French Trip 2016

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A Trip to France

I'm now catching up with the Isle of Man TT races and to think that in 1911 when the organisers decided that the mountain circuit was a good idea to test the motorcycles of the day we now see astronomical speeds that are only increasing, 133mph so far. I think something the original organisers would never have thought possible. They did have the foresight to help motorcycles develop from the single gear, barely more than a bicycle with an engine, to ones with gears that could climb hills. As seen in 1911 with Indian winning on a two speed machine ridden by OC Godfrey averaging 47.63mph and from then on everyone had to catch up.

Now nothing seems to happen for ages and then it all happens at one. This June is no exception. I have been to the 2CV National Rally in Chichester where my wife and I deep fried pakoras for the whole event. Interesting in that what people eat relates to their knowledge of the food and not what it tastes like! Pakoras are like an onion bajee but with different degrees of spice. These were light weight and were well received. 

We now have some gear and experience of catering on site. As usual I did some promotion for the Museum. We had just enough time to turn ourselves around and jump on the Buell off to France. Nice weather was with us until we got to L'Aigle where we met up with the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club and their annual French trip. 

The roads in France are amazing having either bullet straight roads or tight nagery bits on polished tarmac that test the limits of your bravery especially when it's wet. So arriving there in glorious sunshine on the Friday, Saturday was a bit wet and Sunday a bit wetter. So wet in fact the Buell drowned in the rain coming back from a club run to Pegasus Bridge where we had lunch. After a patient wait to dry out we were on our way. We left the group and headed directly back to the hotel. 

In the evening I visited a bar and found a little Motoconfort there. Not able to take a picture then I went back a little later but they had closed and I could only get a picture through the window. Monday we left L'Aigle and on to Rouen. Staying at an Ibis with secure underground parking near the centre of Rouen. This trip was dry and we got there in no time at all but finding the hotel was a real pain. It took all my school boy French to get us directions. Settled in Rouen it is a pleasant place to visit even in the rain. On the way home on Wednesday we have a dry run up the A28 and got to the Tunnel with lots of time to spare and got an earlier train. This did us no good at all. We would have missed the rain if we were on our old schedule. As soon as we were on the M20 the heavens opened and everything was awash again. Rain drops the size of golf balls drowned the bike again and we took refuge under a bridge away from the rain only to be hosed down by passing lorries. After another patient dry out we were on our way again. Keeping the engine revving kept us going. I have yet to find out why this is happening, everything around the ignition system and fuel injection was dry and not affected by the weather. I have a feeling it may be the side stand switch causing the problem and will need to be replaced. We did nearly 900 miles over that weekend. Things dried out, bike washed down and all the gear put away it was time to get back to the Museum and prepare for the next event.

More from Kempton Park 2016

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More at Kempton Park 2016

It was a busy day at the LE Club stand and so was the London Motorcycle Museum stand near the entrance. Pete was his usual enthusiastic self tackling anyone in arms reach with fliers and extracting the much needed cash to pay the rent. There were some interesting people too with Our man who owns the Ormonde supporting us and meting up with someone who had a suitable spark plug. Wandering around too was Des Heckle who has many records to his name in the sprinting world. We have one of his bikes at the LMM. It is the 50cc Moto Minarelli that Des managed 51.3 mph at the end of a standing quarter and 82.9 mph at a flying one. Better than the average family car would go in 1973! 

Pictures from the Off Road Bike Show December 2015

He said he would pay the Museum a visit and when he does I would like to take a photo of him on his sprinter. We have some of him from 1973 and very special to have one of him now. The sprinter is so small it is amazing that he fitted on it at all. The riding position is for maximum streamlining so he basically draped himself around the bike. The clip-ons are so narrow that to control the machine he had to wedge his elbows into his knees. Locked in he was able to keep it in line. Brough Superior man himself, Mark Upham was there promoting his bikes and I believe that Eric Patterson has just received a new one which he was showing off that the show. I spotted that on Facebook. There was such a crowd around that I missed everything other than a Triumph triple that was a bit difficult to start.

