Rhigos Mountain and the Brecons

I fancied a ride out on Saturday, the weather looking promising but with my GS overdue a service I had to be careful I kept it within the extended 1000 mile limit to ensure I didn't void the warranty. Decided to go with Cotswold for this service, cheaper and seem to be sticking to the service schedule. I can't believe I've covered over 6500 miles since taking delivery last August, not bad considering I only get to ride at weekends, but I guess tours of the Alps last September and last months Northern Spain / Portugal account for most of those miles.

Anyway, summer is as good as here now, Mark was up for a ride too with Saturday looking the best option over this bank holiday weekend. We decided to head towards the Brecon Beacons and Mark suggested a ride up Rhigos Mountain in South Wales. 

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Nice little run down around the Malverns and Ledbury before heading out toward the Brecons. Mark is getting used to plotting routes on Basecamp now too, so few issues with the GPS's apart from one funny moment it was trying to skip the better road and take us on the A40. I was in front, and Mark saw me head off down the slip road, pulled up but luckily I realised the problem and did a naughty turn around the wrong way up the give way to join him. Never mind. We stopped for a large breakfast at the Steel Horse Cafe near Abergavenny, a popular bikers Cafe stop and the large breakfast with two of everything with a cuppa for £7 was just the job. Quite a few bikes pulled in including what I think is a Ural, and the Can-Am three wheelers. As we left to rejoin the route the car park was full with bikes.

Later, we took a great run out by the reservoir along a great twisty B road through Talybont on Usk, before heading up the Rhigos mountain road. Good fun, managed to get a lick on, with Mark on the Versys in front we had a bit of a play in both directions before stopping in Treorchy for a cuppa, and Mark a nice looking bowl of ice cream I missed out on.

On the way home we decided to go via the usual A470 valley road and refuel in Brecon, and then took that sublime road from Brecon to Builth (B4520) I'll just have to go back and ride that one again soon. A brief stop at Builth where to our amusement there was some kind of Harley/MC club event on with a band playing AC/DC covers before we heading home with Mark peeling off at Leominster and me taking the back road via Tenbury Wells. 😎👍

1925 BSA combination - single 557cc

Just back from a fantastic ride around Northern Spain and Portugal. Those Picos and National parks and the Douro valley are just sublime. What a well organised 8 day ride thanks to our leader Steve Freeman of Motorrad Tours, again, the routes we were given to ride whatever way we wished didn't disappoint. I would have spent hours searching for those roads, the way they link up with great accommodation, food and good company too. Take a look at the tour blog site, hopefully I'll put a few videos up soon too.

Anyway, back at work now, and being Mental Health Awareness week, the company invests in courses for us all  (I tried to tell them you never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrists, but they wouldn't listen! ) , so in the end I attended this well run valuable course where I was introduced to Paul one of our Design engineers who has inherited his Grandfathers 1925 BSA Combo....

 

Clearly as can be seen, all original and unrestored Paul's Grandad used the combo to run his business and has the original acetylene lights. His grandad kept all receipts for servicing evven petrol receipts too (reminds me of Lindsay who I reckon will leave a vintage V-Strom and a pile of spreadsheets!).

Anyway, to get the BSA road worthy again it needs a new starting crank cog, a relining of the petrol/oil tank, a magneto refurb, and possibly a carb refurb too as well as the obvious new tyres and inner tubes.

 

Paul has decided that a full restoration would ruin the character and heritage of his Grandfathers time with the bike and sidecar, and I have to say I agree. Sometimes restoration to concourse pristine condition is great to see how a machine came out of the factory but will lose the history embedded within the bike. I often think while pondering over a scratch or scuff on my own bikes each dent and paint chip can tell a story, so why erase those stories unless to motivate resale value? Since Paul intends to keep the BSA setup I do hope he gets it all fixed up and rideable, it would be great to see it on the road again. Thanks to Mick (a BSA owner himself) I passed on some advice and ideas for help with the work, but anyone else reading this who maybe able to help please get in touch, I will pass any information on to Paul.

Mountains : Picos and Asturias

All packed and ready for another adventure. Riding down to Portsmouth today to catch ferry to Santander. 

Meeting Steve en-route, and the rest of the group later. Few days off work at last ... Happy Days 😁. 

Latest blog for this one here.