Winter Blues

The only thing good about winter is the Winter Smoke Signals E-Mag thats due out and if you wish to include a article contact our editor Ray pronto, he tells me a full calendar will be included of all events with dates up till March next year for you to print off and hopefully attend this will include meetings, rides, rallies and special events such as the Christmas Party. I’ve been full noise on my recent purchase of a original paint Ducati 750 GT as it had hardened its valve guide seals and smoked incessantly at cold start up worse than a London pea-souper, its only done 5,700 klm’s from new but they and it is 51 years old so I suppose it was to be expected. This is the fifth GT that I have now owned and with a couple additions like electronic ignition and the optional twin disc front end make the package very sweet to ride, this one is a rare electric starter model of which only 800 were made, the beauty as well is it falls in this clubs critera of Red Plate pre-1976 so quite the bike to own and very suitable to ride on our Special Events like Tasmania etc. that brings us to the problems and the advantage of Winter Heated clothing is available from Zarkie’s  (click on the link) and ask for Scottie then ride in comfort, I spent $1.200 down there and the difference after years of freezing your arse off is amazing now. Winterizing your motorcycle can be done with a heated seat cover or even a windscreen can help, more important is the condition of you tyres and brakes if they need fixing don’t hesitate.