cuppa on the Downs.

Sunshine, a beautiful view and tea! What more could you ask for  we didn't have  chairs but we did have a couple of sacks of Chook feed so we improvised. This wasn't really a day out, but a Chook and Cat food run out to Winchester with a bit of a scenic detour and cuppa on the Downs.

Southampton & District MCC

Today was the first proper day out with Phoebe for us in a awhile, as last weekend was cancelled as we were both ill with a rather unpleasant bug. This morning was a quick run into town to pick up a few bits. I was nice to note that she is now running so much better after a fiddle with the timing and a new set of plugs. Back home for a spot of lunch and then off into town again to have a look in at  Southampton & District MCC's 70th Anniversary do and the opening of their new clubhouse by Murray Walker no less. Who at 90 is still quite entertaining and interesting speaker. Phoebe got the usual interested, amused, curious, and mildly horrified reactions and comments. We chatted to a few mates and met and chatted to a few other folk as we walked around the eclectic collections of bikes in the car park. We decided that we would take the plunge and join the club as A, they had a special deal on for membership (and we're cheapskates) and B, the club holds a social night on a Friday night with a cheap bar (told you we're cheapskates!). They also get involved in runs out, trials and racing events and a lot of other stuff so we thought it might do us to socialise abit. A very pleasant afternoon.
Lew

Communication Breakdown.

Just a quick trip into Southampton today so we decided to test-run the Android Intercom app we've both downloaded on our phones to see if a degree of 'bike to sidecar communication is possible. We'd already played with the app at home and it worked fine, but as we only have the standard headphones that came with the phones we weren't sure how it would cope with wind, road and engine noise whilst travelling. Soon found out... Lew's side of things worked fine - he could hear me with only a minimal amount of engine noise from time to time. From my point of view things weren't quite so good - any speed above about 10mph and the wind noise from Lew's mic sounded not unlike a Vulcan bomber taking off just behind my head! (and yes, I do know exactly what that would sound like having grown up under the flight path of Woodford Aerodrome, home of Avro, in the 1960s!) Of course this degree of wind noise made it totally impossible to make out what Lew was saying when he tried talking to me so it's back to the drawing board as regards our communication issues.
Never one to be deterred by the small difficulties life seems to throw our way, when I turned the app off and got rid of the deafening wind noise in my ears I thought I'd leave the ear-pigs (that's ear phones to most normal folk) in place to see how well they muted Phoebe's engine noise and all the other related cacophony I suffer in my sidecar. I quickly found that ear-pigs reduce everything to a much more comfortable level and make no difference to my ability, or rather total lack thereof, to hear when Lew tries to talk to me. I then decided to go one step further as said ear-pigs were still plugged into my phone  and turn my music player on. Bowling along in the sunshine with Phoebe's racket now reduced to a much more civilised level and Robert Plant gently singing in my ear, Bliss!  

