What other people were up to on other weekends.

Well it's always GBC this, GBC that, Cubbie this and Cubbie the other on here. So I thought it would make a change to see what you lot have been up to.

First up is Shorty. He only gets to go first because I know my manners and I always let the short people go first. Although it almost hurts to post this photo of his multi-award-winning Ajay. Since the picture was taken, he has won yet another prize on this mighty machine.



Class winner at Fraserburgh
Best in show at the Angus Show
3rd in class at the Loch Ness rally in Inverness

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Next up is Kawa. Can you guess where he went?
Ok, looks like no one is playing. Here are a few words from the man himself -

Friday morning and up early, got to be down at Cairnryan for the 8am ferry, stuff on bike and along to the local petrol station. Noticed it was 6am and thought 2hrs to the ferry(100mls), no problem. Think I got to around Ayr when the penny dropped, or more like woke up, but I've got to book in about half an hour before hand, at the latest. Arrived at the terminal at around 7.50am, not a soul to be seen in the usual places, so popped in to the main building and was greeted by a very nice lady. After a wee telling off for being late, in the school teacher sort of way, and don't do it again, I was through the gate and on to the boat. Crossing was fine, and no screaming kids as this was one of the Transport Cafes of the sea, one of the commercial vehicle only ferries. We arrived in Larne on time and for once was first off the boat (that'll be 'cos you were last on then eh!). First stop was just out of Larne for fuel, before the run over to Derry/Londonderry about 75mls. Uneventful run over, but did pass the highest Pub in Ireland somewhere on the road. Did I say it was raining the whole way there, must be getting used to the rain.

Arrived at my mate Davy's around mid day, caught up with things then headed out to give his early Kawasaki Z1 the once over. Early evening we headed over to Derry to have my guide tour of the City wall and a good bit of local history, very interesting. Was surprised how small the area in side the wall is. Saturday morning and Davy and his wife had left to catch a flight to London, where they were picking up an early Ducati Monster. A quick cuppa, plan my route for the day and I was off heading for Port Stuart. While up there I just had to have a wee ride round the NW200 course, but not at the racers speeds. I have been at the NW200 a few times and one of the reasons for this trip was to visit some of the places I never seem to have had the time to stop off at. So I headed along the coast route towards Bushmills, passing by the Whiterocks and the interesting remains of Dunluce Castle. While heading through the town heading for the Bushmills Distillery there was a fantastic smell of a full cooked breakfast, made a mental note to fine the source of it on the way back. Had a quick look round the visitor centre, took some pics then off down to the Cafe to have my Full Ulster (Ulcer) Breakfast, even got extra toast and tea. No rain so far, well not till I got about a mile from my next stop which was the Giants Causeway. I had this image of parking the bike and walking a 100yds and I was on the Causeway, more like park up and walk a mile an a half .There is a wee bus that runs up an down, £1 each way, so being tight I walked (I took the bus, it's a fun ride!). All I can say is it was well worth the visit, even better than the pics I'd seen off the place.

Next on the plan was to visit the Joey Dunlop Memorial in Ballymoney, it was a really good dry run down there taking about half an hour. In the town, eventually one of the locals had to point me in the right direction, think I rode past it a couple of times. The memorial site is nicely set out and is a fantastic tribute to a great man. The rest of the trip was down to Ballymeana, then from there about 20mls over to Larne. I arrived there with a couple of hours to spare so just had a look round the town , then took a run along the coast road for about 15mls before heading back to join the cue for the ferry. All in a good few days away. Heading to Orkney next month sometime, got a few things I want to see up there, anyone want to go?

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Poor old Bantam Cub hasn't had much time to get out and about on this bike lately, but after our little excursion to the Lothians and Argyll, he did invest in a new tool bag for the back of the bike so that he can carry his 'proper' tools - ones that don't snap midway through a wheel removal job! Looks neat, don't you think?

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Next up is Stu. Do you ever wonder who these people are who leave comments on
the blog, what they look like, what they ride? I do. So it's nice to get a wee
piccy from time to time. Only recently did Stu rediscover the joys of being out
in the fresh air, getting cold and wet, and the Bonnie is his pride and joy. Oh,
and meet Daisy and Wee Jock!

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Ah, yes, then we have Graham. I was kinda hoping that my request for pics might result in some bike shows and rallies up and down the country, but no, I get photos of broken speedo internals! Graham, of Improving Classic Motorcycles fame, very kindly volunteered (had his arm twisted?) to fix Cubbie's speed measuring device. Upon closer inspection, he informs me it's all pretty bad news. Can you guess which bits are Cubbies in the following picture?



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Oh yers, hang on, Kawa's cousin "JJ" races MZs (and other marques) over in New Zealand.

I was on a MZ as a bit of a joke at a local classic meeting. It was a bundle of fun and I raced in almost every class, over 9 races in one day! It's a standing joke in the pits. Eligible for almost every class it's a whopping 250cc and dates to some time BC (or atleast feels like it when you ride it), but still I finished 5th in the pre'89 open two stroke class on the tighter layout at Ruapuna.

The classic bike is a home-built bike from down south. It was built in 1966 (or '63, I can't remember exactly) and is two twin cylinder chainsaw engines joined together. It has a BSA front end. Anyone know anything else about it?

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Ah! BigBob! Thanks for the link to your Photo Bucket page - hope you don't mind if I borrow a few pictures from the British and European Motorcycle day in Maryland a wee whiley back...




Saved the best til last...

They certainly have a fine selection of some nice old bikes over there.
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Still on the 'other side of the world' theme, managed to talk Ol' Diggy into sending a couple of pics of his latest project, a 1939 BSA B25. We think the DVLA in the UK is slow and inefficient when it comes to dishing out registrations and paperwork for our projects, but poor Dig has spent three years working on the bike, and now he's been waiting over 6 weeks to get the legalities sorted. The only quote I could extract from his was "if it ever happens"... Cracking bike though.