Australian Motorcyclist

REELIN ’In the years

WHAT GOT YOU hooked on motorcycling? Was it the sound of a motorcycle roaring past as a kid, some hot model adorning that shiny piece of art, or is it the specs/ride review that got you hooked? Stuart, The Bear and Ralph take a step back in time to relive what, when, where and perhaps why motorcycling runs through their veins…

Stuart first got introduced to motorcycling by his father, Ian, and it was while being pillioned on Ian’s Suzuki Katana back home from a Sydney Motorcycle Show being held at Rosehill Racecourse in the 80s that he was hooked for life. Sideways wheelspin away from a set of traffic lights was all it took. When Stuart looks back now it was probably because of some oil or something on the roadway, but at the time…being a young boy, it was the coolest thing ever.

The Bear got hooked on motorcycling back in the ‘60s when he was at university, and even worked as a courier riding a Harley-Davidson outfit for a while. Most of his memories from those days are happy, except when his own Harley WLA refused to clutch start and he had to push it back up the hill.

Ralph started riding and buying in the early seventies. Riding to high school on his $110 Yamaha YL100 two stroke twin on the outskirts of western Sydney. Five decades and 86

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