Minstead Motorcyclists Social Night

Last Wednesday we thought we would have a run out to the Motorcyclists Social Night at Minstead Social club, in the New forest. Got home from work and after a cuppa and giving Phoebe a quick check over and pumping up tyres and such we set off for the wilds of the forest. Although its quicker to head down the motorway from ours we chose to go out through the villages along the A and B roads as this is what phoebe (and us) is happiest doing. Once through Romsey and over the A36 island we were in uncharted  territory. We found signs to Minstead eventually and follow them nearly to almost to Lyndhurst and them tuned off and crossed one of the gated and cattle gridded entrances to the Forest proper. The road wound through the forest for a few miles  passing the usual New forest Pony's and a few random cows, who seemed to take the sight and sound of a strange pink camo beastie rumbling and rattling  though their domain in their stride. Unlike Dogs apparently two of which Were straining at their leash and barking madly at use as we rounded a corner. Perhaps the took the low rumbling growl of Phoebes exhausts as a challenge, or it could just have been because they were Jack Russell's. After a bit more lovely New Forest scenery we arrived at Minstead. We could see the pub and village stores and other prominent village amenities.but no social club. I attempted to cheat and look it up on my phone sat-nav...and failed of course( so I'm a technophobe, the fact I ride a Ural should be a clue,so live with it.) Lou on the other had sorted it immediately  and efficiently and we were soon on our way down the narrow road out of the Village. After the first hundred yards or so we encountered a group of slightly surly pony's grazing on the hedgerow who eyed us suspiciously, but grudgingly moved over to allow us to pass. Fifty yards further on we saw another Big chestnut Pony/horse giving a car a hard time. the car eventually got by and it was our turn. This fella  meant business,not just surly but downright bloody nasty. We manoeuvred to go round him. he moved across to block us again, we moved again, so did he. We were now nose to nose with him, all rolling eyes and flattened back ears, him not us. Having grown up with horses I decided to call his bluff inching forward and using ancient horse whispering phrases like "Get out of the way you daft bugger!" this seemed to work and he stomped of to the side of the road and let us through. Arrived at the social club with no further incident, pulled in and got a few surprised looks from the crowd gathered outside a few people came over and chatted, a nice friendly bunch We ordered an excellent burger from the barbecue and strolled round looking at the bikes. some nice old Brits, some beautifully restored Japanese stuff and a good smattering of other makes as well. It did strike us that most of the people there were 50 plus old farts like us, a dying breed perhaps. Walked into the bar and ordered some tea. (wow aren't  we the wild ones.lol.) wandered round for a bit more then decided to leave. Oops, found we were blocked in the car park, but a quick word  with one of the organisers and we were soon on our way thanks to a couple of blokes kindly moving their bikes to let us out. Instead of heading back the way we had come I thought I'd go the other way and join back onto the A31, which we did......But heading the wrong way towards down a duel carriageway to Ringwood so after a mile or two I saw a turning back into the forest and took that as that seemed to be our best option. We came out onto a long road across one of the more open heathy bits of the forest. Phoebe's off road biased suspension came into its own on the undulating poor road surface and the lights were more than adequate to bowl along  at a fair clip.suddenly every thing lit up and I was convinced we were about to be beamed up by aliens! as it turned out Lou had switched the sidecars swivel mounted spotlight on, which was aimed just in front of the bike. With a bit of adjustment Lou got it aimed down the left side of the road well ahead of us, ideal for picking out errant wandering cattle and horses. I kind of came to the realisation that this was probably just what our Pink beastie  was designed to do i.e bang roads similar to, or worse this for miles across the wilds of Russia. we soon got back to civilisation and passed through a couple of small villages  the last of which was Minstead! fortunately, we didn't go past the social club as that would have been embarrassing. we returned back the way we come and did a raid on our local garage to get beer and food. A good little expedition as I've not really ridden Phoebe at night much and as a lot of sidecar steering and control relies on reading the road and anticipating the cambers. At night this becomes more difficult so some good practise was had.    

Caught up at last!

Well now we're up to date we will endeavour to continue to update on a more regular basis. we wont be recording every detail of Phoebe's exploits as she is our everyday Family transport,and that would get tedious. At present she doesn't get used for work very  much, but has performed that duty as well up until a couple of months ago ( I now use a works truck due to having to pick up and drop off service users)   which is giving me a chance to do some mods and repairs, which I hopefully will record here.These will not be in any particular chronological order as some are on going projects. Urals are kind of a blank canvas, that can be adapted to whatever your particular needs are. Some adaptations are necessary to get optimum performance PMSL!! due to them being built to comply with various emission laws which strangle such a primitive power plant. Others are to tailor them to carry and tow stuff or be able to deal with the environment or terrain they will be used in. We have also made modifications to improve the somewhat spartan, but practical ( ours is a Gear-up military model ) rider and passenger comfort. Watch this space as they  say.

