Wing Notes

WING NOTES is produced with the object of keeping members informed about matters of interest to AWRA

members. A copy of each issue is sent 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.

What’s Inside

I have been blessed with a plethora of articles this month. Thanks to all who have contributed. Keep those emails coming.

Next month, Charleen and I will be away and the magazine will probably be put together by Bevan. Please give him all the assistance he asks for.

Contributions for this magazine can be emailed to info@auswingriders.com or posted to 47 Breslin St, Carina, Qld 4152. Photos and slides can be scanned and returned.

Well here I go taking on a role that has been male orientated from its inception, and for this girl it means a huge learning curve ‑ for someone who is not computer literate as well! These past few weeks e-mails have been coming in thick and fast, luckily my able assistant "Thommo" has been busily retrieving and sending e-mails for me.

It has been a flurry of activity for what I thought would be a quiet and simple take-over ‑ not so quiet or simple after all.

Now you must realize that I have to share the office with Ray, and it looks like I might have to trade-in my small briefcase for Ray's larger case! Our social activities are far more important than the business of course, so I am hustling Ray off the computer fairly regularly - tentatively though as I am still learning ‑ be patient. Signing off after my first report 4/8/03.

I reckon we must be doing something right. It was really great to see so many members at the meeting last Monday night. I still amazes me how so many are willing to come quite a long way for the evening. Not to mention that, despite the cold, so many ‘Wings were parked in the car park. Don’t forget to look for options that might give us a quite room to meet in.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the Christmas Party at Helidon. It should be a good night so I certainly hope everyone else is looking forward to it. Put it in your calendars, no excuses accepted. And, not only can we look forward to a great social evening in November to round out the year, if we can go ahead with an Australia Day weekend at Rob and Jayne’s, that should start the year off in a similar convivial manner.

The two completely different proposals for the Christmas Party venue and the close decision between them, again shows how different people are even though they share common interests. An association like ours has to be able to cater for those differences, same as each of us has to accept those differences. As part of my development of the member’s kit, I have just been going through all the old club minutes. It brought back a lot of memories, good and bad, but reminded me of how differences of opinion can be allowed to get out of hand and overrule common sense and friendships. To me, the camaraderie I see at meeting, social events and on rides is far more important than whether or not I accept someone else’s choice in accommodation and venue style

Sunday 19^th July dawned reasonably bright and clear with just a hint of a few raindrops which did occur just as we left our breakfast destination. Yes, it was an eat-a-thon type ride, beginning with breakfast at Narangba at Debbie and Eric’s. This was a sumptuous affair with all you could wish for in the way of cold breakfast foods and cooked. Eric did a great job of the sausages, bacon etc on the B.B.Q. while Debbie created delicious scrambled eggs indoors.

Eight bikes left Debbie and Eric’s with Lionel in the lead. Getting lost at the first turn must have scared everyone, but thank goodness for the CB we were soon on track and didn’t miss a beat, direction-wise from then on.

The selected route took us through the suburb of Dakabin, near Lake Kurwongbah, over Young’s Crossing, past Lake Samsonvale, on over a ridge to Samford township, in through Keperra to The Gap. We went through Bardon, up past Stuartholme College with beautiful city views and down onto the Western Freeway. It was plain sailing from there out to the suburb of Ipswich near the Cunningham Highway called Flinders View.

Andy and Donna’s house was soon reached and although no-one was really hungry we made a fair attack on the morning tea that Andy and Donna’s girls had prepared for us. There was a wonderful selection of savoury and sweet delights.

The group was joined by Rob and Jayne on their Wing and Brent in his ute. Was great to see them, all three, as Rob had not been well earlier and Brent had sold his Wing. At this stage it might be appropriate to mention that we were honoured with the company of a couple, from Emerald on their Wing.

At roughly midday after much nibbling and drinking of coffee and chatting, of course, we set off for Boondall for lunch. All day I had been expecting to lose people, but we did well keeping together, CBs are wonderful.

We came back along the Highway to Riverview where we took the Moggil Ferry across the Brisbane River and rode through Moggil and in through Kenmore to join the Western Freeway again. Riding up Milton Road and onto Hale Street and the City Bypass was “interesting” but it was very straight forward after that, as we followed the CBP onto Kingsford-Smith Drive and onto the Gateway Motorway to the Boondall exit to our place.