Going around the stalls I saw a little clip-on engine that was fitted into a bicycle frame. There were no makers marks on the engine cases and only a riveted plate that said “Powerscooter” I know nothing about these so a bit of research being required. 

Not too difficult if you look up motorised bicycles on the internet. It turns out to be an 80 cc American Clip-on from Demon Cycles. A nice little two stroke. Single speed with chain drive to the rear wheel. Not sure how legal 80cc is is in the UK but I suppose it would be fine if it has a 15mph speed restriction on it. I thought the version with a “Jack shaft” that allows you to use the bicycle chainwheel and sprockets for extra gears with of course a freewheel on the chainwheel an interesting option. Look at it on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=bW8nAvOSntM&NR=1

Around the show was this nice Ariel for sale and for some reason this year Tiger Cub trials bikes were everywhere there was even a racing version with clip-ons for good measure. 

Most of the 50's singles were around at not too expensive prices with BSA, Royal Enfield, AJS and Matchless well represented giving lots of choice. The number of older Japanese bikes is increasing with one, a bit special, original 125cc Bridgestone two stroke twin for sale.

More Velocettes

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Velocette Day at Brooklands.

One of our guys from the LE Club contacted me about going to the Velocette Day at Brooklands, I thought about about it for a millisecond and agreed to meet up at Brooklands on the day. His LE is sick with a poorly clutch that needs stripping apart. For this event I had a choice, LE or Valiant. I decide that after my cold and wet experience on the LE I thought something warm would be nice. Checked over and it was at the front of the garage I set out early on this Sunday morning with strict instructions to be back by one! If you have ever been with us at Wey Valley for a “Back by One Run” it never is and back by two is a better description. It was a pleasant run with only a few “silly” drivers on the way. There journey was some 20 miles and took me over an hour from Hayes to Weybridge. 

No sooner I had arrived Paul from the LE club was there too. He had seen me go by as he walked up from the station. My LE was the only one there and as it is a bit special it generated quite a bit of interest. There were some very nice big Velocettes there with KTTs, KSSs, MSSs, MACs and a very special vee twin with a couple of MACs strung together. I did like the green Vee Line with the full fairing. 

I left a whole load of fliers at the reception and handed out loads more as people went by viewing the bikes. Today I had a bottle of water with me and I didn't loose my voice. I also had the foresight to put on sun tan cream to not look like a lobster as I was using an open face helmet. I know I look manic wearing Halcyon goggles! I had to leave by twelve but that went by the board as, meeting up with Denis Frost, club historian and out and out Velocette man, he introduced me to Geoff Dodkin, Velocette dealer for many years and now retired knew of the dealer I had used at Brislington in Bristol. He was interested in what I had done to my LE. 

With a couple more photos taken and my bottle of water refreshed from a tap to top up the LE radiator before setting off for home I said goodbye to Paul and then raced off up the hill to the exit only changing into second gear at the top buzzing the engine quite hard. Another pleasant and even warmer trip home I arrived only 40 minutes late. About right for a “Back By One”

Kempton Park 2016

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Southern Classic Bike Show 2016

When putting on a stand some things never go smoothly. At the beginning when you need to submit bikes and riders and helpers you call on every able bodied person. This year was no exception, but the exception was so many bikes were out of commission and so was one of the riders! To this side of things you have to look around to see what you can do. This time I enlisted the help of the London Motorcycle Museum to help out with the bikes. Manning the stand on the day were Chris, Gita and me. With Gita's help we got the Valiant there on the Friday and set up as best we could. Chris arrived early on the Saturday morning before I did and had his part of the display set up. Unfortunately the large pictures I had put up on Friday night came down by Saturday morning and it was a battle to keep them in place all day as the adhesive I had used was not doing its job. I have to think about something different next year.

On the display this year were my Valiant, Chris's Police LE with Constable Noddy and his Police box along with the LE MK2 cutaway and the Viceroy scooter from the LMM. It was an early start with everything needing to be in place by 08:30and the gates opened at 09:00 sharp! There is an auto-jumble going on as well so some of the punters are scrambling to get in for the bargains of the day.

