Announcements, news items, Nacelle reports, articles
Peter Rowe of the Glorious Adventure Company will be giving a presentation on accompanied motorcycle tours in India and Europe on Thursday the 18 January 2024 starting at 8pm at the BCSA.
This will be part of our normal clubnight, so the bar be open and hot food available as normal.
Eric Patterson (World Land Speed Record Holder) will be giving a presentation on his exploits at Bonneville Salt Flats to the TOMCC Berkshire Branch on Thursday 1 February 2024 starting at 8pm at the BCSA.
This will be part of our regular clubnight, so the bar will be open and hot food available as normal.
Below is the report published in the December 2023 issue of Nacelle, which covered Branch activities in October 2023.
We do like to be beside the seaside!!! So we started the month with a ride-out to Hayling Island for a stroll on the prom, ice creams and a couple of hours lazing on a sunny afternoon.
The following Saturday, we rode to Rawles Motorsports, an Austin Healey restoration specialist, for their open day.
They had a magnificent collection of beautifully restored Austin Healeys to look at. There were also lots of impressive classic cars brought by other visitors. Their workshops were open and they had staff on hand to talk about the processes they go through in transforming the rusty remains of old cars into the shiny finished beauties on display. There was a barbecue cooking burgers and tea and coffee on offer, so we had a great time.
We also had Sunday rides to Popham Airfield and the Army Flying Museum, both venues with good cafés and lots of big toys to look at it.
For the last Sunday in the month, we had a run to Savages garden centre. We got there in the dry, but on the way home we were engulfed by a deluge of rain and we all got absolutely soaked.
Our members have been rocking all over the world with two riding to Morocco and another group riding through Portugal. They all got back safely.
We’re having a special Christmas evening at our Thursday club night on 14 December. There will be no club night on 28 December.
Keep on rolling!
Ton-Up Ted
On Thursday 14 December 2023 we will be having a Christmas special evening at our club night starting at 8pm at the BCSA. Its open to all Branch members and their partners and there will be a free buffet of festive food and Christmas music. The bar will be open as usual. We will be holding a raffle with some great prizes. So come along and enjoy a yuletide evening with fellow Branch members.
Triumph has announced they will discontinue the Thruxton and is producing an exclusive limited Thruxton Final Edition to mark the final production run of a British legend in exquisite style. For information follow this link .
The first Thruxton was produced by Triumph in 1965. This was a production racer and only 52 were made with nearly all of them bought for racing. The Thruxton pictured is the very first of those 52 and is currently owned by Berkshire Branch member Richard and was restored by his brother Greg. See here for more information about this special bike.
The Thruxton name was not used again by Triumph until 2003, when the Hinckley based company launched one based on the new Bonneville which had come out two years earlier. It had an 865cc engine, as compared 790cc for the standard Bonneville, swept back exhausts, rear set foot rests and low clip-on bars. As with the standard Bonneville, this bike was air cooled and had twin carburettors. In 2008 it was upgraded to electronic fuel injection along with the rest of the Bonneville range.
In 2016, Triumph completely redeveloped their Modern Classic range with new water cooled models and as part of that they launched the Thruxton 1200 along with a variant with higher specification suspension called the Thruxton R. Since then Triumph have produced a number of updates including an even higher specification model, the Thruxton RS, the Thruxton Factory Custom and a Chrome Edition with an all chrome tank.
The modern Thruxton’s have frequently been used as a starting point for building custom cafe racers. Numerous custom examples can been seen at bike shows.
So is this really the end of the Thruxton? Well, its been discontinued before and then come back, so maybe it will make a reappearance in the Triumph line up in the future.
Below is the report published in the November 2023 issue of Nacelle, which covered Branch activities in September 2023
We were out on the road again this month. Our first Sunday ride was to the Longstock Park café on Waitrose’s farm estate.
Our next was a ride to the iconic Thruxton circuit and the Jackeroo Café there. Later in the month we rode to the café at the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection.
Mid-month, we hosted our Autumn Lunchtime Bike Meet at our normal venue, the BCSA. The weather forecast showed rain in the afternoon, but there was a reasonable turnout, although most people left soon after lunch so they could make it home in the dry.
