70's Motocycling Across the top-end

[Jerry_Atrick]

 

[pmccarthy]

I remember that blokes face but not his name. 

[red750]

Hard to find recent photos of him, but his more recent appearances have been in those late night TV adverts for things like drill bits and saws that will go through anything - drill through a brick then through a brake disc, etc. Stewart Faichney.

[spacesailor]

Now a young daredevil has lost his life, trying to make a new motorcycle world record long jump.

spacesailor

[facthunter]

That's a Long Jump from just riding from Cairns to Darwin on made roads. Nev

[onetrack]

I must say I'm not impressed with Faichney's bike-riding skills, putting his feet down at 60 or 70kmh when he runs into a rough bit of road where the front wheel swerves around a bit!

I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who put their feet down at speed on motorbikes and scooters - or who hang their feet off the pegs or footboard while they're travelling at speed.

 

One thing I was taught, when learning to ride, is you get your feet on the pegs, and keep them there all the time, once you start moving. You don't ever take them off the pegs until the bike is virtually stopped.

In rough paddock work, if you hang your foot off the pegs at speed, you'll break an ankle or foot on a hidden stump or rock, before long.

 

Anne-France Dautheville has survived her motorcycling career, and is 77 today. Here she is, speaking in 2019 at age 75. She's a bit of a womens lib icon in France, from what I can gather.

 

 

 

When I was young and handsome and had plenty of hair and wore an impressive green uniform, I had a redheaded South African (white-skinned, English ancestry) girlfriend - with big tits, of course

She was a pretty adventurous sort, and not a lot fazed her. But we broke up in early 1973 and I must say I initiated it, and I broke her heart. She left W.A., and went to NSW and joined the Bahai's!

 

But then she rolled up at my parents place (she was quite fond of them) about 3 years later - on a 250cc motorbike that she'd ridden from NSW - all on her own!

We were all quite stunned at her audacity, it was rare for women to do that kind of thing, back then. But perhaps she'd been inspired by Dautheville. 

I have no idea why she returned for a visit, maybe it was something she just needed to get out of her system - but she took off after that one visit, and I've never seen or heard of her since.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by onetrack

[willedoo]

I can remember often dropping a foot on the ground at high speeds. When we raced each other on back roads, it was common for whoever gained the lead to drop a boot in the gravel and spray stones on the mate riding behind. Sometimes both boots on the ground. It wore boots out fairly quickly, but back then we bought surplus fireman's boots for a couple of dollars at the disposal stores. I've still got mine somewhere; the inner sides of both soles are worn right through. You wouldn't be able to stand up straight in them. They usually got replaced when holes wore right through or they became too difficult to walk in.

Edited June 21, 2021 by willedoo

[facthunter]

The french lady is far steadier on the bike than Faichney is. A female rode the Nullarbour  in the early 50's on a 350 Royal Enfield bullet when the road wasn't sealed .Nev

[Old Koreelah]

6 hours ago, willedoo said:

…It wore boots out fairly quickly, but back then we bought surplus fireman's boots for a couple of dollars at the disposal stores. I've still got mine somewhere; the inner sides of both soles are worn right through…

We used to play silly buggies as well. Pushing down the centre stand at night to spray sparks was another trick.

I still have my Rossi boots; most of the wear was on the outside of the toes, from cornering.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Towards the end of my riding days (well, the hiatus I am taking), I developed a bad habit of scraping the soles of my boots along the road as I rode.. Wor a pair of Alpine Stars out in no time...

 

Of course, going around the Vaxhall roundabout in London early one beautiful morning, I did get a bit of a fright when my knee got onto the road.. Had sliders on, though...

 

 

[spacesailor]

My hiatus was a 50 year gap !.

Standing on the pegs was just like it was the last time, about  1960s.

Never put my foot down ever.

Had a nice lady Lloonng long ago called ' Molly Brigs ' show me how to ride standing, who won 9 Fobs (  medals ) for Scrambles & Trials comps in the 1920s.

I didn,t think she was as old as that !. LoL

Great lady, rode a Triumph of Bonneville 650cc Hotted up by the factory just for her,

spacesailor

 

[onetrack]

When the brother and I owned a farm that was only partly cleared, we had a motorcycle club ask us if they could use some of the uncleared areas to set up a "slow-ride" trail.

 

We agreed, and they set up this trail whereby the riders in their club would motorcycle through the trail they'd constructed - which comprised all sorts of obstacles and mounds to ride over - and the winner was the person who could ride the trail in the slowest time! They had competitions to see who could ride the slowest without falling off or putting a foot down! It was good bike training.

[Marty_d]

Yep - I remember my instructor telling us "Any idiot can ride fast, but it takes skill to ride slow".

[Old Koreelah]

2 hours ago, Marty_d said:

Yep - I remember my instructor telling us "Any idiot can ride fast, but it takes skill to ride slow".

So true, Marty. I’ve had more bingles than hot dinners and the very slow prangs have caused my worst injuries.

[willedoo]

On 22/06/2021 at 1:43 PM, onetrack said:

When the brother and I owned a farm that was only partly cleared, we had a motorcycle club ask us if they could use some of the uncleared areas to set up a "slow-ride" trail.

 

We agreed, and they set up this trail whereby the riders in their club would motorcycle through the trail they'd constructed - which comprised all sorts of obstacles and mounds to ride over - and the winner was the person who could ride the trail in the slowest time! They had competitions to see who could ride the slowest without falling off or putting a foot down! It was good bike training.

I seem to have a memory of that being called trials riding (as opposed to trail).

[onetrack]

Willedoo - Yes, you're correct - you've jogged my memory now, that was what it was called.

 

https://trials.com.au/moto-trials

[Old Koreelah]

A motorcycling friend of mine used to talk excitedly about his days in Britain riding sidecar trials.

He disappeared to Perth 40 year ago and I’ve never heard of that sport since.