Cortech super mini magnetic tank bag

I have had this in the cupboard unused for about 12 months. It was listed in an online clearance sale for $29 with free post and usually retails nearer to one hundred so I decided to buy it and put aside. The Buell had a plastic tank so it could not take a magnetic tank bag however since it already had panniers fitted this wasn’t a problem. I was then going to use it on the Euro tour but

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CB1100 debut

Finally the rain has eased. It is mid week but I am off work like many for the break between Christmas and New Years and so let me introduce my new CB1100. How's that for low k’s haha. It arrived on the back of a truck. I thought I did pretty good saving nearly $3K off retail yet I see a further $500 now slashed by one dealer. Not sure if they are just clearing this years stock or the model is

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Some holiday reading

No chance to ride while this monsoon pours rain every day. So not much blogging about any rides is going to happen until the clouds lift. Plenty of photos and links each day on the Motorcycle Paradise Facebook page where now I post all the various motorcycle small items of interest I come across while surfing the net. That lightens the blog of content but also keeps it more focused. Here is a

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Vitesse Boots

I currently have in the cupboard a variety of unsuitable riding boots. One pair are simple walking boots/shoes with little protection and which I have already stopped using. Another pair are also short height boots/shoes from Alpinestars that after a days riding bite into my arch no matter what I do with them. The final pair are mid height waterproof items from Joe Rocket. Purchased for my Euro

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Last Buell ride

Yes I am going to sell my Buell. Nothing wrong with it or that I am unhappy with, just time to try something different, a new project. I have always liked the 70’s superbikes but had no desire to own or ride one. It is the looks I like not the 70’s handling, braking or power. I would never own another carby fueled bike either. The CB1100F that I have been posting on Facebook and that I rode in

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V2 visor sponge

I admit freely I am often slow to recognize a good thing. Be it I get too absorbed elsewhere or follow the herd or end up going round in circles before realizing I had it right to begin with. And that’s just motorcycles, the harder stuff of one’s personal life I seem to decipher 20 years later than everyone else!   So it is no surprise that I am probably the last person to recognize what a

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Summer riding gear

After my ‘curling’ experience on the ice in Japan I return to tropics of north east Australia and it is hot and steamy. Packing away my winter gear that served me well overseas I take a moment to examine my summer riding equipment which I use here for most of the year. Is it up to the task should something unexpected happen again? From the bottom up then. My riding shoes are not really the best

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Importance of good riding gear

Examining my riding gear post the accident in Japan. Despite sliding at slow pace on ice, the bike scraped the ice off the road in front of me for so I was sliding on the tarmac for a short distance after impacting with road after fall. Starting from the bottom, my 3/4 length Joe Rocket boots show where they were dragging on the left side ankle height, this area of the boot is well made and

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Japan Ride 2010

Despite a major incident on tour I again enjoyed riding in Japan. My original plan got washed out due to the unseasonal arrival of a typhoon off the coast of Japan at the same time I had booked the motorcycle rental. I waited till the last minute scanning the weather reports and reluctantly cancelled the booking. Fortunately the company has a clause that allows you to cancel without penalty due

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Quick Japan Update

Typhoon has gone, I have the CB1100 and am on the road near Mt Fuji. Lost near half a day getting the bike and getting out of Tokyo on a traffic jammed public holiday as the GPS took me on a wild goose chase all over town before putting me on the tollway west. However the weather forecast is sun sun sun so I just have to wear axing some of the Isu Skline today or somehow redo my routes tonight

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Nylon clothing repair

I am preparing for the Japan ride and the weather is going to be mixed so I needed to make some repairs to my pants which I managed to touch against the hot exhaust of the Honda in Germany. It only took a couple of seconds to melt the outer nylon and inner layer and lucky there is mesh inside the pants at that area for air circulation which is some sort of cloth material not plastic and it held

