I rode down to Mudgeeraba, but somedays I just like getting out

Gatton ride

Brrr, OMG it was cold this morning on the other side of the range going west.

I purchased a new fleece vest on Saturday from an outdoor store and it seems quite warm. I also had my winter AlpineStars jacket on and warm shirt and left late in morning at 9.00am but still I really felt the cold this ride.

To be fair the minimum overnight for Amberly was 2 and Warwick was 0. And I rode out past

Good Motorcycle rides # 34

Go West!


West Haldon

A bit out of the way however this is a good ride and another place to go if wanting to do something different.

I love finding new good motorcycle roads, I am always surprised and at the same time very happy when I come across a new good bit of tar somewhere. I can not for the life of me understand people who ride the same old stuff like Mt Mee & Peachester every ride -

Biddaddaba

Or Yabba Dabba (Do) as said by Fred. Here is another side road I like.Riding between Canungra and Beaudesert there is a side road you can take via Biddaddaba. Google map doesnt show the through road but it does connect. From the east take the 2nd road on the left that mentions Biddaddaba (the first you will see is unsealed) then turn right to ride over and onto Tabragalba road which joins back

First winter ride for the year

A chilly outing today, well in the morning anyway, almost too cold for me at first. On the ride down to Robina to meet my ride partner in the lengthy sections where I was out of the sun and in the morning shadows I started to get a chill spreading over me that was borderline on making me stop half way to warm up. I was saved by the sections where the sun was shining on the M1 as this had an

Sunday afternoon motorcycle ride.

I chanced the weather this afternoon and from what I can gather, I got lucky!I ran into a few damp spots where rain had been and looking behind me at stops cold see rain in the distance coming in and back home watched the radar show the rain had indeed followed me.So examining the MV yet again I can state two good points are the power is indeed very nice on the more open roads, like those I

Quick Southwest Rides

Quick ride ideas on the southside.I know many riders go north as its seen as the quick/lesser distance ride however some options exist on the south that are quick.For a start you can actually do a pretty good ride in the Gold Coast hinterland and be back after lunch however even shorter ride would be simply Mt Tamborine which I dont really speak alot about however it is popular for many

Good Motorcycle rides near Brisbane # 33

Darlington - three churches ride.Try this alternative route when coming back from South West, Mt Lindsey-Queen Mary's etc.Riding north from Rathdowney heading back to Brisbane the road to Beaudesert can get boring. After Rathdowney next town is Tamrookum, I use the term town loosely there, its mostly a few houses, a roadhouse and a hall from the highway. The roadhouse is worth a stop for fuel as

Good Motorcycle rides near Brisbane # 32

Boonah - Rathdowney road.I have mentioned this before, but didn't get around to doing a post on the road.From Boonah if you are not heading to Queen Mary Falls or back to Ipswich you can ride the popular and fast (but tame unless doing double the limit) Beaudesert-Boonah road or you can ride this more interesting road instead.Head south past the Airfield where you might see some gliders soaring

Good Motorcycle rides near Brisbane # 31

Lake Moogerah - Mt AlfordHere is a ride that perhaps does not immediately spring to mind but is quite fun way to get to the south west corner.This and the next ride are two alternatives to the Beaudesert H-way which is fairly boring and can be slow going until beyond Jimboomba.Head out west to Dinmore then onto the h-way to Warwick, turn off on the Ipswich-Boonah road. Take this out as far as

Afternoon Mt Nebo ride

I just put the motorcycle cover on the Brutale. Thats significant as I had left it gathering dust without putting the cover on it for awhile - couldnt bring myself to even go look at it let alone ride it.Todays ride went well. My wrists are a bit sore from the inline 4 buzz and slight forward lean, the bike sure hasn't become any more comfortable for me, but the tweaks done to the suspension by a

Binna Burra

I am still not riding my bike but I managed to get out to one of my favorite mountain's today in the car.I wanted to move to Lower Beechmont when I was working on the Gold Coast. Big part of me wishes I had too....Lots of motorbikes on the Beechmont sections. I continued on to Binna Burra and did some hiking - trying to get more active since my new job has me sitting down in front of a PC all

Mapelton Ride - Easter Monday

Went for a good ride today. The weather was threatening, even spitting at times but got a fine run all day. Alot of wet bits of road, some on corners hiding in the shadows which gave my ride partner moment at Mt Mee but no enough to spoil anything - car drivers tried hard to do that on every nice bit of twist and turn road (as happens sometimes) but got a good run in many places too.Met some

Review - Motovation bar ends

Ahh inline 4's - silky smooth engines - ahm well revs wise maybe but they create a buzz in the handle bars like no other engine does.I purchased a pair of over sized Stainless steel extra heavy bar ends to try solve this problem.The ordering was easy, communication excellent and product arrived quickly. They are very well presented items and fit easy and look good.The buzz has been reduced a bit,

Review - Air Hawk seat cushion.

I had a terrible time with my MV Agusta's ride quality and tried to make it more comfortable via suspension but only got so far and then was going to get the seat re padded until I remembered reading about these and thought I would give them a try.

These things really are very comfortable!

To start with there are many sizes but I had to go for the smallest actually listed as a pillion seat

Australia's best motorcycle roads. The Gillies.

Gilles highway - Northern QueenslandJust south of cairns the Gilles highway runs from Gordonvale up the Lamb range to the Atherton Tableland. It has a reputed 258 corners in the main 19km section and is the premium ride in northern Queensland. I traveled to Cairns and the nearby areas a few times when I was younger and I would love to return there and ride the Gilles, Parmerston and Kuranda

More one day ride suggestions

The South West.There is some great riding to be had to the west and south of Brisbane. Some ideas for you are:Ride towards Boonah from where ever you live, for me this is Western f-way then Ipswich f-way, the Warwick b-pas h-way to Yamanto then the road to Boonah. There is some excelletn views of the ranges to be had if you deviate via Kalbar and then I don't actually go into Boonah, rather try

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Alpine way.

