Motorcycling in the Victorian Alps

To get some more experience motorcycling I took my bike up to the Victorian Alps this year (around Omeo). The basic idea was to spend a few days getting as many hours as possible of cornering, braking and changing gears as possible on mountain roads. In short, it is a great spot to go for varied and challenging days in the saddle.

Here are three of the main rides with brief descriptions.

Omeo to Dartmouth and Hinnomunjie Bridge

111km, 1:30hrs

The original plan was to go up to Dartmouth however I hadn't checked the road surfaces sufficiently well and ran into a dirt track that I wasn't going to attempt on my road bike. I did an extra run out through Omeo Valley to Hinnomunji Bridge which is an awesome swimming and camping spot.

Omeo to Dinner Plain

90km return, 1:15hrs

This was a relatively straight forward cruise with the twistiest roads going out of Omeo. Lots of long bends and unfortunately some long gaps between sections where overtaking can be attempted.

Omeo to Harrietville via Anglers Rest, Falls Creek, Mount Beauty and Bright

160km, 3:30hrs

This was by far the most challenging ride, and the most spectacular. The altitude sits between 300m to 1700m with a total vertical distance traveled of 4300m. The terrain consequently varies from eucalyptus forest (bush!) to snow gums and finally rocky, treeless plains at the top of Falls Creek. Wildflowers were also out making some of the sections around Falls Creek and Mt Bogong truly stunning. The twisties through to Anglers Rest and Falls Creek are can be pretty demanding with rock falls and other hazards. Even during the January holiday period it was pretty quiet on these roads. Note that there is little to no mobile coverage along most of the route and no fuel until Mount Beauty.

Derestricting LAMS approved motorcycles in Victoria, Australia

Around one year ago I became a motorcyclist. I got a LAMS (learner) approved motorcycle to get me started, and was pretty excited to think that I could derestrict it from 39kW to 53kW once I had my full license. When I eventually got my full license, I started looking into derestricting my bike to access this latent power. The fix itself is pretty simple per this video (remove a screw to get 25% more out of the throttle and remove a wire in the ECU to change the fuel mix) but no shops would touch it. Not taking anyone's word for it I finally called Vicroads to get their take on it. Their response may help others thinking of doing the same thing:

• No, you cannot derestrict a LAMS approved motorbike
• Vicroads have no way of tracking modified LAMS bikes
• If you eventually sell the derestricted bike to a learner and they are involved in an accident, there will be insurance and potentially other legal ramifications

I did not contact my insurer but there may be issues there even if you choose to derestrict your bike whilst you own it and ride it under a full license since the bike may be regarded as having been modified - this may even be the case if the 'modifications' make the bike equivalent to another model already sold in this country (eg 650L 'modified' would just be a 650R).

I'm still an inexperienced rider and having ridden a few hundred kilometers around the Victorian Alps I didn't find the restricted bike under-powered so will get a few thousand more kilometers under my belt before I think about getting something with some more grunt.