Bristol Show

THE 29th BRISTOL CLASSIC BIKE SHOW

If I understand right, the Taunton and Bridgwater section of the VJMC had done this before, so they had done it and I had not, and it was when I offered my services to Didge he was only to happy for me to come along and experience my '' first time ''.

So the first thing to do was get myself down to the monthly section meeting at North Newton and introduce myself, I always think that that is a good idea, there is nothing more embarrassing than half way through you have to ask the persons name.

So after a few drinks with the girls and boys, tongues loosened and inhibitions where forgotten and I was asked what I had tucked away and how big.

And that was how I came to be at the show with some of my bikes.

A very large part of organising this show came about via this web site, a post was started and discussions where had at the local section meetings and on the web site during January and February,

The bikes we decided on were to be Lionel’s Yamaha XS1100 and Goldwing, Marks Suzuki TS250, Didge’s Suzuki GT750 and GT250, Andy’s Honda CB550, Richards Kawasaki ZIA, Nicks Kawasaki KH400,S1A and Samurai and Robs Kawasaki Samurai 250 Special, this we felt was a good mixture of two and four strokes, large and small and recently restored and ones that had been used, everything to cover a broad spectrum.

A pitch had been secured and tickets and numbers handed out with unbounded glee to the ones showing bikes, actually we had to force the free tickets out of Didges hands.

Friday the thirteenth came round, and some of us went to set up our stand, only the stand was not to our liking, it was fine if you are an artic fish that lives on gravel, cold and wet it was and none of us wanted our bikes to be standing on wet gravel, so we found Nick Mowbray, the show organiser, he could not have been more helpful, another site was allocated and we were happy.

Saturday arrived and we organised the bikes to give people plenty of room to walk around, at about ten past ten the first people arrived and from there on in it did not stop, we where inundated, at times you could not see the bikes for people, questions of every description were asked and we all enjoyed it, friendships where made and renewed, information offered and given, and many of us went home with pockets full of paper with peoples numbers or email addresses on, photo after photo was taken of the bikes, it gives you a fantastic feeling when someone thinks your bike is that good to be photographed.

We had other local sections come to say hello and individual members, it was good to meet them all.

By the afternoon the awards had been given and Rob won best Japanese bike in show with his Samurai Special, a very good achievement, and it put the VJMC firmly on the map at this show, which has always been predominantly British Bikes.

Sunday came and it was pretty much the same as Saturday, I was hoping it would be a bit quieter, as I was feeling knackered, but no, in they came and soon we were busy again, all thoughts of tiredness soon evaporated with the buzz you get from talking bikes to like minded people.

At four o clock Rob was presented with his trophy by Phil Read and after that it was time to take the bikes home, and for most of us to put our feet up and have a beer.

The whole weekend was a resounding success for us as a local section, some people had only just joined or were new to the local section meets, but everyone got on well and worked together as a fantastic team.

We intend to do it again next year, and hopefully have a bigger stand, so if anyone is interested in helping or showing a bike, keep an eye on this website, or come along to our monthly meetings, we would love to meet you.