Firefighters!

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Bikers are Everywhere.

Have you ever looked up Motorcycle Clubs on the internet? You will see at least 300 of them in the UK all following their chosen path with which ever bike they fancy. A true following with enthusiasm to enjoy themselves. So after a drop in to the Museum on Sunday on the LE, I have still not yet fixed the Valiant, to get up to date with Bill and the general proceedings that have gone on, namely the building works that have not yet started but the yard is now clear in readiness. It may all be finished by the time I get back from the 2CV international in Spain however at the current speed of progress it may be when Spain is revisited could be a more realistic time scale. It also looks as though the pledges for money are coming closer to reality and we may well get the building we need for the cafeteria and more display space. Although just dropping in I did manage to guide a few visitors and discovered one of them had designed and built a frozen section microtome. Not my area of Pathology but still very interesting. We almost set the world to rights before I had to depart as I was not expected to be too long away. Monday I was back at the Museum again on the LE with the prospect of another scorching day avoided by being in the “Home of Triumph” where there is a bit of air conditioning and most people gravitated to it leaving John boiling in the shop. He was a little refreshed by the melon I had brought with me for lunch. In the morning there was a steady stream of people and in the afternoon things hotted up. A couple of guys from the oil industry, one suffering from tequila overload of the night before. Then four guys turned up with distinctive leather waist coats and patches, intrigued by this you have to ask and they are Firefighters.

 

 If you look these guys up on the internet there are branches world-wide. Today we have the honour of having visitors from America and they arrived on bikes! Sitting outside the Museum in the shade were a Fire fighting FLH, a Jack Daniels custom Springer Softail, a W650 Kawasaki and a loan BMW. 

These guys are looking to build an international network of Firefighting Bikers. It was a very interesting afternoon as one of the British guys, unfortunately asked me what I had done in my working life. He knew people in Pathology and knew exactly what I was talking about. I just can’t seem to get away from work!  As anyone who knows me, if you ask me something there is rarely a simple yes or no answer. It seemed we all departed at the same time and I followed them out of the car park of the Museum at the end of the day. They went one way and I the other on the LE. I had to get moving to go to a meeting that related to my work in Pathology at St Thomas’s Hospital. I don’t seem to be able to escape from 40 years in the NHS!

Another week

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A Mixed Bag of Things.

I didn’t do much during the week that followed the Chinnor Bike Dayz event other than a bit of preparation of the car for the up and coming Friends of the 2CV international meeting in Spain. On the Thursday I had a trip out with the Wey Valley ROG’s that took me out for a decent ride on the Buell of some 256 miles with the only event being that the gear change linkage came adrift as I tried to change up from second gear in a village somewhere in Kent.

 Only a few minutes stop to retighten the bolt that had worked lose. Luckily it was still there. A brief chat with one fellow at afternoon tea, who did not know about the museum and is now going to pay a visit on one of his days off. This gets us to Saturday and I head off to Holloway on the Kawasaki to get my GPS repaired. They did it while I waited and I was back home by 12 for lunch and out to Jack Lilleys for a test ride on a Tiger 800 road.

This was a bit of fun as it has the same power and weight as the Buell. It does the job very well but I found the suspension a little hard for my tender derriere. A bit of a round robin doing some shopping to see if it was a good replacement for the Buell or the Kawasaki. I can say that the power delivery is progressive and just got you to the rev limit quite quick. It has a different sort of power to the Buell that comes in with a kick at 4500rpm and hits the rev limiter faster than you could imagine a big twin could do. The seat is wider and more comfortable than the Triumph and the suspension gives you a very smooth ride. I am back at Jack Lilleys in an hour to hand out more fliers and leave some for Sunday where they are doing this open day test ride a bike again. While I was there an Ariel Square Four outfit arrived and was the prettiest thing I had seen all day. 

 

 I could have gone back again on Sunday to test ride something else but I had a prior engagement with a run to Polesden Lacey with the LE owners club. Stewart, a new member, had turned up on his MK2 LE. He was the only person to turn up on a bike and didn’t stay for the picnic. He received a flier for the museum and so did another biker I met at the Pimms bar.

 

 Listening to jazz on the lawn sipping Pimms in the sun followed by a walk around the house and a drippy ice cream afterwards. Back home in the evening via a circuitous route avoiding the M25 that had turned into a melted tar car park. Monday gets me to the Museum again on the LE with twelve people turning up to keep us busy. Monday evening out to the 2CV club night and a couple more fliers given out. Tuesday I have the Buell checked in for a service at Snobs on the North Circular so I head off up the road on foot to the Ace Cafe for breakfast and to leave more fliers. The bike is not ready when I return to Snobs around 11:30 so I carry on to Hangar Lane and Infinity Motorcycles Clothing store to check out some kevlar jeans and to leave more fliers. I then head back to the shop and wait. There I meet up with a guy from Bristol, now living in London, who had his Harley stolen and was subsequently returned. Lucky man! We had a chat about life and of course the Museum before he left on his pink Scooter (borrowed for the day). Back home by mid afternoon and more preparations on the car before I head for Bristol on Wednesday and DIY doctor on my Mum’s ailing conservatory on the hottest two days of the year. Home for Friday and a bit of a rest day planning the route to Spain and another weekend of sunshine.

Chinnor Bike Dayz

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6^th July 2013.

