Our Vehicles

[Colin Bishop]

On Colin Bishop Said:

Chris.

Sorry to be a misery. I live in SW Surrey and regularly drive down to Sussex where there are frequent motorcycle accidents and several roadside ‘shrines’ to deceased bikers. Not sure if this is exceptional but it is a frequent reminder that two wheels are not the safest means of transportation.

Colin

Colin, there are plenty of ‘hot spots’ around the country generally well known to the motorcycling community, usually based on fast roads with sweeping corners.   Box Hill is one down your way and the Cat and Fiddle road from Matlock is another.  I can say though, from a motorcyclists point of view, that a  high percentage of accidents are the motorcyclists fault, and a high percentage of those are directly related to excess speed.  For some very strange reason many motorcyclists seem to think they are better than anyone else on the road and are capable of driving safely at high speed.  The litter on the road side says otherwise.  Chris hit the nail perfectly on the head when he mentioned ‘Defensive Riding’.  Mention that to 80 to 90% of riders and they haven’t got a clue what you are talking about.  Point it out to them and they accuse you of either not knowing what you are talking about or, more common, claim you are an old fart who hasn’t got the balls to ride fast.  I did a ROSPA Advanced Motorcycle test about 30 years ago, got to Gold standard and stopped as the cost was a bit excessive.

Defensive riding was one of the biggest messages of the course.  I absolutely cringe when I see bikes fly by at a speed where they wouldn’t have a hope in hell of stopping if something suddenly pulled out.  They completely fail to identify hazards ahead of them or, if they do, completely fail to respond. What really annoys me though is the ones that do come a cropper and then look for ways to find something else to blame and play the victim.  Defensive Riding won’t guarantee you immunity from the complete idiot but it will greatly increase your chances of A) Avoiding him in the first place and B) Having an escape route if you get unlucky.

I reckon nowadays that around 90% of motorcycles can way outperform thier riders.

I had prangs as a youngster, was lucky but did more training and got better.

[Chris Fellows]

On Chris Fellows Said:

Aforesaid Tiger 750. Did a trip on this with friends in 2018 to Northern Spain/Pecos Mountains – that was a great trip. My wife took to four wheels for that though in a friend’s Moke.

 

 

With BSA Rocket III ray gun silencers!  They look good!

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

They do Richard but I’ve always had the intention of changing them as they are so synonymous with the triples!

Chris

[David Marks 2Participant @davidmarks2]

Not strictly my vehicle nor is it a motorcycle, but one built by my son under Dad’s supervision. The car was scratch built i.e. not from a kit but built following a book “Build yourself a car for under £250” by Ron Champion and published by Haynes. The donor car was a Mk II 1300 Escort which provided in the main, the engine, gearbox and back axle. The chassis is mainly from 1 inch square X 16 s.w.g. steel box section, clad in sheet aluminium apart from the wings, windscreen scuttle and nose cone which are GRP. My son was 18 when the build commenced and undertaking a motor vehicle apprenticeship. He was greatly encouraged by his college lecturers and obviously myself. I was lucky enough to have undertaken an extremely good apprenticeship in mechanical engineering with the MOD and for a good number of years trained apprentices myself, plus student and graduate engineers within MOD.  My son Michael was my final “apprentice” and can now produce items built by hand in both metal and wood.

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Absolutely beautiful, very much the look of a Caterham.  I was once tempted and went for a test drive in one and while the performance was as impressive as you would expect I wasn’t expecting the suspension to be quite so hard for road use!  I’ve never been in a car where my teeth did actually chatter together.

At the end f the day did he build it for less than £250.00?  Does he still have it?

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

Your son made a cracking job of that under your expert guidance.

Talking of Ford based specials our first house was a modern terrace with the garages in a block at the rear without power or lighting. I can’t remember the name of the kit, but one of our neighbours built one in his garage – they were singles with not much room either side! Took him quite awhile but I was amazed when he wheeled it out of the garage and finally started it up. It’s amazing what you can do when you’re young. I’d want a fully fitted workshop nowadays with a ramp for the work I used to do on cars and motorcycles!

Chris

[Chris Fellows]

On Chris Fellows Said:

Your son made a cracking job of that under your expert guidance.

Talking of Ford based specials our first house was a modern terrace with the garages in a block at the rear without power or lighting. I can’t remember the name of the kit, but one of our neighbours built one in his garage – they were singles with not much room either side! Took him quite awhile but I was amazed when he wheeled it out of the garage and finally started it up. It’s amazing what you can do when you’re young. I’d want a fully fitted workshop nowadays with a ramp for the work I used to do on cars and motorcycles!

Chris

On Richard Simpson Said:

Absolutely beautiful, very much the look of a Caterham.  I was once tempted and went for a test drive in one and while the performance was as impressive as you would expect I wasn’t expecting the suspension to be quite so hard for road use!  I’ve never been in a car where my teeth did actually chatter together.

At the end f the day did he build it for less than £250.00?  Does he still have it?

Richard –  Yes he still has the car. The only problem he has now is the fact that we live in one of the London boroughs so the car is liable for a daily fee as it is not compliant with the “low emission” requirements. However, if it was still an S reg. Mk II Escort it would be OK. The cost of the build was much more than £250. Ron Champion scrounged most of his materials for the original car, sourced seats etc from a scrap yard but like scratch building model boats the pleasure was in the build itself. Michael has great trouble when taking the car for an MOT in convincing the mechanic (sorry technician) that it was not built from a kit.

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