February has mostly been spent finalising the website but we did get out
earlier in the month to do a publicity shoot with Steve Parrish. It was blowing
a gale when Steve arrived, but thanks to an Ace team in the shape of Perry
Barwick ad Rob Overy we were able to quickly able wrap up some shots which will
be used as publicity for the premier Brooklands Museum Motorcycle Event of
2016.
Steve Parrish at Brooklands
The event titled The Brooklands Motorcycle Show “Then and Now” to be held
on 4 July will feature iconic motorcycles of the last 80 years including many original
Marques with their modern counterpart. Steve Parrish will be attending as guest
of honour. Keep posted for more news.
Adventure Motorcycling Evening
One of Zoe's stunning shots of the open road
On 16 February, I was invited to host an Adventure Motorcycling evening
with the VMCC. In typical Chat show style I was joined on the couch by Zoe
Cano, who headlined the evening with an interactive discussion about long
distance motorcycling and her trip across the USA.
Zoe's Bike
We were also joined by
Brooklands VMCC Chair Richard Huckle and Gavin Shaw who gave us an insight into
their recent trips to Scandinavia. The Evening was billed as Riders of the Lost
Art of Solo Adventure Motorcycling. Our conclusion was that the art is still
alive and kicking.
Norway land of the midnight sun
Zoe’s excellent chronicle of her trip “Bonneville Go or Go
Bust” is available on Amazon.
Warbike Review
Thanks to Pete Kelly of Old Bike Mart for reviewing Warbike: British Military
Motorcycling 1899-1919.
The review will appear in the March edition of the paper,
and the book is available via our new website. Fenlandclassics.com
Fenland Classic Motorcycles Website is Live
The Website is now up and running, but the shop will follow later after it
is fully tested. This blog will also remain separate until April whilst pages
are transferred.
January is traditionally a lazy month, spent mostly in hibernation.
After a very mild December, a return to cold and windy conditions was a bit of
shock to the system.
Warbike
The warbike project continues; dipping a toe into the post
WW1 period. Tracked motorcycles would you believe! This will be a long research
period which will run in the background. However, if you have any information
about military motorcycling during the interwar period please drop us a line at
warbike@fenlandclassics.co.uk
We have already had contact from people with information on testing and sales
of ex-military WW1 bikes.
The time in the warm was used to finish the Brooklands Great
War 100 event film which is now available via FenlandClassicsTV below:
We did crawl out for Eric Patterson’s excellent Jumble. We
had repro vintage and veteran parts as well as later used parts on offer. There
were some real bargains to be had in the Triumph department. We also have
semi-liquid gearbox grease for Burman boxes. I have previously trawled Kempton for
this grease without success; but when you have it nobody wants it! Anyway if
you do need some gearbox grease drop us a tweet (@fenlandclassics) and come to
the next Jumble in March.
Bonneville Go or Go Bust
Bonneville Go or GoBust is an excellent winter read from Motorcycle Traveller Zoe Cano. I caught
up with her a few weeks ago to discuss the book and plan an Adventure Touring
Evening with the Vintage Motorcycle Club, I will be joined later in February by
Zoe and other riders to talk about preparation....or not! and just why do
people ride off into the wild alone.
Zoe Cano
Bonneville Go or Go
Bust: On the Roads Tess Traveled is available on Amazon or catch up with Zoe
at the Carole Nash MCN Show at the London Excel Centre 12-14 February 2016.
Brooklands Cotton JAP Restoration
During January we had a bit of fun with a Twitter Documentary
following the rebuild of the Doug Earle Cotton Jap. This beast is being
restored to Earle’s original vision of a Brooklands outer circuit racer. The
full story will appear after the project is finished. The Brooklands Motorcycle
Team also hope to take it out on tour to various events in 2017. Here are a few
pictures of the project so far.
Its June already and recently we have been busy signing off pages of the new
website. The new Fenland Classic Motorcycles.co.uk site will be the place to
visit for Bikes, Parts, News and information. We are even building a virtual
museum where you can discover Images and information about pre-war bikes. In
addition we will introduce “The Shed” where you can get hints and tips on that
hard to finish restoration, as well as keeping up with the Street Custom scene.
