Tasmania and Great Ocean Road Tour

HyperRussell · Jan 22, 2015

I have just completed a tour of Tasmania, Great Ocean Road and the Nullarbor Plain back to Perth in Australia. There were three of us on the ride, Pete on a Honda CB500X, Maurie on a 1975 Triumph Trident and me on my Hyper.

We covered a total of 6,150km in three weeks. Tasmania is a well recognised riding destination with some great roads through world heritage wilderness areas. We didn't ride every day and that allowed time to visit museums, take boat trips and do other interesting activities.

The Great Ocean Road along the south west coast of Victoria is a purpose built tourist highway, great ride but caution needed with the touring traffic of various kinds especially during our summer holiday season in January.

The Hyperstrada went well and we managed to cover more than 700km some days without any lingering soreness! I made minimal changes to the bike, only adding a rear luggage rack, radiator guard and a Puig touring screen. For the long stretches across the Nullarbor I used an AirHawk seat and a throttle lock.

Rear tyre is now just about had it with a clearly noticeable flat spot. Just trying to decide what to do next after such a great trip.

bazwp · Jan 23, 2015

HyperRussell said:
I have just completed a tour of Tasmania, Great Ocean Road and the Nullarbor Plain back to Perth in Australia. There were three of us on the ride, Pete on a Honda CB500X, Maurie on a 1975 Triumph Trident and me on my Hyper.

We covered a total of 6,150km in three weeks. Tasmania is a well recognised riding destination with some great roads through world heritage wilderness areas. We didn't ride every day and that allowed time to visit museums, take boat trips and do other interesting activities.

The Great Ocean Road along the south west coast of Victoria is a purpose built tourist highway, great ride but caution needed with the touring traffic of various kinds especially during our summer holiday season in January.

The Hyperstrada went well and we managed to cover more than 700km some days without any lingering soreness! I made minimal changes to the bike, only adding a rear luggage rack, radiator guard and a Puig touring screen. For the long stretches across the Nullarbor I used an AirHawk seat and a throttle lock.

Rear tyre is now just about had it with a clearly noticeable flat spot. Just trying to decide what to do next after such a great trip.

Sounds like a great trip. Tasmania is on my to do list. How do you rate the Puig screen?
I have the Ducati touring screen but I still get some buffeting of my Helmet and I am only 177cm. Does the Puig Screen give you a good clean ride?

Also, did you buy local or imported?

AussieHyper · Jan 23, 2015

That's an awesome effort coming from the West and then going back!! Most Aussies don't realise how big the land is....and neither would most from other parts. Well done all.

I traded my CB500x for a Hyper to be able to do trips like this (I've driven a few times but never ridden). How was it on the big open spaces and what sorts of speeds were you cruising at? Assume you travelled during the day and did you camp or motel (or a mixture)? Assume fuel was not an issue if you stop at all the road houses?

How did you find the panniers and is there anything else you would do to the bike if you were to go again?

I'm Sydney based if anyone else is interested in these types of trips touch base.....

HyperRussell · Jan 23, 2015

I should have clarified, we only travelled one way on the bikes, we freighted the bikes to Melbourne from Perth, did our Tasmania stage and rode back to Perth via Great Ocean Road and Nullarbor. It was enough one way!

The Hyper was good on the open road and we sat on about 130km/hr. where it was safe to do so. Fuel consumption without a headwind was good at 4.3l/100km, about the same as around town. I think the bike was quite comfortable although you are fairly restricted to one seating position so there would be better bikes for this purpose for sure. However I think the Hyper managed the job very well especially since Ducati don't even market it as a full-on touring bike.

We only travelled during the day and carried a swag so we did a mix of swag and motels. The roadhouses across the Nullarbor between Ceduna and Norseman are quite old, expensive and run down. They do have a camping area though. Fuel was no problem as I was getting around 340km easily from a tank (without a headwind).

The panniers were fine and I added a 45 litre Denali waterproof bag (from Anaconda) strapped onto the luggage rack and rear seat. (I did find it wasn't waterproof in Tasmania rain though!). A top box may have been more convenient although it was easy enough to just unstrap the bag at the end of the day. So I don't think I'd do anything much different with luggage next time. I think the main thing to think about is your riding gear - summer in Tasmania is only a name for a season, it can be very cold and wet especially in places like Cradle Mountain.

The Puig screen was quite good although hard to say how much it improved things. I could only feel a bit of buffeting around my shoulders even at speed on the open road, so I'm going to leave that on the bike permanently now. I got it from M&S Motorcycles in the UK (Newcastle) and it was Â£99.95 delivered. None of them are inexpensive! The one I have is lightly tinted grey which looks really good on the bike. They are available in a number of colour shades.

AussieHyper · Jan 24, 2015

HyperRussell said:
I should have clarified, we only travelled one way on the bikes, we freighted the bikes to Melbourne from Perth, did our Tasmania stage and rode back to Perth via Great Ocean Road and Nullarbor. It was enough one way!

The Hyper was good on the open road and we sat on about 130km/hr. where it was safe to do so. Fuel consumption without a headwind was good at 4.3l/100km, about the same as around town. I think the bike was quite comfortable although you are fairly restricted to one seating position so there would be better bikes for this purpose for sure. However I think the Hyper managed the job very well especially since Ducati don't even market it as a full-on touring bike.

We only travelled during the day and carried a swag so we did a mix of swag and motels. The roadhouses across the Nullarbor between Ceduna and Norseman are quite old, expensive and run down. They do have a camping area though. Fuel was no problem as I was getting around 340km easily from a tank (without a headwind).

The panniers were fine and I added a 45 litre Denali waterproof bag (from Anaconda) strapped onto the luggage rack and rear seat. (I did find it wasn't waterproof in Tasmania rain though!). A top box may have been more convenient although it was easy enough to just unstrap the bag at the end of the day. So I don't think I'd do anything much different with luggage next time. I think the main thing to think about is your riding gear - summer in Tasmania is only a name for a season, it can be very cold and wet especially in places like Cradle Mountain.

The Puig screen was quite good although hard to say how much it improved things. I could only feel a bit of buffeting around my shoulders even at speed on the open road, so I'm going to leave that on the bike permanently now. I got it from M&S Motorcycles in the UK (Newcastle) and it was Â£99.95 delivered. None of them are inexpensive! The one I have is lightly tinted grey which looks really good on the bike. They are available in a number of colour shades.

Thanks for the additional data...really helpful.

cheers

Tasmania and Great Ocean Road Tour

HyperRussell

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