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Answer to the last quiz – Nigel Birkett on the Mick Andrews/John Shirt inspired Majesty in Scotland – As some of our readers might know – Nigel did a lot of testing for the Yamaha Factory prior to them introducing the top selling TY 250 Monoshock. – Later he also built a few TYZ specials when the factory frame was a a bit overkill. – Then later again he sold the new Ossa and was reported as having a spare tranny in his backpack when riding in Scotland an event which he has now ridden over 50 times !!!!
Quiz today. — Guess who?
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Who remembers these bikes? Not many in Canada, but we did see a few in our Alberta Trials back in the 1970’s
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We have been contacted by a guy in Kamloops, who plans on putting on a Trial just for Enduro bikes in April – if you would be interested in doing this – just email and I will forward the contact info.
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It would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall at the Honda Factory meetings recently – First in the World of Trials, where the undisputed king Tony Bou riding an expensive factory Honda, got beaten by Jamie Busto on a 6 year old private -Gasser!!! – Then at the Dakar, just when they thought they had it in the bag – they lost by 2 seconds to rival KTM. – Did you know that the cost to enter the Dakar is now $100,000,00 ? – and did you know that Lawrence hacking of Ontario completed it many years ago on a Yamaha Tenere??
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The weather was perfect for a group ride at Ioco on Sunday.
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EDITORIAL
It’s hard to escape the every day rants being posted by Donald Trump, and you have to wonder just how long the American people will put up with it or indeed the rest of the World.
I watched the film last night, of Winston Churchill ( played brilliantly by Gary Oldman) and the events leading up to the Second World War, it is a remarkable take on how the World Powers chose to ignore the threat of Hitler in the 1930’s as he built Germany from a Country in ruins and financially broke, into a Military Super power. –
Many older readers, might recall the First World War, was called “The War to end all Wars” – a war that decimated the younger generation of men in England, so it is understandable, that many chose to turn a “Blind eye” to events happening in Europe.
It has often been said, that if we do not learn from past mistakes – we will repeat them, and unfortunately that is something we have seen in our lifetime. – As Winston Churchill said “You cannot appease a dictator” – Just consider those wise words for a moment.
Both Babs and myself were born before the war started in 1939 – and while we were sheltered from any real impact because our Dads moved us to Wales, before joining the army, we do have memories of air raid sirens and bomb shelters, the sound of German bombers going overhead to bomb the docks in Birkenhead and Liverpool – having to carry a gas mask when we went to school. – Yes we also remember seeing a German bomber on fire flying low over our schoolyard before it crashed some three miles away killing all the crew.
Neither Babs or myself really knew our Dads until the war ended – my Dad survived Dunkirk and Babs Dad survived being torpedoed in the Atlantic plus the heavy fighting in Italy. Yes we were the lucky ones.
It’s hard to ignore the similarity of the world leaders today, and the events that happened long ago. – I recently saw a photo of a 100 year old Veteran – crying at a memorial service – saying “Why did we bother” – When will they ever learn.?
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