Job Done!

After only a couple of weeks, Dad has turned Richard's bike around and produced a lovely, tidy bike that is ready to ride.

Richard called me last Thursday after collecting it and he was positively bubbling with pride in his freshly built bike, so much so that he felt the need to call at BVM on the way home to purchase a new helmet and pair of boots as the old ones would look out of place on the fresh new bike!

Here are a couple of shots of the finished product - a nice job I think!

Eventpost 57 - AJS & Matchless Club, Tardebigge

Today I rode at the annual AJS and Matchless trial held at Tardebigge near Bromsgrove.

The weather played a big part in the trial yet again as the rain yesterday made it very difficult for the organisers to get the level of sections right. They has to err on the side of caution due to the rain, however a dry night and a sunny morning dried the ground out and made the sections on the easy side.

I didn't ride particularly well today after losing a 3 on the first lap on section 5, a tight section on cambered, wooded banks that needed you to be right on line for the first part to enable you to make the next two turns. I got off line going into the first part and needed a dab and that set me up for another two dabs on the following turns.

The one challenging section was section 9 which involved a very tight off cambered turn into a root step which was almost impossible without either a big dab to lift the front or some trick hopping (which isn't allowed in non stop trials). This took me for 3,2,5,5 which was about par for the course as plenty of riders were failing.

Finally I lost another couple of dabs on section 10 for a total of 20 marks for the trial.

Whilst writing this I have received the results and find that I have been given a five on the very simple section 7. I guess the observer made a mistake or saw something that I didn't, but no big deal as it was an enjoyable gallop round and a bit of fun.

Results

Experts up to 250cc
1. Nathan Jones. 10
2. Steve Hay. 10
3. Alan Nicklin. 12
4. Chris Pearson. 21
5. Dave Jones. 24
6. Chris Denny. 25

Experts over 250cc
1. Dave Dawson. 25
2. Alan Borton. 31
3. Pete Reed. 44
4. Lawrence Alden. 44

Experts Pre-Unit
1. Steve Thompson. 37
2. Mick Parkes. 44

Todays pictures include a couple of Alan Nicklin and Chris Denny both on section 9.

Eventpost 56 - Sammy Miller Series Round 3 - Sam Cooper Union Jack Trial

This weekend saw the 3rd round of the Sammy Miller Series, held around the Cotswolds in beautiful sunshine and temperatures as high as I can ever remember riding in.

My start number of 38 set me off near the front of the field and it was clear from early on that the sections would improve as the field went through them and scrubbed loose rocks and slippery foliage out of the way, however I am not much good at hanging around once I get started so we just pushed on and ended up riding at the front of the field scrubbing the sections (we even got in front of the sidecars which was a bonus because you can never tell what they are going to do to the sections!).

Fortunately the sections were all very sensible and on the easy side as normal for this trial so we were not disadvantaged too much, even though there were a few tricky moments with loose rocks.

I rode very well to be honest and was very pleased with how the bike went, some days you get in a groove and the sections seem straight forwards and others you struggle and this trial I felt like I was on my game.

All went well and I was clean up to the penultimate group of sections where there was a muddy slot at the exit of a section near a stream and I overbalanced in the slot and lost a mark. Still not too bad I thought and felt strong going into the last group of 6 sections.

The first section of the last group was a steep bank up some loose rocks to a turn around a tree before a couple of tight turns on the return back down the hill. I would normally have chosen 2nd gear for the bank then knocked it down to 1st for the nadgery bit but as I was only on 1 mark I opted for 1st gear to safeguard against missing a gear trying to change in the section. This was a bad move as I didn't carry enough momentum up the bank and failed to reach the tree at the top resulting in a really soft 5 on a section that should have been cleaned easily.

I made amends on the very next section, which was probably the hardest of the trial, where I cleaned and also cleaned the remaining sections of the trial.

So I finished on 6 which was OK, however as the trial was on the easy side I think the 5 could have lost me a win in my class.

