Happy New Year everyone!
Happy New year From all at Classic Bike Guide, we hope you all had far too much food, cake, drink and fun! Christmas time means many things to us all; personally it’s a reset, a time to reflect and even relax. Hope you managed that too. But the nights are now drawing out (well, ish…) and it’s surprisingly mild for the time of year – so let’s go!
Neville, Maria and I decided to go and get dirty one sunny day in between Christmas and New Year, joining friends John and Tom for a bit of messy green-lane action. John had his Velocette MAC, Tom his Rickman-framed T140 that Neville built, Tom’s friends borrowed his Honda XL and I tried to keep up on my Triumph Scrambler. Meanwhile Nev and Maria went off to play in the Series One Land Rover, chop wood and – er – drive through the hedge…
Tom blasted everywhere on his Rickman, the engine sounding fantastic through the Norfolk countryside. John’s Velo was somewhat more sedate, but the trials tyres gave a sure footing and it got wherever
John wanted it to. Pierre and his lovely lady were having a lot of fun on the Honda XL – a most capable 1980s bike – while my modern Triumph (all my bikes are off the road for a variety of boring and mundane reasons) struggled to get any grip with the standard tyres, eventually placing me unceremoniously into the hedge. And mud.. Still a great day was had by all.
And just before Christmas the Norwich Vikings held their trial at Cadders Hill, Lyng, just down the road, so we took boy on his electric Oset bike. We entered, but he’s a little like his father and didn’t quite get it; so we spent the time getting used to the hillside and roots. Every day is a school day, and I was very proud.
A new year brings new ideas and new impetus; so finishing the Norton is up there, as is getting the CZ and Maria’s Benelli running. Oli’s feature on Japanese 125s has got me thinking – the local weekly bike meets are less than 15 miles away and mainly on B roads and back roads (that’s all we have in Norfolk…) so do we need 500cc bikes? 125s are cheap to run, don’t take up much space and every ride will have you holding that throttle to the stop – how often can you say that about a big bike? We’ll see if they get finished first!
We also want to go to some different events, so bring us your suggestions.
Festival of 1000 bikes was great, the Bristol show doesn’t disappoint, and I’d like to take some of the older bikes on some runs. Then there are the various club meets, and I fancy some old-bike green-laning in different areas. Your advice is, as always, most appreciated!
The list of old bike-friendly bike shops is slowly building, but we still need more before we can fill a page. Strangely, the South West seems well catered for, while the North West doesn’t. As always, send your recommendations in to
classicbikeguide.com.
editor@
Also, we’d love to hear about your bikes, your clubs or what you like to get up to with your old machines. If you think other readers would be interested, let us know. Otherwise, let’s hope we get a great riding year and we’ll keep bringing you some great bikes and interesting stories.
Be good!
editor@classicbikeguide.com
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