All the gear

vibrac

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My wife got my old wax Belstaff jacket and trousers repaired cleaned and re-proofed for Christmas, (now there is a lady who knows the way to my heart) they had sat outside on top of my old grey fergie in the lean-to for twenty years since the Ramblers stuffed my local green lanes. So this weekend was the first proper VMCC ride out (sadly the Vincent is a week or so away) not much rain in the offing so I wore them. Boy! how light they are! how neatly they fit round my Altberg boots! what a joy in the WC: an elastic waist! and putting gloves on and off a doddle.
But best of all gone are my aching shoulders and back. I may not always wear them especially when on a modern fast bike and heavy rain. But in period they certainly are a re-discovery.
 

vibrac

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Translation, please
BOATS or RUPS or Green Lanes (byways open to all traffic) Thanks to pressure from the ramblers association and other groups have been reduced untill only 2% of the unsurfaced roads in UK remain, Some local authorities like Cambridgeshire have been fair and reclassified some as open to motorcycles (realising that a trials tyre does no more damage than 4 hooves) and not 4x4 (which do most of the damage) but basically the mileage is so reduced that it is no wonder that some take to illegal riding and thus compound the problem. I used to live on the Chilterns and would ride regularly with Ron Kemp and others every winter Sunday
Alas no more, one of the reasons I moved was the hordes of ramblers who would arrive from the suburbs in their cars and then verbally or in some cases physically accost locals on legally accessible tracks on road equipped trail bikes silenced, taxed and driving with care. The horse riders had similar encounters with them and on some occasions supported our claims, (Steve D you who have special trails for offroading in the land of the free .) You have made me get on a hobby horse ..sorry
 

Bill Thomas

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My wife got my old wax Belstaff jacket and trousers repaired cleaned and re-proofed for Christmas, (now there is a lady who knows the way to my heart) they had sat outside on top of my old grey fergie in the lean-to for twenty years since the Ramblers stuffed my local green lanes. So this weekend was the first proper VMCC ride out (sadly the Vincent is a week or so away) not much rain in the offing so I wore them. Boy! how light they are! how neatly they fit round my Altberg boots! what a joy in the WC: an elastic waist! and putting gloves on and off a doddle.
But best of all gone are my aching shoulders and back. I may not always wear them especially when on a modern fast bike and heavy rain. But in period they certainly are a re-discovery.
Not always the best gear !, Many years ago at a Devon Hill Climb, There was a storm, So we all jumped in my lovely Mk10 Jaguar, Nice Leather seats !, Trouble was one of us, Dear old Malc Malandane had a Wax suit on !!,
Cheers Bill.
 

Bill Thomas

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Good one Ron, The Jag was my towing car for a time, 90 mph towing , No Trouble.
11 to the Gallon became a problem, It was when the cost of petrol shot up.
I took my Blue twin down there to race, But on the start line found the oil pump had worn out.
Long drive home !, But on the way home, Found Brother Ron at the side of the road, His "A" Twin had packed up, So we turned my single trailer into a two bike trailer !!, What a day !.
Cheers Bill.
 

TouringGodet

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Ah, Byway Open to All Traffic, or Road Used as a Public Path, thanks
 

ClassicBiker

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BOATS or RUPS or Green Lanes (byways open to all traffic) Thanks to pressure from the ramblers association and other groups have been reduced untill only 2% of the unsurfaced roads in UK remain, Some local authorities like Cambridgeshire have been fair and reclassified some as open to motorcycles (realising that a trials tyre does no more damage than 4 hooves) and not 4x4 (which do most of the damage) but basically the mileage is so reduced that it is no wonder that some take to illegal riding and thus compound the problem. I used to live on the Chilterns and would ride regularly with Ron Kemp and others every winter Sunday
Alas no more, one of the reasons I moved was the hordes of ramblers who would arrive from the suburbs in their cars and then verbally or in some cases physically accost locals on legally accessible tracks on road equipped trail bikes silenced, taxed and driving with care. The horse riders had similar encounters with them and on some occasions supported our claims, (Steve D you who have special trails for offroading in the land of the free .) You have made me get on a hobby horse ..sorry
Yes there are. The tree huggers try and get the OHV (Off Highway Vehicles) banned, but they run into stiff opposition. In fact where I live just north of Detroit it the illegal off roading brought to everyone's attention that the nearest trail system was a 3-4 hr drive north. So the next county (Oakland) over has developed an OHV park for everyone to use. First one in something like 25 years. Set to open later this summer. There used to be loads of places to ride around here, somewhat illegally when I was a kid, but it has all been developed. There used to be open fields all around. We would go screw around for awhile, the cops would show up, make a show of chasing us off, or would wave us over and tell us to go home and not come back for a couple of days. The fields that were near the factories were most likely to be cop free as long as we kept our distance from the car parks. All gone now, houses, strip malls, and industrial estates everywhere.
Steven
 
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