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Every year it’s the same, the week before the annual IRONZ rally you
think you’re ready to go and something happens. This year for me I had a
valve jam open which meant pulling both the barrels and getting them
around to one of the countries leading Indian gurus for repairs. As
usual Perry Moore was busy with plenty of Indians all lined up needing
something repaired but he came through and made me some new valve
guides, got the valves in and had it running sweetly ready for departure
Friday morning.
The first meeting place was Springfield, about 1 hour west of
Christchurch where there should have been about 8 Indians meeting,
however there were just the 3 of us, one on a 1948 Chief, my 741b and a
741b racer that had a number plate bolted to it so it looked sort of
legal on the road!|
Being a weekday there wasn’t too much traffic on the road and we all had
a good ride up into the mountains where we stopped at Arthurs Pass for
some gas and a bit of lunch. While stopped Paddy Snowdon checked the oil
in his chief and found he had more than when he started, that’s odd.
When checking it closer it was obvious petrol had been getting through
from the other half of the tank so it was decided to put the chief onto
the back of the support vehicle and fix it once in Greymouth. Luckily
the support vehicle also had a support bike on the back of it and Paddy
could continue the riding on his 1937 Sport Scout. Next stop was
Jacksons, a historic old pub that has recently been reopened, where we
had a couple of beers and meet up with a group of posties that were
raising money for charity by riding push bikes over the mountain pass –
good on them but the motorbikes make life much simpler!
When we arrived at the camp site in Greymouth half of the rally goers
were already there and, after registering at the teepee, we parked our
bikes with the others and started to greet our Indian friends.
Once again, a good collection of Indians spanning a number of years.
There were Chiefs, 741s, Scouts, Powerplus, even a couple of oddities
like a 741b with fully valanced fenders, a chout and a home made
special. After the BBQ had been eaten and a few beers consumed some
rally goers adjourned to the beach where we lit a bonfire and sat around
talking Indians into the small hours.
Saturday started off with a hearty cooked breakfast and debrief on the
days activities, first of which was a ride up the coast to Punakiki
where the famous blowholes are. It’s always good to ride in a big group
and with about 50 old Indians snaking our way along the road on a fine
sunny morning it doesn’t get much better. Due to the great weather the
blowholes weren’t blowing so it was a sit in the sun in the superb
environment answering questions from the crowd of public who had
gathered to look at all the old iron.
The lunch stop was a short ride back down the road to the Rata Café
where all the bikes lined up in the car park made a great photo – see if
you can pick the 2 impostors. The food was good, the beer cold and the
views out to the Tasman Sea spectacular but it was time to head back to
the campsite for our afternoons challenges.
Roger Devlin (rally organiser) had arranged for the airstrip to be
closed for a couple of hours which meant we could have some more fun.
Each rider had to negotiate 4 obstacles, a newspaper toss, slow race,
plank ride and ball toss with times and scores being kept to see who had
the best handling skills out of us all – these events were won by Eddie
(Mayfield) on his trusty 741b.
Now it was time for the main event with side by side drag racing down
the airstrip for a measured ¼ mile.
This was a great idea to see who really did have the worlds fastest
Indian. The riders were roughly split into size categories with 500cc
(30.50 inch) capacity running against each other in a knockout format
that saw winners progressing to the next round. Then the same for those
on 600cc (37 inch) machines, 750cc (45inch) and then the big boys.
Hamish (Gore) ended up with the fastest 741 with a final speed of
something like 45mph on a bike that had an engine in pieces Friday
morning and Paddy (Christchurch) on his Chief was fastest overall with
some fine opposition put up by T-Rex (Wellington) on his
modified 741b
street racer and Justin (Rangiora) on his 750cc bears race bike
.
Thanks have to go to Rogers team of flag marshals, ambulance crew and
airport people for helping to run this. Thanks also to the couple of
hundred members of the public who showed up to see us have a laugh and
thrash our bikes all in the name of good fun.
Saturday night was time for a sit down meal followed by the AGM and
prize giving with acknowledgement to 7 IRONZ members who had been with
the club from the start, 21 years ago. Later some entertainment was
provided by feral locals dealing out shots reputed to cure all things
that ailed you. Then it was back to the campsite and another bonfire on
the beach for some and more talk of things Indian.
Sunday morning was a slow start for some but another breakfast got us
back in the mood for riding home. Time came soon enough to pack things
up and say our farewells with talk already for next years event up in
the Wairarapa.
 
Those of us heading back to the east coast got ourselves organised and
headed off as a group for what turned out to be an uneventful ride home
– biggest problem was the steepness of the pass through the mountain
that saw me down to 1st gear for some of it and hot brakes coming down
the other side. There was no rush so the 3.5 hour ride ended up taking
most of the day as it was interspersed with a couple of stops along the
way to take in the scenery and have a refreshing ale.
Once again a weekend away with the Indian riders was an enjoyable one.
Great company from a group of people with the common interest of old
bikes and having a laugh. Thanks go to Roger and Irene Devlin and their
helpers for organising the weekend with us all looking forward to 2007.
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