Motor-cycle answers whistle

Press, 6 August 1987, Page 11

Motor-cycle answers whistle

PA Invercargill Eion Fletcher’s sheepdogs are not the only things that stir when he whistles these days. The Clinton farmer has an unusual problem with his Yamaha Bullfrog three-wheeled motorcycle. The machine seems to have developed a mind of its own — when he whistles or clicks his fingers the bike starts up. He was chatting to a friend, Mr Albie Camp-

bell, on Sunday when he whistled at the bike to demonstrate his point. “I whistled and it started up. Albie couldn’t believe his eyes,” Mr Fletcher said. The day before, he went out to the shed and clicked his fingers in the direction of the vehicle. The engine turned over a couple of times, then burst into life. Although he has not had the machine checked, Mr Fletcher thinks the problem is

with the electric starter. “It is probably just shorting out somewhere causing it to start by itself,” he said. But the first time this happened, all hell broke loose at the Fletcher farm. Mrs Fletcher was out in the car shed last Friday evening when the motor-cycle motor started turning over in the next room. “We all rushed out and there was nobody round. I thought someone was

trying to steal it, but thought it funny the dogs were not barking,” Mr Fletcher said. Constable A. J. Van der Eik, of Clinton, was called out to help find the “thief.” The search ended at 1.30 the next morning. “I felt a bit silly about the whole thing, really. I don’t know if the policeman appreciated being called out at that time of night to search for someone who did not exist,” Mr Fletcher said.