The weather was cloudy but rain was not forecast. I was riding my 1957 Triumph Trophy 650 TR6 and I made my way to Denham meeting point. On arrival Dave on a Triumph Bonny Scrambler, and Ian on a Sinnis 250 were already there waiting. Then Bill and Ray turned up on their Tritons, then Maxy on a Norton Atlas 750, then Roger on his Norton 750 Commando. Brian and Pat arrived on their Hinkley Bonneville.
I suggested that I ride behind Brian who was leading, as I did not have the braking power of the other bikes to ride at the back of the pack, at the back you get the sling shot effect of constantly speeding up then heavy braking. We set off and had a great ride through Slough and Windsor, which made a classic sight and sound with these mostly old British bikes, just like the old days! Most of us were dressed in old kit as well, with open helmets, goggles, and leather jackets, jeans and boots. We got to the Black Horse pub in Slough and were the first to arrive, so we parked our bikes at the front and Brian, Pat and I decided to walk down to Costas for a large coffee, when we came back the place was full of lovely old British machinery and a few foreign bikes, Eric Patterson even turned up on a Matchless. There was food available at the pub or you could pop over to Tescos which was opposite.
About 20 Mods turned up on their classic old 1960s Scooters, Lambrettas and Vespas decked in lights and mirrors, they were very welcome at the pub and the whole scene was very cool. After a lot of bike talk our group of Busy Bee decided to ride down to the Cellar Coffee Bar in Windsor. It was a great feeling to be re-living history riding these old classic bikes around the corner to the Cellar, as we arrived some Scooters were just leaving which made a great sight for on-lookers who must have thought it was the 60s again! The night club above the Cellar was owned by Diana Dors, I wonder if she ever popped down for a coffee and to put a record on the Jukebox! The whole place is now a kind of hotel.
When we decided to leave, Rogers Norton would not start, and after loads of attempts by us to fix the problem which was electrical he decided to call the breakdown people. The bike did eventually start as it was an intermittent fault.
Pete Barton
The weather was quite cold on the morning of the run, I was riding my 1970 Bonneville and was hoping Brian would be on his 70 Bonnie as well, as our bikes are only 2 of 200 made for the UK market in 1970, so it would be quite a special thing to have them together on the run.
Steve was already at the meeting point in Denham at 8.45 am and was riding his Kwacker side car outfit. Rene and Sam came next on a Kwacker custom and Harley Sportster. Brian and Pat had running issues with a fouled plug, but eventually came roaring along on the 70 Bonnie. We had a good ride to Fleet on country lanes through Windsor, but the traffic was quite heavy and eventually we got split up, I managed to stay with Brian, Pat and Steve, there was already loads of classic bikes parked as we sorted our entry and then had egg and bacon rolls and coffee.
At 11am the run started and I followed Steve on his outfit with Pat in the chair, we had a great cruise through some wonderful countryside in the cold chill air, Brian had got delayed talking to people and missed the start of the ride, but he did eventually do a shortened version of it. At the pub stop for lunch there were 2 pubs used next to each other, and it was a fantastic sight seeing all the classic bikes arrive, lots took a pack lunch as the food and drink was very expensive, Karen and Steve arrived on their lovely 70’s Yammy 250 in yellow with expansion pipes.
Back at Fleet we all had to park in sections in different decades for the judging. There was even a few 60’s scooters with their mirrors and lights, mod style, all the machinery made a wonderful sight. There was an amazing Indian 4 cylinder from the 20’s which I really liked. It was fascinating to see the Japanese bikes in the 70’s section, and think that in a few sort years they completely dominated the market and completely closed down the British motorcycle industry! Very sad!! Why didn’t our government at the time step in to save them? Like the Italian government did with Ducati and Moto Guzzi ! But I think British motorcycles will always dominate this type of event as they are more cherished and easier to restore than the Jap bikes.
After ice creams and coffee it was time to ride back, it was a really good meeting and day out, and my Bonnie performed faultlessly so I was very pleased with that.
Pete Barton.