Lew        

Popham

16/08/14

Had a lovely afternoon at the Motorcycle Mega Meet at Popham Airfield, met and chatted to some nice people, saw some smart bikes, bought a few goodies for Phoebe and was pleasantly surprised by the total lack of 'bolt-on attitude' there  

Lou

Collection of BMW and Zundapp outfits - Phoebe's 'great-grandaddies'  

Gorgeous Indian Chief  

This little beasty brought back memories of a miss spent youth. Suzuki T200 Invader. Lew

Kindred spirit

13/08/14

We Just returned from Romsey with Phoebe loaded up with oak planking like you do. as we were climbing the hill out of Otterbourne we heard Something interesting coming up behind us. A glance over my shoulder revealed a little blue Morgan sports car growling up the hill . As we pulled up on the motorway island to turn of to Eastleigh he pulled up beside us grinned and gave us the thumbs up, which I of course returned, he then roared of down the motor way. A nice moment, Who needs all that Traction controlled, fuel injected, electronic, crap to have fun. give me 1940's simple technology any time he obviously thinks so too. 

Lew

Tea in the woods

02/08/14

Ride out tonight through the local countryside. Nice brew-up tonight in the woods,after a bit of gentle off-roading to get there. (well gentle apart from the 12' bank with the 45 degree slope!) Phoebe took it in her stride, she handles better off road than she does on it lol      Lew

In the woods

Tranquility at Shawford Down

11/07/14

Early evening run out, ended up at Shawford Down to enjoy the views.

Lou

.Phoebe had to wait at the bottom of the hill though but Only because they locked the gate 

Lew

Farley Mount expedition.

02/07/14

After a very hectic and trying week or so we had a really nice Relaxing day today. started with a proper cooked breakfast this morning and then an excursion up onto the downs with Phoebe. A very successful trip I thought, Headed out with the intention of going up to Farley Mount. We managed to take the wrong turning and get lost on the little single track roads over the Downs and completely lose the mount.( yes we are that good we can get lost within 5 miles of home). On the upside we saw an Owl, Cows, Pigs, some beautiful countryside and I managed to get a fly zip in the side of my helmet and buzz round in my ear ( A bit disconcerting when your wrestling 3/4 of a ton of Russian Iron round gravely, twisting, narrow up and down roads, but it did add to the excitement). After a bit of backtracking we finally got on the right road, and after another fly in the helmet, not to mention eating a few. we arrived at Farley Mount, much to the surprise and horror of some very stuck up ramblers. they all jumped in their assorted cars buggered off at the sight of two crazy old hippies on a big pink motorcycle. We brewed up and enjoyed a nice cup of earl Grey to the sound of Grasshoppers, took in the views ( I love the fens, but its nice to get back to the hills and downs again) and watched Buzzards circle overhead. Tea done we headed into Winchester just in time to terrorise the rush hour traffic. and then returned home through the villages. And now its nearly time for a beer and Grimm on the telly 

Brew up at Farley Mount ...eventualy.

Lew

Celtic farkle

23/06/14

Just finished a little bit of Celtic farkle with a cyrillic touch on Phoebe's toolbox to complement the side panel. - Lou

Out ta get me

22/06/14

Just nipped out to Lidl for some bits and bobs. less than a mile round trip, four people pulled out in front of us! Its not like our Phoebe is hard to notice bearing down on them (well maybe at dawn or dusk in the North African desert,but not in bloody Eastleigh) I'm thinking It must be national pull out without looking and piss off a biker day! Be careful out there Bikey people.— feeling annoyed.

Lew

Summer Solstice

21/06/14

Such a beautiful Summer Solstice sunrise this morning at Danebury, then home for a wonderful breakfast and a few hours much-needed sleep - Lou

 Our Phoebe in her brew up mode, 6am at Danebury. Which I managed to take with Lou's scary, fancy camera. Which proves that it is actually idiot proof. Lew

Dawg

12/06/14

 Buster thinks he could get to like this sidecar idea... 

Yay - matching grey beards 

Small steps, got him to sit in there for a bit with lots of fuss and encouragement. had little trundle round on the grass. he was a bit nervy at first but settled down. He got more uptight. about Lou getting the camera out. he hates camera's as much as I do.

