ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB
August 2007 Club News
Yealering | Tassie | Malleefowl | Numbat | Plantagenet | Calendar
The Numbat Rally
There were four of us at the Amity Tavern at 8 am for the ride to Dowerin for the Numbat Rally run by the Ducati Club of WA. Andy on his Triumph, Claude on his sidecar outfit, Rob on his Harley and Bob on the old BMW outfit.
It was a beautiful day, warm with no wind, but I had the thermals on anyway. Riding along about 10kms from Mt Barker my bike’s clutch started to slip, I kept on going a little way but it was no good and pulled over, and the others stopped.
I explained what was happening and finally decided that I’d return to Albany get another bike (a bit quicker) and catch them up at York - bugger. I turned around and headed back - and the clutch stopped slipping!
So I turned back around and they were still there! I said its OK now so I’ll give it another go! I think what had happened was that I was sitting on about 110kms, a little quicker than usual and with a bit of crankcase pressure some oil had forced its way out of the main seal and found its way onto the clutch plate. So I figured if I sat around 90-100 it should be OK - and it was for the rest of the 1,000km journey.
We had a couple of stops along the way having lunch in Narrogin. Riding to Goomalling and a little before I could hear this clanging noise coming from the front every now and again - I looked at the front end and could see the left front shockie at a funny angle. When we stopped at Goomalling, you could see that something had broken or come adrift. I thought we’ll check it out at the Numbat.
After picking up some ice and strapping it to the fuel can I had on the back we headed down the road to Dowerin. Andy came up next to me and said something had fallen off my bike and Claude had gone back to pick it up. It turned out to be the funnel for the spare fuel tank. As far as Claude was concerned it was still a part of my bike that fell off. And he now thought his main role in life was to pick up any more bits that were going to fall off the bike (ha ha). None did by the way!
When we arrived at the rally site Clive and Ivy were just arriving in their sidecar. The rally site was as dusty as ever, we checked in and set off to find Huw and the rest of our Club members. Huw, Doug, Kenny, Danny, and Claus had been there from lunchtime and were in a particularly happy mood. It was great to see them all.
There were about 400 bikes there and with night-time temperatures plummeting there were fires everywhere. So if it wasn’t coated in dust it was coated in ash.
It was an entertaining night, one of the revellers has something to do with the firework display in Perth and brought along a substantial number of fireworks to entertain the crowd - very impressive. People were wandering in and out of our camp all evening, making it a very sociable night. Doug had a particularly good night although his dearstalker hat was looking a bit sick at the end of it. I finally crawled into the sleeping bag just after 1 am.
Next morning we awoke to fog, or low cloud, together with the smoke from the fires creating a mystical atmosphere. During the morning we took apart the front shockie on my bike - the cause of the clanging was the damper had unscrewed, so it was just a matter of screwing it back in and it was like new again - I was very relieved that it was so simple.
The gymkhana then took place with its usual games. We then had a leisurely afternoon, Ivy rode their sidecar outfit into town and did well too. I took my Steib outfit through the deep sand and was very impressed with the way it just chugged through it.
Before long the sun was going down and time to get the fire working again. It had been a warm day, but we knew the temperature would drop significantly, down to 0C we heard. More frivolity that night with Ivy doing a great job entertaining our crowd. It was then an earlier night to face the ride home.
Next morning the sky was clear, but it was very cold. After breakfast we packed the tents, said our goodbyes to the Perth mob and Claude, Andy and me headed home. Rob was going a different way, to meet friends or family.
Apart from the cold the ride home was uneventful but very enjoyable. I’d spoken to Chris on the phone and she said that there were some heavy showers around, but the only rain I saw was when I was entering Middleton Road!
A great weekend, thanks for the company.