Talks,
Social Runs, Film shows, Quizzes,
Road Trials, Coach Trips, Displays, etc. No.223- Feb2009
Dear
Member, Many
thanks to Bruce for the following tale; what would I do without him?
Me and Di went to Pugh’s, Ledbury
auction last September. I took some dosh and the idea was to return to
South Wales with an old bike. At
the end of the sale all
that I had bought was three quarters of a Suzuki bloop motor, some fork
items
and a baconburger.
So, in October I drove up to
Bromsgrove to a steam rally auction and promptly got my camper van
stuck in the
show field. There were supposed to be old bikes entered in the auction
but they
never
turned
up. Well, all except one that is. And not very old at that either – it
was a
1974 CD175 Honda.
I had two things at least working
against my better judgement. The first was that I didn’t want to return
home
empty handed again and the second was nostalgia created within because
I had once
owned a 1974 CD175 Honda. I bought it after it failed to reach it’s
reserve and
then bought another Honda and so I now had two to squeeze into the
camper
(anyone want a well looked after Autosleeper camper van, only seven
careful
owners?)
1976 – What a summer, sunny day
followed sunny day. The TV news reported forest fires, grass fires,
droughts, and
people collapsing with heat stroke…. There has never been
it’s equal since. If that was a
snapshot of global warming to come, then bring it on.
It was that summer that Dianne and I
took part in our first ACU National Rally, I entered the CD175. I chose
the
maximum mileage Gold Award of 600 miles.
The objective was to work out your route, cramming
as many checkpoints as
you could into exactly 600 miles (there were lesser mileages
available). Points
were earned for checkpoints and miles and
penalties could take away points. Mileages between the checkpoints were
issued
by the organisers and a week before the event all details would arrive
and then
you could attempt to work out the optimum route, calling at the maximum
number
of checkpoints in your chosen mileage. The maximum number wasn’t
revealed by
the organisers, it was for you to work out.
Our start checkpoint, just down the Bath
Road from M4 Junction 18, opened
at 10am and we
joined a few others there from nine on, milling around, chatting and
rarin’ to
go.
With cards stamped, all entrants set
off on their own routes and this was happening all over the country. It
wasn’t
unusual for 1500 riders to take part in an event that was started back
in the
1930’s and continues to this day.
We followed our route from
checkpoint to checkpoint. George Brown of Nero sprinting fame had a
checkpoint
at his Stevenage
bike shop with free tea. Bob
Currie we met at one of the two Birmingham
controls and we spent the compulsory night time break
on a settee in the other B’ham control at the BSA factory sports ground
pavilion.
The little ‘seedy’ just kept going
along.
We rode through day and night on a
route that went east below London
and up to
Colchester and then turned back to Herts and the Midlands
before taking a central northwards route to the finish at York
racecourse which
we arrived at around 9am on a beautiful Summer’s morn.
On a bend some ten miles from the
finish we came upon a LD Lambretta from Dublin, they were on the grass
verge. The rider
was in pain and as they were fellow entrants, of course we stopped to
help. We
were soon joined by another rallyist in a Bond minicar being driven by
a nurse
who took charge and ordered, yes, ordered me to find a phone box and
ring for
an ambulance.
I set off and came to a small
village with a phone box. I called 999, requested an ambulance giving
all the
details that I had and returned the couple of miles to find the
ambulance
already there! It had been parked up less than a mile away.
We continued to the end, signed off,
ate a welcome cooked breakfast
and then set off for home.
We’d done 60 miles to the start, had
completed our 600 mile route (a little more than 600 in fact due to
navigational errors) and now faced the 350 mile return journey to South
Wales.
Over 1000 miles on a Saturday and Sunday, two up on a 175. We were
entitled to
be feeling knackered, but we kept plodding on with the miles dropping
behind
and then we struck trouble.
We had just joined the M5 when the
bike started to misfire. I had no option but to stop on the hard
shoulder and
get the tools out. Although the plugs looked fine, I changed them with
a new pair
and ‘hey Presto’, the motor was running like a watch again, lucky me.
