Not Quite Germany!!! Part 1

So six of us were booked to go to Germany in early June but with the pandemic situation in which we find ourselves we had to change our plans.

In the end it was just the o/h and I that went to Hartpury in Gloucester last week which, as it turned out, was a fantastic base for biking day trips.

Coffee Break

We were going to leave early Sunday morning and stop in Burford which is in the Cotswolds for breakfast but when we woke up it was raining. The forecast said it should stop by 10 so we held back a couple of hours.

Sure enough the rain did stop and we left about half ten so breakfast was now turning into brunch. We headed out of Aylesbury towards Bicester on the A41 and then picked up the A40 towards Burford. Unfortunately for us, a lot of other people had the same idea of going to Burford and I mean a lot of people. As we were nearing Burford the traffic was getting heavier and slower until finally it was at a standstill.

We cut off down another road in the hope of avoiding the jam but that too came to a halt. For those of you that don’t know Burford, it is a pretty little village in the Cotswolds and therefore the roads are not exactly wide.

Bourton-on-the-Water

Filtering was needed but filtering down a narrow road with cars coming the other way, as you know, is eventful and some strong language was coming from other motorists who were displeased with us. Oh well, hopefully they got over it!

We eventually got to the main High Street but that was at a standstill both ways. OMG all this just to get some breakfast! Needless to say we decided not to stop and filtered our way through the High Street and out of Burford and carried on to Bourton-on-the-Water which is kind of the next village on, still in the Cotswolds.

Bourton-on-the-Water was busy but we managed to park up and set off looking for a much needed coffee (or two) and some food.

After we’d finished eating we had a walk around the village, it has the River Windrush running through it and little bridges that you cross to get over ‘to the other side’. 

Ducatis @ Bourton-on-the-Water

We spotted a couple of Ducati’s parked up and were having a little drool before bumping into their owners and having a chat with them, as you do, or as I do anyway.

Ice Cream stop at Bourton-on-the-Water

We came across an ice cream shop and thought it would be rude not to sample their delights and sat for a while people watching whilst eating our ice cream.

Back on the bikes we carried on the A40 and then picked up the A436 and then A417 onto Hartpury to find our accommodation for the week. 

Our view from where we were staying

It was a converted stable block and it was literally in the middle of nowhere behind electric gates. 

Perfect for the bikes, which I like to make sure are secure at night when we’re away.

A nice beer after a day's riding!

There was a pub literally ten minutes walk away at the end of the road. Perfect for when you’ve been out on the bikes all day, come back shower, change and walk to the pub for dinner and a beer. This was going to be a good week :-)

Pudding!!!

So Monday, the sun was shining so we jumped on the bikes and headed off. Now me, I don’t use a sat nav, I prefer to just know the general direction I want to go, follow a few road signs and see where I end up so that’s what we did today.

Pretty cottages and narrow walkways

We headed towards Ledbury, and onto Malvern and carried on to Worcester. Worcester is a city and it has a kind of ring road going round the centre. Well we couldn’t find parking anywhere (or anywhere we were happy to leave the bikes) so we carried on to Tewkesbury.

Tewkesbury, as it turned out, was lovely and having parked the bikes we found a little cafe and sat outside in the sunshine for coffee (and maybe a cake).

After a wonder around we were back on the bikes and carried on riding and came upon Malvern again which was lovely and had some great scenery up in the Malvern Hills. We eventually came into Upton-Upon-Severn and decided that as it was lovely we would stop for a late lunch.

Pit stop

I do love this riding lark, you ride your bike through beautiful countryside on some great roads and keep stopping for coffee and food.

Perfect view

We rode back up through the Malvern Hills and stopped in Ledbury for dinner. 

We went into this pub and honestly, the waitress in there had us in stitches – everything was too much trouble and customers were clearly an inconvenience, she kept tutting and rolling her eyes at everyone and everything. It was like something out of Fawlty Towers! Brilliant fun to watch!

Find out in Part 2 where the ‘for a thrill’ route on 

the sat nav took us ……...

