Post by Uralee on Feb 19, 2021 3:29:12 GMT
Back in March 1980, a few mechanics in the ACTION bus depot in Kingston, Canberra, plus another local Canberran, were pondering what to do for a reasonably long bike ride.
They decided that a run up to Fraser Island would be a good option, taking as many dirt roads as possible. The few in question were: Brian Harber, Richard Blakeley, Ron Velders, Dieter Walter (not from the bus depot) and Len (Lenny) Watkinson.
Richard and Ron had bought brand new Yamaha XT500s from Doug Bryant motorcycles; they fitted in perfectly with the bikes to be ridden by Brian, Dieter and Lenny.
Lenny’s bike was an older model which had already done a considerable amount of dirt work prior to the trip, and both Dieter’s and Lenny’s were converted to 12 volt systems. All the bikes were packed with the gear needed for a run of that distance, including spares and all else to enable camping on Fraser Island.
Soon after they headed off, and despite constant drenching rain they had a good run into northern NSW, albeit with Brian’s bike (the oldest) malfunctioning every now and then. But on the second day after leaving Tenterfield, Lenny’s bike also began to falter and stopped altogether after negotiating a shallow water crossing.
Fortunately, they were close to an old shed and pushed the XT in there to escape being pelted by the ever present rain. While Lenny was working on the recalcitrant Yamaha, Richard went for a bit of an exploration around the shed, and in a gloomy corner, he found a broken down and badly decomposed old kerosene fridge. After dusting off the dirt and rust, the handsome metal emblem in the shape of an Olympic torch came to light – the Charles Hope Cold Flame. It was easily removed from the rusted out fridge door and a few moments after Richard took it over to show the others, Lenny’s bike started.
Everyone was greatly relieved and concluded that the fridge badge had some influence over Lenny’s bike.
Given the emblem’s magical power to extract life from the dead bike, there was no way that such a ‘Holy Grail’ could be left behind. So Charles Hope’s Cold Flame was definitely heading to Fraser Island just to make sure Lenny’s bike (and maybe also Brian’s) would make it.
Prior to arriving at Fraser Island, they headed for the Rainbow Beach Hotel for a well-earned rest. On the advice of locals, they were told it was possible to get there using the beach highway from Noosa Heads.
Unfortunately, this was not quite right due to king tides (probably generated by Cyclone Simon in late February) making progress along the beach route almost impossible with much of it washed away. In an attempt to get through, Lenny drowned his bike in the surf and no doubt, the presence of Charles Hope’s creation (the metal emblem) helped restore its life.
The novelty of persistent rain was starting to wear off by this stage (Belstaff jackets only resist rain for so long) and so reaching Rainbow Beach was a welcome relief. After parking all the bikes behind the pub, the boys engaged with badly needed beers and a spirited pool comp against the locals, who did not warm to strangers from Canberra all that much. The next day, they all travelled to Fraser Island - their ultimate destination - with threatening weather still present. And then Brian’s bike played up again in the sand on Fraser Island, leaving him quite frustrated.
Richard, Brian and Ron had all had enough by this stage, and Brian decided to head for home while Richard and Ron headed for a dry hotel in Gympie. Dieter and Lenny stayed another day on the Island. The four remaining riders regrouped at Gympie for the run home to Canberra (with the Cold Flame emblem of course). Sometime later, Richard gave the fridge emblem to Lenny who built an aluminium and perspex casing for it and did all the subsequent engravings.
Soon after, the group decided to call themselves the Cold Flame Tourers and were joined by Bob Coleman and Chris Bourke. In the ensuing years, the emblem has ridden around Australia at least twice and has been to innumerable rallies, with details of the major trips engraved on its outer casing.
One of the rallies the group liked was the Monarchs’ Dargo Rally, but after a few of these, the Monarchs suggested that the group set up their own rally. So in 1986, Bob Coleman and Lenny Watkinson worked up an event on behalf of the Cold Flame Tourers. And of course, no second guess on what it would be called!
As far as the members can recall, it may have been an Easter ride where they decided that the rally site location would in one of their favourite places: at the junction of the Pinch and Snowy Rivers on the Barry Way. The rally date was important, with the weekend closest to the 9th of March chosen to mark the ride to Fraser Island. It was also a pretty handy date for other reasons, as it coincided with the Canberra Day long weekend and the Victorian Labor day long weekend. This enabled the Monarchs and the Cold Flame Tourers and others from ACT and Victoria to have an excellent ride to a great site more or less halfway between them, while still marking the memory of the Fraser Island run.
Bob Coleman and Lenny Watkinson coordinated the first rally in 1986 and Lenny staged them until 1989. Hal Caston held the rally from 1990 until 2006, when Bob and Sue Coleman took over in 2007.
Later, Bob moved to Melbourne from Burra, NSW and joined the Monarchs, who assumed management of the rally from 2016.