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Kawasaki Good Time World

I visited the Kawasaki world in Kobe Japan. It is not a large display however reading about the other things Kawasaki build was of great interest. For example I knew they made some of the trains operating in Tokyo however not also many other cities trains in Japan and Asia as well as the first and most of later and current Bullet trains in operation. That impressed me considerably. In

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Ultimate Alps Tour

It’s sticky hot here in Thailand so time to relax and write a little about my ride in Europe. (Updated) I just completed the Edelwiess Ultimate Alps tour and it really was very good. I had concerns that the daily mileage would not be enough however most days I was riding until dusk so you really would not want to lengthen the route unless riding by yourself with an earlier start and short

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Alps tour update

A small update on my European alps ride. The weather has been near perfect, fine every day with the exception of a little rain on day 6 which cleared away quickly to allow another amazing day of riding. More later when time permits.

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Held Score gloves review

I have been talking about getting new gloves for the tour and I finally got out on the bike on the weekend to test them. The gloves I went for are made by Held and the model is called Score. I became aware of the company when I started looking for what gloves were getting the very best reviews. The guys over at WebBikeWorld are very demanding with gloves having tested so many and so when I

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Easy does it, North.

I did something today I have not dared try for many years. Ride over Mt Nebo/Mt Glorious on a Sunday morning. It really is such a nice ride. As I have mentioned before I live close by however I have skipped it for some time to avoid the Sunday morning Knee Sliders and Police Blitzes’. Quiet as a mouse there today. A few motorcycles at the cafe, many more push bikes than ones with engines on

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Japan 2010 tour update

To follow on from my last post, I found a place that will rent me the new Honda CB1100. The motorcycle I would probably buy if I was in the market now. So I am very excited to now be able to ride this new machine. Click here to see a superb video about the making of the bike. The shop is called Bike Rental 819 and is a chain that operates in a number of locations in Japan and appears to move

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Japan tour 2010

After the European alps I am heading back to Japan for an extended period so naturally I have planned a ride. The timing should be good, its going to be Autumn and in Japan that is lower rain fall season with spectacular foliage on display in the mountains. It is a very hot summer there this year and so I may push back the ride back until first week of November if need be however at this stage I

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Long Term Updates

I have reviewed a number of purchases on this blog, not particularly in depth but all the same I wanted to mention how I felt about some of them after now having used them for a longer time period. Nolan N43 Air helmet. I still love the design of this helmet however I have found the optics of the visor not to be perfect and as I mentioned in my initial review the liner does not compare with the

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Back Road Bliss

Finally got out for a ride, and while not setting out with a big ride in mind it turned out that way. First up here is today’s route and I owe an apology to readers as I have been giving you the wrong route south of Rosebank NSW. When riding the Repentence Creek road it becomes Dunoon road and unknown to me the sealed road becomes Fox road. So my maps showing me riding Dunoon road were wrong as

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Winter gear build up

My collection of winter gear continues to grow in preparation for the Europe tour. My latest additions are a mid layer and a thermal base layer. After looking about a bit I settled on the Alpinestars mid layer jacket. I have looked long and hard at all the outdoor store mountain type gear but it was 3 times the price and not sure if truly 100% windproof. Then I looked at cycling winter garments

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Easy way to transfer routes from Google maps to GPS

Inspired by motorcycle paradise reader Rob to dig out my GPS for the upcoming overseas holiday I started by revisiting the methods of transferring a Google map type route to the device and found the developers of Tyre, a motorcycle GPS routing solution have extended the software to work with Garmin GPS units. Hallelujah at last a simply solution! But first the background to why this has made me

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The best motorcycle roads in Japan

The Japanese BikeJin magazine held a survey of it’s readers to rate their best roads. Scenery as well as road surface/curves were considered so the final ranking reflects the voters opinions on that. I managed to get a copy of the April issue that had this article and will give a bit more info here with some notes on the scans mainly on some of the roads that are within riding distance from

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Pant - Boot clamps

I used to ride with Draggin Jeans however switched to pants also with knee armor (and then knee + hip armor) after reading that relatively few riders slide on their bum Vs hitting their hip or knee on the ground when involved in an accident.  However knee armor in pants does tend to make the pants ride up my legs regardless of how I adjust the pads or the brand and model. After my last ride

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The Cedar Route

Despite being tempted to ride south and stay within the less cold coastal areas I went west after a slow start. I stayed up later then I was going to watching tv and had a hard time getting going. I also left wearing regular summer socks and without my full winter gloves which I was going to regret by the time I got to Peak Crossing in route to Aratula, so I stopped to take some photos.

