Wing Notes

Newsletter of the

August 2005

 

What’s Inside?

 

 

Wendy’s new toy gets its first outing

The Editor Writes

The President Speaks

The Secretary’s Desk

Winery Ride

Bear’s Necessities

Shortened life cycles

Social Night

Cassie Doyle Ride

What happened to the last 5 months

Ride and Social Calendar

Meeting Minutes

3

3

3

4

5

5

6

7

10

11

12

www.wingriders.com

Australian Wing Riders Association (Qld) Inc

PO Box 719

Ashgrove    Qld     4060


Wing Notes

OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION QLD INCORPORATED

 

 

EDITOR:.............Bevan Bradford

Phone:  07 3822 3512

Mobile 0408 714 000

E-Mail:     mail@auswingriders.com

 

Wing Notes is produced with the object of keeping members informed about matters of interest to AWRA members.  A electronic copy of each issue is available to every financial member of the AWRA.  Copies are also distributed to selected motorcycle dealers in the greater Brisbane area

Submissions for inclusion in Wing Notes should be with the Editor no later than the Friday following the monthly meeting, i.e.: Friday after the 1st Monday of the month.

DISCLAIMER:  Although Wing Notes will endeavour to reproduce submissions in their original form it reserves the right to edit submissions as it sees fit.  Views expressed in contributed articles in Wing Notes are not necessarily those of the AWRA or the Editor.  Wing Notes is produced with care, in good faith and from sources believed to be accurate at the time of writing.

 

 

Management Committee:

Meetings:

President

Clint Lovell (07) 3398 3437

E-mail: clinton@lovell.com.au

Meetings are held on the

1st Monday of every month

Vice President

Rob (Bear) Harriss 0409 052 218

E-mail: RHMRS@bigpond.com.au

Next meeting:     1st August 2005

7:30 pm

Secretary

Val Thomas (07) 3848 0498

E-mail: ashgrovestationery@uqconnect.net

Pineapple Hotel
706 Main Street, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane

Treasurer

Eric Madjeric (07) 3886 9845

E-mail: magic@auswingriders.com

 

 

 

This month’s activities:

Near Kilcoy

 

on the

 

Winery ride

 

13th         Ten pin bowling at Capalaba against Redlands Ulysses Group

 

 

20th          Ride day with Gecko and Kay

 

 

27th          Social evening at a Mexican Restaurant with Rusty and Maree.

 

 

The Editor Writes…..

The President Speaks….

The Secretary’s Desk….

Another month, another magazine.  Funny thing is, I’m starting to enjoy the challenge of putting this magazine together each month.  My aim is to refine the process to make it as simple a task as possible while giving us a great magazine.

 

Unfortunately, to do this, it means that each month, I revise what I did last month.  This month, the format should look different.  I hope it’s seen as an improvement and that you like it.  Feedback would be appreciated.

 

What a battle it’s been. Microsoft has done every thing to make the job harder.  No matter what I did, nothing worked.

 

We actually produce two magazines.  The printed version and the web version.  I have been trying to simplify the conversion.  Each program says it will convert the file into the other format but none have done it successfully.  Tonight, just as I got close, Word chucked a wobbly and corrupted my file.  It’s now 12:30am Tuesday morning and I am trying to recreate it.

 

I thank all those who contributed.  Makes it much easier if I don’t have to search my jokes databases for gap fillers.  I will still be including jokes and the occasional strange photo I come across.

 

Happy reading.

Bevan

Well it didn’t take me long.  I got a surprise email from Bevan tonight reminding me about this report.  I had completely forgotten.  It sure is way too easy to do; (forget, that is).  And me, after two years of bitching and moaning at Bevan and others for not getting reports or stories to me on time.  If it is this easy for me, how easy is it for everyone else who doesn’t have much to do with the Magazine, except expect it to be up to its usual standard each month when it comes out on our computer.

 

I’ll take this opportunity then to remind everyone that the Wing Notes is our voice to the world.  It is a reflection of what we are and who we are and is available to a large number of people, literally throughout the world.

Not only are a few copies printed out and sent to a few Honda dealers around Brisbane, but the Wing Notes is available on the internet to anyone who cares to log in and have a look.

As such, we should maybe take a lot more pride in the content than we do.  Let’s not just have a short record of last month’s ride and social days, with a few photos thrown in.

