Bristol classic bike show

[Phil Hyde]

shows

Easy to confuse negativity with reality. Even Stafford show can be dire. Provided the weather is fine the outside stands do save the day.

For those of a certain age Bellevue, Manchester, was actually quite good....

[greeves246]

bristol show

like phil said we need proper buildings clothes sellers and insurance have taken over the main hall messing up the display my feelings were colin and les did and do a fine job to the stand, and the owners of the bikes made a gargantuan effort and praze to all of them attending over the years !
and the amount of cake consumed there as well not mentioning any names .

SLEEPING:i used to use the pecking mill inn at evercreach but low pressure and bad meals high prices and cramped sleeping also clothing selling forigners took over my booking so i had to sleep in the van (but saved massive money) It was Cold in the special equipped lined midi bedford with air bed tv "very cold" i took my laptop and tv and brought chinese food from shepton mallet, in the end i hired a hertz van with higher roof (needed more room) other campers were good to me and allowed my noisy generator to run with a 700w 3 bar fire, into the night i had to top up the two stroke and it used castrol R

I slept fully dressed with bobble hat on (thin on top) in the morning it was cold always and having a shower in the morning was NOT for the faint hearted and as MORTONS were so tight they wouldnt put the heating on till the public came in and one day the water kept dripping on the bikes from the tent roof in the linking tent/hall .

I did like the dockside building they were better ! been going since 1988

Last image in my mind of the bristol show is me revving my 380 twinport and a policeman in the car park with one finger in one ear and a mobile phone out streched playing it to a fellow police man ! "he said hear that" to his friend on the phone lol never a quiet greeves for sure !

[greeves246]

shite lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuqry9SMjQM

Hi Phil,

I thought I would try not to be to negative, but yes it was cold and the faint aroma of sh1t was present as always.
I agree with you, Telford is an altogether superb event & superb venue.

Colin

[Phil Hyde]

shows..

Previous comments were in relation to show organisation companies. NOT members of the club who provide Greeves for our stands. Been there. Done that. Edited Leading-Link. Sold the T shirt. Never got round to the meat pie

[greeves246]

bristol show

Took it all the wrong way phil i was just paying homage to the people .

gary

[cray]

Yes just to make it clear the sh1t I referred to was of the agricultural variety (as you would expect) & no other implication was meant
ALL the club stands and the respective persons involved, have my utmost respect.
It is the general degrading of the show that I am whinging about, when you consider it's humble beginnings in Bristol, I think it was infinately better back then.
These are only my thoughts and in no way reflect on the valiant efforts done by all clubs & their members.
Maybe February is a bit to early in the year for this venue.

Colin

[Colin Sparrow]

Spent the weekend at Shepton Mallett. As classic bike shows go it was OK-ish, but it isn't up to its early years. At least they put the heaters on in our shed - they didn't last year.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, but that was because I spent most of both days talking Greeves to the procession of enthusiastic visitors to the stand.

So the sh1t was probably my bullsh*t..!

I think the point about having these shows in winter is very valid. Last year both Bristol and Telford were affected by snow, this year it's wind and rain. I felt quite sorry for the outdoor 'jumblers getting soaked, chilled and blown away. 75% of them didn't stay for the Sunday. Wonder why they don't have the major bike shows in summer?

I'm just crossing my fingers that we don't have snow for the Telford weekend; the Transit van doesn't like snow...

[John Wakefield]

Why dont we have bike shows in summer

Good point Colin, but I suppose its because there are so many other events on the that there would be clashes. The 'old' Motorcycle Show at Earls Court was always in the winter, but it was in a nice warm building, gave riders a chance to view the new models which they would hopefully buy & ride in the summer. Or just to collect the brochures!!

[Rob]

If I remember correctly, one of the reasons for a February Off-Road Show was to enable stocking up with bits before the season (watch out for D-Dick buying 2 doz handlebars, 20 footrests and levers in packs of 25!).

Telford is a good venue now they have finished the building work which has released more ground for parking.

It seems every year that the poor old jumblers get either blown or flooded out (not to mention the snow!). I think most of us make one trip outside, get frozen and stay indoors from then on. I believe Wrighty is moving things around a bit this year so it will be interesting to see what happens.

The main thing is that Morton's have not crossed his palm (yet?!) and 'collected' the show and wrecked it with sweets, jewellery and leather miniskirt (steady!) stands.

Those days at Bristol were great but then I suppose it was the early days of classic shows. The jumble was so packed with goodies, you never had enough money. I seem to remember the last time I went to Shepton, I couldn't find anything to spend money on.

Made it to one Belle Vue and seem to remember being rather poverty-stricken (may have been due to a house move?). Anyway, I spent a freezing night before sleeping in the car near Glossop and then blagged my way in as a Sotheby's van driver. Where there's a will..........

[John Wakefield]

Is Auto Jumble drying up

As I think may have been mentioned before, genuine new old stock (NOS) parts are drying up as most of the old dealers have by now cleared out the stores, sold up (or gone bust) & retired. The later jap stuff is also drying up as in later years dealers never stocked other than fast moving spares, most stuff (as now) is ordered direct on demand from the manufactureres central stores, so there are no stores to clear. Coupled with the fact that a lot of entrepreneurs (dodgy dealers) are sourcing poor quility pattern parts from China & India & flogging them at the shows. On top of this, eBay has also become an 'armchair' autojumble stall, so no need to travel miles using expensive petrol to search around in a cold wet field to find that bit to complete your Scottish, Hawkstone or Fleetwing, which you probably wont find anyway.

[greeves246]

brocures

i have a good story on brocures when i was 12 i went to the motorcycle show
birmingham and used to compete with my friend on who could get as many brocures as possible well over the years i kept the brocures and in 2006 i brought a 1982 YZ490J yamaha for £120 i though i have a brochure for that ? so went to the box in the roof and found the pamphlet !

Is there any flooding in kiddlington ? near oxford and have a canal running though it

Good point Colin, but I suppose its because there are so many other events on the that there would be clashes. The 'old' Motorcycle Show at Earls Court was always in the winter, but it was in a nice warm building, gave riders a chance to view the new models which they would hopefully buy & ride in the summer. Or just to collect the brochures!!

[Brian Catt]

Kidlington seems dry at present, or ignored because no rich people live there.....