Old Newbie
Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 10:22 pm
Hi all.
A big thank you to whoever it was that stuck a KSRC sticker under my fuel cap key cover at the Sydney M/C Expo. I have been looking for something like this for a while now.
So, introduction eh? Ok here goes.
My name is Rob Doyle, aka “Highway”.
I got the Highway nickname many years ago because;
(1) During my time as Eastern Suburbs M/C Club Vice President, I lead many club ride days and one of my ways of inducting new members was to ride along side the newbie, then reach over to their ignition keys, turn of their bike, and throw the keys up and over their shoulder, causing them to role to a stop and have to walk back along the road to find their keys. This became known as “Highway” Rob-bery.
(2) I organised and participated in many club days at Oran Parks South (figure eight) Track. Quite often I was week and indulged in smoking weed before racing. Now while I don’t recommend this behaviour, it did not seem to hurt my racing career and I won most races I participated in. This practice became known as doing it the “High-way”
(3) My so called friends thought these observations were funny and always introduced me as Highway so often that very few actually knew my real name. So it stuck.
I started Motorcycling at 17 on a Honda MT125. But I lost interest in that when I got my first car. But then after making the sensible career move of becoming a roady for bands under the management of Glen A Baker, and then being responsible for the timing of Ol-55’s break up by rolling their truck in Melbourne, I found myself out of work and poor. I did have enough to purchase a Suzuki GS750 and spent all my time tinkering with, painting and riding it. This experience gained me a job with Kawasaki City in Wentworth Avenue. (Now Action Motorcycles, when Actions was on the other side of the road). I started just detailing bikes but then was responsible for test riding and registering all new bikes for Kawasaki City, Amalgamated Scooters Yamaha, and Scotts Honda.
During this time, I replaced my 750 Suzuki, with a GPZ1100b1 (that I wrote off into the back of a tow truck) then replaced that with a GSX750ESD.
After a few years when I left, (read, got sacked for abusing the owner), I sold my GSX750 and my RG250 Production Racer and my TZ350 Grand prix bike. All bikes I had collected and used with great success, and walked away from motorcycling. It is amazing how having a kid makes your testicles shrink.
After a few months of being restricted to driving a cage, I had Motorcycle withdrawals. It was then that I realised that my high maintenance wife and young child made it impossible to afford the purchase price or the maintenance costs of racing bikes. So, with the help of some friends I founded and was president of “The Bucket Racing Association of NSW”. I was more successful in the starting of this sport here, (copied from what they were doing in New Zealand at the time), then I was in racing them, and after a few years I dropped out of the scene to concentrate on my own Business. (Computer Technician and Computer Based Training graphic designer).
That was My last involvement with Motorcycles until three years ago when my wife decided we should see other people, …. Silly bugger just forgot to tell me first. So I moved to Nelson Bay with a new lady, Lainee, and decided to get my priorities right and get another bike. When I left Motorcycling, the Kawasaki GPZ900R was king of the road. So that’s were I have started out again. And I must say, It might be old, but I just love it. It fits me like a glove. Its like getting back with an old friend. During my time as a test rider, I was given the job of checking out this new bike that was bought into the country six months before its release for Robbie Phyllis to try out before he signed a contract for the next year with Kawasaki. The only problem was a lady decided to do a U turn in front of me, leaving me nowhere to go but into her door. I was the first person to ride it, strait out of the crate and I wrecked it with six months wait for the next one. This bike was the GPZ900R. Robbie signed with Kawasaki anyway and eventually used the GPZ900 very successfully. Needless to say I was not popular at that time with Kawasaki. But I loved the bike and because anyone who wanted to now what it was like, (for six months anyway) had to ask me, I felt a closeness to it, and now many years later, I have one. And thanks to someone putting a KSRC sticker on my fuel cap, you have to read through all this. Anyway thanks again to that person and I hope to be involved in some way, shape or form starting with this intro.
Highway
Highway65@bigpond.com" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
P.S. My racing number was always 65.
P.P.S. I have joined the ullyses club, but it's full of old people.
A big thank you to whoever it was that stuck a KSRC sticker under my fuel cap key cover at the Sydney M/C Expo. I have been looking for something like this for a while now.
So, introduction eh? Ok here goes.
My name is Rob Doyle, aka “Highway”.
