Windsor Great Park Rally

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BEN Charity Ride Through Windsor Great Park

Saturday 28^th June started well with a little sunshine as I headed for the start of the run. We set off from Ascot Race Course car park and wend our way along some pleasant country roads to enter the Park and then a ride along roads that are not normally open to vehicles. At the start there was an exceptional collection of veteran, vintage and classic cars and motorcycles. While at the start the rain clouds gather and just before we set off it starts to rain. 

The clouds are black and it rains so hard drops splash up from the puddles. It was wet! I was on the Valiant and surprisingly it ran quite well in spite of the heavy rain. I had a minicam with me and when I have time I'll upload the video to youtube so you can see how wet it was. I was drenched inside my over-suit. The zip leaked! As usual I hand out fliers at the start and again when at the destination which is the Sunningdale recreation ground where we all congregate to show off our polished machines for the concours. It was a difficult afternoon and I did not manage to hand out many fliers as there were not many people there because of the weather. A little disappointing for everyone with so much effort that goes into the event. At the end of the show vehicles are judged and prizes are handed out. The event finished early. I was in a flower stall tent waiting for the rain to go off when I heard my name and had won something for the Valiant. It was another second prize! It was worth getting wet! 

By the time I had collected my prize and made my way back to the Valiant there were only three bikes left. An unusual 1939 side valve BMW, a 1954 Vincent and me. Geared up and ready to go I was asked by the BMW man to help him get his bike on a trailer. I only had to steady it while he tied it down. The Vincent man was also leaving. He had an assistant and was still kicking it over as I returned to the Valiant. After a couple of kicks it fired up and I was away. I had twenty miles of rain to go through to get home. Easily accomplished! It finally stopped raining when I got home so I chamoised the bike down before putting it away. So it would be clean for when I used it next.

In between it has been a busy time with visits to bike shops, namely new rear tyres for both the Buell and the Kawasaki and MOTs so Snobs at Hangar Lane for wheel bearings, HGB in Ruislip who have done me some deals on tyres, Jack Lilleys for MOTs and Wycombe MAG for a very pleasant evening out. I've also been out to Newlands Corner to hand out fliers on Sunday morning. A couple of weeks ago we had a few members of the Royal Enfield Club turn up at the Museum and last Monday we had another visitor from New Zealand.

Triumph Metisse

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Wooden Boat Show 2014

You may ask why be at a wooden boat show? Well simply where there are people gathering there is always an opportunity to promote the Museum one way or another. I was allowed to hand out some fliers and the organisers displayed some at their information tent. On my rounds I ran into a guy, now retired, but still renovates Seagull outboard engines. I have always liked those water cooled two stroke engines. In my conversations with him he gave me the number of the man who knows a lot about Villiers engines Paul Gollins of villiersservices@hotmail.co.uk. Good for flywheel remagenetising too!

Moving on around the show I heard a bike fire up and it turned out to be this big bore Triumph Metisse. It looked lovely.

Further on around the trade displays was a stand that did motorcycle pin badges and key rings made from pewter that was Ginny Cardmaker ginny@pwheeler.co.uk. In the market has was a small company that did hand made blue and white tableware, roelofs & rubens what struck me was the bespoke Ariel motorcycle plate. info@roelofsrubens.co.uk

I spent some time talking at the Watercraft magazine stand and met a lady who had been editor for Sport and Leisure magazine. She had a passion for motorcycles with sidecars. She had just returned from a very long trip and wanted to get home however her interest was peaked by the Vincent Amanda Scooterboat that is at the Museum.

Lastly I talked to the organisers again about a potential stand next year. They said they would be in touch. So this week has been busy, just returning from France and the French National 2CV meeting where I was camped next to a guy and his 1985 Honda 750 four. During the meeting there was a display of Harley Davidson and a number of bike clubs that I was able to pass fliers on to. On Monday at the Museum I spent most of the day talking to a very interesting Canadian Couple from Calgary. He had discovered a 1939 Triumph and wondered what to do with it. He had an inspiration to take it to Bonneville salt flats. He knows of Eric (EGP Enterprises) and his Brough. He now had his project so he tuned it accordingly and with help from his buddies, who donated many parts got it running and raced it last year. He has written an article about it and I look forward to reading it after he has returned home.

