Tweet
The group of 13 Australians just finished up a ride around part of the
western USA with Max Bubeck (our fearless leader), Jerry Hatfield and
myself. We left from Las Vegas 1 day late due to the wharfies striking
on the docks however the docks were open for a 4 hr period on the Sunday
in which the container containing all of the m/c's finally got on its
way to Las Vegas. I was surprised to learn that the Aussies all took
this in stride and without worry at all. "No worries mate" was their
motto. I later learnt that the lack of beer is the only thing that
upsets these guys. This delay put the trip 1 day behind schedule but at
least they were on their motorcycles. We left Las Vegas in very nice
weather and traveled North to a motel in NV for the night. The next day
we headed East to Zion National Park. After leaving Zion and heading for
Bryce Nat Park the weather started to deteriorate and we encountered
rain and a good rain storm at that. Due to the heavy rain we bypassed
Bryce and decided the motel was our best spot to see it out and warm up.
After unloading our stuff into our rooms Straw had the communal jacuzzi
all cranked up and beer every 2 feet around the peremiter of it. Hot
chocolate would have been better but we're travelling with Aussies and
hot chocolate is never 1 of the choices. Upon rising the next morning we
saw snow and the snow line was only 200' above us. This made the next
days ride very cold. We did cover some good mileage though as we just
wanted to get to the next gas stop looking forward to a hot chocolate or
coffee. There was a 110 mile stretch of riding with no gas stops which
made for some guys not making it however the Uhaul back up rig was well
prepared in advance with gas. Our next stop was Arches Nat Park,
absolutely breath taking scenery. We arrived at our Motel (near Moab UT)
in the dark but could make out some silhouettes of some mountains. Upon
waking in the morning and looking out the window I have never ever seen
such breath taking scenery. Well worth the trip to this remote resort
location.
The next days ride was in very heavy rain and it sure poured which then
turned to snow. Everyone was cold but we all seemed to stay dry. Some
did not have wet weather gear so we improvised and dressed them in
plastic trash bags and Ductape (the ductape is always part of my tool
kit). Remarkably they stayed very dry. The next leg was to be over to
Durango Colo however due to the weather being just as bad there we
decided to blow off this section. Since it was so cold Max had to be
pretty much lifted off the seat of his 39 Four. At this point he did the
next leg in the Uhaul truck. This was the 1st time in Max's career he
has never completed a ride/race/event with his m/c still running. At 85
yrs old he well deserves a warm ride. Since we blew off Durango, this
now put us back on the original schedule and we figured heading South to
Kayenta AZ was where it would be warmer. South = warm was our motto or
more like we were hoping like hell it was warmer and dry. Gosh anywhere
but where we were at just had to be warmer. We travelled through
Monument Valley Nat Park and visited the Wupatka Indian ruins which
dates back to 1100 AD. We stayed near the Grand Canyon in Cameron. Our
next days stop was the Grand Canyon and onto Kingman AZ which we took a
nice section of old Route 66. From here we went through Oatman AZ which
is a very twisty (15 mph turns) and hilly leg of Rt 66. Many of us were
hot dogging and I had just blown off some guys on their modern bikes. I
miss judged a corner and ran off the road into a gravel pullout (view)
area however I managed to keep it upright narrowly going up a big bank
made out of rocks. I did connect with some big rocks that made a heck of
a bashing noise under the bike and it bottomed out the forks on the 48
several times (it was one hellava wild ride). We never came to a stop
and the bike and myself did not miss a beat and I rode right back onto
the road and continued on however at a slightly less of a pace. I was
hoping to go unnoticed but my mates had a great view of my exhibition.
The next stop was back to Las Vegas for everyone's servicing and a bit
of a rest up. The next leg was onto Death Valley for the next 4 days
which I am sure has been reported on. The group consisted of 16, of the
group 3 were 4 cyl Indians and 3 Panhead Harley's. Credit must be given
where due and the Panheads ran flawlessly for the whole trip. The 3
Fours were the nightmare of the group with 1 thing after another. I
learnt a ton about 4's which was a great education to get especially not
at my expense. The team mechanic was Les who was the number 1 person of
the group. While everyone in the group was great, this guy can get
anything back on the road and I mean no matter what happens to it. He'll
run without sleep if need be (and he did several times) and overhaul
anything anywhere. He has that knack and I have never seen such a
dynamic guy. A dream come true for those needing things taken care of
while on the road trip. To give you 1 example, 1 of the 4's broke an
exhaust valve stem. He couldn't get one or find a Chevy valve anywhere
in the stores (he just needed a blank to machine 1 from) so along the
way he spotted a Chevy engine on the side of the road 4 sale. He bought
it and pulled the heads off and stripped out a valve. While at Jim and
Toni Coe's in Las Vegas he turned down the stem dia in Jim's lathe,
machined in new keeper grooves and cut the valve to length, threw it
back into the engine and she fired right up completing the Death Valley
leg of the run. While it is not the perfect valve, it did the trip so as
he can do the job properly back in Aussie. This was not his only job
that evening, the other 2 4's needed serious attention too (plus one of
the Chiefs) and all 3 were running by morning. A pretty much impossible task to anyone except Les.
