Wrench'n Ride'n

Today I fired up the GPS and plotted a course that would take me to Leura without having to use too much of the Great Western Highway. This Highway becomes a car park on weekends as Sydneysiders head west for a day out in the mountains. So looking at Google maps I saw some minor roads that take you along side the Highway. Plotted these into my GPS, camera around my neck off I go on the BMW. The road surface is broken up in places. Potholes with lots of gravel strewn across the road. It is very narrow at times. Care must be exercised with on coming cars on your side of the road. Sometimes you feel like you are on a roller coaster. The views are amazing. Old homes of all sorts abound. Derelict buildings of long ago stand in places declaring how grand they must have been. You miss the current road works between Lawson and Wentworth Falls. Speaking of Wentworth Falls the route takes you past Wentworth Falls Lake. Looks to be a great spot for a picnic. The wind was roaring across the lake ...

A ride was arranged for last Sunday by Shelley. With her friends Paul and Kay. To Wisemans Ferry pub for lunch. How could I say no to that? This pub has been in many photos on this blog. Sunday morning is bright and clear. Off up the road a howl is heard growing in volume. The closer it gets the louder this exhaust howl is. Then Paul and Kay come around the corner. “Is it a Honda 750?.... No it’s a CBX1000...” No wonder it is making such a wonderful noise. Paul’s customer painted, to match his Shoei helmet, CBX1000 runs a six into six exhaust system. I want to ride behind him just to listen to concert that is these pipes. Paul has more than one CBX1000. Way more than one. I am introduced and then off we go. Up onto Hawkesbury Road. The CBX is behind me. It is just as loud behind as it is in front I would find out. I am sure that riding this bike past a cemetery would have an affected on the dearly departed buried there. It is so wonderfully loud. So 1970s loud. When no one whined about...

Not my write up. I nicked it from http://www.retrothing.com/2009/08/the-art-deco-bmw-motorcycle-that-time-forgot.html What an amazing looking BMW Prototype. In fact BMW have restored this bike and I have seen photos of it being ridden. Looks like it came right out of a Batman movie. The sheer beauty of the BMW R7 prototype takes my breath away. A single copy was crafted in 1934 by design engineer Alfred Böning. His vision was a departure from the “bicycle with motor” design still prevalent in the 1930s. The R7 incorporated sweeping enclosed bodywork, a pressed steel frame, valanced mudguards and then-innovative telescopic front forks. The R7’s beauty was more than skin deep, however. The transmission featured an ‘H’ pattern hand shifter and the 800c Boxer engine crafted by Leonhard Ischinger was decades ahead of its time. The revolutionary engine includes a forged, single piece crankshaft. The cylinder housing is a monoblock with a hemispherical combustion chamber, eliminating the nee...