What is it with Australians?

[bramfrank]

So I am on my annual pacific rim swing, on the Australian Gold Coast (called Surfer's Paradise) for a trade show this week where they have almost perfect weather (300 sunny days a year), what looks like potentially great riding roads and a very young population (the proportion of young to 'fogie' being rediculous).

The hotel I am at for the show (called the Conrad Jupiters) is about 30 miles from the airport and I took the shuttle to get here. Interesting enough the Aussies have blatantly ripped off the geographical reference points from South Florida - they have Miami, a Palm Beach and so on.

On the way I saw all of ONE bike shop (and it sells mostly Honda scooters) and all of three real bikes - one a sport bike, another a Harley with loud pipes and the third was a BMW twin.

Now it isn't as if it was late at night - this was a Saturday. There was lots of car and pedestrian traffic. The temps were almost perfect (about 75 F), but there were simply very few bikes - not even many scooters (maybe 10).

What is it with the Aussies? I KNOW I'll see thousands of scooters in Malaysia and Singapore next week - but I'd have expected more market penetration here.

 

[feejer222]

What goes around comes around eh?

'New' York

Boston

Washington

'New' Hampshire

Manchester

Plymouth

London

Dundee

Dover

New castle

Birmingham

Brighton

etc. etc

 

[993_Pilot]

What goes around comes around eh? 'New' York

Boston

Washington

'New' Hampshire

Manchester

Plymouth

London

Dundee

Dover

New castle

Birmingham

Brighton

etc. etc

So true, we Americans have swiped a lot of names too! I am surprised by the lack of bikes though.

 

[bramfrank]

Point of the post having been the lack of bikes in what would seem to be an idyllic environment, but I'll point out that the American naming conventions were based on the origins of the original inhabitants - Gold Coast was not colonised by a bunch of South Beach ex-pats looking to make the new locale seem more like home.

 

[FJR Steve]

They were up in the hills riding....why ride in the 'burbs when the hills are calling?

 

[twowheelnut]

What goes around comes around eh? 'New' York

Boston

Washington

'New' Hampshire

Manchester

Plymouth

London

Dundee

Dover

New castle

Birmingham

Brighton

etc. etc

So true, we Americans have swiped a lot of names too! I am surprised by the lack of bikes though.

Ummmmm, sorry, but the Brits brought those names - not the Americans. Just sayin'.

 

[painman]

Heck, they were all out fishin and did I say MARLIN? Best around I here. That's a tough decession, ride the bike, go fishin....um,, darnit, or they were on a ride-about. PM. <>< :blink:

 

[FJRAust]

On the naming point, of course Australians have ripped off names from other parts of the world, likely it was immigrants from those parts of the world that named those respective locations in Australia.

Names like:-

Boston

Washington

'New' Hampshire

Manchester

Plymouth

London

Dundee

Dover

New castle

Birmingham

Brighton

Are as you have said The above are not American names but are ripped of from the Pomms, Weren't the original colonists from England. Hmm. Funny that since many of you Nations were colonized by those descendant of ours from the mother land.

Anyway..It's a silly mute point.

With regards to the bike numbers, I have to say that I have always thought the same thing about my great land. We have idealic conditions for motorcycles but yet the ownership per capita is very low compared to other parts of the world, yet car ownership is typical of most western cultures.

This may be some what determined by financial circumstances. Unlike me, many who would like to have a motor cycle consider it to be an item for entertainment rather than a means of transport.

Simply put, there is money in the Gold Coast but many of the areas around there are not so affluent.

Another consideration. A few years ago all states in Australia implemented a new licensing routine for motor cycles. The intention of this was to reduce the death toll of new motorcycle riders. The rather rigid training routine has reduced the number of people getting licenses as many who try simply don't attain the skill to pass the riding course. This has in-turn reduced the motorcycle death toll considerably on a percentage basis. This is a great thing, now they need to introduce additional compulsory rider training. I can't find any statistics to back this but was reading some literature sent to me recently by a government department NSW RTA.

I see this is not the case in the US https://www.virginiainjurylawyerblog.com/20...cle_acci_1.html

https://www.planetizen.com/node/20960

If you were to head in the hills behind the Gold Coast,/Currumbin you'd see there are some wonderful roads.

It's quite interesting that in Southern QLD (Queensland) the motorcycle shops are centered around 2 areas.

Slacks Creek and another that I can't remember. I was amazed that these bike shops are next to each other literally for KM's

It does make it easy to buy something, if one shop doesn't have it another will and at a fair price, unlike here in Sydney where the bike shops are dotted around the suburbs and generally charge a premium for everything as there's not enough competition.

Cheers guys.

Get over here, there's some great riding to be had.. and some magnificent things to see.

 

[BobbyBlue]

Mark, Thanks for such an insightful piece. I spent 4 yrs. in the Navy and absolutely LOVED the land of OZ. This was back in the late 70's and I rented several bikes/mopeds...I had to tie a string on the left handlebar though to remember to drive on the wrong side of the road.

I've got a theory on the reason my beloved land has such wussy riding requirements...money. In this country when you sue and lose, ya dont have to pay everything..including whatever amount one is sueing for. We have lawyers who specialize in sueing their colleagues...thing is we all lose a little and they laugh it up on the golf course...together. I am still amazed to see 16 year olds riding gxsr 1000's as a first bike and yeah Darwinism ( the dude not the city ) puts a hiatus to some, but not before hurting someone else..usually a bystander or young thang in short shorts hangin' on the back for dear life.

Anyway, sorry for the rant and thanks for reviving my great memories of awesome Australia !

Blessings,

Bobby

 

[Thug]

Next time try Springwood or Slacks creek (Ross Street) about 45 min north from where you were staying.....More bikes than you can poke a stick at mate! And the riding oh man the riding pertty much anywhere here along the coast is something else!