Inherited love of motorcycles

[Tony Smith]

I mentioned my father in an earlier post today and for some reason after making that post I have been thinking a lot about him. In many ways we are very much alike and in others we are so very different.  at one point of my life we fought like cats and dogs, I left home when I was 15 and didn't speak to him again until I was in my mid 20s, it was amazing how much he had learned in that 10 years.

My father grew up in a very poor family, his father was a forestry worker. Although my father was (and is) very intelligent coming form his background there was no prospect of being able to finish high school, much less go on to university.

As he has done all his life, my father evaluated his options and decided that he need to at least finish junior high school (I think the equivalent of US intermediate, here the junior public exam was held in the 9th year of schooling, FWIW "senior" exam was in the 12th year). The problem with that was that his family needed him to be earning money so my father did 3 or 4 part time jobs before and after school so that he could remain and complete junior.
 
To get around the small town of Bundaberg quickly enough to pack in part time work and schooling he bought a Ducati bicycle power unit (sorry for spelling I think it was like Cuccilio) - somethign else he wishes he had kept.
 
Having completed his junior certificate my father joined the army where his intelligence and physical ability combined to see him rapid promoted to sergeant, then transferred to the intelligence corps and finally sent to officers school.

Then his mind turned to what life in the army would be like for the family he wanted to have and he resigned from the army, returned to Bundaberg and was taken on as a somewhat overage apprentice electrician by a large local electrical concern by the name of Wipers.

During this time he had a number of motorcycles, the majority of which he can no longer remember, his recollection was that he bought other people's problem bikes, fixed them and sold them for a profit. Eventually he owned his dream bike, a 500cc MotoGuzzi. a photo of him on that bike is attached. I've no idea who the woman is and father has always declined to identify her.

Completing his apprenticeship and along the line meeting and marrying my mother he took the position of electrician for a small sugar mill at McNade a small town near Ingham in far north Queensland. I was born in Ingham making my the only member of my extended family who was not born in Bundaberg, my mother worked as an industrial chemist at annother (much bigger)  mill which meant that I was left with my Italian Nona during the day, a circumstance which led (to the very great concern of my parents) to my speaking Italian before English. I must mention as an aside decades later I was employed by the Government in a law enforcement capacity and I had to conduct an investigation in one of nth Queensland's many Italian communities. The suspects I was interviewing were maintaining a constant back chatter in Italian essentially agreeing a story to attempt to mislead me, whilst at the same time more than giving themselves away.  I feigned annoyance at their speaking Italian which meant that they increased the quantity, interspersed with numerous fairly personal insulting remarks about me.

You could have heard a pin drop when, once I had everything I needed, I thanked them in Italian for their full confession and suggested that silly as they might think i was, i was smart enough to let them hang themselves in a language they did not think I understood.

But back to my father, my parents found being more than a 1,000 miles from their own families a little hard, more to the point my mother was pregnant with my sister and they decided to move south to Wallaville. There my father oversaw the shifting of that local sugar mill form being a totally steam driven affair to the installation of electrical plant and equipment, the mill bought a somewhat larger alternator that it needed and sold power to the town which at the time did not have a grid connection and was dependent on individual generators - our own home when we first moved in had only 32v lighting, my father wired it up for 240 volts and when the mill's generator  was installed and operational we were the first to be connected.
 
Around this time father built a kit (heathkit IIRC) black and white television and by rigging an antenna on the mill's smoke stack (250ft high) we were able to watch (on good nights) Brisbane television - this was in 1963.
 
The Wallaville mill's finances were never brilliant in and in 1965 the mill was placed in receivership, father was lucky enough to be one of the workers retained by the receiver to provide care and maintenance (and keep the generator going which was then the only source of income for the operation), but he could see the writing on the wall.
 
in 1966 father took a job with the Invcita mill at Giru as chief electrician. ---Continued next Post.

[Tony Smith]

in the move to Giru we were accompanied by my younger brother, our family had reached its final size of five.
 
At Giru father's mind turned to the opportunities that might be available to his children as they grew up. There was no local high school and attendance involved a bus trip to the town of Ayr, 80km away and not particularly well regarded for its academic excellence.
 
Father found a job with the local Regional Electricity Board in Townsville and we moved again at the end of 1967. Once in Townsville father took the opportunity denied him when he was younger and went to night school to gain his Senior certificate and then he attended lectures at the newly opened James Cook University (where I also studies years later).
 
University study agreed with my father and he gained his degree in electrical engineering in record time for a part time student, his future in the regional board seemed assured.
 
But in the meantime my father's long term concern for the people he described as "the workers" had come to the fore, he joined the Australian labor party and after nearly a decade of working within the party structure in 1980 he stood for and won the seat of Townsville West in the State Parliament. His political career spanned until he decided to retire in 1998.
 
