Motoguzzimackers' Moto Guzzi Diaries

Chinaman’s Bend, Toolleen.

Weekend run to Bright and back.  I’ve always wanted to take this pic of old bush ingenuity, next to the Hume Freeway near Euroa.  It probably became redundant when the freeway bisected the property decades ago.

Australia Day dawned “FAB, Scott” – sunny and windless.  So we did a loop out west, stopping at Newstead for a coffee.

The joint was jumping due to the Newstead Live Music Festival.  We chatted and listened to some music.  The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club rolled in – there was one good-looking bike amongst them:

We headed out over Tullaroop Dam to Clunes for lunch.

Leaving Clunes, we could see smoke in the distance and, as we entered the gullies approaching Daylesford, we could smell it and visibility was affected.  However, once through town it was obvious that the fire was well to the north of us, so we high-tailed home to put the butterflied Greek lamb on the barbie.  Happy Australia Day!

(The Bersaglieri Motociclisti rode the legendary Moto GuzziAlce (pronounced al-cheh), or Elk, introduced in 1938 for military use as reconnaissance and convoy escort.)

About three dozen bikes from the Moto Guzzi Club of Victoria converged on Marmalades for coffee prior to the run to Mansfield and Tolmie.

We packed out the Tolmie Tavern and the staff did a great job a catering for us all.

An easy 400km run in 35C heat!

Time to get away after the Christmas sloberama.  Pleasant mid-twenties temperatures and surprisingly little traffic.  So skirted around Kyneton to Malmsbury and up the old Calder to Castlemaine.  Then down to Daylesford and into Glen Lyon for a pie (Moroccan lamb) and muggachino.

Then over the Upper Coliban Reservoir – I was amazed to see it brimming and spilling over the spillway.

One doesn’t appreciate the significance of a full dam in summer until you’ve lived through a drought.

Home via the Shell servo at Carlsruhe. An easy 200km.

Warm day deserved a run, so headed up to Avenel to show the Chief the grave’s of Red Kelly – father of Ned Kelly – and Arthur Bayley, the founder of the Coolgardie goldfields (his huge monument was paid for by the grateful people of Western Australia).

Dropped into the local W.B.Gadd store for a squiz and a coffee.

Then on to Nagambie to check out the statue of Black Caviar, which won a world record 25 starts.

Dropped into The Jetty for lunch.  The service was very slow (we were the only customers!), the waitress couldn’t work the cash resister and had to resort to a calculator, the coffee was tepid and the bowl of chips wouldn’t have fed a 3-year old.   Nagambie has to do a lot of work to lift its game.

Save your money and go to W.B. Gadd in Avenel or to Wagner Bros Fine Food Store in Murchison!

Quick run home via Costerfield and Tooborac.

The fork oil hadn’t been changed for at least 30,000km, which is probably too long, but I never seemed to get around to it.  The Guzzi forks are similar to that of my Metal Stone and are easy to remove to replace the oil, so there’s no real excuse.

I drop the forks part of the way, then tighten the lower triple clamp, which acts as a vice so I can crack open the top fork cap.  Then drop them all the way out.

Take off the fork cap, remove the spring and spacer tube and drain.  The old oil which drained out looked like old dish washing water.  After a rinse with kerosene, I let the staunchions drain while cleaning up the legs and parts of the front of the bike which I can’t normally reach.

Four hundred ml of lovely red Motorex 10w fork oil then went into each leg.  Reinsert with the aid of a screwdriver to slightly lever open the triple clamps.

Taking the front end apart.

Dirty old fork oil.

Draining the forks after a rinse with kerosene.