Also useful for GoldWing rallies?

This Article develops the topic introduced by John Gratton in his recent Article, describing the cost effective solution he found in his quest for more comfortable camping.

Camping rallies of various sorts are an important part of many Wingers’ enjoyment of their hobby and many are perfectly happy camping in a tent; tents needn’t cost much and they can be small enough to pack on to the bike.  But as one Winger said to me recently, as we were sitting and chatting outside his tent in sunshine at a camping event, there comes a time when you’ve had enough of tents, even when it hasn’t been wet.  He’d reached that point and was thinking very seriously about the alternatives, even if it would mean towing his bike to the venue in future rather than riding it there.

It was this conversation coupled with seeing how well John Gratton had done, kitting himself out with a very reasonably priced motorhome and a lightweight trailer, which gave me the idea for this more broadly-based article, which outlines the wider range of alternatives to a tent which I have come across Wingers using over the years.

There is always more than one way of skinning a rabbit and so it is with the alternatives to tents.  As shown by John’s example even if you go for a motorhome, which is potentially the most expensive option, it doesn’t need to be all that expensive to provide very effectively for a comfort-seeking Winger’s needs.  I know another Winger who has a motorhome he has bought and refurbished for similar money to John’s and you would be hard pressed to tell it from a nearly new one.

And a motorhome is by no means the only viable option either – there is quite a range of possibilities and Wingers, who are often quite ingenious and resourceful people, have come up with some interesting ideas.

Budget and somewhere to park it

For Wingers who are seeking an alternative to a tent, there are almost always going to be two primary considerations: how much can they afford to spend and, assuming it involves either an extra or a change of vehicle and/or a trailer of some sort,  whether they have access to suitable parking and/or storage.  American RVs can be bought relatively cheaply when they are a few years old precisely because not many people have somewhere to park them.

Even if you haven’t got enough money for the more luxurious options, there are other, relatively low cost alternatives to tents.  And even if you are not short of funds, few people would be bold enough to jump straight in at the deep end by spending a very large sum of money on a brand new motorhome as a way of discovering whether they like it.  As John Gratton explained in his Article, it was important to him not to be in prospect of losing a lot of money reselling the motorhome if it didn’t meet his expectations – although it turned out to be just the job.  So if you are getting fed up with tents read on;  you might find that someone has come up with an approach which suits you.

Ageing RVs don't cost much - but have you the space to store one?

Luxury RVs

Of course if funds are plentiful and parking space isn’t a problem, we might all be tempted by the luxurious accommodation of a large American RV, with which we could either tow our GoldWing for use on arrival or even have the RV driven ahead for us while we enjoyed riding the bike.  Because they can be a problem to store when not in use and the demands of the well-heeled are always for new rather than used ones, these vehicles depreciate much more steeply than UK or European motorhomes, so if you have the parking space at or near home, an RV which is over 10 years old can be bought for a small fraction of its original cost.  And the older ones were very solidly built, so they may need very little in the way of refurbishment.  Spares for the engine, chassis and for the habitation equipment are often available in UK too, so you don’t even need to order from America over the internet.

There is something which I find very appealing about the style of some of the older RVs, the ones which avoided looking boxy and had lots of chrome bits – it’s a bit like the appeal of a GoldWing I suppose.  Unfortunately, or probably fortunately,  whenever I’ve toyed with the idea of buying one I’ve always decided against it but the urge never quite goes away.

One GoldWing family I knew went as far as selling their home in order to buy a large and modern RV.  It was as big as they come and cost over £150,000.  They lived in it for a couple of years or more, towing their GoldWing to camping events, together with their childrens’ bicycles and all sorts of other things, in a large box van trailer.  This arrangement seemed to suit them very well to start with, in spite of the need to base themselves close enough to Dad’s work to allow him to get there each day.  But at weekends they were free to travel in their home, with all it’s luxuries, to wherever the next camping rally was to be held.

In the end they sold the RV, with some delay and difficulty, and reverted to a more conventional approach to a family residence.  And curiously enough they had reverted to camping in a tent at GoldWing rallies to provide a change from living in a motorhome, even before they sold it.  Converting the family’s bricks and mortar into a depreciating asset like an RV may not have been such a good idea after all.

Van plus gazebo goes a long way towards providing all you really need

3.5 ton Vans and the like

At the other end of the spectrum of alternatives to tents, another Winger couple I know bought a big, old and distinctly, well worn 3.5 ton Ford Transit van (which was nevertheless still a reliable runner) for only £600.  They used it to carry their GoldWing trike in the back (it was just wide enough inside) and to provide what was said to be very comfortable sleeping accommodation once the trike was unloaded, simply by erecting a camping bed in the back and using camping-type portable equipment.

Actually it wasn’t quite that simple because the Winger couple themselves slept in a huge caravan, complete with the mother-in-law, and it was another Winger who slept as their guest in the back of the van, as the alternative to his tent.  Nevertheless the idea of using a big van to carry a GoldWing, or even a trike, and also to provide living space which is as big as many tents, clearly worked very well.

Interestingly this couple have since sold both the big caravan, the 4 x 4 which towed it and the old Transit van which carried the trike in favour of a motorhome and a converted car trailer for the trike.  I did wonder whether this change came about because the caravan was a bit too comfortable for the mother in law, who no longer seems to accompany them, but of course it would be tactless to ask.

The £600 which this Winger paid for his 3.5 ton high-top van might have been unusually cheap for what he got, but the basic idea of using a big old van to provide both bike-carrying capacity and accommodation is clearly viable.

Indeed some of the “new” motorhomes which are sold commercially are conversions of used large vans (a couple of years old, high mileage but clean and tidy) to which windows and then a complete motorhome interior is installed – and fine, good-as-new motorhomes they make too, saving significantly on the cost of a completely new motorhome.  So converting a used high top van into a motorhome (using permanent fittings) and towing the bike on a trailer is another option if you have the skills.

Used large vans also come in a variety of body shapes and special adaptations too; for example there are lutons as well as high-tops and even horse boxes which already have accommodation built into them for the rider as well as the horse.  There’s one on EBay as I write this; just sweep out the stable and then ride your bike up the ramp – couldn’t be simpler!  Minibuses, especially the ex-council community bus type, are potentially adaptable to bike-carrying and accommodation too and with a little imagination and the application of some inexpensive stick-on graphics, your new acquisition could look the biking part too.

So there is no limit other than your own resources and ingenuity in the extent to which you can fit out a  large van or minibus or ambulance for comfortable living as well as carrying your GoldWing bike or trike.  A 3.5 ton van is of course capable of carrying two GoldWings if that’s what you need to be able to do.

Large vans are also very useful for many other carrying purposes as a family vehicle too of course, or even as a way of earning extra money.  Having said that the downside of owning a large van, or indeed a van of any size, is that motor insurance is often relatively expensive these days – more expensive for example than equivalent (private use) cover for a car and substantially more than for a “proper” motorhome.   The insurance cost is worth checking before you commit yourself to buying a van.

Big vans are fairly spacious anyway compared with small tents but as with a tent it can be very useful to have a sheltered entrance, so you don’t have to keep the door closed all the time to keep the rain out.  Gazebos are widely available and inexpensive these days and they can be erected alongside the side door of the van to provide rain shelter or shade.

Box van trailer fitted out for living in as well as bike transportation

Trailer adaptations

Another way of avoiding sleeping in a tent which a Winger, well known for extreme thriftiness, has used on a number of occasions is to tow his bike behind his car in a box van trailer and once on site the bike is unloaded and the trailer becomes living accommodation, using portable camping-type equipment.  His one concession to adapting the trailer itself for habitation was to install a caravan-type roof vent.

This could perhaps be described as the sub-minimalist approach and a bit more effort to install folding or removable facilities wouldn’t go amiss, especially if you plan to go accompanied by a lady.

Caravans

A wife or partner who is comfortable towing a caravan without assistance opens up your options considerably because a caravan offers a very comfortable (and potentially affordable) alternative to a tent providing you have a way of getting it towed there while you ride your bike.

