NOVEMBER RUNS

 

Sunday 8                Tony Daly’s special tour.  8.30am KBCP.

Friday 13               Debbie’s Double Feature, Fancy Dress, Horror Show. (not to be missed)

                               Social Sec’s place, Unit 17/28-36 James St, Box Hill. 8.39pm.

Sunday 15              Cambarville. 9.30am KBCP. 10.45am Lilydale.

Sunday 22              Central Deborah Gold Mine. $1? 9.30am KBCP.

Saturday 28           Carrum Beach Night  & B.B.Q. KBCP 6pm SHARP

Sunday 29              Mt. Cole State Forest.  Picnic Lunch 8.39am KBCP.

 

DECEMBER

 

Friday 4                 General Meeting. Club Hall 8.15pm SHARP.

 

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CLOSING DATE FOR ATICLES FOR NEXT MAG IS 20.11.81.

 

MAGAZINE ARICALS CAN BE POSTED OR DELIVERED TO FAYE & GEOFF MORGAN, 246 GAP RD, SUNBURY.  3429. Ph. 744-1189.

 

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EDITORIAL – NOVEMBER 1981

 

As mentioned last month we, along with 4 or 5 other members, attended the World’s End Rally.  We generally feel that a good time was had by all.  Sure we had our moments but generally, a fairly easy trip of 12 days, covering both the World’s End and the Big Desert Rallies.  Two bikes (2800km each) and no mechanical problems (unless you call five punctures mechanical problems).  Three of these occurred in 40km!  THAT was a frustrating day.  (I missed out on pies at Eudunda, and, a visit to a winery (Geoff). Still, that is touring.  You must take the good with the bad.

 

On the subject of touring, have you thought about the ‘Back ‘O’ Bourke’ run?  According to our calculator we’re looking at around 2 ˝ thousand K’s, give or take a couple of hundred, and around 72 hours in which to do them (the K’s that is!).  Sounds easy doesn’t it?  Sure, could be a real fun trip, but, it could be hot (40 deg+), or it could be wet (ever tried riding in 3 inches of red dust mixed with an equal quantity of water?)!  One thing is for sure, no matter what the weather, it is bound to result in some sore bums and stiff shoulders accompanied by a strangely satisfied grin!

 

We’ve recently heard of a couple of instances of riders getting lost during club runs.  On one occasion a rider has even suggested that he got left when he stopped to check his load after another rider pointed out a possible problem. (At least that’s the way we heard it!).  As we see it there are, in fact, two problems here, (a) because of the way the club functions on a ride it is quite possible to ride up to an hour and not see another machine.  This tends to be rather un-nerving and only confidence in the club’s road rules can coax one to keep on riding and of course one eventually comes across a couple of riders patiently sitting on a corner just waiting to point out which is the correct way to go!, and (b) if you are a relatively new rider with the club, or an old rider with a new machine, the rear rider may miss you (particularly if you pull well off the road). Obviously the problem is one of recognition.  If you have to make an unscheduled stop, make it obvious (flag the rear rider down if necessary).  Remember, you only have to recognize the rear rider, he/she has to try to recognize everyone else, and that could mean up to 40 machines!  A mammoth task and we feel that no member who volunteers to be rear rider would knowingly leave another rider stranded.  Think ahead to the next scheduled stop when someone asks “What happened to the so and so?”, and suddenly everyone realizes that a machine is missing.  Has the rider got fed up with the ride and gone home?  Did the rider take the wrong turn and so get lost?  Did the machine run off the road and if so is/are the rider/riders lying in the scrub injured?  Should we go back and look for wayward machine or should we just shrug our shoulders and go on enjoying our ride and to hell with them?  There’s the question, YOU provide the answers!

 

Cheers Faye & Geoff.

