Brooklands Bike Show 2023

 

Brooklands Bike Show 2023

 

Always things seem to happen on the same day, Wey Valley Observed Sunday and the Bike Show. My usual is to support the shop and spend the morning helping out. This Sunday I would finish early and head over to Brooklands to support the club stand at the show. It was quite profitable at the shop and I finished early but not before I had taken photos of the bikes in the car park and pretended to be part of the old stock.

It was quite busy at Brooklands as I threaded my through the crowds to the Club Stand near the Jackson shed. I parked the Buell with the other machines on the display. Next to the stand was another bike club with an interesting display of machines among them were a supercharged Aermacci and a seven cylinder radial engined creation called Radial Nerve. The owner started this one up for us and with minimal exhaust sounded really sweet. I could feel a similar project brewing with my spare Valiant frame. The radial engine is produced by a Czech company for use in period model aircraft. They do two sizes, the seven cylinder, 360 cc and fourteen cylinder 720 cc versions.

During the afternoon I did a walk about viewing the test hill and some speedway bikes that cleared it extremely quickly keeping an eye out for John from the LE club and his Valiant as he had got it running and said he would be there or I could have just missed him. Not far from the hill was the ABC stand. Notable because they are Granville Bradshaw’s creation that were made close by in Hersham. I like the ABC flat twins because of the ingenuity of the design in particular the leaf spring suspension. Something I have mentioned before but not I have had a chance to talk to someone about the ride. It is as good as I thought it would be. Able to soak up really rough roads to make a smooth comfy ride. An excellent system for the technology of the day (1919). The only drawback was the lack of suitable damping at that time. He could have used friction dampers as on the 1930’s racing Guzzis.

There was an excellent selection of classic British lightweights with a smattering of Continental glam. Electric bikes from Zero and Maeving were across the road from us and doing a grand job of providing test rides. I don’t own one but I have range anxiety just thinking about it. Eighty miles is not far and my trip to Cobham then to Brooklands and home clocked 75 miles. There would not be much be much left in the battery  after that trip.

The Rotary Club of Chipping Sodbury 2023 Classic Run

 

Chipping Sodbury Classic Car Run 2023

 

A few weeks ago it was the El Cid that was taken out for a run to the 2CV National near Worcester and now it was time for the Burton. A weekend away visiting family near Bristol and the delights of all the pubs on the main street of Chipping Sodbury. It used to be a market town. It has expanded enormously but has lost the market but still has the wide main street that was the start of the car and bike rally. Not many bikes but over two hundred launched on a scenic drive around Gloucestershire on a gloriously sunny Sunday.

Saturday was used to check the car and fit the rally plate to the front bumper for the early start on Sunday. My number for this year was 197 which was the same as last year. I had Covid last year on returning from Spain and had to miss the event. My brothers’ Adrian and Barry were in a Dolly and were in front of us, number 196. We lined up in Chipping Sodbury High Street at 8:45 for a 10am start. Time to have a bacon roll while watching the other entrants move off. There was a bit of a delay in our start time of about half an hour but it turned out to be critical as the day progressed. Leaving Chipping Sodbury with a wave from the Mayor and a commemorative photograph we were soon on our way chasing those ahead. It was not long before we joined the pack ahead and were behind Adrian in his Dolly.

Today Gita was driving and I navigating. Gita had not driven the Burton since Croatia in 2019 before lockdown. Neither of us has driven much since. Out through Wotton under Edge, Nailsworthy, Michinhampton and towards Gloucester for a coffee break in the Dowty Sports and Social club and some very nice cakes. It had taken over two and a half hours to do this part of the run and left little time to complete the second stage. During negotiating road works around Gloucester we lost our way and not able to discover the route we decided to take to most direct route to return to Chipping Sodbury. We were only 29 miles away at this stage with about one and a half hours driving. How long taking the scenic route would have taken I’m not sure but certainly longer. The run finished at the Rugby ground at 4pm so we had to be back before then to have the pre-ordered lunch. We were just in time to sit and have lunch before the event ended. It was about 3:15 when we parked up and were almost the last to finish missing the afternoon entertainment.

It was a difficult route with a slow pace to cover the forty odd miles in each direction and I was disappointed not to complete it but it was not possible with the start time but an enjoyable day none-the-less. Going to have to do it again.