I know several Wingers who use this approach; she tows the caravan to the event and he rides the bike there.  Sometimes they travel together, sometimes separately.  I suppose the ideal wife would get the caravan set up on site and have the tea on the table, timed perfectly for His Lordship’s arrival.  (As a Winger friend of mine, who’d better remain nameless, is fond of pointing out, it’s all a question of getting them properly trained.  His own conspicuous failure to get his wife to drive anything at all speaks volumes.)

A lightweight GRP caravan (Freedom Microlight)

Caravans are available to suit modest budgets and I bought one a few years ago, similar to the one in the picture, for well under £1,000.  It had all necessary facilities and more, including heating and a fridge, although the bed, which converted from dinette seating, would have been a bit small for a couple who are as horizontally challenged as I am.   It wasn’t spacious or luxurious but it did the job and it even came with a full sized awning which more than doubled the floor area – but which was such a pain to erect we only tried it once.

Since the body shell was fibreglass it couldn’t leak or rot and it was also light and easy to tow.  Experiments trying to tow it behind a GoldWing sidecar outfit proved to be a bit ambitious (it was dangerously unstable) but behind a car it behaved perfectly.  When it became surplus to requirements I even managed to sell it on EBay for a small profit.

There are specialised small caravans which can be towed behind GoldWings, or at least behind trikes or sidecar outfits, but these are not cheap and nor are they even remotely spacious – so in terms of home comforts they are little more than sleeping boxes and the only advantage they have over a tent is that you don’t have to unfold and erect them before you crawl inside. Taking off wet biking gear inside and finding somewhere to stow it could however be quite a challenge.  With these types of mini-caravan (and also folding camping trailers which you can tow behind a bike or trike) there is no heating or seating and you’re potentially not much better off than in a tent, which is what this article is about leaving behind.

So if you want the advantages of proper caravan-type comforts: comfortable seating as well as a bed, heating as well as cooking facilities, a toilet and maybe even a shower as well, then you need to compromise by finding a way of towing the thing to the rally site and getting your bike there separately.

With one of these outfits you would be allowed to tow a GoldWing on a second trailer

Towing two trailers

Unfortunately it is illegal in UK to tow more than one trailer behind a vehicle, otherwise you could have a lot of fun, and probably cause spectacular traffic hold-ups, by using a combination of two trailers, one to live in and the other to carry your GoldWing.

There are exceptions to this legal limitation but only for recovery vehicles and showman’s vehicles.  I suppose it might be possible to sleep in the cab of a recovery truck but I wouldn’t fancy trying to persuade my wife to join me.  A proper showman’s outfit would cut a dash on arrival but the speed limitation might be a problem if the camping rally is some distance away.

Bus Conversions

Whilst we’re on the subject of legal limitations there are maximum length and width (but not height) limits which apply to motorhomes and therefore to any vehicle which can be re-designated for use as a motorhome.  Gone are the days when you could buy any retired bus or coach cheaply and convert it to a mobile home and/or bike garage.  A motorhome cannot now exceed 12 metres in length or 2.5 metres in width, including any protuberances other than driving mirrors.  DVLA got themselves into an embarrassing mess a few years ago by allowing imported US RVs to be registered in UK without bothering to measure them.  Forty feet in length is a popular size in the US and this is just over the 12 metre limit, so they were unwittingly allowing over-size vehicles  on to our roads.  Not that these vehicles were all getting stuck anywhere or having lots of accidents because they are no bigger than coaches anyway, it was just that rules is rules and they were discovered to be negligently failing to apply them; they now measure everything scrupulously and interpret the rules strictly to make up for their past mistakes.

Fun, but oversize for UK roads

Standard modern buses and coaches all exceed these motorhome length and width limits, so if you want to convert a bus or coach you will have to chose one of the smaller ones.  Double deckers are OK so in theory you could create a garage/workshop downstairs and living accommodation upstairs if you wish.  Unfortunately bendy buses cannot be re-designated as motorhomes.  This is a pity because with one of those at your disposal for adaptation you really could get creative with really luxurious living facilities.  There must be some vehicle category which the Formula One guys can use to register and tax their huge transporter/habitation vehicles but whatever it might be, it isn’t as a motorhome.

Incidentally insurance companies aren’t keen on DIY motorhome conversions anyway, so if you do convert a big transit van and then decide to re-designate it as a motorhome (which DVLA will let you do subject to a vehicle inspection) you probably won’t get the cheaper motor insurance which branded motorhomes attract.

Easily convertable?

Ambulances

There is no size limit for ambulances and if you buy and convert a vehicle which was originally an ambulance it wouldn’t matter how big it was as long as you retain the original vehicle categorisation.  Quite what you have to do to achieve this and how you get an ambulance insured I don’t know but it must be possible.

One Winger I spotted a few years ago seems to have got away with converting a coach-sized ambulance (or maybe just a coach) into a habitable vehicle behind which he towed his GoldWing on a trailer.  This vehicle was, according to its tax disc, registered as an ambulance.

Maybe the EU hasn’t yet got around to making rules for the size and natures of ambulances – meantime more or less anything seems to be acceptable as an ambulance as long as it’s labelled as such.  And ambulances, even privately owned ambulances, get free road tax in UK too!

In the example I spotted at a camping rally the coach’s windows were of darkened glass (thereby obscuring its internal configuration nicely) and it was painted in plain blue colour with the word “Ambulance”  (discretely, in small letters) front and sides – looking much like one of the “Jumbulances” which are used to transport pilgrims to places like Lourdes to take the cure – and which, incidentally, are available for hire if you ever need one, click here for details.

Doubtless this Winger’s vehicle’s primary and usual purpose was something similar and by using it to live in at a GoldWing camping event he was merely taking it on its holidays with him rather than misrepresenting its true role.

If size was not a problem?

Toy Haulers

In America permitted vehicle sizes (including what can be driven on an ordinary driving licence) are far less restrictive than in UK and a wide variety of what they call “Toy Haulers” are manufactured.  These vehicle are purpose made to provide garage accommodation as well as living and sleeping space.  Toy haulers can be RVs (i.e motorhomes with built-in garage space at the back) or trailers (what we would call a box van trailers) or fifth wheelers.  Sadly most of these will be too long or wide or both to be registerable in UK, but the ingenuity with which ramps and other devices have been employed to load and secure bikes on board in combination with habitable accommodation is well worth studying for ideas.

Just as we have to find a way around the rules or to avoid unnecessary taxation sometimes, so do Americans who build or adapt their own toy haulers.  In Florida any vehicle (including a trailer) which incorporates habitable accommodation of any kind attracts annual property taxation, which is substantial, as well as the cost of a tag plate, which is equivalent to our road tax.  A way of avoiding the property tax element is to install habitation facilities discreetly – so for example by using a box van trailer, which in America might be 40 or more feet long,  and installing all sorts of kitchen, seating and sleeping facilities and of course air conditioning, but no windows.  That way the vehicle escapes the notice of the relevant taxation authority.

Summary

Anyway, back to the realities of avoiding tents for purposes of GoldWing camping rallies in a UK climate.  There are plenty of options and even if you need to stick to a modest budget with a bit of ingenuity you can contrive quite a presentable as well as a comfortable solution.  The minimum requirements are:

1. Must provide better warm, dry eating, seating and sleeping facilities than a tent, otherwise there’s no point.
2. Mustn’t turn the transit journey to the event into a burdensome or risky family ordeal, so don’t try to make the wife tow a caravan or she’ll find a way of getting her own back.
3. Must be compatible with whatever parking space/storage is available/affordable when not in use.
4. Must be affordable overall, depreciation being potentially the most important element of the extra cost compared with tenting.