 

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NEW ADDRESS

 

Kevin Robertson

63 Waltham St

FLEMINGTON. 3031

Ph. 376-1568

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WANTED

 

Travelling companion/s for motorcycle trip at Christmas.  Leaving town Boxing Day am and returning New Years Day pm. Only a week but should be good.  Suggested itinerary includes Hiawatha, (Gippsland) Noojee, Woods Point, Matlock, Aberfeldie, Walhalla, Dargo, Mt Hotham, Swifts Creek, Omeo, Bogong, Myrtleford, Eli, King Valley, Mansfield, and Home.  Not sticking to a hard and fast timetable and working on the theory that it’s better to travel than to arrive.  Only money needed will be for gas and goodies.  Camping all the way.  Can be any sex, colour or creed but age must be somewhere between 18 and 80.  A reasonable bike and some camping gear is essential, can bring your dog if it fits in your pack.  If you’re a starter ring Don on 82-3791 during business hours.

 

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CHRISTMAS BREAKUP SATURDAY 5th DECEMBER

 

The Christmas breakup will be held at the Healesville Hotel, Healesville.  The time 5pm or thereafter in the bar for pre-dinner drinks then about 6pm into the dining room for dinner.  This will run to about $7.00 a head for a three course meal.  About 8pm there will be a band to kick off the nights entertainment in the back room $2.00 per head entrance.  If you wish to stay overnight, bed and breakfast at one of the motels will run to about $28.00 per double. If you want any more info contact Keith Harris on 478-3982 A.H.  See you there!

 

 

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Don’t forget write-ups and letters to the Editors, Faye and Geoff Morgan, 246 Gap Rd, Sunbury. 3429.

 

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NAVAGATION & RELIABILITY TRIAL Sunday 13th September.

 

We left KBCP about 9.30 after some initial briefing from organizer Tom Saville on the day’s fun.  Proceeding out the Eastern Freeway to Templestowe and Warrandyte then to Kangaroo Ground where we stopped at the Yarra Glen turn off.  Travelling some of the way in company of Mick (My bike don’t wallow) Fagan.  It’s most interesting to watch an R80 GS 0 BMW “NOT” wallowing on trials uni tyres through fast sweeping corners.

 

Anyway back to the event.  At Kangaroo Ground the ride split into two, one group comprising Frank, R80 GA; Mick, R80 GS; Ted, Honda 250 RS; Bruce, Kwaka 500 and me R75/7; were for the hard run.  The others, mostly lead wings and assorted oriental heavy metal, wisely chose the not so difficult course.

 

The first section being a navigation test at an average speed of 50 kph through most of the back roads from Kangaroo Ground to Yarra Glen and on to Toolangi.  Not knowing the actual distance to the first control it was essential to keep an eye on the clock and odometer to gauge the 50kmp average speed.  Oh yes just to make things interesting participants were sent off at 2 minute intervals.  One individual trying to lead another astray stuffed himself up, and it was not me.  15km into the State Forest from Toolangi there was Les Leahy at the first control.  Ted and myself coming in spot on time.

 

The next section was in some fairly rugged bush tracks plus an observed section, at an average speed of 25kph.  The 25kph may sound easy but the tracks were not.  Leaving the control proved to be fun on wet grass but after a couple of tries I was under way.  It was quite easy following the markers along the tracks to the first decent.  This little number while not being super steep had a liberal sprinkling of large rocks and loose dirt.  I got down intact although at one stage I nearly had to bail out, involuntary of course.

 

Now the observed section bit.  Well it started with a 45deg drop of about 5 to 6ft from the road with a 90 deg left turn at the bottom to miss a neatly placed log.  Followed by a straight run of some 50 yards of tree branches, rocks and logs neatly arranged by Craig.  A right turn then downhill for some 200 yards over much the same type of ground.  Ok here we go over the edge, front wheel digs into the soft earth and Keithy jumps over the bars, BM goes down engine screaming.  Fortunately Craig quickly hits the kill switch, thanks mate!  Pick up bike, red face and continue.  No further trouble apart from clouting a log with right crash bar, pushing it back onto the cylinder.  Now back on something resembling a road and a flat out run down the Narbethong trying to make up lost time.

 

At Narbethong I’m greeted by Jude who notes my arrival time and here we have 2 more tests along the lines of do you know your bike.  Firstly guess your tyre pressures then measure with tyre gauge followed by fill your petrol tank and guess how much.  Thus finished the day’s competition.  This was followed by lunch while the organizers figured out the results.

