We Gonna Rock Down to Electric Avenue

Let me preface this particularly prejudicial post on the joys of motorbikes, by stating that the last time I personally relied on 2 wheels for transportation was either using pedal power on the sturdy Raleigh bicycle that occasionally transported me to school, or the putt, putt moped that was shared by the males in our household, while growing up in my teens in Scotland. 

I have sadly never owned nor driven, nor had a license for, a seriously enviable dream machine, such as captured the imagination of so many in either cinematic invention or true life documentary like:

• Steve McQueen’s attempted jump to freedom on a Triumph TR6 in “The Great Escape”.
• Ewen McGregor and Charlie Boorman in their epic journeys “The Long Way Down”, or “The Long Way Round”, on two sturdy BMW R1200GS Adventure models.
• Daniel Craig's dramatic chaise atop the tiled roofs of Istanbul on a Honda CRF250R, aptly labelled ‘off-road’ motorcycle.
• Peter Fonda's road cruising epic, “Easy Rider”, featuring two custom built Harley-Davidson choppers.
• Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of the legendary Kiwi, Bert Munro, in “the World's Fastest Indian”, breaking the land speed record for less than 1000cc motorcycles aboard the now infamous Indian Scout Special.

The lack of a means to an end, however, hasn't stopped me from dreaming every now and then, although my engineering practicality and risk averse upbringing, coupled with gruesome tales from medic friends doing their hands-on training in emergency wards during my uni and early career days, doubtless prevented me from bringing these dreams to fruition.  I'm sure that my mother, when she was alive, would have been relieved to see me graduate to the relative safety of four wheels, rather than two, with the lesser risk of being delivered back home to her in a jam jar, even though one of my earlier acquisitions was an MG Midget sports car in British Racing Green. 

Now that my interest in motorbikes or motor cycles (depending upon your geographical origins) has been established, let's take an initial look at a few select famous (or infamous) ‘bike likes’ across recent (and not so recent) decades, as fortuitously displayed earlier this year in Brisbane's GOMAR (Gallery of Modern Art) and which attracted my ever itchy Canon trigger finger. Showcasing 100 motorcycles, ‘The Motorcycle’ initially presented the visitor with a fascinating stroll down memory lane, culminating in various prototype bikes of the future.  With little or no prior knowledge of the motorbike's development needed, this well-displayed, well-lit and well-attended exhibition gave us prime examples of the various ‘leg-over’ choices of users through the ages, be they Bikie, Rocker, Mod, Scrambler, Racer, Movie Star, Postman or Courier, "from its humble origins as an engine bolted to a bicycle [there were a couple bolted to tricycles also] to the cutting-edge electric prototypes of the twenty-first century.”

If you can't ride a bike, then why not try a trike?

The WW2 ‘would-be’ escapee’s boundary fence jumping Triumph TR6 Trophy wasn't on display, but the arguably equally famous Triumph Bonneville was.

Although Ewen and Charlie's robust and distance chewing BMW R1200GS was missing, I wonder how their east-west and north-south multi country marathon would have gone on the 1923 R32, which was the first, post-WW1 model produced under BMW's name?

While James Bond's Honda CRF250R was his machine of choice for tile hopping across the rooftops of Istanbul in “Skyfall”, the 1972 Honda CB750 was notably the first nifty Nipponese noisemaker to be granted the title of ‘Superbike’. Begs the Question: 

"Does Honda's hot handlebar thrill. 

Come with a licence to kill?"

Peter Fonda's road cruising character may have favoured a Harley Knucklehead, but this one looks too pretty in custom painted pink trim for the ‘Easy Rider’ set.

As far as the movies go, we struck gold with Bert Munro's Indian, which was actually on display.  He was 68 years old in 1967 when he rode this then 47-year-old modified 1920 Indian Scout to a land speed record that still stands to this day. As if this wasn't enough to achieve immortalisation, Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of Bert and his dastardly deed on the salt flats of Utah, in “The World's Fastest Indian”, will undoubtedly guarantee him a place in the Heavenly Hall of Hollywood.

And so enough from the historical past, although I could bore the pants off most of you with puns, parables and preachings on the balance of the 100 magnificent models on exhibition. These comprised various impressive shiny examples of Harleys, Indians, Nortons, Triumphs, Vespas, Hondas, BSAs, Ducatis, Suzukis, Kawasakis, BMWs, along with a Yamaha, a Peugeot, a Husqvarna and a Yamaha, plus a host of others I'd never heard of and mostly couldn't pronounce.

But it's time to look at the future, as it was when this touring exhibition was being assembled back in 2020. 

I give you Australia's first electric fuelled motorbike, the Savic, which has now, since the exhibition was run, been launch on the market at an official ceremony in Melbourne. It is Dennis Savic the founder's aim to deliver the first 20 electric motorbikes to their new owners in the last quarter of 2022, prior to going into manufacture in 2023.

The former Ford engineer and founder of Savic Motorcycles, Dennis Savic, was interviewed this month (December 2021) by Engineers Australia.  Those of you with a penchant for mechanical and electrical details, and for performance figures and stats, can find more information revealed during the interview at this link:

Australia's first electric motorbike prepares for launch - Create.pdf 

As for the title photograph, I'm sorry to disappoint, but the wife and I have not suddenly begged, borrowed or stolen one of the three Savic models, and decided to speed off into the night, helmet-less and fancy free. Nor have we a spare $13k to $24k, which is the current Australian retail price range for this electrically charged mileage muncher, depending upon the performance you require. We did, however, decide to take a “Ride Down to Electric Avenue”, courtesy of GOMAR's complimentary photo toy, as set up specially for the exhibition.  😄

And finally, although the current range of electric motorcycles, as were on display at GOMAR earlier this year, may look powerful and attractive to some, I feel duty bound to point out that these suckers are relatively heavy and, furthermore, to echo @Neil Smith in the comment string of his recent post on motorbikes here, 

https://ie.bebee.com/producer/two-wheels-good-hDRx7bUz5iHs">https://ie.bebee.com/producer/two-wheels-good-hDRx7bUz5iHs 

that you'll neither escape a WW2 prisoner-of-war camp on one of these Savics, nor will you jump a 12 foot barbed wire fence to land in Switzerland while riding one, even if your name is Stevo.

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When not researching the weird or the wonderful, the comical or the cultured, the sinful or the serious, I chase my creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of my travels on my website at:

http://ken-boddie.squarespace.com">http://ken-boddie.squarespace.com

The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a sometime poet and occasional writer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded people with diverse interests.

Ken's three day work week (part time commitment) as a consulting engineer allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.