The motley crew...

To put these multi-purpose wonders to the test, Bikesales assembled a cast of veteran campaigners – blokes who write a lot about bikes, blokes who've ridden a lot of bikes, and bloke used to patching other blokes up after they've fallen off bikes...

Name: Mark 'Mav' Fattore
Age: 45
Years riding: 38
Height: 172cm
Weight: 95kg
History: Starting off on dirt bikes around the back blocks of Albury as a seven-year-old, spurred on to break the law at such a tender age by his Aussie superbike-winning brother-in-law Rob Phillis. Mav's riding career spans highs like being crowned the U14 Victorian junior dirt track champion (there were only two in the race, but who's counting). Mav was worked for leading motorcycle magazines since 1996 and has served as Editor of Bikesales since 2007, riding and reviewing huge numbers of all manner of motorcycles in that time.

Name: Rod 'Chappo' Chapman
Age: 43
Years riding: 23
Height: 188cm
Weight: 105kg
History: Previously a Sydney motorcycle courier, Chappo has reviewed hundreds of bikes over the years for leading publications in Australia, Europe and the US. He's ridden on six out of seven continents and was editor of a British bike mag for three years, before returning to Australia to join the team at Bikesales.

Name: Marton 'Scoz' Pettendy
Age: 46
Years riding: 35
Height: 178cm
Weight: 95kg
History: Scoz dropped out of uni to work for a motorcycle magazine as a teenager and has been reviewing bikes and cars for the past 27 years. These days he's the managing editor of Bikesales' sister website Carsales and continues to be a keen road and off-road rider and occasional racer, in between car launches and ferrying his son to dirt and road bike races.

Name: Andrew 'Robbo' Robinson
Age: 44
Years riding: 16
Height: 174cm
Weight: 89kg
History: Robbo's been into hot-rods and restoring cars for years, before seeing the light and throwing bikes into the mix. Always had sportsbikes – an RZ Yammie, 750 Kwakas, a Fireblade – but recently got stuck into an Ironhead Harley resto for good measure. It's flat-out or not at all, which seems to work out most of the time…

Name: Murray 'Muzza' Sharp
Age: 45
Years riding: 38
Height: 180cm
Weight: 90kg
History: From dirt bikes around the family property to road racing 250 proddies, 600s and superbikes, Muzza has dipped his toe in most two-wheeled pursuits. Still gets out trail riding regularly and occasionally wheels out the trusty GPz900R. He's a big fan of the adventure-bike genre and he did get a bit teary handing back the KTM keys!

Name: Dean 'Deano' Gamblin
Age: 46
Years riding: 2
Height: 178cm
Weight: 105kg
History: A relative newcomer to riding but no stranger to putting riders back together. With 23 years of pre-hospital care and paramedicine behind him, Deano lives on the Gold Coast and is currently an intensive care paramedic.

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