AUGUST RUNS
Friday
7 General Meeting. Auction Night.
Club Hall 8.15
Sharp
Sunday
9
Sunday
16 Ian Budgen’s special tour
9.30am KBCP.
Sunday
23 O’Brien’s Crossing. B.B.Q.10am KBCP.
Weekend Mini Camping Weekend.
29
& 30 1.30am SHARP,
Saturday, Lilydale.
SEPTEMBER
Friday
4 General Meeting. Club
Hall 8.15pm SHARP.
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CLOSING DATE FOR ATICLES FOR NEXT MAG IS
21.8.81.
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EDITORIAL AUGUST 1981
While reading a recent
issue of the “Green Horror” we noticed that the ABC Documentary of the
activities at
Elsewhere in this rather
excellent publication, page 1417 actually (????), you will find a rather
interesting excerpt from someone’s diary.
Read it, and think about it. It
could happen to you!!
Just been sitting here
studying our new itinerary. Hmmm. Notice that each month we have a “Special
Tour” organised by a club member. Mystery
type rides huh? Sounds like they might
be fun. A couple of camping weekends too. Not too far away, just a couple of hundred
K’s. Hope they are better attended than
the
Cheers Faye & Geoff.
____________________
SNOOKER NIGHT
Despite
the miserable weather on Saturday night about 15 people turned up for the
snooker night, although some did attend in cars. The destination for the night was Craig
Dawson’s father-in-law’s residence.
Which was only a short distance from the
The
night started with a few games of Kelly Pool, a game which involves drawing a
number then hopefully potting the ball with that number before someone else
does. This was followed by some
seemingly long games of Eight Ball with two players per side and endless advice
to whoever was shooting at the time.
The
night finished up with about 5 or 6 games of Kelly Pool for 20c a ball. I think a good night was had by all and the
snooker night was a great success.
Thanks to Craig for an enjoyable night.
Brue
Z500
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MT MISERY, PORTENT OF
THINGS TO COME?
I
rose early to find that the weather men were correct in their prediction that
Sunday would turn out to be a cold, inhospitable day out of doors. Deciding to have a day of solitude (no kids)
I might as well go all the way and take the wife’s solo. A pretty safe move as there didn’t appear to
be much airborne water about (plenty of airborne ice, but not enough heat to
melt it)! It’s not that I can’t handle a
solo in rain, it’s just more fun on three wheels when one or two decide to lose
traction with terra-firma, provoked no doubt by large handfuls of throttle.
Altogether,
thirteen hardy individuals rolled up to KBCP by the appointed departure
time. We set off via new Foot-es-grey
and Sunshine roads to
The
only good thing about the climb to the top of the mount (on foot) was that it
revived the heart which again supplied blood to my super cooled
extremities. These trial events are a
cross between mountain climbing and weight lifting, judging by the antics of
some of the “C” grade riders, i.e. ride down this big slope, do a right angle turn, off camber on loose
rocks, head up the mountain again, hit rock ledge, fall down, save damage to
the bike by catching it and lowering it onto your chest, heave it off, restart
it, then sit there with the back wheel spinning, feet flailing the front wheel
pawing the air.
The
“A” graders by contrast made it look easy with not even a “DAB” to maintain
balance over the biggest of rocks or slippery ruts. Another section required the “A” graders to
ride up a two foot rock ledge then over the top of an upended football shape
rock sticking about five feet our of the ground, followed by a hard right turn
over some nasty rocks. I doubt that I
could have crawled through the section on all fours, let alone ride a bike
through there.
The
next thing to grab my attention were the outfits. They had their own set of sections on the
lower slopes of the mount as the solo sections were too narrow for the chairs
to negotiate. As it was starting to
sprinkle and getting colder (impossible) we decided to head for Ballarat and
more hot coffee.