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Turning a Honda CB750 into a Cafe Racer

My friend, Tim, used to ride bikes years ago before children came along and a couple of years ago, now that the children are older, he decided that it was the right time to get another bike but couldn’t decide what to get.

On a whim, Tim bought a ‘92 plate Honda CB750 RC42 or F2N as it is sometimes known, on eBay for £500. 

They were kind of retro looking when they came out at the end of the CB750 run and had a double overhead cam engine. Tim’s bike was a tired old commuter hack and he thought it would be rather fun to modify it.

Many years ago Tim used to be a mechanical engineer and he thought it would be interesting to revisit his old skills and interests and set about looking for design ideas but in the meantime kept riding the bike around getting a feel for it.

The bike had come with a non original oil radiator so Tim decided to replace it with an original Honda one but when taking the old radiator off, the bolt sheared deeming the bike unrideable. It turned out that the only way to repair the bolt was to take the engine out! That’s when the project began.

Tim went on Pinterest to gather some ideas and then set about designing what he was hoping to achieve.

Once the bike was taken apart the frame was chopped and sent off to a local company for powder coating in black. The tank had to be modified so that it would fit onto the frame and then the tank and the seat unit were given to a firm of welders in Brixham.

The original colour of the bike was maroon which was not going to work with the modern cafe racer look Tim was aiming for so Tim’s son photoshopped different colours onto a pic of the bike and he then sent it out to his friends on Facebook to get their opinions and feedback. The winning colour was green.

A modern metallic British racing green colour was decided upon and then Tim and a friend painted the seat unit and tank themselves. Norton gold stripes, which Tim designed himself, were then added to the tank. A local company made a seat to fit the design of the seat unit. The bike was starting to take shape.

The air filter at the back of the bike was not performing as it should and Tim could not work out how the jetting worked. After searching on the internet he eventually found the same one on Pinterest and after lengthy enquiries, managed to track down the person who had posted the pic and made contact with him to see if he could find out how it worked. Amazingly the guy replied and Tim was able to sort the problem.

Okay, techy bit here guys, the bike has four cylinders and four carbs fed by two air boxes and two K&N Air filters, one on each side of the bike. Tim decided it would be nice if the filters were in some type of aluminium air box and so he set about teaching himself how to use CAD on the computer and designed two air boxes himself. 

A local company then manufactured them at a cost of £350 for the pair. Some might say expensive for what they actually are but I think they add to the design and character of the bike.

The engine is original but it was treated to a refurb at a staggering cost of £1,000 just in parts alone (best not let the o/h see this bit just in case you have been glossing over the cost of parts) but the work on the refurb itself was carried out by Tim thus keeping further costs down.

The forks and brakes are original but the brake discs are new. The yoke was chopped and the risers were ground off and polished and replaced with clip ons.

The light brackets are new as are the indicators albeit they are the third set of indicators as Tim did not take a liking to the first two sets!

The wheels are original but were treated to a polish but the mudguards are new and were designed and manufactured by Tim.

The instruments are new but the headlight is original but with a replacement bracket which I think makes the front of the bike look cool.

After a long and labourous journey the bike was ready to ride. It is a pleasant bike to ride, it brakes and handles well and Tim has found that the seating position is actually comfy and is not too hard on the back after a long journey although the bike is not ideal for touring as there is nowhere to put luggage on the bike.

Tim has been away for a couple of weekends on the bike but as he has to carry his luggage on his back, he finds after a while that his back is aching too much. A touring bike now looks like it’s on the cards …..

Tim has found this project to be great fun and he has met some interesting people along the way and learnt a huge amount from the whole process. Tim is getting used to riding again after many years of being away from the riding scene and has found he is really enjoying the social side of biking.

Originally Tim bought this bike for the build but he is now doing it for the ride!

BK

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A Brilliant Biking Weekend!!!

I rode the bike to work on Friday morning, finished at lunchtime and went straight to meet a friend for a coffee.

It had been raining pretty much all week but by Friday it had finally stopped. It wasn’t sunny but that was okay. I had a nice ride to Dunstable Downs which is the highest point in the East of England and one of the best-known viewpoints on the Chilterns ridge.

