Throttle Roll - A great event for custom cafe-racer style motorcycles, live entertainment and a relaxing time. Words & Images: Kris Hodgson
The 2017 Throttle Roll street party at Marrickville, held only 50m from Sydenham station has once again drawn the crowds, held on the Saturday of the Easter weekend and featuring custom bikes, trade displays and live entertainment. Plus some pretty good food stalls!
2017 Throttle Roll – The bike display on the scaffolding was smaller than last year but still featured plenty of great machinery
This year the massive scaffolding display of custom bikes was somewhat more modest, giving the event a more open feel, with the plentiful people in attendance seeming to rotate pretty regularly as punters came, gawked, enjoyed a few bevvies from one of the bars and perhaps even tried some food. The barbecue brisket sandwich was awesome, believe me!
2017 Throttle Roll – Located just a 50m walk from Sydenham station
Choosing to forgo riding in, and competing with hundreds of other motorcyclists for parking in the surrounding streets, this year I left the MT-07 Tracer at home and caught the train, meaning having a few of those afore-mentioned beverages wouldn’t be a concern.
2017 Throttle Roll – There was plenty of people coming through the gates
Naturally the atmosphere was great, with live music playing from the stage at the very rear of the event and people enjoying stands from Royal Enfield, Invictus, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Triumph and of course Yamaha, who had their stage set up with an XSR700Â based ‘Enduro XT’ and XSR900 ‘RD 900’ and were showcasing the stylish Segura jackets.
2017 Throttle Roll – Yamaha XSR900 ‘RD 900’
2017 Throttle Roll – Yamaha XSR700 Enduro XT
Ducati naturally had their Scramblers on display, including their learner legal offering the Sixty2, as well as the Scrambler Classic.
2017 Throttle Roll – Ducati Scrambler display
At Royal Enfield there was a variety of models, including one machine fully fitted out to carry a surfboard.
2017 Throttle Roll – Royal Enfield stand complete with Continental GT and a surf board carrying RE
Harley-Davidson also had their new Street Rod 750 on display.
2017 Throttle Roll – Harley-Davidson Street Rod 750
At the Triumph stand there was a new 2017 765cc Street Triple RS hidden away over the back, with most of the attention going to the Thruxtons, Bobber and Scrambler, including Wenley Andrew’s ‘Phantom’ custom.
2017 Throttle Roll – Triumph’s new for 2017 Street Triple 765 RS
2017 Throttle Roll – Wenley Andrew’s ‘Phantom’ custom
To the backdrop of the roar of motorcycle exhausts – some louder than others – the event also showcased some great custom machines on the scaffolding, ensuring great vision and opportunity to gawk for all on-lookers. You’d be hard pressed not to find something you liked with the variety on show as any custom motorcycling fan.
2017 Throttle Roll – ‘Little Bastard’
There was a little dancing happening up at the stage when I went past, but it was still early, with Throttle Roll continuing until well into the night, and it was easy to see there was plenty of families turning up.
2017 Throttle Roll
Entry at $20 a head pre-purchased online became $25 at the door, which I opted for, rather than passing my details over to a ticketing company I didn’t recognise, with a good hour or two’s wandering around on offer at the very least.
The Barbecue Company brisket sandwich was amazing
It was worth making a meal of it too once you were inside, as the food stalls were all dishing up some pretty fine cuisine, the kind of thing you’ll see people lining up for when these stalls appear in the suburbs and while it wasn’t cheap it’d be hard to complain about quality.
2017 Throttle Roll – Plenty of food stalls for the 2017 event
At last year’s event that had been my only criticism bad been a lack of foot stalls and that was certainly not an issue this year, with great variety on offer and the bars set up were accessible.
2017 Throttle Roll – Triumph Scrambler
For the kids there was also a mechanical bull, which proved popular with seating available throughout a number of areas if you wanted to sit down and eat or drink, although there was competition to get a seat at times.
The 2017 Throttle Roll street party was supported by Industrie
Overall the 2017 Throttle Roll proved another great event and well worth the visit. You can check out the display bikes below, as well as the full gallery of images.
2017 Throttle Roll – A stunning ShedX custom Ducati
2017 Throttle Roll Street Party Gallery