In ascending order of desirability (but descending affordability) the options are:

1. Buy a cheap box trailer (maybe even costing under £1,000) and use camping type kit to live in it and either travel alone or accept the need to find a new female partner for each outing.
2. Buy a big old van as an extra/replacement vehicle and adapt it for habitation as well as transporting your bike or trike.  Cheap to buy and should have plenty of life left in them; spares and many repairs are also cheap.  Depreciation not important but insurance might be expensive.
3. Buy a decent box van trailer (£1,500-£3,000) which your existing car (might need to be a fairly big one) can tow and can also cope with the bike – and adapt it properly for habitation, so decent ventilation and better-than-a bucket amenities.  Still going to be fairly cramped but might still have dual purpose value as a load carrier and good trailers depreciate only very slowly.
4. Buy a old/cheap caravan to tow either with the family car (wife has to do the driving) or (better) with a van which can carry the bike and other kit too.  Depreciation relatively low but probably need some refurbishment and it won’t gain value.
5. Buy an old/cheap motorhome which is capable of towing the bike on a trailer (avoiding any which have any signs of dampness and therefore hidden rot) and do it up.  Cheap insurance and depreciation will be low – might even gain value if you improve it by refurbishment.
6. Buy a more modern caravan for much better comfort (wife still has to do the towing unless you also have a big van).  Depreciation becomes a significant factor.
7. Buy a better/bigger/newer motorhome, enjoy both travelling together as a couple and real comfort.  Buy a box van for your bike to keep it clean on the journey.  Depreciation of the motorhome (but not the trailer) inevitably becomes a significant factor.
8. Win the Lottery, buy a luxury RV and hire a driver to pre-position it at the venue for you while you take the scenic route on your lightly loaded bike – now that really would beat sleeping in a tent!

Related Articles

Motorhome on a Budget

Towing a GoldWing on a Trailer

One owner and only 5,500 miles.

Because it is the top of the range, US-spec Airbag Model it also has ABS, the Honda/Garmin Navi system (with European Maps) , heated grips and seat, hot air foot warmer flaps, the Premium, 6 speaker, 80W per channel audio system (more powerful than the UK equivalent) and the uprated 1KW alternator.  It is also fitted for (but not with) the Hondaline CB radio, which can therefore be installed very straightforwardly by plugging into sockets which are already built into the bike’s wiring loom.

The bike is dripping with accessories, most of which are Hondaline or Kuryakyn, as listed here:

• Hondaline Chrome Saddlebag Molding Kit
• Hondaline Chrome Trunk Molding Kit
• Hondaline Chrome Saddlebag Scuff Covers
• Hondaline Front Windshield Chrome Garnish
• Hondaline 12V Cigarette Lighter
• Hondaline CB Aerial. Aerial only NO CB unit
• Hondaline Foglight or Running light Kit
• Hondaline Goldwing owners folio
• Hondaline Passenger audio controller + CB control
• Hondaline Colour matched Rear Spoiler and brake light
• Hondaline Trunk Vanity Mirror With Light
• Kuryakyn Super Lizard Lights
• Kuryakyn PIAA Xtreme White Plus H7 Bulb
• Kuryakyn Switchblade Cruise Pegs
• Kuryakyn Chrome timing chain cover
• Kuryakyn Premier Shark Gills With Fairing Radiator Vent Trim
• Kuryakyn Saddlebag Top Accents
• Kuryakyn Boomerang Frame Covers
• Kuryakyn Passenger Floorboard Side Covers
• Kuryakyn Rear Fender Trim
• Kuryakyn Front fender extender
• Kuryakyn Rider Drinks holder
• Kuryakyn Passenger Drinks Holder
• Kuryakyn Luggage Rack
• Kuryakyn Luggage Rack Risers
• Kuryakyn Deluxe Convertible™ Luggage Rack Bag
• Kuryakyn Trailer Hitch
• Kuryakyn Trailer wiring harness
• Kuryakyn Trailer hitch rack
• Kuryakyn Front Reflector LED Conversion
• Kuryakyn Chrome Driver Pegs
• Drag Gold Wing Ignition Cover
• Drag Accessory Mirror Edge Trim
• Drag Chrome Lower Front Cowl
• Big Bike LED Chrome Fairing Intakes
• Big Bike Chrome Fairing Nose Trim
• Big Bike Turn Signal Conversion Harness
• Electrical Connection Trunk Light Reconfiguration Harness
• Add On Clear Lenses Front Turn Signal Set

Any inspection welcome; the bike is in the North West of England.

The accessories amount to about £5,000 worth, so the asking price is a very considerable saving on the cost of a UK-spec 2010 model bike, which would also have been manufactured in 2008 (before the US Factory closed down) with the additional advantage of the extra features and “plug and play” connectivity of the US-spec model.  The bike is ready to go as soon as payment is made.  The owner is selling purely in order to buy another US-spec GL1800 of a different colour.

£18750 ovno

Contact the owner, Richard, on  07885 171210   or    015394 69176.

Refurbished and ready to tow a GoldWing

Editor’s Introduction: John Gratton is a long time member of GWOCGB and the Regional Rep for Staffordshire Wings.  He wanted to continue taking his GoldWing to camping events without having to pitch and sleep in a tent and this is the story of his search for an affordable alternative.

It was last August I decided that my old bones had started to tell me that my days of camping under canvas were drawing to a close. I considered buying a caravan, a lot more ‘bang for the buck’ basically and I could take my little dog Pip, with me, the downside of that option being that I could not take my beloved Wing with me so that option was quickly dismissed.

The only other option was purchasing a motorhome, so I started my research (well I logged on to Ebay) to look  for a motorhome within my budget of  about £10k.  I didn‘t know how I would take to motorhoming so I wanted something I could re-sell without taking a big financial hit if I wasn‘t fond of it. I needn’t have worried, I took to it like a duck to water.

I quickly realised I wasn’t going to get a lot for my kind of money.  Most of those in my price range were in need of some serious bodywork – something which was going to cost serious money to fix.

In this budget range you will almost certainly be looking at a motorhome based on a Fiat Ducato, Talbot Express or Citroen C25.  All are basically the same vehicle, sharing many common components; these are all tough little vehicles being intended for the abuse they receive by the ‘white van man’ worldwide. You might find one based on a Volkswagen Transporter I dismissed this as having operated one in my company,  I had found the price of spares very expensive, however they are very, very reliable vehicles.

You pays your money etc.  There is an expansive range out there so I decided to make a list of my requirements and preferences, viz:

1. Ducato/Express/C25 based
2. Minimum 4 berth
3. Bed over cab (you will be no doubt be familiar with the shape having an extended body above the cab)
4. In good bodywork condition with no rot
5. In good mechanical order
6. Dry (i.e. not damp) in the habitation area
7. Preferably low mileage
8. Under £10k

Inspect carefully before you buy

If you don’t know much about vehicle mechanics and/or motorhomes take someone with you who does, generally these are the things I always do:

1. Take overalls and a torch so you can scrawl around underneath and have a good look for rot / damage, also take a magnet to check for filler, look for signs of recent ‘overspray’ and or new/recent paint.
2. Take a fully charged 12v battery with you, so you can check lights, fridges etc. work
3. Take a bottle of gas and regulator to check if the fridge, heater and water boiler work
4. When contacting the vendor, tell him you’re ringing about the motorhome, don’t be specific, if they ask which one they’re probably dealers, not a bad thing in it’s self just so long as you know
5. Ask them not to start the engine before you get there, and when you do arrive lift the bonnet and check the block is cold, some worn engines only smoke when they’re cold.
6. Have a test drive (of a reasonable distance 5/10 miles, put a gallon of fuel in if necessary) to make sure the gearbox, engine, cooling system, power steering (if fitted) all works OK. When you get back to the vendors park it on a clean area and check under later for oil leaks
7. Have a good look at the tyres, they aren’t cheap
8. When you get in the habitation area open all the drawers / cupboards and have a good sniff for the tell-tale smell of damp/mould, be suspicious if it has a lot of air fresheners or it’s just been ‘Fabreezed’
9. Be prepared to spend some time when inspecting, it’s a good investment.
10. Petrol or Diesel ? Mines petrol and does very acceptable mpg, diesels of this era were not particularly efficient, according to my Ducato handbook it says 30mpg for petrol and 32mpg for diesel, you’ll have to make your own mind up on this.

