Riders will be spoilt for choice this November as two major motorcycle events compete in NSW and the Melbourne Moto Expo returns.
The events will be run over three consecutive weekends, stretching the motorcycle industry resources.
Meanwhile, other states are missing out altogether.
Competing events
Moto Expo
The biannual Moto Expo has been held in Sydney and Melbourne for the past few years and even included Brisbane in 2014.
This year the Sydney Moto Expo, which is owned by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, will become the Australian Motorcycle Festival and move from Sydney to Wollongong from November 8-10. The Melbourne Moto Expo will also return to Melbourne Showgrounds on November 23-25.
These events are run by Troy Bayliss Events which the three-time World Superbike champestablished after retiring 11 years ago.
Some motorcycle companies have complained about the expense of displaying at the biannual Moto Expos, resulting in some brands being absent.
Consequently, the organisers have now chosen to change the NSW event from a Moto Expo to the Australian Motorcycle Festival and move to Wollongong where Harley-Davidson Australia held two Harley Days festivals in 2016 and ’17.
While NSW and Victoria get a wealth of shows and festivals, other states are missing out.
A Troy Bayliss Events spokesman says they continue to talk with manufacturers about a major motorcycle show returning to Brisbane.
“At this point we don’t have enough manufacturers willing to support more than one major exhibition each year,” he says.
“We would love to come back to Queensland soon.”
Inaugural festivals
Stunt displays
The inaugural Australian Motorcycle Festival will be held at Wollongong’s Lang Park on November 8-10 and include Round 3 of the 2019 Australian Supercross Championship.
Instead of just motorcycle displays, the event will feature test rides, motorcycle demonstrations and stunt riding.
Similarly, the inaugural Freak Show of Motorcycles, which will be hosted in the same town as the HOG rally, will feature hillclimb, custom show, flat-track exhibition racing, stalls, music, outdoor cinema, trade show, globe of death, donuts and burnouts in a closed-off arena.
The Troy Bayliss Events spokesman says they are “glad we haven’t clashed on the same weekend as the HOG Rally”.
“We had actually discussed dates very early on to ensure we didn’t clash with HOG Rally, along with numerous other manufacturers so we did not clash with events such as Snowy Ride, ASBK and other events taking place in November and October,” he says.
“It’s great to see so many motorcycle events in Australia, hopefully more major motorcycle events are taken to the wider community to promote the motorcycle Industry in positives ways.”
The future of Black Dog Ride Australia (BDRA) events to raise awareness and funds for mental health issues is assured, despite recent staff, funding and cost problems, the organisation says.
“We have had three CEOs, three acting chairs and several changes to our board members,” the email says.
“These changes have meant that BDRA has been a little rudderless, and the organisation has incurred a rapidly growing cost structure that was not sustainable.”
However, BDR spokesman Richard Brown says they will still run the same events across the country.
“We are restructuring so that we can come back bigger and better,” he says.
“Previously there have been planning issues and communication issues.
“We are taking this as an opportunity to come up with better ways to plan, coordinate, and communicate.”
Here is the full text of the BDRA email.
Changes to Black Dog Ride Australia
Firstly, we wanted to acknowledge the range of reactions to the news that Fiona Duffield is no longer a paid employee of Black Dog Ride Australia (BDRA). We also acknowledge that our initial statement gave limited information, though we emphasis the statement was to ensure the community were informed of this change from BDRA and not indirectly through other sources.
We also acknowledge there was no statement on Erin Hope’s departure who after a short tenure is also no longer a paid employee of BDRA. Our statement was not meant to give an overview of staff member changes rather it was to let everyone know of the significant change surrounding Fiona as a long-standing member of the team.
As many of you will be all too aware, since the retirement of our founder Steve Andrews, BDRA has been in a state of flux, we have had 3 CEO’s, 3 Acting Chairs and several changes to our board members. These changes have meant that BDRA has been a little rudderless, and the organisation has incurred a rapidly growing cost structure that was not sustainable.
In fact, as of the start of May this year we were incurring approximately $22,000 per month in fixed operating costs (approximately $264,000 per annum). Of that, approximately $15,900 per month was going to wages and office rental costs combined (approximately $195,000 per annum).
At that level of expenditure, and assuming the Around Australia Ride and state rides hit their budget, we only had enough funds in the `operating’ account to run BDRA for 5 to maybe 7 months.
