Meet up point at Lymm

This year’s Thundersprint seemed to me to be one of the busiest Thundersprint events that I have been to.

The main sponsors this year were Knutsford Honda, and as they are heavily into supporting GoldWings we decided to assist with the GoldWing display that Eric Warburton asked for.

Accordingly at 8.30 am on Sunday morning Jan and I pulled into the car-park of the Lymm Truck Stop where it was arranged that members of GoldWings North West were meeting up for the short ride to Northwich and then into the Knutsford Honda stand.

The Knutsford Honda Stand

The security guy who stopped us at the entrance to the pedestrianised area came over and notified Stuart Ormerod that we would have to push the bikes to the stand. He was advised accordingly in no uncertain terms that if he thought that we were going to push 14 GoldWings about 200 yards he was on a loser. Shortly afterwards we rode majestically behind one of the marshals who was jogging ahead of us getting the pedestrians to move over for us.

We were soon parked up on the Knutsford Honda stand, much to the delight of Eric and his crew. Nigel, of course recorded the occasion for us.

GNWales Banner getting an airing

It was soon time for a walk around and have a look at the trade stands and the other stands that make up the Thundersprint. I saw that there were many bargains to be had if you were looking for clothing or new helmets. There were also plenty of other stands aside from those selling motorbike kit, and a few motorcycle dealers were present with a few of the latest batch of motorcycles.

There was also plenty of time to walk around the paddock and see the old racing motorcycles and some new ones, side by side. I was not so much interested in the racing bikes as I was in the other older cycles that seemed to be parked with them. Some of these were dream bikes from my youth. It was lovely to see them preserved and gleaming but also in use and not just museum pieces.

The girls were shopping and the boys were there to pay

The Knutsford Honda stand was located at the side of the access road for the racing circuit and all the riders had to queue right by us, pending their turn to enter the starting grid, this being due to the small queuing area by the grid.

We certainly had a great view of all the participating racers but as the day passed on, the sound of those racing cans and screaming two strokers began to wear us down.

Another walkabout was called for and I was able to walk around Northwich out of the town centre, where I saw many GoldWings parked up around the place.

By 3.30pm I had taken a full dose of Thundersprint and was ready to leave, along with some of the GoldWing riders from GNWest, but we were blocked in and couldn’t get out until the marshals said so, and they were talking of 5pm.

Start Line at the Action

This turned out to be the wrong thing to say to several GNWest riders who had some distance to travel and wanted to go. By 4.20 they were kitting up and were going to make a dash for freedom.

Luckily one of the marshals saw sense and made arrangements for the riders wishing to leave to be escorted by a runner again.

Hearing this Jan and I made the most of the opportunity to make a departure and joined the group who were leaving early, along with Nigel and Joanna.

At this point I became aware that Nigel had a problem and was looking for a garage with an airline as his rear tyre appeared to be low on pressure. We found a garage and as Nigel took measurements it became apparent that the valve was leaking air out. A check of the tyre showed no sign of nails in the tread, but when he went to put air in the valve was sticking and losing air again.

By judicious use of a penknife he eventually tricked the valve into working again and pumped it up to full pressure. We then took a slow journey home with Nigel leading with Jan and I following and keeping an eye on the tyre to see if it appeared to be deflating.

Luckily it held all the way home for Nigel and Joanna, and consequently the breakdown services were not required.

Photos of the event are available at the Thundersprint Bike Show album.

Dave T

Knutsford Honda Showroom

Knutsford Honda is a new solus Honda dealer situated on the A50 Road at High Legh and on Friday 5th June they held an open evening with buffet at their new premises.

Kevin and Sandra, Nigel and Joanna, and Janet and I went along for a look at the new premises and to see what was going on at this new premises, particularly as GoldWings were particularly welcomed by the owner.

There was an auspicious start to the ride in that it was raining and Nigel was riding. (yes folks, Nigel and rain in the same sentence). The ride was meant to be a check ride to see if the CB radios were working well ready for the holidays which are fast approaching. As soon as we were on the A55

Presentation by MCI

Chester Southerly a problem became apparent. There was not enough volume in the Autocom for me to hear the CB when I wear any type of earplug.

Another problem arose in that I lost power to my Sat-nay and to the instrument panel, which then reset and came up only to trip again. I switched off the sat-nav and things stabilised again.

We arrived at Knutsford Honda just after 6pm and were met by Eric and Shaun, who welcomed us in. We were the only three wings present. There were a lot of Pan-European riders present as well.

A big Scooter - perhaps Nigel should be sat on it, not me

After a lot of hellos and warm drinks, we were welcomed officially and then there was a small presentation by MCI tours who do escorted and unescorted motorcycle tours.

After some food from the buffet we set off back and the woes started again. We headed up to Lymm and joined the M56 bound for North Wales. Jan couldn’t hear anything and she was getting a worrying vibration through her right foot. She couldn’t tell me about it as it appears that her headset was not working. On top of that I could hear the CB and the Music but my microphone had stopped working.

Eventually I spotted Jan’s leg being held off the pedal and decided something might be amiss so I pulled off the motorway and when I asked Jan why she hadn’t told me about the

Eric with a customer

vibration I found out that she couldn’t speak or hear anything. Another headset issue to check when I get home! On checking the footboard I found that the handbrake lever had not been fully released and the footboard was in contact with it. Being hard fixed to the trike, it was transmitting vibration through the footboard and that’s what worried Jan.

Anyway we carried on home and on arrival at home Jan went to disconnect herself from the trike, i.e. the heated jacket and headset and found the headset wasn’t connected!. Mystery solved.

Further investigation showed that the sat-nav lead had a damaged wire inside. I’m now trying to locate a spare lead from somewhere, in time for going to Germany on holiday.

Kevin found the buffet! He's better than a tracker dog.

Morning around the Trade Stands

I have just returned from an excellent day at Northwich, the 2009 Thundersprint.

This event is a free event set-up to attract many motorcyclists to the Town Centre where there is a Parade and then the Thundersprint itself.

This is an arena where there is a short circuit set up for famous and not so famous riders to show off Old bikes and newer ones as well, racing against the clock on a short, but very interesting circuit on a car-park in the town centre. As usual for this type of event there are many traders and a fun fair for all the family. The event is like a big party atmosphere and having spoken with one of the organisers of the event, completely trouble-free. Perhaps the Police from other areas of the Country should contact the Cheshire Police to find out what Biker events are really like instead of giving very lame excuses in Court to prevent them taking place. (Hint-Hint North Wales Police).

Hmm.. that red-head looks a bit familiar.

From the amount of trade that the local shops were doing, I think the local economy was doing quite well, thank you!

It was nice to see a new Honda Dealer displaying bikes at the shoe, Knutsford Honda, who had arranged for GoldWings North West to set up a display of their bikes and trike. (See also the pictures that BigWing took on his visit to the showroom the other day- Photos ).

It was also nice to welcome the Rt Hon Hazel Blears MP to sit on one of the GoldWings.  Being a rider herself she did admit that she might be a bit too vertically challenged to be able to ride one though she did admire the comfort of the rider and passenger seats.

Yes... even those of short stature can ride one

It was good to see a few other makes of bikes on display for customers to sit on and I must admit to a hankering to have a go on the Victory 8 Ball. What a smart looking motorcycle and perhaps with a reasonably reliable engine. All that Victory need is the ability to sell snow to the Eskimos like a certain other American motorcycle company. They certainly appear to have the product to manage it.

One of the overriding memories of attending the Thundersprint for any ‘ mature’ motorcyclist must be the powerful and unforgettable smell of Castrol R Oil which pervades the air after the old racers have passed by on their way to the circuit or on the parade. Brings back memories  to me straight away of the I.O.M.T.T.  races in the late seventies and Creg Na Baa looking up towards  Kates Cottage.

There were some awesome bikes on the Parade that I saw and the sounds they made was like music to many of the watching crowd, though I must admit I thought they were quite noisy after my GoldWing.

Many interested people checked over the Wings

The crowds in the morning meant that I was able to get around the trade stands quite easily and I managed to pick up some bits for my Wing to smarten it up a smidgen. By lunch-time the numbers had risen and it was quite hard work to get anywhere in the Thundersprint area.

If they hold another Thundersprint event next year I will not be missing it. It will be marked on my calender at the very first mention of dates so that I dont book any holidays away during that time.