Airoh Commander

I decided I'd like to get a new helmet with a peaked visor for day rides. A few weeks ago when we rode up through St Albans the low winter sun was flashing in through the tree's and with the internal drop down visor wasn't really much help, holding my hand up to cut the sun from going onto my visor did the trick but can't ride one handed like that everywhere, so I thought to myself maybe a peaked helmet would be great for this purpose.

So I thought I'd just buy a El-cheapo $300 helmet to try out and see. Adventure bike helmets to my surprise are either on the really cheap side or really expensive. I was looking at the LS2 MX701 as it looked good in photos and reviews. When looking at it in store the peak was just a flimsy piece of plastic, it felt like it was going to fall off when I moved it, very thin. Scratch that one off. I looked at the Bell MX-9 and it was also very cheap. I tried an Airoh Commander on in XL and it didn't quite fit properly. I then tried a Arai XD4 in XL and it fitted perfectly but no drop down visor. I also considered the Acerbis but it also looked too cheap for my liking. I guess owning 2 Arai and 2 Shoei helmet's for the last 25 years has spoilt me with a nice snug fit and extremely comfortable liners.

The problem I have is I won't buy a helmet without the drop down internal visor, it is now a must have item. This scratched both the Arai and the Shoei Hornet probably the two best helmets in this class. Note to Arai and Shoei - you are losing customers in this market segment, get your act together. If the Shoei Hornet had an internal drop down visor like your GT Air has I would have bought one without even trying anything else. That's how good your helmets are. Rant over. 

What to do? So I procrastinated for a while. Checking the Helmet Warehouse where I got my GT Air from they had the Airoh Commander in 2XL. So I thought I'd try it on. Right away it was a much better fit than in the XL. Funny they list the sizes as exactly the same but they are not. XL in the Shoei is a perfect fit, XL in the Airoh is too tight and would have caused headaches. Someone here is telling porkies......I guess I just have a fat head.

Initial Impressions

First thoughts out riding with the new helmet on sunday after 4 hours. The vision from this helmet is great as it has a very wide visor area. The drop down internal visor is much better than the one in my GT Air as it drops down further. There was a little bit of wind noise on the peak but was barely noticeable, probably a little more noise than the GT Air but still very good. The peak on the visor was good as it shaded the sun on the front during the low winter sun to stop that flashing light in the eye's, just what I was after. 

I did notice after a while my left ear felt like it was a little squashed so hoping that will be ok after the liner wears in. The internal padding quality whilst good, is not as comfortable as the Shoei. Ventilation seemed pretty good. I did accidentally try to grab the peak a couple of time's trying to pull the visor down when it was in the fully extended position, had to adjust and grab the side to pull it down as the two almost meet at the top. I noticed immediately how light the helmet feels on your head, almost like its not there. It's over 300gms lighter than my Shoei, doesn't sound like much but it is when its on your head. It comes pinlock ready with the pinlock visor in the box, although I haven't fitted it yet.

Pretty happy so far. Maybe I'll do a long term review later on. Here's me on last sunday's ride on the way up to Nattai Lookout with my new helmet. Cheers for reading.

This tyre lasted how many kilometres? Motoz Adventure review.

So way back in March last year I put on a set of Motoz Tractionator Adventure tyres. You can read about that here. The front tyre was the worst tyre that I have ever used. The rear tyre however is a completely different story. Here is the tyre when it was new.

Motoz Tractionator Adventure

Initial thoughts were wow the tyre is pretty noisy on the tar, which it is but that's not really a concern for me as I wear ear plugs so cancels that part out. You can feel the knobs as you roll along slowly but as speed increases that disappears. On the tar it's a surprisingly good tyre, the only time I had a few little slides was on a wet roundabout, which I've done on sports tyres. Probably more of an indication of greasy road surface than anything else. I've also managed to keep up reasonably well with the boys on their Tuonos, MT10's on the tar, when they push to 10/10's is where I back off a bit but still very impressive to keep up on this knobby tyre.

