Where we’ve been
After more than year, large events are starting to return. The first major gathering was hosted in the regency splendour of Cheltenham Town Hall
We’ve been out to the Kickback festival and to the Despatch rally, both of which are recommended for next year
The Kickback events are a little different to most bike shows. There are no ranks of immaculate classics for a start, jammed into spaces behind velvet ropes. Rather, there's a selection of unusual specials you can get up close and personal with. These were laid out in a manner that allowed visitors to check the often intricate workmanship up close from all sides.
There wasn't a stock bike on display, and as well as Harley V-twins and assorted Triumphs, there were some most unusual choices.
Many younger builders are going for cheaper and more imaginative options. As well as a good sprinkling of the once common but now rarer Yamaha XS650 customs, there was a remarkable Dnepr flat twin low rider, a nicely modded and new-ish Royal Enfield Interceptor, and many a Honda step-thru, including one with a Yamaha DT400 engine that looked terrifying. There was a methanol-fuelled supercharged Nimbus with a creative back story and, for me, two stand-out, prizewinning creations – Lawrence Pillay's stripped down Kawasaki KH400 and Cheyenne Keogh's great and usable Suzuki GS500 ‘resto-mod'.
With plenty of space to move around, the Kickback event was the perfect way to get back into bike shows, and organiser Lorne Cheetham was delighted to be first out of the traps in 2021 with a sell-out gathering of motorcyclists. Afterwards, he said: “It was just amazing to be given the opportunity to actually put a show on after the awful times we've had over the last year and a half. I think everyone loved Kickback; everyone was just desperate to get out and meet up and enjoy the bikes!
“We couldn't get any more show bikes into the venue. It was packed and we had to make changes to meet Covid protocols.”
Kickback will return next year at a larger venue, the Three Counties Showground on April 2/3.
It felt like the first day of summer had arrived early, and it started with a delightful ride across the Dorset countryside into Hampshire for the first rally I'd been to in years. The Despatch Rally wasn't the traditional ‘beer tent and band' event. Attendees had a range of events to take part in, should they so desire, including an on-road treasure hunt around the New Forest and over into the beautiful Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. There they visited selected old telephone boxes, marking them off and “bagging” the next. Riders were required to operate with honesty, as saying you visited a box when you hadn't was frowned upon in the hunt for the coveted shell case trophy.
The bikes were many and varied. As well as a sizeable number of military surplus 1980s and 1990s Armstrong and Bombardier off-roaders, there were vintage Royal Enfields, rat bikes, cruisers, and some very dedicated off-roaders. A personal favourite was a delightful Triumph Tiger Cub with home-brewed twin-drummed front brakes and a nitrous oxide tank which was, sadly, just for show. Despite the military theme of the event, everything was relaxed.
After kindly being loaned a Royal
Enfield Continental GT, RE being the event sponsors, we were taken on a ride through the sun-dappled New Forest on some of the finest roads you can find, popping briefly into Sammy Miller's Motorcycle Museum, dodging the Lycra-clad cyclists hurtling around and trying very hard not to get forced into a ditch by a 4x4.
Meanwhile, there were on-field competitions to tackle, obstacle courses, slow riding competitions, grass drag racing, ammo box collection challenges, and the opportunity to sneak past a sentry without being heard by leaping from your machine and silently pushing your bike past them.
The Despatch Rally was a jolly, friendly event in good company and is well worth adding to your diary.