Notes from earlier years can be seen with this link

Any section member having information for our section notes or an article for inclusion on this web site can

email me (Colin Atkinson) on btsc.moto@btinternet.com

July 2026.

At our club night of 28^th June we heard about the experiences of the section members attending the International Rally in the Netherlands. Reg and Janice and Graham and Claire made their way there by taking the ferry from Harwich while Roy, Dave and Steve rode down to the Eurotunnel terminal to take the train along with Dudley who was in his van, carrying the luggage and some spares as well as a supply of oil. Unfortunately for them the recent dry weather didn’t hold for the day they left and they spent the day riding through rain. Fortunately the weather improved from then on although just like back home it did get rather too hot at times, especially when wearing riding jackets and gloves while in traffic. They all enjoyed the rally and thought it was well organised but were not so in favour of the ‘sat nav’ way of running the ride-outs, feeling that some of the atmosphere of the rally was lost by doing it this way. However, with the increasing difficulty of gathering enough marshalls for doing them the traditional way it is understandable to try things this way. As our own party found though, files transferred and copied between sat navs do not always seem to result in the same routes being received by everyone despite the same file being sent to all it seems, which caused a few problems throughout.

During the rally Peter M, who was riding with them had trouble with the charging system on his bike, which stopped with a flat battery, but a battery swap with Dave got him running again while Dave’s bike charged Peter’s battery during the run. Later on Steve, who has had more than his fair share of bad luck with bike problems this year lost gear selection on his bike, which they were unable to fix while there. Steve’s bike was loaded on to Peter’s trailer and Peter rode his bike for the trip back to the tunnel while his wife Christine drove their van and Steve travelled with Dudley in his van. At the tunnel Steve then had to ride Peter’s bike on to the train for the run back. To their surprise the group then got split up on two separate trains, unfortunate especially for Dave whose riding jacket had been put into the van, which then went onto a different train, leaving Dave having to ride at the other end to their meeting up point in casual clothing, with a few comments from other motorcyclists on the train about his obviously Kevlar skin. Having all met up again in Kent the bikes were swapped over again on Peter’s trailer. Geoff G was summoned from home to collect Steve and his bike with Roy’s van. However he didn’t get far as Roy had previously (misfuelled I believe is the term) topped it up with petrol rather than diesel resulting in it soon going into ‘limp home mode’ and an awkward run back for Geoff. So Geoff 2 (Steve’s brother) was called and came down to collect him and his ailing bike. In spite of any problems though it all worked out in the end and everyone had enjoyed their rally.

June 2026

Following on from the breakdown problems on our previous two runs there was a continuation of misfortunes on our next run on 15^th April. Roy’s son Josh decided to accompany us on this run and as he followed Roy to the starting point he noticed that there seemed to be a problem with Roy’s bike, the speedo drive had seized up yet again, and the run hadn’t even started yet. So back home they went to get another of Roy’s bikes for the run, which having arrived back at the start it was noticed by those waiting that its rather soft looking tyres needed inflating somewhat. Fortunately Roy carried a miniature battery powered inflator with him so that problem was soon sorted.

Once that had been dealt with six of us headed off from Crown Corner led by Roy, heading via a roundabout route for Chigborough Lakes near Maldon. We had only ridden a few miles however when Steve pulled over with a flat rear tyre and a nail through the tread. So Roy’s ‘breakdown service’ was called into operation yet again and so Steve went off on the pillion of Roy’s bike to collect Roy’s van from Roy’s home and after returning and loading his bike in the back Steve then drove it and followed the run to our destination while Roy lead us on a now shortened route to get to the café not too long after our booked time. Josh, who sticks with new bikes, was somewhat unimpressed with the problems which are seemingly encountered on some of our runs, although to be fair a puncture could happen to anyone at anytime on any age of bike and there were no other problems encountered by anyone during the day.

With the recent good weather continuing we had another unscheduled run on 22^nd April. Although only five of us, Roy, Dave W, Geoff G, Lin B, and myself were able to attend this time we had an entirely trouble free run both ways and Roy’s bike now having had its rear wheel and speedo drive fixed, having found a missing spacer, was fault free this time. The only problem was that when we arrived at our destination of the day at Hanningfield reservoir it was absolutely packed out with visitors, including what appeared to be about four other motorcycle group runs and seemingly no chance of us getting served for ages even if we had been able to find seats anywhere. So instead Roy led us back to Stock, where we had refreshments at a cafe in a far less crowded setting, even if parking was a lot more difficult.

