April 2023

                                                       April 2023

 

Another month has dragged by in a mist of ill health, rain and the death of another 2 CV club member, Keith the apiary. He loved his bees and 2CV. This month there was drive day organised by the Mad Hatters, the club next door. The run was drawn up by Gill and Bill. It was a very good route to Nuffield Place with the starting point in Staines, Sainsburys car park. It was a bit wet to start but it became drier as the day went on. Out through Windsor towards Maidenhead to Pinkneys Green Cricket Club for rendezvous with other clubs and on to the Square Deal Cafe to see a display of Historic Commercial Vehicles which we joined. Enough time to enjoy a full English and be around the Burton to answer questions from admirers. Gita took the opportunity to have a photo shoot with a New York Taxi.

 We left the cafe and the convoy was split by the main road traffic. In the queue to cross the traffic controlled bridge at Sonning we all managed to become a convoy again and reach Nuffield Place as one column of cars. We were to park as a display in front of the house so we were let in at the private entrance and came up the drive. Parked up we all enjoyed the appreciation of the visitors. The National Trust did us proud and we enjoyed the ambience for a few hours. Gita and I enjoyed the day out immensely and many thanks to Bill and Gil for organising it.

The previous week there were Bihu celebrations that we took the Burton to. It was at Hornchurch going around the M25 to get there. It was my first longish drive since last year. Again it rained and Gita drove back. My navigation was not so good and ended up in the wrong lane taking the A12 and missing the M25. All worked out well because of the level of street lighting and lower speeds. Gita did well for not having driven the Burton since 2019.

I seem to be writing this backwards as at the beginning of the month was Wey Valley Observed Sunday which was my first run out on the Buell. Observed was quite busy and much was discussed about the coming London Classic Bike show next month.

I need to have a new hood for the El Cid. I have all the materials but not a suitable frame for the sidescreens. They are made from 40mm by 3mm mild steel strip and 6mm bar. To fit the screens have so many subtle angles and curves to fit the space it is a challenge to get is right. It took s few days of trial and error to achieve this. One more job towards the new hood

March 2023

 

March 2023

 

The whole month of March has disappeared in a veil of rain storms that has kept me from all the bits that I need to do outside. I have just posted the Observed Sunday pictures for April and realized I have written nothing for the Blog since February.  It is not because I have nothing to write about more that because of the weather I have not been able to get outside to ride my bikes and finish off projects. The LE Club meeting on the first Tuesday of the month was very special as we had visitors from Assam. They were Gita’s classical dance Gurus, Dipjyoti and Dipankar, who were here performing at locations around the country and dropped in before returning to Assam. During their stay in the UK they had not visited a traditional English Pub and that was on their list of things to do. The meeting place for the LE club was at “The Land of Liberty Peace and Plenty” One such pub that does traditional ales and no food. A sample selection of beers were made available for them to enjoy while I did bike stuff.

This is a picture taken at the Nehru Centre after their performance. Their dancing can be seen on Youtube as Dipjyoti Dipankar Sattriya.

 March Observed Sunday was rainy and I used the Kawasaki that day fighting my way through flooded roads getting home drenched. The Buell was in the workshop being fettled by Snobs. Lack of use during Covid had not done the running gear any favours and it needed a new silencer and many other bits to get the MOT.

 

That achieved all I needed to do was get out there and ride. Along with the rain a leak developed in the extension making a very big wet mark on the ceiling and down the wall. I noticed it quite quickly and ran out to B&Q to get some bitumastic paint to seal the roof. Just the thing not to do is climbing a ladder and getting on the roof to effect a repair. It was only some sealant that joined sections of lead flashing between the wall and roof tiles that had deteriorated and just needed redoing. 

Fortunately it was only one storey almost step ladder height. That fixed there were other things to be done like a mad hatters tea party hat for the granddaughter two days notice to come up with something. A challenge to be relished and a chance to use some bits that looked too good to throw away. I can be a bit of a squirrel. Made from a foam-polystyrene packing material it was light and easy to work with just right for an enormous hat for a child. Painted and decorated just in time for the end of term.

Sadly an old friend from the 2CVGB car club passed away and, along with a good number of 2CVers provided a convoy behind the herse at the funeral procession. I had not seen Colin for some years Covid preventing meetings to keep up to date and many did not know how badly his health had deteriorated. It was good to see all the old gang again with the same cars. Colin had been the clubs’ Mehari expert and that included El Cid’s and as mine was quite close I would get calls from Colin for technical details and build information. He was genuinely a very polite and nice man and will be sorely missed RIP Colin Jenkins.

