Geoff Barton was tragically killed while leading the MTCV Inverloch ride, Sunday 10^th June. He struck a car and died instantly, about 4 km south of Warragul (near Bull Swamp), a short while after the lunch stop. About 20 members attended the funeral service on Friday 15^th at the Uniting Church, Poowong, acting as pall bearers. It is estimated that between 300 and 400 people attended the service, an indication of the high esteem he was held in the local and wider community. He was 60 years old. Our deepest sympathies are extended to his family and friends, particularly his wife Marge. See elsewhere in the magazine for further tributes.

The MTCV Home Page has taken 357 hits during June and 8988 since April 1996. See more information such as magazine articles in the Members-only section. Use the web page to print out your subscription renewal if you lose the one at the back of the magazine.

Road Conditions Reporting Line: (03) 9854-2899 where motorcyclists can report road conditions and give suggestions for improvement on any road in Victoria. Vicroads now has an email address for the same purpose: [email protected]

Club Participant of the Year is starting again. Points are awarded for attending a ride or function such as a Club Meeting or Social Sip (1 point), leading a ride (extra point) and doing rear riding duties (extra point), as well as for writing contributions for the Club Magazine (limit 2 points per magazine). The usual suspects are already leading the charge.

Seen at the new format Social Sip held on June 7^th were Bruce Saville, Danny Vits, Peter Philferan, Ian Payne, Tim Walker, Ron Johnston, Ray Walker, Danny Kosinski Ric Brabin, Dianne Welsford, Geoff Barton, Martin Quinn, Davorin Zivkovic, Rhys Williams, Bradley Cain, Jon Riddett, Les Leahy, Rob Langer, Kirsten Anderson, Rob Matricciani, Mandy Flower, and John Francy. A total of 22 members and friends. The renovations to the Elgin Hotel have certainly transformed the old pub into a trendy eating house. Even the menu has been upgraded. The burgers & chips are out and the likes of "sauteed grain-fed poultry with vegetable couscous" are in! Come along and experience the new Elgin with your fellow members.

Jack Youdan has sold both his Moto Guzzi Sport 1100S and his Honda CBX1000 ('82ish six cylinder collectors' item) and purchased a new, big, black BMW R1150GS. Go Jack!

Annual subscriptions are now over due. Please fill out the form at the back of this magazine and forward your cheque to the post office box below. The Club is a non-profit organisation - currently we are trying to stop making a loss! Members are the life-blood of the Club. Without you we will not survive. Last year our membership increased by nearly ten percent. This is an excellent result considering the number of leisure activities competing for our time and disposable income. Thanks to the members. Note: this is your last magazine if you are unfinancial.

The Club has a new post office box number. Our new postal address is PO Box 4132, Melbourne University PARKVILLE VIC 3052. Our old one will still work for a year or so.

Paul Tallents is now aboard a 1997 Fireblade. Reluctantly, he picked up a damaged one at a very low price, and has rebuilt it wth a view to selling it. He now finds it so good to ride - power, stability, handling - he intends keeping it. Hence his YZF600 is now up for sale.

Ben and Julie Warden headed north for a 16 days holiday early June visiting Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon and the gorges near Alice Springs. Running away from home, they endured a very pleasant 23 degrees most days, and the occasional frost over night. They avoided the rains which caused flooding at Coober Pedy, Dalhousie Springs and cut the Oodnadatta Track in a couple of places, stranding various overseas tourists, thereby making the national news.

Travelling around 6,750 km in the car, there were a couple of exciting moments. Heading for Ayers Rock nearing the end of a long day's drive, they suffered a smashed windscreen when hit by a shower of rocks from an on-coming vehicle when it left the road to avoid cyclists and lost control. The paintwork also took a beating and the headlight protector was smashed. The only other drama was when they got bogged in thick sand trying to cross the Finke River, heading along a 100 km dirt "short-cut" from King's Canyon back to the highway and Alice. Though saving 140 km it took an extra 1.5 hours and a distinctly smelly clutch plate. A station-wagon full of Danish tourists helped dig and push them out, a little too exuberantly, resulting in a pushed-in boot. Ooops.

Another highlight was getting mixed up amongst with the Finke Desert Rally thousand or so competitors who effectively took over Alice Springs for the weekend. We watched the time trials for starting positions that consisted of a six kilometre loop finishing in a spectator viewing area. Four wheel ag bikes, buggies, cars, trail bikes, side cars, sedans, utes, 2 strokes, 4 strokes. You name it, it was there. Plenty of spectacular near misses and crashes in dusty conditions. Day 1 of the race, 230 km down to Finke, was run in the dry. Day 2 was run in the wet. There were an enormous number of "casualties" man and machine on both days. Bikes filled the first three places.

