Luke Stratton and I were WhatsApp’ing about what to occupy ourselves with during the Corona Virus pandemic and we came up with an idea to ask the BMCA brethren to put down some words about their life in trials. So I’ll kick things off, at the risk of having the mickey taken by the BMCA brethren over the next few seasons, here is my contribution:
Part 1
My Dad was always interested in motorbikes and he obviously transferred this down to me. He put together a field bike for me (it was an old Cotton I think with a Villiers 9E engine) and I rode that around for a while and we went to watch some trials, including seeing Sammy Miller in the Greensmith National on and around the Clee Hill (anybody remember Crumpsbrook?).
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- I got really interested in trials and progressed onto my first “real” trials bike – a Tiger Cub. Here is a photo of me on it in my very first trial at a Minsterley Club Trial in Shropshire in 1968 – aged 14.
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- My next bike was a 250cc Montesa MKII – the one with the big hubs. Nice bike – here’s me again at a another Minsterley trial…trying to keep the front wheel down!
Transferring from a 4 stroke to a 2 stroke was not without incident … I had quite a few “offs” before I got used to the lack of engine braking that I had been used to with the Cub. No helmets then of course and I remember that riding shirt as bright red and black stripes – boy did I stand out amongst the Barbour and Belstaff brigade!
Sadly my father died at 56 when I was 18, but I continued to ride regularly in ACU events – a mixture of road trials and club trials. Only in the winter of course – trials were not run in the summer – that was for scrambling (but not for me). I swapped the MKII for a 250cc Montesa MKIV – his bike had smaller hubs and more gears if I remember correctly. I clouted the gear change lever on a rock in a road trial on the Clee Hill, which if you know your Montesa’s, broke a tooth off the gear quadrant, so I had a very long road ride back to the start with only having 1st or 2nd gear to use! No pictures of me on that bike sadly.
Next came a Bultaco 325cc – after Martin Lampkin’s World Championship win, everybody wanted one, but a bit of a beast! Here I am on it at Fish Hill, near Broadway on another road trial in 1977 I believe.
If you look very closely do you recognise the guy walking up the bank? The trademark moustache should be the giveaway – it’s Mick Parkes!! Mick was Midland Centre ACU Champion in 1976 and 1977 on his DMW.
The Bultaco was a nightmare – really bad quality. The alloy petrol tank leaked from day one and I had to retire in one trial when the RH swing arm split completely in two where the side stand weld had failed…
I progressed to a Montesa 348 which was a lovely bike.
This is such a familiar story…. I got married in 1977, and in 1980 the first child arrived and with a mortgage, new family and only one income sadly I sold up and gave up trials completely.
Part 2
Fast forward to 2012… 42 years on…!!
One day I visited my sister in Bridgnorth, and got out of the car to hear the familiar rasp of a Tiger Cub. I investigated to discover my brother-in-law’s brother riding a Tiger Cub trials (which he had only just bought) round his garden so I went and had a chat…
Later I got a message to him via my sister to have the first option to buy, if he ever wanted to sell…. some 3 month’s later I got the call, and became the proud owner of another Tiger Cub Trials bike!
Around the same time I managed to retire early at 58 – wanting to punch people at work because of the stupid deadlines imposed on you was not a good thing (I did 40 years in IT). So I had plenty of time to sort out the bike and start to understand what awkward little buggers they can be… I then discovered the BMCA and went along to a training day at Shatterford…
Here’s me on it that day!! Note the extremely clean outfit!!
There I met Pete Reed and…. Mick Parkes!! After seeing me ride he said “You’ve ridden before” which was a real surprise after 42 years off a trials bike!!
I said to the memsahib “I plan to ride every other week” … so I started off with my first real BMCA trial at Earlswood on Sunday 7th October 2012 . I duly entered in the Clubman class thinking “I am going to set the BMCA world alight!!”. I came 14th out of 19 and had quite a few “offs” – my journey home was a bit subdued… Well the bug bit hard and every other week turned into every week….
Then I spotted a complete Tiger Cub on eBay as a potential for a second bike – with a square barrel motor this time, so I hitched up the trailer, went all the way to Essex and came back with Cub #2. By looking and learning what others had done, I did all the mods to end up with a nice bike.
Here’s me on Cub #2 at Wommerton:
Now we all know that Jim Pickering raised the bar on the Pre65 scene with the Drayton Bantam. I was very lucky to pick up a complete Mountain Cub engine from Andy Roberton who was having a clear out, so next thing you know, a Drayton Cub frame is on order.
After collection, I hid it in the shed and covered it up away from the prying eyes of the memsahib… At the rolling chassis stage, she came home one day to comment about the red frame…. I told her I had repainted it because it was looking tatty. Several weeks later she had obviously done a count up in the garage – “You’ve got another bike, haven’t you?”. You have to laugh!
The Drayton Cub is so good to ride, I built a second after buying a good donor motor off eBay: There is no known cure for Cub Mania allegedly… Although I did sell both of my early Cubs which was very painful let me tell you – but I am sure you know!
Me on Drayton Cub #1 at Bedlam:
That’s all brethren! I hope you enjoyed that and did not get too bored…
Keep safe & well and we will soon be back on the foot pegs – Cheers Kev