 

2CV National Meeting 2023

 

It is great to attend the 2CV National meeting with the gathering of so many like-minded people. Once again I only managed a day visit with my brother Adrian who was my passenger in the El Cid. I travelled to Bristol to pick him up to go to the meeting near Worcester on the Saturday. Not a quick journey but pleasant enough enjoying the countryside getting to Orleton to the west and passing Shelsey Walsh Hill Climb in the process. The roads are as naggery as the hill climb with interesting twists and turns in beautiful scenery.

As always you meet some interesting people, some new to the club and renew friendships with some of the old stagers. It was not one of the best meetings as there did not seem to be a focal point for events. I found the trade stands and some food but not a central display arena. We ended up going to a local pub for lunch as there was nothing to eat at midday when we arrived. After lunch there did not seem to be a program of activities and we were going to head for home but before that we needed to see what interesting things were at the meeting. We headed up the track to one of the camping areas and found and interesting special. It was a Willys jeep body with a Dianne cab. It was very nicely done with numerous novel features. The proud owner was Mike “Hookey” John well known in the Club for his innovation. 

We stopped, took some photos and had along exchange of ideas along with discussing the modifications  we had done  to our cars. As forecast there was a thunderstorm just after 4pm and we took shelter in his camper. Within a few minutes the volume and ferocity of wind and  rain had swamped the site. The storm took an hour to pass and our conversation continued in the camper. The intimate details on the special that included what was done to make various parts of the body to fit made interesting listening and I felt I had come away with little nuggets of information. When the rain stopped we made our way home, but not before having to make some risky manoeuvres passing an on-coming Ami on a single lane track that had become a mud slide on a slope with impending collision, a touch of mirrors was all that happened as the cars slithered toward each other. Bouncing through puddles that filled the pot holes on the track we exited the site and headed for home. I did feel a bit disappointed with this meeting and was glad I had not signed up for the whole event. Compared to last year at Ely near Cambridge there was no show arena as the focal point of the event so no show for everyone to gravitate to that we found along with the lack of food at what I thought would be a peak time I felt it was a poor show and was disappointing. I felt sorry for the first timers we met that day. Down the pub after getting back to Chipping Sodbury, with so many pubs to choose from how much better can it get?

May Comment 2023

 

May Comment 2023

 

When governments impose their decisions against market demands they fail because the population does not agree with their decision and big business does not agree with it either. When big business does agree it is because they can generate more profit from it. Lots of information is stopped from getting to the public and this relates to Euro compliance to emissions. Does anyone remember the lean burn petrol engine? It was so lean that a 1600cc car engine that would do about 35mpg with a lean burn engine could achieve 75 mpg plus around thirty years ago. Savings for the average punter would have been enormous and exactly what we need now with the cost of fuel. The development of the lean burn engine was stifled because of the Eurocrats dogma with emissions. Not CO2 but the nitrous oxide produced from these engines. Because you get more miles for the same amount of fuel you clearly reduce the CO2 emissions but using less fuel is clearly not in the interests of the people whom sell it so the excuse of nitrous oxide emissions was used to kill the development even though the exhaust could have been cleaned up. I see the same monosyllabic thinking behind the thrust of governments with electric cars for the masses. One big problem is the cost of these cars. The second hand electric car market has not being going long enough for electric cars to have bottomed out and to show the real cost of an electric car. How many years for £30,000 to reach zero? I think less time than a comparative ICE (Internal Combustion Engine). I can never see an electric car becoming a useable classic. My El Cid is worth more now than I paid for it.

 If Europe are to ban ICE in 2030 then why is Euro6 compliant engine development still being pursued? Is it because Germany can’t go completely electric? I, for one of many, will not be going electric. I don’t use my cars or bikes very much since Covid so an electric car permanently on charge would be a really significant electricity cost for a pensioner and I reckon with failing memory I would forget to put it in charge so when I needed to use it I couldn’t. Having a gallon of fuel around is a great stop gap for me and my ageing ICEs.

 Information from the Petrol Revolt website.

