A long long ride

A bit of an introduction

A long time ago now, 1964, on a motor cycle many of you will not have heard
of, a 1951 AJS 350 cc, 1951 model with jam pot rear springing, I did some
trips.

I was born in Adelaide and did quite a bit of riding my motor cycle around
the Murray area (Renmark etc) plus a trip to Melbourne I also rode it to
Woomera as well as in and around Adelaide.

I then took my AJS over in NZ with me. I lived in Wellington for a year and
toured both the North and South Islands on it. I can tell you that the
desert road between Wellington and Auckland can get very cold.

Spent some time in Rotorua visiting the volcanic wonderland in the North
Island, and enjoyed the scenery in the South Island

I left there and took the bike to England with me, and spent 18 months in
England. Did a few trips in the South of England on it, and one up to the
midlands in the middle of winter and found the dangers of black ice on the
road.

I rode it over the Simplon pass in Switzerland to Rome and back, getting my
fingers a bit frostbitten in the process, never the less a great trip.

Finally I rode it to Calcutta in India, via France, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia
Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India, before returning home.

I had to leave my trusty steed in India and I could not get a boat home and
had to fly.

It was a eye opening trip for me, and I am very glad I did it.

I have ridden a bit in the USA as a friend had a couple of motor cycles and
was kind enough to lend me one. He lives in San Diego and we rod up to LA
and also did a trip to Palm Springs. I rode both his BMW (75.6) and his 1000
cc Kawasaki.

I now have a Kawasaki 1200 cc Ninja, and ride around Cairns and adjacent
areas.

I have not done any real long trips on that, the longest was down to
Townsville (About 340 Km away) for the Ulysses Annual General meeting
earlier this year.

I am very impressed with the pick up speed of the Kawasaki, and quite happy
with it.

===========================

 

How pleasant it is to read such a nice story about bike riding
No bitching, no moaning, no backbiting.
Bad luck about having to leave the bike
I picked one of those up in the local tip a few years ago
thought it might be helpful for parts.

 

Agreed, but there might be a bit of trees-leaves involved here - I
find the signal/noise ratio in this group to be quite acceptable. It's
often entertaining, and there is a lot of good shared experience
hidden among the dross.

 

Philistine !!!

He obviously meant the R75/6, a fucking CLASSIC !!!!

http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/photopages/photosr75-6.htm


Onya bike...

Gerry

 

Sorry I could not remember and rang the friend in the USA and he said that
was the bike. I know that the Kawasaki 1000 was a much bigger bike and I
prefered to ride it as that model BMW had very clunky gears.


I prefer shaft drives, to chain drives having had lots of problems on my AJS
with chains and I was considering a BMW when I bought my Kawaski Ninja, but
there were none around, so I setteled for a chain drive again, but so far no
problems, I guess chains have got better over the years. I do not like the
idea of belt drives, no reason, just do not like the idea.

I drink Gold or Guinness........Also very partial to a Coopers Stout, served
icy cold.

 

I really had no option, low of funds and no boat available, so I had to
leave it there, a pity, but what could I do?