Kempton Park 2014

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Southern Classic Bike Show 2014

As usual preparations start long before any show with the LE Owners Club night on the last Tuesday of April. I go in the car to let Chris F borrow my bike trailer as his bike is not running yet. I have put in the applications for the club and am waiting for the entry tickets to turn up. They arrive on the Wednesday so I have to post them out to everyone. Paul is having the splines done on the rear wheel of his LE and is pretty sure he will have it back on the road for the event. I have four for the stand. On the club night I collect all the prints and club documents, banner and rope stands for the display from Chris W. I only have to provide staple gun, sellotape and scissors plus a few tools and wire coat hangers (always good to hang something from) pliers, Stanley knife and screw driver. A few days before the event Paul is having trouble getting his splines wheel to fit the drive unit and lets me know that he will be unlikely to get to the show. I am not able to help him as I head for St Ives near Cambridge on the Buell to visit my brother who is on holiday there. I arrive home on the Friday morning and load up the car and pick up George to go to set up the stand at Kempton Park. Its all a bit sunshine and showers here but my trip from St Ives was quite sunny and dry. Friday afternoon and the traffic is not moving as I duck and dive around Heathrow to get to Kempton. Chris F is already there and has his bike, the Police box and manikin PC on the stand. It takes about an hour to get all the posters and pictures on the walls and the banner across the front. The sellotape is not sticking to the backing boards so we will have to staple some posters to them. Bunting is draped up high and other than the staple gun, that I forgot, we only have to turn up on the bikes in the morning.

It is a very wet trip on the Valiant first thing and I get to Kempton just after eight. I am just behind George on his Viper Sports. Chris F arrives a little later. Everything is in place other than Paul. I wait until the last minute before positioning the bikes. Paul does not arrive by the time the show starts. Probably a blessing as there is only really room for three bikes. I like to have enough space to invite people in for a chat or closer look. There is a great deal of interest in the LE's and a few take away application forms. It is quite a busy day. I do get a little time to visit the London Motorcycle Museum stand. Pete and Chris are doing a grand job talking, persuading and handing out fliers. So good are they that all the fliers are gone by mid day. I have a little stash that I carry everywhere with me and hand them over.

I do a little shopping and see a 250 BMW, a little tatty but it was ticking over so sweetly I almost bought it but then where would I put it? My garage is full already! Around four the prizes were handed out. After getting a highly commended last year for the Valiant and the Museum Tiger Cub there was nothing this year. Never mind there are other shows in the pipeline. Best stand this year was the New Imperial and pride of place was the streamlined 125 racer.

A Rocket Gold Star gets best in show and Museum Chris's Gold Star does not get a look in, neither does Trusty. I was hoping to get my wife, Gita, into a nurses uniform to get a cameo set up. Pete's mum did have her own period inform. Perhaps next year.

 I think the peach of the oldies was a very well restored 1911 Raliegh. There were so many good examples of bikes at the show with a WW11 Triumph 350 single getting runner up.

Another MOT

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1911 BSA

It is that time of year again and MOT time for my Velocette LE. I have used Jack Lilys since 1993 when they were first in the High Street in Shepperton and then when they moved to Ashford. The MOT was last Friday and I always feel a little uneasy when I have to be at a destination at a specific time on a 50 year old bike. Needless to say it performed as it should and got me there and home again with no problems. I usually ride a much bigger bike so only having 200cc available you have a different approach to how you ride. Starting with some trepidation with the A312 which is a speedy dual carriage way I expect to be be run over or carved up at any moment but after that it is a much more slow speed journey but still with the same risks. I got to Jack Lilys in plenty of time, got an MOT and made my way home again. Leaving more fliers behind. Pete had been there too as there were still a few left and I also left application forms for the BMCT. On the way home, this time of day, in much heavier traffic I now had the upper hand! I could filter and maintain my progress. All those motorists that whizzed by me only got to the traffic jam sooner, I passed with ease and left most behind. I was well pleased with my trip home and with the traffic, as opposed to the norm of being harassed by impatient drivers.