It was something special as the sun roasted the place for the whole time. Organised by Wycombe MAG, the event, not the weather and dome very well too. I went there for a few hours on the Saturday before heading to the Bengal Medical Society event in Swindon for Saturday night and Sunday. Needless to say more fliers were handed out at the hotel where the event was held. Back to Chinnor and I went there on the Buell, I had planned to go on the Valiant but the oil seal failure prevented that and I made a donation to the Air Ambulance as my entry fee. Parked up I wandered round handing out fliers. A band was playing rock with the audience in the not very distant beer tent.

 Beyond the stage was the camping and it was full. There did not seem to be many people around as many were out on the ride around the area. One section was where the bikes were on display and it would have been where I would have parked the Valiant had I come on it. I had been invited to do that for this concourse. 

Some of the bikes looked fantastic even a BSA Bantam was there. On my rounds through the display I ran into an old friend who had bought my Harley FLT80. Selling that meant I could then buy the Buell. He was and still is pleased with it enjoying the comfort of a distinctive full dresser. He has many photos that his cousin took of the Isle of Man TT races from the fifties and sixties.  I have seen them and they are a treasure trove of long forgotten motorcycling heroes.  It is now close to 2pm and I have handed out all the fliers so I bid my farewells and head home and the big do in Swindon. As I was leaving the Air Ambulance did a fly-by to add to the spectacle.

Back at the Museum on Monday, this time on the LE as I have not yet got around to sorting out the gearbox oil seal, and another five visitors. Two of the visitors were from the efforts of having a stand at Brooklands. One of them was a bike artist and he does commissioned work and we spent some time discussing what was selling. He left some cards and a picture for us to sell. This was Barry John Lord motorcycle art if you want to look him up.  I read the European tour man account of his visit to London and he did not manage to get to the Museum, which was a shame, but my efforts at the Chinnor Bike Dayz rally near Princes Riseborough did bear fruit and a couple visited on the Sunday.

Too Many MOT’s In One Day!

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Sometimes I think I have too many bikes when you have to pay for insurance and having to get MOT’s done but when I organised the date and times it seemed a good idea. After doing the Paul Fynn Rally on Saturday and out again on Sunday I only gave the bikes a cursory once over on Tuesday morning. I had been at the Museum all day Monday and had gone there on the Valiant. It was a slow day with all the visitors arriving after 1pm. The morning was slow. Just as well as Brian had to go home as he was not feeling well and Pete had a domestic with his cat. That left me and John to hold the fort. When the first customers arrived I could not get the till to work but I had enough change on me to sort the first visitors out. Sam arrived shortly afterwards and I got my change back and now the till was operational. Within minutes more people arrived and I successfully operated the till and gave them the right change. I started the introductions about the museum when a trio from Spain arrived. When it was time for them to go to the “Home of Triumph” I enlisted help from John to look after the till. The Spanish trio consisted of mum, dad and daughter who spoke excellent English and was very keen on motorcycles. Dad could speak little English but with the aid of daughter he showed me a number of bikes he had restored. One was an interesting moped that had a suspension system similar to that of our 1937 New Imperial. The day ended in a flurry of activity as by the time I had got everyone around it was almost 4pm with a New Zealand guy promising to come back another day as he had only been in one hall all afternoon!

Tuesday was MOT day and it was grey with rain now and again. What a day to pick to go and get two MOT’s. To do this I arranged a demo bike from Jack Lily’s and I set off after a late breakfast on the Kawasaki for the MOT at Twelve.

I arrived early and picked up the demo bike. The first one offered was a cruiser. The riding position, for me is a bit strange and I feel my feet are going to fall off the forward pegs. I ended up with a 1050cc speed triple. The street fighter style and made my way back home on it. I had plenty of time before the next MOT at 2:45pm so my return journey was not direct. Out from Jack Lilleys to Walton where the low fuel light came on so I went on to Cobham, to Sainsburys to fill up with a tenners worth of fuel. On down the A3 to Ripley and then to Ockham and East Clandon to Shere. I enjoy these country lanes and it is a good way to compare how each of my bikes handles. I found the clutch a bit heavy on the triple and the suspension sent me bouncing off the seat because it was so hard. I like the Buell as it just glides over the bumps keeping my fragile back safe. In spite of my moans it was fun and sure footed giving me confidence that it would stick to the road. The red line was around 10K and about 6 some blue lights came on. I thought this might be a sensible time to change up which I did early on but started wondering why the red line was at 10. In the best way of riding the revs should be up in the power band for acceleration and deceleration to be the quickest and I enjoyed the way this triple responded. I was not used to this level of acceleration and at times I found myself wondering that, after an overtake how did I arrive so fast. I came back from Shere, past Newlands corner and Ripley to the A3 and home. Put the triple in the garage then back to Jack Lilys on the Buell and collect the Kawasaki for the return journey. The Kawasaki was fine. I headed home as quickly as I could. Before I returned I took a couple of photos of the gold speed machine.

I was back in reasonable time and while I was waiting for the Buell this guy Adnan Maglajlic from Italy was getting his Adventurer serviced. This was unusual so I enquired more and found he was on a round Europe tour. Starting and ending in Italy sponsored by Triumph Italy. He would be in London to take some pictures for his blog and later trip articles. His web site is www.europemotorbiketour.com I took some details from him and asked if he would like to see the museum. I passed his details on to the Museum for later contact. He had a schedule to stick to and was not sure if he would be able to fit it in. I was available to show him around during the morning if needed. I took a photo of him with his bike before heading home in spits of rain.

I did get home in the dry though unlike the other Sunday coming back from Brooklands. I was planning to go out in the evening but after covering so many miles during the day I decided that an early night was best to help my aching back recover from the bumps of the day.