 

After lunch the club once again divided, with the more dirt oriented riders heading for the bush while the others returned to town by a more civilized route to finish an excellent day.

 

Keith Harris, R75/7 today!

 

 

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MALDON SPRING FESTIVAL

 

A beautiful sunny morning saw Ian and I heading off to K.B.C.P. , picking up Keith and Jude on the way.  Upon arriving at Jude’s, I assured her that indeed it was a nice day to be put on the bike.  Ten minutes later we were on our way with Keithy leading us into the city via the boulevard.

 

Quite a shock awaited me at K.B.C.P.  Jude and I were astounded to see very few familiar faces there, in fact, most of them, we’d never seen before.  Just shows how quickly you lose contact, if not riding consistently each Sunday.  We really felt like a couple of ‘old’ semi-retired members!  Well, I suppose 4 years membership almost puts you in that category which leads me to ponder on the ‘vintage’ of other, even older members!

 

Well, Keith and Jude led, and Les was rear rider.  By the time we were out of the city things started getting colder (God will I never learn?) and colder.  Setting a nice speedy pace Keith led us through the Bulla Hills to New Gisborne, the Black Forest and onto the Calder, where we stopped at Taradale (just outside Castlemaine) for petrol and refreshments.

 

Several kitkats and coffee later our rear rider appeared, with the news that Bruce Faldon had broken down and had headed for home.  Another coffee and we were off again heading through Castlemaine and out to Maldon.

 

A brief burst of sunshine heralded our arrival.  After shedding our numerous garments and waited whilst Jude had another life sustaining coffee, we headed off for a look see, keeping in mind that we had to be back by 2pm.  Numerous craft shops had their doors open to the public and we viewed a host of beautiful pottery and home spun garments.  I was disappointed that (a) there was very little originality and design in the leather work and (b) the prices were indeed indicative of the ‘killing’ the owners hoped to make on the tourists.

 

Hunger pangs were quickly saited by a generous, (if not unwholesome) helping of Boston bun with pink icing (courtesy of Mr Leahy) and sponge cake (courtesy of Mrs Wallis).  We were then treated to 20 minutes of Bagpipe playing by the Maryborough Pipe Band most enjoyable and colourful.  Jude was treated to a peeping tom in the ladies toilet and Les was seen getting into the true festival spirit by accepting a flower to wear in his belstaff.

 

It was 3pm by the time we all regrouped and headed for home with Keith again in the lead.  Owing to the doom laden sky our trip home was both direct and speedy with no mishaps.

 

Ian & Lynne R90/S

 

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GARY YOUNG’S SPECIAL TOUR

 

Our leader got there right on the knocker, 10am, with his pretty little girl on board.  He took us out the Sth Eastern Freeway, where at the end of it Sue decided to pull out as her Motto Guzzi was feeling a bit sick.  Heading up towards the Gully, we then went via Emerald and the Cardinia Dam, then took some back roads to Launching Place, where we went across to Healesville through the Black Spur to Buxton, there having morning tea and filling up with petrol.  While here Craig and Brian (BMW’s) left us to come home.  We continued on to Alexandra then started to tour through Frasers National Park.  At a sharp right hander an intending new member, came off his CX500.  He was somewhat sore but ok. With a good ˝ hour spent re-aligning the front end we finally got going again, competing with a lot of dirt before hitting the main road back to Melbourne.

 

After Bonnie Doon, we turned off going through the Strathbogie Ranges and finishing up at “Polly Quins” for lunch.

 

Lunch over, time to continue, down through Merton, where we fuelled our bikes and ourselves.  We headed back to Lilydale where we dispersed, after going via Yea and the Dickson’s Creek road.  Thanks to Gary for inviting me back for tea, after what was a pleasant day’s ride, with the weather near perfect.

 

“Big Daddy” 750/4, R/65

 

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TREASURES NIGHT RIDE

 

Eleven eager souls awaited the 7-30 departure time; after a brief rundown of our corner marker system for the benefit of our two visitors, we set off up Flinders St then down to the Eastern Freeway to put a little distance between us and the Saturday night city crush.

