NEWSLETTER
No.226 - May 2009
Dear Member,
The
first mid week evening run took place on the 27th
April and despite
the lousy weather seemed to be a success. I counted some 24 bikes at
the Three
Golden Cups in Southerndown.
May
is always a busy month and 2009 has been no different with loads of
fettling on my Indian for the South West Coast run on the 17th.
Gosh, what a lousy day, weather
wise, that was. Several of our members had entered, Glyn J, Barry C,
Terry H,
John D, Brian M and Tony B along with a Matthew, who I hadn’t met
before. All
seemed on track as we set off. The Indian seemed to be running ok with
its new head gaskets, as we plodded on through Cold Ashton –
then – just as we turned onto the hill up past Ashton Court the front
cylinder head gasket decided to call it a day and a piece
blew out
near the exhaust valve. The bike was now making quite a bit of noise
and
running on one and a bit cylinders. It sure wouldn’t pull Jean and I up
the
hill so I set off on my own, leaving my girl to walk up the hill – as
any
gentleman would, of course. I felt sure that someone would offer her a
lift,
some hope that was. As I was about 100 yards from the top of the hill
the rear
cylinder decided that it had also had enough and also blew a piece of
head
gasket out. That was it, one dead motor, so I pushed the bike up hill
to the
nearest lay-by. One guy stopped on a 250cc BMW and offered some help
so; I
asked him if he’d go back down the hill and collect my long suffering
girl,
which he kindly did. By this time it was bucketing down. It seems that
the South West Coast run don’t provide any recovery, so my
next task was to walk the three miles back to the start to collect the
car and
trailer. I was lucky in that a young lady in a car took pity on me and
gave me
a lift. The bike and Jean were soon recovered and we headed straight
for
Clevedon, where we had lunch. By this time we’d had enough as had a few
of the
others, so we headed straight for home and missed Barry getting the
award for
Best Scooter for his little Suzuki FZ50. Not a good day weather wise,
personally I thought it divine retribution for the Bristol
Section moving their event onto our
normal date.
My
next job was to sort the head gasket problems on the Indian
as we were to ride it on our Seaside run the
following weekend. I decided to make new gaskets out of copper sheet
and by
Wednesday had the job done. I annealed the gasket and fitted them but
there was
a bit of leakage. This is where Honda came to the rescue. Our son
Richard works
for them and he gave me a tube of grey gasket goo that Honda use.
“Honda don’t
use gaskets any more, dad” he said, “Try this stuff, its magic”. So on
it went
and a road test sure proved the point – no leakage – hooray.
Now,
Bruce G very kindly has sent me a few more of his tales, so here’s one
of them
to brighten up this epistle: -
On
my return to the Downs
Café at the end of the St.Davids Day “Gutless Wonders” run I remarked
to a
fellow knacker(i.e. A member of the NACC) that I couldn’t remember how
long it
was that I’d held full throttle for such long periods and yet had not
exceeded
25 mph. I also commented that the seat on the Camino had given me
severe, as
the Americans call it, butt fade.
“The thing is” he
said “Did you have
to use the pedals?” “No, I never used them” I replied. Back came the
remark “Well, you’ve had a good day
then”
Going back to
mopeds of the fifties,
and they were around decades before that, pedal power was accepted as
part of
the scene. Although on the Camino they could
be used to assist forward motion, in reality they were only used for
starting.
However, if Ray B had planned that we took the Downs to Aberthin route
the
other way, Aberthin to the Downs, via the hill,
then surely some LPA or even worse, some HPA would have been inevitable.
I’ve had a few
mopeds. Mostly
purchased for sale, like the four NSU Quicklys I had five years ago.
I once had a nice
looking Norman Nippy
in black and cream and had to make new bushes for the leading links to
eradicate a floppy wheel. I swapped it for a GT250 Suzuki “kit” with
cash. The
Nippy was a bugger to start and I was glad to see the back of it.
I guess that I was
about fifteen
when my next door neighbour discovered my interest in motorbikes and
saw me as
a convenience to get rid of his two-wheeled ‘junk’. I never
said no. The first that he gave me was
a gents Philips bike fitted with a Power Pak cyclemotor attachment
affixed
behind the saddle. It didn’t go, of course and never did with
me. I had the idea to mount the
motor vertically, the cylinder is normally upside down, and drilled and
tapped
the bottom of the crankcase with a drain plug. Why? Don’t ask. The
bike, fitted
with two rear tyres to combat wear from the drive roller, quietly
dissolved
away in the brambles at the end of the garden.
