The Flying Peacock & the Ruptured Budgie.

As some will be aware my bike is currently “failing to proceed” as Rolls Royce used to say back in the day, it’s currently at Motomoda waiting for parts.
Generously Pete offered me the use of his bike now known as the Flying Peacock or Andrew to its close friends (those in Oz will understand the reference).
I picked the bike up a couple of days prior to leaving for the rally (the Ruptured Budgie is the Queensland Guzzi Club’s annual rally) and eventually headed off on Friday morning from the local meeting place, Pie in the Sky on the Old Road north of Sydney.

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We spent the day riding north to Uralla in the New England area of NSW.
Spent the night at the pub after meeting up with a number of others who arrived from different points of the state.

The Flying Peacock outside the Top Pub at Uralla.
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Next morning we headed northwest to Inverell and then on to the rally site near Mingoola on the NSW and Qld border, arriving early Saturday afternoon.

After the usual beer and bullshit and catching up with old acquaintances, we watched various participants taking part in some of the events, I am told there were around 400 at the rally.

Plenty of GRiSO's at the rally
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A couple of the boys competing in the toilet roll competition.
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Good quality toilet rolls meant a great deal of speed could be generated.
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Lance on the back of Mal's V7 gathered up the toilet paper and put it to good use after his ride with Mal.

After dinner provided by the local Lions Club who use it as fundraiser we settled in for the night around multiple campfires.

Sunday morning we woke at the crack of dawn when the usual rally moron decided to fire up his bike for the sake of it.
After dusting ourselves off and packing up, we headed off in various directions for the trip home.

The Flying Peacock ready to head off on Sunday morning.
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The greatest challenge of the whole few days away was making it out alive from the portable shiter in the background after the activities of Saturday night.
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I took the long way and had to dodge some Kangaroos while heading across to the Gold Coast to catch up with my wife who was visiting an old friend for the weekend.
Monday I headed off for the 850 km trip home which went really well for the first 4 hours before the rain started and continued for most of the way home.
Fortunately it wasn’t torrential but was constant showers for around 5 hours.

The Peacock never missed a beat and the engine performance was exemplary, I love the way the early 8v bikes feel a bit raw when compared to the newer versions. I also have to throw in a comment on the Michelin PR4’s I have on my bike and which are fitted to Pete’s, I can only endorse them for their overall performance and great wet weather grip, which never gave me a moment of concern on some pretty dodgy road surfaces.

Overall a great few days riding with friends and on some great roads in rural NSW and the Flying Peacock got me home trouble free.
Pete the engine noise I found familiar and comforting and it brought back good memories.

No pics appearing for me but I'm glad you had fun. Yes, the early A5's do feel a bit, Errr? Unfinished? Compared to the later engines. That horrible cam-knock on the right scares the shit out of me but you can hear it go away at about 2,500rpm as the camchains pull everything straight ! No matter, I'll be rollerising it soon.

Most of the bits for your beast were shipped today, (Along with Ron's handlebars.) and as soon as I get back in early June I'll be getting your beast back together. Until then? Please, keep the Cane Toad and enjoy it.

Pete

Great write-up on the rally, Mark.  The photos were well done, too.

Sounds like a fun trip. Thanks for the yarn and photos. Is the RB on this time each year?

As a side note, what are we calling an early 8V, or an early A5? Mine is an early 2010 model - does it qualify?

Have a look at the engine number prefix. By early 2010 it's probably an A8. Only real difference is the cams are shimmed for end float so it doesn't sound like two cheese graters fornicating in an iron tank at idle.

Pste

Ralph,
The Budgie is always on mid May and has proven to be a fun trip with a big roll-up from many parts of Oz.
Tony "OzGuzzi" is a regular attendee, he is in the white t shirt in the 3rd photo.
Put it in your Calender for next year and get in touch if you are looking for some company for the trip.
As Pete said, any of the pre shimmed cam engines are what I was describing as the early 8v bikes.

Turns out mine is an A5. Makes sense because I've always thought it was especially noisy.