 

From the end of the freeway we headed through Templestowe to Warrandyte, and then turned off onto Jumping Creek road, quite a nice piece of road, hilly and twisty with a posted 75 limit, obviously meant as a personal insult!

 

We then emerged onto the Maroondah Hwy just before Lilydale where we picked up another visitor to swell our numbers to the even dozen.  Montrose loomed then the road really became interesting as we took the Olinda turn off and followed through to Monbulk, Emerald and Gembrook, twisty all the way, great bike territory.

 

As it was still early we took a detour to Upper Pakenham, then over some reasonable dirt (we never seem to go anywhere without some dirt, I wonder why?) to a short stop for a leak (‘It was dark officer’) or a smoke at the intersection of the Beaconsfield – Emerald road.

 

Back into Emerald we went then toured via Clematis to the urban sprawl at Rowville.  Some of the thirstier bikes required a top-up before we called it a night over a coffee and a chin wag at Dandenong Road.

 

Phil Duffy

Lead Wing & Chair.

 

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1981 M.T.C.V. FUEL ECONOM TEST RESULTS

 

1st           Phillip Duffy & Son                        650 Kawasaki                    33.8kpl

2nd          Bruce Faldon                                   750 B.M.W.                       24.4kpl

3rd          Keith Harris                                     1000 B.M.W.                     24.9kpl

4th          Mick Fagan                                      GS 80 B.M.W.                  24.2kpl

5th          Gary Young & Andrea                    1000/S B.M.W.                 22.9kpl

6th          Keith Finlay                                     1000 Kawasaki                  22.6kpl

7th          Jack Youdan                                    CBX 1000 Honda             22.4kpl

8th          Frank Bloxham                                GS 80 B.M.W.                  21.9kpl

9th          Mark Lapirow                                  XV 1000 Yamaha             21.7kpl

10th        Ian & Lynne Taylor                         900S B.M.W.                    20.9kpl

11th        Chris Negus & Debbie Snell            1000 RS B.M.W.               19.9kpl

12th        Tony Daly                                        lost in action

 

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TASMANIAN TOUR 1981

 

Hi.  Well the main reason for writing this belated story of our trip to Tassie (last Christmas for God’s sake) is the Editors threat to put blank sheets in the mag ‘coz there’s not enough news to print.  Probably most members of the M.T.C.V. have been ‘across the water’ with their bikes, but for those who haven’t it could be of some interest if they are planning such a journey.  For started, let me say we had a fantastic time.  The weather was perfect, in fact it was the hottest summer for ten years, and when it’s hot in Tassie it’s really hot.  They don’t have air conditioners over there, only heaters.  The place is like Pommie land in more ways than one.  Anyhow when you’re camping, what the heck.  Who needs it?  To anyone contemplating touring Tassie by motorbike I say ‘go instantly, don’t hesitate’.  It’s like Melbourne used to be 20 years ago.  No fuss, no rush, hardly any cars and very good, very cheap take away food.  We met lots of other bikers on the trip, all with different bikes, different appearances and different stories but all with same easy going laid-back biker attitude.  Top people, if you’re a Harley person you’d be well catered for in Launceston, I’ve never seen so many stump-pullin’ great American freedom machines gathered together in such a small place.  All told, in three weeks we covered just under 4000kms and travelled just about every road on the island (or so it seemed) and saw the majority of the towns both big and small.  No one place was better than the rest, just different and I’d be hard pushed to put a finger on the ‘high-light’ of the trip.  However the biggest downer for sure was the camping ground at Cradle Mountain.  More on that later. O.K.  Here goes:- Boxing day arvo saw amongst the usual contingent of tin tops about 50 motorcycles loaded into the bowels of the “Empress”.  Two were ours.  The crossing which we were told was one of the roughest in five years got progressively worse as the night wore on.  By 9pm the port deck was out of bounds and the best place to seek refuge was the lounge.  Much good talk abounded there, mainly about bikes and birds and the jugs weren’t hanging around too long.