Now, in May 2009,
some 51 years on,
in my garage I have a Philips bicycle (Courtesy of Roger Thomas) and
two Power
Pak motors.
The neighbour, an
elderly guy named
Paddy, gave the successor to the Power Pak to me when that also failed
with him.
Now this could be a rare one. It was a French moped, a proper moped,
called a
Cazenave. I’ve never heard of one since. The engine had seized, so the
first thing was to
get it
onto the workbench (alright, the wash house floor). This was when I
realised
that a set of metric spanners would be handy. So, the adjustable came
into play
and firstly on the little nuts, probably 10mm, on the exhaust flange.
The studs sheared, the exhaust
dropped onto the lawn and the moped was put alongside the other one by
the
brambles.
To help with the
cost of living,
things like rates, mortgage, vehicle costs and so on, I did a little
buying,
repairing and selling. I placed a small but not cheap advert in the
South Wales Echo. “M/C’s wanted.
Cash today, no delay”,
something like that anyhow. A guy from Ely rang. He had a BSA 500 twin.
I went
to see it and found that it was a 1957 A7. I took my little notebook
and pen, to
note what was needed and at what cost.
"How much do you
want for it?”, I
asked. “I
got to see £17, nothing less” he replied.
The most that I
could get for the
bike was £80 and this was in pre-classic days of course and the seven
year old
Beesa could have been hard to sell. There had to be some profit in it,
or what
was the point of buying?
Sorry about the
diversion into big
bike land. Returning to the tiddlers, I had a call from Cathays,
Woodville
road, in fact. The chap had seen my ad and thought that he had just
what I
wanted. “It’s lovely, all red paint. Just like a little racer. Just
needs a
little care. 50cc racer it is”
“What did you say
it was called?”, I
replied.
“Motobi.
M-O-T-O-B-I. It’s a
Japanese bike. It’s lovely. All red paint.”
I
went straight away, as delay sometimes led to a lost purchase.
The caller led me
through his home
and opened the kitchen door where we both stood open mouthed looking at
his
wife standing naked in an old tin bath, soapy water just below her
knees. Not
surprisingly she screamed whilst trying to cover her bits with a small
sponge.
“Christ!” he said.
“I forgot she was
having a bath. You didn’t see anything, did you?” Of course, me like a
fool
said “Oh, yes”.
We went around the
lane way. The
Motobi, which I now knew was Italian, was lovely red paint alright
which
matched the red rust of the chrome plate.
“This came off
when we tried to
start it” he said, showing me a rusty kick start lever and sheared
shaft,
“It’ll be easy to fix though” he added.
“How much did you
say?”
“A tenner, but no
log book with it”
It may still be
there, I suspect –
and a collectors item by now. It was certainly in ‘racer’ style.
One day, I just
happened to be
walking past Knill’s scrap metal merchants archway in Thompson Street,
Barry and turned back
and went in. I came out of the archway and into the yard and there to
my right
was a heap of motorcycle engines. All sorts. My eye (or both) alighted
on a
Vincent motor towards the top of the pile. “How much is this engine”, I
asked.
“It’s got to be
scrap alloy charge”,
the young lad replied. He put it on the yard scales and turned to me –
“It’s
ten shillings”. I took it home. Surely one of the cheaper Vincent
engine deals.
I had it for years and then one day I responded to a wanted ad,
received a
cheque, and posted it off.
I
visited all the Cardiff dealers
to buy their ‘beat-up’ trade
ins. An Ariel Colt from Bevans. Having a laugh, aren’t you? At
Kennard’s in Richmond
road I did well. I met a mechanic
standing in for the salesman at lunchtime and developed a profitable
relationship with him. A Peugeot moped with broken rubber band rear
suspension
from the back yard, A Raleigh moped (ugh), a Yamaha U50 thing, a
Raleigh Roma scooter with all brakes
seized
due to the linings de-gluing – and so on, until he was sacked for
selling
company property and pocketing the dosh. Well, I didn’t know, did I?
So, the Camino is
really
too modern. The Power
Pak is
alright. So, next “Gutless Wonders” run should see it in action, all I
need is
a carb, an exhaust, a bracket to hold it on the bike, a cap to keep the
petrol
in the …….
And by
the
way, that Vincent engine for ten
bob was a Firefly. Bruce G.
Back to the Seaside
Run – didn’t we have fantastic weather? I sure enjoyed the day and the
following are some comments from Geoff H, who must be very proud of
organising
such a successful event.
After the event, I had quite a few
complementary comments and I believe
it was generally enjoyed by almost all. I think
the Oystercatcher is
a big improvement from The Barons Court.
