Talks,
Social Runs, Film shows, Quizzes,
Road Trials, Coach Trips, Displays, etc.
No.225- Apr2009
Dear
Member,
At
last we have a bit of decent weather for getting out on a two-wheeler,
hope you
all have your machines ready to go.
The 5th of April saw Jean and me attend the club
AGM
at the National Motorcycle Museum Birmingham.
It must go down as the shortest
meeting ever as it was all done and dusted in just over 30 minutes.
Colin Seaton was
elected as the
current President of the club and I received my President Elect badge.
Within
no time I was given my first job – to attend the Scottish Assembly in
August as
the stand-in for the President who can’t make it. As it happens we’re
already committed
to the Oude Klepper Parade in Belgium and can’t make it on that date.
Likewise, on the same day, I’ve also
been asked if any members
would like to take their machines to the West Wales Motorcycle Show in
the
United Counties Showground, Carmarthen, an event organised by the
Carmarthen and District Motorcycle
Club. The event is to be held on the 23rd
August and the organiser would very much like to have some of our
machines
there. The entries closed on the 31st March but
give Charles
Griffiths a ring on 01267 232804 and see if he can get you in. Mention
me, if
you like as Charles is a cousin of mine and he’ll then know where
you’re coming
from.
After
several months
work on my Morini it is at last ready for the road. The bike had been
unused
since 1999 and it was just a case of cleaning it. Ten years of no use
can tell
on a bike, for sure. One thing that I really had to do was to change
the
toothed cam belt. It’s quite small and, believe it or not, comes in
three
sizes. The other thing was to clean the carburettors out – there’s
nothing
quite like the gunge that congeals inside a carb that has been left to
dry out.
All the jets get partially clogged and the float and bowl get coated
with a
horrible treacle like substance that sets hard. So each carb was
dismantled and
all the parts were left to soak for 24 hours in a couple of jam jars
full of
coke. Its real magic stuff the way that it cleans a carb and its
interior; just
think what it does to your stomach and inside when you drink it.
Anyway, I assembled
the carbs and when the time came, the motor fired up on second kick –
not bad
after standing idle for 10 years or more. MOT this coming Thursday,
fingers
crossed that it’s all ok.
Jean
and I were away in mid Wales for a week at the beginning of this month
and since then I’ve not heard
from
anyone as to how the South Wales Sunbeam Owners Llanishen show went on
the 4th/5th.
Likewise, I’ve not heard anything about the Spring run on the 12th. I
assume it
took place as the weather was great that Sunday. Perhaps someone will
let me
know how the run went. It’s sometimes a bit of a problem with this
newsletter
in that I need people to talk to me and tell me what’s happening,
otherwise,
most of this epistle is all about me – and that’s not right. After all,
it’s
not my newsletter, it’s our newsletter. Likewise the new website – talk
to me,
give me some information.
I’m
not sure if you all know about the website but it’s been up and running
since
the 24th March and has been collecting
statistics since the 1st
April. Since the 1st we’ve had 264 hits – 24
from the USA,
4 from Holland and 4
from Belgium,
2 from Ireland,
plus one each from Austria,
Canada,
Australia
and France.
After logging on to our site, the 'Bike Park',
where pictures of
members and their bikes are, seems to be top of the pages visited. So
far I
have 23 of us listed, along with pictures of some of the bikes that we
own. I
added Ray B, George E and Jack M today, but if you’re not there it’s
because I
haven’t got either a photo of you or any of your bikes. The statistics
have
shown that 6 people have downloaded Seaside
Run entry forms and that one person found our site by doing a search on
“Ray
Butcher” would you believe, and another who was searching for “Suzuki
t250
seat”. We even had a visitor who was looking for “worm and nut steering
land
rover”. If you’ve read the March newsletter, you’ll have read a
reference to a
worm and nut steering on an Austin Seven. All fascinating stuff but I
must say
that I still have to get my head around what all the other figures and
charts
mean.