 

Let’s have a few articles and stories that show who we are and how proud we are to ride our magnificent Goldwings.  I hear talk at meetings of what we have done to improve our rides, what is the latest trinket  (I mean safety device) that is available to make us more visible on the road, get more mileage or handle the turns better.  But I see no articles in here, or for that matter, elsewhere on the website so that our good fortune and sensible ideas can be shared with all other Wing Riders throughout the world.

 

Also, I’m sure we don’t just ride on the monthly ride day and the social.  There must be runs we do on our own and things we experience independently of AWRA that we can share.  Believe it or not, people are interested in what we do.

Let’s hear some of them.  Let’s see a few more fingers at the keyboard, sending off a short story of what we’ve been able to do. Maybe add in a photo or two.

The dream of a club magazine editor is to report “Sorry folks, there just wasn’t enough room in this month’s edition for all the articles I received, but I promise to include them next month.”  Fat Chance!!

 

 In the mean time, ride with care.

Clint

Well here we are at the last quarter of the year, and we are planning our Xmas Party.  Please contact me on 3366-7288 if you are planning on joining us at The Entrance on Saturday/Sunday 26th/27th November 2005.  Bookings are being placed THIS month.

 

Thommo has completed his course of Chemotherapy, and we are settling back into our ‘normal’ routine!

 

Also, great to see Lionel looking so well, and it shouldn’t be to long before we have LionelandMary on our rides again.

 

That is it for me this month, I have to get busy at my desk with thank you letters and a ride report on our great week-end in Stanthorpe.  Just to make you realise what you missed if you weren’t there!

 

Safe riding as always.

 

ValerieandThommo

 

Winery Ride 17/07/05

 

Do you ever have that feeling that if it were not for the promise to your fellow riders, nothing would be better than to stay in bed on a cold Sunday morning and sleep the day away? Well that was my feelings on the morning of the 17th after a previous night partying dressed as a Roman gladiator, well enough of that.

 

On arrival at BP Caboolture north around 08.00Hrs the faithful few were filling up with others already ordering teas, coffees and donuts. By the time we were near ready to leave, Bevan had turned up on a rather strange looking wing (Deauville) as he’d found out the hard way the wings respond better to a tickle in the morning rather than a slap, protested loudly by flooding and refusing to start, being the trooper he is, mounted his reserve steed and out he came. Other points of interest, was the arrival of Wendy on a rather tasty looking Valkyrie interstate and a rather fetching shade of blue, looking as if it just came off the showroom floor, hence the beaming smile she had on her face.

 

Now with a healthy contingency of 10 bikes, after a quick ride brief we set off on what would turn out to be a most enjoyable ride. Heading inland on the D’Auguilar highway we headed to Wamuran taking a left up to Mount Mee lookout, A quick stop to appreciate the view, take photos and realise what a good job a Goldwing does in protecting you from the elements; it was freezing up there with a wind chill factor of “oh my god”, then down the other side to rejoin the highway headed toward Kilcoy. Our morning tea stop was the Nirvana Winery where we were greeted by the owner and his daughter and served an array of scones, tea, coffee and those who weren’t riding got to participate and a wine tasting experience that brought smiles to those who could and grimaces to those who couldn’t

Once panniers were stocked with various reds, whites and whatever else was going, we mounted up again and headed off the few k’s to Kilcoy before hooking a left onto the Somerset Dam road (forgive the lack of road names, neither my map or GPS has the name of it.) With the weather now warming up, the fields and paddocks green from recent rain, this was turning out to be a picturesque ride. Heading toward Somerset dam, with almost empty, sweeping roads, the urge was found to open these bikes up, hook into the sweepers and enjoy the ride. With now near perfect riding weather conditions, we regrouped at the bottom on mount Glorious, Turbo gracefully declined to take the lead, Wendy was cautious in her ability to tackle this stretch on a new bike but later found these to be unfounded as we headed up the mountain with surprisingly few bikes passing us on the way up. Two thirds of the way up, Turbo took the lead as I watch his lines into corners, braking points and gleamed whatever knowledge I could by having a more experienced rider ahead of me. We stopped at the Samford turnoff waiting for the others to catch up where Turbo debriefed me on my riding style and cornering, all useful information, taken on board and acted upon. Once the main group had caught up, we continued on for about 5 k’s until brought to a halt by a fire engine across the road and several bikes ahead of us, after further investigation it was found the a bike vs car accident had occurred with a predictable result of the bike coming off the worse. With the ambulance on its way and no way of knowing how long we would be held up for, the decision was make to back track to Samford and continue our ride that way.

