Stafford Show 2014

Last minute rush for the April Classic Bike Show…as usual

Stafford is always a busy time for me; it’s the Big One, a sort of old bike equivalent of Christmas Shopping. Every year I try to set aside time to get ready, prepare all the things to take: Bonhams Auction catalogue, tickets, shopping list, my notebook of vital statistics, and every year something seems to blow up at the last minute. Is it me? This time it was a last minute call from Classic Bike editor Ben Miller saying we have booked a stand and any chance I could take a bike to display?

Uh-oh, my next three days were already spoken for – I’ve just started a new project for the magazine – a Yoshimura Honda CB460/4 and I needed to sort out all the parts to deliver to specialists at the show, paint, plating etc. Also I needed time to make a fuel tank cap to replace the one that disappeared from the 1914 BSA I borrowed for the Pioneer Run last week – more about that later. It wouldn’t take long to stick a bike in the back of the van but my natural pig-headedness means nothing is ever quite that simple…

I’ve never displayed a bike at Stafford before so I decided to jump in at the deep end and take my latest endeavour; the Martinsyde. This is an old 680cc exhaust-over-inlet vee twin, built in 1921 and modified for sprinting in the late 1930s. Two years later it’s running and nearly back to its 1940s Brighton Speed Trial glory. Trouble is ‘nearly finished’ isn’t ‘finished’ so I was dragged into a three-day 8am to midnight Shedathon to get it looking at least vaguely ship-shape in time to leave for the show.

Handlebar making, lucky they’re just Vincent straights…

So above you see a picture of me bending a handlebar, then there were cables to make, levers to sort out, soldered repairs to perform on the tank, oil pipes to fashion… the full story will appear in future issues of Classic bike but given that it was headed for the CB stand unintroduced, I thought I’d better get my partner Judy’s help to produce a photo board to show what it’s all about.

But this morning, preparing to load the van, panic set in. With no time to do anything else, surely it still looked too much like a lash up… What am I thinking? There are bolts without nuts everywhere, no footrests, the brake pedal sticks up in the air, only one bolt securing the rear sprocket, the front brake isn’t hooked up…I can’t take this to a show! I’ll have to take something else;

But then I took it off the bench and stood back. What I saw changed my mind. The Martinsyde is one helluva thing with a long competition history. It’s work in progress but I reckon even in its current state it can hold its head up among its peers. Check out the picture below and see what you think for yourself.

1921 Martinsyde 680 twin off the bench at last

Well, we got everything loaded and set off – only an hour late…but fifty miles up the road Judy asked if I’d got tickets and passes…Ah, back we went back for them, trying to think of anything else we might have forgotten in our hurry. We were far up the M6 before I realised the auction catalogue was still left behind. Never mind, I wasn’t planning on buying anything!

If you’re going to the show, come and see the bike in the flesh on Stand A10 in the Argyle Hall.

Ok, that’s it from me; welcome to the Classic bike Workshop.  I’ll update you on the Show and any other nonsense that’s going on in a week or so’s time. Cheers Rick P