I sat with the two late
finishers, Kevin (troublesome 1946 Ariel) and Ron (1928 BSA) discussing
their
problems, in the late afternoon sun overlooking the harbour, even they
commented on how pleasant it was.
Total
entries were 64, one down from last year and with late entries the
total on the run was 84, again only one down on last year. Not bad
considering
that it was a bank holiday weekend and I had several people
who reported
to me that they would like to come but were committed to other events
such as
the Abergavenny Steam Fair.
Doug Hughes chose to use his own
breakdown recovery and not use John E,
so that it would take him directly home and allow him to come to the
finish in
his car.
The Suzuki rider winning the Best
Non-European award was Kevin Jones
model GT750J 1972 riding no. 71.
Lee, the Oystercatcher manager, was very pleased
with the event after
being a little concerned in the morning with the large number that
turned up
possibly causing some problems in the afternoon when he would still be
very
busy. However, things worked out fine. I assured him we will choose a
date next
year that will be outside the bank holiday, so there will be even less
of a
problem.
What do you think our one and only Bristol rider, John Hedges, no. 27,
thought of the run?
I must add that I
spoke to
John
Hedges from Bristol as we were quite excited that at last, after 21
years of running this
event, we
had actually received an entry from the Bristol Section. The excitement
was soon dashed, as it turned out that John was
not a
VMCC member but was a Scott Owners club man and that he had been
informed of
the event by our Bob Hill. So, we still have never had a single rider
from the section, over the bridge, despite the fact
that a
largish number of our members always make the effort to support their
South West Coast run.
There is a write up on the
Seaside
Run on the website, along with some photos and a full list of the award
winners.
And the Indian?
Well, may you wonder? We left home to ride to the start and as soon as
we got
to the first set of traffic lights I started to experience flooding of
the
carb. The Oystercatcher was reached eventually, by turning the petrol
off and
on each time the motor stopped – a bit of a nightmare ride. Anyway, I
dismantled the carb at the start and then found that all it needed was
an adjustment
of the needle – job done. From then on the bike ran nice and clean,
apart from
oil leakage. Must get on top of that problem!!
The Seaside Run weekend
was followed
on Wednesday 27th by our second evening ride
out. This time to the
Rose and Crown at Eglwysilan. The pub is on top of the mountain between
Abertridwr and Treforest. A smashing country pub that made us very
welcome –
nothing to do with the huge amounts of grub that Bob J and Doug G
woofed down
in the restaurant, of course. Seeing that, Jean decided to peruse
the menu and decided on a pudding, forcing me to have a Banana pancake
covered
in syrup. The night was pretty awful as far as the weather was
concerned. Jean
and I took the Morini and found that the Taff vale was about the only
place devoid
of fog. It was quite a ride up the side of the mountain to Eglwysilan
as
visibility was down to about 15 yards, which meant second gear and no
more than
20 mph. A bit of a nightmare. Geoff T tried to make the venue but was
defeated
by the fog. When we arrived, Terry H’s Moto Guzzi was already there as
was
Geoff H’s Triton. Ray arrived a little later on his Bonneville – and
that was
the extent of the two wheelers. Thank goodness a few others turned up
on four
wheels to make our numbers up to 13.
Must say that I’m not
convinced of
the 7pm time for meeting as it sure doesn’t give those who work much
time to
get home, sort themselves out and then ride to the event. Hopefully,
the next
ride out will be more successful, especially as the weather is bound to
be good
– isn’t it? Can’t be bad again surely. The venue for the June mid week
ride on
the 24th is the Griffin Inn at Gilfach Goch.
Please don’t say that you don’t know where it is
and won’t
be coming – just ask and directions will be provided, no probs.
Now, a note from Gordon
Suddery that
should be passed on to all, Gordon wrote: -
I came back from
the Philippines on Feb 12th and found that my son
Gareth’s little bantam (1959) D1
125cc would
not run. After three days of working with points, timing, etc, I gave
up. The
next Sunday, I was up the cafe on my
Norton Atlas and talking with John Rule, he told me about an electronic
unit
that his neighbour was using on a Bantam. I bought a unit from C
& D
Auto's, it cost me the enormous price of £22.60 including p&p,
after 20
mins of reading the instructions and fitting the unit, the little bike
was
running as sweet as a sewing machine. It runs and rides just as a
1950's 125
Bantam should, what a pleasure to ride.
I would
like to give a big thank you to all club members for making me
feel so welcome on the Sunday club runs that I attended. It was worth
every
penny of my £3.00 daily membership to be included officially in the
club runs.