Everyone knows of the con from all the manufacturers who produce diesel engined cars and that they have fiddled the exhaust emissions with their plug in electronic assessment of engine performance giving completely false information. They all have to pay compensation for this but those figures are still with the DVLA and Genghis Khan is relying on them for ULEZ. All the diesel cars should have to pay ULEZ because what is in the log book is not correct. The car industry is getting away with murder if you believe in the TFL 4000 deaths from emissions. What other false information is being used? All of the legislation and statistics that are quoted needs to be questioned. Any government figures need to be looked at in the light of what they want to show and what the government wants to tell you. Which may or may not be true? Let us have a look at inflation. The Office of National Statistics (Government info) says that the rate of inflation if falling. My wallet tells me otherwise. We are not in a recession. Who would notice when food banks are so short of food because the poor can no longer give away food. The only people who claim everything is satisfactory are those who have so much money they would not know what a recession looks like and that includes the politicians. It is about time they threw in the towel before there is nothing left of the country. This reminds me of a nautical tale I remember from my childhood; a sailor was lost at sea for months and when his boat was recovered all that was found was a set of false teeth and a note; I was so hungry, in desperation, I began eating myself. The hunger was all consuming.

I see the greed of those in power will achieve the same for the country.

May 2023

 

May 2023

 

May has been a busy month with the London Classic Bike Show, the LE Club AGM, 2CV Club meeting, a Funeral some repair jobs on the El Cid and making useable brackets for use with my cheap action camera filling in the month nicely. I’ll begin with the funeral of our 2CV friend Keith we have him pictured with his Charleston he was a man of many parts involved in sailing, scouting and his favourite, bees.

In his honour we managed to get a few of us together to give him a send off with a 2CV, Van and my Burton. His death had been quite a surprise from diagnosis to funeral in just a few months and he managed to sell his car in between time. He will be sorely missed as a stalwart of the club.

After many years and having the exhaust blowing all the way back from Barcelona it turned out that it was the cross box that leaked the most. It has now been replaced with the one from the van. Four hours to do the job with crawling in, under and around the El Cid propped up on axle stands to make enough room to extract the cross box from underneath. I must be feeling a bit better to be able to do that job.

Having bought this waterproof action camera years ago and used it on my trip to the seven highest motorable passes in India, the highest at 18,300 feet there is an urge to have more of my motorcycle travels recorded. To do this properly good kit is required none of which I have and not wanting to waste money if it doesn’t work out but still wanting to try it I needed to do some testing for the Buell. One problem from the outset is the positioning of the camera. Mounting it in a suitable position on the handlebar at a strategic point is problematic. Outside the screen gains wind noise but within the screen has poor vision. My first efforts had too many little connectors and the camera would move on bumps in the road. I could not get the screws tight enough to balance the weight of the camera. I found that 2mm hard rubber sheet was great at gripping on the handlebar brackets and the screws did not have to be too tight. Steel brackets marked the paint finish on the handlebars. I wanted the camera easily removable and used the clip bracket supplied which has an adhesive pad on the back. I made an aluminium stalk for the LE and Valiant to see how that worked.

Types of bracket: An alternative mounting of the clip bracket. The one with too many connectors.               

The Stalk mounting of the clip bracket.

Testing the brackets. Buell

Valiant

Still a little bit bouncy but not bad for a first effort.

LE Velo Club AGM 2023

 

LE Velo Club AGM 2023

 

It is an event that I planned to go to but in all the years I have been a member of the LE Velo Club I made a special effort this time and made the journey. I have been a member since 1968. That’s fifty five years! If my memory serves me correctly anyway an awfully long time and I have only just managed to go and what a treat it was. I drove up with Gita in the Toyota because it is easier driving and arrived at, what seems a very anonymous entrance but beyond there is a whole world of fun. So many people I became reacquainted with many I had not seen since the Stafford Show when I took my LE up for the display that year which was 2013. There are many that failed to get here this year but new faces join the club and it is so good to see. We enjoyed tea and coffee and biscuits on arrival under a gazebo to shelter us from the sun at Peter Stevenson’s home in Pailton.

 The grounds have the best “Boys Toys” you could wish for with a miniature railway and steam powered launch to entertain. A trip around the grounds on the steam train was most enjoyable but I did love the steam launch that had the same sounds emanating from it as those from the award winning movie “African Queen. A day dream of chugging down the Zambezi, swating mosquitoes in the equatorial heat of the day but in reality we were circumnavigating the sizeable pond. All to be revealed in the video clips.

https://youtu.be/VAJcwmY_32I for the full video.

https://youtu.be/DYpKfSh8abQ  for full video.

