ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB

February 2012 Club News

Bring Your Oldest Bike Ride

We've been doing this ride for a few years now. It’s always popular and certainly brings out the older bikes.
There were over 40 bikes including four veteran bikes (pre-1918), vintage, post-vintage, classic and modern bikes.

Kev and Karen’s unusual 1979 Spada Moto Guzzi tourer which attracted a lot of attention and comment!
They are travelling around the world, starting off in England nearly two years ago and so far having ridden through Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Japan, New Zealand and now Australia. From Sydney their plan is to ship the bike to South America before spending a year travelling the whole of America and then returning to the UK. As you can see from the photos it certainly is different, the detachable roof being one of the most unusual features.

They joined the ride after staying with us for the night and now have a Club sticker gracing their panniers.
The bike seems to have gone well, with some problems, but nothing major, and they have been healthy most of the way except for a touch of ‘Mongolian belly’ which doesn’t sound too good. Incidentally they camp in a tepee (or wigwam). It's big enough to light a fire in and also park the bike. Have a look at their website http://www.guzzioverland.co.uk for the full story.

Getting back to the rest of the ride: after leaving Albany we headed along the Upper Denmark Road to Youngs Siding where we had a long break before heading back to Albany along the Lower Denmark Road.
It was great to see the veteran bikes on the ride. Unfortunately Colin’s Minerva didn’t make the distance, it has only just been licensed and needs a few bugs ironed out. The rest of the older bikes did well.

Garry did his best to lose his number plate, but the ever-vigilante Neil picked it up. Phil’s sidecar outfit had a slight hiccup in the middle of a railway crossing where it stalled, but it wasn’t long before it fired into life once more.

And Dave’s Yamaha’s battery gave up the ghost at the top of Bolt Tce. So Chris Prescott was busy with the back-up trailer, dropping Colin’s Minerva off at Emu Point and they returning to Bolt Tce to pick up Dave’s Yamaha, thanks Chris you did a great job.

Lunch was at the park in the centre of Emu Point, a great spot with plenty of shade and room to park the bikes. A great ride and sociable day.