The "Buzzing" Club

In the light of the current situation with coronavirus and HM Government’s advice to the public to avoid all non-necessary travel and social gatherings, the Directors of NACC Ltd. and the NACC Committee have taken the very regrettable and difficult decision to advise all NACC Sections that, with immediate effect, all section meetings and runs are cancelled until further notice. This advice coincides with that of the Federation of British Historic Vehicles Clubs at: https://www.fbhvc.co.uk/news/article/coronavirus and confirms that the course of action we are taking today is the correct one.

This means that all NACC events, whether they be static, shows or runs, will have to be cancelled from today onward. All permits for future events will be void as of now, and no further permits will be issued until we are clear that the risks involved with social gatherings have been minimised.

Any updates to this situation will be posted here, and April’s issue of Buzzing will carry the same message as above.

NACC RESERVES AND THE CORONAVIRUS.
One of the benefits of having financial reserves in our club is our ability to cope with unforeseen events. It has often been difficult to explain convincingly to our members the reasons for holding such reserves. The Directors and Committee of the NACC have decided that we must now use these reserves to benefit our members, so a decision has been taken to extend all current memberships by 4 months free of charge, with immediate effect, in order to assist our members at this difficult time. This will be done centrally so members will not need to do anything. Your next renewal date will be put back by 4 months and following this will then revert back to the normal 12 month period the following year.

We’ve been informed by John Hayes’ son Tony that John passed away earlier this month. His funeral will take place on the 27th March at Bath Crematorium at 15.15pm. The planned gathering at the New Inn on the Bath to Wells road after the funeral has had to be postponed in view of the coronavirus problem. Tony hopes that some local NACC members might turn up on autocycles to send John off appropriately, and he will update us when this current emergency is over on a future tribute gathering.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Manchester Bike Show, scheduled for the weekend of 28th-29th March at Event City, Manchester M41 7TB, has been cancelled. No further information on whether this event will take place later in the year is available at the moment. If your plan was to go, DON’T! As soon as further information is forthcoming we’ll put it up here.

The NACC stand at the Bristol Show was ably organised by Steve Hoffman of the North Wilts Section and featured a total of twenty under-100cc bikes on display, including a good number of cyclemotors, mopeds and one forlorn autocycle – Bryan Norton’s Sun autocycle. Among the machines on display were a number of rarities – John Aston’s 1954 Mobylette AV32, Joe Skinner’s 1959 Gilera “Giubileo”, Ian McGregor’s 1952 Cyclaid, Paul Witchard’s “dans son jus” 1956 Terrot Lutin and Steve Hoffman’s 1973 Kawasaki G35S-C street scrambler. A full report will be published in April’s Buzzing, but in the meantime, here are a few photos.

NACC member Andrew Parry, a newly-retired gentleman of leisure, is planning to ride his 35-year old Yamaha Townmate, all 80cc’s of it, from Kidderminster in the West Midlands, to Slovenia in May 2020. Andrew reckons he will be able to do the journey on 10 gallons of fuel, hence the title. Watch this space for information as when he sets off his blog will detail his adventures.

You can read of his other motorcycling exploits here: https://10gallonstoslovenia.wordpress.com/2019/09/29/example-post/

An NACC member has had two cyclemotors stolen on 2nd January from his home in Leicester. They are: an unregistered Cyclemaster, engine no.  138987, in a Raleigh all steel bike – frame number 7924/ NN. This bike is fitted with a rear motorcycle type stand on an extended spindle so it is quite novel. It also has a French pannier bag and Huret speedo among other period fittings, including a re-spoked wheel. 

The second cyclemotor is a 1955 Teagle (see photo above), engine number 10428, in an Indian ‘Atlas’ 28″ 1996 bicycle (looks like 1950s Raleigh). It has a red-painted fuel tank and is registered as WTC 845. Both cyclemotors are in fully restored condition and were last on display at Founders Day in July 2019 on the Leicester Section NACC Stand.  Leicester police have been informed. Please call Roger on 07944 681195 if you’ve been offered either of these machines or the engines separately from the bicycles, or even some spares. We’ll post photos of these cyclemotors here as soon as they arrive.