I
was relieved of the rear rider duties on the return journey by Les Leahy who
reported better progress helped no doubt by the brisk tail wind. We stopped at Melton to de-mob and pass
comment on that bike we passed that was blowing all that smoke, I thought it
was a two stroke running badly, but Fagan maintained it was a four stroke
running terribly! Most of us ended up at
my place due to its proximity to
And
so ended another interesting day, no great distance, only about 300k’s but lots
of nice memories. Those “A” graders are
something else.
Phil Duffy
Borrowed
Z650
(I’ll
tell Robyn you wanted to enter her ‘Z’ in the trial, except that the organizers
looked down their noses at it! Ed.)
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RAFFLE RUN 5/7/81
Maybe it was the
threatening weather or worse, what (who) was the raffle prize, but only four
riders waited at KBCP. No raffle was
warranted, so ideas for destinations were sought and such is the perversity of
human nature that the majority vote was to even colder climates – the
We decided (democracy at
work again) to change leaders at intervals on the ride, but first stage was a
terribly legal pace around the bay to Arthurs Seat. Lunch was at a rather windswept takeaway in
Dromana, where one of our group ate a white mouse for lunch (gasp!). We had a 34 second tourist view of the mist
at Arthurs Seat summit, and then followed a new leader over a confusing
criss-cross of muddy tracks, finishing up at Flinders. Bleak weather was all around, so we posed for
a photo ($1 each fee please, Mick) to record this event for evermore on Mick’s
talking camera, before fleeing to a patch of blue and Devils Bend
reservoir. After everyone had recovered
from gazing at this awe inspiring tourist gem, there was nothing further to do
really but go home.
Well, not quite home
yet, as Mick had quite a collection of slides for us, but I suspect that he
took out all “those” (nudge, wink) slides beforehand.
Peter Dwyer
Suzuki 1000G
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FILM NIGHT...
Saturday
15th august, 7pm start at Social Secretaries place
Unit
17,
Box
Hill.
Ph
886 362
$1.50
per head. SUPPER INCLUDED
____________________
TAR TOUR 12/7/81
Hi,
half past ten or 10.30 sounded too good to refuse, maybe there will be rides
that start at high noon or midday (whatever comes first) one day so a retread
teenager like me can sleep-in. Hate
going to bed, but find getting out of the cot early much more irritating. Something to do with age! Anyway out of the pad and on to the mighty
Honda, “whoops” nearly forgot to wind the rubber band, must grease the pedals
too when I get home.
With
Darren leading the convoy of 12 bikes, we leave town down the south side of the
Yarra heading towards the
Paul
telephoned his dad, who has a nice trailer on which to put a sparkless
bike. Bright spark is our Paul!!
Moving
right along folks, which we were again following Darren through some really
beautiful hilly and twisty country roads.
Since joining the club I have seen places I didn’t know even existed,
being a main road man from way back (read highway man) thanks fellers (woops)
persons.
Having
some munchies at Warragul and talking bikes!
We decided that a Honda of 200cc or less is a bit small to be a rear
rider’s mount. Apparently it takes a bit
long to wind up after slowing down. So I
was given the pleasure of being nominated to take on the job from then on.
We
finished the day off at Chris Negus’ place; by the way Chris has some really
great movies which I had the pleasure of seeing the previous night videoed
through the T.V. lucky bugger.
It
was a great day’s ride thanks to Darren.
Saw some really great scenery, maybe someday he can show me around
Said
farewell to the mob and headed once more to the Marsh.
See
ya!
Little Tony H650
____________________
CLUB MEMBER OF THE YEAR
Well
folks its club member of the year time again.
In last month’s mag there was a rather deserved blast from Craig about
there being no information over the last year on the club member of the year
award in the mag.
In
reality about the only thing one can write about is a tally of the points and
in this case, this year, if you didn’t know that Craig was going to win it
through sheer perseverance among other things, well, I don’t know what to
say. Seeing how there is a chance that
there will be some new people in the club due to the recent bike show I’ll give
a brief resume of the award.