We do also have an entirely separate `gift’ account for the collection of donations and charitable fundraising dollars. As a registered charity organisation we are required to operate this separate fund which is primarily to be used to return funds to the community to support mental health and suicide prevention initiatives. The gift account can and will be used to distribute funds to deserving initiatives through our new community grants funding model. More news on that later in this newsletter.
However, with limited operating funds available, we took the difficult decision to make Fiona Duffield and Erin Hope redundant in line with the provisions of their award. This is never a good situation and this was not a decision we took lightly.
Redundancy arrangements were formulated in consultation with a Perth based Human resources consultancy. It is not appropriate for us to disclose details that are of a private nature (private to Fiona and Erin). But what we can say is that on the day (Tuesday 14th May) we had Richard Brown attend to represent Black Dog Ride together with the Human resources consultant, a Social Worker for employee support, an IT consultant to start working on IT changes, and a security guard to provide access for transport companies quoting on relocating merchandise and equipment.
Beyond the reduction in salaries and rental costs we are also reviewing the ongoing costs around bookkeeping, insurances etc.. We are also looking at the costs within the Around Australia Ride budget and areas this can be reduced/maximised.
Further on in this newsletter we will outline what operational changes we are implementing within BDRA and talk a little about the plan moving forward. Though we want to highlight here that prior to recent years BDRA has run a very lean operation, calling very much on the knowledge, skills and expertise of its volunteer community and we will be looking to get back there, as we should being a charity organisation.
It may not be apparent from the outside, but there has been a lot of work going on over the past 3 to 4 months with the new board in place. We could all start to debate who caused the problems we’re now working our way out of, but we have decided that would only take us away from the critical list of jobs we need to complete to get us to where we want to be.
Beyond the AAR, State Rides and 1-dayers we are also working on revenue raising initiatives that if successful will be announced over time. Also, with the strengthening undertaken over the last 3 to 4 months on our Corporate Governance structure we are almost in a place where we can start formally applying to corporate foundations for regular grants.
We stress however, that any business initiative does not happen overnight, and we will need 6 to 12 months to really get things back on track.
Lastly, though definitely not the least, BDRA is you – our community. We hope you will stand by us as we work towards a stable and growing organisation that is really making a difference.
Sincerely, BDRA Acting Chair, Jo-Anne Harrison
Operational Plan – The Next 12 Months
There are many things we could talk about as far as our current list of things to do. It will take some work for us to get where we want to go, and things won’t be perfect for a while, but here’s a brief overview of what we have planned in the short term.
Staffing
For the next 12 months (or less) Black Dog Ride Australia will operate with a Manager (at .5FTE) and two Administration Officers (both at .6FTE). Richard Brown will act as the business Manager, paid at a rate of $42.50 per hour on a 12 month contract. The two Administration Officers will be paid at a rate of up to (depending on experience) $33.06 per hour on a 12 month contract. A special government wage subsidy will apply to the two administration employees, which will greatly reduce our wage costs. With this arrangement in place the total salary cost to the organisation for the 1.7FTE will be budgeted at $5375 per month, or $64500 per year.
Office location
It is our intention to either sub-let or surrender the Perth office. The current managing real estate agent in Perth is being quite helpful with this process, so we are hopeful that monthly rental costs for the property can be minimised within the next two months.
We do not intend to establish a dedicated Black dog ride office during the coming 12 month period. As an interim measure the 1.7FTE staff will share an office area which has been provided to us for $500 per month, $6000 per year.
Short-term goals
Critical objectives for the next 12 months include, but are not limited to,:
Keeping Black Dog Ride operating – this should go without saying.
Seek opportunities to simplify operations, streamline processes and reduce costs. For example, Black Dog Ride merchandise is costly because it is labour-intensive and it ties up money in slow-moving stock. It will be necessary to reconsider what merchandise items we continue to stock, and the way we handle our merchandise across the country.
Seek opportunities to increase our revenue. We are currently working on obtaining corporate sponsorships and government funding, but these funding avenues generally take a long time to come to fruition, so we may not see a great deal of revenue through these sources within the next 12 months. We are also working on opening a Black Dog Ride membership program which is something we should do anyway, but may also provide the organisation with a little extra revenue.
Develop more effective ways to communicate with our volunteers and Black Dog Ride community. We are working on a few ideas at the moment that we hope to trial over the coming months.
Plan and coordinate long-distance rides and 1 Dayers, allowing long planning lead-times.
Facilitate disbursement of donated funds. A long long awaited community funding model should be released very soon. We’ll talk about this a bit more later in the newsletter.
