The Bubble car adventure!

[HRHpenfold]

A Bubble car adventure
This past weekend was my adventure to the Bubble car museum near Boston in Lincolnshire, this came about through watching an episode of “for the love of cars”, I frequent the Mobylette forum and someone suggested a meet there and have a bit of a rally, my original plan was to use our van and bring my Mobylette Av89 but also bring my recently finished racing Puch,

A few weeks ago the van seized and so was out of commission, as back up I could take the car and trailer, but I decided to leave the moped’s at home and take the Convert, it was with a little trepidation, as I have never been far on the convert and it is 35 years old, the plus side of the convert is that it has a comfort level that surpasses any other motorcycle I have ever ridden, and more importantly I can ride it all day without aggravating my shoulder, which no other bike I have can last more than a couple of hours without the aching setting in, the bonus is that I could use the convert like a large scooter and go out on the moped run,

so I packed up my camping stuff and set of on the Friday morning,



First stop was Devils bridge in Kirkby Lonsdale,



then I set off down the A65 heading towards Skipton and Keighley where I refueled, I was careful to avoid the diesel spilled in the fuel station though,



Then onto Bradford, Wakefield, Doncaster and Lincoln, I had a bit of a problem in Lincoln, my old sat nav seemed to have missed the one way system, and the planners for some reason won't let you do a U turn, finally I escaped and headed down B roads through small towns and villages, though I occasionally stopped to brew up,





I stopped in a small town to fill up, expensive, but it's been a long time since I had someone other than me fill the tank,

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I finally got to the bubble car museum, and erected my tent, there were plenty of other attendees already set up,



some nice and not so nice looking mopeds





I liked this one, a shopping bike with an engine,



the attention to detail was amazing on some,there was as many puch's their as mobylettes,



some of them filled the air with sweet smelling two stroke, though there were complaints from other campers, that hells angels were running amok in the field at high speeds,



this one is very much like my own Av89, though it is earlier and with a round headlight,



there were some sports models, a Casal and a Gilera, that proudly boasted of 7bhp on its side panels,





quite a few turned up,

[HRHpenfold]

on the Saturday, a run around was planned, I had originally planned on doing the run on my Convert, but someone offered me the use of a moped,




it looked rough, but ran fine, it had no suspension, no power, and definitely no brakes, the front brake being a bicycle type, but it was full of fuel, so whats not to like,

after racing for about six miles, we came across this small airodrome, I wasn't last, but there were much faster mopeds than the one I was using, I have no idea of the speed, as no speedo was fitted,









then we went to East Kirkby aerodrome and managed to blag a picture with the Lancaster,





of course there was an all out race back to the campsite, I followed the Raleigh wisp not wanting to damage the loan bike, once back, I had a look around the museum, had a coffee and cake in the cafe there, which seemed very cheap,





This bubble car engine looks familiar,









they seemed to have some scooters and bikes upstairs as well,

[HRHpenfold]

[DahDit]

Wonderful. Thanks for that; I enjoyed reading it.

[HRHpenfold]

Sunday morning once the tent had dried, I packed up and set off home, this time heading on the A17, then the A1, shortly up the A1 they closed the road, that meant 7 miles of filtering down country roads, before getting back on the A1, I came off at Weatherby and headed for Ilkley, Skipton then the A65 to Kirkby Lonsdale, stopping again at Devils bridge, which was packed with bikes,



despite that I brewed up and made something to eat,



I headed back through the lake district, the Convert ran faultlessly, though the great thing about the Convert is you never feel like going faster than around 60 mph, the journey is never hurried, it's all about the ride and not about arriving, the character shines through in a way that's both refreshing and timeless,

a great weekend!

[GAv]

Jun 23, 2015 9:27:21 GMT DahDit said:

Wonderful. Thanks for that; I enjoyed reading it. 


Me too

[m40man]

Jun 23, 2015 9:27:21 GMT DahDit said:

Wonderful. Thanks for that; I enjoyed reading it.

I just looked at the pictures. I enjoyed that too, though .

[cam7777]

I love the bubble car museum, we went there earlier this year, was thinking of doing a ride out to it this summer.

[Deleted]

 
Great thread to read. Thanks, I love old two-strokes.

[Pool Boy]

I was in Lincoln the weekend before - and got dragged round the "Castle" (there IS no castle) and Cathedral !
Never knew there was a Bubble Car museum - if I did, I would have gone for a visit (at least it's indoors, out of the rain (which the "Castle" wasn't)

Great write-up and pics, thanks Ian.

[ContourMac]

Nice write up Ian.

You have the journalist job for the C2C in September

[HRHpenfold]

Jun 23, 2015 21:38:18 GMT Pool Boy said:

I was in Lincoln the weekend before - and got dragged round the "Castle" (there IS no castle) and Cathedral !
Never knew there was a Bubble Car museum - if I did, I would have gone for a visit (at least it's indoors, out of the rain (which the "Castle" wasn't)

Great write-up and pics, thanks Ian.

Then I must have ventured into another city then, because I used the public conveniences next to a castle!

[HRHpenfold]

Jun 24, 2015 15:22:27 GMT ContourMac said:

Nice write up Ian.

You have the journalist job for the C2C in September

well everyone seems to have a much faster bike, so I guess I will bring up the rear,

not to close to Bev though, that could be catastrophic!