The
website, by the way, is not mine – it’s ours (another reminder) – and
as such
needs all the input you can give. Terry H kindly supplied a few words
about the
VMCC Cyclemotor section event that was recently held in Abergavenny and
I had
it posted on the website within ten minutes of me receiving it – all
less than
24 hours after the event happened. However,
there are times when I find the whole effort a bit disheartening. For
instance:
- I have email addresses for 22 local members and recently decided to
add some
background colour to the home page – so I emailed all 22 members, plus
a few
others, such as our Belgian friends and Bryn in Canada.
It was simple really, I
asked what was thought of the colour background to the website – guess
what? – Not
one reply from our 22 local members. Gee folks, should I pack it in?
Perhaps I
don’t have your correct email address – if not please tell me what it
is and I can then
add you to my mailing list for section news etc. I promise that you
won’t get
any junk mail, that’s not how I work – just now and again I shall email
you
with some pertinent information concerning the section. Pierre
was the only one to answer my message about
colour on the website and I must thank him for that. Anyway, I’ve now
added
colour to the background of the website pages.
So,
if you do have a look at the website, remember that it’s the sections
website
and as such, that means you – so please get involved and if you see
anything
wrong, such as broken links etc or have an idea that we can use then
please
tell me.
Seaside run
entry forms are available from
Geoff H from tonight, 20th April – fill one in
and return it please.
Let’s have a good turnout. Please don’t wait until the day to see what
the
weather does, as it’s important to get all entries in the programme and
also
know how many finishers awards are needed. This year we have a new
venue for
the start and finish. The Barons Court,
now under new ownership and with a new manager
(third one in three years) have decided that they don’t want us there.
So the
new venue is the Oystercatcher on Penarth Marina. Not far really from
the Barons
Court. It’s
an easy place to find once you leave Windsor
Road and head into
the Marina.
At
the roundabout with Tesco on your right, the Oystercatcher is right in
front of
you, can’t miss it – take the road to the right hand side of the pub
and you’ll
find the entrance to the car park on the left. Geoff H, who has worked
hard to
find an alternative venue, says that they are very welcoming and are
looking
forward to having us there.
Doug
H tells me that the Dragon Tour planning is well under way and
everything is on
course for our weekend at the Llandovery college. As soon as everything
is
firmed up the regs and entry form etc will be available on the website
– so,
watch this space, as the saying goes.
Yesterday
was a glorious day and the section held the 3rd
Vale of Glamorgan
Cyclemotor and Low powered machines run. Fourteen turned out on all
sorts of
weird and wonderful gutless machines and it’s nice to be able to say
that all
managed to complete the run. We did have a couple of non-members ride
with us
and it was nice to see them – here’s hoping that they join the VMCC as
full
members now. One machine of note was the 1955 New Hudson
Autocycle that Ray B now owns. He
bought it at the Shepton Mallet autojumble a couple of months
ago and it’s in amazingly good
original condition. This was the first run out for the bike and it
behaved
impeccably.
Mentioning
Ray, he has decided to sell off a
few of his tiddler collection so if you fancy a gutless wonder have a
chat with him. As soon as he gives me the details I will post the list
on the website. In
fact if anyone has anything for sale – let me know and I can put it on
the website.
At the moment there are two machines for sale on the site, both from
Brian
Gray, have a look if you’re interested and ring Brian. He intends
selling his
Guzzi California III and an Ex-Police BMW that
he has – any takers?
You’ll
be getting this epistle on the last club night in April and we have yet
to hold
our first Wednesday evening run. It’s to take place on Wednesday 29th
and the venue is the Three Golden Cups at Southerdown. The idea is that
you get
a motorcycle out – any one will do as we don’t need any signing on
forms or
other type of officialdom to run this event. The idea is that you ride
to the
venue to arrive around 8pm for a meet. Then you may leave as and when
you like
– all quite laid back with the intention of us getting a bike out and
on the road.
In fact, if you haven’t a machine to ride then turn up in a car –
everyone is
welcome – it’s just that two wheelers would be nice. Please give this
new idea
your support, if you can – good weather has been booked.
