Malpas Rally

It was Anna’s turn to play out again last weekend. We’d applied to display at the Malpas Yesteryear Rally a few months ago and part of the deal was free camping so, even though it was only half an hour up the road, I opted to camp on the Saturday night to take in the full atmosphere.

But first I needed to give Anna her first post-rebuild service as the initial very easy running in miles are pretty much done now.

I spent a pleasant few hours doing an oil change and cleaning both filters; adjusting valves; checking cylinder head bolts; check primary drive chain etc and then had a general fettling session. I was pleased to see that when I put a strong magnet in the old oil, there were only a small amount of very fine metal particles attached to it, which I guess is what I’d hoped to see after the initial running in.

While the primary drive cover was off, I had a good look at the clutch again to try and get to the bottom of the clutch drag issues I’ve been having when she’s hot. I stripped all the plates off and just took the slightest amount of material off each of the friction plates - just enough to give a fresh cork face. Then I also gave the outermost pressure plate another clean up on the sander. When I reassembled everything, I put a couple of washers under each of the springs as they looked “spring bound” - i.e. most of the tension already taken up, which I’d been told might have also affected the performance. Anna was a delight to ride after that lot! The clutch has a really nice feel to it and the hot dragging has gone, so I can select neutral and first more easily at lights at last. 

Loaded up with camping gear again, we set off late afternoon and by 6 pm had established base camp for the night. I went for a wander to find a coffee (I’d forgotten to pack some 🙄) and familiarise myself with everything, then settled in to make some spaghetti and read a book in the sunset while I enjoyed a couple of beers and people / tractor watched! Just as I decided to head inside, a huge storm shower blew in - good timing.

The following morning  was bright and sunny and I was up early to move Anna onto the display area, before grabbing a coffee and bacon roll on the way back to the tent. (Unfortunately, I forgot the muesli as well as the coffee - oh dear, what a shame ...😁).

There was a really nice variety of bikes on show, including a multitude of various styles of Honda "monkey bikes", which seem to have become very collectable recently. I was really taken with this 1962 Heinkel Tourist scooter, which just oozed Sixties styling and had been beautifully restored.

The show is huge and covers a real array of vehicle types. I went for a mooch and realised that an ex-colleague Mark was also displaying at the show. His exhibit was somewhat more impressive - a proper old steam roller "Samson", together with his caravan.

Back down to earth with a bump, I returned to my much more modest effort and joined the parade around the display ring.

My mate Paul arrived during the morning and so we had a good catch up and stroll around. We both found a bit of a fascination for the stationary engines, including one running a cement mixer. As usual, we decided that restoring one would be great and we must do it. As usual, we have forgotten about it a week later 😂.

As the day drew to a close at around 4.30, there was a monumental downpour, which saw everyone head for shelter in the beer tent! By the time it had stopped, it was time to take the bike back up to the tent and pack up. 

A very pleasant adventure was capped off with a superb ride home. After getting past a queue of traffic held up by some of the slower exhibits, I had a clear run down the A41.

IoM Day 4

After last night's downpour, my final day dawned clear and sunny. I needed to pack all my stuff away and be on the outside of the circuit before roads closed at 12.30, ready for the afternoon practice session, and then to be at the ferry terminal in good time for the sailing at 4.15.

So I had a nice lazy morning, with a couple of coffee brews while the tent dried out in the sun and then a nice long chat with Roy, who had arrived yesterday on the other Crusader.

 

Pretty reluctantly, I packed everything away and loaded Anna up again, ready for the journey home.

We headed up to the TT Paddock and had another look around; a coffee and cake in the Manx GP Supporters Club tent and then I went and got a spec in the grandstand to watch the 2 practice sessions from there.

In between the 2 sessions, I wandered down to the paddock and saw this beautifully prepared Enfield 500 Classic Senior bike being pushed into scrutineering. I hadn't seen any Royal Enfields in the programme and it turned out to be a late entry, being ridden by Adam McLean, who went on to get a great 5th position in the race on Saturday.

