I always said to my wife when “I keel over” and you think a motorcycle hearse would be a suitable way to send me off don’t pick a H-D as I would kick the lid off the coffin or worse still come back and haunt her, now at last there is no fear as some undertakers are at long last getting more descerning and choosing Indians for probably a more reliable ride into the afterlife.
A couple of years ago, I had a “Eureka” moment and bought a large rubber mat with lots of holes in it, the seller at Rare Spares assured me that they would trap small spares eg:collets in the holes and hours or days would be saved, enthusiastically I parted with my well earned sheckels and dragged it to beneath my work bench. This seemed to work initially except for the majority that bounced off the rubber and still disappeared under the bench, “Murphy”s Law” dictated like toast landing butter side down that 75% of my collets still went into a parallel universe annoying to say the least, recently I was in Ireland and you can see why the Irish are like they are and “to be sure to be sure” they must loose lots more than collets.
I think this picture is evocative its shows a lost America, with a steam train rattling past two friends riding the American highways on a Indian outfit with little or no traffic, fully loaded but staged for this picture I would say as the luggage would fall off within minutes of travel, string is useless as a method of retaining loads as above. The picture wants me to feel that I’m the one taking the photo and on the journey with them but I suppose that’s what Life magazine intended, a great shot none the less.
Garry Hogg recently asked for more Harley material as above the last time I saw him, well possibly the two best H-D’s I’ve seen the first cures all the engine problems of the venerable “Boat Anchor” by fitting a Honda 4 engine, this doesn’t alter the Honda as they handled like a “camel with a broken back” so no worse. But for the Harley its a better machine all round, the Topper would be a good bike to attend a HOG owners run on with your son and matching caps!
With last weekends run in the depths of winter, and new ride coordinator Owen Jones concerned that numbers would be down it seems that the run had massive support, I know that The Moto-Bean at Malmsberry is a delightful place to visit as in the past it was not to far to travel and the atmosphere during lunch surrounded by various classic machines is a popular destination. All well and good I know my mate Pete Kime was chuffed about the support this event gained, and also to others that lead the ride that day, I think personally this is what the IIRA is all about, riding your bike and preferably a Indian “chewing the fat” with fellow motorcyclists & with a meeting once a month to see what’s planned for the next event. A non-political club is all most people want, and heaven knows our Federal Politicians are giving us the opposite of that presently. I’m striving for that (less political) in our future,our charter says “We are here to have Fun,Fun,Fun that’s all I want.
Moto Bean cafe in Malmsbury
Last weekend’s Malmsbury ride, to the Moto Bean cafe, was a big success. Some 14-or-so bikes rolled up, with many starting from Calder and the remaining joining us from Gisborne.
Richard Onyon lead the crew on his latest acquisition, a very nice 1946 Chief, through a heap of backroads.
We had one breakdown and a puncture, of an we lost Zane somewhere along the way, though we know he’s okay.
Moto Bean is a great venue – good food, a very decent house shiraz, and nice coffee.
Thanks to Peter Kime for doing much of the organisation.
The uniforms look Canadian to me but maybe not, strange not a 741 to be be seen only WLA’s
Although expensive Fournales Australia have just released the famous AirSpring shocker for Scouts, I have been waiting since Christmas and I will be giving my results on them in the next few weeks. They seem to work well on a A-380 Airbus I was on recently and the motorcycle version is built to aircraft spec, for more details contact Bertrand Cadart 0407511454
Basically derived from a developed Scout engine to compete head-head against Harley on flat tracks, this is history repeating after big base Scouts ridden by the “Indian Wrecking Crew” obliterated Harley in the forties. Harley has had it all their way for some time, Triumph rocked them to the core in the sixties when the 500cc OHV twins blew the sidevalve KR 750’S to the weeds until the AMA changed the biased rules then XR-750 OHV Harley came out and Gene Romero obliterated them with Trident engine Trackmaster. This is different now Harley vs Indian again as it used to be but now is the cashed-up endless resource company that can afford to shovel money at building a new machine, it will change the whole scene.
