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.

 

St Georges Day and Easter Holiday Ride.

With this years Motorcycle Tour of Northern Spain finalised and coming up fast, where I'll be riding the wonderful Picos again in the Asturias region of Northern Spain before going down through the Douro Valley in Portugal, I decided to get some new rubber fitted to my GS. Now coming up 4500 miles since taking delivery of her last August, the Michelin Anakee III tyres have been good, but quite noisy and a stiffer ride than the 'Metzeler Tourance Next' I'm used to. The rear was starting to wear a flat spot and with so many twisty bends coming up I started looking at swapping back to the old faithful Metzelers, or maybe an alternative tyre instead. I considered the Michelin Road Pilot 5's (reports have the 4's a bit slippy in the wet so unsure about the later version), or the Bridgestone Battleaxe Adventure A41's. After gauging thoughts on Facebook groups I decided to go with the A41's this time, as they are slightly cheaper and getting good reviews with a good tread depth pattern ideal for a bit of loose-surface lanes, and now fitted as standard to the latest GS's coming out of the factory. Gary at Rybrook Motorrad organised a fitting on Saturday for me, so still time to scrub them in and see how they fair on a good ride out before the big trip. Being Easter and Bank Holiday I have the Tuesday off in lieu of working Good Friday so with the promise of quieter traffic, decided to wait until then to plot a route the night before to chase the Dragon in Wales on a bright and sunny St Georges day.     

 

Some months ago I had been watching the series 'Life on the Road with Brian Johnson'  where the AC/DC front man meets up with fellow 'rock gods' to discuss their lives in Rock bands on the road. The episode that caught my interest more for it's location was where Brian met Robert Plant(Led Zeppelin) on the old Victorian wooden bridge over the River Mawddach near Dolgellau at a place called Penmaenpool. I was intrigued not only by its idyllic river location and surrounding marsh land but also by the wooden toll bridge itself. It's not often we see these bridges these days, made up entirely of wooden struts in the usual ornate 'pier' like design favoured by the Victorians. The chosen route took me out via Ludlow, Knighton and on to Machynlleth before heading up to Dolgellau. I wanted to take the opportunity to test my Navigator VI too before visiting Spain as it's been in the draw since the Alps trip last September. I'm finding Basecamp the Garmin route planning software really easy to use these days too and prefer this now over a Google map on-line alternative, it's more accurate and configurable, but does take a while to get used to.  We had a late start 1.30 pm yet the route there was bang on perfect all the way with no directional hiccups at all. 

 

With a quick pit-stop off in Knighton and arrival at 3.30pm there was ample time to experience the serenity of this peaceful scenic location after paying the very worthy 50p Motorcycle toll fee (both ways). The usual Red Kite's were circling in the sky and people sat outside the George Hotel (St George?), really enjoyed looking out at the marsh land and spotting a few waders and Herons. Good to sit in the sun and and relax a bit while looking out across the bridge and river before plotting the inevitable a route home.

So far the new Bridgestone's seem fine, a slightly softer yet more comfortable and quieter ride than the Anakees since the side walls are less stiff. Gary mentioned that removing the Michelin's due to the stiff side walls needed two people on the tyre machine, and I now see what he means since you can really feel the softer  and slightly detached feel. That said, I am really pleased with how they turn in to bends, it will be interesting to see how they fair on the Picos Mountains and hopefully I'll get 6k+ out of them with a good wear profile.  

 

The route back via Welshpool then around Shrewsbury was not an ideal choice, but I haven't been this way for a while so it turned out to be a nice change. Took a slight detour after a fuel top-up at Morville to take the more interesting road to Kinlet and Button Oak, arriving home around 7.20 pm.

Most enjoyable afternoon run out to a great scenic location. 👍

Battleaxe A41's - scrubbed in now (a few bobbles on the edge to get rid of  😉)

Cold morning ride to Shobdon

Nice little ride today, quite cold though well down to 6 degrees as a I set off from home out toward Tenbury Wells. I really enjoy that run up through Clows Top. As I came past Little Hereford I came across temporary traffic lights and a convoy system, so I pulled up in front of the traffic at the side of a nice looking F 800 ST. I got chatting to it's owner, a friendly chap Andy from Bewdley while we waited in the queue, he was heading in the same direction it seems, toward Shobdon Aerodrome Cafe. Travelling together we arrived just before a large party of Motorcycle club members arrived so we managed to nip in the cafe while the club was parking up to place orders of two small breakfasts ahead of the rush.  

Andy was just recovering from the broken leg he endured just before Christmas while riding his trail bike in Wales and this was one of his first rides of the year. Sounds like he was having a lot of fun out riding the trails near 'break neck falls' - the waterfall I visited a couple of years ago. Apparently there are some legal trails out there through the forest,  and sadly he hit a rut and broken his ankle. Amazingly, he managed to ride the bike back to the van before heading to hospital later. Anyway, good to see he's out riding again. We both got chatting to a guy who was riding an original Norton Dominator wearing just a Brando style leather jacket and was thinking how cold he must be in classic biker gear.

During our breakfast myself and Andy exchanged phone numbers.  It turns out he is on the same ferry as me leaving Portsmouth to Santander Spain riding down the same day so we'll keep our eye out on the boat and maybe have a beer together. 

Later on, for a ride I decided to follow Andy who had a Ride Mag' route loaded on his Garmin for a quick loop around Presteigne - good ride, Andy and the ST was batting along quite nicely. Good mornings ride ! 

A Ride into Wales at last!