By no means an extensive list, you’ll probably think of more things to check.

There are plenty of places to search for a motor home of this type, the internet being invaluable, I recommend you trawl through ebay, there is (usually) a huge selection from complete knackers to £90k plus luxury motor homes on ebay.  Also look on a website/forum called Motorhome Facts, it almost certain that any questions you may have can be answered there.

I looked at a number of suitable vehicles but dismissed them as they had issues, mainly rot.  Eventually I spotted one on Ebay which seemed to conform to my requirements and was described as in ‘amazing’ condition (for the year, manufactured in 1989), it was only 30 miles from home so I telephoned and made an appointment to view the following day at Walsall.  On arrival I was surprised that it was as described: the bodywork in absolutely fine condition.   (Have a good look look underneath as well when you are inspecting, my chassis was like new.)

The owner (it’s first and only) had kept meticulous records every MOT from the first to present, all the handbooks, all the servicing and any repairs receipts (down to receipts from Halfords for spare bulbs !!!!), from the MOT’s I could see that the mileage of 27k miles was correct, this is it I thought, just the job, ticks all the boxes, the vendor was honest and told me that the fridge didn’t work on gas, there was a fault with the water heater and a minor problem with the taps, all I thought easily fixable.  After some negotiations on price (I may be English, but I don’t have an overdeveloped ‘cringe’ gland as the advert says) I was the proud owner of a 1989 Swift Capri (Ducato based) motor home.

I left a deposit and arranged to collect it a few days later. I arranged to have it inspected and serviced by a mechanic mate as soon as I got it home, duly checked and serviced everything was found to be OK apart from the exhaust which had been patched up with exhaust bandage.

The Restoration – Interior & Habitation area

I use the term restoration very loosely it wasn’t my intention to turn it into a ‘concours’ vehicle rather to tidy it up to an acceptable and good level, first an exhaust wont cost much I thought, rang the local exhaust place and was told it was about £250, ashen faced I put the phone down, and picked the keyboard up, on the internet and ten minutes later had a complete brand new exhaust with a five year warranty on the way for the princely sum of about £70 including the carriage, it arrived the next day and was fitted by lunch time.

Spent a few hours with a bucket and sponge inside the vehicle and cleaned everything, curtains down and in the washer, got the Bissell carpet cleaner out, which has an upholstery cleaning attachment and cleaned all the upholstery, came up like new, didn’t bother with the carpet which I had decided to renew anyway with vinyl cushion floor, re-hung the curtains and notice the dry-clean only label, ah well too late now, but they were fine anyway.

Next I thought check the 240v mains electrics, there had been a few mods over the years, some I wasn’t to happy with so I replaced all the 240 volt mains wiring and installed a new consumer unit with an RCD (Residual Current Device a safety feature which must be fitted) and new MCB’s, that done an additional 13A socket was fitted where the TV was going to be fitted, also fitted a couple of 12v cigarette lighter type sockets each side of the upper lockers one external and one internal in both sides for the TV and satellite system (Aldi £60 on offer, works perfectly more of this later). The internal 12v sockets allow the charging of mobile phones, camera and video batteries out of the way of prying eyes.  A further 12v socket was fitted in the dash for DAB radio and/or Sat Nav.

The taps on my motorhome were not working properly, on a unit of this age you’ll probably find the ‘Comet’ taps which have a micro switch fitted, the first few degrees of rotation of the tap knob engages the micro switch and turns on the pump, one of mine had failed on the kitchen sink , I found it more convenient to fit a complete tap assembly, at the same time the steel enamelled sink was found to be rotted around the waste outlet (it’s very common so check it when you are inspecting).

The sink was replaced with a stainless steel one  which fitted perfectly. I now had all the taps working fine except for one of the shower taps, the fault was traced to a tiny piece of plastic being broke on the inside of the knob, soon cured by replacing with one off the old redundant kitchen tap, I didn’t have a great deal of confidence in the current handling properties of these micro switches so I made up a relay unit which was fitted in adjacent to the water heater now the micro switches just operate the relay coil literally milliamps so the micro switches should last forever.

The fridge fault turned out to be an incorrect knob having been fitted and holding the safety gas valve shut, easily fixed, I removed the water heater (a Cascade Mk2), it looked in pretty good order but as the season was fast approaching I decided to ’bite the bullet’ and have it professionally overhauled, a good decision it turned out, took it to Arc Systems in Nottingham who specialise in these devices, all repaired serviced and put back in for the princely sum of £115, and worth every penny, Gary of Arc Systems knows these units inside out and is fully equipped to overhaul them as I watched him I realised you need specialist jigs and equipment, not a DIY job by any means.

Checked the onboard battery charger unit and found it had no output (it charges the leisure batteries and provides 12vdc if you’re on a mains hook up), so that was whipped out and a replacement was planned until I found out the price of a new unit, bugger that I thought and stripped the casing off and spent a couple of evenings drawing out the charger circuit, incidentally the charger has a ‘soft-start’ feature built in, I assume to protect the alternator diodes (tip, you should never charge a vehicle battery, with a mains charger, when the battery is still connected to the vehicle, it can and often does damage the diodes, alternators generate AC the diodes rectify this to DC – simples !!), interestingly the output of the onboard charger is only about 13.8 vdc, the vehicles alternator regulates at 14.4 vdc (approx), simply this means the on board charger will never charge the batteries to full capacity, probably another diode saving feature, checking through the circuit board a few electronic components were found to be defunct, parts ordered from Farnell Electronic Components for the princely sum of about £2.50, soldered in tested, refitted (this time in the correct orientation so the controls could be accessed), another job done. Because where the charger is fitted in the lower half of the wardrobe I had to rig up a work light so when I’d finished the charger I added a 12v fluorescent  light in the wardrobe, this has been invaluable since proving illumination in quite a dark area. I also fitted a couple of spot fittings under the top lockers for reading etc.

Finally in the interior I removed all the cupboard doors and drawer fronts and re-varnished them, they look like brand spanking new now.

Exterior

That’s just about it for the interior, now for the exterior, the transfers had gone a bit tatty and were letting the van down on appearance so I decided to remove them, I started on one of the hottest days of the year, hairdryer and fingernails ready I started, 14 hours later I’d got them off, not an easy job but well worth it the motorhome started to shed it’s years (in appearance). The front bumper and grille/headlight surrounds looked a bit shabby so removed them and resprayed them to match the bodywork( I‘ve got my own spray gun and compressor). Paintwork I thought could do with a polish, now I’m a bit of a ’tool junkie’ so I brought a polishing machine from Machine Mart, the sort as used in professional body shops and set to with the job 4 hours later all the body work done, a coat of Mer and boy was it shining, incidentally  a body shop quoted me £150 to do it the machine cost about £70 and I’ve got it for future use, still toying with the idea of replacing the graphics as I’ve a friend with a sign writing business who owes me a favour and would make and fit for free, and you can’t get much cheaper than that. (My mother was a Yorkshire woman and it shows up in me from time to time.)

Vehicle Electrics

I had a few problems with intermittent faults on the vehicle electrics, all of a sudden the vehicle refused to start, and the indicators stopped working, finally traced it to the absolutely rubbish connectors used to provide the earths to various components, in this case the electronic ignition module and indicator system, just age and corrosion really, there’s one on each side of the inner wings, these were removed and replaced with more substantially units from the local auto electrical factors, they have proper plated screw fittings these were installed and coated with silicon grease (from Maplins) and new terminals fitted to all the earth cables (and silicon greased) all fitted and tightened up and all the intermittent faults disappeared and the vehicle now started first time, even if you haven’t got these problems I advise you to change to these terminal blocks and use the silicon grease it’s brilliant at stopping electrical corrosion, most vehicle electrical problems are caused by poor earths so it’s well worth doing. New horns were fitted, as well as ‘Audi’ style daytime running lights at the front, had them hanging round the garage brought for the Wing but couldn’t find any where suitable to put them on it.

