VMCC Banbury Run 2014 and Training Day

‘Lend a bike,’ they say, ‘and lose a friend…’

Now I don’t really subscribe to that; although I have noticed in the past how when you lend or borrow a bike something unexpected always seems to happen; But that aside, I believe VMCC Training Day is about as valuable enterprise as the VMCC could ever devise.

The plan is simple, anybody with a full bike licence can pay up and book a place to get a bit of tuition and off road riding experience on hand change/girder fork bikes supplied by club members. I always try to promote ‘twenties bikes but no amount of enthusiastic prattle can beat actually riding one. The only problem was that as well as taking Judy’s ’28 Scott and my L28 BSA for the Sunday run, I’d agreed to display the Martinsyde on the Sunbeam MCC stand. There’s enough room in the van for three but then there was, er… the piano. Well, friends who live near Banbury have kindly agreed to give my grandfather’s piano a good home so it made sense to take it. It took a bit of footrest/kickstart/brake pedal removal but we got it all in; good old Van. Meanwhile Finbar went for a Shouting Holiday (kennels). I suspect the dogs spend 24 hours a day yelling at each other because he’s always sleepy on his return… Still he seems to enjoy it.

So after dropping off the piano and spending a pleasant night with our chums we set off for the Motor Heritage Centre at Gaydon, home of the event. The autojumble used to be held in the field at the back of the Centre but this has now been tarmaced over and rather resembles those little road systems printed on cardboard that you used to drive your Dinky toys around in the days before ‘Grand Theft Auto’….Anyway it made an excellent venue for the event and I took the opportunity to ride round on the blaring Martinsyde – my first proper ride on it since crossing the car park at Brooklands. It felt a bit tall-geared but ran fine and I was delighted with the feel of the steering. I’ve done quite a bit to it since Stafford Show; I got a second-hand 21″ rim from the last Kempton Park and built it around the original front hub, I was using a spare BSA wheel before. With the correct hub I could make a proper job of the brake torque stay etc. I even did a bit of paintwork including a hand-painted tank motif; I think it looks okay. I painted TAIT MARTINSYDE on the tank in honour of the late Chris Tait, who built the bike back before the War. 

Anyway, after getting told off for riding round the Whizz-wheels circuit without a crash helmet, I wheeled the bikes to meet the recruits. The plan was just to put the untried- ‘tinsyde on display but there were more riders than bikes, so I pressed it into service as well as the BSA. It managed three rides before the clutch adjusted itself out of the race. Never mind, the BSA did very well. I’d had a problem with it the day before, on a long climb it had got very hot and tightened up. It’s still early days for the bike and I haven’t yet worked out a sure setting for the oil pump.

People are often puzzled by Total Loss Oiling but if you think about it, it’s no different to a two stroke. With Total Loss systems, oil is continually fed into the crankcase as a drip feed to top up a small reserve in the sump that gradually leaks or burns away. The delivery of the pump needs to match that loss. The way to set it is to begin by filling the engine – by hand pump – to the handbook recommendation for refilling a drained sump. In this case, that’s 3 pumpfulls. Then drain the sump into a measring jug to see how much that is. After that, check the sump capacity after every decent ride and adjust the pump until there is consistently that three-pumpfulls quantity in the crankcase at any time.

After my near seizure, I’d gven the BSA a few hand pumpfuls and turned the pump up a bit, so I wan’t surprised to find it was smoking and leaking rather. I kept fiddling with the pump screw but it didn’t improve much. Strangely I kept backing the screw to about a half turn open but it seemed to keep winding itslef right out again. This led to it getting through a whole half gallon tankful of oil in the course of the day. Pretty severe considering it only used a gallon of petrol…I couldn’t understand why the pump screw had started vibrating undone, it’s never done it before and there’s a spring click arrangement. Only later did I realise how close the adjuster is to a rider’s boot. I guess the trainees had been haovering over the pedal on their outings, their boots opening the adjuster; don’t get that with brogues…Modern knobbly kevlar reinforced gloves don’t fare too well with lever throttles either it seems. If you come along to Training Day think ‘feel’ rather than ‘protection’.

Here’s some of the boys at the end of the day. I was very chuffed by their reaction. In the past Training Day has seemed to be a fairly even split between people coming along for a fun day on the oldies and people wanting to assess whether vintage bikes were actually for them. This time it was mostly the latter. Indeed Lee, second from the left in the picture, said he was quite interested in one of my other BSAs.

