There and back again
This month Mick Payne throws his mind back to 2013 and a trip with his Triumph Bonneville that was memorable for the wrong reasons.
“Blimey,” thought I, “it’s October already.” This means it’s seven years since Kate and I finished our Team Katy trip. Those of you who have been following this column will remember the regular reports of that five-month trip, but that wasn’t the first fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Society. That happened in 2013 and involved Kate’s sons and her brother, a Royal Enfield, and Yamaha trike. The trike belonged to Kate’s brother and the Enfield was kindly supplied by Hitchcocks for her son, Adam, to ride. The idea was to visit the four corners of mainland Britain in a week. Other companies to help were Avon, Carole Nash, and Hagon.
My ride on this trip was my T140E and Meteor combination; the Bonnie I’d owned for many years and the Meteor was one of Charnwood’s very early ones that had previously graced my BSA A10. On the Golden Flash it was mounted on a Watsonian VG21 chassis, but I’d bought a Charnwood chassis from Jim d’Arcy before he sold the company. This was still at Jez’s Charnwood premises after the takeover so was fitted by Steve from
Jim’s old team. He also manufactured a tow bar for what is probably the hardest body to fabricate one for – well, neatly at least.
We kicked off from the Sidecar Soiree in Bedfordshire and problems were already raising their head. With a great show of intelligence (not!), I’d changed the Bonnie’s original six-plate clutch for a sevenplate version. The bike had run a Hayward belt drive for years and following a visit to Tony (now much missed), money changed hands and I left with a new belt, the clutch, and a set of lighter springs. Therein lies a tale.
En route to the rally the clutch started to slip on hills, giving rise to much concern two-up, while the trailer was giving the unit a tough time. While other rally-goers were relaxing, it was work for me. Primary drive cover removed and springs tweaked with a bit more preload, a test showed no problems! The first ‘corner,’ Lowestoft Ness, was accomplished with no issues, as was a ride-out to Gibraltar Barn near Tempsford. The next overnight was in the New Forest... and guess what? Yes, the problem came back when I was towing the trailer.
By the time we’d got to
Lizard Point in Cornwall I’d tightened the springs just about as far as I dared, but when the outfit was loaded the problem returned. I decided to abandon the trip and let the others carry on. The daily mileage required just wasn’t possible with a clutch misbehaving as the Bonnie’s was. The others achieved the trip’s aim; we all met again at that year’s Federation of Sidecar Club’s annual rally at Breighton Ferry, Yorkshire.
Kate and I limped back, staying at a couple of very unmemorable camp sites on the way. But one that was good was Adam Hanson’s farm in the Cotswolds; this is the rare breeds farmer of TV fame. Just as well it was good as I rang Lewis, Kate’s younger son, telling him we were to be home early. This wasn’t well received as he’d been planning his end of university party around the fact that Mum wouldn’t be there! So it was a day closer to the rally that the outfit was finally wheeled into the garage.
The primary case came off easily – well, it would by now – and the clutch looked like a student’s frying pan. It had been getting so hot that the oil was burned crisp. So it was all cleaned and the original springs went back in place. Why didn’t I put them in a bag and take them with me?
Back to a heavy but functioning drive, the outfit performed great on the way to the rally. Lesson learned. You’d have thought 30-odd years of running British and Italian bikes might have counted for something. Stupid? Me? Yes!