Extra Space

If you want extra space you will need an awning if the motorhome hasn’t got an awning rail then you will have to fit one, really easy took about an hour, got my awning off ebay £75 technically second hand when it arrived it was still sealed in it’s original plastic bag completely unused, I also purchased a sun canopy which also fits in the awning rail (http://www.riverswayleisure.co.uk/acatalog/info_190020.html) not tried that yet but it looks to be just the job, would have liked one of the Fiamma roll out ones but they’re hundreds of pounds, this one should do the same job for £40

Towbar

If the vehicle doesn’t have a towbar fitted, then obviously you are going to have to get one if you are intending to take the Wing with you. Towbar can be very expensive, one quote I had was over £500, finally tracked one down from a company called Watling Towbars, in St Albans, very helpful people who told me that although they didn’t do one specifically’ for my motorhome they did make one which would fit with some minor mods, as I have my own welders, grinders etc. it wasn’t a problem ordered it complete with electrics, etc for about £150, and fitted it myself in about 3 hours, job done.

The last jobs I did was to have new vinyl cushion floor fitted as I am completely hopeless at carpet fitting I had it done by a mate who does it for a living, cost a few pints and looks great, easy to clean and durable.

TV & Satellite systems

I looked at 12vdc/240vac TV’s from the camping & caravanning shops, they are expensive, too expensive for my tastes, the object after all was to do this on a budget, finally sourced one at Tesco (although the newer models are different and not suitable) which was a 15.6” flat panel with built in DVD and Freeview for about £116, importantly the TV has an external power supply which converts 240vac to 12vdc, the 12vdc plugs in the side of the TV, hence it is usable on the vehicle electrics, you might want to run it through a regulator (about £20, that’s roughly half price of most sites)  to prevent damage through transient voltage spikes available here.

The TV was mounted on a ‘swing & tilt’ bracket from Asda (about £15.00) and a quick release bracket was fitted which allows fitting and removal in seconds (about £12.00) I thoroughly recommend this type, available from here.   As mentioned before a 12vdc/ 240vac satellite system was purchased from Aldi and is found to be perfect, mounted mine on a Konig tripod from Amazon.

I had to turn an adaptor from a piece of billet aluminium which was araldite into the tripods top section works perfectly firm, strong and secure. I added a dual satellite / aerial external socket so that I didn’t need to run co-axials through the window or doors widely available and have both a co-ax and f-plug connectors built in.

Conclusion

What’s it like to drive? Well it’s no sports car, but it will happily cruise all day long towing the Wing at 60mph, fuel economy is very reasonable (for this type of vehicle) returning on average about 30mpg, there’s no power steering but I haven’t found that to be a problem at all, on the whole it’s a very pleasant vehicle to drive. Air conditioning, dream on !!!

So what did I get for my money?  In total it’s cost less than £7k and a considerable amount of elbow grease  and that includes everything including the TV/satellite system.  I’ve since had it independently valued at £10k for insurance purposes.

I’ve done about six trips in it to various Goldwing events and covered about 2000 trouble free miles, apart from having a puncture on the trailer, that’s nothing to do with the motorhome.  It’s warm and dry at night and cool in the heat of the day, comfortable and reliable, can’t really see me ever returning to a tent, its completely self contained with it’s own shower, WC, cooker, hob, water storage (24 gallons) on board and hot water on demand, in practical terms I wouldn’t have got anything else if I had brought one costing far, far more.

Editor’s Postscript: If you are choosing a motorhome to tow a GoldWing, the payload and towing capacity of the motorhome are very important considerations.  Motorhomes often have very limited towing capacity and some cannot take a towbar at all, so check this carefully before you buy.

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Towing a GoldWing on a Trailer

Alternatives to Tents

Graham and his Custom GL1100

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE FOR AN ENLARGEMENT

This Custom GoldWing is unique as well as exceptional in terms of finish and presentation because its owner, Graham Whittaker, designed and constructed it himself to create a radically modified bike; it’s fundamentally still a GL1100 but this is no ordinary GL1100.

As one of the professionals we used as judges at last year’s GoldWing Light Parade said, you can recognise some of the parts as coming from other GoldWing models and some which clearly don’t, but you can’t see the joins. The parts have been assimilated into an impressive whole and the bike looks like it was factory designed and built.  And indeed it was professionally designed and constructed; Graham is after all a very talented and experienced motorcycle mechanic and his knowledge of GoldWings, especially Classic GoldWings, is unmatched.

The actual building of the bike took less than a year but as Graham says, the thinking about how it could be done took more like four.  Its creation and its relatively rapid construction was provoked by his wife’s enthusiasm at a winter social gathering for a European Tour they were invited to join.  Graham’s objections that he didn’t have a suitable bike were swept aside: “You’ve got all this bits in the garage, there’s plenty of time for you to put them together”.  So he did, and the following Summer the bike, already radically modified from it original design, successfully completed a 3,000 mile tour.

Could you identify this bike as a GoldWing from the front?

Graham is a working man himself and he has strong views about a working man’s entitlement to affordable motorcycling – and that by making GoldWing models which are more and more complex and more and more expensive, there is scope for the manufacture of something much simpler and cheaper which can still fit into the GoldWing family of models.

His Custom GL1100 is therefore a concept bike for a new design of GoldWing; Graham would dearly love to see it manufactured in quantity and sold at an affordable price.

His starting point was a GL1100 frame and engine, to which he attached an extended (by 4 inches) rear frame and swinging arm in order to fit the rear wheel, suspension and final drive from a GL1500.  The front forks and wheel from a GL1500 were also used, complete with rotor cover.  A hydraulic clutch was contrived to replace the GL1100′s original cable clutch, using a clever adaptation of a car components to create the necessary slave cylinder.

Clutch slave cylider

So far Graham had been covering familiar ground in that he modified a GL1200 Limited Edition by extending the rear frame and swinging arm to install a GL1500 rear wheel and final drive, likewise GL1500 front forks and wheel and a GL1500 trunk.  But that bike had retained its original front fairing and saddlebags and despite the GL1500 seat it still looked basically like a fairly heavily accessorised GL1200 with an unusual colour scheme and unusual bodywork features.

Fog light housing is hand made GRP moulding

Graham had also gathered experience of modifying the rear of a friend’s GoldWing trike to accommodate some stylish lighting units from a car by remodelling the fibreglass moulding.   Graham had acquired the skills to incorporate more radical and more stylish bodywork changes into his GL1100 project.

The original GL1100 Aspencade front fairing, tank top and cockpit were retained, although substantially refurbished to give a fresh and modern appearance – for example the original round headlight was replaced by a more modern design liberated from a Yamaha Fazer.  The way in which Graham managed to incorporate a radically different shape of headlight into the original fairing and make it look like it really belongs is very impressive.

Clever integration of GL1500 and GL1800 rear lights

A GL1500 trunk replaced the original, boxy-looking equivalent and it was in this form, still with the original GL1100 saddlebags, that the bike did its first Tour.  But  Graham was by no means finished yet.  When he got home from the Tour work continued with the seeming impossible challenge of replacing the saddlebags with a pair from a GL1800.  How on earth could components from such disparate designs, indeed from completely different motorcycling eras, be made to fit together in harmony?

As you can see from the pictures, Graham managed to do this wonderfully.  The GL1800 saddlebags needed considerable modification on the inside, to accommodate the GL1500 suspension, and this was achieved by extensive re-shaping by means of plastic welding.  And in order to make the lights on the GL1800 saddlebags look compatible with the very different style of the GL1500 trunk lights, Graham modified both sets to produce his own unique lighting style – using diffusers from domestic ceiling lights!  Graham also modified the lower part of the front fairing to add stylish lower lights.

GL1800 seat looks like it belongs

The seat is from a GL1800 and this required cutting down the middle and rejoining to reduce its width as well as refashioning of the passenger backrest.  The Cockpit was also completely refurbished and new glovebox lids were made to cover the GL1200 Panasonic radio/tape unit and on the other side a CB radio.

