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Moped Chariddy Enduro! Ok so here goes. Some
mopeds lined up, went round and round for a couple of hours, and
somebody won……….oh and some didn’t finish!
Not much of a race report really is it!?.
 Well
working on the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words,
I’ll try again, but this time starting with the photo of me carrying
the bike back to the pits.
To answer Ray’s question in the caption, Yup it broke down! However
that’s not half the story. I think it’ll be much more interesting to
explain how we, that is, the bike and myself, and riding partner
Gray Yardley actually got to that point;
As soon as the idea of a charity moped enduro was
discussed I was well up for it. It was something that I had wanted
to do for ages, and the initial discussions suggested that it was
going to be more of a fun thing than anything else, and hopefully
raise a few bob for charity in the process.
I have to go back a bit first to explain my interest. For
quite a few years now I have had the daft idea of carrying a bike,
probably a 125 road racer, around the Mallory Park racetrack in
Leicestershire. I thought it was a great idea myself. It’s always
difficult to come up with new ideas to make people take an interest
in a good cause, and the sight of some silly sod carrying a bike
around the track instead of riding it seemed a good one. I had it
all worked out too. A couple of mates including fellow TBEC rider
Chris Liddington, (384) would walk with me on my flying (!) lap,
both to help steady the bike if an adjustment became necessary, and
secondly, to collect any donations and loose change that could be
put into the two crash helmets that I planned to hang from the bike
so everyone could try and make it heavier (and harder!!) for me to
carry.
I planned a 125 because of it’s weight, (and my mate
used to race one), and Mallory park because it is only 1.37 miles a
lap, and the spectators are close enough to collect cash from. I
tried to arrange this at every level from a club race right up to
British Superbike Championship rounds, but you wouldn’t believe the
amount of red tape and insurance issues that blocked the way as a
result. I offered to sign any waiver going to make it happen but
finally called it a day a few years ago and put it down to a missed
opportunity…..and then along came Benington!
On the basis that I wasn’t particularly focussed on even finishing
the event, I bid on, and was successful, (as the ONLY bidder) on the
rat bike from hell that was a DT50 Yamaha of indeterminate vintage,
It was advertised as stolen / recovered from a breaker in
Bedfordshire who was prepared to give proper receipts. This was
important as there’s no way I’d ever buy anything potentially dodgy,
particularly with bikes as I refuse to give a market to the thieving
scum that tries to deprive us of our beloved steeds.
Collecting the bike was interesting in itself!! The first thing that
I noticed was the word “SCRAP” painted on the seat in big white
letters. Next I was advised that the mole grips that inhabited the
space where the gear lever should be were not in fact included in
the sale price!! In fairness the lads at the yard were dead straight
about it and offered me a money back guarantee if I wasn’t happy,
especially as it was for a charity event. They were on an approved
supplier list from the local police to dispose of recovered bikes
that couldn’t be identified, and as this one was bereft of reg
plate, and engine and frame numbers, it landed in their yard, where
they had enjoyed wobbling around the back field during sunny lunch
breaks.
I never touched the thing for at least three months, never even
started it! My only plan was to make it safe enough and quiet enough
to pass the (hopfully?) relaxed scruitneering before the event! It
did start when I bothered to try it and that was pretty much it
apart from buying a gear lever and some new mudguards. Having never
bought any Yamaha spares before I didn’t have any contacts so while
I was reading through my Classic and Motorcycle Mechanics Magazine,
I saw an advert for New old stock Yam spares from a place called
Motolink (01526 344443) The guy there (Keith?) was excellent and the
service is worthy of a mention.
While I’m dishing out the Thanks, I must also mention Corby Kawasaki
who donated a used front number plate and some race numbers when
they heard that it was for charity, and they had stopped laughing
long enough after hearing of my plans to try and get two hours out
of this mobile shed!
All was going well until riding partner Gray started to look like he
was up for more than a couple of minutes of fun and paid the full
entry fee himself! (Thanks mate!). I thought the best that I could
do would be to try and make it go as long as possible that he’d at
least got to ride it for a bit before it’s expected demise!