Lew

Mag Show

08/06/14
Some Photos from the Southampton MAG show,demonstrating Phoebe's versatility

Brew up! 

Keeps Young boys happy and out of trouble for hours.
s 

And is a nice shady spot for  Mutley the small dog of mass destruction.

Side panel artwork

05/06/14

Lew's been busy tidying up some of Phoebe's paintwork, so I thought I'd add a little personal touch...

Lou

Phoebe's new artwork

Close up of Phoebe's side panel - apologies to a certain British FolkRock institution for 'borrowing' their font!

Clutch bearing and speedo cable seal

31/05/14
Well, gone is the nasty plastic clutch throw out bearing on the Ural now replaced with Harley big twin one. can now select gears (I can even find Neutral!  ) with My croc's on. Just got to dump the watery gear oil and come up with a WWID (what would Ivan do) solution to seal up the Speedo drive and we're good to go.
Lew

WWID solution to buggered Speedo cable rubber, now made from oiled leather. and no water in the gearbox since

Danebury trip and absent friends

19/04/14
A nice trip up to Danebury to say 'Hi' to an old friend...followed by a cup of Earl Grey tea al fresco.
Lou

View from Danebury Iron age Hillfort.

Reasonably ancient Briton making tea at Danebury, whilst Lou is off in the woods hugging trees and other hippy stuff.

Scenic Chook food run

13/04/14 
Lou and I took Phoebe out this afternoon. A blat through the villages and a few miles of single track farm roads across the downs, proper Ural country. And then deafened the tourists with the roar and rattle of Ural tappets through the narrow back streets of Winchester. Phoebe certainly gets noticed, people of all ages pointing, smiling and waving. And if you can bring a smile to peoples faces that's gotta be a good thing. Came out of Scat's with our sacks of chook feed to find a couple in their 80's taking photo's of her in the car park, had pleasant chat with them about their sidecaring exploits in their youth. loaded up with 40kg of grain and pellets which made for some interesting handling and headed off home the old girl still pulled like a train over the hills and downs. Nice ride out and got to know the pink beastie a bit better, and what she's is capable of. Must admit I feel like I've had a bit of a work out at the gym though.
Lew

Phoebe's new coat

11/04/14
Phoebe showing off her new cover which arrived today. Really pleased - fantastic quality and excellent service. Couldn't believe how quickly it arrived, especially knowing how much hassle you've got going on over there at the moment. Will look at your site first, next time we need something! Love the idea of what you're doing - hope everything gets sorted out soon.

Phoebe's new coat

Lou posted this  to Chris at Vostok Motorcycles FB page https://www.facebook.com/vostokmotorcycles.co.uk?fref=ts  after we received the new tonneau cover. Chris runs an online shop selling bits for Urals and Denpr's based in Crimea. He does new and second hand stuff at very reasonable prices He's also involved in a lot of projects helping out his local community which we think is cool. He has used this post and photo in his advertising on his eBay shop (phoebe is famous world wide lol)  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/VOSTOK-MOTORCYCLES?_trksid=p2047675.l2563 
Lew

Lou's First's and Tea &Crumpets

23/03/14
First time out 'biking for over 16 years... First time back in a sidecar for over 30... Now home for tea and crumpets... Does it get any better? — feeling great.
Lou
I'll just warn readers now this won't be the last time we mention tea. We are both rampant teaholics, so if   blatant tea swilling offends you stop reading now!
Lew 

Strange but fun

20/03/14
Just pulled out of the drive on the Ural turned round on the grass at the front of the house and back in to the drive. All in reverse........Tis unnatural! useful but unnatural all the same.
Lew.

Maiden Voyage

21/03/14
First proper ride on an outfit for thirty years or so this afternoon, and lived to tell the tail. Speed humps are a bit interesting and taking my usual solo line exiting the island at the top of Twyford road wasn't the best idea I've had recently. The sidecar wheel clipped the curb and bounced about a foot in the in the air, which was quite exciting for a few seconds. time for a cuppa I think.
Lew.

