Lions on Bikes

Until recently they were staging and event called the Gravity Festival that involved racing billy carts down a hill but they decided it was time to upgrade to something with engines. Fred is the president and he has a 1961 BSA Shooting Star so Mike suggested a classic bike show on the Macclesfield oval and that was that then. On the first Sunday in November last year they expected a modest crowd to pay $5 a head to show off their bikes or just have a look at the others but it was so much better. Fred said It was amazing as we only expected a few hundred and well over a thousand rocked up. The best bit for me was when I heard a noise and asked one of the gate marshals over the radio what it was. They told me it was the bikes queuing up to come in. That was just brilliant.

Mike and the rest of the Lions were flat out on the sizzle trying to make sure everyone was fed as the queue was getting a bit long and then they started to run out of eggs, bacon, and bread so Dave was sent for supplies…on his Triumph Rocket 3. That has to qualify for the most powerful grocery bike in the world and he didn’t crack a single egg! It was a proper community event with the Lions on the sizzle, the men’s shed on the coffees, the tennis club doing strawberries and cream, and the cricket cub running the bar said Fred and he went on to explain One our chosen charities is the Williams Syndrome Society but they provide all of the marshals for the event so we reckon they earn it. The weather was just perfect and everyone declared it a great success. Tony reckoned it was the mix of good bikes, food, and beer with plenty of stuff to sort through in the swap meet that made the event a success.

The Lions had such a lot of fun doing it they’re going to do it every year on the first Sunday in November and have asked the footy club to help out with chips and pies so that queue for the sizzle doesn’t get too long. A Triumph Tiger 800 XRX caught Freds eye at the event so he asked Santa for one (luckily the big man had one in stock). Now he is a Lion on a Tiger and the event has dropped the ‘classic’ requirement so any bike can drop in and show off.All proceeds are given away by the Lions throughout the year with the support of Shannons, Peter Stevens, and Mount Barker District Council.