American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 232 November 2018 | Page 39

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Peter Thoeming
Australian
Motorcyclist
J. Peter “The Bear” Thoeming is founder and Editor Emeritus
(“No care, no responsibility”) of Australia’s top motorcycle
magazine Australian Motorcyclist. He has been writing about
bikes since he rode a Honda XL250 around the globe in the
late ‘70s and aside from his magazine work has a newspaper
column and several books on the subject to his credit. He
spent years trying to build the bike that he always wanted -
until Harley-Davidson finally built for him in the shape of the
Sportster Seventy-Two.
Well, it was a difficult job but I finally chose ‘Titanium V’ by Paul
Milbourn as my choice - and it is clear that I was not alone in my
admiration for Paul’s work as he went on to scoop the win in the
Street Performance Class.
Paul went entirely his own way with this design. He chose a fine
target on which to focus his ideas - a Moto Guzzi engine - and
executed his mission of making the machine as light as possible.
The Guzzi is an often over looked and underrated platform for
customization but the symmetry of its unique layout delivers
possibilities that are very different to other engines.
Paul not only succeeded in his light weight mission but managed
to create a truly unique and beautiful bike in the process.