Pete Callaghan
I slid sideways into the Two Wheels office at Federal Publishing in 1995 after the closure of REVS, which I’d been editing at the time. I got there a freshly graded journo direct from Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, after writing to all the Australian bike mags looking for a job. Bob Guntrip was silly enough to take me on at REVS, and there commenced about 15 of the most enjoyable and rewarding years of my life.
It was a good time to be at Two Wheels – “this ancient and venerated tome”, as the wonderful Mr Smith once described it. JB (Jeremy Bowdler) had not long taken over as editor after Matho (Mick Matheson) bailed. Nigel Paterson was there too, and we made a good team. I’d been a long-time reader of TW, so it was a dream gig and I loved every minute.
Happy to ride anything, I revelled in being able to sample just about every new bike that hit what was then an effervescent market. There was plenty to be positive about on the racing front, with Mick Doohan dominating the 500GP championship and Troy Corser crowned Superbike World Champion in ’96. And there was the opportunity to work with some of the fine folk who’d helped make Two Wheels the definitive Australian motorcycle magazine: the likes of Peter Smith, John Rooth, Matho, Geoff Hall, the two Wendys – Spooner and Hogg – Grant Roff, Don Cox, Lou Martin, Phil Aynsley and Greg McBean. In later years, that list grew to include Kevin Magee, Matt Shields, Jeff Ware, Dave DiRado, Tim Munro and more – top people all.
After a couple of years, I moved again, up the corridor to take over the editor’s chair at Performance Streetbike, but kept my hand in at Two Wheels with the odd road test and feature article. When Streetbike shut, I ventured into four wheels as editor of Overlander, eventually leaving Federals around the turn of the century to finish a uni degree and spend some time as a house-dad to my youngest son.
Throughout that period, I continued with the odd bit of freelance work for Two Wheels before venturing back into full-time employment with the legendary Ken Wootton (RIP Kenny) at Australian Motorcycle News. About a year into the AMCN gig, JB called and offered me the Associate Editor role at Two Wheels. As much as I enjoyed The Horror and the crew there, it wasn’t a difficult decision to make and in 2005 I found myself back at Alexandria working alongside my great and much missed friend Jeremy.
That latter stint was probably the best – and the busiest. Two Wheels was a pretty hefty book then, averaging 180-200 pages each issue, and JB and I were doing much of the editorial and all of the production work, while the brilliant graphic artist Elinor McDonald Photoshopped and InDesigned everything into visual splendour. On top of that, we punched out four issues of Scooter mag each year plus other specials, so there was always plenty to do. As in previous years, Two Wheels was supported by a classy band of regular contributors: Messrs Smith, Rooth, Groff and Cox, of course, as well as Kevin Ash (RIP), Roland Brown, Glynn Kerr, Magoo, Alec Simpson and Thomas Wielecki among others. I was doing almost all the sub-editing on the mag back then, and got first opportunity to luxuriate in, learn from and laugh at the various missives from these writers as each issue was being prepared.
My time with Two Wheels ended in early 2009. The global financial crisis sparked a round of redundancies at the by then News Limited-owned publishing company, and I was one of the unfortunate recipients of a Don’t Come Monday message. Thankfully, another job presented itself fairly quickly. I freelanced for Two Wheels and some other bike mags for a little while longer, but, as the song says, the thrill had gone and I was content to follow new career pathways.
Motorcycles don’t pay the bills any more (more like, they are the bills…) but they’re still an enormous part of my life. It’s a life-long addiction and I ride regularly to fuel it. In the shed, there’s a BMW R100RT alongside a project Honda CBX250, with another dirt bike coming very soon (to replace my recently sold Honda NX650 Dominator).
What does remain though, are the memories of more than decade and a half associated with one of the best motorcycle magazines ever – memories of bikes sampled; roads ridden; adventures relished and endured; of mishaps, mayhem and, above all, mateship. It was simply prodigious fun, and I’m privileged and proud to have been a small part of it.
Pete Callaghan, October 2020