Homemade soup and desserts were on the menu and surprisingly, everyone seemed to find room for a few servings, I was surprised because we had been so well fed elsewhere. I enjoyed the day and most people seem to have enjoyed the two hundred Kms it took to do the round trip, some seeing parts of Brisbane they had never seen before. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the food. A big thank you to Eric and Debbie and Andy and Donna for offering to host us and complete the riding Eat-a-thon.

What a time to get a cold snap, just because we’ve organised a ride. There was certainly a chill in the air the other night when fourteen of us headed off to Nando’s at Stapylton for a feast of that special chicken.

The social evening was organised a couple of month’s ago as an opportunity to enjoy the aforementioned chicken and catch up with Lindsay. Problem was, Lindsay had just sold the business. “No problem” he tells me, “I’ll arrange it with the new owners before I head for South Africa and I will be back before then and will join you all.” So much for that idea, Lindsay was not able to get back in time so we missed him again.

Therese and I arrived to find some ‘wings already lined up at the entrance to the building. The final line up of seven would later provide quite a sight and discussion point for the “tourists”. Lionel and Mary arrive and Lionel tells us that the air temperature was registering around 15⁰. Great, shame it won’t be that hot on the way home. Terrific to see that every one who came, rode.

Promptly at 6:30pm the food starts to arrive, and, thanks to the organisation of Sheena and Forbes Pollock, it did not stop until everyone cried enough with some really tasty BBQ’d corn cobs and chicken thighs still left on the table. Not often this bunch leaves such good food uneaten.

After letting the dinner settle, we decide to head back to Mt Gravatt for coffee and sweets at McDonalds. As everyone prepares to get mobile, the 1800 takes the eye of a young lass and Lionel immediately takes advantage of Mary’s absence to have her try out the pillion seat. Would have got away with it too if Mary hadn’t turned up just then. Amid all the old jokes about people looking like an advert for Michelin tyres, we head out on the motorway. On the way, Lionel warms us up by stating that it really isn’t freezing, the air temperature is still 10⁰. Hot cups of coffee or chocolate and sweets later it’s back into the warm gear and head home for a warm shower.

A very enjoyable night was had by all, shame you missed it Lindsay, though I guess at night at Nando’s is not that special for you.

Bevan

Clutch Slave Cylinder Check – a simple, quick visual check (often missed in service)

Look under your ‘Wing between the centre stand and back of engine and you will see the clutch slave cylinder. At the bottom of the cylinder you will see a “Tell-tale Hole’. If you see a stain or it is wet, your clutch slave cylinder is leaking which means your clutch fluid in the reservoir is slowly going down and before you know it, it will run out. Subsequently – NO CLUTCH.

CAUTION!! Never wipe brake or clutch fluid off with a rag. ALWAYS WASH OFF IMMEDIATELY with soapy water.

NOTE!! When topping up brake or clutch fluid, always check the container to make sure it contains ‘DOT 4’ fluid.

I suggested to my wife that we add some excitement to our marriage. Maybe try a new position. Perhaps we could swap places.

“Great,” she said sounding enthusiastic, “You stand at the ironing board and I will sit on the couch watching TV.”

Cost $20 (extra hand $5) – Cost includes lucky draw and prizes at each stop – also allows entry to party afterward. Entry to party only - $10

Party at clubhouse afterwards includes great food, great booze, live bands and exotic ladies.

To be held at the Rosewood Bowls Club in Rosewood from 9am on Sunday August 31st. Tickets are $10 per head and this includes green fees and BBQ lunch.

Funds are for the Girl In a Million Quest raising funds for Queensland Veterans.

Everyone at the last meeting may have heard Winston threaten the photographer with a lawsuit if this photo of him was published. Of course by that time the photo was already in my hot little computer and I am immune to lawsuits. (I own nothing!)

I also have personal knowledge of Winston trying hard to get himself the sought-after symbol of a great WingRider (the stomach). Last week he was seen gate-crashing corporate release days, pretending to be a corporate high-flyer, but actually only there to scoff all the food and drinks in sight.

A team of archaeologists were excavating in Israel when they, came upon a cave. Written across the wall of the cave were the following symbols:

It was considered a unique find and the writings were said to be at least three thousand years old! The piece of stone was removed, brought to the museum and archaeologists from around the world came to study the ancient symbols.

They held a huge meeting after months of conferences to discuss, the meanings of the markings. The president of the society, pointed a the first drawing and said, “This looks like a woman. We can judge that it was family oriented and held women in high esteem. You can also tell they were intelligent, as the next, symbol resembles a donkey, so they were smart enough to have animals help them till the soil. The next drawing looks like a shovel of some sort, which means they even had tools to help them.