Logs

19/03/14
Well finished work for the week. Got insurance and tax for Phoebe the Ural, and it was a nice evening I though I might go out and practice not crashing for a bit. But Louise decided otherwise.........Guess I'll be stacking logs tonight then. Cruel heartless woman lol

Log Jammed

Logged in 

Shit 'appens

Well after the epic first post this Blog has been sadly neglected due to unforeseen stuff and general shit happening. I'm thinking I will copy and past some stuff from facebook to bring it up to date...ish.
Lew

Foreword

For some time now my wife, Lou and I have been thinking about a sidecar outfit of some description. We've had a Dnepr sidecar chassis  and a fibreglass Velorex body kicking around for years. Last year I started repairing them with the intention of finding a suitable bike to attach them to.

Velorex sidecar body after being unburied from a pile of compost behind

 the shed.

Dnepr Chassis

 The project trundled on for some time not helped by the crappy weather. At the time I was using a Kawasaki 550 Zephyr for work and general running around. the plan was to finish off the sidecar and attach it to the Zephyr. As it transpired The Zephyr proved to be less than reliable with constant problems with electrics and carbs amongst other things eventually I had enough, I really was pissed off with the complexity and hassle of working on Modernish  motorcycles

  What I needed In my life was something simple I could work on without having to strip half the bike down to do simple maintenance, no leaking and seizing hydraulic brakes, over complicated electrics, with bloody sensors on everything and the ability to repair stuff on the side of the road with basic tools. My thoughts turned to my old Soviet Knight Ural 650 that had been languishing in the shed in bits with a buggered motor for years. Talked it over with Lou and the plan was to look around for another Ural of similar vintage and bolt our sidecar to it, and therefor having a complete bike with a load of spares.

  Late last year we unexpectedly came into a bit of money, hence  another change of plan was in order. So we now decided to look around for a complete 650 outfit on the road and ready to go. A few came up on Ebay and other online sources, but nothing really grabbed us. A lot seemed to be imports from Europe and with a good chance of being ringers. Another Soviet Knight based outfit which we looked into at a garage in Kent Just didn't feel right. It subsequently sold and then turned up on Ebay a few weeks later. With some very dubious paperwork. I decided to have a look At MPC a company selling Russian bikes in Leicestershire. http://www.uralmotorbikes.info/ There was a soviet night based outfit on the site.

Picture borrowed from MPC site

But we were not sure if it was still available. We were also interested in the older restorations he was doing which were just about in our price range. For one reason or other we decided to put off contacting him or buying anything else until early this year. In early March this year I contacted Mick at MPC and asked him what he had available I explained that I had Soviet Knight in bits and was looking for something similar he said he had one in but it had a non standard sidecar body on it. He said he might have a few others coming in including a 2006 750 gear-up, military styled camo painted outfit. but we pretty much discounted it as the later 750 models as they were out of our realistic price range. ( And Lou hates anything camo!!)  We agreed to arrange to come up the following week and have a look at what he'd got. A car was duly hired and we planed our scenic drive up over the downs and skirting the Cotswolds. We set off early on the following Thursday morning. So much for our scenic drive thick fog all the way, visibility down to fifty yards or so in places. the drive was uneventful apart from avoiding the occasional Jezzer in his big Merc'/Audi/ other big flash motor driving like a twat. The first really scenic thing we saw was Bitteswell church in the village where MPC is based. We arrived at the farm industrial estate and proceeded to almost finish up in a field of cows thanks to a disagreement between Lou and Nazi-nagging Nora our sat-nav. After a quick detour through some piles of cow effluent and a few tractors we finally arrived at MPC. We got out of the Car to be greeted by a strange apparition glowing gently through the mist in its predominantly pink desert camo.

Pink Beastie found lurking in MPC car park.

Other side.