It’s a funny thing. Despite all the gloom mongers telling us that there’s no new generation coming into old bikes, I see a growing number of younger riders looking for something a bit different, okay by younger I mean my age group, but classic bikes have always been for riders who tire of the performance race and want to get something more out of their motorcycling than the risk of points on their licence. Classics of any era are a lot of fun but the older they are the more involving it all becomes. There are many events that offer inspiration to get involved but only the Training Days give you the reality of actually riding the bikes which is after all what it’s all about. I love how in the early sessions the riders are very nervous but their experience and confidence grows as the day progresses. If you’re at all interested in getting into older bikes sign up for next year. Come to that if you are a vintage bike owner who wonders where the next rank of owners will come from then you should consider lending it out. You have complete control at all times and can remove your bike if you are not happy. But in my experience the trainees are all very considerate, grateful for the opportunity and treat the bikes with respect. Definitely a good thing to do.

Saturday evening…

We caught up with Gavin, who bought the CB Project Triumph CSD (The Triumph That Time Forgot) last year. His wife Alex has her own CSD now and they had arrived in the camper with the two bikes on the back. Gavin was a bit worried that Alex’s CSD wouldn’t select gears but having adjusted the primary chain it should have been a simple matter of adjusting the gear rod to compensate, so I left him to it and had a wander around the autojumble stands that were already setting up. 

Come Sunday morning, there was no sign of Gav and Alex. Turned out the bike wouldn’t take first gear, regardless of adjustment and he was thinking of loading both bikes on the trailier and throwing in the towell for the day. I had a look at it but even with the gearchange gate removed, allowing unrestricted movement of the lever, you couldn’t get first. Still, I found the bike would pull away in second and Alex is a lot lighter than me so I suggested she try riding with just two gears. She’s a game sort and after a couple of laps of the car park she decided to go for it. We’d long missed the start of the run but decided instead to head out to find a pub and watch.

  Unfortunately between the above and previous pictures, the BSA tightened up again. It dawned on me that I haven’t looked in the carb since it went on the road and perhaps the jet was a little blocked, making it run lean. The carb didn’t look too bad inside and I decided to try raising the needle one notch while I was there.

Unfortunately replacing the needle jet, it broke clean in half leaving the hexagonal shank and the main jet in my hand dammit! Still, I reasoned, the actual needle jet part was still there so it should be okay… Sure enough it fired up readily and I set off. It seemed to like the raised needle and went much better than before. So well in fact that I couldn’t resist opening it up a bit… Pride comes before a fall and the extra vibration must have unwound the broken jet a bit because suddenly it was running super rich and misfiring like hell. It would only fire at all at full throttle and then just enough times to pull it along from one bang to the next. Turning the fuel on and off helped restrict the fuel supplyso that it cut in and ran perfectly for brief intervals but at the last junction I wasn’t quick enough with the tap. It stalled and wouldn’t restart. So just like Banbury 2012, when I holed the Rex Acme’s piston, I came in on a rope. Gavin’s CSD pulling us both along manfully. Thanks Gav!

Anway there were loads of lovely bikes to see at Banbury. Here are a few of my highlights.

That’s Paul Wilson with the BSA S26 his dad bought in the late ‘fifties. Paul had an epic ride and returned with the suport of a marshall. Spotting me Paul said, “This is all your fault!” turns out he was inspired to revive the old bike after reading my lyrical waxings about vintage Beesas in Classic Bike… Go on Paul you enjoyed it really!

  Here’s my mate Raymond from Edinburgh with his lovely Longstroke Sunbeam…

And Jim Coleman with his recently-rebuilt 770cc BSA vee-twin…

How about a nice Coventry Eagle Flying Eight…

Or a 680 Black Alpine Brough Superior with very cool disc wheels?

Must admit I have a soft spot for the Goldie on Bonhams stand. I just hope whoever buys it doesn’t restore it to look just like all the others…

For the first time in over a decade I went away somewhere without my trusty cap. What remains of my hair proved little defence against the sun so now I know why the bear had a sore head…but I have no complaints; another great weekend in what’s proving a top summer. Hope you’re enjoying yours as much as we are!

Cheers Rick