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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.

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.

Last updated 2 January 2008