Ken R wrote:
Not sure what you mean Ken. If it is the thing on the rhs of the photo that is a camera strap. The photo was a friends. I borrowed it and got a poster print made. I did not have the original so I took a (poor) photo of the poster with a digital camera.

Phil thankyou ... that's a great read, what an adventure! Would love to see some photos...You mention a website where there is footage, but I couldn't find it - is there a specific web address?
Ian I wanted a Super Pioneer too! Never owned one, but always liked the Ossas, I had a Phantom for a while and my older brother had the SDR (from John Burrows, another great character...) and then a Desert Phantom! Also I have to say, bring back the Belstaff! Great photo and I think you should hand over your slides to Serge so we can all see them......!?!
More please Frankie... I have a couple more to post too...
Cheers all, Simon J.

John Burrows was an AMTRA member. Top guy unless you could not ride up a hill then he proceeded to whack you with a big stick for being incompetent Mike Burrows, Johns younger brother is an AMTRA life member. I rode many times with both although much more with Mike. 

Not quite a riding memory but to do with riding. Before O ring chains the best chain care was to boil your chain in a grease compound. I used to use Duckams. A semi solid horrible black grease that melted at low temp. The tins were around 300 mm diameter and around 70 mm high with a handle to carry it. I was melting this on my mothers new stove in the kitchen but when it was done the chain had moved to one side and the tin was unbalanced. When I picked it up the  whole lot tipped out into the new stove. It took days to get it all out from the nooks and crannies as it solidified quite quickly. I was not popular for quite a while after that. 

Ian I remember the Duckams, I was always trying one chain oil or another trying to get the chain to last longer...Of course it was never a problem if you rode a Bultaco Matador with fully enclosed drivetrain, and which stayed in place when you removed the rear wheel... fantastic!

This photo was taken by AMTRA member Peter Hartman near Enoch's Point Easter 1976... I wonder if anyone remembers him, (later on Peter rode a slightly unreliable Husky 175...) This ride was probably my first experience of proper trail riding so another memorable ride... We spent the Easter weekend riding all around Jamieson and Woods Point, Mount Terrible and  the Lazarini Spur Track up to Mt Skene with a couple of river crossings on the way...Even though it was Easter we hardly saw a soul - the bush was much quieter back then I think..We both had Bultaco Matadors, Peter a Mk4 and me a Mk5. Mine had a mounting point above the right-hand footpeg for a can of "Finilec" (puncture repair foam and compressed air) which thankfully I never had to use, I don't think it was much good...The leather lunchbox on the Matodor's fuel tank was great to hold spare sparkplugs, a couple of bags (yes plastic bags, that's how it came...) of Valvoline 2-stroke oil, tools etc...
An old canvas haversack with lunch and some more spare sparkplugs and off you go!
I wish I had more photos but this is the best I can do..
 

It's so cool to hear these stories. Here's mine. 



My folks place in QLD backed onto a playground, an unused state forest. It was old logging country with a full trail network. Most of the time we would ride push bikes around.....


However my mate down the road was steadily acquiring old hand me down Moto's from his very kind but slightly oddball Uncle. They ranged from shite to totally rooted, but were none the less free and a lot faster than pedalling.

At our disposal we had,

• Several Yamaha DT 175's running/ not running but definitely decaying
• A Suzuki road bike (never running, but could be either sat on or provide a useful bolt or two)
• A Kawasaki mini bike with handle bars that looked like Rams horns, auto clutch, sounded great with exhaust removed
• Yamaha mx 100 'The prettiest but the shittiest' 

Out of these the best one was clearly the black frame/ red tank Yami DT 175. It ran especially good after we fixed the rusted expansion chamber with coke cans and wire.


One weekend Uncle came down with another contraption to add to the arsenal. This was the best yet - a fully rebuilt Yam DT 175 motor shoe-horned into a Suzuki RM 80 frame! She came to be affectionately known as 'nugget' or 'piggie' out of respect for her proportions and robustness.

Anyway Uncle suggested I take her out on the maiden voyage and I was happy to oblige. We were cruising along, Uncle leading on his personal favourite backyard build - RM250 frame/ DT 175 engine. Lil piggie was steady and I was enjoying the lower seat height. We got onto a flowing track and built up some speed and rhythm. The track dipped into a shallow bog hole.....just before the mud and without any notice the rear completely locked up! The situation exceeded my ability, so out of control the bike layed over, slid through the mud and sent me tumbling off into the bush.

Uncle arrived on the scene, dusted me off and told me that sometimes it could jump out of top gear back into 2nd/1st. Duly noted. I continued on with the thrill, white knuckling in the higher gears. 




Some 15yrs later I decided to buy my first bike and get into trail riding because I had so much fun. A lot of us probably have an 'Uncle' who showed us this great world of tinkering, being out in bush and doing it with good crew......

Thanks to all of them out there 

Great stuff Joe! When you're starting off, a few minor mechanical gremlins don't bother you much... My first bike, an old Yamaha HT-1 90cc,
had absolutely no fork internals so the fork was permanently bottomed out, also no kick start, so push-start every time!
Time for a sick day and another mid-week ride Joe!! Cheers, Simon J.

I love reading the old stories and mine goes back to about 1984 when on an AMTRA ride  and still learning the art of riding I went along on a two day ride up and around Wonnangatta. I had just purchased a new Honda XR250re, and wearing my Belstaff waxed cotton jacket and pants, Black/Yellow buckle up Rossie boots with the steel cap toe we rode into the station like warriors going to battle. I remember there were plenty of campers there and they had massed around the river entrance/exit point to watch the group cross the river.  Yep, your right, this was my first introduction to submarine riding. As I laid the new girl down in the cold flow of the river I do remember the yells and applaud, a fond memory indeed.
A more recent great memory I have is on one of Al Masons 2 day adventures a few years back, it was a long slog (wet, muddy, never ending) on the saturday before we made it to the scout camp to be greeted with hot showers and a home cooked meal. After the meal a few reds and with the wood heater pumping I turned to my mate Darren Holmes and said "its gotta be midnight" he looked at his watch and said "nah mate, its only 7.30" I've never been so exhausted but I loved those weekends.

Cheers, Lefty.

Lefty that made me laugh out loud... You party animal..! Any photos? We'll need a new thread - blokes in Belstaff... Cheers, Simon J.

simonj wrote:
Simon,
Peter was a good friend and I went on many rides with him.  When Peter joined AMTRA  he had an X L350. That Husky 175 was quick when it went. Peter broke his leg when he hit a stump hidden in the grass at a ride I put on at Glenpatrick in the Pyrenees. If you knew Peter you probably knew Laurie Power as well? He also had a Matador at the time. I lost contact when they both went to Sydney. I ran into Peter at the HCR we ran at Charnwood in the Strathbogies.  Peter was visiting a farm close by and saw all the bikes and wandered in to say hello.

An interesting story about Laurie. We went camping at Limestone Creek/Black Range one Easter in about 1975. Bloody long drive of around 5 hours to get there. Friday morning Lauries bike will start but as soon as you opened the throttle it stopped.  After lots of pushing and swearing we pulled the carby apart. Laurie had left the main jet sitting on a bench in the garage at his home. Someone had a spare Mikuni one and we made it fit so he could ride for the weekend. 

Simon,   Unfortunately with the rain and my carelessness my camera got wet and no pics!!.     However you should be able to view a lot of the trip, and certainly the bridges on google.      "Bam Road Siberia"
                Actually I have lots of pics from other places.     Try,  http://    tinyurl.com/MKB09Q2
Have fun,
Phil R.