Cafe Racers at Brooklands
Sunday 23rd June
2013.
The previous
Sunday at the Museum, final preparations were going ahead for the London Motorcycle
Museum to be present at Brooklands 5 prominent machines were taken from display
and as the pre-building work for Ealing Council needed to be done the remaining
bits at the end of the yard needed to be cleared. This was heavy work and not for
me so I was asked to go along the next Sunday. Would I bring the Valiant along
as well? I was at the Museum on the Monday and used the LE on both days. It
seemed to be running much better and not boiling over now. When I pulled the
dust cover from the Valiant I discover, much to my horror a broken speedo glass
and damaged needle and face. The thoughts of waiting ages for a repair crossed
my mind and I would not be able to use the bike for the Paul Fynn rally in less
than two weeks time. I am not sure how the glass got broken but I needed to use
some grab adhesive and I think the end of the gun was the culprit along with my
clumsiness. I phoned Reg Allens’ bike shop and was given the number of the
speedo repair man, who I managed to contact and he said to bring the speedo
down tomorrow but phone again first to ensure he was there. My old Tomtom
failed on me so until the new one arrived I was GPSless. Using my tried and
tested memory I navigated my way to Ash near Aldershot on the Wednesday on the
Buell to sort this speedo out. I went via Alsfords in Cobham to pick up some
hand rail parts for the stairs. I arrived at the workshop within a few minutes
of when I said I would and left the speedo with him for an hour and went to a
cafe near Ash Vale railway station. A very pleasant hour having a big mug of
tea and a bacon sandwich while watching the news programs on the big tele
there. I returned to the workshop, the speedo was repaired for what I thought
was a modest some of £45. He had repaired it some 4 years ago for me and we
talked a bit about riding safely and how long it would take to get to
Bridgewater going via the A roads. My guess would be 3 hours if you were
progressive. Back home along the M3 and by early afternoon the speed was back
in place and the bike checked over for Sunday. I had not given it a test ride
since repairing the centre stand or after fitting the speedo, but I did make
sure that the lights worked and the engine fired up. I had spent most of Thursday and Friday
fitting a new hand rail in the stairs and assembling some new furniture for the
study. Sunday was a mixture of sunshine and a few spots of rain and I set out
on the Valiant about 7:15 in the morning giving me an hour to get to Brooklands
to help set up about 8:30. I was doing really well other than the gear change
would not return. It felt stiff and for each downward movement I had to hook
the lever back to neutral position to change gear. A minor nuisance, but
another job to find time to do. When I got to Walton, the bridge was closed. The
fine new structure is impressive but it meant I either had to go back to
Hampton Court or on to Chertsey to get over the Thames. I chose Chertsey and
followed the signs from there to Brooklands. I had not been to Brooklands by
this route before so I missed the entrance and had to come back up the hill to
get in. I was soon allowed in and parked
up in the Cafe Racer lot waiting to get on the Museum stand temporarily while I
waited for the Museum van and trailer to arrive with bikes and gazebo. In that
time I took a number of photos of interesting machines including this OHC B31!!
They soon arrived and we had the bikes
in place and the gazebo erected and now there was no room for the Valiant. A bit
disappointing but it would be displayed with the Cafe Racers. By the time the 10am opening time came around
I already had another tea and handed out lots of fliers to exhibitors. Brian is posing to impress!
.People
passed us in a steady flow and at 11:00, when Sammy Miller started up the AJS
V4 and the Moto Guzzi vee twin we were crowded out.
In between the raucous
sound of barking exhaust I managed to canvas many of the punters and even
having an interview for Brooklands commentary as the guy was desperate for
someone to speak. Another plug for the Museum. A bacon roll at twelve followed
by lunch at 1:30 many people I handed out fliers to had received them from me
at other events but there were always people who did not know about the Museum.
By 3pm I was starting to lose my voice.
I was not able to compete with the second firing up of vintage bikes and Sammy’s
pride and joys. It was around this time
I gave another interview plugging the museum. A couple of fellows who I had
been talking to that were interested in being volunteers bought me a welcomed
tea and by 4pm the crowds had thinned leaving only the exhibitors to collect
their prizes. Another day promoting the museum and it took the best part of an
hour to get the Velocette KTT, Triumph OHC prototype, the red Triton, the
Charlie Sandby Norton Commando racer and the BSA Rocket 3 loaded along with all
the other bits. I geared up and headed for home. The Valiant pulled well up the
hill out of Brooklands and I was looking forward to a pleasant ride home, but
that was not to be...........
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