Expand Black Dog Ride. We would like to establish new 1 Dayers across the country, and will consider the viability of adding some new activities to the calendar.
If you’d like to contact Richard he can be reached via email at [email protected]
Key stakeholders of Black Dog Ride have previously met for strategic planning sessions during 2017 and 2018. The result of those meetings was an initial rough draft three-year strategic plan.
A project specific board sub-committee was formed on 5th February 2019 to review and amend the draft strategic plan for adoption by the board as soon as possible. This committee was made up of Rachel Carter, David Lovell and Richard Brown, and was also tasked with making recommendations on the future structure of BDRA, and the future recruitment of a new CEO/General Manager/Business Manager.
Members of the project specific strategic planning committee have undertaken a significant reformatting and revision of the draft strategic plan over the past three months. The committee has also formed the opinion that this strategic plan should be adopted as a five-year plan, reviewed and adjusted annually.
Please take a good look at our new strategic plan. This plan will be put into a more presentable form with some new graphics and published on our new website which is due to be launched in July – more on our website later.
Please feel free to e-mail [email protected] if you have any questions, concerns or feedback on this plan.
The community Grants funding model was proposed over 18 months ago. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, not a great deal of work had been done on this until early this year. Between January and now Michael Young has put in a lot of work drafting a proposed new community Grants funding model, application form, and decision criteria with some input from Jo-Anne Harrison and Richard Brown.
We know this has been talked about for a long time now, but we really are getting very close to being able to launch this new initiative. Although our operating funds are low, we do have money in our “gift fund” account to provide to local community initiatives. Please stay tuned.
New website
In December 2018 the board commissioned the development of a new website by Perth-based Millstream, a long-time supporter of Black Dog Ride. Millstream have been working on our new website ever since and we are hopeful the new site will be ready to go active in July this year.
This new website will give a fresh new look and work better on handheld devices (phones etc.). We also expect this to be much easier for us to update (as the old one was complicated).
To mark the model’s 60th anniversary, this year’s RACQ Motorfest on July 14 at Eagle FarmRacecourse, Brisbane, will honour the enduring charm of the British bike with a special display.
The RACQ is calling on owners to bring in their old and new Bonnevilles.
“Bonne ville” may be French for good city but the model is actually named after the Triumph motorcycles that set speed records on the famous Bonneville salt flats of Utah.
1959 Triumph Bonneville
The Triumph Bonneville legend began in 1959 with a bike based on the Tiger 100. It was powered by a 650cc parallel twin with twin carburettors and a separate gearbox, and was capable of 115mph in standard form.
From 1963, the gearbox was included in the engine in the one unit which made the bike stiffer andthe T120 model even included oil in the frame.
These bikes were rockets in standard trim, but were often stripped down, tuned up and raced around the cafes of London by young leather-clad “rockers” who referred to them as “cafe racers”.
In the 1960s, Bonnevilles were so popular it became hip to be photographed on one.
They were the favourite ride of movie stars such as Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, James Dean and Paul Newman as well as rock stars Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney and Elvis.
Bob Dylan even famously crashed his Bonneville in 1966.
No wonder Bob crashed riding with his feet off the pegs!
Fading popularity
Despite updates to a 750cc engine, disc brakes and electric start, the Bonnevilles faded in popularity in the 1970s as the more reliable and smoother four-cylinder Japanese motorcycles took over.
In fact, one of the selling tools to get people off Bonnevilles and on to Japanese bikes was to place a glass of water on the seat and start the engine. A Bonneville’s 360-degree unbalanced parallel twin would shake the glass off the seat while the water in the glass would hardly stir on the Japanese bikes.
Triumph suffered a subsequent sales slump through the late ‘70s and went into receivership in 1983 when it was saved by wealthy property developer John Bloor.
He restructured the company, learning from the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, yet the Bonnevilles struggled on for several years with largely unchanged technology.
Bonneville relaunch
Triumph Bonneville T100
Bloor relaunched the Bonneville brand in 2001 with improved technology but with the same retro styling that had made the bike so popular over the decades.
In fact, when the bikes made the quantum leap from carburettors to electronic fuel injection in 2008, they housed the injectors inside dummy carbies to retain the traditional look.
The next major leap in technology was in 2015 when the Bonnevilles became liquid cooled to meet stringent European emissions targets.
Triumph Bonneville T120 and T120 Black
Today’s Bonnevilles are a far cry from the raw and rattly 1959 model, featuring traction control, ABS, selectable engine maps, heated grips, keyless ignition and LED lighting.
