Aside from fairy-bread, Vegemite and the hills-hoist, there are few objects that typify suburban Australia like the humble postie bike.
Maitland will again host the World’s biggest celebration of the iconic bike when hundreds of modified, customised and restored Honda CT110s roll into town for the Postie Bike Nationals from September 9 to 11.
Organiser Warrick Penfold founded Postie Bikes Australia and held the first Nationals in 2014.
“They’re the biggest selling motorbike in Australia in the last ten years and everybody, absolutely everybody in Australia knows what a postie bike is,” he said.
Since then, thanks in part to the cult-like popularity of the bike, a strong community of Hunter riders and a savvy social media presence, Mr Penfold has watched the gathering grow bigger every year.
“Hand on heart, I reckon we’ll see more than 150 [riders] this year,” he said.
He’s already recieved entries from Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and from across NSW.
But Mr Penfold said the event is more than just a gathering – it’s a series of events designed to test the might, skill and endurance of rider and machine.
“The whole weekend is a celebration of postie bikes,” he said.
It will start with a horsepower ‘shoot-out’, postie-bike cruises around the Hunter Valley, a wheelie competition, a show and shine, postie bike soccer, tech-talks, a 24-hour bike build and a cook-off where riders must cook a meal using the engine of their bike.
“The guy who won it last year actually holds the record for going across Australia in five and-a-half days on a postie bike,” Mr Penfold said.
“He cooked a lamb spit-roast. I got second, prawns. It’s all just a bit of fun”
The Postie Bike Nationals is largely designed for bike owners to enter and be a part of, though the general public will have a chance to peek inside the cult of the postie bike on Saturday afternoon.
For more information, updates and tickets follow Postie Bikes Australia Nationals 2016 on Facebook.