I was Max Bubeck's room mate and it sure was enjoyable. He's a guy who
has been around and he was a fantastic tour guide as some of his past
jobs have been traveling all over the western US. The stories about him
on his 4 are way cool too.
Total mileage was just over 2400 miles for me which was a little greater
than the rest of the group as I left from Riverside to meet them in Las
Vegas. I'd guestimate the Aussies mileage at 2100. The guys were
extremely accommodating and friendly. Their bikes were very well
prepared for the ride and they ran extremely well, in fact some of the
strongest 74" bikes I've come across and a credit to them. The 74"
Chiefs were extremely well tuned and ran like heck. Many got abused and
still ran good for the whole trip. There was no babying of any bikes and
all were set up to run hard and fast. I don't recall running much less
than 65 much of the time. Their riding style was 1st class, at every
turn the #2 rider in the group dropped out and stayed on that turn and
the last vehicle was always the Uhaul. No chance of anyone getting left
behind. I was very glad to be a part of their ride and look forward to
another. Hopefully they will get over all of their sheep jokes involving
Kiwi's. One day they will learn that us Kiwi's take our sheep very
seriously (or anyway we can get them). A big thank you to Jim and Toni
Coe (of Las Vegas) who opened their home (and refrigerator) to the
group. I don't think they knew what they were in for especially when we
returned for some maintenance. All of a sudden Jim's tools and resources
were going in all directions and so was he.
Thank you guys for a great time, fellowship and hospitality. I hope to
see you at the Australian Great Race in March.
Thanks for the great memories Peter, Dave R, Harry, Colin, John, Dave F,
Straw, Warrick, Steve, Jeff, Wayne, Les, Dugal, Jerry and Max. It was
truly a pleasure to ride with you all.
Mike Kiwi Tomas
Kiwi Indian USA
western USA with Max Bubeck (our fearless leader), Jerry Hatfield and
myself. We left from Las Vegas 1 day late due to the wharfies striking
on the docks however the docks were open for a 4 hr period on the Sunday
in which the container containing all of the m/c's finally got on its
way to Las Vegas. I was surprised to learn that the Aussies all took
this in stride and without worry at all. "No worries mate" was their
motto. I later learnt that the lack of beer is the only thing that
upsets these guys. This delay put the trip 1 day behind schedule but at
least they were on their motorcycles. We left Las Vegas in very nice
weather and traveled North to a motel in NV for the night. The next day
we headed East to Zion National Park. After leaving Zion and heading for
Bryce Nat Park the weather started to deteriorate and we encountered
rain and a good rain storm at that. Due to the heavy rain we bypassed
Bryce and decided the motel was our best spot to see it out and warm up.
After unloading our stuff into our rooms Straw had the communal jacuzzi
all cranked up and beer every 2 feet around the peremiter of it. Hot
chocolate would have been better but we're travelling with Aussies and
hot chocolate is never 1 of the choices. Upon rising the next morning we
saw snow and the snow line was only 200' above us. This made the next
days ride very cold. We did cover some good mileage though as we just
wanted to get to the next gas stop looking forward to a hot chocolate or
coffee. There was a 110 mile stretch of riding with no gas stops which
made for some guys not making it however the Uhaul back up rig was well
prepared in advance with gas. Our next stop was Arches Nat Park,
absolutely breath taking scenery. We arrived at our Motel (near Moab UT)
in the dark but could make out some silhouettes of some mountains. Upon
waking in the morning and looking out the window I have never ever seen
such breath taking scenery. Well worth the trip to this remote resort
location.