We were busy all day with much interest in the LE cutaway and the Viceroy. Many mugs of tea were consumed to keep the voice going and we all had a few breaks from the stand taking a wander around to see what was about. There was an LE that would need quite a bit of TLC and a green Valiant Veeline that had Del'Orto carbs fitted and a very nicely turned out Deemster with the Viceroy engine too. 

There were some nice thirties bikes that a 500cc Moto Guzzi and a 250cc version. Later on that day I went around again to take photos and both of these had gone. Someone else had thought these were good too. I have always liked the Aermacchi 250's and 350's and there was a harley badged early model with a blue tank for sale. Perhaps I'll get one one day. I did see a sad one with the head and barrel off showing a very big hole in the piston. Each year there are more foreign bikes on offer some are rare but I think the MV's, Ducati's and Gilera's of the 50's have unique styling with Italian performance that made many of the bigger British bikes look a bit out dated.

By the end of the day we had talked ourselves to a stand still. The stand was very busy with at least three people going away with club application forms and a many more asking questions about the club and technical stuff. Ay 3pm was the prize giving. We didn't win anything again this year but did get a few bottles of wine from the organisers for our troubles. Nice as the wine is my personal preference are the medals that used to be issued to the exhibitors. Something small that you can keep as a memento.

It didn't take quite as long to take the stand down and pack it away as it had taken to put it up. Bikes supplied by the LMM were wheeled away to put on a trailer to be taken back. My big thanks to the LMM for letting me have the bikes on the stand and getting then there. It made our display so different from previous years. Chris's bike was loaded on to my trailer for him to take home and as the last bits were sorted it started to rain. So it was a wet trip home for me on the Valiant with only main beam working and something to sort out later. I got home safely through the Saturday traffic. Gita complained to me that my indicators were not working! I was more concerned why the brake light wasn't. She didn't notice that or my hand signals! The Valiant has not got indicators fitted. The point here is that people expect things to have modern bits fitted to old bikes and that it is worth considering that when restoring or rebuilding one. I think that safety over accuracy is most important if you are out on the roads these days. Never mind the brake lights I'll just have to fit indicators!

Remembering 1916

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Trusty out on show.

What changeable weather we have had over the last week from every season in one day for an MOT to a ride out in glorious sunshine. Last Thursday was exceptional when I went to visit Trusty on show at the Whitgift School exhibition centre. Taking the Buell as it was a blast around the M25 only to thinking that I should have been on the Kawasaki filtering my way through Croydon traffic. Whitgift School is an amazing place and easy enough to find and parking close to the exhibition. The exhibition, on until the end of August and, is “Remembering 1916 – Life on the Western Front”. 

It, on it's own, was well worth the visit but I did wonder why a school would put on something like this. All is revealed as you progress through the stands and displays with cameo sets depicting aspects of life at that time. I found Trusty our 1919 Triumph model H on its own with lots of information about what Dispatch or the term in 1916 was Despatch Riders DR's had to do. They didn't only deliver messages but carried more than 20 pigeons for the return messages! Fine if you are a pigeon fancier! 

Life in the trenches and weapons of destruction along with how the wounded were treated but it was not until the last part did I understand why the school had put on such a good show. It was really about one of their former students who was a pilot during that war. He was flying an FE2B which was made at the Royal Aircraft Factory and was the Farmen Experimental model 2 B. Many were used but were not good as fighters and may be the reason why he was shot down by a certain red Fokker. 

Some flying gear, helmet gloves and boots!

It turns out that the student was Lionel Morris who landed his plane and later died of his wounds was the first kill of the “Red Barron” Von Ritchofen in 1916. His co-pilot Captain Tom Rees was killed in the action. There is a very good painting depicting the action. Such engagements must had been quite slow and nerve racking waiting for the bullets to find a

target. There was no protection and only canvas and wood holding you in the air. These were quite slow aircraft manoeuvring around well below the legal speed limit. I think the Buell is considerably faster than what those early aircraft could do. After talking at some length with the volunteers there about other aspects of World War One I left some fliers and headed on home earlier enough to miss “car park” time on the M25.

