A new draft is in place regarding ride etiquette this has been tossed around for some time now and needs to be published so we have a little more uniformity,safety and good manners to fellow riders as well as the general members that participate, most of you wont find it much different as its “common sense” the rest should read it through and be aware of what is going to be expected. Pete Kime has spent a fair bit of time on this and if you want to see a adjustment or addition added please contact him

draft-iira-ride-rules

Your new Committee have been hard at work and by now you will notice that of the 19 agenda points raised at the Committee meetings over 16 have been acted on already, the copies of the minutes have been sent to all financial members by now. So what are all the items on the agenda, read and find out but the current committee has done more in a month than has happened since the association has started in 2010 and this I know because I and a couple of others have  been around since then, the thing is though all the committee members from day one in 2010 till now have all given up their time and put in bloody hard work to make sure you are enjoying yourself, I believe that’s the basis of this Association and even know somebody will always “grumble”we are in there for the majority not the minority and that’s where our strengths lie. The Classic example of this was on the weekend it was one of the best and enjoyable Crazy Horse Rallies we have ever had and I believe all that attended would agree, we changed a few things and with a great ride and perfect weather, personally I was in heaven. Your new Committee has planned a few more “surprises” next year 2017 with Chris Horner organizing a new 4 day Rally in Dunkeld somewhere in March it is a “hub” type rally based on the very successful Gypsy Tour format more on this later. Also plans are afoot for the Christmas Party to be held at Owen Jones’ new property as the Gisborne event has been cancelled, more on these events in the future. So the proposed Constitution, its been on the website in Members Area’s  and will go in Smouldering Embers e-mag next week you have 21 days and the proxy form or attend the meeting this needs to be acted on pronto then its off to Corporate Affairs to be approved after that, to all those involved, Daryl Colt, Ken Hager, Chris Horner, Peter & Helen Hale, Martyn Goodwyn, Guy Allan, Mark Barthelmie, Peter Kime, and others on the previous and current committee’s that have all had a go at getting it to this form we are grateful and thank you. The light is in the tunnel and we need to go forward, most members wont notice any difference at all and thats the way its meant to be.

Sentiment has a lot of power over emotions or for that matter monetary matters, many people lavish lots of both on old motorcycles and the results can be mixed take for example the Indian above you could just leave it alone after new tyres and some fuel/oil, exhaust system etc and your off, the question is for how far or for how long. I had a similar 1921 Scout to this about 25 years ago and did just that it lasted under 12 months and used oil I decided a “tear down” would help but unfortunately it had “tram tracks” that were worn deeply into the rear cylinder, hence the oiling problem and lack of power. I decided it was to much hassle and sold it to a chap that restored it, of course now I regret that and it wouldn’t be so daunting a problem in 2016 but one cannot dwell on what could have been I never regretted buying it but I do a little selling that Scout. So if I would have kept it I would have restored it and these days that’s very out of fashion I would have spent lots of money and even more time on it but then because it’s such a early model limited my riding on it because of today’s traffic, not very sensible, a practical person would just spend the money and buy one already finished and restored in the long run much,much cheaper way to achieve a sensible outcome I think. Needless to say many still restore and end up very over capitalised on a machine I have recently noticed a $50,000 741 army Scout in Bike Sales .com these sell for less than half that figure and a good Chief would be available any day for the same amount, I think a little more sanity is needed and a level head these days as sentiment is to expensive

I am starting  another page called News this will be for more general items like Harley Friday and such things as the Stop Press Area is fairly diluted now with everything and needs to go back to its roots. With over 1.25 million hits on our site in 6 years its the most popular page only followed by the Calendar and then the Contacts Area, so be prepared for the changes over the next few weeks.