- MOREMORE
Each day during the C-Series’ final durability tests, three Savic Motorcycles diehards would meet at dawn and drive out to the old Holden Proving Ground at Lang Lang – arriving to a track washed pink by the still-rising sun, and covered with kangaroos. For our German-born assembly technician, Thekla Brackemann, it was almost unbearably beautiful.
“Driving from the main gate to our designated test track on a super-quiet Australian electric bike, surrounded by hopping kangaroos, it was like being in the middle of the perfect Aussie dream,” says Thekla.
Unfortunately for Thekla and for our vehicle program manager, Bharat ‘Roopi’ Amroop, that dream usually didn’t last.
For the next seven hours, the pair would take turns riding our two test bikes up and down a 1km track embedded with uneven Belgian pavé blocks – a bone-jarring experience designed to test the durability of every last nut and bolt of the C-Series’ construction.
“Basically, every kilometre on that track is equivalent to about 100 kilometres of real-world riding,” explains Adrian Vinovrski, Savic Motorcycles’ chief technology officer, who was responsible for checking the integrity of the chassis and suspension, the battery and motor performance, and other key criteria after every 20 laps.
While Thekla and Roopi were the ones suffering the physical toll of the test program, it was Adrian who bore most of the emotional burden.
“After six years of building this bike, I was very confident of its capabilities – but even so, the first few days were nerve-racking,” Adrian admits. “Those early rides unearthed little things like bolts not being sufficiently torqued or the need for additional securing methods… But as the program went on, we got more comfortable that there were only going to be little issues, and everything significant was going to be fine.”
In fact, apart from the bolts, the only two issues that surfaced did so within the first half of the 12-day test program: a bracket holding the rear licence plate and the front headlight bracket, which sheared at the point of sheet metal relief cuts. Both of these components are in the process of being redesigned and rebuilt to ensure their ongoing durability.
Over the entire pavé testing program, one of the C-Series travelled the equivalent of 70,000km and the second just over 40,000km. Adrian’s delight at their performance was palpable.
“I know I say I’m confident in the bike, but even so I was really pleased. The bike performed as well as I or any of the team could have hoped. Across the two vehicles, we did the equivalent of 110,000km – and the bike was still running sweetly at the end of it.”
Thekla and Roopi, on the other hand, were a bit shellshocked – particularly poor Roopi, who was on his first visit to Melbourne and his first time on the vehicle he’d been sourcing and refining components for, from his base in Hyderabad, India, for nearly three years.
“Pavé blocks are the worst surface you’ll ever ride on,” Roopi states flatly. “I’m used to riding on bitumen, so after two weeks on these uneven stones, I was really feeling it. But having said that, after the first couple of days, your body seems to adapt to the vibrations, and I think you start riding a bit differently – holding the handlebars a bit looser, so there’s less shock to your body.”
Roopi explained that the “rough track” at Lang Lang features a 500-metre pavé block straight, with a strip of asphalt at the end for turning around.
“You start to look forward to that little bit of asphalt, which feels like you’re riding on a cloud, it’s so smooth! But then the jarring begins again…”
For Thekla, as our new assembly tech, it was in many ways the ultimate professional test. “I’m the one who’s been making sure that every bolt on the bike is secure, so I was pretty confident that it would hold up to whatever we subjected it to.
“But the C-Series is not an adventure bike; it’s a café racer, which is designed to be ridden on smooth roads. So if you’re part of the team who built the bike, you feel terrible that you’re putting it through this awful experience – shaking and rattling for hours after hours.
“But on the day, the performance was excellent and it was a thrill for me, because I’ve been desperate to ride beyond Stanley Street ever since I started working here!”
The track where we completed our durability testing forms part of the Lang Lang Proving Ground southeast of Melbourne, Australia’s first and most comprehensive vehicle test site, built by Holden in 1957. Over the past 66 years, this place has seen prototypes of every Holden – from the FC to the last Commodore – put through their paces.
At the end of each day, Roopi and Thekla (and sometimes project manager Phil Carter) would ride the bikes back to the main gate for overnight charging.
“That was a couple of kilometres on nice asphalt, where you could feel how comfortable and enjoyable the bike really is to ride,” says Roopi. “Before the pavé testing, I was a bit concerned how I’d handle a heavier bike for so many hours. But as soon as you start riding, the rigidity of the chassis and the suspension immediately give you confidence in the bike’s handling – and for me, that confidence never left.
“It’s proof that mechanically the bike is completely solid. After two weeks of continuous daylight running, we now know that the C-Series can ride on any surface. Actually, it’s great fun to ride – although maybe not for 700km over rocks!”
Perhaps we should save the last word for Thekla, who as one of our newest members, was obliged to hit the ground running at Lang Lang – and keep running, and running…
“We had the privilege of being the first group permitted to ride motorbikes on this test ground, which was special,” says Thekla. “Despite two intense weeks with little sleep we pulled through, which was down to everyone looking out for each other.
“And at the end, I think we all felt like we were contributing to a little piece of Australian history.”
Ralph Johnstone
Ralph is a seasoned writer and journalist, with more than 30 years’ experience as a reporter, editor and technology writer on five continents. He’s been writing about the C-Series since it was “the framework of a brilliant idea” back in 2019.
https://www.savicmotorcycles.com/team/ralph-johnstone
