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Newslysses Issue: 328 September 2011

Meet every Sunday for a breakfast run departing from Bimbo’s, 5th Avenue, Northmead Benoni, at 8:15am

Contact: Mike O’Donoghue: Cell: 084 581 9227 E-mail: mikeod1963@gmail.com Ulysses East Rand on the Web: www.ulyssessa.co.za/pages/chapters/gauteng/east-rand.php

================================================================== Planned Rides:( subject to change)

SEPTEMBER Date Venue Area

Sunday 18 Ndlovu lodge Swavelport (Pretoria East)

Sunday 25 Val Hotel Greylingstad

OCTOBER Date Venue Area

Sunday 2 Piatto (then Classics) Alberton (then Germiston)

Sunday 9 Premier Hotel Cullinan

Sunday 16 Lake Avenue Deneysville

Sunday 23 Kitty Hawk Boshoek

Friday - Sunday 28 – 30

RHINO RALLY ( A small group will also be riding to

Harrismith to attend just the one day on Saturday, 29th

October – details to follow) Harrismith

Sunday 30 Purple Cow (NEW VENUE – Thanks to Allen) Centurion

NOVEMBER Date Venue Area

Sunday 6 Wimpy Delmas (short run) / Graceland Secunda Delmas / Secunda

Sunday 13 Stone Cradle Rietvlei Dam

Suggestions will be greatly appreciated but first check that the venue is suitable for UER requirements etc!!!!

The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

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Date to be diarized: 12th November 2011: Ulysses, East Rand Chapter’s AGM.

Backfiring from the chair:

So once again we were greeted to amazing so called Gauteng Spring weather which seemed as good as any Gauteng

summer morning – just perfect for riding and added to that, a great turnout, a total of 38 riders! This Sunday’s ride we

hosted Ulysses West Rand and it was great to have 9 of their members riding with us - a big thanks to Hylton and his

fellow riders from West Rand Chapter. We will join up with them on one of their breakfast runs in the near future. Our

planned destination was a short run to Stone Cradle at Rietvlei Dam thus enabling those die hard Springbok supporters

time to get to watch the Boks opening game in defence of their Rugby World Cup Title and what a close game it was,

maybe a little too close to comfort. (South Africa 17: Wales 16). Twisty Two has supplied his usual Captain’s Log – see

below.

This coming Sunday, 18th September, we will be heading off on another short breakfast run, this time to Ndlovu Lodge in

Swavelport, Pretoria East. I have made the usual booking and once again, breakfast will be in the form of a buffet at R65

per person, all included and those of you who have been there before know this is real value for money!

Yes, we have had 2 short runs in a row now so you can look forward to a long run at the end of the month (25th

September) to the ever popular “Moegeploegkroeg” at the Val Hotel!

As you know, I try and vary our destinations but to accommodate the request from Ulysses West Rand, it changed our

plans a little but we will be back on track again from next weekend. The rides up to an including the 13th November 2011

have been published above. It will be up to the new chairperson to plan the future rides from 20th November!!

Captain’s log, Sunday 11th September 2011: As evidenced yesterday, the weather in Gauteng just gets better each weekend. To herald in the Summer I spent a half

hour on Saturday morning taking off the big touring screen on my Roadster and fitting the original small black fly screen,

ready to enjoy the warmer rides that await us for the foreseeable next few months. On Sunday morning I was up with the

sparrows and arrived at Bimbo’s Diner at 07H30am to find Mike x 2, Harry, Murray and Llewellyn & Anita already parked

and chatting.

I informed Mike O’D that I would be doing the ride to the Stone Cradle breakfast venue but would not be staying for

breakfast as we had managed to get Midvaal Race Track for a few hours to continue trying to sort out the many challenges

facing us on getting the old BSA 750 race-worthy. I had spent a couple of evenings manufacturing an extended gear

change lever and rear-set foot peg on the right hand side, to accommodate the longer gear change lever.

The Ulysses West Rand contingent arrived at around eight o’clock and after many introductions we formed up the large

rider group on the road. Mike O’D had asked me to lead the Sunday raid on Stone Cradle so when all engines had started

we set off up Pretoria road, heading for Bapsfontein.

The rider list as follows;

EAST RAND: Erica Potgieter Suzuki Boulevard 800 Andrew Potgieter Suzuki Boulevard 1500

Robin Dawson Honda Blackbird 1100 Murray Russell Honda NT700

Clive & Shirley Dunne Honda VFR1200 Chucky Jacobs Suzuki Busa

Belinda Jacobs Suzuki SV650 João Carreira BMW GT1300

Mike O’ Donoghue Triumph Sprint ST James Strydom Suzuki Busa

Martin & Susan Schmitt Kawasaki ZZR 1200 Reg Kairuz Yamaha R1

Joe Kairuz & Laetitia Suzuki Busa Peter & Eve Aylott Suzuki GSXR1000

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Peter Kairuz Suzuki Busa Harry Samuels Honda ST Pan

Mike Cresswell BMW GT1200 Allen Burger & Tammy BMW 800ST

Rudi Du Plessis Suzuki Busa Llewellyn & Anita Collins Kawasaki KLR650

Shane van Zyl BMW 1150 RT Trevor Isaacs Triumph Rocket R3

Johan Lamprecht (Visitor) BMW 1150 GS

WEST RAND

Hylton Cutter Suzuki Bandit 1250 Lawrie Laing – Suzuki Katana

Andre & Petro Nortje Yamaha FJR1300 Leandre Nortje

Leon Herselman BMW 1150RT Joe Hundermark Kawasaki GTR1400

Nick & Wesley Nel Honda VFR800

We sat at around 130kph until we reached the open road and thereafter a tad faster until we reached the crossroad where

we waited until everyone had caught up.