I've never had an issue with the tyre riding off road or on the gravel. In the gravel it grips really well with the big knobs and propels you forward. Even on a few of the steep climbs I've done the AT powers up the hill the rear tyre feels pretty planted, even when it spins up, very controllable. Not that I spin the tyre much, which is probably why I got such great wear out of it. I've read people on Facebook forums saying they only get 4000kms out of these. They must be spinning the tyre all the time to wear it out that fast.

Even in the mud coming out of the Turon River creek crossing the rear tyre was pretty stable, didn't really slide about too much, it's got a pretty aggressive tread pattern. It's rated as a 80/20 tyre 80% offroad, 20% road bias. Scotty on the Vstrom was sliding around on his more road biased 50/50 tyre.

The following photo was taken at 13,500km's just before the Bridle Track ride about a month ago.

13,000 Kms

Total km's I put on this tyre was 15,371 and it still looked much like it did in the photo above. I probably could have got 16-17km out of it but don't want to push it to the limits.

So visiting Tyres for bikes today set on getting another one of these tyres I was disappointed to find out he sold the last one 10 minutes before I got there. Damn. So I have to choose something else.

The owner and another rider that was waiting recommended the Motoz Tractionator Rallz, he said the tyre was a bit softer than the adventure but was still a good tyre. So that's what I went with. Time to see how this tyre goes. I'll report back later on after I've used it and let you know my thoughts. The tread pattern of the Rallz is similar to the Adventure, so I'm hoping that it will feel similar. 

Motoz Tractionator Rallz

Edit: 9/1/2025

The Rallz Tyre did 12,256km before it was worn out. The tyre probably had less than 1mm of tread. Probably 80% road riding 20% dirt. I don't spin the tyre up in the dirt likes others do so probably why it last so well.

The Bridle Track

Our annual Mudgee muster was upon us again, the ride out was over the Bells Line in the Blue Mountains. This year Geoff was bringing his mate Ray from WA on his ZX-12R as he was over in the eastern states to race his Mustang in the historic championships.

It was inevitable that Ray was going to get lost when any of us were involved, he got out of sight behind and we turned off and stopped around the corner, there's something to be said here about corner man marking system and then before you know it Ray was in Lithgow when the others headed down the Darling Causeway to Oberon.

I saw it happening so Geoff and I went and found him wandering about Lithgow, it was a cold morning around 10°c and the warm fire at the Tarana hotel was welcomed by all as we heated our cold hands by the fire.

Tarana Hotel was only about 15 minutes from O'Connell and as the others took the long route through Oberon we warmed up and partook in a tasty beverage.

It wasn't long before we made our way to the cafe for lunch and the meet up with the rest of the crew.

With lunch and laughs done and dusted we headed out to Bathurst for a quick fuel up and then onto Hill End. But rather than go up the usual route via Turondale Rd, Scotty and myself decided on doing the Bridle Track to Hill End. It had recently opened about 4 weeks before and Flyboy did it on his way home to Queensland and highly recommended it.

The Bridle track technically starts at the Turondale road junction about 15km from Bathurst but the first 22km is tarred until you get to the Box Ridge Road intersection where it turns to gravel road. The road is narrow and winds up around the hillside and then into a valley alongside the Macquarie River. 

The scenery along here is simply stunning, the riding was fairly easy going as well. It looks like they have graded the entire length of the track and it's in fantastic condition. You could easily get in here in a 2wd vehicle at the moment.

We stopped several times along the way to take some pictures of the stunning countryside.

As its only one lane all the way, you have to be careful of 4wd's coming the other way. Easy enough on the bike, but if there's two 4wd's then someone is going to have to back up to the nearest wide point.

The track was closed years ago at Monaghans Bluff due to a rock fall blocking the track. Rather than fix this they have put in a detour around it, and that detour is a steep up and over the mountain affair. I wouldn't attempt it if it was raining, its very steep on the Bathurst end and would be very slippery in the wet.

Scotty on Monaghans Bluff

Whilst stopping to take a couple of pics of Scotty coming up I could see the track below following the cliff line around the river. It would have been great to follow it around. 