Cockpit is impeccably finished

A power-operated windscreen wiper has been installed (by adapting a Volvo headlamp wiper) which is controlled by a push button on the handlebars.  The exhaust uses silencers from an FJR1300.

Modifed rear lighting

The standard of overall finish which Graham has achieved is remarkable.  The frame, engine and ancillaries are all powder coated in shiny black and the paintwork is a two tone combination in the manner of a GL1500SE.  Perhaps the cleverest and neatest bits of customisation are the panels which Graham has made (from fibreglass) to join the major components – these really look the part.

Powder coated engine

How does it handle?  Graham’s very happy with the bike’s handling and performance generally – and the bike was reliable on its maiden European Tour.  And the new owner of Graham’s Customised GL1200 Ltd is very happy with his bike too.

GL1500 trunk and seat on a GL1200 - Graham's first project

There can be no doubt that Graham’s Customised GL1100 is a great success as a project.  It’s pleasing on the eye and it works as a grand touring bike in the GoldWing style.  And apart from Graham’s stylish one-off glass fibre joining panels, it’s been made from parts which are widely available from broken bikes and are relatively inexpensive to buy.  All you need is Graham’s skills and application (and maybe a very tolerant as well as encouraging wife) and you too could create an Exceptional GoldWing!

Graham  is a Member of GoldWing Misfits, a group which enjoys biking rallies and camping events but prefers to steer clear of club meetings and politics.  He works as a mechanic at Chorley Yamaha, which despite being a Yamaha Dealer also services GoldWings and often has used stock.

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Tempting but increasingly tight for a GoldWing?

I have referred to a helpful internet article written by Biker/Solicitor John Measures of Barratts Solicitors previously and this Article was provoked by another one of his.  Filtering past or through standing or slow moving traffic is common practice in UK but is it safe and is it legal?

With our busy and often traffic-clogged roads, the option to filter through standing or slow moving traffic is a potentially valuable aspect of life on two wheels, providing you have the confidence to do it and the perceptiveness to appreciate when it’s a bit too risky.

Not all GoldWing riders are confident enough to take their big bike into the relatively narrow gaps which filtering often involves but plenty are.  When I get the chance to make progress while cars and trucks are stuck in traffic I do so, with contentment which sometimes verges on smugness at my good fortune at being a motorcyclist.  Not only am I riding my wonderful bike but I’m not stuck in traffic like the drivers I’m riding past either – so aren’t I the luc

An inviting gap, but always check for obstructive lane dividers across the junction

ky one?

So eat your hearts out you unfortunate German and US riders, in your Countries (or at least in many US States) it’s illegal to filter.  But in UK we may do so if we wish, or at least it’s not something which UK bikers will ordinarily get pulled up by the police for doing.

Nor is it particularly likely to provoke, at least not so far in UK, angry or obstructive reactions from other road users, although occasionally a car or van driver will try to manoeuvre to obstruct a filtering motorcyclist.  On the relatively rare occasions when I have seen this happen for some reason it’s usually been someone driving a fairly old car that is behaving selfishly in this way and I wondered why?

I once spoke to a driver of an old Volvo who had tried to deliberately pull out on me in a dangerous way and he eventually admitted it was because he was envious of my grand and expensive bike.  Another driver who objected very strongly after I had overtaken him into a gap behind the lorry he was following (by undertaking me and then deliberately forcing me out into the path of oncoming traffic until I dropped back behind him again,which of course I did in order to stay alive) was a shaven headed thug (again in an old car) who would clearly stop at nothing to keep his place at the head of the queue to overtake that lorry, even though he was extremely unlikely (on that road) to get an opportunity.

It's illegal to cross or straddle solid white line lane dividers on motorway slip roads

However that sort of thing really is very rare and indeed was a complete one-off in my experience but it does illustrate that filtering needs to be done with alertness to the responses which other roads users may make.  In that particular case I did probably take Mr Skull a bit by surprise by overtaking him when he was fairly close behind that lorry, causing him to have to back off a little initially, and I could probably have picked a better and less surprising moment to put myself in front of him.  Keeping yourself out of trouble on a motorcycle nearly always boils down to good observation, so that you have time to make sensible decisions, indeed that’s what advanced motorcycling is all based on.

But taken as a whole in UK, I have found filtering both on motorways and in towns to be safe and worthwhile as long as it’s done carefully and with reasonable consideration to other road users.  Indeed I rather enjoy it as a way of exercising motorcycling skill.  I very rarely encounter adverse reaction of any kind from other road users and it allows me to make progress through congested traffic which would otherwise involve considerable delay.

But don’t try filtering, especially between lanes of traffic, when you’re on holiday in Florida.  You will get pulled by the Sheriff or the State Trooper if he sees you and you might very well have a car door deliberately opened in your path or even a gun pulled on you by an angry driver who disapproves of you jumping the queue he’s stuck in.  In Florida motorcyclists are expected to wait their turn in traffic the same as everyone else.

Filtering is not without its hazards in UK either, including attempts by other road users to be deliberately obstructive, and it should therefore be done with due care or not at all.  In order to filter between lanes of standing traffic on a UK motorway, which is unfortunately all too common these days, you require confident slow speed handling of the bike, including coping with riding along rows of cat’s eyes or along banding of the tarmac.

It takes a bit of getting used to, especially for pillion passengers, for whom it may sometimes hold particular terrors.  But once you have got the hang of it you will find you can relax into steady control of the bike’s line and you will gain confidence to keep rolling even through narrow gaps; a GoldWing is only 1 metre wide between the mirrors and gaps between traffic lanes are not usually narrower than unless the lanes have been narrowed, for example within road works.

Gaps in lines of standing traffic mean potential danger - look carefully for emerging cross traffic

Likewise filtering past standing traffic in towns can be very productive and satisfying – and all it takes is decent forward observation, to spot where you can safely overtake without getting marooned on the wrong side of the road in the face of oncoming traffic.

But is filtering risky in the legal sense – or for that matter in the insurance sense?  Where do you stand if a collision occurs?

John Measures answers these questions very helpfully in his article on the subject and he seems to be pretty confident as well as clear about what he says.  John is a biker who likes to filter through traffic himself when the need arises but he’s also a lawyer, and lawyers don’t offer assurances on the legality of things lightly.  Happily John thinks it is legal to filter past and through traffic and his Article explains why.  There is nothing illegal per se about taking advantage of the relatively modest width of a motorcycle to make progress when other road users cannot do so because of traffic congestion.

Being on the wrong side of double white lines can be an offence of course and so can riding the wrong way along a designated one-way street, but there is nothing illegal per se about riding on the off side half of the road or between lanes of traffic.  A motorcyclist can often overtake standing traffic by using the off-side carriageway when it is clear because he can make use of smaller spaces in or alongside standing traffic than four wheel vehicles require.

It’s a curiosity of English Law that there is no specific legal requirement to drive on the left – although it doesn’t follow that riding unnecessarily or persistently on the right hand side of the road to the alarm of other road users wouldn’t attract police attention.  And of course a motorcyclist can be considered by a police officer to be riding without dangerously or due without due care or due consideration for other road users (depending on the way the motorcyclist goes about his riding) no matter which side of the road he is on and whether or not he is passing other traffic.

Hatched dividing zones can be used unless they are marked for use by turning traffic

So while filtering past standing traffic is not illegal per se, there are plenty of ways of going about it which could be considered illegal.  So it needs to be done sensibly and considerately, that’s the thing.

And if other road users don’t want to move over to let you squeeze through gaps when you are filtering between lines of traffic on motorways you have to accept that and wait patiently until there is room to do so; kicking at the side of a car or at its door mirrors might be tempting if a driver is deliberately being a pain but if you really wind him up he might retaliate physically with his car or van or lorry and at the end of the day he’s inside a steel protective cage and you’re not.

