Happy with the motorbike race results - the 500 cc race was won by Australian Casey Stoner on a Ducati - their ride also coincided with the beginning of NSW Motorcycle Awareness Week.

Two groups on annual treks stopped for a coffee in Imlay Street on Monday morning.

The biggest, a group of 25 riders (some with pillions) from Tasmania, have been bringing their bikes across Bass Strait for six years.

“I don’t see some of these guys for 12 months,” road captain ‘Trout’ Herring said.

Such a big group of bikes increases their visibility for other road users, making them all feel a bit safer.

“Some cars will pull over to let us pass,” he said.

“Motorists were better on the highways than in the cities, we had trouble in Sydney with traffic.”

Mr Herring was a former fisherman in Eden, working on mackerel boat Blue Ray around eight years ago.

He remembers a huge gale, which snapped the ropes and forced the boat to cross the bay to seek refuge at East Boyd Bay.

“It was a 52 metre boat and the handrails were going under the water as she rocked,” he said.

“I remember standing in the wheelhouse and the windows were under my feet it was rocking so much.”

At nearby table were riders from the south, almost half of which was made up of the Zammit brothers of Melbourne.

They were doing a quicker trip than the Tassie group, leaving Melbourne on Friday and travelling a loop through Albury, Canberra, Tumbarumba, Bateman’s Bay, Lakes Entrance and returning to Melbourne.

Jason Zammit, who loves the coastal run, said a highlight was being escorted from Parliament House by police on pushbikes.

“We all pulled up at Parliament House for a break and (security) were all over us,” he laughed.

“It was all good though.”

NSW Motorcycle Awareness Week runs October 20 to November 1.