I picked up new throttle, brake, and clutch cables and got the
spanners out. Why did I bother? I kid you not it just got worse and
worse. None of the cables could be used because the bloody thing was
so ancient that all the fittings were different. On removing the
great blob of masking tape from the middle of the old throttle
cable, I was faced by THE biggest bodge of all time.
In an effort to effect some sort of link between twistgrip and carb,
three bits of cable had been “joined” by two electrical block
connectors with two beer bottle tops acting as stops, and held apart
by 3” of 10mm copper pipe!! Excellent!!
The oil pump cable also had a different fitting as did the carb end!
Every time I touched something, it fell off. In the end I just
refitted the original one cos it kinda worked ok. The gear lever was
“fitted” with the help of a large blunt instrument, as the splines
that once lived on the shaft were just a fond but distant memory. I
wasn’t able to swap any of the new cables I had bought!
In an attempt to scrape through scruitneering I set about the half
dozen or so bent and broken spokes in the back wheel with a mini
grinder. There’s no way the wheel was coming off as I had no idea of
what I’d find. I ignored the hole rusted through the swingarm brace,
and the fact that the head bearings didn’t!! Fitted the new
mudguards and crossed my fingers.
I was a little more confident approaching scruitineering when I saw
some of the others, and as it turned out, despite the derision, my
little ,ped last longer than team scruitneer, (admittedly not by
much though!)
Gray said that there was no way he was going out on it first, so I
hung around at the back of the pack of athletes waiting for the
sprint start.
Off we went and the new gearlever lasted one gear change before it
hung limply towards the ground. It wouldn’t pull me in second anyway
so it was a case of just leaving it in first and revving it.
Couldn’t possibly last long could it?! Two laps was all that I dared
to try before handing over to Gray. He perfected the technique of
changing gear with his hand to make it work, I just didn’t bother.
We carried on in the fine fashion, holding our mid-field place until
32 minutes into the race. What little compression there was before,
(you could start it with your hand too!) had also disappeared, and
no more life was t come from my old shed.
Typically I was at the far end of the course, so I asked a couple of
disbelieving on-lookers to help get the bike on my back for her
final moment of glory.
I decided to carry it past the pits and on to the transponders so I
could tag in for that last lap, and have to admit to giggling most
of the way with the laughs and photos and encourageme3nt of the
spectators.
Excellent fun!
I think we will see many more entries above this years 13 teams as
everyone was enjoying themselves so much, and all wanted to be part
of the action. It was pretty cheap to do and a real hoot, so come on
guys and girls, dig those old Honda Melodys out of the garden shed
and have a go”! What else are you going to do with them??
So maybe not a thousand words, but hopefully a little giggle to
explain the photo.
Thanks to everyone who joined in, or even just came along to
support. I don’t know what the final figure raised is yet, but I’m
sure Dave will be letting everyone know via the web site. Thanks
also to young Zak who sold over £200 of raffle tickets on the day,
and also to Dean’s girlfriend Becki, who having won the generator in
the raffle, donated it to the auction and raised another £70 for the
pot. Dave and I managed to up the total by another £40 by chucking
our practice passes in too as it was for a great cause, (and also
because I had picked out my OWN winning ticket from the pot), and a
final big thank you to all the people who donated the prizes.
The day ended with a successful AGM and raffle, and a presentation,
although I’m not allowed to mention it, no siree, not at all. Nope.
No celebrations or anniversaries or significant numbers am I
permitted to disclose. Not even if you speculate about names and
events and link them to the circulation of nice sticky cake in the
marquee can I comment, Nope. Mr Roberts has had very clear
instructions about that which he has made sure I have understood!
Actually he was threatened more than once on the day. It seems that
the normally placid Ms Carver took exception to the Chairman’s
antics and came over all maternal and protective when the smaller
Carver, No not Ray, Ok then the YOUNGER Carver was deprived of his
moped keys as our Chairman launched them into the next field.
Apparently Dave came off a lot worse despite being cleared to cheat
at the riders briefing by Andrew Childs! (I wouldn’t argue with
her!!!) No wonder Dave was twitchy about getting another helping of
Sonia if we mention her Bidet. (I’m pretty sure that’s what he
said……………………..)
Dan #15 |