We ended the month with ten of us riding to the Triumph Day at Sammy Miller’s Motorcycle Museum on a selection of Triumph’s from across the Meriden and Hinckley eras. The group got split into two while negotiating one of the large roundabouts on the way, but after some confusion and a bit of help from a sat nav, everyone was reunited at Sammy Miller’s. It was sunny weather, a great turnout at the event and a fine collection of Triumph’s in the car park and we got to meet people from other TOMCC Branches there.
It will be quiz time again at our Thursday club night on the 9th November, when Bob will once again challenge us with a mixture of questions on both motorbikes and general knowledge with fine prizes for the winners. Teams get formed on the night, so just come along and join in.
Keep on rolling!
Ton-Up Ted
We’ll be holding our annual quiz night at our Thursday Club Night on 9 November 2023 at the BCSA.
Once again, quiz master, Bob Cromwell will be testing our knowledge with questions on motorcycle related topics and general knowledge. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the evening for the winning team.
You don’t have to form a team in advance, just come along. Teams often get formed on the night, typically around three or four people each. You can also participate as an individual if you want. It’s a great way to get to know other people and have a fun evening.
See here for some photos of last year’s quiz.
Proceedings will kick off around 8.30pm so get there before that so you can get your team together and get yourself a drink from the bar.
The Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum in New Milton (post code BH25 5SZ) is holding a Triumph Day in conjunction with the TOMCC on Saturday 30 September from 10am to 3pm. TOMCC members with get a 20% discount on entry on showing their TOMCC membership card. First arrivals on Triumph’s will park in the Courtyard followed by the main car park. Other bikes can park in the driveway. There will be prizes given. This is great opportunity to see Sammy Miller’s amazing museum and be part of a major gathering of Triumph owners and their bikes.
We will be organising a ride-out to this event for Branch members via our runs Whatsapp group (see details of how to join our runs here).
See here for further details on Sammy Miller’s website or here for further details on the main TOMCC website.
Below is the report published in the October 2023 issue of Nacelle, which covered Branch activities in August 2023
Dancing to the jailhouse rock!! This month a dozen branch members went to prison. Not that they had done anything wrong, it was just a Sunday ride out to The Old Prison: a café and museum in a disused 18th Century prison in Northleach in the Cotswolds. We had two new members on their first ride-out with us, the sun shone, we had great roads and an interesting destination. Earlier in the month, we joined up with the RAT group at Bulldog for a damp ride to Blaze Inn Saddles.
The British Superbikes round at Thruxton and the Popham Motorcycle Megameet were on the same weekend, as they were last year, when we had our Branch stand at both. In the end, we weren’t able to have our Branch stand at either this year, but we did have a number of Branch members meeting up at both of them and enjoying the day together.
We got the Branch stand out with a dozen or so members displaying their bikes on both days of the Swallowfield show over the Bank Holiday weekend and a few members rode their bikes in the arena parade as well.
We have had good turnouts on Thursday evenings with interesting selections of bikes.
We’re planning some special evenings on Thursdays in the Autumn, so keep an eye on the website for details. We continue to meet every Thursday and have regular ride-outs all through the winter, so keep coming along.
Keep on rolling!
Ton-Up Ted
Below is the report published in the September 2023 issue of Nacelle, which covered Branch activities in July 2023
C’mon everybody and let’s get together tonight! Lots of Branch members and their partners answered the call to our annual evening barbecue. Some staff from Bulldog Triumph came along as well. We invested in a new Branch barbecue and set it up on the grass next to some picnic tables outside the BCSA. Bob, our Chairman, served out the food while Steve, our Vice Chairman cooked the burgers and sausages. Thanks to both of them for making it a great evening.
We had six ride-outs in July. Three of these were to old favourites, with a couple of rides to the Court Hill centre and one to TJ’s café. But we also went to some new destinations such as a Sunday ride out the Three Trees Farm Shop and Café near Swindon at Chiseldon. And then for something completely different, we rode out to Fort Nelson, a 19th century military fort and a Royal Armouries artillery museum overlooking Portsmouth. It was a fascinating place to go to. We also had a mid-week run to a lunchtime bike meet at the George & Falcon at Warnford where we saw some cracking old bikes.
Our Thursday Branch nights have been thriving with lots of bikes in the car park and people standing around outside with beer in hand chatting about them
We’ll be holding another Lunchtime Bike Meet on Sunday 17th September from 11am to 4pm at the BCSA, so check out our website for more details.
Keep on rolling!
Ton-Up Ted