Again we started quite slowly until we had passed the Microlight flight Academy. Rudy on the big Busa was the first to

pass, followed by a few more Hyabusa’s and a GSXR 1000 Suz. Without a big screen, riding my Roadster at 180 was

stretching my arms and straining my neck muscles somethin’ fierce, so I retreated to 160kph on this long stretch. We

again waited for the group to arrive before riding the short stretch past the Dam, turning off Nelmapius Drive at the

Cornwall intersection. After all riders had turned into the Stone Cradle Estate road, I U-turned and took the R21 route

home, cruising at 130kph.

So until next week, when we do it all again, I’ll see-ya (disappearing) in da mirrors.

Twisty Two.

The Midvaal Saga! (Twisty Two’s visit to Midvaal)

We loaded the BSA onto Mikes trailer at 10H00am on Sunday morning and transferred tools, my leathers and Helmet and

some coolies into the car as Midvaal gets blerry hot! During the week, Mike had changed needle jets, needle positions and

smaller main jets to try and remedy the fluffing out of corners. On Saturday i fitted the longer gear change and foot peg

assembly so that we were ready to roll on Sunday morning. We reached the track at 11H45 and took the bike off the

trailer and parked it in one of the many pit boxes at track-side.

The bike started at first kick (which is a first!) and I donned my jacket, helmet and gloves and set off up the apron onto the

track. There were about six other bikes already on the track (superbikes) so I kept on the outside of the first two corners

leading onto the straight. I could sense that the fluffiness was almost gone and I was able to exit the corner onto the long

straight in second gear at an indicated 7000 revs. As the engine has not done much work, I did not exceed 7000 revs and

being unsure about the gear change, I slowed at the 100 metre brake-marker and attempted to change into third from

fourth. No matter what I tried, the gearbox stuck in fourth. I had moved out onto the outer track while trying everything I

knew to get into a lower gear and three superbikes took me on my right, inside the corner. One of them crossed right in

front of me and fortunately he was travelling much faster so no harm done.

I pulled off into the pit lane and coasted to our pit. With the engine still running, Mike could not get the bike to change

gear so I killed the motor and moved the bike into the shade in the box. After shutting the engine down, it was easy to find

neutral so we suspected the problem to be the clutch.

I was very hot at this stage and sweating profusely so while I was chugging a cold drink, Mike set about re-routing the

clutch cable and adjusting the free-play. After disrobing my jacket, I removed and adjusted the gear lever further down, to

get maximum lift. We battled a bit to kick start the bike but finally got the engine going again.

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While I was changing the gear select position, Mike removed the mega exhaust and replaced it with a reverse-cone outlet

so when I went out again, the bike was a little quieter than the mega. I was fortunate that only two other bikes went out

onto the track when I did so I could pay attention to what I was doing and not have to worry about getting in the way of

fast bikes dicing each other. I was now able to down-shift although having to exert brute force.

After four laps I started to up the speed through corners and found another problem. The new foot-peg I had fitted was

one centimetre lower than the previous one and I wore my right boot away until the peg itself was digging into the track

causing the bike to see-saw. (So, back to the drawing board on this!) I also discovered that the front forks are way too soft,

exacerbating the ground clearance issue. The front brake is starting to bite finally so there was some good news! To be

fair, we did make some progress as I was at least able to change up successfully and most of the fluffing has been

eliminated.

I went out for another few laps and was getting into the groove again when while braking at the end of the straight, the

rear wheel locked up far too easily and as I cranked the bike over into the bend I could feel the rear tyre breaking away.

Using only the front brake I slowed and made my way back to the pit where we discovered that a gear box gasket had

split, spraying gear oil onto the right hand side of the wheel. So that was that for the day and with a fast dripping oil trail,

we ran the bike up onto the trailer, had a cool drink and set off home at two o’clock. Guess what I will be doing next

Saturday! Another mechanical strip and we haven’t even entered the bike in its first race yet!

Cheers

Trevor.

Murray’s Tit Bits:

UER – 11th September 2011 – Ride with Ulysses West Rand to Stone Cradle, Rietvlei Dam

ULYSSES EAST RAND and ULYSSES WESTRAND

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The arse end of the Witwatersrand!

Getting stoned at the Cradle… I mean arriving at Stone Cradle!!!!

More pics, With thanks to Harry Samuel:

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The Manne waiting for the “Maak Vas” command

Our biker chicks – the best in the East!! Pretty in pink and then some ugggly buggers!