Tiddler Tour Wrap Up 2025

We had a fabulous tour covering around 1000km, I had planned on around 900 but when I checked the log book on returning home the tour was longer than expected.

Julie Kneebone and Cherrie Thrower acted as our faithful back up team, fortunately the trailer was not required until the last 50km or so and then only because of a minor and easily remedied issued with Howard’s Jawa.

The scenery and roads were amazing and we were lucky enough to catch the countryside at its Spring peak, with particular high points being the area around Harden, the road from Harden to Jugiong and especially the back road from Jugiong that flows alongside the Murrumbidgee River.  At a particular viewpoint, around 15 km from Jugiong, we were presented with stunning vistas along the river and the rolling hills that faded off into the distance set against perfect blue skies.

Laughs were the rule of the ride and Julie and Cherrie were treated to a constant show of daring techniques and attempts to outdo one another at 80 km/hr, especially on the long climbs, which were hard fought battles between Ross Luff on one of Howards Jawas and Chris Thrower on the mercilessly flogged Honda Postie.

Chris in particular developed an unusual riding style that involved riding one handed sideways whilst kissing the speedo, he claims the techniques allowed him an extra 10kph and gave him an edge over Ross Luff who was constantly trying to call his bluff.

Ross took it easy on the first day but Howard told him to flog the Jawa, “don’t hold back” and so the full 11hp were unleashed on day two, with the Jawa touching 95 kph on one downhill section.  That doesn’t sound much but on a lightweight 1951 machine? I have no doubt the velocity would have been pretty frightening.

Likewise Howard brutally but gleefully flogged his Jawa, probably well beyond it’s early post WW2 design limits, rather than protesting, the machine took the full throttle running in it’s stride and Howard ended each day with a smile.  A smile that by the way broadened somewhat when he found his total loss ignition system still held over 13v at the end of a 230Km day!

Don’s CB250RS proved to be a quiet achiever, firing once every second guide post as he said and never sounding stressed, starting with just 1 or 2 kicks and sipping at the fuel.  Clearly that Honda “trail bike” based engine is a good thing even at around 42 years old.  For Dons’ part he proved conclusively that the saying that women have more words to use in a day than men is not in fact correct as he regaled us with stories, anecdotes, cooking exploits and more.

The biggest challenge for the bikes were the long climbs on the Snowy Mountains Highway, but I came away seriously impressed by the way the machines coped,  unfortunately the Highway then tempted me to give the Spada a bit of spin, since these were the roads it was built for. ON the other hand the other riders got me back when we had to transverse the rough dirt road in and out of Yarrongabilly National Park, definitely not the Spada’s preferred road type.

Ricky was sure he was going to be first on the trailer with the Yamaha DS7 but somehow as the ride progressed with some fettling, the bike performed better and found its legs. Of course the fettling involved new spark plugs, tweaks to the oiling system, prayers, kicks and making a hell of a racket in the motels before we departed each morning.  We suspect he used more oil than fuel but at least he didn’t seize.

My Spada performed faultlessly, though the tank bag unfortunately marred the immaculate tank when some gravel got caught under it on the dirt road along the Murrumbidgee River. It revelled in the twisties and simply hummed along vibration free almost silent at the imposed 80kph limit giving no indication of its 35yr heritage and providing an effortless riding experience.

Meals, in a word, fabulous, the highlight probably being a pub in a side street in Cooma that contained a Chinese Restaurant, we all agreed the meal was exceptional, but in general we ate well and had a fabulous time socially following the meal each night.

A special mention needs to be made regarding Chris Thrower and his navigation skills on day two when he was allowed to navigate us along the Murrumbidgee River to Gundagai.  We were so impressed we actually gathered in the main street of Gundagai to award him a special dispensation for his previous navigational sins and promised to never mention them again.

Unfortunately he ruined it the next morning, when aided and abetted by Howard was unable to find his way out of Tumut, leaving me sitting on my bike at the end of the main street shaking my head.  Howard it seemed wanted to go to Wagga instead of Cooma and Chris seemed to have no idea where he was going, just somewhere else, he hoped.

Chris has since led another new rider astray on a Sunday ride 2 weeks ago, mumbling something about texting on his phone when instructions were given, and this was despite the new rider protesting that he was sure he was going the right way as instructed, we now realise we made a significant mistake with the dispensation.

To sum up, it was a fabulous event, a great time was had by all and everyone has put their hand up for 2026. It appears at this point 2026 has 9 starters and only 12 spots, so if you want to join the 2026 Tour get in early.