 

Comment February 2023

 

It has been a difficult time since Christmas with health issues not being on my side drifting from feeling under par to being just not well. I managed to get to the Wey Valley meeting in January on the eighth but was working in the garage the next day working on a brake calliper and had a trip. I landed on a hard bit of the bike and winded myself. I had a very tender spot on the back of my rib cage. I have never encountered such a painful injury. I could not breathe properly and sleeping could only be achieved laying on my back laying on my right or left side just pushed air out of my lungs and I could not breathe. This stayed with me for about three weeks slowly improving but I did not feel right for about a month. In between I experienced the delights of A&E for five hours. That was a visit to record. I could empathise with the nurses and the pressure they are under. All they say is true. It is an accident waiting to happen and I think their skill and dedication avoids the disaster. I was examined behind screens with no bed. The bed was in use in the corridor. As soon as I was decent the screens were whipped aside and another patient was wheeled in on another bed. Patients were lined up on chairs nursing injuries. This conservative government has caused this with years of cut backs while lining their own pockets. All of the public services are failing through lack of funding. Now is the time to revolt. In the film Oliver the simple cry “More” was responded to by an unsympathising Lord or in this case Prime Minster. They need to go now before everything is gone.  The Nurses are not the bad guys here. We should join them on the picket lines to protest. The Work house mentality still exists with our Tory leaders it has filtered into every corner of our lives. Every little bit of help for the needy has already been removed from our society replaced by greed from those who have more than enough. My last thought on the political scene is that if we are doing so well as a country why are there so many food banks? Unheard of ten years ago! All of this along with an infection that would not go away made most of January an half of February an experience to forget. I had a break with the family at Centre Parcs, great for the kids, but not so sure that experiencing the water features there was a good idea for me. Swimming for me is slow drowning and the rapids experience left me a little battered and the flume left me stranded in the middle. We did a lot of walking that I felt better for doing. When we got home the Buell was taken in for service and a fettle as it had not been used much over the last year and needed a few things for the MOT.

You may think that all is not well and you will be close to the mark there but there is a ray of sunshine to brighten my world. It arrived in the post and it is the MAG magazine “Open Road” In it I have two articles “ The roof of the world” an abridged version of my trip up the Himalayas in 2019 edited expertly by Mutch the editor and the London Classic off road and racing show. This has now been passed on to those courageous guys who looked after me on that trip.

January 2023

 

January 2023.

 

As the first Sunday of the month was the First of January it was decided that the Observed runs would take place on the 8^th. Understandable because of getting up early to go out on your bike and concentrate after just going to bed from the revelries. Can anyone remember how wet it was? The first bike club meet of the year. It was wet but had stopped raining and the standing water was disappearing. I was there by nine to help man the club shop. It was to be an administrative morning to go through the stocks and create orders. Necessary and time consuming and completed by mid day. Heavy showers had come and gone and I was looking forward to a dryish ride home on the Kawasaki. I started off with the sun shining but that didn’t last as I progressed through driving rain. The M25 was stationary so I came home from Cobham via Walton and Ashford and Hayes. The route was waterlogged with long stretches of the roads almost flooded.  It was a good test for my new Oxford Advanced jacket and pants. I was slightly damp in the nether regions by the time I got home but I was mostly dry. Quite reasonable for a budget outfit I thought. Nothing I have bought before has kept me quite so dry.

On the Monday I slipped and fell in the garage when working on the last piston on the second 2CV front brake calliper. I hurt my back and this has curtailed progress for doing things. It has forced me to do some reading. 

I began with catching up on circulars and newsletters among them was the one from  the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust that announced the number of Free Admissions would be ending soon and that due to the economic climate the BMCT card would only allow a 50% reduction in entry fee for most museums on their list. Not sure this will help their membership much unless you are a regular museum visitor. From this newsletter I have a museum to visit in Gillingham, Kent. The Royal Engineers Museum. This has reminded me of a quest from when volunteering at The London Motorcycle Museum. It was finding the third in the trio of motorcycles that were tested by the military in 1949 to be the machine of choice. The bikes were Triumph TRW, Douglas DV60 and BSA. Triumph won the day and I managed to locate a Douglas but the BSA eluded me. It was still in military hands and in one of the REME facilities but no one knew which one.