The next days ride was in very heavy rain and it sure poured which then
turned to snow. Everyone was cold but we all seemed to stay dry. Some
did not have wet weather gear so we improvised and dressed them in
plastic trash bags and Ductape (the ductape is always part of my tool
kit). Remarkably they stayed very dry. The next leg was to be over to
Durango Colo however due to the weather being just as bad there we
decided to blow off this section. Since it was so cold Max had to be
pretty much lifted off the seat of his 39 Four. At this point he did the
next leg in the Uhaul truck. This was the 1st time in Max's career he
has never completed a ride/race/event with his m/c still running. At 85
yrs old he well deserves a warm ride. Since we blew off Durango, this
now put us back on the original schedule and we figured heading South to
Kayenta AZ was where it would be warmer. South = warm was our motto or
more like we were hoping like hell it was warmer and dry. Gosh anywhere
but where we were at just had to be warmer. We travelled through
Monument Valley Nat Park and visited the Wupatka Indian ruins which
dates back to 1100 AD. We stayed near the Grand Canyon in Cameron. Our
next days stop was the Grand Canyon and onto Kingman AZ which we took a
nice section of old Route 66. From here we went through Oatman AZ which
is a very twisty (15 mph turns) and hilly leg of Rt 66. Many of us were
hot dogging and I had just blown off some guys on their modern bikes. I
miss judged a corner and ran off the road into a gravel pullout (view)
area however I managed to keep it upright narrowly going up a big bank
made out of rocks. I did connect with some big rocks that made a heck of
a bashing noise under the bike and it bottomed out the forks on the 48
several times (it was one hellava wild ride). We never came to a stop
and the bike and myself did not miss a beat and I rode right back onto
the road and continued on however at a slightly less of a pace. I was
hoping to go unnoticed but my mates had a great view of my exhibition.
The next stop was back to Las Vegas for everyone's servicing and a bit
of a rest up. The next leg was onto Death Valley for the next 4 days
which I am sure has been reported on. The group consisted of 16, of the
group 3 were 4 cyl Indians and 3 Panhead Harley's. Credit must be given
where due and the Panheads ran flawlessly for the whole trip. The 3
Fours were the nightmare of the group with 1 thing after another. I
learnt a ton about 4's which was a great education to get especially not
at my expense. The team mechanic was Les who was the number 1 person of
the group. While everyone in the group was great, this guy can get
anything back on the road and I mean no matter what happens to it. He'll
run without sleep if need be (and he did several times) and overhaul
anything anywhere. He has that knack and I have never seen such a
dynamic guy. A dream come true for those needing things taken care of
while on the road trip. To give you 1 example, 1 of the 4's broke an
exhaust valve stem. He couldn't get one or find a Chevy valve anywhere
in the stores (he just needed a blank to machine 1 from) so along the
way he spotted a Chevy engine on the side of the road 4 sale. He bought
it and pulled the heads off and stripped out a valve. While at Jim and
Toni Coe's in Las Vegas he turned down the stem dia in Jim's lathe,
machined in new keeper grooves and cut the valve to length, threw it
back into the engine and she fired right up completing the Death Valley
leg of the run. While it is not the perfect valve, it did the trip so as
he can do the job properly back in Aussie. This was not his only job
that evening, the other 2 4's needed serious attention too (plus one of
the Chiefs) and all 3 were running by morning. A pretty much impossible task to anyone except Les.
I was Max Bubeck's room mate and it sure was enjoyable. He's a guy who
has been around and he was a fantastic tour guide as some of his past
jobs have been traveling all over the western US. The stories about him
on his 4 are way cool too.
Total mileage was just over 2400 miles for me which was a little greater
than the rest of the group as I left from Riverside to meet them in Las
Vegas. I'd guestimate the Aussies mileage at 2100. The guys were
extremely accommodating and friendly. Their bikes were very well
prepared for the ride and they ran extremely well, in fact some of the
strongest 74" bikes I've come across and a credit to them. The 74"
Chiefs were extremely well tuned and ran like heck. Many got abused and
still ran good for the whole trip. There was no babying of any bikes and
all were set up to run hard and fast. I don't recall running much less
than 65 much of the time. Their riding style was 1st class, at every
turn the #2 rider in the group dropped out and stayed on that turn and
the last vehicle was always the Uhaul. No chance of anyone getting left
behind. I was very glad to be a part of their ride and look forward to
another. Hopefully they will get over all of their sheep jokes involving
Kiwi's. One day they will learn that us Kiwi's take our sheep very
seriously (or anyway we can get them). A big thank you to Jim and Toni
Coe (of Las Vegas) who opened their home (and refrigerator) to the
group. I don't think they knew what they were in for especially when we
returned for some maintenance. All of a sudden Jim's tools and resources
were going in all directions and so was he.
Thank you guys for a great time, fellowship and hospitality. I hope to
see you at the Australian Great Race in March.
Thanks for the great memories Peter, Dave R, Harry, Colin, John, Dave F,
Straw, Warrick, Steve, Jeff, Wayne, Les, Dugal, Jerry and Max. It was
truly a pleasure to ride with you all.
Mike Kiwi Tomas
Kiwi Indian USA