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iPhone motorcycle GPS

I have been disappointed in my Garmin GPS and stopped using it some tine ago altogether. For my upcoming Europe ride and for use on other rental motorcycles I wanted a GPS and this is what I have come up with. This is a iPhone GPS solution for motorbikes developed by WikiMobi called SoEasyGPS. The system works like this, the case has a waterproof outer that you remove to access the main case

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European motorcycle tour

“ It’s the atmosphere of being on the journey, there is nothing like being on a trip and going to bed knowing you just have to get up in the morning and ride more” Ewan McGregor, Long Way Down. I am going to tackle a ride I have wanted to do for a long time, albeit not as an adventure ride but exciting for me none the less. I am going to do my first European motorcycle tour. I had

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Winter riding apparel review

Operation Visibility rolls on to part two with my choice of new riding gear. I have had new winter riding apparel on my shopping list for some time now. Last few years I have slowly moved away from having one basic riding outfit and trying to adjust it up or down for the seasons like many riders here do to having a selection of garments. Good gear is just so cheap now. The dealerships here

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A winters ride

Went for a ride today and at 8 degrees that is officially a winters morning so I got to test my new ride gear also, more of that in my next post. I tried but I just can’t get interested in the Northern roads, riding the same old over and over seems mighty popular but I sure as hell don’t understand why people want to do that. I like variety. I skipped my usual fuel and embarkation point of

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Book review

I have been reading ‘Motorcycle Journeys through the Alps and Beyond’ by John Hermann.



This book is pure motorcycle road riding porn. 400 pages of the most amazing riding roads in the world. Photos, maps, stories and local info and funny tips and memories, a collection from The KIng of the Alps John Hermann who has been riding these roads since the ‘70’s.



The intro says the book will make

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Tranquil time out No.2

Would love to have this as my shop I have not been riding for a few weekends, just catching up on some other things about home as well as spending a lot of time working out my next motorcycle tour plan. Decided to put my money where my mouth is and purchase some items to try and meet the 10 point visibility as suggested in my last post. Once these arrive I shall review and do a follow up

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Be Seen, Be Safe

I received an email from a Motorcycle Paradise reader recently who has been injured when an elderly driver pulled out in front of him. His headlight was on and his motorcycle was brightly coloured yet the driver apparently didn’t see him. He is in hospital now and wrote one handed to tell me his story which has really got me thinking about what studies have been done about this problem. The

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The top 10 Motorcycle tours in the world

Update. Well since I wrote this I have started to ride the top 10. Elsewhere on this blog you can find my ride reports for Europe Alps, North America, Japan and New Zealand. I probably have a different view on things now so maybe I will write a new version of this but until then here is my original post.



Have you ever thought about all the great places that exist to ride a motorcycle around

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Joe Rocket boots review

I have purchased some new riding footwear and have chosen a pair of Joe Rocket Meteor boots. I am starting at the bottom in putting together an outfit suitable for riding in colder places. That could be southern Australia or New Zealand or beyond. Basically here in the tropics even my full winter setup is designed around the fact that it never is really properly cold. I decided I wanted to

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New Earplugs

My new supply of soft silicon earplugs has arrived. For reasons I am not certain of these style of earplugs mostly used by swimmers are marked up in Australia 3 to 4 times the price they retail for overseas, so I source mine from the Earplug superstore USA. If you dislike regular foam earplugs or find they do not stay put in your ear then consider giving the silicon ones a try. You can get