I met up with a friend where we grabbed a coffee and cake and sat on the downs looking at the views and watching the gliders taking off from the local gliding club and chatting. Perfect way to spend a couple of hours. I then went home the really, really long way.

After dinner I rode to a pub not too far away to meet up with the local group of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC). You may remember that a few weeks ago I was asked if I would like to test ride a newly restored Yamaha 250 and I wrote a blog about it. Well the chap that owned the bike, Steve, belongs to this group and he invited me along to meet some of the other guys.

Well it was two stroke heaven for me. Amongst others, there was a Yamaha RD250 LC; a Suzuki GT550; and a Yamaha TDR which were all clearly very well looked after and cherished bikes.

The guys were very welcoming and it was interesting to hear about what they get up and the bikes they have now or have restored and they invited me to join them on their ride out the following morning. It was starting to look like this weekend was going to be a good one :-)

The following morning I met with the VJMC group at 10. The sun was shining and it was beginning to get a little warmer. The guys were not on their classic bikes this morning but on their more modern bikes such as a GPZ750; a Suzuki GS, a CBR 600 and a Suzuki Gladius. 

All together there were nine of us and we headed off, what I call ‘the long way round’ to On Yer Bike which is a Ducati, Kawasaki and Moto Guzzi dealership in Westcott, Buckinghamshire.

We rode to Wendover, then out through Great Kimble, onto Thame and then through Long Crendon and Oakley to Ludgershall and then picked up the A41 for the last blat along to Westcott. This route gives you a great mix of roads, there are twisties, long sweeping bends and fast straights so there is something for everyone.

We arrived at On Yer Bike and parked up. There were a few bikes there and for the first time since re-opening the burger van was open which was fantastic as it meant we could get a cuppa and a bacon stick. Perfect.

It is good to see places opening back up again and it is great to be able to have a look around at other bikes and chat with people. I have really missed the social side of biking, it is a big part of biking for me.

Parked in the car park was a rather gorgeous road legal Suzuki Racing outfit complete with a bag of cement tied down on the back in the ‘chair’, I assume for ballast. 

It was amazing to be able to have an up close and personal look at this fine machine and it was even better to be able to see it being ridden off.

After a while we headed off back towards Aylesbury but then turned left and went through Weedon and Aston Abbots to a pub in Aldbury for a sandwich and a coffee.

It was a brilliant day and I was really glad the VJMC asked me along for their ride out, they are a really nice friendly group of guys who are very welcoming and there was plenty of light hearted banter which was quite entertaining.

Even though I do not have a classic bike of any description, I have since joined the club and hope to be able to go on more runs with them.

So Sunday morning, the sun was shining and some mates asked if I was up for a ride out to get breakfast. Heck yes!!!! Six of set off and headed out to this little cafe we had previously found in Brackley.

There is a quick route to Brackley up the A5 but where’s the fun in that!!! We headed out of Aylesbury to Whitchurch, onto Winslow and then into Buckingham. We love this route as, a bit like yesterday’s ride, the roads give everyone something that they like – twisties, long sweeping bends and fast straights.

I was really loving the bends today and enjoying my Z900 sooo much. I have found that since I have been riding the CB1000R my riding has improved so much on the Z and I have gained so much more confidence especially where I felt I was lacking in the corners. I have no clue as to why this is.

I love riding the CB, it is very different to ride from the Z and is slightly heavier but it is easy to ride and smooth. Whatever it is that it has, it is having a good influence on my riding which is great.

The little cafe in Brackley, Jenny's, is now able to have customers eating in so we sat in their back garden in the sunshine eating our breakfast, drinking coffee and chatting. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning.

After several coffees we were getting restless (it must have been all that caffeine!) and we needed to get back on the bikes and get riding again. 

We headed back towards home but via another coffee stop, Whitewater Deli Cafe in Wendover, where maybe, possibly they do amazing cakes and so coffee was accompanied by a piece of cake. Well, it would be rude not too!

I can honestly say I had a great weekend, lots of biking, loads of chatting, bacon, cake and coffee. Perfect :-) :-) :-)

BK

On Yer Bike

Jenny's Cafe

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