 

We continued through Samford on into the city, we lost two bikes at this point due to either riders or passengers suffering the after effects of the night before. We headed around the city via the highway, Kangaroo point and on to what would be our dinner and final destination of the Storey Bridge hotel. As this was Laverda Concourse day, not surprisingly there were bikes of every size and description outside the pub, to our amazement we managed to park all the bikes and after some juggling managed to find seating for the entire group. Food was ordered, eaten and enjoyed and everyone seemed to catch up with friends as it would seem every man and his dog was there.

The absence of Eric was noted as no raffle tickets were available, after some crazy notion of using beer mats as a substitute, the idea was shelved and everyone enjoyed the Atmosphere of this now trendy pub being returned to its former glory as a bikers meeting place.

 

I made my apologies as I had Pamela at home suffering the after effects of the night before so decided to do the right thing and nurse her back to health with some TLC.

 

All things taken into account, a great ride was had by all and we will no doubt be visiting Nirvana winery again in the summer for a romantic sunset dinner and ride, watch the ride calendar for this event….

Bear’s Necessities…..

Shortened Life Cycles

Tempted to ride a bike?  Here’s the case against..

 OK.  Sometimes we tend to forget the ‘Bear Necessities’ because we ride the best motorcycles ever made.  We seem to spend a lot of money on chrome/fancy lights etc and there is nothing wrong with that, however, it is more important to keep our beautiful machines running properly.  Besides your normal servicing there are a few simple things/checks that should be done more regularly especially as most of these machines do not get ridden every day.

 

·      Check your engine oil level, coolant level, tyre pressure and condition of tyres (splits, chunks out of tread caused by pot holes or rocks, tread wear, foreign bodies).

·      MOST importantly check the water level in your battery. Yes, a bugger of a job because you have to actually take the battery out of the Wing to check it on the 1500’s.  It is best though to do it at home rather than be on a ride and have trouble.

·      When even on a short ride just down to the shop to buy that all important polishing cloth it costs nothing to LOOK down at your Temp Gauge, Oil Light, Volt Meter and Fuel Gauge every once in a while.

·      While filling up sometimes recheck your tyres pressure and condition.

 

All this may sound Trivial and you say you just had a service and it should have been checked.  Not taking time out to do these things may make the difference between a great day out of riding and having fun and a not so great day out. Even in new vehicle handbooks there are daily/weekly maintenance items for you to check.

 

 If any member wishes to discuss any issue on Goldwings please do not hesitate to mention something to me (Bear) at our  next club meeting and I will do some research on any subject and put in the Newsletter for all to share .

 

 Next month a small talk on our experience on Rear Suspension.

Bear

The ATSB's Serious Injury Due to Road Crashes report paints a grim picture of the real risks posed by those who choose to ride a motorcycle.

 

In 2002, per vehicle-kilometre travelled, motorcycle riders were 34 times more likely to be seriously injured, compared with those in cars.  They are also 19 times more likely to die.  However, while head injuries were the predominant cause of the serious injury in cars, serious limb injuries were the big hitter of bike riders.  Helmets work.

 

Safer, it seems, to drive a car than take the bus, at least in injury terms. Bus occupants faced a 57 percent greater risk of injury in 2002, compared with those in cars.  Perversely, however, car occupants were more than twice as likely to die on the road compared with bus occupants.

 

Safest of all: become a truckie, a vocation with less than half the mortality rate of car occupants, and only 37 percent of the morbidity to boot.  It's one of the advantages of having all that mass on your side, and a high seating position.

Wheels Magazine      July 2005

NO SPIKA DA INGLISH

 

A bus stops and 2 Italian men get on.  They sit down and engage in an animated conversation.  The lady sitting next to them ignores them at first, but her attention is galvanized when she hears one of them say the following:

 

"Emma come first. Den I come. Den two asses come togetta. I come once-a-more. Two asses, they come togetta again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come one lasta time."

 

"You foul-mouthed sex obsessed swine," retorted the lady indignantly. "In this country.......we don't speak aloud in public places about our sex lives........"

 

"Hey, coola down lady," said the man.