Yes, we did sleep well when we got
home about 6 in the evening. Results posted later to us showed that the
Dublin
pals had won the
‘Best Scooter’ award even though the rider had been hospitalized – even
cyclemotor assisted bicycles had taken part.
Let’s say that you’re approaching
your dotage, you may live in Llanmaes, Coity, Creigiau or Cardiff.
If your hips or knees (or both) want
something easier to handle, then consider the Honda CD175. It’s the
bike that
thinks it’s a bike and a half.
Ok,
Bruce!!! Did you get a Gold Award? You haven’t mentioned that.
Next,
a bit of news from HQ - At the last Management Committee meeting a
decision was
made to increase the clubs membership fees by £2 a year. The last time
they
were increased was back in May 2006 along with a promise to hold them
for at
least two years. The increases will only apply to Full and Senior
Citizen
memberships. It was decided to hold the junior and family membership
fees as
they are. These increases will not take place until after the club AGM
on the 5th
April and will come into force on the 1st May.
At
the last section meeting we held a committee meeting to discuss a few
things
and in particular brain-storm the celebrations for our 50th
anniversary in 2011 – it’ll be here very quickly, I can assure you. A
couple of
ideas were put forward, but if anyone has a suggestion then please let
one of
the committee members know – all ideas will be well discussed regarding
the programme
of events, so don’t be shy about suggesting something.
One
other thing that was decided was the venue for the first of our
Wednesday
evening runs. The first one is on Wednesday 29th
April and the venue
is the Three Golden Cups at Southerndown for 8pm. Hopefully we’ll get a
good
turnout of members. The Spring run is going to take place on the 12th
April and not on the 5th. The start will be from
the car park in
front of the Multiplex cinema on the Treforest estate at 10.30am
prompt. No
excuses that it’s Easter day as the weather has been organised and the
sun will
surely shine. Enjoy the ride.
I’ve
got regs for the South West Coast
Run on the
17th May and also for the Felix Burke weekend in
the Cotswolds on
the 18th/19th April –
just in case you’re fancying having
a go.
Before
that we have, on the 1st March a NACC event for
the tiddlers – all
gutless wonders are welcome at the start of 10.30am from Cowbridge
common. The
NACC have a similar arrangement to the VMCC just in case you’re not a
member,
so you can ride.
I hope that you’re fettling your
bike ready for all the riding that you’ll do this year. That reminds me
that I
must sort out the Morini and get it on the road. Nice thing about the
bike is
that anything that I want for it is available from North Leicester
Motorcycles.
They specialize in Morinis and are about
the only people in the UK
to do so. Bit of a captive market
I’m afraid, but
at least
parts are available. First job with
the bike was to change the timing belt – yep – it has a timing belt
drive to the
camshaft. Only a small belt, but they come in three different sizes,
depending
on the machining tolerance of the cogs – there’s an A, B or C size. I
knew the
belts were expensive so trawled the internet and found one for £4.60,
so sent
for it, but when it arrived I found that it was way too slack for the
job. North Leicester
Motorcycles can supply the proper one at
£36.09, ouch!!!!!. Anyway, a fellow member in the Morini Riders Club
sells the
same item for £6 – so that’s better. I also had an interesting
experience with
NLM as the bike needed an ignition key. I stripped the switch and took
the
barrel out to find the key number. I rang NLM and they said ‘of course,
Sir’. I gave them, the number
and was asked if the key was single sided or double sided – ‘Single
sided’, said I – ‘Are
you sure?’ came the reply – ‘really,
really sure?’. After explaining
that I didn’t consider myself to be a dummy with mechanical things the
guy took
my order. A few days later two keys arrived. Guess what, they wouldn’t
fit, so
I rang NLM and went through the same conversation about the key being
single
sided or double sided. I told them that it looked as if the wrong
blanks had
been machined. ‘The people who cut them
for us have never got it wrong before, it must be a double sided key’,
he
said. Just a trifle
annoyed I put the
new keys and the switch barrel in a jiffy bag and sent it to NLM. The
next day
I had a sheepish call to tell me that I was right – hey
ho.
Bill P