So as long as you are not see by a police officer (or a video camera) to be riding dangerously or carelessly or inconsiderately, and as long as you don’t end up colliding with anything, filtering is not illegal and you are unlikely to be taken to task.  The worst thing that is likely to happen is a toot of the horn or a gesture of frustration from a road user who can’t follow you but if that happens you’ll already be past him (or her) and on your way.

But what if you collide with another vehicle, then what’s the insurance and legal position?  As with any road traffic collision, the police might get involved and might consider whether any offence has been committed and if so deal with it.  Apart from that it will be a matter of how the insurance companies view what has happened and if it comes to it, what the civil Courts decide about whose is to blame.

Tempting but tight

Therein lies the risk to motorcyclists of being hard done by because there is a tendency for both insurance companies and the Courts to think that whenever a motorcycle is involved in a collision it will be at least partly the motorcyclist’s fault.   Rightly or wrongly, and of course we would say wrongly, motorcyclists are regarded as prone to riding faster that is entirely safe and to overtake riskily.  Civil cases are decided on the balance of probability and blame is often apportioned, so even when a motorcyclist is the injured party, it is not uncommon for damage awards to be reduced to reflect the extent to which the motorcyclist is considered to have brought the situation upon himself.

For example collisions often happen at junctions.  A motorcycle is overtaking standing or very slow moving traffic along a main road towards a junction on the left from which a vehicle is trying to exit and turn right.  A considerate car or lorry driver on the main road stops to create a gap and maybe also waves the vehicle out, just as the motorcycle is approaching.  The rider may not have seen the hazard sign for the junction (because the standing traffic has obscured it) and may therefore, unless road markings give a clue, that there is a junction.  The rider doesn’t see the vehicle either creeping or  accelerating briskly out of the gap in the line of traffic until too late and a collision occurs, maybe quite a nasty one.

Courts have been known in such circumstances to regard the biker as partly or even entirely to blame for this type of collision, depending on the particular circumstances – to the extent that persuading the Court that a rider is entirely blameless is quite a challenge of advocacy for even a skilled and experienced lawyer.  This is when bikers need lawyers like John Measures representing them; it can make a big difference.

Approaching a roundabout often presents opportunities but take extra care if you plan to turn left

Better of course to have avoided the collision in the first place and there will nearly always have been indications of a hazard to which the biker could have reacted, if only a hint, if he was looking for it, that there was a potentially hazardous gap in the line of standing traffic coming up.  An observant rider would be alert to the hazards of left side junctions with minor roads and will be looking out for them as he overtakes standing traffic, likewise any gap in the line of traffic which might indicate that a vehicle is about to emerge from an unmarked junction such as a driveway or a gateway from a field.

Even this sort of vigilance while filtering isn’t foolproof because there a possibility that pedestrians or bicycles or motorcycles will suddenly emerge from the smallest of gaps between standing traffic.  Overtaking standing traffic on both urban and country roads requires continuing vigilance and considerable caution.  Any rider who overtakes standing traffic at speed or without due caution at marked junctions and when approaching conspicuous gaps in the line of traffic is likely to to be held substantially at fault if a collision occurs.

Filtering between lines of standing or slow moving traffic on motorways is potentially less hazardous because the risk of vehicles emerging from the left to turn right (i.e. against the traffic flow) is not there, but there are still risks of vehicles on either side suddenly swapping lanes across the bike’s path or, especially when traffic has been stopped for a while, suddenly opening a door.

In my experience only a tiny minority of motorists pay enough attention to their door mirrors, especially their left side door mirror, to be likely top see an approaching motorcycle before it’s upon them.  Safety requires that the motorcyclist assumes that all drivers will not see him and might wander or lurch or even swerve suddenly into his path unless there are indications otherwise.  Encouraging indications to the biker include vehicles in front maintaining a steady line over a period of time as he approaches them, vehicles making a conspicuous move to clear a path for the approaching motorcycle (which does sometimes happen) and in stationary traffic, occupants who are not moving about.  These give no guarantee that obstacles will not suddenly appear in the biker’s path but they will reduce some of the risk.

It helps of course to make yourself as conspicuous as possible when you are filtering so having your dipped headlights on is an absolute must.  Wearing Hi Viz clothing is useful too, especially if it’s a full yellow jacket and you’re wearing a white helmet and riding a white GoldWing, as I do. This is one of thsoe situations when being mistaken at first glance for a police motorcyclist works in your favour.

Cones often herald narrowing lanes

The more lights you can show to make yourself conspicuous to the drivers’ peripheral vision through their door mirrors as you approach the better chance they will spot you coming and most drivers will avoid turning into your path even if they don’t move away from it.

Legal ways to make yourself conspicuous include flashing your main beam headlights regularly and on a GL1800 this is very conspicuous and relatively easy to do; pressing the rear end of your headlight dipping switch works as a momentary press flashing switch (i.e. press on and release off) and you can do this with your left thumb.  Fog lights aren’t illegal either these days, or at least they are not likely to attract police attention, so if you have those and/or any driving lights you have fitted, it’s worth switching those on too.

Other conspicuous lights such as strobe lights are illegal and could get you in trouble if you happen to be filtering past a police car, but they are very effective.  They do capture the attention of a fair proportion of drivers and many of them do then move away from your line of approach.

Lane dividers marked for use by turning traffic are not available for filtering

Filtering between lines of traffic on a motorway while riding a GoldWing requires confident slow speed handling to maintain your own chosen line, sometimes along beading lines on the tarmac, which can feel a bit tottery until you get used to it, and lines of prominent cat’s eyes which feel even worse.  Fortunately your |GoldWing is better at this than you will be to start with, so as long as you keep looking up and ahead, make your decisions about whether the gap you’re approaching is big enough well before you get there and avoid panicky glances downwards or sideways you’ll either get the hang of it fairly quickly or equally quickly abandon the idea for ever.  Filtering between lines of traffic is like Marmite; you either relish doing it and grab every opportunity or hate it and avoid it like the plague.

Filtering through motorway traffic which is moving steadily forward, even if only at 20 mph or so, carries an increasing risk of difficulties as the speed of traffic increases because if a collision occurs it is increasingly likely to be a spectacular one in which you could end up dead or seriously injured.  If you ride the M25 you will often see motorcycles weaving through traffic which is moving at 60 mph or even faster.  This can provide interesting spectator sport while they’re in view but it is really is very risky to follow their example.

John Measures doesn’t cite any cases of collisions while filtering on motorways in his Article but clearly if the motorcycle is the only vehicle which was moving the rider will get all the credit for causing the collision and even if another driver moves into his path or opens a door on him, the motorcyclist will be at substantial risk of being regarded as partly at fault, especially if he has been filtering at considerable speed.

When traffic engineers have squeezed in extra lanes the options for filtering are reduced

In summary filtering past or through traffic on a motorcycle is not illegal per se but it is a risky activity and the motorcyclist is likely to get blamed at least to some extent if anything goes wrong.  By all means overtake standing traffic in towns and on main roads when it’s safe to do so but keep a special eye out for left side junctions and gaps in the traffic from which something could suddenly emerge.  Likewise filter between lines of traffic on motorways when you feel confident that you can ride steadily through narrow gaps without clenching your buttocks and getting into a state.

But and don’t complain if it all goes suddenly and terribly wrong; your insurance company is not likely to be very sympathetic or supportive if you collide with something while filtering, even if the police aren’t particularly likely to take issue.

More detailed discussions of filtering risks and methods is available on the Advanced Driving Forum by Clicking Here.  A well written briefing on filtering skills is available on the In Gear Rider Training website by clicking Here.

And finally, filtering can be a particularly terrifying pastime for pillion passengers, so bear that in mind too.  If you get too cavalier about filtering with the wife on the back seat you might get a buzz from the progress you make and enjoy the moment while it lasts but you might never hear the last of it either.

