I got a buzz to see my Honda was the feature photo on the US based VFR discussion website over the weekend.

Here is a screen shot from the website.

This is the original pic with a bit of post production.

Road & River

I went to see Peter the owner of Road & River on Saturday morning for a new front tyre for the VFR. I wound up getting another Michelin Pilot Power. It turned out that I needed some new front disc pads as well, which Peter was able to do there and then for me.

I can highly recommend R&R for personalised service, perfect for those of us who want a specialist motorcycle business and don't like the bland, impersonal "K Mart" type of experience that the big bike shops all seem to offer now. Road & River is also an authorized MV Agusta and Husqvarna dealer, so I just love to drool over those bikes while I'm there.

Have a good look at these things - they are "art" on 2 wheels. If only I could win the lottery!

It was the Genesis

Originally I started this post referring to a song from 70's Aussie band "Chain". I just heard a song on the radio that was actually a better "fit". Good old Neil sang it best,

"One of these days,
I'm gonna sit down
and write a long letter
To all the good friends I've known
And I'm gonna try
And thank them all
for the good times together".

In the early 1970's I met a group of like-minded guys who did not give a crap about Aussie rules football like everyone else did - they shared my passion for motorcycles. It was also just the time I was just old enough to begin to exercise some freedom and independance.

Thanks to Steve for many of these images, reproduced from the slide collection of his late father, Ron Kelly, who catalogued much of our youth with his camera. They reflect a great many very happy memories from a period in time that was the genesis of our love for motorcycling. Thirty+ years on and we are all still pretty keen motorcyclist in one form or another.


L --> R: Steve, Col , Jules, Rod, Keith

Steve, Rod, Jules, Andy

None were licensed to ride, but ride they did! Just home after a bit of "dog rattlin".


Steve's Honda CB750 four, which I later bought.

Andy's Ducati GT750 circa 1974

My Suzuki 550, late 1973
Same bike in 1974
Rod McRae's Kawasaki Z900, circa 1977

Jules Kawasaki Z1R, Christmas 1979

" My friends are scattered
Like leaves from an old maple.
Some are weak, some are strong"

Neil Percival Young.