So we are all going to suffer the brunt of the fact of more motorcyclist killed are dead in the first five months (29) than all of last year, the Vic Police have announced stringent checks on anybody riding a motorcycle immediately. Well if you read the facts above 23 were not regular bike riders out of the 192,000 on the Victorian Roads today so really only 6 were killed and the Chief Commissioner admits that 85% of the accidents were the bike riders fault so 15% weren’t, looking at this 5 are really innocent victims! The toll is in the real world less this year than ever, last year off road bikes and scooters were counted in the fatality figures what next race track deaths, idiots have need for no need sympathy, only their families or worse still the innocent victims they have killed or maimed I agree with the Police they are the ones that need targeting, but not ordinary motorcyclists.

This picture turned up on Facebook recently and the story is it’s a brand new Chief that the proud owner was taking home from the dealer, I don’t know what to say except I have to feel sorry for him

A couple of photos recently cropped up on Facebook recently the 1947 Chief is far from being completely dismantled but still its a fairly good photo of whats there, for the experienced Indian owner this is a slight inconvenience being in pieces but to others its daunting task which leads to the photo on the right. So what should the majority of potential new owners do, buy a completely restored model well yes of course as in the long run restoring from a oil stain or a spark plug costs a fortune & in the long haul and most people will agree that the guy thats selling a restored model usually is loosing a small fortune.

There is a amusing fact that our American cousins get the President they never voted for, it’s kind of right as only 35% of them vote so they all complain about Obama, Bush, Clinton etc, it’s a strange thing that they just can’t be bothered and it’s a threat to the core of the “land of the free”. I thought about this today and the chain reaction this can cause even in a association like ours, complacency that is, not Presidents in USA, a small group of people do a hell of a lot for the majority of the members in there own time and with no profit gained except watching others enjoy themselves, and sometimes at there own cost in family time or money, to have no support is shattering and demoralising I personally have felt it as no support is asked for except to attend a rally or a event in the association year, and very few will attend which slowly erodes your will to organize such things. So when a core run like our Anniversary Run representing our first year is on and been moved to our always noted Sunday ride why is it that only two people reply that there interested in going after being SMS messaged and having it listed on their free 16 month calendar, are the rest of the members to lazy or ill manered  to even answer the text, well yes they are! Little do they realise  that the free food and drink that has to be supplied free of charge will be wasted because maybe on the day they will decide to attend, or in fact they “give a rats”that people have to do all the arrangements and then instead of 20 turning up 2 or 3 arrive. So you hear all the excuses, ” my mother in law is visiting” its my daughters/sons birthday, my bikes not going, it’s going to rain and it might be cold, I didn’t know it was the ride day, it’s to far away, the rides to long or short, none say the truth such as “I’m a selfish bastard and I don’t care what you do, but I will complain at every chance I get” this at least would good to hear as we would not go to any trouble. The “knock on affect” is no Sunday rides then no rallies leading to as we do nothing there is little to write about so less news and no newsletter or website leading to eventual disintegration of your association, it’s that easy to destroy what you have, just keep doing what your doing. Serious thought on all Sunday monthly rides will have to be made it looks like bi-monthly or quarterly rides may have to be considered. The picture above is a previous Anniversary Run a few years ago

It’s easy to remember men and women that have fought in past conflicts for Australia and are well represented on various memorials around the country WWI,WWII, Korea, & Vietnam, every year some of these hero’s still living march in various parades around the country and unfortunately as time passes there are less. As a lad I could still see the WWI veterans on parade now there are none, and the WWII veterans a getting less every year as well, what is sad to remember is the fact that these warriors were silent about the atrocities that they lived through I can’t remember anyone that went to any war complaining, true hero’s. The thing to realize is that these days we still have men and women fighting in war zones and some will not return, the highlight to remember is that they are as much heroes as in any previous conflict all are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and its more than a holiday or a football game “Lest we Forget”