NEC Bike Show 2009
Evesham Steam 2009  
Brighton Burn Up September 2009 
June 2009 saw the American Auto Club holding an event in Coventry's Coombe Country Park.
 

 

 The Red Marley Hill Climb 2009. Another great day on the hill, sun belting down the smell of two stroke, beer in hand. There were a couple of ambulance incidents this year, the hill is steep and the ground rock hard, must have been like riding into a wall.

 

BikeSafe 2008.

A bike show organised by The Metropolitan Police as part of the BikeSafe program. All of the major manufacturers were represented and most were providing demonstrator bikes. I managed to put my name to a Yamaha FJR1300 for an hour long test but to my "surprise" it turned out to be an assessed ride escorted a Police Motorcycle Cop. The speed limit was observed at all times. Weather was a bit grim but the rain held off on the Saturday till about 2pm (just in time for my test ride). There was no shortage of mud, food was good in the police canteen. The wall of death was the best I’ve seen so far with three bikes running in tandem, we were all well impressed.

 Coventry Centre Centenary 1908-2008 - 100 years of automotive engineering . Was held at the BMIHT Heritage Motor Centre near Gaydon. The early Francis Barnet bikes held my attention for a while, the frames looked to have been assembled from deckchair leftovers. An AA sidecar outfit and an excellently presented Rudge would have got my vote in any contest.
Tetbury, Gumstool Hill, 2008. A grim weather day for sure but the rain held off for all of the racing. When you look at the pictures remember that the wool sack weighs in at 60lbs in the men's race and 35lbs for the women, the hill is a 1:4 (that's steep) and they do run!

 

 FlugTag 2008 was just as mad as it was billed. A bit overcast for part of the day but the predicted rain held off. A craft themed on a giant swan stopped play when it glided from the platform like a brick and promptly sank, again like a brick. It then put up half an hour of resistance as the clean up team and divers tried to clear it away. Health and Safety you know. Evil Knievel's bike fared no better than the grand canyon attempt. Extreme Trifle in banana suits dropped like a rock and you might guess the yellow submarine was not really designed for flight.
A good crowd were waiting in Leamington for the first leg of the MegaRide riders to arrive. From there a ride onto Meriden but the traffic was such that a number got off the intended route. A good afternoon was waiting in Meriden where the Round Table had laid on some entertainment.

 
The sun shone for the Banbury Run 2008, after a therapeutic "Old Hooky" at the Castle on Edgehill watching the old machines make it over Sunrising Hill on the A422 was inspirational. Some needed a helping hand and others took it in their stride, two up,  impressive for machines that date from before the 1930's. The photos are from a mobile phone, if someone has better please send them on.
Banbury steam 2008 had all the traditional components to make for a successful event, even the sun shone. The steam driven engines did the steam thing, a tank did the crushing cars trick, the beer tent sold Hook Norton and there were a number of bikes to envy, a good day was had.
 

 

 

 

 

A few weeks ago a mate of mine got us  an invite to a Harley day, 2008 somewhere in Oxfordshire. I didn't realise just what a great day this was going to turn out to be!

Now I wasn’t particularly bothered if we went or not and decided if the weather was poor I’d not go. I’m not getting wet to have someone try and sell me a tractor I already know I don’t want. So come the day its drizzling rain but predicted to brighten up, hmm guess I’ll go but it will be in the car.

We're  in the car, so what's the address of “the dealership” for the sat-nav. “Oh it’s not a dealership, it says here”, looking at the invite, “it’s at something called the Williams F1 conference centre and we should be there about now” bugger.

Having exceeded the speed limit most of the way we get there an hour late for the start, there are about 150 of us listening to the history of Harley and what they have new for 2009. They introduce a number of guys from BSB riders, a Dakar competitor and a couple of others that commanded similar respect; these are the lead riders for the ride outs we will be doing.  

The ride outs were about 30 minutes a piece; I did six, everything from the new 1200 Sportster to a Night Rod, the organisers were asking for feed back but never once did anyone try and sell me anything at all, not once.

Lunch, the catering was done by the Williams people, steak, kebabs, salads the works with proper coffee and soft drinks all day, free T shirts and all of this at no cost, free.

The Williams F1 museum and trophy room were open all day as well.

Now none of this has made me desperate to buy a Harley but its improved my opinion of the bikes and the company no end.

A company that knows how to treat its potential customers!!
 Red Marley Hill Climb 2006

 

  Ace cafe back in 2004