EVERYONE NEEDS AN AG BIKE, THEY JUST DON’ T KNOW IT The Cold Kiwi has a long history of off-road motorcycle shenanigans and the Brown Brothers crew has over 20 years’ experience in the arena. Not only did they bring their traditional‘ custom’ machines- this year a pair of Honda Blackbirds with wildly differing off-road setups- but they also brought along a“ Chonda” drift trike and a trio of Ag bikes to muck around on. Now in its second“ unofficial year”, the Brown Brothers Bikes Cold Kiwi AG Races saw multiple riders join the ad-hoc racing around a fiveturn course over the two nights of the event. This wasn’ t so much racing in the traditional sense, more a challenge to get around the course cleanly- both in terms of line choice and avoiding taking a digger and coating yourself in sheep excrement. Now, on the road you’ d never call a Suzuki DR200 Trojan‘ fast’, but in the tight BBB Ag Race course they had the legs over the KLX150 they were up against, if not the brakes and stability … multiple crashes ensued, always followed by hearty roosts from other‘ competitors’ to rub salt( and sheep crap) into the wound. One battler on a Kawasaki Versys was so
determined to complete the increasingly slippery course on Saturday night he copped at least five roostings before he managed to win his bet that he could get the little Kawasaki around a full lap. Legend. It seems the number of Ag bikes has risen, taking the place of the Mad Max-style clappers you used to regularly see at the event. Whether this is due to it being harder to get road-legal clappers, there being fewer bikes that actually run, or simply a changing of preference is anyone’ s guess. Regardless, I hereby submit an official petition for Ag bike racing to become an official part of the weekend. That much fun needs to be shared around. Despite my focus on the Ag bikes, that’ s not to say you don’ t see some incredible machines out in the mud of the Cold Kiwi. This year’ s best bike of the event went to one of the Brown Brothers crew, with Ricky Lee’ s freshly completed 100-year-old 1925 Indian Scout taking the top gong, as voted by the hundreds of attendees at the Rally. Plenty of dirt machines took to the iconic Cold Kiwi hill climb, alongside a small number of good sorts having a crack on their roadregistered machines. Local legends, the Bates
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