Russell loves a yarn and this bike provides him many.
Photo by
Bree Harding
Russell Smith is geared for conversation and his 1980 Yamaha XS gives him an opportunity to skip the small talk, kick-starting deep chats that get right to the clutch of important matters every time he takes it out.
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The bike he calls “a social commentary bike” is adorned with all kinds of accessories that didn’t come factory standard.
Some simply inspire fun and curious banter, like the ashtray that brings the metaphor “about as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike” to reality.
As the saying goes, this ashtray is “about as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike”.
Photo by
Bree Harding
While others really drive more stigmatised talking points home at full-throttle.
A Barbie doll on the handlebars might cause a chuckle of wonder at first, until Russell explains why he’s fixed her there.
The Barbie doll raises conversation about body image.
Photo by
Bree Harding
“So many young girls and women struggle with body image,” Russell said.
“They try endlessly to achieve what society says is the perfect face, body, hair, all the things.”
Fuelled by poison.
Photo by
Bree Harding
The Jim Beam and gin miniatures saddle-clamped as though they’re pouring into the bike, fuelling it with the liquids it needs to run, also stir interest and give Russell an opportunity to talk about his troubled history with alcohol.
The bike asks why it has become the norm for hip flasks to be gifted to young people on their 18th and 21st milestone birthdays.
Photo by
Bree Harding
The hip flask is there to question why it has become the norm for young men to receive something that encourages “putting poison into their bodies” for their 18th and 21st birthdays.
A Voodoo doll sits menacingly on the wheel arch.
Photo by
Bree Harding
A ring, a voodoo doll and a band of crocodile teeth from his “quirky” son have been attached to the bike and remind Russell of him every time he looks at them or chats with anyone about his bike and its adornments.
It’s got some teeth.
Photo by
Bree Harding
A wrist band Russell was gifted from his “friends at Rumbalara” opens conversations about the issues affecting our First Nations community, and discussions about tackling racism.
Attached is a Rumbalara wrist band gifted to Russell by friends.
Photo by
Bree Harding
Dangling underneath the 250CC vintage machine is a laminated Sex Wax air freshener, which Russell says is a nod to “the surfer in us all”.
The Sex Wax tag is a nod to “the surfer in all of us”.
Photo by
Bree Harding
Make of the miniature Samurai sword ignition ‘key’ what you will, but the NA tag on it provides a clear topic to talk about for those who know what it stands for.
The Samurai sword ‘key’ has a Narcotics Anonymous keyring attached to it.
Photo by
Bree Harding
For those who don’t, and query it, learning that the letters stand for Narcotics Anonymous, it gives Russell another opportunity to talk about addiction and the AOD (alcohol and other drugs) space he’s been involved with for many years.
Aside from all daring discussions delivered by its decorations, the bike has other stories to tell.
Russell is only the 46-year-old bike’s third owner and its first male owner.
The Yamaha XS is a 250CC with a top speed of around 70km/h.
Photo by
Bree Harding
It was given to him by his sister around 10 years ago, who had owned it for about 10 years herself.
Before that, it belonged to its original owner, a woman who was a work colleague of Russell’s sister.
She had ridden it across the Nullarbor Plain and back.
While the ageing beast probably won’t make that trek again, Russell, who lives in Tatura, has taken it to closer destinations, such as Bendigo, when he joined the Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride, a men’s mental health fundraiser, in its saddle.
Russell is the 1980 model Yamaha’s third owner.
Photo by
Bree Harding
More recently, he rode it to MOVE for the H.O.G. Rally, where the Barbie-embellished bike garnered plenty of interest among the swarm of Harley-Davidsons and their riders.
Russell has other bikes he chooses to ride more regularly, but said with a maximum speed of around 70km/h, the Yamaha was perfect for getting around in the 40km/h speed zones in Melbourne’s inner city, where he used to live before a tree change to the Goulburn Valley around five years ago.