The views from up the top of Monaghans Bluff are spectacular overlooking the river and valleys below. The road at the top is seriously wide compared to the rest of the track and you can easily drive 2 cars wide along the top.

The ride down from the top of the bluff and alongside the river was fantastic riding. We passed a few 4wd's along here coming the other way. Plenty of traffic on the weekend and it would be better to do the track on a weekday if possible.

Macquarie River

There are plenty of campgrounds along the track. It would be cool to do an overnight camping trip here at some point. There was a very narrow rock cutting going up the hill, wouldn't want to meet a car here and that's exactly what Scotty did, luckily the 4wd driver waited until he came around the corner.

It was starting to get a bit late in the afternoon and we decided to press on to hopefully catch the other guys at Hill End pub, but it was looking less and less likely as the faffing around taking photos was putting us behind(it was worth it). We managed to cross the Turon river water crossing with no dramas, it was only about 10cm deep and a bit muddy at each end with 4wd dragging water out, scotty had a few slides in it but was no problem. I went to get a picture but didn't want to keep riding through the mud so kept going.

There were what seemed like hundreds of jumps across the track on the way up, drainage ditches which were good fun. Last stop was at the top of the track which dumped us right at the back end of Hill End. There were plenty of kangaroo's wandering around in the paddocks next to the road too.

We had arrived in Hill End at 3:30pm and the other were nowhere to be seen, so rather than stop for a beer we continued on but just one more quick stop for a photo on the outskirts of town where the tree's were changing colours for autumn which made a majestic corridor of colours.

The Bridle track is now ticked off the list and was much easier than what I thought it was going to be, it probably took us about an hour and a half to ride through it. Some of the best country scenery around and a good ride, better of doing it on a weekday so there is less traffic.

From Hill End Scotty and I made our way into Mudgee and the Oriental Hotel for the night, double room was about $130. The oriental does a great meal and $8 pints was icing on the cake. Another good ride with good friends.

Next day was the ride back to Sydney, about half the group split and went in different directions, but we took the Bylong Valley Way. The dreaded causeway was full of water and I went through and didn't have any drama's, no one crashed in it which was good. 

Boys on Bylong Valley Way

We went  then down via the Putty Road, a couple of sportsbikes pissed me off going slow in the 10 mile twisties, but got round them and had some fun. Stopped in for lunch at Grey Gums before making our way home. Another top notch trip with good mates.

Barrington Tops Ride

So last weekend our Fearless tour captain organised a overnight ride up over Barrington Tops staying in Gloucester for the night. After all the problems I've had with Dad in Hospital the last 4 weeks I desperately needed a ride. I also was very keen to ride the Barrington Tops road as we always steered clear whilst owning road only bikes. Now with these adventure bikes there are so many more roads and pubs now open to us to explore.

Unfortunately for me my daughters softball grand final match's lined up on the same day. Damn why does this always happen? So plan devised to watch her first game and then get going, the wife could watch the next ones. Sorry little darling but motorbikes......

So I was running late by about 45min, I'd told the others not to wait and we would catch up. We got snapped by John Keogh from Keoghsvision on the colo hairpin along the way. I finally met up with Flyboy at Colo River where he had been waiting for me. 

From here we quickly continued on to see if we could catch up with the other boys. I lead Flyboy through the 10 mile twisties on the Putty Rd so he could use me as a reference and we could both motor along a bit quicker. Except there were 3 road works sections with traffic lights that we had to stop at, D'oh. But otherwise a fun run through the twisties. A guy caught up to us at the lights on a little 400 sports bike, we kept dropping him off and he would catch up again at the next set of lights.

A quick stop at the end of the 10 mile and a message came through from our tour captain, saying that the route plan had changed from the previous day back to the original route plan and we'd meet for lunch in Scone. I was good with that so we kept going to Jerrys Plains for fuel via the back roads.

I got to ride the Desert X along for about 50kms. It was a nice ride, plenty of overtaking power in top gear, narrow and easy to grip onto the tank and it carried its weight down lower than the AT. A horrible first gear feels like your going to stall and needs some clutch slipping/revs to keep it going, the AT is all torque straight off the bottom end. I wasn't a fan of the first gear faffing but the rest of the bike seemed quite good. The screen is also too tall and creates wind buffeting around your helmet visor area, especially annoying when your visor is cracked open it just vibrates madly.

