North west May meet

So Charlie is having a shindig and another bank holiday where muggles clog the roads is on the cards…..hmmmmm what to do?

Tell you what, no meet this Sunday but we bump to next Sunday,meet at Starbucks at the end of the M56….that’s the Wirral end…and have a bimble into Wales. Meet between 9:00 & 9:30: depart at 10.

Anyone joining myself and Pezz shout up.

Tomorrow Pete has invited us to see some superior broughs…pics to follow.

So while discussing with the group when the monthly meet should take place ,young Pete offered the chance to join him and the Brough Superior owners club visit to a private collection in deepest Cheshire,not far from Macclesfield.

I jumped at the chance as these opportunities don’t come up that often and I am so glad I did.

The backstory is this guy,who is really interested in off road bikes and has competed in the Paris-Dakar, sold off his business for well over 200 mill and decided he was going to build a purpose built two floor man cave and fill it full of bikes!!!! I took loads of photos,here is a brief impression of the place. Pete is going to see if he would open the doors for the ukmoc in the future…..now what numbers should I pick for tonight

Starting outside with a familiar bike,

IMG_1019 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

Pete eying up an Indian while I am trying to figure why the asking price for this Brough Superior is 320 k .

IMG_1039 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

Biggest man cave I have ever been in!

IMG_1026 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

Some rare stuff in here,the Suzuki rotary!

IMG_1065 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

And a Harley aermacchi…….

IMG_1053 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

Finally for now at least, MHR

IMG_1023 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

….I am not talking about Friday night expectations down at the local here!

So the scene was set for Pezz and I to head off into North Wales for a much needed catch up and get some miles in that sadly have been lacking so far this year. Blackadder had a replacement tank in place and was ready to blow away the cobwebs.

A scenic route chosen and the meet was agreed as Starbucks, A5117.

IMG_2606 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

I rolled into the Bp garage a few minutes before 9:30 and as I was filling with BP E5 ,Pezz rolled into Starbucks. Fuel in, I parked next to Pezz and the look of concern signalled all was not well.

Somewhere between his fuel stop in south Liverpool and Starbucks his Ducati performance fuel cap had decided it was time to part company with the 2019 bike of the year and bugger off…..leaving Pezz with no fuel cap.

A visit to the garage on foot and a foam filled chamois was the best that could be bought to fill the resultant orifice.

Time for a round of flat whites then on our way, rain forecast later in the day so we needed to get a wiggle on.coffee downed it was time to head off, except Blackadder decided not to start. Check the usual suspects, nothing. Ignition on,prod starter button,brief noise then nothing,nil,zilch,nada……..

I even walked over to the pump to see if I had filled with diesel…..nope all good. Try again, nowt ! Surely the battery had not gone flat in the time it took to drink a coffee…..could it? Tank lifted,connections inspected everything good. Still nothing. Kept my thumb on the starter , Blackadder fires up like nothing had happened! WTF .

So two bikes ,both not 100 %, do we risk Wales and I can’t fire up BA, Pezz was already thinking doing twisties with the potential of fuel spilling out of the tank every time he left vertical was a risk, Blackadder starting issue brought about a dose of common sense, back to chez Mike for bacon butties,Wales will have to wait until another day.

IMG_1115 by Mike OConnor, on Flickr

Resultant distance Pezz and I have ridden together this year……8 miles ! Oh and back on the drive BA has started on the button every time…… oh the joys of Ducati ownership

Until next time, maybe some pics of Wales, I am off to use some fuel….wish me luck.

[Mr Gazza]

I think someone up there might have just saved you from some terrible cataclysm in Wales today.
Stay safe and ride out the little irritations..

[Luddite]

Glad you didn't get stranded, Mike.

The fact that BA fired up after you lifted the tank makes me wonder if you've got that old bugbear of intermittent connections where the wiring feeds through epoxy into the fuel pump. Did you hear the pump priming when it failed to start?

[adie851]

I say chaps...lucky escape...forecast rain around 16:00hrs.....sorry to hear you had gremlins with the bikes....keep 'em runnin boys...more miles the better.....

[adie851]

Like the mancave.....750GT , now that's a cool bike....

[adie851]

a couple of cool Hailwood reps.....one modern classic one original .....

Hi Vince, yes I did. I will check the connectors ,just got back from Halfords with a siphon pump,first job get the tank empty! Don’t want to ruin this one with ethanol!

[Luddite]

Originally Posted by Moco1961

...first job get the tank empty! Don’t want to ruin this one with ethanol!

Are you in one of the "deprived" areas of Northern England that can't get ethanol-free Esso Synergy Supreme+ ?

From Esso - quote: "Although our pumps have E5 labels on them, our Synergy Supreme+ 99 is ethanol-free (except, due to technical supply reasons, in Devon, Cornwall, North Wales, North England and Scotland)."

Good point Vince! I was thinking North West was a different location to North England…..be interesting to see how esso have split the country!

[Luddite]

Get yourself a gallon of Synergy Supreme and test it for ethanol - you might be lucky!

http://www.ukmonster.co.uk/monster/s...d.php?p=598369

[Pezz]

Well that was one mad morning - whilst annoying as it was with the daft bike failures seeing you for a much-needed catch-up Mike was still great. The bacon butties were a lovely bonus. Let's try again in a couple of weeks - the route for the ride looks great - I've done the Bala/B road part a few times but the other way round its a good set of roads.

[Darren69]

Originally Posted by adie851

Like the mancave.....750GT , now that's a cool bike....

I think it's actually a 750 Sport or a replica and very nice.

[Mr Gazza]

No, it's a very real 750GT beside the grey door in the second photo.
I still don't own one..