Maldon

As many holiday makers are heading for the coast, we decided to head inland for a change. It was a magnificent mild summer's day in the mid 20's. We had lunch in the historic goldfields town of Maldon, having travelled via Blackwood, Trentham, Daylesford & Castlemaine. We left reasonably early & were home by mid afternoon. Approx 330 kms under blue skies. I will add a map when I get a chance later.




Stopped under some nice shady trees.

Drink, defrag & admire the motorcycles in Highton.

Visit to Tiger Angel

On Thursday 20 Dec Marty & I went to the Tiger Angel factory showroom for him to collect the jacket built to his specifications. Whilst the 'shopfront" is not that impressive, the critical thing about Tiger Angel is the excellent quality leathers that they manufacture and the personalised service from Steve Howden (the owner) and his assistant Julie. Oh, and the smell of new leather is brilliant! They have an excellent web site (see my links) where you can design your own colour scheme and custom features for your gear. Julie also mentioned that our VFR800 riding mate Terry had been in on Monday to collect his new pants.

Race leathers after 275 kph get off. Nothing beats the abrasion resistance of leather.
Nice jacket Marty.


Here are some pics of the world's 2nd best motorcycle leathers - it's just a bloody long way from Aust to pick up though!

On the 8th day of summer .....

Some grumpy old men went riding - except they weren't actually grumpy at all! They were very happy as they had all the ingredients for a grand day of motorcycling - perfect weather, twisty roads, mates and each had their motorcycle of choice!

Andy from Ballarat, Jules, and Marty (who was just back from China) left from Geelong to hook up at Steve's near Colac. The 4 of us travelled to Lavers Hill for an early lunch. We then went along the GOR to Apollo Bay, then on to Lorne. Pulled up at the Grand Pacific Hotel with its million dollar views. Didn't have any booze, just Cokes. We then headed inland to Deans Marsh, where we split up & headed home. It was a great mixture of riding and socializing amongst old and valued friends.

Some motorcycles.
Steve's Commando
Andy & Commando


Relaxing in Lorne on the veranda of the Pacific Hotel - believe it or not, but not a single drop of oil was left in the car park!.

This is the Manx replica I was telling you about Steve.

From Bernie Allen

Hot notherly

Day 2 (date stamp is wrong) of summer turned out to be pretty damned hot! It always seems worse when a hot day comes out of the blue after quite a cool week. I just went for a quick spin to Gellibrand via Deans Marsh. It was quite a contrast to last weekend's riding. I took a few pics on the way there - here is a few of them.

There were lots of bikes out today.

Now that I'm home it's 33C here by the coast. It felt hotter inland around Colac, especially in full leathers!
It struck me that the VFR is quite a narrow bike when viewed from behind.



Had a chat with a couple in Gellibrand - him on the ZZR1200 & her on the Sprint. Nice folks who invited me to ride back to Colac with them.

Apostle Whey

Had a great day out today. Went down and voted early, fired up the Honda and headed off to Colac, collected Steve with his recently rebuilt Norton and headed towards the 12 Apostles again via the back roads through Carlisle River. We stopped in at Apostle Whey, a cheese making place just inland from the Great Ocean Road. Tasted some great cheeses and purchased some Camembert to enjoy tonight.
It's springtime and the countryside just looks magnificent at present.



We got onto the Great Ocean Road and headed back to Lavers Hill for a drink and a chat - but no Coke! Blue skies and little traffic made for a great run back to Colac. The bush smelt terrific and the sun warmed us. Had to stop at Gellibrand to get the caffeine levels up.

Short ride to Lorne via Deans Marsh

Took a short ride today. Damn it was hot - just out of the blue.

Saw this nice example of a Suzuki TLR at Deans Marsh - I've always liked these things despite poor magazine reviews in the past.


The bike is a credit to you - Keith of Clifton Springs!

Spring in the Otways

Thanks to Marty our Tassie trip for February 2008 is now sorted - the ferry is booked as is the accomodation. The last time we went touring Tasmania, back in 2004, we didn't book any accomodation in advance and we often found we were struggling to find something at the end of the day. Tassie after the school holidays was much busier than we had anticipated. There will be five of us in total on a variey of machines - VFR800 x 2, ZX9 x 1, ZX12 x 1, & Buell x 1.

