VMCC 75th Anniversary Cadwell Park

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Tomorrow I will be riding up to the Vintage Motor Cycle Club 75th Anniversary Show at Cadwell Park on my 31 year old FZ750, camping over night and travelling back on Sunday.

Last night I rummaged round the garage and found a pair of throw over panniers nearly as old as the bike, spent a couple of hours faffing about with attaching them to the bike only to decide the best answer was a couple of bungey cords, so I'll be touring 80s style, taking tent and sleeping bag, everything else can be bought or isn't needed.

I'll be riding up an interesting, rather than direct route.

Photos to follow as I've now worked out how to reduce the size of photos on my phone.

[Tricky]

It's the annual Ixion 2 dayer TD there yesterday and today, unfortunately I just couldn't do it this year , would have been so good to catch up with a fair few of the old boys, and of course on God's own racetrack (well, it's my favourite anyway )

Hope the weather is kind to you and the rain stays away

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

My mate was at Cadwell yesterday, he usually does the Ixion days on his Lawson Replica Kawasaki

I think it will rain overnight on Saturday/Sunday, if it's too bad I can go to mother in laws who lives 30 minutes from Cadwell.
I'm looking forward to having a bit of an 80s style bike weekend of chucking the minimum amount of stuff on the bike and camping.
Though it does help I've got at least 2 mates that are taking vans who'll ply me with food and beer.

And Cadwell is my favourite track, but VMCC want too much money for track time, I'll just be watching, helping and taking the piss.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

An interesting evening, came home from work early as I wasn't happy with how the throw overs were strapped to my bike, decided I'd make my own pannier frame as amazingly no one in Ipswich had a rack for a 30 year old bike that was never popular in the first place.

So had a look at what I had in the garage suitable for making a mount, some Meccano type steel as it happens, the idea being that the pillion seat supports the weight and side spars keep the panniers away from the bodywork, a small amount of thought and metal bending and the MK1 FZ throw over mount was created

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[Le_Fromage_Grande]

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[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I decided this was a bit flappy so I made the version 1.1

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Looking a lot like a 1980s proddie racer I mounted my panniers

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[Le_Fromage_Grande]

All of this took 3 hours of faffing about, so I came in at 8pm, had my tea and then noticed I had a Facebook message, the person organising the FZ stand at Caldwell can't make it, so there's no point me staying overnight, I don't need any luggage now I'm just going for tomorrow, so luggage removed from bike.

I was seriously worried it wasn't strong enough, so I'm pleased I don't need to carry luggage, but the idea is very sound and I'm going to make a stronger version for future use.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I went, and now I'm back, lovely ride across Norfolk on empty roads, not so good a ride across Lincolnshire for a few reasons, no.1, my chain went too slack and I could hear it hitting the swing arm when I was pulling away, the roads got busier, I missed a turning and ended up going the dull route via Sleaford.

Got to Cadwell at 10:00 found my mate Phil, adjusted my chain, wandered about, chatted to some more friends and before you know it 4.5 hours had gone.

Decided to ride home via Louth and the A16, chain wide everything felt fine until Louth when I could feel a vibration through the footpeg like the chain had a tight spot, the A16 was shit with traffic so I had to go slowish which made the chain feel worse, carried on, I figured I might as well and if it went wrong in a big way I'd call the RAC. Got caught in a rain shower just South of Boston, but nothing bad.
Once past Kings Lynn the roads were less busy and I could go faster which made the chain smoother.

Got home, there is a definite vibration and noise from the final drive, I shall investigate tomorrow, could be the sprocket carrier bearing has failed.

Photos to follow.

[KungFooBob]

Bloke from my bike club is there on his late 80's Rothmans NS250R for the weekend, I was thinking about going tomorrow on the GSXR.

[weeksy]

Oh, assumed you were doing the trackday

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Oh, assumed you were doing the trackday

No, the VMCC want too much money for how much track time you get. I watched some today and the fast group were pretty slow, though some of the bikes were older than me.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Bloke from my bike club is there on his late 80's Rothmans NS250R for the weekend, I was thinking about going tomorrow on the GSXR.

I think I saw the NS
So long as it's a decent ride from yours and you like looking at seriously old bikes, go.

[KungFooBob]

Cadwell is dead East for me, the roads are alright. I've been so many times I can get there with my eyes closed.

[Mr. Dazzle]

If there is a hell then it will an eternity driving around on UK roads.

I would say "you've never been to India". But a) you probably have and b) at least in India there's the adrenaline.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

My 3 hour each way ride was mostly on nice roads, some friends ride across from Bromsgrove and said it was boring roads.

My arse still hurts from 6 hours on an FZ750 seat, sod that crap about getting a small bike, I need a bike with a big seat for my big arse.

[cheb]

I reckon I could get to some terrible roads in 3 hours if I pushed on a bit. Not including the ferry, and it would depend on the season.

[Skub]

My 3 hour each way ride was mostly on nice roads, some friends ride across from Bromsgrove and said it was boring roads.

My arse still hurts from 6 hours on an FZ750 seat, sod that crap about getting a small bike, I need a bike with a big seat for my big arse.

Three words.

Padded cycling shorts.

[cheb]

https://what3words.com/padded.cycling.shorts

How does that help the Cheese?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

My 3 hour each way ride was mostly on nice roads, some friends ride across from Bromsgrove and said it was boring roads.

My arse still hurts from 6 hours on an FZ750 seat, sod that crap about getting a small bike, I need a bike with a big seat for my big arse.

Three words.

Padded cycling shorts.

Feck off, they're uncomfortable on a bicycle, the simple answer is don't ride for 6 hours, 3 is enough. Other answers are use a different seat or but another bike, both are preferable to wearing padded cycling shorts.