With five runs in quick succession taking advantage of the recent good weather we hope for many more like it during this year.

May 2026

The section run on 18^th March started from Crown Corner in fine weather with Roy, Geoff G, Steve C, Dave W, Reg G and Keith S intending to have a run out to Debden Barns Antiques, a place to where we have had several runs before. However it turned out that since our last visit the place had permanently closed to become a new playschool instead, so an alternative nearby destination was used. The run then came back via a different route. There were a couple of technical issues with bikes this time. Steve had a fuel blockage problem and Roy had an unusual problem with his clutch but a 20 minute or so stop managed to sort matters out and both bikes got back ok. Roy actually had a potentially more serious problem later when his speedo drive seized and fortunately tore itself away from its driving gear rather that the usual result of winding itself around the spindle and locking the rear wheel. In this case it didn’t seize for the usual reason that AMC bikes seem to suffer this problem but because it just ran dry. Annoying these bike problems might be but better that they happen now and get sorted rather than on the way to the ‘International’ in May.

On 8^th April we decided to hold an extra section run to take advantage of the superb weather. It didn’t start too well for me when the bike I intended to use refused to start and I had a rush to get out an alternative, which then needed fuel. I had just finished fuelling at the garage when I heard the sound of a single cylinder bike start somewhere. Looking round I saw Roy parked up in his van, off to pick up another bike, and behind it was Steve C who had just finished clearing a fuel blockage (or so he thought) on a different bike to the one he used on the last run. At Crown Corner Steve and I met up with Reg G, Dave W and Graham E. Graham led us off on a run around the Essex lanes heading for the preserved railway station and café at Rayne. Unfortunately only a mile or so along the road Steve stopped again with his fuel line so blocked this time that it needed a metal rod to push it all clear. Once it was sorted, thanks to Reg’s good tool kit, we had a really great run out to Rayne, only to find when we got there it was absolutely packed around the station area with cars parked all along the road for a couple of hundred yards. So instead we extended the run and ended up at Andrewsfield airfield, where we had a nice rest and lunch in the sunshine. Afterwards, Graham led us back by a different but just as interesting route, except for Reg who needed to go home by a different way. This turned out to be a bit unfortunate as he had the only decent set of tools among us. So when Steve had his 3^rd fuel blockage of the day we only had Graham’s minimal (and metric) tool kit to deal with it. Fortunately it was enough together with help from a few twigs found nearby to eventually get some sort of decent fuel flow and and hopefully would be ok to get back home. After we all split up to go our seperate ways and everyone was still running alright it wasn’t till our club night the following day that I found out that Steve only just made it with yet another blockage resulting him just making it back by coasting the last few yards, and Dave, who had dropped off to visit Roy on the way home blew a head gasket in a big way just a mile or so after leaving Roy’s and resulting in him having to put in a call for Roy’s ‘breakdown service’. Although we had a few problems on the day we still had a great run thanks to Graham and with fine weather as well what’s not to like.

April 2026

On Wednesday 26^th February we decided to have an impromptu section run on what promised, and turned out to be, the nicest day of the year so far. Roy led eight of us (Roy, Steve C, Ian S, Dave W, Geoff G, Lin B, Reg G and myself) away from Crown Corner, but only after Steve’s bike failed to start, or keep running to be more precise and had to be pushed to Roy’s home so that he could use one of Roy’s spare bikes. Roy then led all eight of us through Ongar and on towards Fyfield. Unfortunately amongst the traffic in Ongar Dave stalled and by the time he got going in the traffic he and Geoff had lost sight of those in front who had not noticed that they had lost part of the run. Eventually having caught up with Reg (as they thought) they followed him, except that it wasn’t Reg and they had unwittingly joined the run of another club. Still, they ended up only a few miles from Ashfield’s Country Club at Great Canfield where our run ended and arrived some 10 minutes ar so later after a phone call between Roy and Dave. We arrived at Ashfields to find that there was already a group from the BSA Gold Star club there, so the excellent weather had obviously encouraged other clubs to make the most of it as well. On the return run I led the way at first until we encountered a closed road and had to change our route. Ian then took over and found a route more or less similar to the route I had intended but with a couple of lanes that were new to me. After the return Steve, Roy and Dave worked on Steve’s bike at Roy’s and eventually got it running well with a new battery (Steve actually had a spare one with him but that was also too discharged to power the ignition) and carb’ rebuild. It had been an excellent run in fine weather.

