A cool American trike

Nothing much has happened around here as far as riding is concerned, the weather has either been too bad or we have had friends around for meals. I was actually getting a bit worried because my battery, which is now more than five years old, has started to struggle a bit when I start the bike. Craig, the owner of our local bike shop, Vredenburg Yamaha, said that I am lucky my battery has lasted this long and it is probably only because I ride so much because five years is about a battery's life span.

So.......I went out and bought a battery optimiser; the Optimate 3+, Frank has one and he swears by it, says that it keeps his battery at its optimal level and since he installed it he has had no problems, I'll let you know how it goes when I instal mine. At R500 it seems like a good buy.On a lighter note (?) I have signed up for a BMW rider academy track day on Sunday 5th September so I need my bike to start! Dick sent me the email after he had signed up, it should be very interesting if a little daunting as I have never done anything like that before. Apparently it consists of lectures, then cone riding to hone up control skills and then we ride around the Killarney race track to improve cornering skills.

I must confess to being just a little bit apprehensive about this as I have never been on a race track before, I am hoping that it will not rain on Sunday because if I am going to ride on a race track for my first ever time, I would like it to be a dry race track!
This is definitely something that I have wanted to do for a long time so I will let you know how it goes, as far as I am concerned anything that improves our riding skills and equips us to deal with hazards out there has got to be a good thing, we have to stay on top of our game.

And now for something completely different; Way back in the late 60's - early 70's when I was a young, bullet-proof Policeman in Rhodesia, a bunch of us were seriously considering signing up with the Americans to go to Vietnam. It was close, we very nearly went but instead got involved in a local bush war. I often wonder what would have happened had I gone along, it was before I met Janet; would I have survived? Would I have ended up with my soul mate anyway? Would my two wonderful children have been born to someone else or were they destined to be my kids anyway? I like to think that our lives were pre-destined and we would have met up but it was probably a good thing that I didn't go, I can't remember what made us change our plans but here I am forty years later happily settled in South Africa.

Which kind of brings me to my point; Recently these pictures came through my email sent by my good buddy Dick, they are of a Vietnam Veteran's trike and the artwork is spectacular;I have no information on who did the artwork but it is incredible, a work of art. Also it is a bit difficult to fully appreciate the work in these pictures but you get the idea.
That is one serious power plant on that trike too, it must really be able to haul ass!
The detail needs to be studied, it is absolutely spectacular; on the tank you can see the Hueys flying in with machine guns strafing and then on the left side you can see a Marine rescuing a child and the graves of the soldiers who died there.
A really beautiful trike.
By the quality of the artwork it is easy to see that it is an American machine. Maybe some of you can shed some light on this, I haven't checked it up but it sure is cool.

Remember Saturday is the day jol at the Phoenix bar so come one up, I will have to take it easy so that I can do the track day on Sunday!