I saw a link on STN recently to a great ride report from a guy from the US who toured through NSW, Tasmania and Vic on a Guzzi. There is good description and some beautiful pics - it's well worth a read at this link

Today was a glorious spring day. Marty and I fired up the two bikes and some twisty roads awaited us - what a great start to the weekend. We did the Otways circuit again. Incidentally the Great Ocean Road is still closed between Lorne and Skenes Creek due to rock falls from 150mls of rain last weekend. There was plenty of evidence of last weekend's storms by way of toppled trees and debris on the road. We stopped at Gellibrand for a drink and to clean the bugs from our visors. I've become fond of stopping here - nice down to earth people, who always have time for a chat.


Approaching Apollo Bay a huge sea mist rolled in. The temp gauge on the Honda dropped 10 degrees C. Fortunately it was sunny in the main street. A pastie from the bakery was just right for lunch.

The Skenes Creek to Forrest Rd was in poor condition after last week's rain. Lots of gravel & clay strewn across corners, which was quite hard to see in the shaded corners - with dark visors!
Of all things, there was a damn speed camera car parked in the shade in the middle of nowhere, on the only good stretch of road actually. This stealthy revenue raising has nothing to do with road safety at all and was farsical considering the poor state of the roads we had just ridden. How parasitic to come revenue raising inland because the GOR was closed. I just hope the State Gov.t spend some of those $s on fixing the roads around the Otways at some stage.

Colac Otways Region; Sat 20 October

Marty & I took a ride through the Otways along part of the Great Ocean Road, then back over the ranges. It's a pretty familiar 300 km+ circuit to us - but nonetheless magnificient every time. The weather is always different as are the road conditions and people we meet. It was a magnificient Spring day - all blue sky and virtually no wind.


We called in at the Otway Estate Vineyard as we were dining there later that night with out families and friends the Kellys & Fosters (see earlier Norton Commando & BSA pics). I took a few pics of the sculptures in the gardens as I really like some of them.
Check out the tools used to make them - really interesting and creative.

Stopped off at Gellibrand store for a drink and a chat then continued on to Apollo Bay via the GOR. Hardley any traffic going our way so we made really good time.

In Apollo Bay we saw a dozen or so women on Harleys doing a GOR trip as part of a breast cancer awareness promotion. I think that these riders were all breast cancer survivors. Some of their riding was being filmed so I wouldn't be surprised to see them on TV soon.

Andy's BSA 500 cc

Andy emailed me some pics of his BSA 500 that he has been restoring. Congratulations Andy, it looks magnificent. I can't wait to see it in the flesh. How about a ride?


1949 BSA 500cc

View Larger Map

Went for a great run from Geelong to Colac, Lavers Hill along the Great Ocean Road to Lorne via Apollo Bay. It was another great spring day with a clear blue sky, but just a bit cool at approx 13-15C and probably colder in the hills.

It was Marty's first run on his new Kawasaki ZX9. His grin in the pic below tells the story!

Is a new tyre blogworthy? Probably not, but this is the first dual compound tyre I've had so I will be interested to see how long it lasts and how the grip compares with the Pilot Power that came off. The Power did just just 5,800 klms (approx 3,400 miles) but was without doubt the best I've ever had. What I really liked was the way it didn't square off, even when just about worn out.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the Michelin Pilot Road 2 CT rear. I have a Pilot Power single compound on the front. I got a really good deal from Peter at Road & River Motorcycles. They offer friendly service and without a doubt have the best range of tyres at the best prices around here. See Road & River

SATURDAY 8 September, springtime in Oz. I woke up to a magnificient spring day, perfect for motorcycling. I met Steve down in Colac and we headed for the 12 Apostles. We stopped just out of Colac to check out the Otway vineyard & restaurant as the next venue for our group of friends to get together for dinner.

Otway Vineyard, a stylish venue with friendly staff.


This is near Loch Ard Gorge, along what is referred to as the "shipwreck coast". A famous wreck was the Loch Ard, you can read about it by clicking this link.

http://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/page.asp?ID=245


12 Apostles - in name only. This day was about as good as it gets down there with no wind and a comfortable temperature for motorcycling. Often it's either blowing a gale or unbearable hot.


355 ks, another grand day.