 After Lou had expressed her horror/disgust at the Russian take on SAS desert camouflage we joined Mick for a cuppa and a chat in his Aladdin's cave like workshop. The place was full of all manner of sidecar related projects including a family sized sidecar and one extra wide one designed for wheelchair access all beautifully made from epoxied plywood. this was particularly interesting to me,on a couple of levels as I run a woodwork workshop for people with disabilities. We also got a tour of his other unit containing all manner of other treasures. (Wish we'd  had more cash) We eventually got round to viewing the Soviet Knight outfit we were supposed to be looking at. The bike wasn't too bad and had a bit of time and effort put into it with quit a lot of extras and improvements the sidecar however proved to be another story. It transpired that it was the same one pictured above, but it had had its Ural body removed for another project and then re-offered at a considerably lower price. The fibreglass body was quite small with very little boot space and would require a fair bit of cosmetic work to get it looking presentable. Also as the outfit had been original a solo model it had no reverse fitted. This was one of our criteria for going for a Ural as we only have three working hips and one working knee between the two of us due to being old gits with Arthritis, and lugging a fully loaded up outfit around on soft or uneven ground would be an issue. So our attention turned to the pink thing in the car park. As I mentioned earlier whatever we bought would have to meet certain criteria which Lou and I agreed on before we started looking. This was not gonna be a weekend only toy it had to get me to work three days a week, cart shopping, sacks of animal food, tools and DIY materials etc and provide us with something to bugger off for a day out or even the odd rally or camping trip so storage and carrying ability was a must. Well the pink beastie had all of this, a bloody great rack on top of the spare tyre, an 80ltr boot capacity, and enough room to  mount more boxes and racks and plus it had a tow bar fitted with all necessary electrics.

Rack and Tow bar

Being originally built as an outfit it also came with reverse gear and leading link sidecar forks as standard. So with all boxes ticked so far we came to the colour. As anyone who knows me can contest I don't give a damn about what my vehicles look like as long as they work. Lou on the other hand, being of an artistic nature has more of an eye for aesthetics plus SHE DON'T DO BLOODY CAMO!! Mick had explained that although the bike was a 2006 model it had very low mileage 2100 or so miles, hardly run in and had spent most of its life in a shed covered in mud and cow turd. which had resulted in rust and other deterioration so was a bit tatty and in need of some TLC. We muttered about the possibility of respraying it. Mick said that would be a shame as the colour scheme was pretty rare particularly in the UK, and that it was not camo, but multi-coloured as that's what it said on the log book ( He also surmised that the Russian painters had been drinking the paint thinners on the day they painted it).We thought it best to think about it for a bit. Mick and I discussed things 750 Ural as I have had my reservations about them as there's a lot of myths and rumours concerning them, Mick managed to dispel or explain most of them to my satisfaction  while Lou wondered around the bike taking a few pictures. Now Lou has this thing we call her lame duck syndrome if anything needs repairing, is damaged or tatty, is sick or injured or down on its luck, be it a vehicle, animal or a people she has to take it in and look after it. (Probably how she finished up with me to be honest.) So the tatty Ural with its knocks and scrapes was a prime candidate, and mick had given her the Multi-coloured get out clause to avoid it being camo. She eventually returned and had the same expression she had when she first set eyes on our old Landy. I suggested to Mick we talk money because I knew that look. He did us a deal that was within our price range. and agreed to derliver it the following Sunday.
 Sunday arrived and Mick turned up early with the pink beastie on the trailer.We sorted out the paperwork and money and loaded up the Ural and Dnepr bits (which I had spent most of Saturday digging out of various sheds) which had been part of the deal, and he toddled off back to Leicestershire (Mick had kindly offered to take me out for some instruction, but due to my insurance DVLA not getting their acts together it wasn't properly legal )   Leaving us the proud owners of a strange Multi-coloured (definitely not camo) Russian sidecar outfit. At some point during that afternoon Lou came up with a Name. We had been referring to it as the pink beastie since first setting eyes on it, which she then abbreviated to PB and from there to Phoebe. So now she had a name she was now part of the family.  

Phoebe has moved in.

Me relaxing in the sidecar, a nice comfy place to sit  and watch other people ( Lou )

work in the garden. 

Lewys getting to know Phoebe