Today, (Sunday) with sunshine predicted a long awaited ride into Wales was most definitely order of the day. Out toward Much Wenlock first, then on to Church Stretton on this bright and breezy morning with a temperature at about 8 degrees, stopping for fuel before Wenlock Edge to change my optimistic summer gloves back to warmer ones. I had contacted Mark earlier in the week he was suffering with the 'lurgy' too much for a ride, but he sent word while I was out he was now feeling better and fancied a razz out this afternoon. I called him back and we agreed to meet if we could find each other later at a suitable meet point on the road.

At Church Stretton I decided to take a left down through Little Stretton rather than up and over the Mynd for a change, enjoying the scenery lit with bright sunshine then down the A49 for that slightly boring road before turning right just before Craven Arms out toward Bishops Castle and Knighton. I stopped briefly at the lay-by near the Norman built Clun Castle (pictured above) and picked up messages on my phone - none from Mark so assumed he's on the road somewhere South West of Worcester. 

 

After leaving Clun I rode on to Newtown via that excellent fast-flowing road, eventually coming in along the new by-pass in the direction of Llandrindod Wells. Just outside Newtown I found the left turn road up to Dolfor Hill, the old cut-thru I used to take as a Systems Engineer in the 90's on the way to Knighton. No traffic up here and love that twisty climb with the scary left hander before it tops out with magnificent views across the valley. I pulled into Knighton and parked up at a great little Cafe (JD's opposite the War memorial) and ordered a Ham and Cheese Toastie with a cuppa. Two trail bikes were parked nearby and got chatting to one of the riders. It turns out he does off-road tours around Shropshire and the Marches. I know from reading Adventure Bike Rider there are some great trails near Offas Dyke so I asked for a card. I fancy a day out here on the rougher stuff - little did I know my wish would come true sooner than I thought!

  

At the Cafe I saw a message from Mark saying he was now in Ludlow. We were able to arrange a meet and he headed down to meet me at the Cafe. We caught up over a brew as you do, then decided to both head off back toward Anchor and Bishops Castle. Mark had seen some lanes he fancied having a crack at, so off we went and took some farm track green lanes that warned us with a notice 'Not suitable for motors'. After a brief discussion, we agreed to go for it and see how far we could get.

The road quickly turned all gnarly and full of long muddy sections. We had to stop to open and close livestock gates but this was great fun, stood on the pegs and steering with my knees, I had flipped to Enduro mode - not sure why but I guess I wanted to see if it helped since the throttle response changes to suit loose surfaces and I did feel comfortable and in control of the bike. That said, Mark wasn't having trouble on his Versys, so I guess I chose to imagine the GS Enduro setting helped, and didn't make all that much of a difference in the end. 

  

   

After riding almost peg deep in giant puddles the view across the ridge was well worth the adventure before we  came back out onto the main road into Knighton where I nipped in front to lead us back toward Kington using the valley road out and on to Shobdon. Another wonderful days ride and good fun with Mark as ever. We parted ways north of Cleobury Mortimer. I can't wait for the next one, and agreed we both fancy a bit of trail riding so may contact Shropshire Trail Bike Tours in the future. 👍

Ride while you can .. Clee Hill

An impromptu ride today for an hour or so, a 'toss up' between watching the Six Nations Rugby - Scotland v Wales or jump on my GS and make the most of the dry weather after all of the recent rain with more rain forecast for Sunday. 

The bike ride option won, so a couple of hours before the England vs Italy match I took off in the direction of Bridgnorth again, a few other bikers had the same idea with riders out near Quatt and the cafe. I was surprised to see quite a few Sports bikes out despite the cold. 

This time, I took  the left turn after the by-pass toward Kinlet near the Punch Bowl in the direction of Highley. I love this road ideal for a GS, a bit gnarly and bumpy in parts and quite a bit of mud and gravel in the road but great to get out and thread through the lanes near Deuxhill and Billingsley. I chose the right turn signposted to Cleobury Mortimer taking the back road up the side of Clee Hill via Cleeton St Mary and popping out a bit later in Cleobury town via one of side roads.

I rarely get to stop this side of Clee Hill (one of the six Shropshire summits) , so decided to pull over to take in the view, grab a photo and shuffle the play-list on my phone before turning right just after Cleobury toward Pensax. Yet another great motorcycle road with a fast ride across the high ridge down to Great Whitley with good views of distant Worcestershire countryside below. No real traffic to contend with either this afternoon, and sadly the trees showing no signs of buds just yet, winter is still well and truly with us despite the mild weather a week or so ago.

 

I really enjoyed this short ride today and I'm finally starting to feel like I belong in the saddle again at last after the Winter layup, I was playing a bit with the suspension modes on my GS too, switching between Dynamic and Auto settings and good to feel the system react to the road conditions. What a great bike, so for a change at Dunley I took the narrow lane up to Heightington and out through Bliss Gate. Haven't been up here for a while and reminds of my early Sunday morning 'razz' with Dean Peplow as a teenager on my 2 stroke Suzuki. It bought a smile to my face as I came up the hidden dip section as the road 'crowns' up for us to try and jump all of those years ago. 

Feeling the cold by now, I switched the heated grips on to warm my hands. It wasn't long before my hands were feeling the benefit too, I'm convinced BMW heated grips seem to get hotter the faster you ride - kind of regulated it seems. Anyway, back down through Bewdley and home just before the England/Italy match, parking up in my garage with a grin. Not long now before a good ride into Wales 👍

A quick blast around the block ..

Out for a couple of hours today, grey skies and a few rain spots out near Wigmore and Mortimers Cross, but tomorrow predicts rain so my only chance this weekend. A few bikes out, and Quatt cafe busy as usual. 

What I want to know is how Google knows I'm on my bike? 😲