Hello, We are planning a summer holiday in England. After a leap of 20 years this will not be our first visit. But it will certanly be our first visit with a sidecar, a right hand sidecar. Driving on the left hand side won't be the major issue, The country lanes and towns are crammed with roundabouts. The only issue i ever had was taking a right hand turn on a T junction. Being acquainted to taking the short turn i ended up standing nose to nose to a car. Now my issue: For my daughter it will be her first visit to England. And off course, we have to visit the inner city. But i like to avoid inner city's. Especially when the traffic is coming from the side i don 't expect it to. When we fly to Londen, we always take the tube. Great, fast, cheap, no parking. This is the way i like to visit the City. Is there a tube station, preferably not to far inside of the M25 where i can leave my sidecar for a day. It doesn't have to be your backyard, but i don't like to find the bike without wheels. Preferably around the south side of London. We are coming from Dover and heading west, possibly in the direction of Oxford. I have been looking at Greenwich. It is a must seen, and not to far from the city by tube. Thanks in advance.
Hello Halflive, some years ago i arrived in London, late in the night. Looking for a camping, endet at a station, a taxi driver explained the way to Brixton. There i found the crystal palace caravaning club. There was one way to enter, load off the lugagge and take the small entry, my DR650r needed all space but fitted. When i was in, a friendly man helped me with the tent, when all was finished he asked for my passport, it was the owner! I stayed for two nights, very cheap, inclusive a card for bus and tube for this two days. Bet you can let your rig for the day on the camping ground, if not camping there. It is a clean place, with a park same named and pretty near the city. Hans.
Thanks Hensman, That is about the direction i'm looking for. Some distance from the inner city, save neighborhood, close to public transport. Looking for the Cristal caravaning club i also found another site which lists accommodations based on parameters like bus stations. London campsites From your story i get the impression that the campsite has a very narrow entrance hardly leaving room for your DR. Do you think i will get my K75 with EML GT3 through that gate? But there are also caravans on the ground. I presume there must be a second entrance.
Hello again Halflive! The story about the smal entrance was, because i arrived there at about 11 in the night. After hours in the London trafic, i wonder today how i managed the way to the Camping. The sign "caravaning" made me wonder if i could rest with a tent. Was in a kind off emergency and didn`t want to try a biwac in the park. So i took off the luggage and entered in a not so kind way, in Germany they would have called the police. Taht`s the only reason, over the day, they have a normal entrance. Since today i wonder that no one wanted this kind off camping permit, or how they call it. Last hour i wrote some german remarcs or remarques abaout the camping sites. The adress is SE19 1UF for outer London. The bus takes about forty minutes, for me was it the first sightseeing and the time was very short. A very good blogg is the site off the german policewoman "svendura", very nice pictures about her trips in England. I crossed the city from north-west to the south. The Triumph museeum burned some years later, it is between Birmingham and Coventry, from there i wandered to London. The trip was amacing, cause i travelled solo and the people talked to me at every stop. Never had this experience before. From Crystal Palace, i took the way to Brighton, over small roads, very very nice. Hans
That would be a problem with Halflive, he'd scare the people away Just kidding HL, looking forward to the stories and adventures later this year
Thanks Hensman. You silenced my worries about the narrow entrance. We will probably be camping the first day somewhere in Kent and arriving in London the next day. So it will be in daylight. We have visited the National motorcycle museum twice in previous years Once on a Beemer, once with a Meriden Triumph. But long before the fire. Yes it was amazing. I think they have rebuild it by now. For this year we plan to travel west. Halfway towards Lands End is the Sammy Miller Museum. I've never been there, been to Cornwall, eating scones, but not this famous museum. So we are staying south: Kent, London, Oxford, Stonehenge, Sammy Miller, Exeter/ Dartmoor, Penzenance and back. Maybe, depending on time and weather, a bit of Wales crossing at the Bristol channel, but not as far north as Birmingham.
Halflive, beside London, Wales is a must. Have you been at the EGT with friends from the zijspann en forum?
"Slijptol"'s hack, build thread ( in Dutch but with pics )here: http://www.motor-forum.nl/forum/list_messages/264844/0/Mooi-voorkantje-1.html
This bike belongs to Slijptol (angle grinder) My tent and sidecar where about 5 metres to the right on this photo, behind the tarp. The GS on the picture is currently becoming a combination. Max, stop beating me |-(
Hello neigbour I think we had a chat about the rear wheel of your R100. You where slightly more to the woods. I was, and still am looking for designs using a BMW drum and a car wheel for my own R100. You are German speaking aren't you?
Yeah i remember, and perhaps the german "dreiradler-forum" may help you, if you didn`t knew aubout them. Many airheads in there and if you ask, there are often wheels left. On the other hand, the so called "2-ventiler forum" could be a good source. The brother off the wife from my wifes sister, works at mobec. It is good old german work, for money, perhaps we can help. Hans
Ah, now i know which face belongs to the Hensman. I am a member of the Dreiradler forum, but it is very quiet over there. I'm also a member of the 2-ventiler forum. There is much more to do. A great source of information. In the Netherlands we can build as we like, by ourselves. Only when you are building a complete motorcycle you need to get to a test center to get a "homebuild" licence plate. I like to build everything myself so i don't buy much, Just browsing the Internet gathering information and designs. In the moment I'm making an adapterplate to attach a Smart wheel or a Suzuki Jimny wheel onto a BMW drum. There is an example with a Beetle wheel on the 2-ventiler forum. But this is not the sidecar i'll be using for the England trip. The R100/Dnepr is for fun and bastlen, the K75/EML is for traveling.
Halflive - if you are coming further North in Britain let us know. Tarka lives about 10 miles away from me - we could arrange to show you around our area. I live near Chester, Cheshire in England.
Thanks Miggins, i'll keep it in mind. We've been to Chester a thousand years ago. I have worked with contractors from over there in our aircraft maintenance. Lovely town.
Thats where they originally where trained and gained their skills. When i worked with them they where working as contracters all over Europe. We hired them somewhere in the nineties. When i visited Chester they where working in Brise Norton on a military project. I presume BA closed or leaned their plant at Broughton and forced these man to search abroad.
They are working flat out producing wings for the Airbus range. They get flown out on the Beluga carrier and also shipped out down the river Dee and down the coast and over to France. There is also a Raytheon factory around the back of the main building.
