Category Archives: Noticeboard

Noticeboard, Rides

Peninsula ride report (4 Nov 2017)

Mike Cowie reports on the Club ride down the Mornington Peninsula on Saturday, 4 Nov 2017:

The Peninsula Ride went well, even if the weather was a bit overcast and damp at the start!

See photos below, taken outside Andy Strapz’s shop in Seaford, which was the second stop of the day (the first stop was at Antique Motorcycles near Moorabbin Airport, which was after the main group rode down from the West Gate bridge meeting point).

We then rode on down to Balnarring for a lunch of lovely meat pies and coffee.

After lunch, with the weather on the improve, two of the guys, Paul and Jeff, decided the pace was too hectic and left the group to return home (or maybe they were just bored). They missed the best part of the ride!

[Actually, they got separated from the main group and headed off in the wrong direction, but still had a great ride after finding themselves on the southern side of Flinders].

We left Balnarring and headed up to the back of Arthurs Seat, then back down to Flinders, where I took a few more photos (below).

After Flinders, we headed down to Sorrento where the guys from the west of the city took the ferry across to Queenscliff , to ride home through Geelong.

The three of us that didn’t take the ferry went back to the city by another route and arrived home at 5-6pm.

I don’t know about the others, but I had a very enjoyable day, cruising about the Peninsula. There are some great roads down there, and the scenery is spectacular.

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Yamaha ends production of the SR400

Some sad news… Yamaha has announced that production of the SR400 has ceased, due to increasingly strict motorcycle exhaust gas regulations.

Production ceased in August, with the announcement being made on September 1.

A number of other Yamaha models have also been discontinued, such as VMAX, XJR 1300, V Star 250 & 400, XT 250, Tricker, and WR 250.

However, in more positive news, Yamaha also announced that they are working on the development of a successor model for the SR400 (but the release date has not yet been decided).

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Ellaspede SR400 tracker conversion kits

Ellaspede (a custom motorbike and lifestyle business in Brisbane) has just released two Tracker Conversion Kits for the Yamaha SR400.

The kits are designed to be easy enough to bolt on in an afternoon or evening to transform your standard Yamaha SR400 into a custom tracker!

The Seat Conversion Kit and the Complete Conversion Kit are designed for EFI SR400s, but may also be retro-fitted to any SR400 back to 1978. The kits have been designed to be 100% ‘bolt-on’, without the need for any frame modifications, which is beneficial to owners / home-builders who wish to retain factory frame warranties.

The Seat Conversion Kit includes:

  1. UV-rated vinyl seat in diamond pattern finish
  2. OEM-quality rear cowl made from automotive grade plastic
  3. Structural aluminium reinforcement mounting plate
  4. Integrated brake and tail light
  5. Ellaspede SR400 Ninja Star Licence Plate Kit with rear reflector and number plate light
  6. All required bolts and fasteners
  7. Easy plug and play electrics which don’t require cutting or soldering

The Complete Conversion Kit includes all of the above, plus:

  1. SR400 MX-style tracker handlebars
  2. Ellaspede SR400 tracker front guard
  3. GOODS Japan SR400 EFI muffler
  4. POSH speedometer
  5. Ikon Suspension tracker rear shocks
  6. Aftermarket tracker headlight
  7. POSH Chamfer indicators and brackets
  8. Aftermarket mirrors

The kits don’t require any specialist tools, welding, or your own personal mechanic to install! A basic set of hand tools is all you need to unbolt the standard parts and replace them. Customise your bike on a Saturday, and be out riding on Sunday!

The SR400 shown in the photos below (dubbed the ‘White Knight’) was designed to showcase the conversion. Ellaspede took it a little further and designed a Kenny Roberts / Yamaha speed block-inspired livery, and added a tracker front plate, but apart from that, the bike features the Seat Conversion Kit and many of the optional parts from the Complete Conversion Kit as well.

The Seat Conversion Kit rear cowl ships in a gloss black finish as standard, but the factory SR400 grey can be specified as an option at time of purchase. A range of Ellaspede SR400 Tracker sticker kits will also be available to quickly transform the standard grey finish into something a little more ‘racey’, much like applying new stickers to an MX or enduro bike.

The ‘White Knight’ has since been fitted with an Ellaspede SR400 Ninja Star Licence Plate Kit, headlight, indicators and mirrors, ready to hit the city streets and dirt roads around Brisbane!

Both conversion kits are currently being produced and will be ready for shipping from August 2017.