I mentioned Dorothy Levitt, earlier, the fastest lady around in 1903 but there are other contenders like Olga Kevelos from the fifties who rode in ISDTs and the Scottish, rode for Honda in the Maudes Trophy team and amassed a number of  Gold and Silver medals. There is a book about her I would like to read called “Playing with the Boys”. The book I have read is one by tom Bartlett Motorized Bicycles. From Motorbikes to Mopeds to Ebikes first published 2010. It is the American look at these machines and views of what has been done. It is interesting in the difference the regulations are to the approach of the builder. In the UK we are stifled by having to register a motorised bicycle electric or otherwise whereas if it still is a basic bicycle in America you can have 100cc engines and loads of electric power and no safety gear insurance or road tax but as important a freedom to build what you want. It has put thoughts in my head of what to do with a Honda 35cc outboard engine.

Early in the month the Open Road magazine form MAG landed in my porch. This is the January/February issue with the report of the demonstration in Hackney. You have seen some of these pictures I have taken before. Nice to see them in print.

London Classic Off Road and Racing Show 2022

 

London Classic Off Road and Racing Show

December 3^rd 2022

 

It had a feel of an on-off build up to this show. Wey Valley pulled out because there was a more important thing for the members to do that Saturday. Understandable but it did leave me in a predicament of how to fill the stand with five bikes. I sent out a plea to MAG to generate numbers. Fortunately Spen responded and then sent out a plea to local MAG members. From nothing I had three people and three bikes. I was persevering with Wey Valley and had one taker but he contacted me that he could no longer come as his BMW 1200 had be stolen off his drive. A few days later I was contacted by Chris and he could display his Triumph T100. Things were getting better. I sent out requisite application forms to be filled in on-line. The theme of Adventure Bikes was lost but what more could I put on the stand to invite the visitors in. An inspiration struck me, I had read in the LE club magazine about an artist who travelled around to vistas in remote place in the Dales on his LE with a stack of art accessories to be able to paint the scenes in situ. He was Henry Mortimer Batten a well known journalist and broadcaster for the BBC in the 1920’s and the article was written by Paul Elliott who described some of Henry’s life and his appreciation of this motorcycle. I have my LE with a few accessories, some off road paintings I did fifty years ago with an old easel and equally old paint box and paints. I had a bit of astro turf to add ambience. I prepared my old Mac with videos of my trip to India on a Himalayan. Other than assembling and loading my bike trailer I was good to go. Spen, Graeme and Nic from MAG, Chris from Wey Valley and myself made the team for the event.

Thursday I built the trailer, Friday I loaded it with my LE and filled the EL Cid with props and delivered everything to the stand at Kempton ready for an early start on Saturday. This year the stand was on the first floor and bike access was by wheel chair ramp. Riding up it was interesting with a cold engine and shuffling it around the tight turn mid way was physical. Bigger bikes would have problems.

Saturday was a cold start and everyone arrived in good time finding alternative ways in using the goods lift. The stand was finally decorated with posters, a painting and the MAG banner. I should have brought my selection of coat hangers and pliers for hanging the banner. In all I was happy to have a presentable stand with interesting bikes to display. There was a great deal of interest in Nicks Norton Commando which had been much modified, Graeme’s Guzzi V7 and Chris’s T100 throughout the day. My LE proved to be a spark that brought people to the stand and prospective members for the LE Club. The IAM and Wey Valley were doing well and MAG was doing their bit.

Everyone had a chance to see what was at the show even viewing prospective purchases. The main event at the show were interviews with the former Speedway Champion Peter Collins. More interesting for me was who was doing the interviewing.

It was none other than LE Club Historian and Motorcycle Journalist Denis Frost. That name may ring a bell with Motorcycle road tests in the distant past. There were interesting bikes among them was this Benelli. Very much like the Aermacchi of that era.

It had been a long cold day and we started wrapping up at three in the afternoon. Even so there was still interest in the LE from one gentle man who had limited internet access. He was a little disappointed that the Club had moved away from paper. Where can you get membership to a club that is not on-line now? My advice was to get a friend to help him with the on-line application. Perhaps a Christmas present? It took me an hour to load up everything that I had brought including the LE and equally as long to unload it. As it was now dark a secured the trailer outside and dismantled it and put it away the next morning.

November 2022

 

November 2022.

 

An interesting month with finally getting to see my GP about ongoing health issues from having had Covid which have left me under the weather and not my usual energetic self. Even the cat was sick. Enough said. At the Observed Sunday it was raining so hard that I took the El Cid to the meeting. The driver’s wing mirror was a little out of place and I thought I would give it a little tweak to better position it and it came off in my hand. The internal bracket had broken. A job to do when I got home. It was a bit more complicated than that. I needed to get access behind the mirror glass. Fortunately the rubber was so old and hard it disintegrated under a little pressure. The broken bracket could now be removed and a replacement was found in my store of bits along with a new nut and bolt. I had to wait a few days for set of replacement rubbers from ECAS 2CV spares to complete the job. Looks nice again. 

