Scrappage scheme
We have mopeds. We have a plan. The motorsporting hall of fame awaits
ACHALLENGE INVOLVING UNDERPOWERED machines always results in fevered excitement among the Bike magazine editorial team. Sadly the excitement doesn’t translate into logical thinking or worthwhile activity. Today we should be racing our mopeds, instead we are surveying four barely functioning devices, all lacking a Ministry of Transport certificate of road worthiness. A fifth machine has, miraculously, passed its MOT test but broke down on the return journey. It has been temporarily abandoned behind a hedge, somewhere in southern Lincolnshire. Recreating legendary motorsporting events, but on inappropriate bikes, is always a source of amusement. The Mounte-carlisle Rally (Oliver’s Mount, Scarborough to Carlisle), The Fracas Rally (battling through the arid wastes of The Peak District) and The Motogiro d’rutland (a lap of Britain’s smallest county) have all been successfully completed. Now it’s time for The Pint’s Peak Hillclimb, happening in Yorkshire, rather than Colorado, USA. Or rather, it’s not time for
‘We haven’t a fully road legal bike between us’
the Pint’s Peak Hillclimb. We haven’t got a fully functioning and (even loosely) road legal bike between us. But we will have. Soon. The (non) runners are; Mike Armitage’s 1973 Honda C50 that was last on the road in 1983. The engine works (after a fashion), but the electrical components wish to continue their slumber. Paul Lang’s ridiculous 1983 Honda Motocompo. It is blowing bulbs, but rather than fix the problem the owner has bought a lot of spares and hopes to change them during the MOT without the tester noticing. Ben Lindley’s 1988 Yamaha QT50 has a perky two-stroke engine, shaft drive, a carpeted topbox and utterly knackered fork bushes. Hugo Wilson’s (t)rusty 1965 Mobylette hasn’t run for two years but won’t fail the MOT with suspension issues. It hasn’t got any. And Nigel Grimshaw’s 1976 Moto Guzzi Nibbio (not pictured) is currently residing in that hedge near Grantham. Yes, it’s all coming together beautifully. Full race report in next month’s issue. Maybe.