International Gypsy Tour is one for the “Bucket List”

More pictures to come around 300 I believe, the Gypsy Tour “Run of the Murray” is still happening as I write this blog I left Mildura yesterday and rode 534 klms to Melbourne due to work commitments. The great thing about this tour is you can come and go at any time which works out perfect for the self-employed, Mark Barthelmie at Zorro’s being a case like myself, others are continuing till Saturday. I was fortunate to ride one of the two 111″s on the run they performed faultlessly fuel consumption yesterday was 5.8 lts per 100 klms as the trip was 110 klm per hour for a lot of the way although at 100 klms an hour 5 ltrs per 100 (55 mpg in the old money) is very good with screen,top box &  saddle bags fully loaded Chris Horner kindly lent me the machine which now is fully run-in and the fuel consumption has rapidly improved since my first ride. The modern Indian can at 100 kph get 400 klm’s from a tank of fuel it holds 20 liters, the stopping and handling is unsurpassed and definitely far beyond the opposition and the cruise control is “icing on the cake” Meanwhile the others on Springfield Chiefs were going well with no breakdowns the oldest was Peter Kime’s 1938 with its 4 speed overdrive gearbox purchased from the new Australian agent Zorro’s he was sitting very comfortably on 100 all the way and as a stock 74 cu, it was no problems he told me “its got a new lease on life” for him, Ric and Mark Barthelmie rode a 1946 74cu with no problems & it was nice to see Ric & their mother out from the UK for the event, at 75 years old and “dead keen” on what her boys are doing. We had a fellow Don from our associate Club the Indian Club of WAust enjoying his 1944 that he has owned for 40 years he is a very interesting chap as he told me how to up the gearing on a 840 Indian using BMW R 75/5 diff internals 16% higher ratio I believe that would help them as they are under-geared, he had a mate in Mildura a member of the MAD FUCKERS ,(Millewa and District Fully Unrestored Car Keepers) they are an interesting group they specialize in Wars Fought, Revolutions Started, Assassinations Plotted, Governments Run,Uprisings quelled, Chickens plucked, channels swum,Women Seduced, Tigers Tamed, bars emptied, computers verified, orgies organized, Airplanes driven, & wine tasted, trenches dug or so their card says! The guy was driving a 1927 Buick converted to a Ute and un-restored of course, Chris Horners 1947 was running very well, Phillip Whites gearbox was noisy, John Fontanella was happy except for Phillips snoring, Steve York was running in his machine to name a few that were on the part of the tour that I was in I believe Garry Hogg left in Shepparton as he is a baker and had work commitments. The next International Gypsy Tour is one for your bucket list