And then all too soon, I had to head off back down to the ferry terminal for the journey home.

The crossing was very much smoother than on the way out! Anna behaved impeccably on the journey home, in fact felt super smooth (relatively!) keeping up with the traffic on the journey through the Birkenhead Tunnel and home down the A41. As we got home her trip meter ticked onto 377 miles, so our adventure had added another 220 miles of running in. 

There are definitely some bits to attend to now - a good service and torque the head back down; adjust the pushrods after bedding in and seal the valve cover properly - hopefully that lot will sort out the oil weeping from the top end. And then I've noticed that the steering head stem has slackened off a bit, which was causing the front end to shudder under heavy braking - not nice! I also want to have a look at the front brake - I think I need to get the brake shoes relined with a more modern compound and may even need to get the brake drum skimmed, as the braking performance from the front is a bit iffy to say the least.

All in all though, I'm super pleased that we got this adventure under our belts with no big dramas and look forward to our next one once she's had some TLC. 

Postscript: I had a message from Roy on the day after I arrived back to say that his bike had blown a hole in the piston on the way up the mountain. He wasn't sure if it was running too lean or if he'd overdone the mix in his "special" fuel concoction. I'm still not sure if he was joking or not....

IoM Day 3

I needed to check-in for marshalling at 12 today - an extra “contingency” session had been added to make up for the Monday evening cancellation and red flag last night.

But I had time in hand to do another lap of the circuit, this time in beautiful sunny conditions. The Crusader was running beautifully but the climb up the mountain was relentless and I was in 3rd gear for a lot of it to prevent the engine flogging up in 4th. So the sight of the Victory cafe at the top was welcome to give her a break. 

Before I had my helmet off and ear plugs out, I was accosted by a madly enthusiastic guy whose first motorbike in the late 70s had been a Crusader. He kept me chatting for ages, which was very nice but meant I didn’t have time for my planned coffee and cake! 

Setting off for the final small climb before the long descent back to Douglas, she felt in her element - she actually seems to respond pretty well to a gentle thrashing 😳. What Rob would call “an Italian decoke” 🙂 I particularly loved the gentle popping on the over-run as we came down the long incline to the Creg-ny-Baa Hotel, where a policeman with radar gun awaited us!

I signed on for the afternoon session and was at Transmann again, this time with a lovely guy from the Lake District called Alan. What an interesting life he had lead, including spells as a welder, shipwright, Army reservist, mayor (twice!) and theatre nurse. 

The session ran in perfect conditions until the last 5 minutes when there was just a very slight hint of rain. By the time we had packed up and I was walking back to the campsite, it was full blown rain and the evening session had been cancelled. I can’t say I was disappointed, as I was pretty knackered by then!

As I arrived back, a group were arriving from Galway, including a well used motor home, which subsequently disgorged 2 motorbikes from within(!!), one of which was a '61 Crusader. Roy, the owner, and I spent lots of time over the next couple of days comparing notes on our restorations. He had done a video blog of his, which is way over my head! Watch it here.

I particularly liked his tool store that he'd made out of an old crash helmet, to go on his rack!

With the evening session cancelled, after cooking some tea I headed for a big walk into Douglas and along the prom, returning after dark. Then settled down in the warm evening with a beer to read a book.

IoM Day 2

I did something a bit different from my previous visits to the Island today and decided to do a gentle bimble around the Island keeping pretty much as close to the coast as I could, so that I was mainly on quiet lanes and B roads. Basically, I started at the ferry terminal at Douglas and kept the sea over my left shoulder.

Very soon I was on country lanes heading out towards Castletown.

I took a break at Port St Mary to let Anna cool down. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m still running the engine in, but she’s in her element on these lanes.

Next stop Peel harbour and a delicious early lunch of locally caught Queenies (small scallops) and bacon roll. Lots of other bikes were gathered at the harbour including a group of 4 or 5 riding MZs. Considered as very ugly ducklings when new but kind of cool now!

