ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB

April 2021 Club News

Indian Harley Two-Day Rally

by Bob Rees photos by Antoinet

The Bunbury Indian Harley Two-Day Rally is always on the first weekend of March and it’s an event not to be missed. I’ve been going on the Rally since the 1980s, most of the time with Chris riding her bike. So I wanted to carry on with the tradition.

Ronnie, Antoinet and Andrew were riding up from Albany and Garry Taylor trailering his bike behind his camper.

So a few days before I started loading up the bike, Steve Collins came around to help which was great, he also fixed a wayward back light and topped up the oil etc. Friday arrived, my mate Jim from the next street came down to shift the car out and bring it in and give me a hand.

Off I headed on my highly modified 1982 BMW R100CS towards Denmark where I was meeting the others by the river. To enter the Rally the bike has to be 25 years or older.

While having a cuppa with the rest of the gang at Denmark, Phillip and Bronwyn turned up to wish us all a good weekend. Phillip had his arm in a sling after a shoulder operation.

Then we were off, Walpole the first stop and a refuel, that would get me to Bunbury. We went over to the park to have our lunch, the weather was good too, no too hot or cold and the traffic was relatively light.

Next was a brief stop at the Northcliffe turn-off. I’ve got to say that without the help of the others, especially Ronnie and Antoinet, I would have been exhausted already as it’s a real effort getting on and off the bike.

Huw rode down from Bunbury, where he and Elina now live, and met us at Balingup where we had another stop. This was when I looked inside the pannier and saw water down the bottom, damn, couldn’t have turned the top tight enough.

Then I got the strong smell of whisky, oh no, the vibration had unscrewed the top of my hip flask and 13 year old Chivas Regal was floating around saturating everything in their including my beanie. “I haven’t had a drink officer, it’s my beanie”.

Before we knew it we were in Bunbury at the motocross track where Ronnie and Antoinet and Bruce and Kylie were camping. We rode in and had a look around, but I was lucky enough to be staying with Huw and Elina at their new house. Andrew was staying there too.

That night Elina put on a fabulous meal, so Garry Taylor decided to stay and sleep in his campervan. Next morning it was up early for the rally. Huw was riding his newly acquired BMW R100S sidecar outfit, fabulous with EML Dutch modifications.

We registered, drank coffee, listened to speeches, ogled bikes and met many old friends as well as making new ones as well as AVCMC Club members Clive and Stuart. It’s sort of like a timed run, with all the direction instructions like any rally.

We all had different times, but the Albany crew decided to leave together, Bruce and Kylie doing their best to leave at their correct time. We decided on the short run, which in this case turned out to be 155kms, taking us through some beautiful countryside with stops for morning tea and lunch, all provided.

All together there were 200 bikes on the ride so it was quite a sight. A few bikes ended up on back-up trailers, but none of our group. That night there was a BBQ with fabulous salads and desert, plus a band playing in the background and a lot of socialising.

It was very well organised with a bar, raffles etc. Then it was back to Huw and Elina’s. Had a good sleep, then back to the Club Rooms for the days briefing. Once again we left together. A delicious morning tea of scones jam and cream and then lunch at Brunswick Junction.

It was a beautiful ride through fabulous country again, on both days we travelled through the magnificent Ferguson Valley. They certainly have more variety of roads than we have in Albany. Once the Sunday morning’s Rally had finished we stayed at the Clubhouse for lunch.

Loose Bruce had entered a Silent Auction and ended up winning a handmade cane sidecar outfit, which he could carry under his arm. All the proceeds went to a good cause. It was time to say our goodbyes to Huw and Elina as well as others and hit the road.

Now there were only four of us, Ronnie, Antoinet, Garry Taylor and myself. We decided to camp at Bridgetown, the people there were very helpful and we had a lovely grassy site. Not being able to use my legs means getting in and out of the tent isn’t easy.

Actually nothing is easy, but I just got to do it. We had a good evening, with drinks, nibbles, sausage in a bun and more drinks. Great company, great fun. Once we had some delicious bacon and eggs for breakfast, cooked by Garry, we rode home to Albany.