Even further proof of their high intelligence is the fish which means that if a famine had hit the earth, whereby, the food did not grow, they would take to the sea for food. The last symbol appears to be the Star of David which means they were Hebrews.”

The audience applauded enthusiastically, but a little old man stood up at the back of the room and said, "Idiots, Hebrew is read from right to left. It says, “Holy Mackerel, dig the ass on that woman.”

It will make you crazy, if you think about it too long! It was passed on by a linguist, the original author unknown. Peruse at your leisure, English lovers.

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor is there ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.

We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend. If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.

That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

Australian Wing Riders Association’s chosen charity is Neurofibromatosis research. For those recently joined or those who have forgotten, here is some information on the disease:

NEUROFIBROMATOSIS TYPE 1 (NIF1) is a very common genetic disorder, affecting 1 in every 3000 people. N171 has a very wide range of severity ‑ many people with the disorder will only be affected very mildly. About 40% of people with N171 will have medical problems related to the disorder at some time during their life ‑ some of these will be mild and easily treatable, others will be more severe. At present it is impossible to predict who will remain only mildly affected and who will be more severely affected with NIF1. Different members of the same family can be affected very differently.

NFI is a genetic disorder, i.e. it is due to an abnormality of one of the genes ‑ the small units of information that are present it every cell in the body and which dictate individual features e.g. height, eye colour and many aspects of growth, development and health. We have about 100,000 genes, which are in pairs, packaged into 23 pairs of chromosomes. One copy of each gene is inherited from the mother, and one from the father. In people with neurofibromatosis there is a change in one of a particular pair of genes, located on chromosomes 17. About 50% of people with NFI are the first person to be affected in the family. In these people the disorder is due to a spontaneous new change in an NF gene on chromosome 17 in either the egg or sperm they were formed from. In the other 50% of people with NFI, the abnormal gene is inherited from one of their parents, who also have NIF1. People with the abnormal gene have a 1 in 2 chance of passing on the abnormality to any of their children ‑ this is known as an autosomal dominant form of inheritance. Whenever a person is diagnosed as having neurofibromatosis we check their immediate family members thoroughly (looking at their skin and their eyes) to see if anyone else in the family has the disorder. At present, if there are a number of people in the family with neurofibromatosis, it is sometimes possible to offer prenatal diagnosis in a subsequent pregnancy.

The gene abnormality in neurofibromatosis type 1 can result in a number of changes in many different organs in the body. There are 3 major features of the condition which are present in almost everyone with NFI and on which the diagnosis is based. These are:

1. Cafe au lait spots ‑ flat coffee coloured patches on the skin. In people with NFI there are usually 6 or more of these flat patches. The number of cafe au lait spots does not relate to the severity of the disease. People with NFI often also have freckling in unusual places such as the armpit or the groin.

2. Neurofibromas ‑benign, usually small lumps in or under the skin. These lumps are usually absent or few in childhood and generally increase in number during puberty or pregnancy.

3. Lisch nodules ‑ these are small pigmented lumps in the iris (the coloured part of the eye). They are often not visible, except by looking with a special eye examination microscope (slit‑lamp), and never cause symptoms.

The other features of neurofibromatosis occur in the minority of people with the disease. Macrocephaly (i.e. a large head) occurs in about 50% people with NFI. The head is not usually noticeably large but it is found to be so when measured. Approximately 1/3rd of people with NFI may be shorter than would be expected by looking at the rest of their family. One of the most frequent complications of NFI in childhood is specific learning difficulties. This means that a child of normal intellect has specific problems in certain areas of their school work e.g. difficulty with reading or spelling or problems with fine motor co‑ordination that lead to untidy school work. It is thus often valuable for a child who is having school difficulties to have a psychological assessment to determine their strength and weaknesses and determine what educational help needs to be given. Mental retardation does not occur much more commonly in neurofibromatosis than in the general population.

The other complications of neurofibromatosis type 1 are much rarer ‑ each occurring in less than 10% of the people with the disease. Plexiform neurofibromas are benign tumours of groups of nerves which can cause overgrowth of the tissues they supply resulting in larger lumps, asymmetry of the face or overgrowth of a limb. If they are going to occur in the region of the face, they are usually present at birth and become obvious during the first few years of life. Similarly major bony problems, such as marked bowing of a lower leg bone (pseudoarthrosis) occur in only 2% of people with neurofibromatosis and are again obvious during the first 2 years of life. Scoliosis or curvature of the spine needs to be watched for during late childhood and adolescence. Five percent of people with neurofibromatosis will need to have an operation for curvature of the spine.

