CAMPING CH&IRS
words by Andrew Ross, images by Barry Lang
As the clouds of war gathered in mid-September, the CH&IRS decided it
was safest to head for the hills. Unfortunately they got the wrong hills
and ended up in the Cotswolds, not the Chilterns, and as someone pointed
out, this was pretty near to the Brize Norton RAF transport base - not
ideal if the intention was to get far away from potential military
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We decided what we needed was some up to date military kit, so we headed
for F2 Motorcycles, purveyors of fine Russian (and Chinese) motorcycles.
These look great and would no doubt intimidate any opponent into passive
submission. Chief purveyor says that he personally rebuilds every new
engine before the customer receives it - designed in the 1930s, built in
Russia, finished in Banbury. However the big Chinese 750 sidevalve takes
the biscuit for me.
The writer has some personal experience of a Russian sidecar (the
somewhat lighter Sports version - I am not sure if it is obtainable any
more) and can speak for their virtues and vagaries when attached to an
old MZ. I have also heard that the modern day Urals can cover many
thousands of miles relatively trouble-free in the right hands. They are
designed for pottering around on poorly-made roads, so it is no surprise
if they fall apart when ridden at full throttle for long periods in our
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The first camp of the CH&AIRS also happened to coincide with the
Charlbury Street Fair. We nearly became the first people to visit
Charlbury and fail to find the Street Fair, but we eventually did locate
it, had a burger and a pint, enjoyed some quite good Pogues-like folk
music and admired a rather small number of carnival floats. Barry, who
came along so that his very clean GTR outfit would make other
participants feel inadequate about their machines, took several rolls of
film, and definitely looked the part with his tweed cap on backwards. |
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This was also the first camp for Comrade Teamleader's new (well, rather
old actually) BMW outfit. This bike, we decided, definitely has
potential - potential not to break the wiring in the headlamp, potential
not to have a fuel leak, not to break the mudguard stay and not to
skitter around all over the road. Oh and potentially it could have
indicators. Potentially a good outfit. Steve went home clutching the
Perseverance in the Face of Adversity Award (or would have done, if
there had been one).
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So by the end we had survived our first Club event, war seemed not to
have been declared, and we resolved to do it again. Anybody know a good
camping venue perhaps nearer the Club's Chiltern heartlands? Or indeed
somewhere that could serve as a winter venue for a cheapish
hotel/bunkhouse type event?
More images from this event and many other sidecar images can be viewed at
threewheels-uk.com
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