The weather was not nearly as good on 4^th March when Roy, Steve and myself had a short run to the Grazing Station cafe at High Roding and back. This time though Steve’s bike started and ran well, although it still needs a bit of fine tuning of the carb’ to get it absolutely right. The day started with a little fog which was expected to clear, except that it didn’t and actually got thicker during the run, but fortunately never enough to cause us any real problems.

March 2026

Only two of our section went to the AJS & Matchless day at the Ace Café on Sunday 18^th January, Roy and Ian Savage. Roy reported at the club night on 22^nd January that although the temperature was a bit chilly it wasn’t bad and that there was surprisingly little traffic encountered on the usually very busy North Circular Road on the way there. There was a fairly small but reasonable attendance at the event, which included the president Andrew Stevens and a member who came all the way from Wales for the event, traveling up the previous day. The traffic had built up considerably by the time of Roy and Ian’s return run, so they stopped off at the High Beach tea hut for a refreshment break on the way. Roy made another trip to the tea hut and back on January 28^th to test run his just completed ‘bike of the year’, the one which he intends to use for all events this year.

On our 13^th February club night we had an Italian Meal night at The Woodman to celebrate Dudley’s 85^th birthday. ‘ Italian’ because that is what we know is Dudley’s preference. We were in the main room of the Woodman this time as our usual space was not large enough for the sixteen of us who attended. We sat down to a nice meal that also included a large chocolate cake baked by Roy’s wife Karen and we were joined later by Ian Savage for the evening. During the evening I learnt from Graham E that he had now finished the latest rebuild of the engine of his G15CS that has given him so much trouble. It has run statically for around 20 minutes without problems and he was now hoping to finally get everything back together again and get it properly run tested on the road before this year’s ‘International’ in the Netherlands.

February 2026

On Sunday 28^th December the weather was cold but dry when Roy led Geoff G, Steve C, Dave W and myself on a run through the lanes to our lunchtime stop at Rosey Lea’s café on North Weald Airfield where we met up with Reg (Harlow) Green and his son who had driven there by car. After a warming lunch break the run continued back to where riders peeled off at suitable points to make their own way back to their homes. As the weather since then has taken quite a downturn it seems that in this case we had chosen probably the best day for our run and it was good to get out on a bike for a run after Christmas before it turned really cold.

For our first club night of the year at The Woodman on 8^th January the weather was certainly different from that on the run as it was teeming with rain and the roads were awash on the way there while much of the country was awaiting anxiously to find out just how bad the approaching storm was going to be for them and the following morning’s news showed just how lucky we had been in this part of the country with just heavy rain to cope with compared with many other places that had been hit really hard. Despite the rain and roads ten of us attended and there was much discussion of who was going to be attending the various events and rallies of the year, starting with the Ace café meeting and extending to the International, the Sussex camping weekend, the West Kent Run and Jampot rally. With the weather as it is at present no section run has yet been scheduled but when it improves we hope to start having one or two runs earlier in this year than we usually do.

January 2026

The Section held our usual End of Year Dinner, arranged for us once more by Dave Walling, at The Plough, Bulphan on Saturday 6^th December. Our numbers attending were down on previous years this time, mostly due to medical reasons, which I suppose is only to be expected as we all get older. However the rest of us sat down to a pleasant meal and social evening.

During the evening we had the presentation of our two annual section awards, the section Clubman of the Year award for the section member having done the most to help the section during the year and the Piston Broke award for the person suffering probably the most bike related misfortune during the year, an award which none of us really wants to win and which I have now unfortunately won twice in the past. The Clubman of The Year award went to Roy Bellett, which surprised him somewhat as it was not what he was expecting. However it is difficult to arrange an award for someone who is involved in actually choosing the recipient without a bit of subterfuge and the award was well deserved. The Piston Broke award went to Graham Eaton for the trials and tribulations with his Matchless G15CSR over the year. Unfortunately Graham wasn’t available to receive it himself as he was ill and couldn’t attend, so it was accepted on his behalf by his partner Claire.

Subsequent to the dinner we had only two section events left in 2025, our last club night on 11^th December and our proposed section run on 28^th, both of which will have taken place by the time you get to read this. So it really just remains for me to wish you all season’s greetings and all the best for 2026, when of course we hope that all of our runs will have excellent weather. Happy New Year.

Colin Atkinson