Murray power station 1Alpine WayFrom Jindabyne to Khancoban is a motorcycle road talked about alot on the forums. IMO it is a bit over rated perhaps because people get the Apline way and the Great Alpine road confused. The later is in Victoria and is one of the top 3 rides in the country, the Alpine way is in NSW and not of similar quality.I will describe riding south however the road is better

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Brown Mtn.

Brown Mountain.The riding from Bega to Cooma is already pretty good without a mountain climb, add in Brown Mtn and its a superb ride.Leaving Bega you will enjoy a series of sweeping bends which are very enjoyable, you can hold a nice pace and roll on and off the throttle and get into a real groove. I might actually like that part more than the mountain - its just so nice and flowing.Brown Mtn is

Air Hawk motorcycle cushion

I have purchased a Air Hawk seat cushion in hope of doing some touring or longer distance riding on the MV than the standard seat will allow - which like many factory seats is good for maybe couple hundred kilometres max.Full review soon if I get to do my '07 Alpine roads tour.

Japan Motorcycling

Damn - I was directed to this YouTube video today of riding a motorbike in Shizuoka - now I really am sad I am not going to be riding there this year.And I have a new position at work which I have to start in April so my holidays here will be cut short - thus the planned tour here will either be shortened or changed to another time.Sigh ... oh well these things happen for a reason I guess.

Australias best motorcycle roads - Waterfall way

Waterfall WayIt has taken me quite some time to get down and really ride this road fully. From Grafton you are spoilt for choice when it comes to good motorcycle roads.If you ride over Nymboida then the road on south via Ebor to Armidale is much more direct and leads you onto the Thunderbolts Way. However if you detour via this road then it sets you up to ride the Oxley h-way. I elected to simply

Earplug review update

I have found the silicon putty type of ear plugs - designed actually for swimmers - to be the only ones that for me personally seal off the noise successfully every use. These are a bit more expensive to buy locally than foam ear plugs so I may buy some in bulk from the USA rather than buying from Chemist's here. So far I have not found any other places that sell them at reasonable amount.Other

Good motorcycle roads # 30 Urbenville

Far south west. Toolum forest, Urbenville and Old Bonalbo.This is about as far south west as many people will wander to in a day and there is a couple of good rides nearby.South of Queen Mary Falls is a nice run up or down the mountain and then you are at Legume and the terrible road from there to Woodenbong is barely passable being so rough it will bottom out suspension and probably smash

Great motorcycle roads # 28

Queen Mary FallsThis is a very scenic ride!From Brisbane ride to Beaudesert and then ride the fast flowing Beaudesert to Boonah road which is already listed in my rides and then go through town and take the road signposted to Rathdowney.About 12 k's out of town you will see a sign post marked Falls Scenic Drive Route 21. Turn right here and follow this road as signposted. Alternatively ride via

Silicon putty earplugs review

I am still searching for the best earplugs and have reached the end of the foam
ear plug range and now and looking at these silicon swimmers type
plugs.These silicon plugs are for me fit perfect every time and they
don't loosen up or come out so while I only get 20db cut in noise from
these they work reliably and comfortably. Bonus is you can still hear things
around you so do not have that

Vista Motorcycle Cruise Control Review

Vista Cruise ControlI find my throttle hand gets sore at the end of the day when touring and thought I would give one of these a try.I previously tried the Throttle Rocker type devices and they didn't really work for me. Despite trying many things they kept slipping on the handle bar grip and didn't allow me to really relax my muscles in my throttle hand properly.Update: I tried another brand and

Australia's best motorcycle roads. Bruxner h-way

The Bruxner Highway NSWThis road originates on the coast and runs from Ballina to Alstonville where a friend of mine lives and on to Lismore and out to Tenterfield and beyond. Its probably a bit over rated by locals simply becaues there is not alot of other twisty roads in the area.From the coast it is heavily policed between Ballina and Lismore and there isnt much on offer there anyway. The

East Coast Australia motorcycle tour.

Yes thats my plan now for April this year. As far as the Great Ocean road and back.I have scrapped the Japan tour for a few reasons already spoken about in older posts and decided I will not travel abroad this year instead I will do a tour at home on my own bike. I have been researching going on past Japan to ride in Europe or USA but of course its the wrong season for there. I especially chose

Shark RSR helmet review

I have had my new helmet out a couple of times now and here is a review.The finish is very high gloss and looks excellent. First thing you notice is how much lighter it is to most helmets, Shark use their own design composite shell which is very light. Liner is as far as I can tell exactly like a Arai, very plush and extra padding. Venting is similar design to the Shoei XR1000 with vent channels

More earplug reviews

My new collection of earplugs arrived today.These are all the highest noise reduction foam disposable plugs on the market.These are a new design Silicon re-useable plugs in Small-Medium-Large.Well I spent the afternoon trying them on and first up I am very disappointed with the re-useable items which don't seem to fit me at all. I have no idea how they can work at this stage as they neither fit

Japan motorcycele tour - news flash

I finally found a book about riding motorcycles in Japan (as a foreigner) and travelling by motorcycle and touring about Japan.Its called Motorcycle Vagabonding in Japan by Guy De LA Rupelle and Owen Stinger. Its not as the title suggests and is very poorly named and is merely about affordable travel - perhaps Budget Motorcycle travel in Japan would have been a more accurate title.Its certainly