2023 has been a rich and varied year for motorcycling!
January
Anna the Crusader 250 was in her final stages of the mechanical restoration and could finally be fully assembled for the first time to apply for her original registration number to be recovered.
February
Anna's wiring was all finished and we went for the "first start"!
Painting of the coloured bits started in earnest.
My registration number recovery was approved!
I got out for the first ride of the year on Gloria the Honda 250G5 - a nice bimble around North Wales for a couple of hours. Then followed that a couple of weeks later with a longer journey down to the National Motorcycle Museum in the Midlands, followed by an overnight at Tamworth.
March
I bought Ella - the Enfield 350 Classic, as a modern reliable ride, and particularly in anticipation of a big adventure coming up in May.
Sadly, that meant that Gloria was put up for sale and she went off to a new home in Northern Ireland.
April
The long running in process started for Ella, with a couple of journeys down to Stafford and Tamworth.
Anna's paintwork came on a treat.
May
Rob and I had our big adventure, across to France then Belgium for the Spa Classic racing. Ella's running in miles were finished on the way home.
June
Anna's paintwork was finished and final build completed. We had our first ride together!
Paul passed his bike test and we had an evening spin out to the Ponderosa Cafe followed by our first camping trip on the bikes over to Oulton Park.
July
After building up 50 or so local "confidence miles" on Anna, we had our first proper adventure to Middlewich Classic Car and Bike show. Note the rear indicator hanging off!
August
Two big adventures this month. First was a trip up to Buttermere in the Lake District on Ella, to visit Andy and do a spot of wild camping on the fells.
Swiftly followed by Anna's big test - a fully loaded camping trip over to the Isle of Man for the Manx Grand Prix, which she coped with admirably.
I have a loose arrangement, whereby I can sensibly manage to have 2 bikes "on the road" at any one time (mainly due to storage constraints!) and one in the process of restoration. Well, with Gloria sold, thoughts turned to the 2023/4 Winter project. So this month, a 1981 Moto Guzzi 500 arrived at the Shearer Home for Lost Causes to be recovered from her "off the rails" hipster brat bike experience and be converted into a middleweight touring bike.
This was her in her previous existence - not nice!
September
Anna's initial running in was pretty much now complete and we had another overnight camping trip to display at the Malpas Yesteryear rally.
October
Another big one for Ella this month! Paul and I did the Snowdonia 360 route over 3 days.
November
Probably the last ride of the year - a local trip up to my sister's place to take advantage of some late Autumn sun. And hopefully inducted another future motorbike fan (my great nephew) :-).
The restoration and repurposing of the Moto Guzzi (affectionately known as Maria) has started with most of the missing parts now having been procured and refinishing of the many black bits under way.
December
I was quite distracted by working on our bathroom refit but stilll trying to keep some restoration activity going on. Lots of painting and starting to look at the seat recovering.
In the middle of it all, I caught COVID and was laid low for a week, but I celebrated recovery by adding some shelves in the Bike shed for all of the "require no further work" parts to be stored! Very motivating, as the pile grows, and starts to free up much needed space in my tiny workshop.
It was also my birthday and I got a truly "life enhancing" present off my lads😀