Initially the ALP was in opposition, but when they won government in 1989 he was successively minister for  Manufacturing and Commerce, to which small business was added in 1990. Later in 1990 the portfolio was reorganised as Business, Industry and Regional Development. In 1992 he became Minister for Lands, holding the position until 1995.

Against the opposition of entrenched business interested father introduced the concept of industrial parks or enclaves to the cities of Queensland, the idea being to site industry where ready access to road, rail and air was available whilst at the same time being out of the path of likely urban development, the idea being to avoid the kinds of tensions that develop with residential sprawl 20 years down the track - history is now proving him correct. Father also, over the entrenched opposition of his own department, introduced a system of electronic recording of real property title into Queensland, a system since adopted by other States.

To bring motorcycles back into the story, the 70s and 80s were the period when the power output of motorcycles went completely crazy, my father could not understand, given his own experience, why any motorcycle needed nearly 100hp, in short he fell into bad company and with several other politicians he commenced to have legislation drafted to prevent the registration in Queensland of any motorcycle of over 750cc capacity and also of any motorcycle of more than 70hp.

It is probably fortunate that most people do not even know that such legislation was ever contemplated, my sister, brother and I successfully torpedo's it before the drafting was ever complete. Father had provided a 'backgrounder' to a local journalist who knew me and telephoned me with the details. I discussed the matter with my siblings and together we visited our parents and let slip that we were aware of the proposed legislation and that if it ever saw the light of day the three of use would take a very public stand on our then unlawful motorcycles. At the time I owned a XS750 Yamaha (which would have been "legal", but I also owned my R100RS and a GPZ1100 Kawasaki. My sister at the time owned a CB1100R and my younger brother owned a Ducati 860.
 
Roll forward to 2014,I still own the R100RS, I also have an R65 and an XT350 - depending on the gods of eBay I may own a KLE500 in the next 5 days. my brother owns a Blackbird, a Triumph Daytona and a K100 and my sister has a a couple of monsters and a 916, between her and her partner they also own a shed full of ancient Bultacos, a beautifully restored Ducati 750 sport and a brace of "vintage' TZ350 and 250 racers, that they keep regularly "exercised".

So, did we inherit the motorcycling gene from our father?
 

[wilcom]

Great write up Tony, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for part II

[steve hawkins]

Yes,  very interesting.  My dad owned a Vespa.....But, hey, you can't hold that against him.  However, both he and my mum did their best to stop me from riding bikes - whilst I lived at home.  But all they did was delay the inevitable.

I too often wonder at the need to more power on the road today.  But have the good sense to not to try and stop other people from experiencing it and coming to their own conclusions.  

I will say that less power is an issue - in the UK, mopeds are restricted to 30 mph - when in most towns there are roads with a 40mph limit.  I believe, for safety's sake, that you should be able to flow with the traffic around you at the speed posted.  That way you are not inconveniencing others.  However, the fly in the ointment in the UK is the fact that these same riders have to have a L plate on their bikes until they take their full tests.  And it does not what speed you are doing, with an L plate on, some people just will not say behind you.

Cheers

Rev Light

[Barry]

I believe, for safety's sake, that you should be able to flow with the traffic around you at the speed posted.That way you are not inconveniencing others.  

I agree. being forced to ride in the gutter invites other road users to cut you up and is not safe. That includes roads with more than one lane. The first advice I give to a novice rider is ride in the middle of the lane at the speed limit or perhaps the real speed limit rather than what it might say on your speedo. That way following traffic can have no complaint.

[clonmore1]

Here in the Holme Valley in Yorkshire, we look forward to 'Le Tour' which is due in a few weeks.

Our roads are narrow (and up/down) with many blind corners/off camber and stone walls running down both sides, so no safe run-off. Factor in the potholes and manholes (always on the apex, any idea why?) and you have a recipe for disaster.

We have many mopeds & portly middle aged men squeezed into brightly coloured spandex riding along these roads at speeds below 30 mph. Car drivers are so impatient, they overtake on these blind bends to save a few precious seconds of their terribly important lives.

There should be more education on defensive car driving as the death toll continues to rise here in the UK particularly with cycle riders.

I bet the pressure groups for cycling get something done about it whereas the motorcycle fraternity (note not Bikers, especially for you Monte!) shout with little success.

Tony,

Loved the story!

[Lucky_Lou]

It may be in the blood, I remember my mother rushing to the hospital when I was about 7 years old my dad had the misfortune to run into  fallen telephone cables in the early hours while going to work, lucky he wasn't killed he sported a "blue" welt on the side of his face from that day on made him look a bit scary in a gangsta sort of way. Both me and my brother enjoy our bikes and were never discouraged by our parents.
One of the earliest pictures I have of me is sat on my dads Matchless handle bars at the age of about 6 months.
Lou
Forgot to add.... loved the bit about the Italian arrest.