Fuel in Jerrys Plains, then we headed for Denman following on to Muswellbrook and then Scone. It was pretty hot out today (38°C) so we made a bee line for woolies and 2 bottles of icey cold powerade before grabbing some lunch with the guys.

Next up was the plan of going via Gundy pub. We didn't end up stopping at the pub as it was crazily crowded with people and it was so hot so we kept going to Moonan Flat Pub where we had a refreshing ale before heading up over the mountains. Nice spot Moonan Flat.

It was 3pm now and time to head off, the temp was still up around 37°C but we were reassured with the knowledge that Barrington Tops is 5500ft and would be much cooler up there.

We climbed up the fairly steep incline for about 15kms or so with magic views over the valleys below. Pity I didn't stop to take more photos but was enjoying the ride. The road was in pretty good condition with a few corrugated corners but otherwise good easy riding. First stop was at the Dingo gate and the photo of Flyboy and his Desert X with stunning views behind.

After the Dingo Gate, which I didn't get any photos of but Flyboy did we stopped in at the Firs, which is literally 50m off the main track in a pine forest that spans both sides of the road in an unusual square pattern. Looks weird from google maps.

Here's a few pictures from within the forest.

From here the road flattened out somewhat with smaller elevation climbs or declines with some big long straight sections. You could get some big speed up on these straight bits of dirt road but had to watch out for errant 4wd's coming the other way.

I decided to stop and get a picture of the National Park sign just for something to do. After this was just undulating long straights and bends that worked its way to the Cobark Lookout where we stopped briefly. The temperature had dropped down to 23°C up here now and it felt like someone had flicked on the Air Conditioning. It was so good after the heat.

The road turned back to tar just down the hill a little bit and it was quite a fun decent down through the valleys. A few loose gravel spots on a few corners. We were soon enough staring down the bar of the Roundabout Inn in Gloucester. Man that first beer tasted soo good. 

The roundabout Inn is biker friendly with lock up parking for bikes which we didn't bother using, rooms are a little small but otherwise comfortable with A/C and fridge $100 for twin share, excellent value. Nice pub will stay here again. 

We awoke to fog the next morning, but that soon burnt off to another 38°C day, Flyboy and I decided we would head home down the freeway and get out of the heat. Another top ride away and some new roads and pubs explored. 

2022 Alpine Ride Part 3

 Day 4

We looked at the BOM weather report eagerly this morning. As our route was to go via Mitta Mitta and up to Khancoban and across dead horse gap to thredbo and end up in Jindabyne for the night. The BOM had thredbo at 2°C all day, feels like -10°C with winds up to 90kmh and snow down to 1000m. Dead horse Gap sits at 1580m and we all agreed to give it a miss. So we decided to head back around to Orbost and head up the Bonang.

I wasn't feeling great due to lack of sleep, thanks Wild Turkey and Cola!!  We headed off down Cassills rd to swifts creek. The road was wet so I was motoring along quite gingerly. As we got further down on the Tambo river section we started to hit some rain, light at first but then hit a fairly heavy shower. I was about to stop to put my wet weather top on but could see a dry spot not to far ahead. Luckily I didn't get too wet and dried quickly. I wasn't really feeling the ride today due to being tired so headed straight to Orbost and avoided the Buchan road, the other guys followed my so not sure if they were just following the leader or couldn't be bothered either. 

As we came into Orbost we could see huge black clouds dumping rain upon the Bonang. A few minutes later 3 guys on bikes came from that way. We asked them if it was wet up there and they nodded and said it was raining fairly heavy. So I decided I'd ride around Cann Valley Way and head to Bombala. The others also agreed. Riding up into NSW the wind really picked up and we were getting blown all over the road. It was predicted 70-90kmh winds and we were riding right into it. The group got split in 2 here during a rain shower, we kept going and 4 of the others stopped to put wets on was the guess.