 

By the next morning Jan was near the death and green as a KL250, the dogs in the cages on the top deck all thought they were headed for that big club house in the sky and only a handful of people turned up for brekkie.  A pit really as it was very good and quite free.  Anyhow I wasn’t feeling too bad and by 8am I’d put away a decent style of a feed.  Anyhow I wasn’t feeling to bad and by 8am I’d put away a decent style of a feed, by 8.15 it was on its way back to Melbourne and by 8.30 I’d got outside another serve of bangers and mash and no more problems.  Perseverance that’s the key.  On the first day ashore we headed west to Boat Harbour and many points in between.  Six bells brought crayfish, French bread and cold cans of tea and soon took our minds off the fact that we were fairly damp after riding round in the rain for seven hours.  Still raining and blowing hard and cold we pulled into Stanley, the next morning we said goodbye to Steve and Werner XL5000’s after checking the place out and nearly getting blown off the ‘Nut”.  We set off then to the Pieman River on the west coast and the boys set off to Smithtown for some rugged off roading. We didn’t know it at the time but we weren’t to meet up with those guys again till the boat trip home.

 

Our wanderings took us in a roundabout sort of way to the Pieman River.  The track was like any rally site you’ve been too.  We hit the camp area at dusk fairly wet and cold as it hadn’t stopped raining all day again. Log cabins there were only $2.50 per night per person so we indulged ourselves a little and dried out in front of the biggest fire ever.

 

As we left the next afternoon the sun started shining and heralded the hottest Tasmanian summer in ten years.  We checked out Roseberry, Zeehan, Queenstown Derwent-Bridge and set up camp for a couple of days at Lake St Clair.  The Derwent-Bridge pub gets our vote as the best watering hole in Tassie and it’s interesting to note that it is owned by the Forestry people who also control the National Parks.  Under a shady oak tree we met a New South Welshman who had just finished rebuilding his CX500 after busting a cam chain tensioner (funny, never heard of that before).  At Lake St Clair we wore ourselves out in grand style climbing a mountain (I think it was Mt Rufus) and taking long walks etc.  This place rates as an absolute must.  5 stars.  Actually it has looked better than when we saw it as it had just been ravaged by bushfire.  As you were, go back three paces, in point of fact the night after the Pieman, found us at Strahan on the west coast.  We took an all day tour up the Gordon River, saw some Huon Pine trees and saw a movie on “Saving the Franklyn River”.  Later that night we met Polly and Ray form Adelaide astride a 750 Suzuki Waterbottle with a worn out rear tyre and a very noisy muffler, they were doing every inch of Tasmania in 5 days, she drove, he packed behind with the gear.  They didn’t talk much, they had to go.  One more word on Lake St Clair, I think that place must be a top number for trout fisherman as we met a couple of guys there who had towed their boats all the way from Queensland just to fish the lake.

 

Lake Pedder called us after a day or two.  Strathgordon as a town wasn’t worth visiting but the trip by road is motorcycling at its best.  Utopia, New Norfolk, Hobart surrounding suburbs didn’t hold our interests for too long so we putted on to Port Arthur.  A word of advice here on Port Arthur.  Whilst it’s a must for all tourists, and a top place to see, if you’re planning on doing the prison tour make sure you are in the first intake at 9am because at 11am about two million buses arrive, and disgorge more little old ladies and little old men than you ever thought existed in this entire world.  North was where the action was, we figured, so we headed inland through some very historic old towns of great architectural interest.  To name but a few Richmond, Ross, Campbelltown and on to Launceston.

 

