ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB

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June 2013 Club News

Inspection | Triumph | Collie | Old Pix | Shed | Week | Gymkhana | Roaring | Bhutan | Calendar | Membership

Annual Old Bike Week Ride

Bikes lined at Boddington.
The old bike week this year meandered around the south-west and wheatbelt for eight days. All up nearly 20 bikes came and went on the 1800km trip. Ronnie’s parents, who were on holidays from Friesland, joined us for the trip, enjoying the comfort of the back-up vehicles courtesy of Garry Taylor and Warwick Jones.

Starting off in Albany first stop was Mt Barker where we met Philip who rode down from Kojonup on his 650cc BSA. We continued on through Rocky Gully, Frankland and Tone River to Boyup Brook for our first overnight stop.

Not long after we arrived Kylie appeared on the white BMW from Perth, no Bruce though, who had a bit (lot) of bad luck riding his Norton - see story in box.

Kylie’s annual BMW maintenance.
Ronnie took Kylie’s bike for a ride and noticed the steering head bearings were a bit loose, so together with Garry Taylor’s tool kit managed to adjust them so it once again handled like it should.

Kim and ‘The Chair’.
We brought out our chairs, beers and nibbles. Kim brought out what was the biggest camp chair we’ve had on one of these rides - it was more like a lounge chair, we had great fun with that, maybe we were a bit envious.

The Moto Guzzi mechanics at Boyup
          Brook.
We thought we would support the Boyup Brook Country Club with our patronage that night as we had heard they were in a bit of financial trouble and could do with all the help they could get. We had a nice meal, but it was a bit pricey - as was the beer, don’t think we’d rush back.

Next day we headed to Quindanning where Wes Thomas caught up with us on his Ducati - the pub is looking great and we had lunch in the gardens.

Dwellingup ‘Happy Hour’.
Dwellingup is always a good place to camp and we got a good welcome from the managers there. While we were putting up the tents Huw turned up on his BMW, then Andrew on his and later Bruce appeared on his Triumph I think, although it was hidden away and a bit hard to see.

We had an enjoyable session of drinks and nibbles before it was time to eat. Some stayed at the camp and cooked and others went to the pub for a meal. The idea of the ride was to stay off the main road and we did this successfully throughout the week.

Next day we headed to Boddington, where we stopped for a break before riding through Pingelly, York and finally Toodyay. We had a great ride, the roads were brilliant, but after perfect weather for a couple of days the temperature had now risen and it was certainly warm enough.

We’d stayed at Toodyay before and its a great camp spot in amongst the trees, the ground’s sandy, but at least its clean white sand, there are cabins as well for the non-campers. We had three nights there and cooked BBQ’s each night. Kim was appointed ‘Religious Adviser’ and was in charge of the weather - work that one out, actually he didn’t do a bad job, so he might be stuck with that title.

John Sinclair came out for the night on his 1930 Grindlay 1100cc V-twin, great-looking bike that went as well as it looked.

Next day a small group went for a ride following Huw through the hills east of Perth, unfortunately Huw had a problem with his white 60’s BMW, but managed to swap it with another of the same vintage, but black - hoping no-one would notice the colour change ha ha - he had no hope.

New Norcia.
Next day we all went for a ride to New Norcia stopping for a coffee there, we returned to Bindoon for lunch. Garry Blake lost a rocker cover nut and his Ariel spewed oil all over his jeans. Daniel generously rode into Perth to Vintage and Modern and picked another one up for him - good on you Daniel.

That night we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm and lightning display, made all the more dramatic if you were in a tent. We then headed to Corrigin (the long way) via Goomalling, Wyalkatchem and Cunderdin, a most enjoyable ride, although it was still pretty warm.

A horse with good taste.It was time for another BBQ, this time with us crammed on a deck in the park, the barbie wasn’t working as well as the others we had used, but it did the job. We decided on a change of plan the next day and headed for Kulin and the ‘Tin Horse Highway’ before Dumbleyung and Woodanilling.

Ronnie’s parents hadn’t been there before so it was a bit of a treat for them to see the famous road, and a good place for photo opportunities. On the way to Woodanilling we came across a bit of drizzle, nothing much, and it had stopped by the time we got to the camp-site.

Very friendly people there - nearly as friendly as the mozzies which were a huge problem, must have been the recent rains. After ‘Happy Hour’ we moved to the pub where we had an excellent meal in the renovated building.

Next morning was time for the run home. It was a great week, we rode nearly 1800km without any bike permanently on the trailer.

A big thank-you to Garry Taylor and Warwick Jones for towing the trailers, without them the week would have been impossible especially when you look at all the gear they carry including fridges and eskys and, of course, Kim’s chair.

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