The
award can be won by any club member, male or female simply by being an active
member. No skill is required just being
at a club function gets you points. The
idea of the award was to give rightful recognition to the person who supported
the club the most by attending our functions and rides. With the emphasis being on the rides.
Here
is a list of points one can obtain.
2
points for a day or weekend camp
2
points for a social event
2
points for bringing parents or family on family day
½
point for every event entered at sports day (no points for attending)
3
points for holding part of a progressive dinner at your home or flat.
2
points for introducing a new club member
1
point for getting an article published in the club magazine (maximum 4 points)
The
award is now entering its’ fourth year and in its first year was won by Tom
Saville with a total of 72 ½ points followed very closely by Keith Harris a
very close second at 72 points and a rather distant third on 61 ½ to myself.
The
second year was a full year august to august where as the first was September
to august and it showed in the points counting.
First was myself on 97 points, second was Craig on 97 ½ points and third
was Keith Harris on 76 points. It’s
worth mentioning that Ian Taylor was fourth on 75 ½ points which gives some
indication of the closeness of a lot of people.
This
the end of the third year was won by Craig Dawson with a total of 75 points
second on 57 points was myself, 3rd on 55 points was Peter
Philpheren, fourth was Marc Sulot on 53 points.
On 49 points we have Ian Taylor and Tom Saville equal 5th, 6th
was Marcus Haesler on 48, 7th Les Leahy on 47, 8th Keith
Harris on 44, 9th was Keith Finlay on 38 and 10th was Ted
Marshall on 36 points.
At
this stage I’ll leave you with the current top ten and leave a complete list to
the new club member of the year Craig for inclusion in a later edition of the
mag. By saying and doing that I’m sure
that we will see something interesting in the mag in the near future.
It
has been pointed out during the year that a lot of the people only come on
rides with a view to winning the trophy.
WRONG! In point of fact
this year was almost a dead certainty for Craig to win because of his sheer
determination to do it and the people who did turn up week in week out did so
because of the enjoyment of riding with a group of people to all sorts of
stupid places.
As
an interesting side to the points counting I checked the actual rides of a few
and came up with this Craig on 1st attended 33 rides. I on 2nd and Peter on 3rd
attended 25 rides each whilst Marc on 4th spot attended 23 rides.
I
hope people enjoyed this article as much as I did whilst writing it. I also hope that next year someone else wins
the trophy and values it as much as I did and I know as much as Craig will.
Mick
Fagan R80 G/S
____________________
THE
I
hadn’t been camping for close to two months so I was looking forward to a
weekend at the
I
was looking forward to a good solid ride to
By
the time we arrived at the camping spot all natural light had vanished however
the picnic shelter made a nice garage for the bikes. Our return trip was via
Seaspray and the south Gippsland highway.
We stopped for a quick lunch at Foster and from there we continued until
Korumburra, there we turned right towards Warragul. This road with it’s beautiful scenery and
dozens of curves makes a lot better alternative than the highway. Incidentally I know of a few people, who
didn’t go because of the cold, all I can say is that the weather was
superb. I’ve since found the problem
with my bike, big ends. Could the X7 be
the Oriental version of the Ducati Desmo?
Marc Suzi X7 250.
____________________
Apart
from a one hour delay in departure from Tullamarine the Qantas flight to
1
½ weeks and several Telexes between Peter Stevens, Moto Guzzi
Once
in
At
2.30 myself plus gear were at the reception desk. From then on things happened. Al the people I had to deal with could not
have been nicer. They said that the rest
of the Australians with tourist deliveries were a day late, due to delay in
It
was organised for the distributor from
To
cut a long story short, with me obviously more and more tired. About 8pm, after several gelatines and
cappuccinos on the house, a drive out to a factory to pick up panniers and
racks, invitation to dinner (declined), much sawing and hacking the V50 Monza
now had panniers and a big ugly rack on the back.
It
was good being on two wheels again, the coastline back to the camp was very
nice and I had an idea of heading north the following day.