The annual NACC Coast-to-Coast run is a real test of man and machine, instituted 21 years ago by the Yorkshire Section and until recently hosted by NACC Chairman David Casper, who unfortunately has health issues which now prevent him from participating. This year Messrs. David Quainton and David Stevenson were in the hot seat, with a total of 27 participants ready to ride from Crimdon Dene, near Hartlepool on the east coast, to Whitehaven on the west coast, via Alston and across the Pennines. It’s a two-day ride with an overnight stop in Alston. Every bike, young and old, that carries its burden the 140 miles over the Pennines and back down to the sea again deserves praise. Remarkably, there were three cyclemotors entered in 2019

David Stevenson recounts: “David and I had discussed a very short welcome and briefing followed by a mass start. Shortly after ten o’clock riders gathered in front of the van with their riding kit on and engines running so that it very quickly BECAME IMPOSSIBLE TO MAKE ONESELF HEARD. The people at the back were disappearing in a blue fog as 27 tiny engines warmed up. Then, just as the last bikes were inching their way onto the back of the grid, four riders at the front sped off and disappeared over the hill. There is something about the concept of starting the event ‘together’ that annually eludes participants in the NACC’s C2C. ”

“Fred Richards has done the run, or part of the run, a number of times since 2008 when he mated his Russian-built Kroxa engine to a Claude Butler frame. The finished product is a handsome thing with a copper tank, two chains and a clutch but no gearbox, like a smaller autocycle. Fred’s nephew, John Minto, shared the riding and driving and they had their best crossing to date, done and dusted by 2.30pm on the Sunday. This in itself would be sufficient cause for congratulation so I should let it be known that during the event Fred confided to us that he had celebrated his 89^th birthday this year.

Hardly less impressive was the crossing by Kevin Mawhinney from Carrick Fergus in Northern Ireland on his Trojan Mini Motor. Attached to a fairly modern bike frame, it performed extremely well climbing, with Kevin’s assistance, without problems and running on the flat in the mid-twenties. “

“Ron Patterson on his Cyclemaster joined us for the Sunday morning ride from Alston to Bassenthwaite. His bike too performed faultlessly because the climb up to Hartside from Alston is one of the testing points for a cyclemotor on the run. The bike has been bored out to a capacity of 38cc to accommodate the piston from a leaf-blower and sounds very healthy which Ron modestly attributed to a rust hole which has appeared in the exhaust. There was no doubt though, watching it go, that its bark matched its bite.”

David Stevenson continues: “There is something about riding a small machine slowly through a big landscape that makes the rider feel they are part of the drama unwinding on either hand. That, the camaraderie of the frequent stops and the challenge of persuading a reluctant, elderly and feeble velocipede over the blue hills and far away have been the enduring appeal of the Coast to Coast. I must have followed the route 15 or so times and when I ride it now I am surrounded by the ghosts of those who have ridden it over the years. Happily most of these ‘ghosts’ are still with us, just simply elsewhere this particular mid-summer. These often nameless wraiths (for I am very bad at remembering names) cluster in gateways and lay-bys, farm entrances and by signs where I am reminded something or other happened: an indistinct group waiting for a lost friend, a lone figure grovelling by a stricken steed, a family group posing with a signpost, a dapper gentleman in tweeds and deer-stalker being passed spanners by a well-dressed female assistant as if he were a surgeon performing an operation. Of course, unfortunately there are those who will not come that way again.”

The date for next year’s Coast-to-Coast has yet to be fixed, but traditionally it is held over the weekend nearest the the longest day, which in 2020 falls on Sunday 21st June. The 2020 C2C should therefore take place over the weekend of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June. To be confirmed in the Events Calendar early in the new year.

Tony Etheridge, loyal tyre supplier to NACC members for many years, has told us that “At long last, limited quantity of new 21″ x 2.25 autocycle tyres are back in stock, suitable for New Hudson, Excelsior Autobyk, Bown etc.” Please contact Tony at the above telephone no. or write to Tony at his postal address.

The British contingent making the long journey to Stramproy numbered six this year and were rewarded by fantastic weather, two great rides (45km on Saturday, 60km on Sunday) through the back-lanes and cycle-tracks of Belgium and Holland. A full report will be published in December’s Buzzing, but until then here are a few photos to give you a flavour of this marvellous annual event.

If you’d like to see some handlebar footage – courtesy of Nick Devonport – of part of our ride, go to: Stramproy 2019 007.MP4

Twenty-seven riders turned out on Sunday 18th August for the Wobbler’s annual “let’s see if you can fall off in the ford” Welsh Mountain Challenge, a tough run of 40 miles up and down some of the most challenging lanes and tracks crossing high moorland terrain in North Wales. The weather was kind, we used the second-man drop-off system to hopefully prevent strays and nobody broke down.

We stopped at the Ponderosa café with our motley collection of rough old mopeds so we could taunt all the Harley and shiny Japanese super-bike riders assembled there.

We came down from the high moorlands, a long, long descent which needs good brakes, to our lunch stop at the Telford Inn, alongside the fabulous Froncysyllt aquaduct at Llangollen.

From the lunch stop it was back up into the hills again, via Ted’s infamous ford, navigated by most riders with a few slips and slides.

A great day out was had by all! Hopefully see you all there again in 2020.