It is very important to get the eyes checked on a regular basis if you have neurofibromatosis type 1. Small thickened areas (tumours) on the nerve at the back of the eye, called optic gliomas, can occur. These sometimes cause problems with vision. If a thickening of the optic nerve causes a decrease in vision then it is important that it is treated. This happens in approximately 5 % of people with N171. All the tumours (lumps) that have been mentioned above so far are benign i.e. they are not cancerous. Cancer (malignancy is a possible complication that everyone involved with NFI becomes concerned about when they hear of it. In fact, the risk of

developing a cancer related to NFI is low ‑ around 5% during the entire life span. If a patient with W1 notices a lump growing rapidly (increasing in size each week) or becoming unusually painful, they should consult their doctor and discuss these new symptoms.

Because each person with NFI is affected differently, it is important that they are reviewed by a doctor familiar with the condition on regular basis (once every 6 ‑ 12 months in early childhood, every year in mid‑childhood,. once every 1 ‑ 2 years in adulthood). Thus the doctor can monitor for the complications that may occur and to treat them early if they do occur.

Any specific questions about neurofibromatosis can be addressed to Dr Meredith Wilson (through the Department of Clinical Genetics 9845‑3273 or via the hospital on 9845‑0000) or to Dr Kathryn North (office number 9845‑3011).

AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION (QLD) INCORPORATED RIDE / SOCIAL EVENT CALENDAR
DATE	DESTINATION	RIDE / SOCIAL EVENT	COORDINATORS
RIDE 17^th August	Kilcoy	Leaves BP Caboolture North at 8.30 am for ride to Kilcoy-Yarraman district. Bring or buy Morning Tea. Buy lunch at Cooyar Hotel. Finishes at Blacksoil.	Clint & Charleen
SOCIAL 23^rd August	Burpengary	Chinese at Nth Gardens Restaurant, Burpengary. Meet BP Caboolture North 6.00pm for 6.30 leave. Cost approx $24.00 head for 4 course meal.	Eric & Debbie
Special Interest 23-24^th August	Leyburn	Leyburn Sprints. Meet at BP Blacksoil Outbound 8.00am for 8.30 start. Entry$10.00 per head. Route via Toowoomba and Cambooya to Leyburn and return to Blacksoil about 4.00pm via Heifer Creek. 320klms.	Bevan
Shepherd C & C out of Qld 30^th August	Around Australia	Clint & Charleen depart on their 14,000km journey around Highway 1 Join them on the first day, ride to morning tea/lunch and return without them	Clint & Charleen
RIDE 21^st September	Nanango	Winery tour Nanango area	Eddie
SOCIAL Night Ride 27^th September	Laidley	Meet at BP Blacksoil Travel to Laidley for Pizzas	Turbo & Wendy
RIDE 19^th October	Gympie Point	Brisbane, Gympie, Goomeri for lunch, home via Nanango	Eric & Debbie
SOCIAL Ride 25^th October	Wellington Point	Café ride to Wellington Point for tea Meet at Caltex Loganholme Time TBA	Bevan & Therese

RIDE DATES; Unless otherwise arranged, rides will be on the 3rd Sunday of the month, and Social rides, the following Saturday.

** Ride organizers: Please check the details of your ride and let me know of any changes.

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

It is the personal responsibility of each motorcyclist to be responsible for at least the following;

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

THE CAT	Cats do what they want. They rarely listen to you. They're totally unpredictable. When you want to play, they want to be alone. When you want to be alone, they want to play. They expect you to cater to their every whim. They're moody. They leave hair everywhere
CONCLUSION: ----- They're tiny women in little fur coats.
THE DOG	Dogs spend all day sprawled on the most comfortable piece of furniture in the house. They can hear a package of food opening half a block away, but don't hear you when you're in the same room. They can look dumb and lovable all at the same time. They growl when they are not happy. When you want to play, they want to play. When you want to be alone, they want to play. They leave their toys everywhere. They do disgusting things with their mouths and then try to give you a kiss! They go right to your crotch as soon as they meet you.
CONCLUSION: ----- They're tiny men in little fur coats.

Newsletter of the

August 2003

August 2003

What’s Inside

Bevan

AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION (QLD) INCORPORATED

21^st September

*The Bear's Necessities*
	Tech Tips for the GoldWing from Rob Harriss

Newsletter of the

August 2003

August 2003

What’s Inside

Bevan

AUSTRALIAN WING RIDERS ASSOCIATION (QLD) INCORPORATED

21st September

21^st September