The continuing saga of things for the van was sorting out the front brake callipers. Both had seized with lack of use. The dilemma was how to push them out when they are no longer connected to the system. A novel approach suggested by my brother Adrian was to make up a piston on a screw thread that could compress brake fluid and so force the calliper pistons to come out. To make the piston I enlisted the help of my engineering friend Bob. After a few days Bob had made the item and I set about the job of removing the pistons from the callipers. I have done one piston from one side of a calliper. It is not a quick job screwing down the piston and recharging from the bleed nipple as you undo the bolt. I may or may not be finished by Christmas.

I gave the Buell a run out one Sunday morning in sunshine and a warm start descended into bone chilling cold as I went up the M40 towards Oxford. Fog was never far away and it was not long before my outing was curtailed and I returned home. Another day ,after giving the Valiant a run out I seem to have got the ignition right for the carburetion to be right. How many weeks, on and off, have I been playing with it?  Any way it is now good enough to get parked at the back of the garage and get the LE out for the London Classic Off Road and Race Bike Show. Washed, polished and fired up it was prepped for the event. I only had to get the props out of storage to be ready. 

A bit of effort had to go into this one as Wey Valley had the toy run the same day and I could not rely on their support. The Le Club was similarly unavailable. I contacted Spen from Motorcycle Action Group to see if anyone from them would like to help out. Fortunately for me they were or it would have been me on my own. I had one taker from Wey Valley, Chris, to help out. I had five bikes for the display. They were standard bikes, but as you know you don’t need a specific off road bike to go off road and that was the theme.

October 2022

 

October 2022

 

Where has October gone? Early on I was in Norfolk then later that week I was in Barnsley for an eightieth birthday travelling in the Burton on both occasions followed by the Hackney protest on the Kawasaki and Vee day At the Ace cafe that I attended on the Valiant. 

The next week was filled with travelling to the Nehru Centre for performances by Gita and the concurrent exhibition of arts and crafts from all the states of North East India around Assam. During the week I did a cursory check of the Toyota and managed to dislocate my thumb dealing with an unrelated electrical connector I was trying to crimp up that didn’t crimp. The following week was MOT time with tests booked for the Toyota and Burton. The Toyota failed and required new front brake discs and pads that required a return to the garage on the Friday for the work to be done. That was Tuesday, Thursday it was Burton MOT at the station I use in Isleworth that has done all my 2CV MOTs for years and know my cars well. On checking the Burton over I found the brake lights not to be working. I was not able to fix it in time so had to cancel the MOT. I spent the Thursday fixing it by fitting a new wire as I could not locate the exact point of the problem in the harness. The Toyota was delivered to the garage on the Friday. We filled the garage time by walking around Feltham avoiding the showers and sampled the delights of the local Weatherspoons. I had a Ruddles best and a burger on offer for just four pounds. With deals like that it would be difficult to stay away. Gita was driving because my thumb was still very painful and got about a mile down the road we could smell something very hot and when we stopped in traffic there was smoke pluming up from the nearside front wing. It was the left front brake pads smoking and almost on fire. Needless to say we returned to the garage. It took some time to fix but most of that was waiting for replacement pads. The ones first fitted were faulty. Just my luck to have a faulty set of pads. It is a rule for me in that if things can go wrong they will go wrong. Have you ever heard of faulty brake pads? All fixed and nothing more to pay I went home with an MOT. Saturday we went to Bristol for my elder brothers’ birthday, Barry. For eighty years old he is still a good dancer supported during the evening by the Jive and Ballroom dance clubs and an excellent local band. While in Bristol I collected a little four stroke outboard engine that my other brother Adrian had and no longer needed. He thought there was a problem with it in that while being used it slowed and finally stopped. I would try to get it running again at some point. Back home and Monday was Dewali with a celebration meal cooked or really created by my Master Chef Gita for the family. Wednesday was the rescheduled MOT for the Burton. My thumb was feeling much better after it clicked back into place over the weekend. The Burton passed and is good for another year. 

Over the next few days I got the little engine running, found a set of 2CV brake callipers in the loft of my garage cleaned them up ready for fitting, cleaned the rust off the front pipe and silencer box and gave them a thick coat of black heat resistant paint. When that was dry made two new hanger brackets from some galvanise sheet. I don’t feel I have done much in October.