March Newsletter

We had a fine sunny but still cold winter's day for the February meeting. Eleven members turned out of which five were on bikes. We also had one new member attending; George Ormiston from Newtongrange. George is also a member of Border Classics and has a 1962 T100 and a 1968 Trophy Saint. Bo and Timmy brought along another prospective member, Dave, who arrived on a Speed Triple.

The main focus of the meeting was Alan Paterson from BikeSafe Scotland who gave his talk on safe riding. Bike Safe is a joint 5 year commitment by all the Scottish police forces and various biker organisations to safer riding.

This will be its fifth year and thereafter they will be considering what happens next. So you can still get a free riding theory class followed by a 2 hour rider assessment riding with a trained police motorcyclist for free this year. They will have a stand at the Scottish Motorcycle Show so go along if you are interested in finding out more.

Alan is a trained police motorcyclist, had attended a lot of bike crashes, and had loads of advice. His top three tips were:

(1) Your speed coming into a corner should allow you to stop by the "limit point" - which is the point where you see the inner and outer verges converge:

(2) Gear selection should be that which brings your revs into the mid point of the rev range for the corner speed - this gives better control through engine braking and with acceleration response if needed:

(3) Avoid "target fixation" and look where you want the bike to go. Good advice.

Ian Dunlop came along with the Runs Trophy, so it is now in my safekeeping and back in circulation for best attendance at runs this year. And to wet your appetites I am also attaching the route details for the first three runs this year and for the Summer Camp.

A complete itinerary for the Summer Camp with meeting places etc. will follow later in the year. The first run is attached to the 25 April meeting at Leadburn. So get those bikes taxed and fettled and come along.

The next club meeting is at Horsemill on 28 March. Before that I am going to the Scottish Motorcycle Show at Ingleston (13/14 March), I'll be there on the Sunday, so perhaps I will see you there. Tom.

PS. I have had a number of calls from members and prospective members. If you can help then give them a call.

Douglas Nicholson (Tel: 0131 476 6000) from Edinburgh is looking for leads to any firm / enthusiast who could help him with moderate restoration work on a 1978 Bonny. He is keen to spend some of his Christmas bonus to get some help! Is anyone out there interested or got contact details for Grin or other Triumph specialists who would probably take this on.

Tom Lane from Moffat is renovating a 1959 Triumph 21 to concourse condition and is looking for assistance on the supply of original Triumph paint colours - he is hunting for a particular Triumph stock light blue colour. I have put him in touch with the central Triumph library resource but if you know of somewhere local then let me know and I will pass it on.

Bob young sent a reminder that the Scottish Classic Motorcycle Show is at Centrum Arena, Prestwick Toll, by Ayr on Sunday 20 June from 10.00 to 4.00. Looking for support and suggested we might like to organise a run or create a club stand. We will gauge interest at the next meeting.

Derek McIntyre has details of the Scotland North Branch Summer Camp which they are holding in Skye. If you want details then contact me and I will forward an e-mail attachment for this. Or I can print it and send it by post.

For details of the runs see events page.