Kubota builds dreams for former mountain bike ace

Transitioning from a successful international sporting career to what lies beyond isn’t always easy, but for Hunter Valley local, Robbie McNaughton, the transition has been smoothed with the assistance of a range of products from Kubota.

As a youngster, McNaughton forged an enviable record of success as a mountain bike racer, with the pursuit taking him around the world. Before the age of 18 he’d competed in many epic locations, from the bushland surrounds of the mountain bike Mecca of Derby, Tasmania, to the mountains of Scandinavia.

It all stemmed from a passion born on the family farm, Robbie recounts.

“My parents bought a farm with my grandparents 41 years ago; it’s always been a part of our family,” he says. “As kids, we’d build tracks and have races across the property.

“It wasn’t long before my sister Emma was racing, and our family became completely immersed in the sport.”

After retiring from competition Robbie returned to the Hunter Valley and founded Drift Bikes in 2003, a bicycle store that has cemented itself in the region’s cycling scene.

“Drift Bikes allowed me to keep riding a part of my life and to share my passion for the sport with other people,” Robbie says.

Now, however, that passion has seen Robbie’s work take yet another new direction, with him buying into the family farm in 2020 after the passing of his grandfather, and then constructing a bespoke adventure biking track.

“It’s great,” Robbie says. “We’ve turned it into our own little two-wheel paradise. Now we also hire it out to an adventure motorbike company that uses it to host training courses.”

And when he’s not at the coalface at Drift Bikes or operating the track, Robbie is hard at work on the farm, where his mini fleet of Kubota machinery is well and truly earning its keep.

“We’ve also completed building the frame of our shed but have a lot of work to do in fitting it out,” he says. “I recently traded in the old tractor for the Kubota 7040 which has made a big difference. We have an excavator and a Kubota RTV-XG850 utility vehicle. When I get a break from the shop I’ve been on the excavator digging trenches for power and stormwater.

“At the bike store we’re constantly seeing new bikes come through and we’re always looking for the best technology to make things faster, and it’s no different with working on the farm and your equipment.

“The best thing about the Kubota equipment is it’s easy to get in, it goes everywhere, and it can carry people.”

And that equipment is now paving the way for Robbie’s future, in each new direction it takes.