The real reason was to engage with fellow enthusiasts with an array of derivatives on display under the trees. Picking out details of interest passing on nuggets of hard earned wisdom to anyone who’d listen. What could be more enjoyable on a sunny afternoon? I thought the Viceroy scooter the best in this show but I saw the detail on a black MKIII that was much to my own thinking with heavier fish plates and a much strengthened frame edging to relieve the stress on the body forward of the pivot fork mounting where it frequently cracks. I have problems pulling on the fuel tap because the hole is just too small for my fingers and a turn cock replaces it. Much of what I will be doing on my next LE rebuild.

I had a very interesting day with like minded souls and did appreciate a charitable bacon bap for sustenance, I bought some club bits for my next project and went away thinking I should have come on an LE but from where I live practically it is best to come with an LE. Perhaps next time?

london Classic Bike Show 2023

 

London Classic Bike Show 2023

 

To begin the week was Wey Valley Advanced Motorcyclists Observed Sunday where I had the chance of recruiting more bikes and people to exhibit and help on the stand. It was an opportunity to hand out vehicle passes that contained a QR code that would gain entry on the day. A couple of the people were not able to come that prompted the scramble to fill the vacancies caused by their absence.

 All he changes needed were facilitated by Louise our off road event’s organizer with setting up of a WhatsApp group to distribute electronic vehicle passes for all the people who could not get to Sundays meeting. On the Friday I loaded up the Valiant on the trailer and after lunch I headed off to Kempton Park in the El Cid to set up as much as I could for tomorrow. Louise was trying to contact me while in transit to say no one was coming today as her reason for coming was to assist someone in the delivery of his bike to get him home again but in the end he was not able to ride his bike so I was left alone to unload the Valiant from the trailer. Doing it on your own presents a problem when releasing the final securing straps all the tension on the suspension is released and the bike springs in an unexpected direction so it is good to have someone steady it at this time. I found a security guard to help me with this. Something to do instead of walking around doing security things to fill in the day. The area of the stand was opposite the exit doors and on a corner, a prime position. The back boards were of a low level type so there was nothing to hang anything on. I spoke to Andy Kitchen about that and organised chairs for the stand. I had to find something to hang the banners on, Tonight’s’ project make something for the show. I had the MAC for showing my Himalayan adventure and set that up. Not much else I could do so I headed for home.

Tonight’s’ project was to find some rope to string across between the end panels of the back board and having two spaces required two sets of attachments. Luckily I had some old gazebo poles and rope to use. The back board ends fortunately had a large diameter hole in the aluminium extrusion that the gazebo poles could fit so attaching the rope to a bit of pole through the pole so that when there was weight on the rope the pole stayed put and with no stress on the back board. I took about an hour to make this adjustable masterpiece and I was ready for the final set up early on Saturday morning.

I was up at six and on my way by seven. Most of the bikes were already on the stand and Louise, Janet and Chris arrived shortly after with all the club bits to finish off the display. Time was ticking away. Where was James and his K100 outfit?  It was nearly nine, then he arrived but could not get through the side entrance. The outfit had to come through the front entrance where there was a bi-fold door. Such fun as it was stuck fast and needed the efforts of five people to unstick it. It was getting busy as I helped push the outfit to the stand through crowds of people. Just about set up by 9:30, ready for the day. Our team from Wey Valley included: Nick Ellerby, Martin Barnes, Kevin Fryer, Tom Gould, Paul Barfoot, James Cashmore, Janet Jones, Chris Webb, Gavin Caddick, James Dwelly and probably a few more that are not on my list.

It felt crowded from the start with a continuous supply of punters visiting the stand. There didn’t seem much time for anything else but, or me it turned out to be a special day meeting many of my old colleagues  from the London Motorcycle Museum, catching up on how they survived Covid as I had not seen them since the Museum closed at the end of 2019. I managed to catch some of the interview of special guest John “Mooneyes” Cooper. 

I remember him from my youth and the reports in Motorcycle News of the late sixties and early seventies. Once again the interviewer was LE Club Historian Dennis Frost to whom I must apologise for giving him one n in Dennis. I caught with him a week later at the LE Club AGM in Pailton. I think we had a good display this year with pride of place with the Suzuki 750 two stroke triple winning second best in show.

 I did my usual walk about taking pictures of the bikes on display among those catching my eye were the Rudge super sports, the MV Augusta and Gilera lightweights because they look so stylish for the late fifties. After the prize giving we packed up, I retrieved the El Cid and trailer from the car park which took me ages, loaded up the Valiant and headed for home reflecting on having an excellent day.