"Who talkin' abouta sex?  I'm a justa tellin' my frienda how to spell 'Mississippi'."

 

I BET YOU READ THIS AGAIN!!!!!

Speaking of Trivia-

 

·     In 1980 the Yellow Pages accidentally listed a funeral home under Frozen Foods.

·     More People are killed each year by coconuts than sharks.

·     Right now as you sit reading, more than 100,000,000 creatures are swimming, feeding, reproducing and depositing waste inside your mouth.

·     There’s a Tupperware party somewhere in the world every two seconds.

Social Night 23 July 2005

 

After meeting at Stapylton at 3pm, we had 6 Goldwings and 1 Valkyrie leave for a social BBQ at Phil and Vicki’s. A ride out to Beenleigh / Beaudesert Rd and then a left turn at Tamborine Village saw us heading up the mountain towards Mt Tamborine. The weather had been threatening to rain but held off for our trip up the hill. A cross wind up top and a considerably colder temperature woke a few of the pillions. A slow moving car kept us all to a crawl going down Henry Roberts Drive.

Arriving at Phil and Vicki’s most of the bikes were parked in the garage and the social started. It would be arrogant of me to say that a good time was had by all, but I hope that was the case. All seemed to enjoy themselves and the Washing machine fire pit was a gathering point for some of the males. Special thanks go to Rusty for his assistance in getting the fire going and keeping it that way.

 

 Once the food was cooked all hooked in and I hope had plenty to fill them up. The sweets came out later and were soon devoured. More merriment followed, but alas, all came to an end way too soon. Vicki and I enjoyed your company and hope that you all enjoyed yourselves too

 

Stupidity is dangerous

An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

The real story of the Three Bears..

Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table, he looks into his small bowl. It is empty. "Who's been eating my porridge?!!" he squeaks.

Papa Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl, and it is also empty. 'Who's been eating my Porridge?!!" he roars.

Momma Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells... "For crying out loud, how many times do I have to go through this with you idiots?

It was Momma Bear who got up first, it was Momma Bear who woke everyone in the house, it was Momma Bear who made the coffee, it was Momma Bear who unloaded the dishwasher from last night, and put everything away, it was Momma Bear who went out in the cold early morning air to fetch the newspaper, it was Momma Bear who set the table, it was Momma Bear who put the cat out, cleaned the litter box, and filled the cat's water and food dish, and, now that you've decided to drag your sorry bear backsides downstairs and grace Momma Bear's kitchen with your grumpy presence, listen good, cause I'm only going to say this one more  time...

"I HAVEN'T MADE THE #%^*&^%# PORRIDGE YET!!”

Cassie Doyle Memorial 05

 

Revised

Speed

Limits

Cassie Doyle Memorial 05

 

An addendum to last months story by Clint on the Cassie Doyle Memorial Ride.  This month I received a letter of thanks from the Leukaemia Foundation, together with a Certificate of Appreciation.  I have included the certificate here and also some photos from the ride day.

 

What has happened to the last five months?

Since March 9th when Lionel had his first TIA’S, (Mini Strokes), while in Canberra, our lives have changed dramatically. We missed the end of the A.G.M. in Canberra and Lionel spent more than a week in Canberra Hospital.  I then drove him home (wondering all the way if he would have a stroke), and he was operated on a day later for a 98% blocked carotid artery, the other was seized up and completely blocked.

A reminder here that self-employed Lionel never missed a day’s work and appeared to be in good health. A week later after the successful op he was back in hospital having had a stroke. That was a shock!!!  He lost his speech, the sight of his left eye and strength on his right side. These, except for the sight, came back to a degree, but tests revealed the blood was not reaching the left side of his brain.  He needed another op, this time in Sydney, because it is a relatively rare op, not performed in Brisbane. The surgeon was Professor Morgan of international renown.

It was off to the Dalcross Hospital at Killara for three and a half weeks for Lionel and the same time for me at the Pymble Pub. The drive down was uneventful except for one micro- sleep when Lionel yelled “What are you doing?” and I said “Having a sleep” Not good.

The craniotomy was successful, (in other words, an artery supplying the scalp was taken through a hole drilled in Lionel’s skull to supply his brain). As soon as the 30 stitches came out, we were on our way home. After a few weeks Lionel is noticeably getting better and the high point was when he asked me to dance at a party and I thought “This is the Lionel of 5 months ago. Things are getting back to normal.”

