Powers the Pot Royal Enfield gathering pt1

Dan and I last made it along to the Powers the Pot Royal Enfield gathering back in 2013. It was a great event even though we had a couple of breakdowns on the way and managed only to turn up late Saturday night, drink too much home made scrumpy, and then wake up after most had left the next morning. All the same very memorable and I made a promise to myself to make it back sometime in the near future. The near future turned out to be six years later and I didn't have an Enfield in running order but I did have a clear weekend...

Laugharne, Pembrokeshire. I made this detour
following an erroneous petrol station signpost.
Worth it as the place is rather scenic.

Dan signed up to make it over once again and regular riding trip buddy Matt was in too. Matt's sidecar passenger Gary broke his wrist a few days earlier so was out but still, a team of three was an OK turnout. I pledged to ride my Norton Dominator, Matt his BSA A10 outfit and Dan his old faithful 350 Bullet. Just before leaving on Thursday afternoon I looked at the weather forecast for the weekend, didn't like what I saw and made a last minute switch to my BMW R100RS...

The switch to the BMW was an almighty cop-out but I didn't feel too ashamed as somehow the ride to the ferry at Fishguard, South Wales, from home was significantly further than I had remembered. Last time I split the journey with a night at Dan's in Bristol on the way up. I managed to hit Bristol in rush hour and the motorway was backed up all the way from Bristol to Cardiff, I was slowed down but at least could lane split and didn't have to sit it out.

Laugharne Castle. Just before it started to
rain, and rain, and rain....

My satisfaction in having a bike with a fairing was compounded as it started to rain stair rods in the last thirty miles of the journey. We had all agreed to meet up at the Gwaun Valley Brewery just outside of Fishguard. I got there first quite damp in body and spirits and didn't relish putting up a tent in the Welsh Hills in the rain... Luckily the rental cottage was empty and the lovely folks at the GVB took pity on us and let us have it for just the one night. So, a dry night in a comfy bed it way. Beautiful!

Thank you Gwaun Valley Brewery. A very cosy cottage.

The next morning it was still raining and amongst the group there was a vague hope that the ferry was cancelled and we could feel justified in staying in the cosy cottage all weekend and sampling the labours of the brewery. However it was not to be as the text came through that the ferry was running. Back in to soggy bike gear it was for a run down to Fishguard for breakfast. On the ferry the bikes were well secured for a rough crossing. And rough it indeed was, luckily I have good sea legs but it all started to go wrong in the passenger lounge after an hour or so when one chap wobbled in to the room grabbed a barf bag, missed it and chundered all over the floor. That set off a domino effect in the room and from that point on it seemed prudent to spend the rest of the journey out on deck in the fresh air.

Well secured down for a rough crossing.

At least the ferry arrived on time. Powers the Pot is only just over a couple of hours away from Rosslare even on an old bike. Mercifully the first half of the journey was dry but thereafter back came the rain. Now, Powers the Pot is atop a mountain so damp weather is not unexpected but when we pulled up our hosts advised to set up camp sooner rather than later as proper rain was going to come in shortly.

Camping spot at Powers the Pot.

Pitching under trees seemed like a good idea. In practice
there was no shelter from the fury of the mountain top rains. 

With tents pitched it was time to hit the bar. A great night in great company and the cider of the previous visit was not on hand so we didn't even get the chance to repeat past mistakes.

Yes, it rained a lot during the night and it was drizzling in the morning but by the time Saturday's ride out left at the crack of noon the lightness of the mizzle compared to previous downpours meant that it felt positively dry. A lovely ride down to the coast on a drop off run so little chance to get lost, a hearty lunch and scenic ride back made for a decent day out.

Pt2 to come...

Lunch stop by a choppy sea.

Salty spray on shiny bikes..

Yours truly on the Beemer. A good choice for motorway
blasting but a terrible one for bimbling around on narrow,
damp and mossy Irish country lanes.

International West Kent Run 2019 pt1

Home yesterday from my first International West Kent Run and what a great event it was. Up there among the best old bike events I've ever been to, a wonderful location, great rides, an interesting selection of machinery taking part and a friendly multi-national bunch of riders. The event was fully booked within two days of entries opening and it is easy to see why.

The event is held at the rather special location of The Friars at Aylesford, a community of Carmelite friars dating back to the medieval era. Camping is available as are basic rooms, facilities are good and there are restaurants on site if you don't want to cook for yourself. The IWKR has been stretched out to five days from Thursday to Monday with three social runs, the main run on Saturday and a show on Sunday on offer.

We went along as a family and treated the event as a mini holiday doing some local site seeing and dipping in and out of the runs. Saturday's run attracts some really interesting machinery and the show on Sunday has a lovely village fete feel with club stands, an autojumble and bike gymkhana.

Highly recommended, I hope to be back next year and would wholeheartedly recommend to any other enthusiast to get an entry in and experience the IWKR. A big thank you to the good people of the West Kent section of the VMCC for organising such a wonderful long weekend of motorcycling.

Big port AJS parked outside the accommodation.

Triumph Tiger 80.

Very characterful and well used /2 BMW.

Puch split single 'twingle'.

Cracking BSA sidevalve sloper from 1931 ended up justifiably
winning a rosette in the concours at the show.

