One thing I would recommend to every manufacturer of any motorised vehicle is a stint of road testing in Australia. Our road conditions and climatic varieties lend themselves remarkably well to breaking things, having radiators boil dry and air intakes clogging up with varieties of grasshopper. On top of that, Australian riders have a habit of thrashing their bikes over Iron Butt distances – on sand or gravel. Just follow them to see if your bike will break. Most do.

Honda used to do a lot of testing here, to the point where one of the motels in Broken Hill (in Outback New South Wales) was known as Honda House. If you wanted to get a look at the next Goldwing or Civic but one you only had to hide behind a rock (there is no vegetation large enough) on the Menindee Road and you were bound to see one whiz past.

BMW Motorrad学会了它的损害，即澳大利亚是测试的地方。当第一个K100出来时，看到在他漂亮的新自行车的道路上坐在路边的骑手上，这并不是不寻常的，同时他等待燃料在坦克中冷却。发动机热量会沸腾并停止进步 - 对于所有者的朋友的烦恼，谁通常会在这发生几次之后抛弃他。

我在Cloverleaf Building的午餐午餐时提出了慕尼黑的主题，只要被告知，“但我们在南美洲测试了自行车！”是的，对。还不够好。

Sometimes expectations are a little high. One owner of a later K Series bike with a CD player complained bitterly when he discovered that the CDs would skip on the 600km ride from Alice Springs to Rabbit Flat to attend an Off-Centre Rally. The road was corrugated sand, rock and gravel: a typical Australian Outback track.

当我与德国Wunderlich的人们讨论产品测试时，他们热衷于将他们的一些设备暴露给澳大利亚条件。他们给了我打饰Blanche从他们的目录中选择（是的，零件是免费的）。我已经写了关于装备F 750 GS的远程游乐设施，所以我只需提到特别有效的比特。

就在我之前，让我写几句关于自行车的话。4000公里（2500英里）乘车到碎片的范围和后面我用作最初的探索之旅，向我展示了一件事：我可能买了错误的自行车。只有一个原因。相对小的燃料箱在15升（4美元）和悲观距离到空指示器的组合意味着我担心太经常耗尽燃料。我买了24升（6.3美加仑）坦克的F 800 GS冒新利18苹果险，我将是一个更快乐的熊。我应该记住内陆'燃料停止'有时没有燃料。在分类帐的另一边，自行车的巡航控制和（在八度，或46岁，早上）加热的夹具进入，呃，方便。

On to the Wunderlich accessories.

The Aktivkomfort seat was probably the best piece of equipment I fitted. I know that a 500-mile (800km) ride without a major break is not really very long, but many motorcycle seats will turn into torture instruments over that distance. The original BMW seat was not bad, but the Wunderlich seat was better.

I could draw the same comparison between the windscreens. The Extreme screen is high and wide enough to offer protection on the highway. This helps with temperature control – I didn’t have to change gloves or jacket between eight and 18 degrees. Unfortunately, the 750 is quite a noisy bike and the screen did not help there. The Vario wind deflector on top of the screen allowed me to control wind pressure on my helmet, which was welcome.

我很确定散热器护罩，骗局和前灯保护者都是为自己支付的（如果我为他们支付了）。一些轨道粗糙，在砾石上有几次，我被其他交通用岩石淋浴;自行车持续损坏。I did not ride in the dark except for a short stretch, but then the Aton LED Accessory Lights with their Protector Grilles were welcome (maybe they scared away the ‘roos? Yeah, nah.) I tested the Protection Bars only once when I dropped the bike at a fuel stop and there was no damage.

Accessories from other sources that worked out well included the Barkbuster hand protectors, which I sourced directly from the manufacturers in Australia although they are available from Wunderlich. The Rocky Creek Phone Holder/Charger was useful on the road, but I was too worried about losing the phone to leave it in the holder on corrugated dirt. It would quite likely have been fine. The Aerostich Tank Panniers have proven to be effective not only for carrying stuff, but also as protectors for my lower parts. Beyond that, they helped protect the bike when I dropped it. Like an idiot I used bungee cords to secure my camera case, and nearly lost it. Andy Strapz for me, next time.

I cannot tell you how glad I am that I did that trip when I did. Australia is effectively shut down now by the plague and will be for the foreseeable future.

[All of the equipment mentioned above was supplied free for testing by the manufacturers, and I have provided reports to them.]

(Photos The Bear)