Back
at camp I pitched my tent and had spaghetti with 22 very tired
Australians. They had endured an awful
flight with a delay of 5 ½ hours in
It
was Friday and a beautiful day, we intended to cross the Pass del Stelvia. By midday we were in Barimia, the town
closest to the
Crossing
that pass was like a kick in the guts.
The wind was bitterly cold up there, in certain sections the roads were
iced and there was plenty of snow on the mountains. The scenery was stunningly beautiful and it
was very lonely. My friend had disappeared
into the blue ahead. The height is 2291;
Pad del Stelvio is 2758, so that would obviously have been even older.
Down
on the other side there is a 4km tunnel straight through the next Alp. The change is drastic. One minute you are on top, next you are going
through the centre. On the bike the
sounds echoing through, seems to go right through your bones. Right outside the tunnel we crossed the Swiss
border. Further on we again crossed the Italian border. By now it was late afternoon, so it was time
to find some accommodation. I decided on
a rooming house. This is where things
became a bit confusing, after crossing so many borders. The last one presumably Italian, but the
houses and people did not look Italian.
The people spoke German and so did the radio, but the prices in the
adverts on the radio were in lire. At
breakfast next morning a German lady explained that we were in Tisot, that the
rule was Italian but the people are German.
The weather had improved drastically and I was quite cheerful with the
prospect of crossing another alp.
Riding
up Pas di del Giove (2094 M) is a breathtakingly beautiful experience. After coffee on the top, riding down the
other side took just 15 minutes. By now we were close to the Autobahn, and my
friend from
The
Italian tourist plates are a good talking point, because people can’t work out
where they are from. So the camp
managers also stopped by for a chat and to tell me about
It
was big alright, by Saturday afternoon 25,760 motorcycles had each paid approx
$4 to enter. It is continental tyres who
organises the rally on their test tracks.
For entertainment you could race your bike on their test tracks, pay
25DM for a sightseeing ride in a helicopter, enter the Miss Continental Beauty
Contest, see the tyre tests on BMW bikes and BMW Mercedes, VW’s, and trucks
including a mishap one Merc car had while doing tests on aquaplaning. There were veteran races, stuntmen and
scramble bike football and a very spectacular show with the Hamburg Police
Corps doing acrobatics on 20/5 or earlier model BMW’s. At night they showed films and had live
bands, rock on Friday night and jazz Saturday night and the beer was being
sold. I saw no violence in the 3 days,
possibly because of plenty of police including a helicopter with
Sunday
morning I packed up again, rode over and said goodbye to the 4 Danes I had been
running around with for the 2 days. It
wasn’t practical to ride with them as they were sitting on 140-150 kph and I
was supposed to be running in.
It
was the first day, since leaving
Joy V 50
____________________
ANNOUNCEMENT
on a notice board in the lobby of a
NOTICE in a government office: “Executives without a
secretary may take advantage of the typists in the typing pool.”
SIGNS
OF LIFE
Beside
a country road: “Cabbage Ahead – Slaw Down”
____________________
If
you’ve read this far then I guess that you noticed a blank area on page 9. You did eh?
Good! Now I’ll bet you’re
wondering what should be there but is not.
Well, I’ll tell you...NOTHING!
Page
1417
I
cannot date the pages of this diary. I
don’t think anyone else can, either. The
Bureau of Information stopped the publication of calendars some time ago, and
it is only through these numbered pages that I have any sense of daily
time. Otherwise our time is divided into
three periods: work, sleep, eat. The
beginning and end of the time periods is announced on the television, and
loudspeakers are everywhere. At the end
of each work-sleep-eat cycle, a signal is broadcast which causes everyone to
forget what happened the day before.
That is why I keep this diary. I
know I cannot show it to anyone else. All writing is controlled by the Bureau
of Education and all private writing is strictly forbidden. But down here in the storm sewer beneath the
Motor Vehicle Bureau Garage where I work the camera can’t see me, or my diary,
or.... I am almost afraid to put it on paper...my UNCAR!
