Stafford classic bike show
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2012 4:16 pm
Not exactly a ride report, although I did ride there, and back again.
Free admission to the slightly boggy field that they use as a car/bike park, then £12 to get in to the show itself. No complimentary sidestand puck so hope you remembered your own.
Show absolutely rammed. Huge amount of tat, sorry - valuable autojumble, to browse though before you get to the handful of interesting bikes, which to be fair were very interesting. Some nice race bikes, TZs, BSA Rockets, Michael Dunlop's XR69 Suzuki, and others. Curiously fascinating selection of 50cc GP bikes, Kreidlers and the like, unbelievably small, fantastic engineering. Not much in the way of BMWs, though there was a nice K100 race bike.
Cups of tea averaging out at £1.80 per cup, so I went thirsty. Having forked out £12 to get in I would have expected a complimentary cup of tea at the very least, maybe even bone china. But then I also expected tarmacadam to park on.
No marshalling of the bike park so arrived back at the bike packed in with no obvious exit route. Fortunately I arrived back at the same time as the group around me so it didn't deteriorate into a scene from a Norman Wisdom film. Exit out onto a main A-road and no marshalling on the exit and with vision partially obscured by 'car park' signs so you chance your arm joining the traffic with muddy tyres. How I laughed.
Not a bad day out but not really worth the money but I suppose you can say the same about all these shows. I think the combined classic car/bike show at the NEC would be a better option. Having said that, I've seen a better selection of bikes for free at the local VMCC run!
Free admission to the slightly boggy field that they use as a car/bike park, then £12 to get in to the show itself. No complimentary sidestand puck so hope you remembered your own.
Show absolutely rammed. Huge amount of tat, sorry - valuable autojumble, to browse though before you get to the handful of interesting bikes, which to be fair were very interesting. Some nice race bikes, TZs, BSA Rockets, Michael Dunlop's XR69 Suzuki, and others. Curiously fascinating selection of 50cc GP bikes, Kreidlers and the like, unbelievably small, fantastic engineering. Not much in the way of BMWs, though there was a nice K100 race bike.
Cups of tea averaging out at £1.80 per cup, so I went thirsty. Having forked out £12 to get in I would have expected a complimentary cup of tea at the very least, maybe even bone china. But then I also expected tarmacadam to park on.
No marshalling of the bike park so arrived back at the bike packed in with no obvious exit route. Fortunately I arrived back at the same time as the group around me so it didn't deteriorate into a scene from a Norman Wisdom film. Exit out onto a main A-road and no marshalling on the exit and with vision partially obscured by 'car park' signs so you chance your arm joining the traffic with muddy tyres. How I laughed.
Not a bad day out but not really worth the money but I suppose you can say the same about all these shows. I think the combined classic car/bike show at the NEC would be a better option. Having said that, I've seen a better selection of bikes for free at the local VMCC run!