On Saturday I zipped out to Tescos on it a well and Sunday, after a trip out on the Buell to the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Observed Sundays handing out more flyers for the Museum and the BMCT I was out on the LE again to drop in to the Museum to see what was going on. The Thames Valley Velocette Owners Club had paid a visit the other Sunday Pictures of the bikes is on the Museum Facebook page. Sorry I missed you. I was hanging around to hear Rowley get the Venom Clubman fired up for the first time after rebuilding it. I left before it was started up.

It was a nice sunny afternoon and he was hot and bothered by all the kicking. While waiting I had a close look at our new acquisition the 1911 3 1/2 HP BSA. If you compare it to other machines of that era it was bristling with innovation. BSA had been producing motorcycles since 1906 so had some idea about what they were doing.

On early BSA models the tank badge actually has Birmingham Small Arms in the logo. Later models did not have this. From the outside it had something on the right side that looks like a cloth cap box.

I'm not sure what that was for but the mechanical ideas are very interesting. Heal and toe gear change that operated a Sturmey Archer style hub gear. Unlike the bicycle that you pull the gear into position BSA had used a rod on a screw thread that pushed or pulled it into the right gear. Even the gearbox was connected to the pedal and chain drive.

It must had been a bit heavy to pedal along. The other departure was the type of leather belt used. Instead of using a studded belt they used a link one. I guess that the studded belt ran a bit rough so the linked one would be much smoother.

On the cylinder head is a tap and a pipe that comes from the petrol tank. The carburettor does not appear to have a tickler so I, again, guess that this was a way of getting fuel directly into the engine to aid starting. I think Rowley might need this on the Venom! On the way home I did more filtering on the LE. I think the sun had brought out something nice in the motorists and was quite a pleasant ride.

A BSA or Two

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BSA Rockets

I didn't get out to the ROG's Run the other Thursday as I spent most of the day getting the car ready for Sunday with trying to get the car radio working however I did get out on the Saturday afternoon up to Redpath Studios to pick up some family portraits. It was a relatively quick trip around the M25 and off at junction 18 towards Ammersham and to the Chennies. I left some fliers there for customers and friends who are also keen motorcyclists.

I was out last Sunday with the 2CV car club for Drive It Day. We all drove off from Denby's vineyard along the A25 east to Ightham Mote. A very old and historic house in pleasant grounds. Good for a visit and even better if you belong to the National Trust. There was an impressive line up of Citroens with a couple of cabriolets to add even more style to the day with Gita taking a shine to a three wheeler.

In the evening Trusty made another appearance in the “Crimson Field” but more to what is going on at the Museum. I have found another article from the Classic Motorcycle magazine from December 1998 about the line up of the Rocket series.

In the Museum we have a Road Rocket and a Super Rocket. The Super Rocket is under going restoration and can be seen in the little barn. In amongst the Triumphs' is the Rocket 3 ohc model to add to the line up. What we don't have is the Rocket Gold Star, but we are ever hopeful that one may land on us soon to boost the collection.

The Rocket series of 650s was much loved by many people with excellent power and handling gave the Bonneville a run for its money. In the Museum we also have the unit construction Spitfire in road going and racing forms. It is interesting to see how compact the bikes become when they are of unit construction.

