Bearbrass biker’s 250kph

 

RCM’s sponsored Bearbrass Probus has attracted some fit and danger-craving members – none more so than Greg Jeffrey, who’s raced motorbikes at up to 250kph. Here’s the story, from Bearbrass’s hyper-active Facebook page

Visit the page for lots more of this good stuff, suggests Tony Thomas

 

Bearbrass foundation member Greg Jeffrey reckons he’s owned 40 motorbikes since he turned 14. Through the 1990s he was a serious race contestant. We asked what speeds he got up to on tarmac circuits and he said, “220 to 250 kilometres an hour.”

“What?” we said. “How could your reflexes be that good?”

“Easy. After the first few times around the circuit, I know exactly what to expect. The G-forces (gravitational pull) are more of an issue. And braking. Holding your body up with your arms on the bike is a bit of a challenge.”

Greg’s first bike was a 1970 DT Yamaha 250cc. He rode it off-road in a nearby flood reserve around the Cooks River in Sydney’s suburban Enfield, along with what he calls “other child reprobates”. At 16 years and 9 months he got his licence, and today he rides a 1250cc twin cylinder BMW which he bought new last December. It lives in his garage amongst a few other motorcycle restorations he’s done.

Last year he embarked on a 13,000km, six-week ride around Australia, and had no breakdown, no collision with roos, not even a flat tyre. He started the trip via a Melbourne-Darwin charity run. With 300 riders it raised $250,000 towards prostate cancer research for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. “There were 20 of us from Melbourne and as we rode towards Darwin more and more riders from all states,” he says.

Did Greg have his wife Giovanna on the pillion? “No, she wouldn’t last a day there, just not comfortable enough. I’m already planning for the next big charity ride to Robe in SA in November, virus permitting.”

His road racing 1990s involved both tarmac and dirt tracks. He’s sampled all the great Australian bike circuits, like Bob Jane’s Calder Park, Phillip Island and Broadford Motor Sports, Winton Vic, McNamara Park SA, and Eastern Creek NSW.

“Racing consumed me to my early 30s,” he says. “I was a club racer, dirt tracker, and vintage and pre-1980s bike contestant.”

Greg since 2016 has also become a push-bike fan, typically riding 30-40km a day to keep fit and clear his head. He’s done the 220km “around the Bay in a day” ride seven times, and on a Saturday or Sunday may well ride from his northern-suburb home to Altona or down to Frankston, a total 90km.

 

He’s keen to take up golfing after a long gap, and enjoys walks with his cocker spaniel Max.

His profession was information technology, starting in the era of air-cooled data centres and tape drives, and leading to programming, network management, audit and business intelligence. “Since 9/11 in New York, IT security has become a lot more serious,” he says. “The latest data attacks on Australia by a foreign government looks to me more like a political play rather than a desire to cripple specific targets. It seemed to me just a stepping up across the board of the previous level of attacks.”

 

His friends have been mainly from the motorbike and cycling world and he’s joined Bearbrass to widen his network. He recalls, “I was visiting Port Melbourne in February when some of you came past letterboxing Bearbrass flyers and I thought, ‘This suits me’.” #