Something for the weekend?
By TMX Archives on 21st Oct 11
Editor JD was on the road last weekend firstly bosing round a classic bike show before hitting the Lakes for the Two Day Trial
BUSY weekend it was with a visit to the Classic Bike Show at Stafford (Stone, actually) for a quick catch-up on what's going on in the world of old iron, followed by a day at the Lakes Two-Day Trial, an event I actually know my way around. Or at least I should do, given that I've lived in the area all my life!
FIrst, the Classic Show was a real eye opener, not so much for what was there as for how many people were there. I don't have an official figure for the show but I know there were 30,000 visitors over the two-days last year, which is a huge figure in anyone's book.
What I do know about this year's event is that I queued in my car on the main road leading to the venue for a good three-miles and almost exactly three-quarters of an hour as we crawled along. And once I finally made it in, the visitors were virtually packed wall to wall.
The show was basically road bike based, as you'd expect, with a road-race sideline but also offering more than a nod to off-road with a separate off-road display area showcased by Sammy Miller who had taken along two of his precious trials models, a pristine replica of the original 1964 244cc Bultaco Sherpa he developed, which changed the face of trials forever, and a later, totally rebuilt, 305cc Honda four-stroke, the development of which Sam was also responsible for.
There were all kinds of off-road bikes on various stands around the show from the sublime, immaculate, better than new restoration jobs to the ridiculous, unlikely heaps of two-wheeled (well, two if you are lucky) scrap, invariably labelled as ‘rare model' in the hope that some impressionable idiot will happen along and empty his wallet.
I must admit to a morbid fascination of trolling the autojumble stands, of which there were acres at Stone, marvelling at the sort of stuff that folks fill their old Transits with in the hope of earning a few quid. Well, not a few quid, lots of quids. You see a beat-up old motorcycle petrol tank with, in my world, a realistic price of £1.50 – with a £50 ticket on. What? I am not a practiced jumbler – does anyone ever pay list price for this stuff. It is all there in numerous falling to bits carboard boxes: knackered sprockets with even less teeth than me, cracked hubs, bent frames, mis-matched crankcase halves and enough rusty rubbish to fill a large boat.
In amongst the junk though there was plenty of stuff that was changing hands including complete bikes, engines, forks – you name it.
The main point though to me is once again the sheer size of the crowd. Yes, I know it covered all aspects of motorcycling but tell me of one event you know that is going to draw 30,000 people over the weekend. And this is a genuine figure of 30,000 (or whatever) not the same people counted three-times because it is a three day event, as is the norm these days. If only we could point all these people in the direction of the British Championships – or British GP. Anywhere really.
As we have seen and mentioned in previous columns, the Classic movement is still growing. This is because – and this is something of a contradiction – it is moving on! Classics used to be a term reserved for all things (mainly British) Pre-65. Not any more, the 1970s era is currently booming and there is massive interest in Japanese products of the era. Simple stuff compared to the mega technical mechanical and electrical machines that they churn out today.
Lots of simple air-cooled two and four motors that you can strip and rebuild with a crosshead screwdriver, four spanners and a copper mallet. Try doing that with a 2011 motor!
Motocross meanwhile has, following the Twin-shock boom, virtually skipped across the 1980s with the current Evo fashion. This sets the qialifying date to Pre-1990, which of course means that everyone is looking for a 1989 model of whatever marque takes your fancy. Preferably one that was built in December!
This is the one flaw with cut-off dates. The only bike anyone wants is the model that was top dog right on the cut-off date. We've seen this with the Classic scene before. All kinds of dating systems have been tried to make for varied, competitive line-ups, Pre-65, Pre-67, Pre-72, Pre 74, Pre-77 etc. However you divvy this up there is usually only one really competitive bike be it CZ, Bultaco, Honda, Maico, depending on which date you pick! Back in the day it was of course not quite like this – no-one knew which was going to be the best bike come the end of 1976 or whatever – we are now viewing things in retrospect.
Sunday's Lakes Two Day was much more laid-back in comparison. No crowd to speak of, outside of those following their own riders in the event, which with 180 starters is actually quite a few, but many never get out of their vans, waiting in lay-bye's in case their rider needs them, plus the faithful few locals, some of which have competed in or spectated at (or both, like myself, Derek Barrow, Steve and Dave Postlethwaite, Roy and Robert Dixon and others) every Lakes since the very first one back in 1976. Only one has competed in them all since his Dad marked out the very first Lakes – local legend Nigel Birkett.
