Friday 30 June 2017

Café Racer Meeting


Advertised on Facebook this event was put together mostly by word of mouth. As the day promised to be fair I popped over after work, having arranged to meet a couple of friends at the car park opposite.


It's quite a dramatic backdrop, practically underneath the Forth Bridge and within sight of the two newer road bridges.


As befitted such a low key event people simply turned up and parked their bikes along the pavement, careful not to impede pedestrian access. 


There were a number of very trick looking home-built café racers, a good few older vintage machines, and the usual gathering of more modern sports bikes, some of which might charitably be considered the distant progeny of the original café racers. The most obvious example being the new Norton Dominator to be seen below.





A wander around looking at the bikes, talking to a few of the owners, a cup of tea and then home. Not a bad way to spend an evening.





Sunday 11 June 2017

Moto Cycles


(Via: AgeofDiesel)

White Wall




(Spotted at MCN Festival of Motorcycling)

Festival of Motorcycling

As mentioned in an earlier post, I went down to the MCN Festival of Motorcycling at Peterborough again this year. It’s a chance to see all the new machines from the main manufacturers, although many were also present at the Scottish show earlier in the year.


On the bike front, I tried a couple for size. I am still strangely drawn to an Indian Scout, but also liked Suzuki’s V-Strom 1000XT, Triumph’s Tigers and the Ducati Scrambler, although the Ducati would be pretty rubbish for touring on. 


I also tried sitting on the Suzuki Intruder M1800BZ. It’s huge. This is a ridiculously large machine built for someone significantly bigger than me, and I’m no shrinking violet.

The Ducati Diavel, that rarity, an ugly Italian machine
Indian Brave, 250cc manufactured in UK by Brockhouse Engineering
The club stands at the show are always good value, and I had an interesting talk with the owner of a ‘Flexit’ leaning sidecar. 


I’d heard of them, but never encountered one before. The owner was more than happy to explain how it worked and give a small demonstration to an interested audience. Certainly different.


Usually I end up leaving big shows like this empty-handed. Either there’s loads that I want but can’t afford, or I have loads of money and can’t find anything that I want. This time, I picked up a lightweight jacket with armour in, some summer gloves, and a few other small bits and pieces that will definitely come in handy.


So, all in all, a successful trip.