I got the Highway nickname many years ago because;
(1) During my time as Eastern Suburbs M/C Club Vice President, I lead many club ride days and one of my ways of inducting new members was to ride along side the newbie, then reach over to their ignition keys, turn of their bike, and throw the keys up and over their shoulder, causing them to role to a stop and have to walk back along the road to find their keys. This became known as “Highway” Rob-bery.
(2) I organised and participated in many club days at Oran Parks South (figure eight) Track. Quite often I was week and indulged in smoking weed before racing. Now while I don’t recommend this behaviour, it did not seem to hurt my racing career and I won most races I participated in. This practice became known as doing it the “High-way”
(3) My so called friends thought these observations were funny and always introduced me as Highway so often that very few actually knew my real name. So it stuck.
I started Motorcycling at 17 on a Honda MT125. But I lost interest in that when I got my first car. But then after making the sensible career move of becoming a roady for bands under the management of Glen A Baker, and then being responsible for the timing of Ol-55’s break up by rolling their truck in Melbourne, I found myself out of work and poor. I did have enough to purchase a Suzuki GS750 and spent all my time tinkering with, painting and riding it. This experience gained me a job with Kawasaki City in Wentworth Avenue. (Now Action Motorcycles, when Actions was on the other side of the road). I started just detailing bikes but then was responsible for test riding and registering all new bikes for Kawasaki City, Amalgamated Scooters Yamaha, and Scotts Honda.
During this time, I replaced my 750 Suzuki, with a GPZ1100b1 (that I wrote off into the back of a tow truck) then replaced that with a GSX750ESD.
After a few years when I left, (read, got sacked for abusing the owner), I sold my GSX750 and my RG250 Production Racer and my TZ350 Grand prix bike. All bikes I had collected and used with great success, and walked away from motorcycling. It is amazing how having a kid makes your testicles shrink.
After a few months of being restricted to driving a cage, I had Motorcycle withdrawals. It was then that I realised that my high maintenance wife and young child made it impossible to afford the purchase price or the maintenance costs of racing bikes. So, with the help of some friends I founded and was president of “The Bucket Racing Association of NSW”. I was more successful in the starting of this sport here, (copied from what they were doing in New Zealand at the time), then I was in racing them, and after a few years I dropped out of the scene to concentrate on my own Business. (Computer Technician and Computer Based Training graphic designer).
That was My last involvement with Motorcycles until three years ago when my wife decided we should see other people, …. Silly bugger just forgot to tell me first. So I moved to Nelson Bay with a new lady, Lainee, and decided to get my priorities right and get another bike. When I left Motorcycling, the Kawasaki GPZ900R was king of the road. So that’s were I have started out again. And I must say, It might be old, but I just love it. It fits me like a glove. Its like getting back with an old friend. During my time as a test rider, I was given the job of checking out this new bike that was bought into the country six months before its release for Robbie Phyllis to try out before he signed a contract for the next year with Kawasaki. The only problem was a lady decided to do a U turn in front of me, leaving me nowhere to go but into her door. I was the first person to ride it, strait out of the crate and I wrecked it with six months wait for the next one. This bike was the GPZ900R. Robbie signed with Kawasaki anyway and eventually used the GPZ900 very successfully. Needless to say I was not popular at that time with Kawasaki. But I loved the bike and because anyone who wanted to now what it was like, (for six months anyway) had to ask me, I felt a closeness to it, and now many years later, I have one. And thanks to someone putting a KSRC sticker on my fuel cap, you have to read through all this. Anyway thanks again to that person and I hope to be involved in some way, shape or form starting with this intro.
Highway
Highway65@bigpond.com" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
P.S. My racing number was always 65.
P.P.S. I have joined the ullyses club, but it's full of old people.
Nice work on moving to the 'Bay, I used to spend all my school holidays there (Trafalgar St, when it was just 2 houses tucked into the bush ........not like now.....)
I need a bloody smoke after reading your intro 
nice to see your back on the bikes & your choice of steed is one of the best old time kwakers, I can remember MRA central Syd runs with a certain bloke we will call Tar Baby & he used to outlast everyone on his Gee Peee zed 900 between fuel stops 
.... it was incredible, he would still have 200K's worth in the tank when we were all stopping & he was no slouch on the throttle. 
welcome to the klub mate 
Reading stuff like the ignition keys Robbery and the spliffs prior to a race (yeah it used to chill me out enough to be able to race too!!!), was like a bit of Dejavous!!! (Sp) Just remember, most of the folks in here are a bit younger, and to them that sort of stuff gets put in the same basket as drink driving does these days!!! 