Australasian Dirt Bike — June 2017

174 |JUNE 2017 http://www.adbmag.com.au

FACTORYRIDE/READERSRIDE/HERITAGE/ACTION/OAS/BUYERSGUIDE

Whatplantedtheseed

for youtogetinto

dirtbikes?

Istartedoffby

rescuing old

pushbikes from the

tip and rebuilding

them, even painting them

with an old pump-style fly

sprayer. Thatgot me interested

in mechanical thingsandI

movedontoafewHarleysthat

werein need ofsomeTLC.Iwas

always fascinated by

motorbikes althoughmy

mother,like most mothers,

discouraged the interest.On

Any Sundayycame out in 1971

and I was inspired to have ago

at dirt ridingsoIbought an

SL125 Hondaandenteredthe

1 972 Lance Watson Reliability

Trial,as enduros were called

then,in Oberon. ItsnowedandI

was wondering ifthatwas

normalfor enduros as I’dnever

seen snowbefore, allour family

holidayshadbeen atthebeach.

Ifinishedwellenoughtoscorea

Silver Medalandjustkepton in

thesportafterthat.

Iremember your name often

beingonthewinners’list.

Class wins, not Outrights. I

usuallyrode the smaller classes

like125or175and,inthose

days,you needed to be

mounted on a 250 or bigger to

have anyreal chance at an

Outright.Ialwaysseemedto

havemorethanmyshare of

DNF’s as well,either due to

mechanical failure or crashing

asIrodepretty hard. The bikes

were notas strongandreliable

nordidtheyhandleandstopas

wellastoday’sbikes.OneDNFI

hadwas intheForest300 when

somebodychangedsome

arrows andranthefirstfew

bikes straightinto a six-foot

deep river. I was one ofthem

andbentaconrod.I

was onaPE175fora

whileandalsorode

aCan-Am 125 but

the gearing was all

wrong for Australian

events.Ted Goddard

and I spent many hours

modifyingthat bike to make it

moresuitableforAussieevents.

It wasprobably the most

bullet-proof bike I’ve ridden.

You also made a bit of an

impact in some other events.

IhadabitofarunintheAORC

(four wheel)series andthe

Wynn’s Safari, whereIwas

navigator for TedGoddard.A

prominentinternational

competitor whowasabitof a

hero of mineturnedouttobea

bitof adisappointmentwhen

wecameacrosshim indubious

circumstances onthe Wynn’s.

Wewereonaroughtrack,the

correctroute,butsomehowhe

was onasmooth dirtroad on

theotherside ofthefencewith

aflat tyre. Karma, I suppose. I

also rode manyevents in

Queensland and Victoria as well

asNewSouthWales.Irodein

the BP Desert Rallyand I set an

around-Australiarecordona

Honda XL350 in 1975 of 14 days

4 hours30minutes.Another

recordIwasinvolved in wasfor

REAR GUARD

SHANECOMESCLEAN

SHANE MCLACHLANWAS AN EARLY CONTRIBUTOR TO ADB. HIS “CLEAN SHEET” COLUMN

KEPT READERSUPTO DATE WITH HAPPENINGS IN THE ENDUROWORLD

24 hours of continuous ridingat

Oran Park.Wehadthree riders

onthreebikes,Kawasaki900s,

butunfortunatelymine

succumbedtofuelproblems.

Does any particular event

standoutfor you?

TheForest300 was always a

greatevent. Winston Stokes ran

it near Dungog and it was

always well planned. It had a

reputationforbeingoneofthe

toughest events and that

attracted bignumbers of

entries, 250 or more, as it was

considered somethingjusttobe

able to sayyou’d ridden it. To

have finished itput you even

higher upthe credibility stakes.

Stokes even brought out

Malcolm Smith from the U.S.

oneyeartorideit.

Arethere anyeventsyou

haven’tridden inthatyou are

sorrytohave missed?

Ineverrodeineitherthe

Four-Day ortheISDEaswork

commitmentsoften gotinthe

way andI’ddiscoveredgirlsas

well.They cantakeupalotof

time. I wasbetter atlong events

that requiredstamina andskill

IUSUALLY RODE

THE SMALLER

CLASSESLIKE

12 5 OR 17 5

FI

VE

MINUTES

WITH

SHANE

MCLACHLAN

tokeepthebikegoingrather

thantheshorter events.

Do you still have abikenow?

Notabikebutan Aprilia 125

scooterandthewiferidesitas

oftenasIdo.It’sahandything

forshort,localtripsorjustabit

offun.Iwaswithout a bikefor

10 years or so when I was

involvedinacommercialfora

Toyota LandCruiser in the late

’80s at an armybase. A soldier

turned upon a new four-stroke

Husqvarna. I can’t remember

themodelbutheofferedmea

ride.Iacceptedandwashooked

again, I was impressed by the

difference inhandlingand

overallperformance.

Whatare youdoingwithyour

timethesedays?

Ihaveavideo production

companydoingcommercials,

documentaries andcorporate

training videos.Ipromisedmy

son whenhewasabout 12 that

oneday we would doabigtrip

together onbikes andnowhe’s

27 it’stime wedidit.Theplan is

todoatripthroughIndia and

the Himalayas riding the world’s

highest trafficable road and

shootadocumentaryof the

trip.I’mhopingtogetaTV

station interested in it but, if

not, we’ll still have agreat home

movietoshowforit.We’llbe

ridingRoyal Enfield Bullets.

Lastquestion,howdidyouend

upwritingforADB?

RayRyan, who was co-founder

ofADBBwith Geoff Eldridge, was

workingas a contributing

photographer for the same

company I was and we were

talkingbikes one day. He told

methatGEwaslookingfor

someonetowrite a columnon

enduros andintroducedmeto

him.Iendedupdoingthe

“Clean Sheet”column for a

few years.