The pictures are from the trial and I will update with results as soon as I get them.

Results were posted on the Stratford Club website today and the Club have misinterpreted the machine eligibility for the classes and subsequently placed me and Martyn Wilmore in the Twin shock class as they have changed the British Replica class to Pre-Unit Hard route class which is incorrect (this has been verified by Tim Fairbrother), so the results will be changed to the following corrected result...

Results

Two Stroke (Hard Route)

1. B Jones 3
2. P Gaunt 4
3. R Jones 5
4. A Wright 7
5. C Denney 11
6. M Chapman 13
7. M Burton 15
8. R Enticknap 22
9. M Tizard 42

Unit Construction (Hard Route)

1. B Stephens 3
2. D Snell 7
3. K Bennett 12
4. J Kendall 13
5. K Gardner 15
6. J Souch 23
7. G Minshall 28
8. A Paxton 29
9. G Hawkins 31

British Replicas (Hard Route)

1. D Dawson 6
2. M Wilmore 7
3. M Grant 16
4. J Pickering 17
5. A Bamford 40

Eventpost 55 - BMCA Hunnington

Today was a BMCA trial at Hunnington near Halesowen, West Midlands on a new piece of land found by Ian Bullock. The trial was put on by Ian, Gerry Minshall and Pete Reed.

It's never easy putting on a trial at a new location because you never really know how the ground will react and that compounded with overnight showers after a few weeks of very dry weather gave the organisers a bit of a challenge to get the level of the sections right.

As it turned out the land was really good and I personally hope we get to use it again, however the banks in the wood were covered with wild garlic plants and these can be slippery at the best of times. When you add a bit of rain followed by water being dragged up the banks from the stream it made for a very tricky challenge and some sections that turned out to be on the difficult side.

The sections consisted of 50% that were normal midlands centre stuff with streams and banks amongst the woods followed by the other 50% that wouldn't have been out of place in the Yorkshire centre with rocky sections up a stream with some nice big rocks.

I got off to a steady start and finished the first lap for 6 marks which was quite respectable. Although I continued to ride pretty well, I had some inconsistent moments on the next few laps where there was a very fine line between a good ride and ending up on your ear! Unfortunately I had more of the latter than I wanted and lost 5's on lap 2 and 3 on section 1, followed by a 5 on section 3 and a couple of silly 5's on sections 8 and 9 where I should have really lost a one and a clean if the previous laps were anything to go by.

So, all in all a quite high scoring trial however very enjoyable and I am pretty pleased with how I rode and also how the bike performed. I think my score was about 10-15 marks more than I should have lost but I imagine the whole field would be in a similar frame of mind so I think the result was a fair representation of how the day went for me.

There were a couple of retirements (Alan Nickin, Chris Denny, Steve Thompson and Gerry Minshall due to bike problems and injuries so I hope everyone is OK).

Results
Experts (Up to 350cc)
1. Steve Hay 27
2. Chris Pearson 32
3. Nathan Jones 38
4. Dave Dawson 48
5. Mick Burton 49
6. Keith Gardner 68
7. Bob Greenhough 71
8. Dave Jones 71
9. Alan Halford 76
10. Gary Hawkins 83

Experts (Over 350cc)
1. Jim Pickering 72
2. Mick Parkes 72

New Bike in the Workshop - Any Info Appreciated

A regular reader of the Blog (Richard Clark) contacted me last week and asked if the Dawson garage fancied a bit of work.

The story is that this bike was purchased by Vic Vaughan as it had a pair of magnesium forks that were produced by the BSA factory for it's supported riders in the 60's. Apparently Vic had bought his old motocross bike back and all it was missing was the magnesium forks. Apparently this bike had a pair of these special magnesium forks and he bought it for the forks alone.

Richard purchased the bike from Vic, minus the forks and put an Alan Witton front end on it (yokes, forks and front wheel).