Flip side of the sloper.

Super rare optional instrument panel on the Sloper was offered
for 1931 only as far as I know.

Indian (Royal Enfield) Woodsman loaded up and ready to
head home after the run.

Late thirties Matchless Model X. Nice to see one of these in
its original paint.

BSA Bantam green laner and Triumph Tiger 100.

A good number of bikes were out on the run that you don't
so often see on the road, one of which was this MV Augusta
two stroke.

Blue suits this Indian Scout nicely.

Another view of the Scout.

Stunning Henderson Four. I followed this for a while on my '27
Triumph. A mistake as it was slightly too quick for the two up
Triumph and we overheated! I just couldn't help myself, so
good to see an American four on British roads.

Also out and about was this Ace four.

Another Indian Scout. One of the best vintage bikes there is.

Detail on the Scout.

My star of the run was this Coventry Eagle Flying 8 side
valve. The bike has recently been sympathetically refurbished
keeping its original finish where possible after languishing
dismantled for a good  number of years.

BSA A10 and Swallow Jet 80 make for a very stylish combination.

Flat tank Royal Enfield 350

circa 1927 Royal Enfield 350cc side valve.

Cracking photo of a chap in Scout (?) uniform astride his 350cc Royal Enfield. Until the thirties Royal Enfield model names were extremely dull and just reflected the engine size or a model code. So it was that this particular bike was simply known as the 2 3/4 hp Standard Model 350. Note the rolled up blanket serving as a pillion seat.

Norton in the Raj

I sent this image to the ever great Vintage Norton blog a while back so it has been published before but I like it a lot and now seems like a good time to give it another airing.

The photo is taken somewhere in colonial British India, the swagger and outfits of the two lads are great. That's quite the jaunty angle on his pith helmet! What draws me to the photo however is the Norton in the background that could very easily be my own bike. I imported a 1930 Model 19 from India about 15 years ago. To my shame the restoration is not yet completed, though close. 

1930 Norton Model 19.

Blurry D1 Bantam

A rather blurry home snap of a happy couple with an early BSA D1 Bantam. The composition of the photo unintentionally draws extra attention to the shadow monster creeping in to the bottom right of the snap with the leading line of the garden path! 

With these old pictures I often use the DVLA vehicle check to see if the subject is a survivor, very occasionally there is one, but not in the case of this little Bantam.

Happy times with a BSA Bantam. The best days are
Bantams Days as BSA once said in their marketing blurb.

Surrey Sidecars brochure

A brochure for Surrey Sidecars who were promoting themselves as 'The Lightweight Specialists'. Surely a niche within a niche and unusual as at least half of their products do look like they were catering to the weightier end of the market. The 'Rambler' model was however a true lightweight and was often paired to a Villiers powered lightweight machine.

The bike pictured on the front cover is an Ambassador and I believe Surrey Sidecars had a tie in with Ambassador to market a combo actually sold as such rather than two separate entities. Quite unusual in the post war era. Ambassador and Surrey Sidecars were relatively local to each other in the home counties, outside of the traditional Midlands belt of motorcycle manufacturers. It is well possible that Kaye Don and Edward Ford, respective owners of Ambassador and Surrey Sidecars knew each other and cooperated.

Unfortunately I do not know the year of this brochure though 1951 would be a fair guess. Not much information is out there about Surrey Sidecars but they were a postwar company that was founded in the late forties or early fifties and continued until the late fifties or early sixties.

Surrey Sidecars brochure front cover.

Surrey Sidecars brochure page 1.

Surrey Sidecars brochure page 2.

Surrey Sidecars brochure rear cover.

Speed King ladies bicycle

I have to confess that I bought this lovely ladies cycle as a donor for another project, a Royal Enfield Bullet cycle that I had bought as a bare frame. In all honesty this was a perfect donor, all the parts were quite appropriate and it looked right. However I couldn't look at the Enfield without getting the nagging feeling that I had ripped apart a perfectly nice and rare cycle. So, over the course of a year I found alternative parts for the Enfield and have just recently re-assembled this Speed King as it was.

Speed King were a small brand which, as far as I know, were marketed by an entrepreneur by the name of J G Graves. Graves also for a few years sold motor cycles under the same brand name. The identification as Speed King is purely from the chap I got the cycle from but I have no reason to believe it is not a correct prognosis though there are no identifying marks on the frame.

The Speed King is slightly a cut above other ladies cycles of the same era. The quality is good and Sturmey Archer drum brakes are fitted, the rear hub being a 3 speed KB6. The hub  dates the cycle as 1937. I suspect that Graves had little to do with the actual manufacturing of bicycles and just had machines made by others and then sold them under his own brand. The frame bears a certain passing resemblance to a Hercules, and Hercules certainly did manufacture bicycles for other companies. There are however a few nice little individual touches such as the oval cutaways in the lugs.

Now, being too sentimental to use the Speed King as a donor and certainly not needing another vintage ladies cycle I need to pass the old girl on. So if you feel in need of a nicely patinated, unusual 1930s ladies cycle of good quality in fully working condition then for the princely sum of £140 the Speed King is all yours. I will even box it up and post it for a small consideration. If interested comment with your email address or mail me direct.