For Lionel, the day he can drive again and better still, RIDE AGAIN, life will be back to normal. Thanks everyone for sending your positive thoughts Lionel’s way. Your continued support will help him to further recovery.

 

AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION (QLD) INCORPORATED

RIDE / SOCIAL EVENT CALENDAR

Date

Destination

Ride / Social Event

Ride Leaders

13th August Social

Capalaba Bowl, Currumbin St

Capalaba

UBD

Map 184 F20

Redlands Ulysses has challenged the Wing Riders to a Ten Pin Bowling contest. No experience necessary, (but would be appreciated). Meet 5.30pm for a 6pm departure at the service station on Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Rd, just east of the Gateway Arterial. UBD map 202 D5. There will probably be a short coffee ride to Mt Cootha, (or other destination), after.

Ken Tacon

21st August

North; follow the bike in front

Meet BP North Caboolture at 8.15am for an 8.45am start. Heading north, bring smoko buy lunch at  waterfront hotel

GeckoandKay Perren

28th August Social

Kedron and Mt Cootha

Montezuma’s Mexican Restaurant, Gympie Rd Kedron. Meet 5.30pm for a 6pm departure at Shell Nudgee, on the Gateway Arterial, just north of the Gateway Bridge. Coffee at Mt Cootha after.

RustyandMaree

24th 25th September

Goomburra

Overnight stay at Bikers Dream, Goomburra.  Has powered and un-powered camp sites and bunkhouse. Camp Sites @ $6.50; Powered Sites @ $9.50; Bunkhouse (15 beds) includes Linen, soap and towel @ $15.00 per person.  Dinner and breakfast $20.00 per person.  E-mail names to bradford@auswingriders.com  Bunkhouse will be first in, best dressed.  4 already taken

Bevan and Therese

16th October

Celtic Tea House near Maleny

Meet Shell Nudgee at 8.30am for a 9.00am departure. The ride will via Mt Glorious, Esk, and Kilcoy. Bring smoko and buy lunch

GeoffandJulie Sheather

23rd October Social

 

TBA

Jason King

20th November

Ride

 

TBA

Paul Ross

26th  November

Xmas weekend

Very social

Noosa

 

Same as last year. The Entrance Resort Noosaville. Spit roast mealandspit breakfast, for those that drink too much. Ride up Saturday, ride home Sunday. See December 2004 Wing Notes for preview.

Ray, Val, and the AWRA

18 December

Breakfast Ride

Plainlands for Brekky

Meet BP Blacksoil at 8am for an 8.30am departure. Ride to Plainlands Hotel forbreakfast, then across Toowoomba and down via Spring BluffandMurphy’s Creek. You won’t have room for smoko, but we will buy lunch somewhere good.

RobandJane

Harris

Ride Coordinator  - Bill Carter – Tel: (07) 5564 8996 

e-mail: bill_mary@hotkey.net.au Bill’s a/h mobile 0428 248 160

RIDE DATES; Unless otherwise arranged, rides will be on the 3rd Sunday of the month, and Social rides, the following weekend, with other social events as announced through the year.

** Ride Leaders: Please check the details of your ride and let me know of any changes.  Ride leaders are also asked to organise 2 raffle prizes for their ride. Suggested value approximately $10.00 each. Raffle tickets will be made available from Eric Majeric.

IMPORTANT: Even if you have not finalised the details of your ride, just supply the start timeandlocation, the general direction of the ride, and the meal arrangements.

*** Ride Leaders: Please provide a short pre-ride briefing that outlines the basic safety precautions that we in the AWRA like to observe when riding in groups, and a little about the ride and the rest stop locations.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ON RIDES:

·        Each motorcyclist is responsible for at least the following;

·        The roadworthiness of your vehicle (including trailer)

·        That you are in a fit condition to control the vehicle, (including trailer)

·        Make sure you have a full tank of fuel before departing on a ride.

·        That you obey all the traffic rules and ride in a safe manner.

·        That you ride in a considerate manner that does not endanger, or unnecessarily inconvenience other road users.

·        To be correctly attired for safe motorcycling.

·        To have fun and enjoy the day, and the company.

 

Thanks for all those that have offered to organise rides and socials, that is what makes this club so great.  If you are yet to conduct a ride or organise a social, please start to plan something so that when your turn arrives you will be ready. You don’t have to wait to be asked, just let me know.