The frame is apparently a Victor frame and the engine a C15 250cc engine. The frame has been pretty heavily modified and carries the oil in the top and front down tubes, plus there is a secondary small oil tank as part of the frame under the seat. It has a rather over engineered alloy box that sits under the seat that houses the air filter on one side and probably held a tool kit on the other side, however now the electrics are located there to keep them away from the elements.

It has been suggested to Richard that this may have been a BSA works bike and the frame actually a Victor replica made by BSA for their trials supported riders.

Does anyone have any info that might help identify where the bike came from and who might have ridden it in the past??? Please drop me an email to davedawson444@btinternet.com or leave a comment on this post.

Dad has been asked to give the bike a tidy up so it is currently stripped down with the frame at the powder coaters and next week he will start a rebuild that will essentially just clean it up, repair anything that is not right and give Richard a tidy bike that's ready to ride.

I will post a few pics of the build but please let me know if you have any info that will help identify any history about the bike

Thanks guys....

BMCA Trial - May 16th

I was talking to Ian Bullock the other evening and he tells me that some new trials land has been found in the Midlands and a 'try out' event has been planned for 16th of May. The trial will be run by the BMCA.

I understand that the ground is really good with streams, rocks, banks, trees (bit of everything!)and there is plenty of it so we can expect some good sections.

As this is a new piece of land, the guys want to give the land owner a taste of pre 65 trials and therefore we need a really good turn out, so if you haven't already got plans for that weekend please come along and support the event.

I know there are plenty of readers of this BLOG that are within easy travelling distance of the west Midlands (especially the Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and East Midlands riders) so please come and support the event. It will possibly ensure that we get to use the ground again and it is always good to ride on fresh ground that hasn't been used before.

VENUE: Breach Farm, Bromsgrove Road, Hunnington, Halesowen, West Midlands, B62 0JS
DIRECTIONS: Junction 3 – M5, A456 towards Kidderminster, at island turn left onto B4551 Bromsgrove Road,the venue is approx 1 mile on right.

Beezerpost 43

I spent a couple of hours on the bike this morning and I would love to say that it worked great with the new exhaust but honestly after trying the bike back to back with each exhaust on, the old pipe delivered more power with a more punchy delivery so after all the work over the last few weeks I have decided that it will just have to stay noisy as it simply works better that way!

I did switch back and forth between air filters and I am glad to say that there was little difference so the filter cover will be staying on and I can report that the talon footrests were great - very grippy and the extra 10mm width made it feel like I could move around better on the bike.

Here are a few video clips from the practice area on the farm - after all the rain it was quite slick but as you can see, its good to have some real sections to practice on just a few hundred yards from your back door (thanks Steve)..

New Wheels!!!

Just thought I would post a picture of the new wheels.... Well, a picture of the same wheels that I have just ordered anyway - it should be here on the 1st week of July. Although I have been trying to wear the wife down on the idea of getting a van, I just couldn't justify one for a couple of Sundays per month when I need to use it every day for work as well.

This should be a nice comfortable commuting vehicle and also be pretty capable for carrying the bike on Sundays too! Its the new Volvo XC60 R Design, I considered the Audi Q5 but preferred this when I drove them both so the deal has been done and the nice Volvo man knocked down by £4k from the list price so I'm pretty chuffed with myself and I hope the next 2 months go quickly...

Beezerpost 42

Finally ready to ride, I bought the bike back home today and plan to go out for a couple of hours tomorrow to see how it goes.

I went to collect it from Dads on Friday but a last minute check revealed that the rear box on the silencer had been placed too close to the rear shock and under load it was touching the spring.

We therefore had to adjust things so the front mounting bracket was removed and moved forwards and the rear one was removed and a nice alloy clamp was made to stiffen up the mounting point at the rear (see pic).

The other picture is the modified air filter cover. As I was concerned that it wouldn't breathe well enough with the cover on, we decided to drill holes in the closed end to improve air flow and also some holes were drilled along the bottom to allow water to escape if it were to get in.

I will report on how it performs tomorrow.