The MTCV Home Page has taken 236 hits during July and 9224 since April 1996. See more information such as magazine articles in the Members-only section. Use the web page to print out your subscription renewal if you lose the one at the back of the magazine. Password to member section has changed and is only available to financial members.

Road Conditions Reporting Line: (03) 9854-2899 where motorcyclists can report road conditions and give suggestions for improvement on any road in Victoria. Vicroads now has an email address for the same purpose: [email protected]

Seen at the new format Social Sip held on July 5^th were Bruce Saville, Peter Philferan, Ian Payne, Ron Johnston, Ray Walker, Danny Kosinski & Monica, Ric Brabin, Dianne Welsford, Trevor Harris, Wayne Grant, Ben and Julie Warden, Craig Morley, Wayne, Joanne and David Nimmo. A total of 17 members and friends. The renovations to the Elgin Hotel have certainly transformed the old pub into a trendy eating house. Even the menu has been upgraded. The burgers and chips are out and the likes of "sauteed grain-fed poultry with vegetable couscous" are in! Come along and experience the new Elgin with your fellow members. Collect your Club magazine. Talk the talk. Note: no Social Sip this month. See you at the Club Hall instead.

Annual subscriptions are now over due. Financial members will receive a membership card with this magazine which will contain the new web password. The old one will not work.

The Club has a new post office box number. Our new postal address is PO Box 4132, Melbourne University PARKVILLE VIC 3052. Our old one will still work for a year or so.

In an effort to promote the 500GP bikes, the Grand Prix Corporation has created a Motorcycle Liaison Officer, Marisa Rose. She is very enthusiastic about the role and has contacted most bike clubs so promotional literature and special deals can be aimed directly at the motorcyclist. Marisa is well versed in bikes as she owns and rides a late model GSXR600 and partner Cameron is an instructor for the "Superbike School" and races an R1 in Formula Extreme. We intend to have Marisa as our guest speaker at the September Meeting, Club Hall, Inglesby Rd, Camberwell. As an added incentive she has offered some "free" tickets to Sundays race as our door prize!

Martin Hastie has had a floating chipped bone removed from his big toe (right foot). We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to his return.

Recently the Committee was visited by Nigel Bickerstaff who is a motorcycle representative on FORS (Federal Office of Road Safety). He contacted us in relation to the recent questionaire we circulated regarding the Murrundindi Yarra Ranges shires. Our Club was well represented in the number of responses. Nigel's mission is to talk to the top 30 or so club respondents to obtain more feedback regarding the state of motorcycling in general and how the councils can improve road conditions in particular. It seems that motorcycle related fatalities are running at 17% (of total vehicle fatalities in Victoria last year; up from 11%) and the councils are considering ideas to reduce motorcycle deaths. I think the idea was that the Yarra Ranges shire was over represented in these figures, though this was not explicitly stated. (Nigel was short on hard facts.) If anyone has ideas on how road conditions could be improved please let any of the Committee know and we will pass the suggestion on. Painting of white lines, removal of gravel, better road maintenance, better signage have been floated. Nigel will keep us up to date with these proposals.

Craig Morley has bought a new 2001 red, white and blue Fireblade, despite his protestations at the Social Sip. According to Ian "He should get ‘good’ mileage out of the front tyre as it seems to be always pointing to the sky and hardly ever in contact with the road!" I hear a steering damper is on its way.

The motorcycle Internet site ‘MCNEWS’ has quite a strong tipping competition running on local and international motorcycle races with our own Rhys Williams currently placed 2^nd in the "World Supersport" category and 3^rd in the "Aussie Formula Extreme". Well done Rhys.

Riding with the Club leading to motorcycle racing has been a natural progression for some MTCV members. Marty Thompson, Dave Ward and Tony Schrader spring to mind. And so the tradition continues with Club Captain Ray Walker keen to give it a try. Darren Morcomb has just had his first outing in the SuperMotard class where he finished a credible 11^th out of a field of 14 riding his XR600 trial bike. Go team MTCV!

Priya Munasinghe has written off his bike.

Craig Morley has bought a new 2001 red, white and blue Fireblade, despite his protestations at the Social Sip. According to Ian "He should get ‘good’ mileage out of the front tyre as it seems to be always pointing to the sky and hardly ever in contact with the road!" I hear a steering damper is on its way.

Joseph Cukier, better known as Joe Cook of Joe Cook Honda fame, lost his life on Sunday 22^nd July in a motorcycle accident. The accident occurred on the Whittlesea Yea Road not far out of Kinglake West, on the downhill 60/70 km/h corners. Joe lost control and ran wide in a corner hitting an on-coming 4WD. He died instantly. The accident was witnessed by one of our Club members who stopped to render assistance and inform the police. Joe was well known as a long-standing Honda dealer in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon and as a thought provoking commentator on the direction of motorcycling. Friends of Joe attended a public service to remember Joe last Friday July 27 at The Essendon Chapel, 941 Mt.Alexander Road, Essendon. Our sympathies are extended to his family, friends and many acquaintances.