Matchless Owners Club Visit

A Flying M Visit

If you have been following the “Crimson Field” Nursey has got Trusty back again and I wait to see what adventures there will be in coming episodes. I do hope the bike stays out of the wraps. A few Mondays' ago the Thames Ditton group of the AJS and Matchless owners club paid us a visit and it was good to see some of the old faces again. They turned up on Matchlesses! (no mention of the classic BMW here). Velocette MSS man also an AJS and Matchless man had the Museum team get his bike out and we all had the joy a seeing and hearing the MSS running at the back of the Museum. Once again, when the experts who know their bike, I end up with lots of information about how the model was developed. The Museum is always the place where information flows free.

Coming more up to date I was at the monthly club night of the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club for a presentation from Lembit Opik the Public Relations Representative for MAG and he gave a very informative lecture about the successes and failures of MAG along with how the public image is changing also if you need to influence your MP as most constituences have at least 7500 motorcyclists and when this is pointed out to an MP they tend to start listening! There are campaigns going on all over the country to try to make motorcycling as enjoyable as possible. He pointed out that when MAG has been successful no one seems to notice. If you want to be more proactive about your biking have a look at the MAG website.

After the meeting I was talking to some guys who are members of the PanEuropean club and they are always looking for events to go to, they already know about the Museum, but not about the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust so I gave them loads of application forms for their members and told them about the benefits of joining the trust. There are a number of machines loaned to the London Motorcycle Museum by them, among them is the 1937 B24S Sunbeam and we have a new one just arrived this week a 1911 BSA that you can also see it on the LMM Facebook page.

A Week of Flyers

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Flyer Week

Last Thursday I had a trip out with the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club, for me it was a 268 mile day out on the Buell seeing different roads down to the New Forrest for lunch and back. The start was at Ryka's where I left a bundle of fliers for display before we headed off into to deepest Surrey and beyond. 

On Saturday I headed to Birmingham for an overnight stop at the Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport. It was for the Assam New Year celebrations called Bihu where there was much eating and drinking and dancing albeit, from me, Boris style of light bulb, lightbulb, motorbike, motorbike. This Holiday Inn has an international flavour and they were happy to have a goodly number of flyers for their things to do leaflet display. On leaving the Holiday Inn Gita and I went on to the National Motorcycle Museum. It was somewhere I have been wanting to go to for ages. Not only to see what they do but how they do it. It was an impressive display of several hundred motorcycles. I was on a mission to get engine plate measurements for a 1927 Cotton Blackburne. 

Bill has one of these in bits but not the engine/gearbox mounting plates. If anyone has one can we have the dimensions so we can get some made please. There was not one of that year in their display. I had some interesting conversations with the volunteers there and left a wad of flyers for them to display and took some of theirs away to advertise for them “in the south” at the Museum. Back at the Museum for my Monday stint, Bill arrived later in the day to have a meeting with Ealing Council about what surface would be best for the car park at the front of the Museum. I was on my way home before the meeting ended so I don't know the outcome. More to report later.

Tuesday I headed for Bristol for a family visit and was invited along to the Chipping Sodbury Tractor Club. This is a serious club that takes their tractors to shows and events and will be out on the 27^th April for “Drive It Day! The presentation that evening was of the history of Parnells of Fishponds Bristol and peaked my interest with their associations with aviation and the Parnell Pixie that used a 700cc Douglas bike engine in 1923 rated at some 6hp but with about 25bhp on tap and more than enough power to put the plane in the air. Parnell and son did many things that included shop fronts and fittings and used at Selfridges in 1908. They also scales that were later to become known as Avery. During World War 11 the company made gun turrets that were fitted to Wellington and Lancaster bombers. I guessed that some of these were electrically powered and the connection with Triumph and the generator was instantly made. I gave a presentation of a couple of minutes at the beginning to the group of about 40 members telling them a little about the Museum and opening times and location but also mentioning that we had a 1914 Triumph model H on display. 

During World War One these was affectionately known as Trusty Triumphs and just to add a bit more, if you are watching the new BBC Nursey series the “Crimson Field” one of the nurses turns up on one late in the first program. More interest was generated in the Museum and another wad of flyers disappeared.