Popham 2019

[Interpol2471]

Would there be interest in setting up a stand this year? The date this year is the 11th August, any interest I will register the stand same as usual.
Regards Paul

[johnbirchjar]

Count me in for the 11th ,J.B.

[Interpol2471]

Hi all I am being asked for numbers and pitch for Popham but at present with the interest shown and the work I have to put in its not looking viable.
If you are interested let me know please.
Hopefully some takers will appear as it will be a shame not to have a stand and a grand day out.
My secret Rotary project will be there

[johnbirchjar]

Come on guys ,It's a great day out(weather permitting )you can't all be on holiday with your familes,J.B.

[Interpol2471]

Looks like a no then but I am happy to order tickets for anyone that wants them.

[Interpol2471]

This is the link now for Popham tickets as they have changed the process and made it free and much easier for exhibitors.
Just follow this link and it registers your bike and emails details.
Hope to see some people there.

Paul
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/motorcyc ... 0970827386

[johnbirchjar]

Do's this mean that there will be no club stand this year? ,J.B.

[Interpol2471]

John it would be a bit sad with just the two of us.
Friends of speedway (Roy) will still have a stand as a focal point for Rotaries and Triumph owners have the tea and food as usual.

With such low numbers individuals can register for their free tickets with the easy new system and can meet at the FOS stand.

[johnbirchjar]

I tried to download a ticket but my computer will not download FirFox to the printer,so I have just wrote the order No on a piece of paper and hope this will be sufficient to get me and the Classic in ,hope to see you there,ride safe,J.B.

[johnbirchjar]

Panic over,I managed to print off my ticket ,see(some of you)there,ride safe,J.B.
As an aside,I am off to a biker rally at Porlock,Devon, the 1st weekend in August,(this will be the first serious ride since the fitting of the new coils,)I will report anon,J.B.

[johnbirchjar]

Ignore previous post re:Porlock,before that I will be blasting up to Cadwell to watch fellow biker buddies chase round the track,(getting to old to participate myself )J.B.

[johnbirchjar]

Good couple of days at Cadwell.An F1 was there that I didn't recognize,speaking to the owner(who wasn't a club member )and it was a bike that the owner had owned for about 15years and Richard had put a six speed box in,a rare beast indeed .
I was supposed to go to the NOC rally at Morpeth,(leaving Cadwell on Sat:am and blasting straight up there) but looking at the weather forecast on Wednesday I wimped out,just as well, a very wet Friday night/Sat morning resulted in packing away a wet tent ,AND it rained most of the way home!!(the joys of being a biker )
I still intend to go to Popham Sunday,hope to see some fellow Rotarians there

[johnbirchjar]

Good couple of days at Cadwell.An F1 was there that I didn't recognize,speaking to the owner(who wasn't a club member )and it was a bike that the owner had owned for about 15years and Richard had put a six speed box in,a rare beast indeed .
I was supposed to go to the NOC rally at Morpeth,(leaving Cadwell on Sat:am and blasting straight up there) but looking at the weather forecast on Wednesday I wimped out,just as well, a very wet Friday night/Sat morning resulted in packing away a wet tent ,AND it rained most of the way home!!(the joys of being a biker )
I still intend to go to Popham Sunday,hope to see some fellow Rotarians there,J.B.

[Clive603]

Hopefully I'll make it down too as Sunday is now free. Should have arranged an exhibitors ticket I guess.

Clive

[mickm]

Can anyone confirm that Popham is still on ! As it in in rather a open and wet area ?

[johnbirchjar]

It's a bit late to think about that now(23-08hrs Sat night )I'll chance it ,J.B.

[johnbirchjar]

Pleased that I did ,I think about 4 rotories attended,(unfortunately spread all over the park )including a none-running speedway model .
I enjoyed an uneventful journey there and back,and the Commander/Classic running beautifully (at last )
At the end of the month I am tempted to use the old girl to attend a rally up in the wilds of Cumbria(near the dreaded Ardnock Pass ,)I did"The Pass"once about 15 years ago and have no wish to repeat the experience,J.B.

[Ian]

Did the Hardknott Pass last year on a bike. Great scenery, great road but completely ruined for me by the hordes of German car drivers who can't comprehend that they should possibly give way. And they are very common on that road. Should be one way, like the Mountain Road.

Just confirms they are deficient in the gentlemen's area.

[Clive603]

Popham turned out nice and sunny as forecasted but had my doubts on the way along the A272 with a fair bit of rain and wind in some stretches. Best part of a decade since I went any distance that way. Rather a sharp reminder of just how long it used to take to get anywhere in pre motorway days unless you got serious about overtakes. Was nice to see that the straight undulations a few miles before Petworth where I first took a bike over the ton still look about the same. The Supreme Commander being a bit more effortless than the Gardner carbed full race DB32 Goldie I had back then mumble-mumble years ago.

Must be 15 years since I went to that sort of event. Haven't changed much except its now more Jap tat than Brit tat on sale. But most of it is still worse than what we used to throw away as beyond useless back in the day. Still seems to be the rule that any BSA with an 8" single sided front brake on show won't be adjusted correctly tho'. Pet peeve of mine but then I do have a thing about brakes. Probably why my first Commander was wearing FJ1200 four pot calipers up front inside three months.

Nice to meet John and Roy. Got to chat to a few other unexpected folk too.

Big mistake to fiddle with the clutch lever the night before tho'.

I have small hands and the biting point on Richards hydraulic system fitted to my Supreme with standard Yamaha levers is uncomfortably far out for good control. Cue one set of Cheapy Chinee CNC'd adjustable dog leg Pazzo copies. Which didn't fit. Of course. After showing them to the Bridgeport for a bit of modification they went on and looked quite pretty. Brake side one wasn't really needed but the adjustment did get it a touch closer in which I figured would be nice. On the clutch side the adjustment went mostly the wrong way. One click closer the other five wider. Having put up with that for a couple of weeks decided to sort it on the Saturday afternoon. Bit of playing with the Bridgeport proved that modifying the adjuster wasn't going to fly so the whole clever bit went in the bin and I made up a set of fixed bobbins of various diameters figuring I'd try them all until I got a decent lever span. Come 10 pm I'd found one that felt good and expected a nice run on the Sunday.

In the event felt nice didn't equate to works nice and I couldn't seem to adapt to the new biting point. So pulling away got ahem, embarrassing, with unedifying tippy toe touching and an inability to sweep the beast straight into a turn on junction pull aways. Sort of thing that totally messes with your head until you can't do anything low speed right. Thinking "I used to be good at this" was not helpful.

At All!

Of course pulling the brake biting point back a bit meant that I didn't get the gentle coming up to a stop application where it ought to have been so pulled a bit further for serious over braking. More head messing. The ex MZ parts bin brakes Richard used are effective but sharper than the FJ1200 units I was used to. Time to go find an empty car park and practice my figures of 8 like a CBT wannabee I think. After keeping various bikes rubber side down for more or less a million miles I should be able sort this.

Spending a good chunk of the previous weekend playing with my "me-to-me" 65 th birthday present Yamaha GTS probably didn't help. The rather portly funny front end bike is more than a little different to conventional bikes. But I did just fine with a Commander and a GTS in the stable back in the day so I can again. Really hard part was always remembering that the eviscerated, 100 bhp, EXUP lump is totally gutless compared to a rotary.

Clive