So, there we have it; one of the best back-to-basics rallies in NSW, inspired by a motorcycle breakdown and an obscurely-branded fridge, what more could you possibly ask for?
Rob Lovett
They decided that a run up to Fraser Island would be a good option, taking as many dirt roads as possible. The few in question were: Brian Harber, Richard Blakeley, Ron Velders, Dieter Walter (not from the bus depot) and Len (Lenny) Watkinson.
Richard and Ron had bought brand new Yamaha XT500s from Doug Bryant motorcycles; they fitted in perfectly with the bikes to be ridden by Brian, Dieter and Lenny.
Lenny’s bike was an older model which had already done a considerable amount of dirt work prior to the trip, and both Dieter’s and Lenny’s were converted to 12 volt systems. All the bikes were packed with the gear needed for a run of that distance, including spares and all else to enable camping on Fraser Island.
Soon after they headed off, and despite constant drenching rain they had a good run into northern NSW, albeit with Brian’s bike (the oldest) malfunctioning every now and then. But on the second day after leaving Tenterfield, Lenny’s bike also began to falter and stopped altogether after negotiating a shallow water crossing.
Fortunately, they were close to an old shed and pushed the XT in there to escape being pelted by the ever present rain. While Lenny was working on the recalcitrant Yamaha, Richard went for a bit of an exploration around the shed, and in a gloomy corner, he found a broken down and badly decomposed old kerosene fridge. After dusting off the dirt and rust, the handsome metal emblem in the shape of an Olympic torch came to light – the Charles Hope Cold Flame. It was easily removed from the rusted out fridge door and a few moments after Richard took it over to show the others, Lenny’s bike started.
Everyone was greatly relieved and concluded that the fridge badge had some influence over Lenny’s bike.
Given the emblem’s magical power to extract life from the dead bike, there was no way that such a ‘Holy Grail’ could be left behind. So Charles Hope’s Cold Flame was definitely heading to Fraser Island just to make sure Lenny’s bike (and maybe also Brian’s) would make it.
Prior to arriving at Fraser Island, they headed for the Rainbow Beach Hotel for a well-earned rest. On the advice of locals, they were told it was possible to get there using the beach highway from Noosa Heads.
Unfortunately, this was not quite right due to king tides (probably generated by Cyclone Simon in late February) making progress along the beach route almost impossible with much of it washed away. In an attempt to get through, Lenny drowned his bike in the surf and no doubt, the presence of Charles Hope’s creation (the metal emblem) helped restore its life.
The novelty of persistent rain was starting to wear off by this stage (Belstaff jackets only resist rain for so long) and so reaching Rainbow Beach was a welcome relief. After parking all the bikes behind the pub, the boys engaged with badly needed beers and a spirited pool comp against the locals, who did not warm to strangers from Canberra all that much. The next day, they all travelled to Fraser Island - their ultimate destination - with threatening weather still present. And then Brian’s bike played up again in the sand on Fraser Island, leaving him quite frustrated.
Richard, Brian and Ron had all had enough by this stage, and Brian decided to head for home while Richard and Ron headed for a dry hotel in Gympie. Dieter and Lenny stayed another day on the Island. The four remaining riders regrouped at Gympie for the run home to Canberra (with the Cold Flame emblem of course). Sometime later, Richard gave the fridge emblem to Lenny who built an aluminium and perspex casing for it and did all the subsequent engravings.
Soon after, the group decided to call themselves the Cold Flame Tourers and were joined by Bob Coleman and Chris Bourke. In the ensuing years, the emblem has ridden around Australia at least twice and has been to innumerable rallies, with details of the major trips engraved on its outer casing.
One of the rallies the group liked was the Monarchs’ Dargo Rally, but after a few of these, the Monarchs suggested that the group set up their own rally. So in 1986, Bob Coleman and Lenny Watkinson worked up an event on behalf of the Cold Flame Tourers. And of course, no second guess on what it would be called!
As far as the members can recall, it may have been an Easter ride where they decided that the rally site location would in one of their favourite places: at the junction of the Pinch and Snowy Rivers on the Barry Way. The rally date was important, with the weekend closest to the 9th of March chosen to mark the ride to Fraser Island. It was also a pretty handy date for other reasons, as it coincided with the Canberra Day long weekend and the Victorian Labor day long weekend. This enabled the Monarchs and the Cold Flame Tourers and others from ACT and Victoria to have an excellent ride to a great site more or less halfway between them, while still marking the memory of the Fraser Island run.
Bob Coleman and Lenny Watkinson coordinated the first rally in 1986 and Lenny staged them until 1989. Hal Caston held the rally from 1990 until 2006, when Bob and Sue Coleman took over in 2007.
Later, Bob moved to Melbourne from Burra, NSW and joined the Monarchs, who assumed management of the rally from 2016.
So, there we have it; one of the best back-to-basics rallies in NSW, inspired by a motorcycle breakdown and an obscurely-branded fridge, what more could you possibly ask for?
Rob Lovett