Whenever I’m abroad I love to check out the local motorcycles, especially to see the models that weren’t offered in the US. While at Phillip Island for MotoGP, I ended up walking by the main motorcycle parking lot and figured it was worth a detour to walk through the aisles. Here are some of my favorites!
I wasn’t shocked by the large number of Harley-Davidsons I saw around Australia, but I was (pleasantly) surprised to see several Buells – like this XB12R Firebolt in a wild color combination.
One of the many cool bikes that we didn’t get in the US, a Honda CBR250RR. This is the MC22 generation, which revved just a little bit higher (up to 19k rpm). An easy visual differentiator between the MC21 and MC22 is that the latter got dual front disc brakes.
A couple of Ducati 600SL Pantahs! One of the riders was rocking an open-face watermelon helmet, which made me laugh.
The new BMW R12S. I shared one of these for sale recently – seeing it in person now does not change my opinion that the proportions are a bit off.
A couple of old-school Indians locked together. Apologies, I don’t know these well enough to be able to identify what year they were.
Another bike that we don’t get in the US…sort of. We get the XSR900 but we don’t get the GP variant, which features a full fairing and a small rectangular LED headlight. Unfortunately, said headlight isn’t big enough to make NHTSA happy so Yamaha can’t send it here in its current form.
A clean Honda CBR1000F Hurricane in a beautiful red/white/blue livery.
Yamaha RD350LC – this one was cool as there was a sheet tucked into the windscreen with some more information on it, which confirmed the a front end swap from a FZR250 (17″ wheels), Metmachex swingarm, K2tec exhaust chambers, and a 520 chain conversion. Even cooler – it’s still with the original owner, who bought it new in 1981!
Two Kawasaki ZXR750s (or as we called them in the US, ZX-7s) in delightfully 90s liveries that I’m pretty sure we never got in America.
A new Honda Transalp 750 with what appears to be a custom “Rothmans” livery wrap.
I love the Honda CBR250RR (did you see my “Just Ride” video on one?) and I always enjoy seeing the in the wild.
The one above was a MC19 generation, here’s a MC22 in a better livery. Easiest way to tell a MC19 and MC22 apart is that the latter has dual front disc brakes. The MC22 has a slightly higher redline of 19,000(!) rpm.
A Honda Firestorm (or as we called it in the US, Superhawk) with a wild custom livery.
A BMW R1250GS proudly representing Australia!
Another bike we didn’t get in the US – a Yamaha XJR1300. This one was set up for some touring with the seat cover and luggage rack, plus it had some performance goodies with the exhaust and Ohlins shocks.
Another Buell – this time a XB12S Lightning like the one I recently picked up.
I’ll leave you with my favorite bikes from my Phillip Island visit: a group of four Suzuki VJ21s ridden by Darren Tuffee and his friends. I saw them riding into the event the morning before so I was excited to see them in the parking lot. Around dinner time the same day I saw them riding through Cowes and I swear everyone that saw them had huge smiles on their faces watching a bunch of two smokers roll through.
I know it’s a four wheeler but I’ll leave you with the bonus of a Suzuki Jimny. It’s another vehicle you can’t buy in the US but I think it’s adorable and they have a fun history as well.