Uncars,
like so many other things, were outlawed a long time ago. Memory of anything from before the Marked
Change is a crime. I not only remember
uncars,....but I have one!
Page
1418
Strange,
that I fund comfort down here with an old machine, when up in the Bureau and in
the streets the people I see are like machines.
It is hard to believe that they were unable to totally erase my memory
as they have with all the others. Of
course, my position as supervisor may have had something to do with it. When everyone was treated at the Bureau of
facts, those in important jobs were programmed to retain their technical
knowledge. That I was able to retain even a memory of the treatment indicates
some failure. If the computer ever
realized its mistake I would be sent to the Bureau of Statistics for sure.
Page
1419
My
department of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles is called the Restoration
Division. We restore all types of motor
vehicles to raw materials. Our pride is
a machine that can displace an entire car into a small cube of metal in one crushing
motion. I have been worried because
there is now little work for our division, since we have restored practically
every known vehicle in the land. It is
through the Bureau that I came into possession of the uncar. We had been falling behind in our work. As Supervisor I had to do something about it,
so I led the workers into a strike for longer hours. We won easily. But the Bureau Chief refused to allow the men
to work without a break, as we had demanded, so they were stuck with a short
break at mid-work. None of them like the
idea, (they were programmed not to) but to me it was a blessing.
During
the breaks I was able to dis-assemble the uncar and sneak it past the cameras
and down into the storm sewer. The uncar
was slated for restoration. It was one
of the last to be found by the police.
They had gotten a tip from a citizen and found it in the bathroom of an
apartment in the city, hanging from the ceiling out of view of the camera. The woman who occupied the apartment was sent
to the Bureau of Statistics.
The
Stat Bureau is a peculiar building, made entirely of glass. You can see right through it. But there isn’t anything inside. People go in, and once they are inside, you
cannot see them anymore. No one really
knows what happens, but I think that upon entering the Bureau, a person is
somehow converted into a number. People
have no fear, because they are conditioned to obey.
My
uncar is a fascinating example.
Evidently built well before they were banned, it has neither the two
smaller sidewheels, nor the speed-limiting device I have found on later
models. The motor has three
cylinders. The fuel tank bears the
letters ‘MV’.
It
is beautifully made. Every care seems to
have been taken in its manufacture. I
can understand why someone chanced a trip to the Bureau of Statistics to keep
it. I come down here to the sewer and
sit admiring it. I wish I could remember
seeing them in action. I can just
picture them whispering along at high speed!
For
appearance, there is nothing on the road today to compare with its fiery red
tank and silver streamlining shell. The
black numbers at the front and sides stand out in stark contrast to the white
circles they are painted on. It does
seem a peculiar way of displaying the registration numbers. The original owner must have been very
important, because the number is so low.
Page
1421
I
have made the decision. Today I began
stealing gasoline I soak a rag, presumably for cleaning purposes, and then
hurry to the sewer and wring the fuel into the tank of the uncar. I have been obsessed with the idea of running
the motor, and maybe even riding the machine.
The risk is great, but if the uncar is as quiet as our Government cars,
no one will hear it down here in the storm sewer.
Michael
Shuter
Cycle
June ‘67
____________________
I
think I was conned. In fact, I’m sure I
was conned. Perhaps if I had arrived at
KBCP in time for the bullshit, they would have told me, but my lady had me
running late, so I arrived as they were just leaving.
So
down the
After
a bit of a scratch,
Tom 28 Les 32
Keith 29 Mick 34 Craig 39 Bruce 61
After Keithy had added
and re added the score sheets, and I had been declared the official winner,
then, yes THEN they told me the winner had to do the write-up. Had I know earlier, I would have most likely
turned me off my game.
It rained on and off all
the way back to
TOM
____________________
YAMAHA I.T. 175F
79. Reg. Till march 82. 2,000 km.
$900 no offers. Ring 458 2027 and ask for John.
____________________