First time rider Rob Wallace crashed his YZF600 on Sunday's Kinglake Ride (1^st July) near the Toolangi intersection. He overcooked it mid-corner and ended up in the bushes. The bike suffered bent forks and other serious fairing damage but the rider walked away. A relative with a ute picked the bike up. We know Rob from the Christmas Camp at Bright where he and his family stay in an on-site van each year over the same Christmas to New Year period as the Club. He joined us last year for a few rides around the place, particularly up and down Mt Buffalo. We wish Rob and machine speedy recoveries and look forward to seeing them back on a Club ride.

Ben Warden won the Castlemaine Fuel Economy Ride held on Sunday 27^th May. Ron Johnston did the article but unfortunately the Editor forgot to print it! It went up on the web with the rest and appears in hard copy this month. Sorry about that Ron. Pressure of life and all that.

Greg Hales whilst out dirt bike riding with a few other members (Rob Langer, Craig Morley, Rob Matricciani) a couple of weeks ago, had a slow speed crash that resulted in a broken collarbone. It was quite embarrassing according to Greg! Not the crash itself but having to ask Rob Langer to undress and dress him for the trip home!

In an effort to promote the 500GP bikes, the Grand Prix Corporation has created a Motorcycle Liaison Officer, Marisa Rose. She is very enthusiastic about the role and has contacted most bike clubs so promotional literature and special deals can be aimed directly at the motorcyclist. Marisa is well versed in bikes as she owns and rides a late model GSXR600 and partner Cameron is an instructor for the "Superbike School" and races an R1 in Formula Extreme. We intend to have Marisa as our guest speaker at the September Meeting, Club Hall, Inglesby Rd, Camberwell.

The Priya Munasinghe story (so far). He had an old Suzuki GSXR750 F which he crashed and crashed and crashed until it finally cried "Enough!". He traded that in on a 2000 model GSXR600 that he then wrote off in a head-on with a Hayabusa on the Reefton. With the left-over money from that economic disaster he purchased a second hand '88 twin headlight GSXR750 J. Recently he demolished that when a mono went horribly wrong on the Eastern Freeway (of all places), apparently witnessed by Rob Matricciani driving past. That bike is now back on the road as a single headlight mongrel, as of Monday 2^nd July. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Good luck Priya.

President Payne got a bit of a shock after replacing his Fireblade's front sprocket and chain in that the grinding noise, thought to be the worn chain, was still there! It turned out a rear wheel bearing was the culprit. Fortunately motorcycles now use standard seals and bearings so the cost of two new bearings and a seal was just over $24.

The BMW Motorcycle Club Icicle Ride 2001 is on this weekend, July 7^th/8^th. An open invitation is extended to all members of VMC affiliated Clubs. (We used to be.) The ride is a navigational rally (or mystery ride) where participants receive an instruction sheet that directs them to various stops. At the finish will be a delicious breakfast and Icicle Ride Badge. The ride is held at night during winter, on sealed roads. For further information contact Theo Cehun, Ride Coordinator on Phone: 9497-4821 or email: [email protected] Some of our Club members have been known to attend this event. The ride distance is between 300 and 350 km with a couple of stops.

Ben Warden amused himself last Saturday pulling apart the front forks of his Fireblade to change the fork oil after 18,000 km. They are complicated up-side-down forks with the measurement level of oil being 90 mm from the top of the fork with the spring out and the damper rod in, ie disassembled and partly reassembled. I put extra oil (85 mm from the top) to decrease the air gap a smidge, and hence increase the spring effect. I used 5 wt Castrol fork oil, and Sport Rider magazine settings of 1.5 turns out from full (rebound) and 1 turn out from full hard compression. It felt ultra stable on Sunday and fixed the bottoming out over bumps.

While I was there I checked the steering head bearings which felt pretty notchy. As suspected they are roller ball bearings designed for a very light feel to the steering, but not longevity. They are destined to be replaced shortly with a set of tapered roller bearings which should last much longer. I regreased the originals and tightened them up very carefully. They may have been over tightened from new. The rear shock is also about to come in for some attention.

After Sunday's ride Craig Morley headed back to Red Wing Honda West Heidelberg to check out the sale and to commit to purchasing a new 2001 Fireblade. The demo ride on Saturday left him dribbling and weak kneed. Welcome to the Honda Club Craig. Meanwhile Ray Walker, Di Welsford and Ben Warden, and later Craig turned up in Paul Tallents's lounge room to watch the Misano GP replay at 3.30 pm with the Italian mafia fighting out the top three positions - Biaggi, Rossi, and Caprirossi. Excellent race, but shortened by three laps due to rain. Thanks Paul for your hospitality.

Australian Motorcycle Expo, 31^st August to 2^nd September at Melbourne Show Grounds

On the spot fines for speeding and traffic light offenses will increase by 20 percent on July 1^st 2001 "as part of the state Governments commitment to reducing Victoria's road toll." Nothing to do with revenue raising. For example, 0-15km/h over goes from $105 to $125, 15-30 $165 to $200, 30-40 $220 to $265, 40-50 $300 to $360, 50 plus $360 to $430, red light camera $165 to $200.