Hills Barbeque Run, 16th December 2007
I decided it was the day to take my 1927 Harley Davidson for another run and trailered it to Nipper’s place (lucky I used a trailer)? I stopped at a car park nearby where David Radloff was having trouble with his veteran Triumph and Bob Gill and his 1912 BSA were ready to run. David finally got it running and off to the start we ventured.
Nipper gave us the usual briefing, Paul Knapp completed the roll call and a group photo taken. Then it was time to depart, marshals first, followed by the veteran and vintage brigade then the modern fast classics. I joined the veterans and had a ball, sitting behind the 3 belt drive veterans, watching Bob Gill madly pedaling at times and occasionally defeated on the first attempt on one huge hill but he did make it and joined us a bit later.
There was one hill that had me worried, we came over a crest and there it was a sharp downward decent to dip and bend to the left. I quickly applied the only brake and I was gaining on those in front, I pressed really hard and the bike didn’t appear to be slowing so I quickly put the Harley into 2nd and the bike did slow down. There was the smell of burnt rubber in the air, I later discovered it was from the veterans rubber blocks overheating as they were too braking heavily but we made it. We had a re-group at a church and took some group photos then off we went on the homeward trip.
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Everything was going well, interesting narrow back roads with plenty of bicycle riders (Rob – did you have memories from the Strathalbyn run?) to negotiate, short climbs, gentle down hill runs a pleasant ride. Well we must have been about 5km from the finish, a right hand corner was negotiated and I open throttle and off I went, then there was silence for my Harley decided it was time to stop running on the up slope of a hill, I had retired because the Harley refused to fire, forcing me to stop and be carried across the finish line by Laurie and his trailer (now I really appreciate the back-up trailer on any run).
Now, it was interesting riding back with Laurie to Nipper’s home. Laurie said to me ‘Look Mr. President, the members are out the front waiting for you to come, do you want me to go past real slowly’? I looked at Nip’s and I believe that every one was out the front smiling and waving at us when we passed – thanks members – including Natalie.
The cause of the ‘expiration’ of the Harley is either a broken distributor shaft or the drive cog. I had fuel and spark, but discovered the rotor arm will not rotate when kicking over the motor.
I had another wonderful ride – excellent hospitality from Maureen and Brian and their band of helpers, the scones and BBQ lunch were appreciated by all – thanks.Brian Forth
Those in attendance…
John Byles 1954 Ariel
Bruce Cameron 1939 Ariel
Bob Frankham 1939 Ariel
John Deacon 1949 Norton
Arnold DeGroot 1930 Norton
David Fitzner 1956 Triumph
Bob Gill 1913 BSA
Dean Govan 1954 BSA
Peter Grace 1930 Cammy AJS
Gary Jolly 1948 Ariel
Paul Knapp 1951 AJS
Bob Kretschmer 1946 BSA
Kevin Meade 1948 Velocette
Ken Olsson 1954 AJS
Colin Pauley 1948 Velocette
David Radloff 1939 Panther
Rob Smyth 1929 Cammy AJS
Geoff Thompson 1950 Jawa
Ron Truscott 1950 Norton
Leon Mitchell 1914 Rudge
Ted Williams 1955 Triumph
Barry Carlisle 1956 Norton
David Cant 1947 Indian – First time out
Brian Forth 1927 Harley Davidson
Chris Harley 1933 Brough Superior o/f
Brenton Halstead 1949 Sunbeam
Natalie Harstead 1936 BSA
Geoff Hennig 1954 Triumph
Jeff Jones 1958 BSA
Brian Kuerschner 1955 AJS
Bruce Lehmann 1948 Ariel
Malcolm MacKay 1948 BSA
Dan Moriarty 1956 Ariel
Terry Rowe 1914 Bullock Precision
Ron Roy 1949 Matchless
Russell Sadoroshny 1957 Triumph
Denis Smyth 1958 Triumph
Don Tonkin 1958 Velo
Chris Warner 1952 BSA
Peter Arriola 1974 Honda
John Booker 1966 Triumph
Peter Langdon 1973 Triumph
Ian Baldock 1999 Yamaha
Don Cellier 1980 BMW
Keith Milich 1970 Velocette
Many thanks to Rob Karran and Laurie Leibhardt with the Back-up Trailer.