Australian Indian Motorcycle owners will next year attempt to set a world parade record for the most Indian motorbikes.
Registrations recently opened for the event on 9 May 2020 and already there are 150 riders who have signed up, says event organiser Christine Keeble.
Christine says there will be “a special offer for extra goodies for the first 300 to register”.
Parade record
“Currently the record is set at 274,” she says.
“We are eagerly watching the US as they have another attempt October 2019, so we may have a new number to chase.”
The “Most Indian Motorcycles on Parade” event will be held at Silverton in NSW where the original Mad Max movie was filmed.
“While this is such a big country, the location was chosen because of its iconic outback backdrop and a major town and infrastructure only a short 15 minutes away in Broken Hill,” Christine says.
“This will be a great opportunity to meet up with Indian riders from all parts of Australia.”
Christine says she started planning the event 12 months ago and it is “gaining interest every day”.
“This is not a bike festival as such, but a focused gathering on Indian motorbike enthusiasts who will have a go at breaking a world record.
“And if that is not achieved it will definitely be the first in the Southern Hemisphere. So records will be set.”
The event will also help raise awareness for the Gift of Life organ donation service.
Meanwhile, the Indian Motorcycle Riders Group will gather at the Cooly Rocks On event in Coolangatta from June 7-9.
Tickets are now available online at $130 for IMRG members or $260 with a pillion and $150 for non-members and $300 with a pillion.
The gathering kicks off on the Friday with a VIP Lounge party with exclusive apparel gift packs.
On Saturday, there will be a group ride around the Gold Coast Hinterland with lunch at the Iron & Resin Garage, a Show ‘N’ Shine and dinner and entertainment.
The highlight will be the riders leading the Sunday Cooly Rocks On Parade.
To celebrate they are giving away a double pass to a lucky Motorbike Writer reader.
Just leave your name and a photo of your bike in the comments section below or on the social media post promoting this article.
The winner will be selected next week and announced in an update of this article on Wednesday.
Biggest show
Mark Hawwa
Throttle Roll founder/director Mark Hawwa says this year’s show costs just $25 at the gate and will be their biggest yet.
“The show this year is two levels with over 50 custom show bikes, a mini movie cinema seating 50 people with free popcorn, a free mechanical bull, food trucks, coffee and more,” says Mark, who also founded the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride.
“We are bringing bike parking into the show with over 80 bikes on the ground floor.”
“There will also be eight bands, three DJs, food from around the world, cold beers and bands galore,” Mark says.
This will be the last year the show is held at the Commune, at 901 Bourke St, Waterloo, as they are moving to a new location on King St, Newtown.
“There is a chance this may be the last year in Sydney as we struggle to find venues that fit what we do,” Mark says.
“We are looking at venues in Melbourne and Brisbane for next year.”
Win win win
If you miss out on the double pass, you can also enter the $10-a-ticket raffle to win a Yamaha XSR900 or a $1000 MCAS lucky door voucher.
If you buy your ticket online and save 20%, you also go into the draw to win a Himalayan Heroes Riding Experience in India worth $5000 and includes flights and accommodation.
Motorcycle fans will also be winners with a number of manufacturers showing their latest bikes, including Indian with their new FTR 1200, BMW Motorrad, Yamaha, Scrambler Ducati, Harley-Davidson and Sol Invictus who will show their build in partnership with Panhead Brewery.
Throttle Roll
When: SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2019: 11:00 AM 10:00 PM
Where: COMMUNE WATERLOO (901 Bourke Street Waterloo NSW, 2017)
Eight Triumph Bonnevilles professionally restored by a Canberra enthusiast are coming up for auction at Shannons Late Autumn sale in Sydney on May 20.
The Bonnevilles are among 18 classic motorcycles in the 55 lot vehicle and memorabilia auction.
Two standout Triumphs on offer are a 1959 first year Pre-Unit Bonneville T120 650cc (pictured above) and a 1970 Bonneville T120R with just 1004 miles on its odometer since its ground-up restoration ($20,000-$24,000).
1970 Triumph T120R
Both motorcycles are in their correct colours.
The 1959 ‘Bonnie’ is understood to be just the 102nd T120 model built early that year.
It has covered just 605 miles since its restoration. Shannon’s says the guiding range for bids is likely to be $45,000-$48,000.
The 1970 T120R is important to collectors as the last Bonneville model built with its oil tank under the seat before Triumph adopted an oil-in-frame system.