To take part and to chat with friends, just like old times, for me was
so
enjoyable as I don't get to do this as much as I would like. It was
like going
back to when I was sixteen, riding mopeds and small powered
motorcycles, two
extremely enjoyable Sundays. I would also like to give a big thanks to
Pete
Meyrick, for the invite to join him and other members on the Thursday
ride
outs. Some wonderful and interesting routes and places that I have
never seen.
What a wonderful time I have had riding the old Norton, with the boys.
There is
a second heaven.
Sadly I
have to return to the Philippines now and look forward to
be able to join you in further runs and activities next time I am back.
This is
the one of the biggest things I miss while living overseas.
My very
best regards to you all, good luck and keep them upright.
Gordon Suddery.
One other message
that
needs a mention concerns Jo
McCarthy and her organisation of a parade to commemorate the loss of a
young
motorcyclist in an accident near Corner Park Garage,
on the way to Llantrisant. I did put
up a notice on the website of the event and Ken B attended and sent me
the
following: -
Hi
Bill,
I did
attend the
memorial Gathering last Sunday that was posted on the website.
There
were 10 bikes
in total. 8 I guess from a club or possibly just Friends plus
myself and a
neighbour. I was riding the only British bike my A10.
We
started from the
entrance of the HGV MOT centre in Pontyclun turned left at the traffic
lights
onto the dual carriageway followed up by a large 4x4 with a big
official sign
mounted across the back: -
THINK ONCE, THINK
TWICE, THINK BIKE
We all
proceeded
slowly until the next junction' where the fatal accident happened which
is
marked with flowers. Everyone stopped with the bikes ticking over for
about 30
secs holding up the traffic behind, then it was a noisy takeoff down to
the
island, around the island, then back up the dual carriageway before
turning
right back to the spot. There was
quite a
gathering of people at the spot who had come along in cars.
So,having paid our
respects we did not stop, gave a wave, and carried on for a short run
reflecting on the event.
Ours is a
great hobby
interest, way of life, call it what you like but it can be dangerous.
We have
all been in
the SORRY I DID NOT SEE YOU MATE situation and if the holdup made 1 car
driver
think ‘bike’ it was worth the effort.
I believe
the car
driver involved in the accident had a fine and a driving ban, how about
only
letting him ride a motorcycle for the first year
after getting his
licence back what do you think?
Food for thought, I must say. Mind you,
I always take up statements saying
that motorcycles are dangerous. Many’s the time when someone’s mum has
said
that they wouldn’t let their youngster out on a motorcycle because they
are
dangerous. Basically, they’re not dangerous, they’re vulnerable – and
that’s a
big difference.
Ridden
sensibly two-wheelers are safe, until you come across
the ‘Sorry mate, I didn’t see you’ driver. I suppose that it’s all a
question
of experience and accepting the fact that you really must treat all
other
drivers on the road as idiots, otherwise, as Ken says, it can be
dangerous.
The
first weekend of June saw Jean and me, plus Terry H and Dilys, head for
Tewkesbury to
ride in the Flat Tank weekend. We had booked our usual B&B
digs, whilst Terry
and Dilys
booked their Motor-home onto the camp site next to Tewkesbury Abbey.
Jean and I arrived on Friday
afternoon and
after settling in, collected Terry and Dilys before heading for the Haw
Bridge
Inn, some food, and the social evening which involved a quiz. Must say
that
most of the questions were a bit bizarre and that we didn’t win.
Saturday morning dawned
amidst pouring rain. A quick call
to Terry and we decided to give the days run a miss. Just didn’t fancy
getting
soaked and then have to don wet gear for the following day’s road
trial. Only
ten riders out of the 25 who should have ridden went out. We did,
however, follow
around in the car and visited the Steam railway at Toddington and the
motor museum
at Bourton-on-the-water. The Saturday evening social was a skittles
match,
again, no prizes for us.
Sunday’s
weather looked better and
by the time we set off on the 1908 Triumph outfit, it wasn’t raining
and in
fact at one point during the day we saw some sunshine. The Triumph
failed to
climb a couple of the hills on the route, but one I did manage to get
up, after
going back down and having another run at it, whilst leaving Jean to
cadge a
lift on the carrier of Terry’s Beardmore. The other hill was an
observed
section but luckily there were two strong young guys available to push
the
outfit up to the top for us. After that we did complete the whole 75
mile run,
as did Terry. A super day out, apart from me leaving my mobile phone
and
reading glasses on the roof of the car when we set off for home. Guess
what?
They weren’t there when we arrived back in South Wales.
Bill P
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