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Helmet Windjammer

I took my previous Shark RSR helmet out for a spin yesterday to revisit an item designed to cut wind noise on helmets I had purchased some years ago. Called the Windjammer II from Proline Sports UK I first purchased this to use on a KBC helmet I previously owned that was particularly noisy. On that helmet riding the Buell XB Lightning I found little change so discarded the Windjammer until

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Hide and Seek

That's the game I think I was playing with the scattered showers today when I decided to do a smaller then usual southern ride.
The weather looked fine this morning and after a slow start I got on the road sometime before 8.00am with no real plan other than south. I know I ride there a lot, I did look at a northern ride last night and the distance to Maleny and Murwillumbah are about the same

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Easter 3 day mini tour

Oxley HighwayI basically only decided to go for a ride on Thursday afternoon, and even then it was no firm plan, more an idea.

4 days off work with more of less half decent weather seemed too good to just use around home. Thursday evening I hatched a half baked plan to do a 4 day ride to the Tablelands way and getting all my gear ready and working out a route took late into the night. Next

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Airhawks and Grip Puppies and Convertibars

I checked my original review of the Air Hawk Seat Pads and have updated it further now that this has become a long term review item.

Mine is showing very few signs of wear, just some fading of the fabric cover that I could dye black again should it get worse.

Inflating with even less air on the flat seat of the Buell has made it such that I don't even notice it under me these days.

Checked my

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Mr Blue Sky

Remember the song by E.L.O, Mr Blue Sky? I was humming that inside my helmet today after a long spell of wet weather. “Sun is shinin' in the sky There ain't a cloud in sight It's stopped rainin' ev'rybody's in a play And don't you know It's a beautiful new day hey,hey“ Uhm… well helps if you like 80’s tunes I guess. Last night it was still raining so I stayed up late watching an

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Afternoon escape

Northbrook parkway (Mt Glorious)Woke early to another grey and wet morning so after checking the rain radar and seeing it was widespread I returned to bed. After lunch however I could sense it was going to clear up so I planned out a small ride on motowhere. Route is here.As I have already mentioned I don't ride the northern roads much due to high enforcement and high traffic on what is a rather

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Tour Meltdown

I am back home earlier then planned. After previously having to cancel this ride I was determined to go this time no matter what so I set out only to ride into one of the hottest days on record in northern NSW.How hot? - damn hot!!Yes that is 44 degrees or 111F in the old imperial measurements. This was in the shade at Nymboida coaching station on Australia day, the heat was ferocious. When

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Tour time

ThunderstormsI am all set to go on tour bike is prepped and I just need to put my bags on and go. The weather forecast has improved and while there is always a chance of rain it looks like the main issue will be high heat and thunderstorms in the afternoon. I will need to get up early to ride more before the heat of the day and finish sooner, especially if a big storm brews up. The only problem

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Fine and Hot

Coolamon Scenic drive


I only meant to go for a small ride today however I got a bit carried away.

Finally a fine day that I can get out for a ride. Seems many other people were thinking the same thing. I saw it was already 31 degrees at 8.00 on the digital sign at Ormeau - it was going to be a real hot day. There were many bikes on the M1 north bound, probably to Mt Glorious as I headed

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Overboot comparison.

Here in the tropics you really cannot wear waterproof boots in anything but winter, to do so otherwise will end up with feet as wet from perspiration as feet out in the rain. I have a new pair of overboots which I sourced from the UK via eBay for just 8 pounds.



These boot rain covers are made of a vinyl material with a thin sole made of a harder vinyl material which is also used on two

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Australia Day Motorcycle Tour

I am going to try for my 7 day tour again starting on Australia Day.I was staring at the calendar and then it presented itself to me, if I could get the days off after the Australia day holiday then from Tuesday 26th January plus the weekend and Monday gives me the 7 days needed. So I have secured those days off.The long range weather looks not too bad, may be some rain still in the north of NSW.

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