June
2025
Second
Half
Too much going on in June to get it into one posting
when I catalogued it. The third Tuesday of the month is the LE Club night held
at The Land of Liberty, Peace and Plenty. It is a traditional pub with
traditional beers and a member of CAMRA. I have only once been able to sample
the delights of the ales. All the other times I have been riding or driving and
do not imbibe. It was a special evening as I was eager to get feedback from
Anthony about some of the advanced riding techniques we had discussed at the
last club meeting. It was gratifying to hear that he had taken things on board
and saw the advantages using them in his riding. Although not an Observer it is
good to relate to people and pass on my information.
Having got the MOT o the Burton and discovering the braking problem it was time to deal with it. I had about two weeks to fix it. I removed the disc pad and discovered some brake fluid behind the pad. I ordered new seals and pads from ECAS that arrived in a few days. In between I removed the calliper, which was difficult, having to jack up the car and using a torque wrench to loosen the bolts from underneath. It really needed more flexibility than my body wanted to give but managed it with the bolts screaming in the process of being undone.
As I had already replaced the seals on the callipers for the van project I pulled them from storage and fitted one to replace the one that was leaking. I had real problems with the hand brake mechanism. The inner lever fitted fine but the outer one would have the correct adjustment but as the main securing bolt was tightened the adjustment disappeared and the pad would lock up the disc. A problem I had to sleep on. When I inspected the original hand brake pad it had worn at an angle. I is all supposed to be parallel. The lever was out of shape putting uneven pressure on the pad and was never going to sit properly. Exchanging it for a better one it took only a morning to get it working and just in time for the French car day at Blackbushe airport near Blackwater. I took it to Tesco to do brake tests in the car park before filling up with petrol ready for our Sunday outing. It was an outing and Gita came along. I used the same coordinates as the last French Car meeting at Blackbushe. At the point of getting off the M3 but thereafter it was not the same route. Tom reroutes you to avoid traffic. Not only did it do that it took us to a different destination. Another case of technology failure. Why me? I reprogrammed it and it took us there but not without drama on the way. Just before the airport we were faced with a blockade of police cars. It was the final stages of a chase and there were two cars and a number of people detained. When the operation was finished the police cars moved and we were allowed to continue. The car meeting was from 9 to 12. We had left at ten anticipated arrival eleven. Tom’s misrouting and correction meant we arrived at 11:40 just in time to be part of the meeting. Parked together in a grassed area there was lots of chatting and photograph taking before we went to the cafe for an all day breakfast.
The next weekend we were in Chipping Sodbury for the Rotary Club Classic Car run for the third time hoping for a less eventful run from last year when the battery died on the Burton. Another early start to join the other entrants to be waved off by the Chairman of the Rotary Club. Joining the throng of people who had come to see the show in the High Street.
Courtesy of Mike on Facebook
I wandered around to see the other entrants and saw two sidecar outfits. One was a modern Triumph, a very pretty set up, and the other was a Dneiper. This was a nostalgic moment as it was close to the Ural outfit with a Dneiper sidecar. A bike that I had for twenty-six years before I moved and London traffic made using it a nightmare. I did get more information for Pikaloo about Sunbeam parts. Stuart Engineering Sunbeam has a parts website and the parts needed to get it running again.
After a bacon sandwich and our start number approaching Gita and I were back in the Burton. Our mission today was to go in convoy to the half way stage and then return directly to enjoy the entertainment. Our line up was Torr and wife Trudy in the Jaguar, Adrian and Barry in the Dolly and me and Gita in the Burton.
We lost contact straight away but I soon caught up with Adrian and it took a bit longer to catch Torr. I did have a little problem in that due to the work I had done on the Burton I had disturbed the retaining grommet on the throttle cable and suddenly at a junction I had no throttle to pull away. A quick pull on the choke to give enough throttle to limp to a place I could stop and jump out to relocate the throttle cable and we were on our way again. Now in convoy we had 2CV’s that handled the narrow country lanes well. Torr not so fortunate in the Jaguar.
Overall it was a nice outing on country lanes before our stop at Doughty Sports Club for tea and a piece of cherry cake. It had taken about two hours to do this forty-five mile leg and to return by the main roads took only an hour. We were back by two and had the last chorus from the Ladies Rock Choir from the first act of entertainment. I missed that one as there was so much interest in the Burton at the start, at the sports club and at the finish. A ploughman’s during the afternoon completed our day out in the sunshine enjoyed by all.