LE MOT Day 2016

Jack Lilley Triumph

It has been a motorcycling week with the LE Owners Club on the last Tuesday of the month followed by a ROG's run on the Thursday and an MOT on my 1963 Velocette LE on Friday at Jack Lilley's motorcycle shop. 

My LE, not so standard and in the dry!

Tuesday was to have been the MOT day but had to be moved because day time had other things going on. There was much discussion at that meeting over the Motorcycle Cavalcade where Ixon was extolling the virtues of the “Everyman” motorcycle with the LE. His comment then which is just as valid now in the engine should have been a larger capacity. He thought it needed at least a 350 cc engine. How about a TRW engine as an alternative? I think I could do that with a bit of strengthening of the bodywork. Talk of wiring and 12 volt conversions finished off the evening. On to Thursday with a blast out with the gang, some 17 of us, from Ryka's covering some 200 miles during the day with lunch at the Crown and Anchor at Dell Quay near Chichester finally ending the day at Billy's on the road on the A 29 for a final mug of tea and leaving Museum fliers for other unsuspecting bikers to find.

Bikes all over the car park.

Now Friday was a mixed bag of weather with rain, sleet, snow, hail and a bit of sunshine just to get to Jack Lilleys in Ashford for the MOT. I got a bit wet on the way. You may ask why there and it is historical. I've used them since 19992 when I moved into that area and pretty much ever since although I live quite a bit further away than I used to. It is always a challenge to ride a fifty something year old bike on dual carriageways and busy roads against much faster traffic. While I was waiting watching the guys do the MOT I had a good look at Jack Lilley's Triumph. It is a much modified 3HW the war time 350 cc rigid rear end with girder forks. 

It has AMC telescopic front forks, a small petrol tank, a minuscule oil tank and the only alloy barrel and head seen on a Triumph of that era. It uses BSA Gold Star cams. It cost £170 in 1946 to put together. Nine were made and sold at £180. Not allot of profit there. Jack Lilley was an excellent trails rider and won the first trial he entered this bike into. It was quick enough to do scrambles and grass tracking! 

Quite a surprise to read the information sheets and I don't think many people look very closely at them or the bike. It now sits on the edge of the waiting area balcony. It used to reside near the entrance but I guess didn't quite fit the image of the modern Triumphs. I certainly didn't take much notice of it until this day. I could have got much better photos of it then!

Museum of Berkshire Aviation

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Drive It Day 2016

As I have done in previous years it is a trip out with the 2CV club. A convoy of seven cars left the start point at Runnymede. I was in my El Cid (a Mehari replica). It was a nice dry day with a bit of sunshine and it would have been good to get out there on a bike and I'm sure many of you did. 

I still have the book by Ixion rattling around in my head with the progress that happened very early on in spite of the lack of adventurous designs and high risk of failure around an unknown product. That product has evolved into a very sophisticated piece of kit around a petrol engine that came out of the dark ages and back into the “Dark Ages” this time with aviation. The trip out was to the Museum of Berkshire Aviation, at Woodley near Reading, with the history of locally built aeroplanes from Handley Page and Fairey. 

There were some incredible models and so much information about everything that many of us took a break to be able to read more. There were guides to help us and there were some interesting discussions about the designs. Of great interest was the jet rotor where the jet engines were mounted at the ends of a helicopter rotor blades and spun them around at phenomenal speed. I wouldn't have wanted to be around if one of them came loose! 

As this history of aviation covers two world wars motorcycles were not left out. There is a nice red Corgi to see and also many of the famous pilots were also enthusiastic motorcyclist-must be something to do with death or glory stuff? 

There efforts have been well represented at Brooklands and there are snippets around that reflect this. It is a small but excellent museum packed to the rafters with aircraft and models with information about everything.

 I had walked around with some aircraft buffs and so much of what we had achieved technologically was streets ahead of everyone else at the time and so many of the ideas were later put into practice in modern aircraft and hailed as new! I enjoyed the visit immensely. I'll visit again after my brain has settled down after being immersed in so much mechanical history. It is not expensive to visit and cheap enough to drop in if you only have half an hour at £3.50 for adults and £2.50 for seniors. I'll be going back again with more fliers for the LMM.