For more details, go to www.ellaspede.com or e-mail Ellaspede at contact@ellaspede.com

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First Aid for Motorcyclists

Victorian SR500 Club members Ryan and Tony Jones recently attended a ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ course, the cost of which is subsidised 50% ($42.50) by the Club for all financial members (see Noticeboard for details).

The course is very professionally run with two instructors and around ten course participants at our session. The lead instructor, Paul Ellis, is an Intensive Care Nurse at the Alfred Emergency & Trauma Centre in Melbourne and a Kawasaki Versys-riding motorcyclist. The course is well structured with a preamble covering their sponsors Maurice and Blackburn Lawyers, and the website motorbikewriter.com. The nitty gritty starts with an overview of motorcycle road trauma statistics around Australia covering when, why and where motorcyclists come to grief on the road. This is followed by brief presentation from a Maurice and Blackburn lawyer explaining the process involved in seeking compensation for accidental injury both within the TAC system and beyond in civil cases where further compensation is sought. 

The actual First Aid component of the course takes up the majority of the class and focuses on the real world situation where, as a rider, you have witnessed or perhaps come across an accident, and then it steps you through what you need to do to assist the injured people at the scene. This involved detailed sessions on:

  • First Aid responder action plan
  • Casualty management
  • Accident scene management
  • Emergency helmet removal

This was all really good information and we had plenty of ‘hands-on’ time learning how to approach and deal with injured riders, moving them to safety, getting them into the ‘recovery’ position, the correct method of full face helmet removal, CPR, and basic First Aid for bleeding, fractures, and burns. Participants are given some handy course material for future reference which includes a small card for your wallet which outlines what you have been taught. It was recommended that all motorcyclists should download onto their smartphone the free application ‘Emergency +‘ which has the emergency numbers you need, and very importantly, your exact GPS coordinates so you can tell the  emergency services exactly where you are located.

All things considered, the ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ course is thorough, well run, and highly recommended for all motorcyclists. It is not a comprehensive St Johns Ambulance-type course, but more of a ‘first responder’ program where you understand how to make the accident scene safe, call for help, make the injured comfortable, and where required, administer some basic First Aid, which may well save a life.

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New postal address!

Ever since it’s inception, the Club’s PO Box has been located in The Patch in the Yarra Ranges (which is where Club co-founder, Chris Manhal, happened to be living at the time).

The Club hasn’t had any members who live in The Patch for several years now (Chris included!), and we’ve had to rely on having mail redirected to the Club (the Treasurer lives 40-50 km away from The Patch!). This meant that there were often delays in the Club receiving mail from members (i.e. membership applications, renewals, merchandise requests, etc.).

The Club has decided to change the location of the PO Box to a location which is much more accessible to the Committee. So with immediate effect, our new address is:

PO Box 500, Braeside, VIC 3195

We will keep the PO Box at The Patch open until the end of the year, but please start using our new Braeside address from now on.

 

Noticeboard, Rides

Camp at Clunes report

On Saturday, 25 Feb 2017, a half dozen or so members of the Club enjoyed the hospitality of Russell & Christine at their home in Clunes (VIC).

Paul, Jeff, Tony & Craig met at the BP Truckstop at Rockbank at 9:30am as planned, and after coffee, proceeded at a leisurely pace up the Western Freeway to the Ballarat Swap Meet. There we found Andy, Colin, and Darren selling their wares! There were not too many bargains to be had (although Paul managed to pick up a Ford Mustang petrol cap as a memento for $5!). From the swap meet, it was only a short ride to Clunes.

At Russell’s & Christine’s house, we met up with Nick & J’nel, Manny, Chris Phillips, and Denver, and were taken on a tour of the expansive shed/workshop/man-cave which houses Russell’s & Christine’s motorbike collection, bar, table football, and pool table.

A plentiful & scrumptious dinner was provided by Russell & Christine and their neighbourhood friends, and we all had a very pleasant evening.

Paul, Jeff & Tony chose to ride back to Melbourne after dinner, whereas the rest of us stayed the night – sleeping in either the house, the caravan, or the campervan.

Sunday morning, after a yummy cooked breakfast, we all went our separate ways.

Unfortunately, Craig only made it about 35 km before getting a flat tyre near Bungaree. Valiant attempts by Manny to fix the puncture were unsuccessful, so Russell was kind enough to pick up Craig and return to Clunes (and subsequently organise a replacement tyre the following day).

Thank you Russell & Christine for your generous hospitality over the weekend!