Been a bit of a long week since Stafford but the Martinsyde is now back in the shed.
Hey up folks, thanks for all the positive comments on the Blog so far.
Stafford was great as always and the Martinsyde created a lot of interest on the ClassicBike magazine stand. Last time James May saw the bike it was when I started it in my shed. Reluctant at first, on the final kick it screamed deafeningly into life with the throttle stuck; refusing to be choked to a halt I had to yank off the HT leads to lay it to rest.
“Is that how you usually stop it?” he asked drily.
I bumped into James in the Bonhams Auction at Stafford where he was looking at…well, a James, funnily enough but we decided it was too expensive so he came out to see the Martinsyde at rest and looking a bit more complete than last time.
James May gives the finger of approval to the Classic bike workshop blog
Thanks, James.
It’s always nice to see 1930’s Sci-fi come to life and this wacky racer did it for me…
Moto Major – a ‘concept bike’ from 1949
Another eyecatcher for me was Calvin Jones’ 1931 101 Scout. Calvin is a restorer who shares my view that restoration doesn’t have to mean shiny. He’s rebuilt his old Indian from a basket case and where parts were missing he found similarly rusty parts to replace them, seized nuts and bolts were freed with heat for reuse instead of angle ground off and replaced. I reckon the attention to detail is what it’s all about and a bike restored to look unrestored is no less worthy than a concours job…
Calvin Jones on his freshly-restored – unrestored Indian 101
Just to prove he can do it both ways, one of Calvin’s ‘proper’ customer restorations won ‘Best Indian’
Well done Calvin!
After the show…
We trucked on down to Devon to spend a few days downsizing Judy’s mum for a house move, That doesn’t mean putting her on a diet but sorting her stuff into keep/chuck/charity shop. It’s a long job that wasn’t helped by Finbar running off with a handbrush and posing in front of a mirror…
Finbar doing his King Kurt impression…
Funny how easy it is to be ruthless with other people’s old junk. God help the poor soul that tries to do it to us in years to come, it’ll be a rough ride… Anyway there were a few things we wanted to take away – odd household bits, an old pedal cycle…oh and a garden shed. Well you can’t have too many sheds and I reckoned the panels would just fit into our long suffering van.
See? No problem. At the end of it all I settled down to enjoy a bottle of beer Judy’s mum found in a cupboard. Are you familiar with Whitbread 1977 Silver Jubilee ale? Seemed a bit flat with a distinct flavour of home brew…Ah, that’s when I realised it wasn’t simply a nostalgic name it actually WAS 1977 Silver Jubilee Ale.
Pity I opened it, maybe like vintage wine it would’ve been worth a fortune unopened!!
1977, a very good year for the Kentish bitters…
Cheers, Rick
