Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet Bonfire Burn up Run

Sorry been a tad busy this was supposed to have been posted on 7th Nov, oh well.....

Every year around the 5th November the BSA lot down here in Kent, have a Bonfire run to celebrate Bonfire night, found this on Google so read on....

(Guy Fawkes Day, also called Bonfire Night, British observance, celebrated on November 5, commemorating the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Description of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. ... Fireworks, a major component of most Guy Fawkes Day celebrations, represent the explosives that were never used by the plotters.)

I dragged the FORTY INCHER out of the fettling shed, and after months of inactivity the mighty beast fired up second kick...

Down to the petrol station handed over more money than I've ever put in an A10 in me life, and blasted off to the meeting point, annoying a fellow BSA rider on the way. I caught up with him and just stayed far enough behind, so he had to keep bending over to see who it was in his mirror...

He peeled off at a petrol station, and when we met up he said I bloody KNEW that was you, but the mirror was vibrating so much on the A65 I thought it was a Triumph...

People started to roll in and in the end there was 35 of us....



One of the lads brought out this beauty....




Then after a while of spinning yarns, and a reading of the rules of what will happen if you don't do the 'Drop off System' correctly, we were out in them lanes following Yoda our leader of the day. Bloody cold out there it was so once again no *Action* shots, just a couple as I did my pointing duty....




Tried me best to get a shot of the oldest bike in our bunch, a 1926 V twin BSA don't know what type cos I just never got the chance to chat to the lad....




After a fantastic ride down lanes I've never been, we reached our destination on England's only desert Dungeness, and the pub there on....




Where we enjoyed our feast of good Ole Fish & Chips washed down with a pint....





Time for a mooch....


The lad that was riding this was 90yrs old, needless to say it WAS fitted with an electric leg so he didn't strain himself firing it up....





















Then just as I was setting up another shot, a lad walked over to ask me about the bikes and as we chatted people started to leave, so not wishing to be rude I carried on and by the time he took a breath, there were just a couple of bikes left, including the A10. So that's it, sorry and all that BUT it was a brilliant day out with good mates food and beer....

Another fine English day out on motorbikes .... Thanks for the ride !!

Looks like a fine ride. My Forty Incher has been my nearest-to-the-door runabout for the past couple of months, finally got a couple of annoying things sorted and it's a pleasure to ride, starting first kick, and doing everything it orta be doing. Was out on it this morning, pulled up in a parking lot and immediately a couple of young lads (well, 20's) were over having a look and asking about it. That's half the fun!

But (as I've been moaning about for 20 years or more), I'd have to comb this nation east to the Mississippi to find 35 lads willing to get out and have a ride through the lanes to the pub on bikes ranging from 1926 to 1972 ....

Lannis

If you were to condense US to the size of UK then you'd have all the riding buddies your heart could desire, matter of scale.

Yes, scale has a lot to do with it ... but I still think that the population density of folks willing to get out on a November day on an old British bike and ride with friends on a holiday weekend is pretty low here compared to the Homeland that these bikes originally came from. We sometimes do it at BIBR or TSMR or OSMR or next spring at the BBBR, but those are a little different - we generally trailer in and ride around for the weekend, with a few exceptions. Just going out to the shed, firing up a bike, riding even 100 miles to a pub, and bimbling around the lanes ... ? In my dreams!

Lannis

Anno domini could be a factor.
The days when me & Marie would be out out of a January morning with below freezing temps are long gone .

Nice, Shaun, me laddio, a nice outing with friends, food, and a beer is never a bad thing. Thanks for posting, putting some pix to some of the stuff you've told me about.
cheers!