Café Cruise                 Sunday 23rd  November, 2003

 

Ducati 620 ie                Bronwyn Manifold                    Blade               Ben & Julie Warden

MV 750 F4i                 Dave Ward (leader)                  Ford                 Ron & Julie Johnston

Blade                           Ian Payne                                 Blackbird         Martin Hastie

Daytona                       Mark Easterbrook                    Yamaha R6      Tamzin Knight

 

I hadn't been on the bike for a while due to a small operation and so I was eager to try out the Bird with the new four into one exhaust system. The decision was to ride, even if the weather wasn’t looking great.

 

I left Carmen at her home because she had school work to do. Then I went via Pentridge to pick up my bike. When putting on my bike gear, I  noticed the fuel gauge was flashing empty. Have you ever wondered how accurate these gauges are? I rode, as if on an economy ride, to the servo, a couple of kilometers away, filled up and then headed off down to the Tullarmarine Freeway. I was riding down the Freeway at a boring legal pace, mainly because of the three pointer I copped on the way to the Yarra Glen pickup, a couple of rides ago. For future reference, beware the parked 4WD drive just down from the Kangarooo Ground Tower.

 

Heading over the Bolte Bridge, an R6 passed me, the rider with long blonde hair, whipping around in the breeze.

 

Off the Freeway and down to the Fitzroy Street meeting place, finding Bron, Dave, Ian, Mark and a helmet with long blonde hair.  It belonged to Tamzin. She felt someone needed to wear it on the ride and was hoping for Ben to oblige. We sat, had coffees and then Ron and Julie turned up in the Ford. More chatting and then we decided to head off to Williamstown for lunch.

 

Tamzin left us at St Kilda to join us later. The small procession of five bikes and one car headed off down Fitzroy Street, Kings Way, onto the Westgate Freeway and over the Bridge and down Williamstown Road to La Porchetta's for the lunch stop. We set up tables outside the restaurant but it proved very blowy so we moved the tables closer to the building which afforded some protection. We still had to keep an eye on things as the menus and plastic chairs wanted to head for the bay.

 

Ben and Julie arrived when most of us had finished lunch, having just returned from a family gathering in Flinders, planning next year’s Tassie adventure. Ben was excited about buying a 2002 954 Blade (less plastics and front end) for the right price. (The original plan was to buy a back wheel to facilitate tyre changes. The 6,000 km, 5 month old wheel came with a just serviced engine attached, which technically will slot into the 929 chasis, buts gets complicated when you start bringing the loom, tail light, ductail, etc. Hence the motor, frame, brakes etc are for sale in the Trading Post. Pete W. wreckons the 954 swingwarm looks horn and so that might be my next little challenge. The wheel (disk, sprocket, carrier) are already swapped… Ben.)

 

 

Dave, Bron and Ian went off to find a cake shop returning shortly after with good looking ice-creams.   I packed up to leave and do some chores at home, saying my goodbyes. I headed off home via Williamstown Road, noticing Rob Langer (or his twin) on a blue and white BMW going the other way.

 

I arrived home having done 46 kilometers. Thanks to Dave and the others.  Apart from the wind, it was a typical enjoyable Melbourne day.

 

Martin Hastie (Honda CBR1100XX "Blackbird")

 

p.s. The new exhaust needs some more work on the baffle. It was modified to bring it down to the 94dB legal limit which resulted in a flat spot at 3000 rpm.  I will test out the top of the rev range on the next ride since I was unable to do so on this ride.