Rod Leamon Memorial Run

leamonride1310

Beside every one arriving late on daylight saving (remember Spring forward, Fall or Autumn back for clock setting) we had a morning tea stop at Lilydale at the pie shop, next door to the sex shop. Lunch at Healesville in the Grand Hotel was excellent. Ride organiser/guide Ian Rhook never fails to fascinate me with his vast knowledge of every road in Victoria – I have never been on most of these roads although one was unmade and lots of pot holes. Indians dont like these at all, still not much traffic with a pleasant ride through to Yarra Glen, then home from Christmas Hills. We were down a few riders although it was good to see John & Maggie Munn, missing in action were Mark & Sandy Barthelmie (working) Peter Kime (overseas), Chris Horner (Flu), Dave Kimpton (slept in) Phillip White (overseas) were all missed. Two years ago big Rod Leamon was with us and, you know what, I reckon he was with us again today. RIP Rod.

Were criminals tougher in the old days?

trafic controlThompson & IndianCops & machine gunsarmored chiefsCapone watch out!Traffic controlmounties

We were on themes a few articles ago,cops/soldiers, armour,sidecars & machine guns all go together, same as left hand throttle’s when you have a Thompson machine gun on your solo Indian. Your modern officers are sitting behind the fibreglass fairing of their BMW’S with a Glock holstered on the hip, makes me ask “Were criminals tougher in the old days”, they must have been judging by the weaponary

The Crazy Horse was a great success

Khancoban line up741 hottieMountain View startREADY TO GO Chris & webmaster111 pack

The Crazy Horse rally was fantastic the weather even turned out well, the rides organized by Garry Hogg were honed to perfection, as well as the Saturday Morning Tea stop he provided with the traditional coffee scrolls, he is so famed as being the best baker in the Alpine area. We nearly had one failure with Ric Gow’s 741 Scout (not pictured) with wet sumping but he managed to get home 100 miles & used 2 litres of oil, the other problem was with some bikes arriving at Jinjelic on fumes, as they were out of fuel, fortunatly Walwa was 6 klm’s away so all but three dead Indians managed without fuel transfer from other machines. These rallies bring out the best in members, & there is a benefit two members potentially bought what they wanted one a Indian sidecar the other a 2003 Indian Spirit, so more reason to come next year, I hope the Footy was as good watching two other teams you don”t support play each other. The 111 Owners pack pictured donated by Indian Australia was raffled seperatly thanks chaps for the donation

The forgotton Indian Scouts

1949 brochurePink Scout

In 1949 Indian decided Triumph’s,BSA,& Norton were selling “like hot cakes” in America as they were easier to control & ride than big heavyweight Indian’s & H-D’s of yore, so being a progressive company they decided to build a revolutionary new verticle twin engine. Great except the exchange rate favoured the Brits & Indian rushed a new untried & underdevoloped range on the public (sounds familiar, like 50 years later with Gilroy versions) the consequences were disasterous Indian suffered a rash of warrenty problems, the poor old verticles were forever tarred with the un-reliable tag. Actually in 2013 these Scouts are fixable,affordable & available, people ride these bikes now sensibly and don’t look to race Triumph’s away from the traffic lights so they have become more reliable & in pink they are probably cheaper than a standard colour, maybe its time to give these Scout’s a second look

Do we really need another Indian Club?

early Indian club

This was a question asked by a H.O.G Owner to me when the IIRA was formed over 3 years ago, I answered this easily as there was not another Indian Club around offering the coverage we do “All Indians 1901-2014”. Well it seems Polaris-Indian has decided we need another Indian Club in Australia that will make seven yes, seven in all I will list them all in chronological order below. From the outside it can be compared to a religious group where Christians are divided into many faiths, Harley owners find it amusing as they really only have the HOG (Harley Owners Group) this makes them strong something that Indian’s need

Indian Motorcycle Club of Victoria (1901-53),  Indian Motorcycle Club of Australia (1901-1953), Iron Indian Riders of Australia(1901-2013), Indian-Harley Club of NSW(1901-1958), Indian Motorcycle Club of W.Aust(1901-53) , 111 Indian Club (2013 only) and now finally I.R.G (2014-) or the Indian Riders Group as they are known in the USA

Joining has never been so easy

PayPal

 

Ever thought joining or buying off the Iron Indian Riders of Australia was difficult, well no we have a new on-line shop up and running for this, just click on the paypal logo choose which product you want ie: calendar fill in the details & “Bang” its on the way, membership can be done the same way for re-newals, but new members will have to print the membership form and either fax or email to the Membership Secretary listed in the Contacts Area. If your curious on how it all works click on the Paypal Logo above

Zorro’s Indian spares & where’s the new Indian news gone?

zorros parts jpg

                                                           ( Click on image)

Mark Barthelmie at Zorro’s Apparel has started a page on all his heritage Indian spares if you need to order anything he will only be to pleased to accomodate from the extensive range he has in stock. Zorro’s is also selling the exclusive IIRA 16 month calendar if you need a last minute gift. The Indian News 1999-2013 is still there living under the Stop Press tab dropdown box just click on this for relevant news regarding these models

 

 

Solid Wheels & is there a theme going here?

The Lion's Share1924 and Solid Wheels

1924 was quite a year & solid wheels were in, well optioned as a acessories anyhow, they have come in and out of fashion over the years & I think they still look terrible. I have had a couple of photos with Indians and big cats, recently I reproduced one with a Lion in a car riding beside a Indian on the “Wall of Death” this new one is nearly as curious as neither the cat or the officer seem even slightly unhappy. I would like to see a new Polaris Indian or Gilroy with a similar theme on cats if anybody has a photo I would be happy to reproduce it.

Great Race 2014

The entries will soon be out for the Great Race 2014 it will be held 25-26 January 2014 at the Station resort Jindabyne NSW. This is the event of the year and a huge number of people enter from all over Australia, it has become so popular that entries are limited & the Americans hold a similar event in USA, which is equally as well supported. Dave Reidy from Harley City & Peter Arundle of the Indian Motocycle Club of Victoria (not to be confused with I.M.C.A) have run this now for over 20 years & it is professionally organised to run like clockwork. Acommodation, meals etc will be at the Station Resort book now

Great Race website

In 1911 Indian won the TT, how would they go now?

Godfrey 1911TTfinish

How things have changed, look at the link below, with out a doubt it makes any other motorcycle race in the world look insipid, and ridden by “wimps”

Here is a subscriber’s contribution… This is an Isle of Man camera video done really well. It lasts about five minutes.

Keep in mind that this is the last true motorcycle road race in the world. ·

Each lap is 37.75 miles long with over 200 turns. ·

And the record for a single lap is over 130 MPH.

There are straight sections where the bikes hit over 200 MPH. ·

It Is hard to imagine such riding speeds but they do it every year at the end of May and have been doing so since 1907. ·

There have been over 240 rider fatalities in the history of the event but it is bigger than ever today. ·

Two riders were killed during the 2012 events. ·

The helmet cam video over the last minute or so of the clip is breathtaking. ·

This what the driver is actually seeing, get dizzy just watching the video..

·       This event makes car racers look like a bunch of sissies.  Even Sir Jackie Stewart is amazed by what he is seeing in the video.  BTW, former Formula One World Champion John Surtees won this event before he switched from motorcycles to race cars.    http://vimeo.com/53551115 (click link)