I realised shortly after leaving Peel that my phone battery needed charging so I stopped off at the Motor Museum at Jurby so I could charge it while I walked. A very interesting and quite eclectic collection of cars, bikes and general paraphernalia! I particularly liked this Charabanc - always seems to evoke a spirit of a “grand day out”!

From Jurby it was a fairly short hop up to Point of Ayre, the most northerly point on the island. I think the fog horn and lighthouse look great here - so forlorn that you can just imagine them belting out a wailing noise in a thick fog!

And then I followed a well trodden path back down the eastern side of the island, taking the coast road from Ramsey to Douglas, but with some diversions off down the tiny lanes hugging the coast. As we got towards Laxey, I was feeling sorry for poor Anna, who’d dealt with some very steep hills on that stretch, so I took the main road back.  But this is still a very picturesque route as it runs parallel to and criss-crosses the Electric Tramway down onto Douglas prom. 

All told we did about 85 miles and it was such a lovely journey - perfect for this kind of bike. 

I got back in time to stroll up to the gathering point for my marshalling sector, at Braddan Church and spent a couple of hours at TransMann on the exit from Braddan. It was all fairly uneventful for us, though sadly the second session was red flagged not far into it and no further practice took place. It was announced the following day that one of the riders, Ian Bainbridge, had died following an accident at Kirk Michael. 

It always makes me doubt why I support road racing when there is a fatality. I don’t even particularly get much from the racing itself per se; it’s the atmosphere of lots of bikes and passionate motorcyclists on such wonderful roads that I like.

IoM day 1

Well we successfully achieved the first objective, to get through the Mersey Tunnel to the ferry terminal. It was only a 45 minute journey but I’ve broken down twice in the tunnel (many years ago now) and I still have the heebie jeebies going through there on an old bike! 

I’ve still got a bit of a clutch drag issue when she’s warm but I’m managing to ride around it for now.

It was a pretty rough crossing and we arrived a little later than scheduled just before midnight, but by 12.30 I had my tent up and turned in for a decent kip. It was pretty windy though.

The following morning, I got the tent sorted properly and headed up to the grandstand to take the customary photo in pit lane and then signed on as a marshal.

Rather disconcertingly, I found I had a big oil leak from the oil filter cover. Of course, this happened in front of a couple of Swiss guys admiring the bike! I didn’t want to just wrench it down tight in case I stripped a thread but when I looked at it properly it had indeed just shaken loose a touch and was fine once I cinched it down tight.

It will be my first time marshalling - hoping to get my 3 “novice” sessions done this visit so I can make a fuller contribution if I come again in the future. I must say that I was very impressed with the goodie bag 🙂.

In the afternoon, the wind was still very gusty so I vouched not to put a lap in over the mountain but stayed low and sheltered. I headed out to Murray’s Motor Museum for the umpteenth time! What a fabulously chaotic place to spend an hour. Nice to see a couple of Crusaders there.

Then I carried on to Fairy Bridge to pay my respects, say hello and ensure safe passage round the Island. Not that I’m superstitious or anything…

In the evening I wandered up to Braddan to sign on for marshalling but 5 minutes later the session was cancelled due to poor visibility for the helicopter over the mountain.

So I headed back to the campsite and, as the wind had died down a bit, thought I’d try and get a lap of the circuit in. It was very windy and pretty foggy over the top but good fun and another nice milestone to tick off. 

We also passed 200 miles since the rebuild and 30,000 total miles on that lap, so it ended up being quite significant 🙂 She does feel like she’s starting to free up a bit. But also there is a fair amount of oil leaking from the head / valve cover area so definitely looking forward to doing an oil change and re-torquing of everything sometime soon.

Settled back at the campsite for the evening, I made something to eat and then headed over to the bar for a pint and a bit of a natter with my neighbours - a young couple on an AJS 650.