Now Launceston is big on lots of things but very skinny on camping spots.  By far and away the best is Longford, about 15Km’s south and one of the best camp spots on the island.  This was the place where we first met B-M-Frank and Bill Guzzi their mounts you guess.  It happened like this, we had decided to stay there a few days and use the place as our base, well, they were watching them prepare for a ride when Bill decided to warm his motor up, instead of straddling the bike he just switched it on, leaned across the tank and hit the electric foot, the old spaghetti burner fired up first shot.  Well all that was ok except that it was on the side stand and in first gear, it was cool fun watching their tent get half demolished by a runaway SP1000.  Anyhow when we finished rolling around on the ground we went over to lend a hand and there started a week long association that was bulk fun from sunup to sundown.  Bill Guzzi was an ex Merchant Navy Seaman.  A wind breakin’, rollickin’, joke crackin’, fun lovin’ crazy Dutchman.  Frank was a trifle more subdued.  Both were bikers in the true sense of the word.  Together we toured Launceston, Evandale, and all points around.  We saw Entally House and other old homes, played with the monkeys in the park went swimming, fishing, exploring at night, scabbed around, consumed numerous malt sandwiches and generally had a ball.  We cried uncle after five days. The boys went to Hobart, Jan and I went to Cradle Mountain.  What an awful bloody trip that was 75 km’s each way of the roughest road you’d ever find.  Jan got a blow-out on the way it was Sunday, nothing open so we had to patch it and rebuild the tube, no big deal really but we had to load the heavy stuff on to my bike just incase and had no more problems.  We limped into the Cradle Mt camp area about 8pm, ate, put the tent up and crashed.  The next morning when I woke up my hands were covered in blood, likewise my face, neck and feet.  I thought the grim reaper had come looking for me during the night.  Also I noticed I had developed these dreadful black spots all over me.  After a closer examination which took a quarter of a second I could see they were leeches.  They were all over everything.  We thought we must be in a swamp or something.  Shift the tent quick.  We did all that but before we had the tent erected on the new site our legs were covered in leeches.  1981 was a good year for leeches.  They won that round.

 

We packed everything up, loaded the bikes, took a six hour hike up Cradle Mountain then split straight out of the place.  As a foot note when we got back from our hike practically the entire place was empty, funny that eh?  Going back to Sheffield we stopped on a lonely winding for a billy of tea and a smoke when we heard what we thought was a Boeing 727, as it happened, it turned out to be about 30 blokes on Choppers.  They all wore cut offs, ear-rings and bones in the noses etc and when they spotted us sitting under a tree they ground to a halt alongside us.  None of them looked as if they had been to bed for about six years.  I thought to myself “what the bloody hell’s this”, as luck had it one was from Melbourne and when he spotted our M.R.A. badges he declared us brothers.  A few anxious moments but no real problems.  We chewed the fat with them for an hour or so then we had to move on as we were meeting Bill and Frank in the next town.

 

That night in the pub at the foot of Mt Roland we let the good times roll, we’d met up with some other bikers from Melbourne as well as the boys and we made that much noise in the lounge that the Publican stuck his head round the door and asked us if everything was all right.

 

In our last week we toured the east coast looking at St Helens, St Marys, Bicheno, Scottsdale and then the north coast and anywhere else we thought we hadn’t been.  As they say in the States “we just keep on pullin’ clutch”.  We said goodbye to all our mates, got aboard the boat for home and who should be waiting for us in the lounge? Steve and Werner XL 500’s.

 

“Life in the best lane”

 

Don 650 Yam

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FOR SALE

 

White BMW 75/5 Long wheel base model

Registered to 9/11/1982.

Good tyres, new battery, stainless steel mufflers heavy duty front and rear springs, Halogen headlight.  Has done genuine 51,500 miles.

EXTRAS INCLUDE;- Driving light, Crash bar, Ressley panniers and rack, rack above each cylinder.

 

It is running beautifully.  The only reason for selling is set up for two-up touring and it is rarely used.

 

All I ask is $2150.00

 

If interested contact Greg Moore on 057-732228

 

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Just a few lines regarding the content of this mag.  It seems that last month’s editorial evoked a positive reaction, from at least one person.  He put pen to paper and promptly filled five pages of the mag.  Sure it is of a personal trip but as members of a touring club I would imagine most will find it good reading (I did).  We have but perhaps half a dozen members who will feed us an article like this.  How about a few more getting in on the act?  Don’t be afraid if they are a bit long, we’ll serialize them if necessary! With a bit of luck this month’s contribution will have started a fad – thanks Don.

 

Geoff

 

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FOR SALE

 

English made Fibreglass Chaincase (fully encloses chain) to suit Honda CB750 K1-K6.  $27.00.  Contact Phil Duffy 311-1013 or Geoff Morgan 744-1189.

 

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