We stopped in Bombala for a snack to eat and waited for the others. It was here we heard that Margos bike had broken a linkage and the suspension had collapsed. Lucky she kept it upright and didn't come off and also the fact that it happened on Cann Valley Way and not the Bonang as it probably would have ended very badly on that road.

The Imperial Hotel in Bombala has been reopened and its been done up on the inside. Looks like it would be a nice place to stay at again. We haven't stayed here for a few years now. As we were about to leave Stu and Kwoky stopped in for fuel, they had ridden Buchan rd and the Bonang. He said it had mostly dried out by the time they went through. So they looked for some late lunch(2.20pm) as we headed out to Jindabyne. The wind was howling across the high plains and we were getting battered around.

The temperature was dropping the closer we got to Jindabyne as we crested a hill we could see out towards Mt Kosciusko. It was definitely snowing up there. You could see the clouds sitting there dumping. I'm glad we pulled the pin on that route as we would have been riding through snow right now, but we will now be at the Banjo Paterson Inn warming up and having a refreshing beer or two in about 15 minutes.

Karen stealing hubbys bike and not giving it back!

Fueling up the bikes before we hit the hotel was a good idea so we were ready to roll out in the morning. We settled in at the bar and the other boys rolled in about 30 minutes later, they looked cold and hungry and thirsty. So Craig arranged 3 margarita pizzas for them, all washed down with a fine lager or two.

Day 5

We had the free continental breakfast at the hotel this morning before heading off. The late riders yesterday didn't fuel up so we went with them to get gas. As we were waiting a car pulled into the servo and was covered in snow. I looked up to the hills and all I could see was snow on the hills, with a sprinkling falling out of the clouds, and it was freezing cold standing here in the wind watching all this.

Looking out from the gas station to thredbo, snow, snow and more snow

We retraced our steps back across to Bombala via Dalgety on the snowy river way. At least today the wind wasn't as bad as yesterday and wasn't blowing us all over the road and was much more manageable.

Coffee in Bombala then we made our way down to the Mt Imlay road crossing over to the coast. There had been much logging of the forest down here and you could see over the rolling hills in all directions for miles, hills bereft of lucious pine forests, now just a barren desolate landscape.

It wasn't long before we we stopping in for lunch at the Seahorse Inn at Boydtown. They do fantastic meals here and todays was a cracker. Fresh fish & chips for me, the boys ordered quite a few of the seafood chowder. Growing up in the country we weren't brought up much on any seafood so fish and prawns is about as daring as I'll go. But it was excellent local fresh fish.

3 Amigos with their Chowders

After luch it was time for a refuel and head up to Bermagui for the night. An enjoyable ride if not uneventful. As we dismount at our hotel for the night we are greeted by the news that there is no power in the entire township and hasn't been since 10am. Bushpig immediately starts going into a mental breakdown as without electricity there's no cold beer. "This is Horrible, worst thing to ever happen, what are we gonna do, we have to leave, I can't handle this!" were some common comments during the next hour of irrational babbling that we could understand from him.

We had a quick cold one at the powerless pub until someone mentioned that the local Golf club 200m up the road had a generator and cold beer. We've never seen Geoff move faster....

DAY 6

The last day of this tour is always a letdown in my opinion. It's pretty much the reverse of day 1 which is just the commute back up the coast. So we met for breakfast in the morning at the usual spot, the bermagui Beachside cafe. They do a fantastic breakfast.

We changed our route on the way back and decided we would ride up through Kangaroo Valley. Good riding on a weekday but too much traffic on the weekends. And it was a good ride up today, with a few roadworks stops but we filtered to the front to get a good run. We stopped in at pub for our last lunch of the trip. Bowl'o Wedges and a schooner of beer before making our way home.

Kangaroo Valley

All up another good trip and well done to Stu who would have had difficulty this year trying to book in for 17 people in these small country towns. Bikes, beers and a few laughs with good friends along the way with some great scenery to ride through. Some new gravel roads and hopefully more to come. What's not to love about these trips. Gotta do as many as I can before we run out of time.....