Triumph Bonnevilles
Other Triumph Bonnevilles being auctioned in similar fully-restored condition include examples from 1963, 1964, 1969 and 1970, with guiding ranges spanning $18,000-$25,000.
Another earlier Triumph motorcycle in the auction is an older-restored circa-1926 Model P 500cc solo offered as part of a deceased estate.
It is expected to sell in the $8000-$10,000 range.
An alternative for veteran bike enthusiasts is a rare circa-1910 single-cylinder Speedwell early Australian motorcycle.
1910 single-cylinder Speedwell
It would be ideal for a collector or museum and is expected to bring $18,000-$22,000.
Both are being offered with no reserve.
Other interesting motorcycles in the auction include two restored Suzuki RM80 motocross motorcycles from 1978 and 1981.
Suzuki RM80
Both are offered with no reserve and each is expected to sell for $2,000-$3,000.
Also expected to create strong interest among Ducati enthusiasts is a one-owner 2002 Limited Edition 748R from the model’s final year of production.
2002 Limited Edition Ducati 748R
It is believed to be one of only 10 delivered to Australia in red. The bike is expected to sell with no reserve for $14,000-$18,000.
Other motorcycles offered with no reserve include:
A very original ex-military BSA WM21 equipped with pannier bags and other period accessories that would make a great club bike ($8,000-$10,000); and
BSA WM21
A circa-1936 ACME Autocycle that hasn’t been ridden for many years, but is in complete and original condition ($1500-$2000).
To view all Shannons May 20 Sydney Late Autumn Auction lots, visit www.shannons.com.au
Six Vincent motorcycles and a rare Grigg that have been found in a Los Angeles warehouse after the death of the owner could fetch a small fortune at liquidation.
Vincent motorcycles are among the most collectible and expensive in the world.
It is the most valuable motorcycle ever sold at auction.
Fortune find
Therefore, the LA horde could yield a fortune.
The collection includes six Vincent motorcycles with the most valuable being a 1938 Vincent Series-A HRD Twin.
1938 Vincent Series-A HRD Twin
There are also a 1953 Vincent Black Shadow – Series-C, 1955 Vincent Victor Replica, 1954 Vincent Rapide D/C, 1948 Vincent Series-B Rapide and a 1950 Vincent Comet in pieces.
The group did the ride in 2016 and motorcycle industry stalwart Dale Schimdtchen decided to return with more Aussies.
The four are riding 150cc scooters and hoped to arrive in Hellfire Pass last night.
Dale said he decided to visit the World War II historic sights after reading a first-hand account of the horror and depravation that occurred during the brutal regime of the occupying Japanese Army and their intent to build a railway from Thailand to Burma, using prisoner-of-war labour.
Helfire ceremony
Laying wreaths at Hellfire Pass
Hellfire Pass hosts an annual Anzac Day celebration and many other riders also make the pilgrimage.
Dignitaries from Australia, New Zealand and Thailand lay wreathes and give stirring speeches at the ceremony.
Then they take the long, steep journey back to the museum and car park for a ‘gunfire breakfast’ that includes Anzac Biscuits, plus tea/coffee, with a nip of Bundaberg Rum.
Anzac Day tribute
Royal Engineers on the beaches of Gallipoli
On the 104th anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli this Anzac Day, riders should note the significant role played by military motorcycles and their riders in wartime.
As the above image shows, motorcycles were present on the famed beaches of Gallipoli. This Admiralty official photo shows members of the Royal Engineers (Signal Service).
Military motorcycles have played a number of vital roles in times of war and peace and are a significant feature in many motorcycle, and military and war museums around the world, including the Harley museum in Milwaukee, the Indian Motorcycle museum in Brisbane and the Australian War Memorial. We have included photos from museums we’ve visited as well as images from the Australian War Memorial on the Motorbike Writer Pinterest page.
Most motorcycle manufacturers have, at some time, produced military models. They include Harley-Davidson, Indian, Norton, BMW, Moto Guzzi, Royal Enfield, Honda and Velocette. In fact, some of them started life because of their military use. For example, BSA stands for Birmingham Small Arms company, a manufacturer of military firearms.
Military motorcycle uses have been many and varied over the years. Apart from use in the cavalry as a rapid and manoeuvrable machine to mobilise troops, they have also played vital roles in signals regiments, for mail despatch, medical use and chaplaincy.