Clearly, such a venture is quite time-consuming, so we will be rolling it out
over the next 12 months. Watch this space or follow us on twitter
@fenlandclassics
Draft of the new Landing Page
Southern Classic Bike Show Diary
The May Bank Holiday was a busy Motorcycle weekend with the
Bike Shed Event, and Pendine. However, EP Enterprises Show and Auto-jumble at
Kempton Park was a must do event. On Friday afternoon I caught up with
organiser Eric Patterson for a quick chat as Exhibitors, and Stallholders were
arriving. The ever youthful Eric was proudly sharing his experiences of Elvington
Airfield the week before when he achieved a record breaking 132.494 MPH over a
mile on his 1000cc Vincent. Eric has built the event from humble beginnings in
a Village Hall, before moving to Ascot and then to its current location at
Kempton Park. Eric has retained a very hands on approach, which many feel is
what gives the Jumble and two annual shows a unique atmosphere. One knock on effect is
that Eric does not have long to chat as he is called away. I also had to make
way for other vehicles so with the help of one of the Brooklands Volunteers we
unloaded the Museum’s Francis Barnett and set up the stand.
Zoë Cano with her Bonneville
On the Day of the show I just managed to slip in the back
door as the main gates were opening. Understandably most people wanted to grab
a bargain over in the Jumble, so there was time for a quick chat with Zoë Cano about
her trip across America on a Triumph Bonneville. She was soon swamped with
customers keen to grab a signed copy of
her book so I moved on to the Marston Sunbeam and London Motorcycle Museum
stands to try and grab a few more WW1 vintage bikes for the Brooklands Great
War 100 Event on 27 Sept.
An early visitor learns more about Brooklands Museum
Once back at
the Brooklands Stand, people were keen to know about the Tommy Meeten Record
Breaking bike, and one Guy from the Two-stroke Club even brought over a picture
of Meeten at Brooklands on what we believe was an earlier bike of the same type.
I met Classic Bike Editor Gary Pinchin, fresh back from the London
Bike Shed Event the night before. He was busy gathering bikes for a photo shoot
and it was time for me to make my excuses and sneak off to grab some brake
cleaner and a few bits from the Jumble.
Brooklands Volunteers study picture provided by the 2-stroke Club
All too soon it was time to pack up. I had missed the
lunchtime engine run and the prize giving! If I was covering this for a
magazine I would have been sacked. However, I did a lot of networking and had a
great day out. If you have never been to a Kempton Show I recommend you pay a
visit to the Southern Off Road Show on 5 December 2015. If you can’t wait that
long the next Kempton Park Jumbles are on 25 July, 19 Sept and 24 Oct. More
details at: egp-enerprises.co.uk
If you have a 1910-1920 motorcycle and would
like to be part of the 1915 Service Events commemorations please email:
warbike@fenlandclassics.co.uk and we will send you details. Bikes manufactured during the above period will be free to register.
Triumph volunteer reports for duty in 1912
The Ethanol Debate
I meet a lot of Classic/Vintage bike owners and read a lot
of magazines. Over the last few years there has been a growing an obsession
with ethanol. I can’t seem to have a conversation without the “E” word popping
into the discussion somewhere along the line. Magazines and Club Newsletters
are filled with the latest thoughts on the dreaded ethanol. At least one
publication even refuses to print letters, preferring to summarise the
continuing deliberations at the end of each year. One thing is for sure; whilst there
are some very real issues, there are also a lot of urban myths out there.
Over the last few weeks I have heard various stories about the
level of ethanol in various branded pump fuel and one DIY ethanol removal
method doing the rounds. However, so far I have seen one cracked fibre glass tank,
several leaking taps and two ruined paint-jobs caused by petrol.
Over the next few months we will be doing a bid of digging to
see if we can discover more about the real issues and find out if there are any
solutions. For once we don’t want to hear your stories, as we have a mountain
of magazines filled with horror stories and solutions to keep us very busy. Fenland ClassicsTV Our monthly trawl of the web Including Bike World Series 9 Episode 4 & 5:
