SPRING MOTORING

VINTAGE

Motorcycling with Rod Hann

APRIL ALREADY and a quarter of the year has gone by so soon. Still better weather and more events means greater enjoyment for us champions of the old vehicle movement. Time then to go out and use those vehicles but our involvement need not be restricted to pure use on the roads. For example during April my wife and I will be having a weekend on the Isle-of-Wight. We have made friends there over the years and this year I am helping with the judging at the Isle-ofWight Classic Motorcycle Show held annually at the Winter Gardens at Ventnor. A very social and pleasant weekend is assured together with meeting lots of enthusiastic owners and the interested public.

Nearer to home events are becoming more frequent. Starting with the Somerset Section they have their Cheddar Weekend on the 2nd and 3rd. Club night at Cossington on the 7th will be a guest speaker and from the 9th to the 12th they have the Twin Dragon Run which is a four day excursion into deepest Wales. Dorset start proceedings with their Blandford Run on the 10th from The Corn Exchange. Next on the 13th will be club night at Pulham which will be in the form of a guest speaker. On the 15th (Good Friday) they have the Hot Cross Bun Run (now that sounds like my sort of event) from the Recreation Ground at Okeford Fitzpaine. From the same location on the 24th will be the Bluebell Run and a good view of the Bluebell woods is assured with so many special locations near-by. The Wessex Veteran and Vintage Section have their club meeting at Silton Village Hall and this will be a guest speaker and on the 17th will be the Ken Blake Memorial Run also starting at Silton Village Hall. Ken Blake was a long serving member of the VMCC and a devotee of all early machines.

Both the Wells and Westland Classic Motor Cycle Club's have a full calendar of events during April so check their web sites for details. For everything else ring me on 01935-872528.

Three days of cold but dry and sunny weather brought thousands of enthusiasts to the Bristol Classic Bike Show at the Bath and West Showground at Shepton Mallet over the weekend of the 25th to 27th February. As usual in excess of one thousand machines were displayed and the standard of the exhibits was superb as always.

All sorts of rare oddities were on show so for this month's photo I have chosen a very rare bike indeed. It is a 1957 Sun Geni scooter. It is owned and has been restored by Dave Betteridge from Hampshire. It features a Villiers engine and under the bodywork it sports a strong tubular steel chassis. This model was made for a very short time, hence the fact that very few have survived. Looking resplendent with the trendy manikin behind it paints a very period picture of days gone by.

Sun as a company started in the 1880's making frame parts for the bicycle industry. Founded by F.E. Baker and Son the company soon started making complete machines but always seemed to concentrate on the smaller capacity bikes. Never a large producer in numbers they survived until 1958 before becoming part of the Raleigh group. This would make the featured machine one of the last made by Sun.

On the Headquarters VMCC club stand we showed a 1978 Honda CB750 Phil Read Replica. About 150 such machines were made to celebrate national and international race victories by Phil Read. He became a world champion and obviously very well known throughout the motorcycling communities. The machines were well regarded and been subject to fake copies having been made.

As it happened Phil Read attended the show and spotted the machine on display. He could tell that this was one of the genuine article so promptly produced a felt tip pen and autographed the petrol tank. Fearful of what the owner thought of this act I am glad to report that he was delighted with the signature so all was well.

The show was well presented and well attended. It is always very friendly and very sociable. Being the only major show held in the southwest of England it is important that it should continue for many years to come. I recommend it to all enthusiasts and suggest you already make a note to attend next year.

In the meantime let's all get on with some serious riding and above all enjoy this hobby of ours.

1957 Sun Geni Scooter.

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