BRD electric donor bike for DARPA hybrid project
While the motorcycle’s various uses have been replaced by modern communications and helicopters, there is still a role for motorcycles in today’s military and into the future. For example, the American military is researching and developing a hybrid-powered motorcycle for stealth operations by special forces.
Wartime necessitates the research and development of innovative military machinery including motorcycles. One of the more interesting motorcycles developed for wartime use was the Mark 2 Welbike. It was a collapsible motorcycle powered by a Villiers 98cc two-stroke engine. Originally designed by the British Special Operations Executive for use in covert operations, the Welbike was used by British airborne and parachute regiments. The bikes folded down into a parachute container and were dropped with the airborne units for rapid deployment on landing.
Mark 2 Welbike
The Welbike pictured from the Australian War Memorial display is understood to have been retrieved from the island of Moratai where it was used by a Light Aid Detachment to fetch the mail.
So, on this 104th anniversary Anzac Day, let’s not forget the importance of the motorcycle in helping our troops. And, of course, the brave and talented soldiers who rode them!
We’d like to thank the Australian War Memorial for their help in compiling this article and for the use of their photographs.
Negative peer pressure is alive and thriving in motorcycling as it always has and probably always will be. Do you have a coping strategy?
Some say peer pressure does not exist in motorcycling because riding is about not fitting in. It’s about being the wild loner.
If that’s the case, why are there so many motorcycle groups where they ride the same type of bike or wear the same type of gear?
Despite the fact that we ride in a protective cocoon of leather and fibreglass helmets, motorcycling is still largely a social activity.
Anti-social motorcycle clubs
The problem is that some of these social motorcycle clubs and groups can become anti-social.
Every week we see new videos on social media of packs of riders performing wheelies, stoppies, burnouts and other illegal and anti-social behaviour on public roads.
Thankfully it’s worse in the USA and Britain than in Australia, although we also have our problems.
Anyone who joins these known anti-social ride-out groups is conscientiously asking for danger and there is not much that can be done about that except to leave it to the police.
But riders can still suffer from negative peer pressure riding in social motorcycle groups.
Even in these groups, there can often be someone who will tease other riders about being slow, their inability to ride long distances, wide chicken strips, a lack of overtaking or a rider’s inability to perform a wheelie or burnout.
No one wants to look like the chicken in this situation, so riders tend to give in to this pressure – however jokingly applied – and that’s when accidents happen.
Professional advice
Having the guts to not bow to peer pressure can be difficult, even for some mature riders.
So we went to psychologist and rider Sharon Ledger for some general advice on coping with negative peer pressure.
“Peer pressure is a normal part of forming relationships,” she says, pointing out that there is both negative and positive peer pressure.
“We join groups for a sense of belonging but we can then experience pressure to conform with the group’s norms,” she says.
“That’s why it’s important to join a group that has the same values as you.”
Sharon Ledger
Sharon suggests that if there is an element of bullying in the group, positive peer pressure can be used to change their behaviour.
“Don’t be a bystander to bullying behaviour. Take a stand and show that it is not acceptable. You can put pressure back on a bullyby using positive peer pressure.”
Sharon agrees with these four basic tenets of dealing with ever pressure:
Make your own decisions. Do things that make you happy and make those decisions on your own;
Plan a response;
Avoid places and situations that make you uncomfortable; and
Choose positive friends.
We took that advice and applied it to motorcycling.
How to avoid rider peer pressure
Here are our five tips for avoiding motorcycle peer pressure:
Leave. If the group is full of this sort of peer pressure, simply leave and find another group. There are so many social riding groups, clubs and Facebook pages out there to choose from, surely you can find one that doesn’t have any peer pressure. Otherwise, ride solo. Click here for 10 great reasons to ride on your own.
Throw out the bullies. If your social club has someone who bullies others about their riding, have a quiet word to them, suspend them, send them to the back of the pack or throw them out. Don’t let a bully ruin your social club.
Go to a track day. If you are feeling too much pressure to ride fast, suggest to your friends that they do a track day instead. They let off steam, they are are fun and they can improve your riding skills. They will also help get rid of those “chicken strips” in a safe and legal way. But make sure you leave your racing behind at the track.
Volunteer to be tail-end Charlie. If the pressure to keep up is too much, become the tail rider. Carry a tool kit and first-aid pack and learn to administer first-aid. That will lift your respect within the group.
Own your individuality. Dress differently and/or ride a different bike to the rest of the group. Be proud to be an individual. People will respect you for that and leave you alone. If not, see tip number 1!