Postscript (July 14th)

In response to this Article I have had an email from a serving Traffic Police Officer who rides a Wing himself.  He doesn’t want to be named but here’s what he says:

“Whilst I am not speaking for the police, my take on your article about filtering is much as yours, and I feel that most of my colleagues share that view point.  If your actions are deemed dangerous or inconsiderate, then fair do’s you will get nicked.  Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that should an accident happen, the filtering by a bike would be a major factor when it comes to any charge.  Me personally, I do it all the time – but safely and with my highway pegs tucked in.  I and most of my colleagues see GoldWing riders as more mature, considerate and safe than other bikers, so they don’t often get tarred by the same brush.”

Team GoldWings North West

Firstly being part of the GoldWings North West Team and successfully completing the RBLR 1000, I’ve read some of the other reports and decided to stray slightly from the norm and talk more about preparation leading up to and including this event.

Returning back to last year when Lesley and Barry Halley mentioned the RBLR to me, I was to say, slightly apprehensive about taking part and I spent a day or two pondering the pros and cons.  Eventually I made the decision to go ahead and do it.

Months later there were various entries on the Goldwings North West website about tactics and the first ideas were being talked about between Lesley, Barry, Crezz , Dave & Tonia, Ted, Jimmy  and me and it was agreed the best place to start was going to be a meeting at the 1^st Anniversary Ball in Leyland.  As we all know now sadly events over took us and we all mourned the passing away of our beloved Lesley.

Besides taking the children and family members out as pillions the only other person I’d taken on the back was Lesley’s sister, Lynne.  She had been so excited back in Sep 2009 after Lesley had arranged for her to be my waving partner whilst cruising up and down Blackpool promenade during BLP 2009, and she loved the atmosphere, the crowds and especially all the small children waving and smiling back at us as we all showed off our lights.

Long distance riding practice started in March, this was Lindesfarne in April

About the second week of March, after returning from the U.S.A, I decided to ask Lynne if she fancied being my pillion on the RBLR. At first she refused and thought I was joking, but having explained that I was serious Lynne considered the idea for a week and then made the decision to accompany me.  (Lynne – It’s not something I would’ve considered normally although Lesley was always encouraging me to go out for a ride with Barry – but I was too chicken until the BLP.  Lesley has gone off on the greatest adventure so I had to ‘seize the day’ – to do something exciting and unusual that would’ve made her proud. )  I was thrilled that Lynne had accepted but the proviso was that we go out on some warm up rides to get some miles under our belts first since she had only ever been 10 miles as pillion during the BLP 2009!!

Approaching Hartside Tops

So on 26^th March we arranged a 322 miles ride.  We set off from Fleetwood, M55, M6, A59 to Grassington, then Patley Bridge, Knaresborough, York, Scarborough, Bridlington, Driffield, then M62 west across the country and then M60, M6 and finally M55 again. This tour took 12 hours with stops at Patley Bridge, York, Scarborough, Bridlington and Birch services.  (Lynne – OMG I loved it right away!!  I felt so comfortable and secure I suddenly realised why Lesley loved it so much and I never had a moment’s second thought!!!)

At the time we did not have communication between us so we only spoke when going slow which involved turning my head sideways and shouting at Lynne.  The ride went smoothly generally, but I found that my buttocks started to get painful around the 250 mile mark and I realised that underwear, Jeans and motorbike trousers do nothing to assist blood circulation.  So this ride was constructive and we had covered the first leg of the RBLR 1000 route.

Lowther Castle

On 28^th Apr, Lynne and I covered a route in her car from Fleetwood M55, M6 north, to Gretna Green, then east all the way to Berwick on Tweed.  We stopped at Lindisfarne but the tide was coming in so we went south to Bamburgh Castle, which was fascinating by the way, and on to Seahouses to have lunch.  From there we went south to Durham then across the country coming back to Penrith via the A686.  At least we noted the road was full of potholes and there were plenty of roundabouts too.

On 29^th Apr, Ted and I fitted an autocom system to the bike with headsets for both my helmets which works brilliantly.  What a difference being able to speak to your pillion makes and it opened up a whole new experience whilst riding.  I cannot see now how I managed without it and it is so nice to get feedback on your riding skills when attempting overtaking manoeuvres (lol!), as I found out. (Lynne – Ok there was that one time where Steve said ‘I can overtake here’ and I unthinkingly said ‘No you can’t!’ forgetting that he could hear me!!!  Bless him – he didn’t!!)

Scottish Trip May 2010

A few days later I decided it was time to change the Oil and filter.  Having read an article on the GWNW website about oil from Morrisons I dually purchased said oil and gave Heavenly Louise new lube for the up and coming long distance rides.

On 7^th May, Lynne and I managed a 480 mile tour to Scotland, again a 12 hour journey which was M6, Glasgow, Fort William (stopped for lunch), east towards the A9 above Pitlochry then south through Stirling and across to Glasgow and south on the M6 back to Lynne’s home in Penrith.   On this trip I was not only testing the Autocom which performed faultlessly, but also tested a memory foam cushion which did help with comfort on the latter part of the journey.  With me still having pain on my right side even with this extra cushion from 350 miles onward, I found out that having my wallet in my back pocket was causing problems, so I stopped placing it there – simple!

Next bike prep job I was to  change the front wheel bearings, fitted new rear brake pads and checked rear bearings, swinging arm, suspension etc.

Ready to go - complete with extra seat padding!

On 12th Jun Ted and I fitted a slide mount CB to HL and now I had the capacity to communicate not only with Lynne, but other team members which turned out a great asset during the RBLR 1000.  Ted and I tested the CB on a ride out on runs to St Annes, and then to Knott End using a different channel and fine tuned the aerial for better reception. All ok!

So now having done all this preparation , covering a route from Pitlochry then south to the M62 and across to the M6 and up as far as Fort William we had completed 50% of the intended route and both felt we were ready for the final challenge.

We're Off!

On 18^th June we rode to Castleford, meeting up with Ted and Chris at Birch Services on the way.  I had decided to use a slightly deflated air cushion and a sheepskin which provided the right support for my posterior and it did make a difference.

From Castleford we headed up to Squires Cafe that night to meet the rest of the team there for the briefing and we knew the adventure had begun!

19^th – 20^th June RBLR1000.  You’ve maybe read other reports and all I can add is it was a fantastic journey to make.  The scenery in Scotland is stunning and the wind from Inverness to Wick and back had to be experienced to be appreciated.  It was exhilarating but not easy – especially on the homeward stretch in the few dark hours of the night!  Our body clocks were seriously out for a couple of days and while Lynne did very well, with only the tips of her ears painful due to the helmet, it took a couple of days for my buttocks to recover!!

One of many fuel stops

On, 26^th Jun, I rode HL down to John Carr’s just off the A6 and, having covered 8,000 miles over 12 months and basically replacing all worn parts, was happy that she flew through the inspection with flying colours and passed the MOT with no problems.

So what’s next you may ask?

Well, we are looking forward to more rides out through the summer -  after the  GWNW meeting on the 27^th I rode north to Lynne’s and we had a ride out to Hartside Top Cafe on the A686, taking HL for a burn up long and winding roads then back via Lowther Castle, the weather was great and the scenery was fantastic too.

Next on the list are Buxton, RAF Woodvale, Kirkby Lonsdale and the BLP 2010 in September.

Finshing as a Team

Finally, I was the one who compared child birth to this ride in that at the time when you finish you say, “never again in a million years!”, but once the pain, tiredness and stress go, you remember all the good things, experiences and you say,“well, maybe one more!!”

So next year it looks like we will do the RBLR1000 again as we both now have the bug – big style!

You can read another report on this Ride by Dave & Toni Bayliss on the GoldWings North West website.

The next RBLR1000 Ride is planned for 18th-19th June 2011.  For further information please visit the  RBLR1000 Website.

Getting this close for a photograph was not ideal

Motorcyclists are more vulnerable than most other road users, who are usually surrounded these days by a protective steel cage, within which multiple airbags are poised to come to their aid if they have a serious collision, even from the side.  So it makes sense for a motorcyclist to feel relatively vulnerable.  Ride a motorcycle like everyone else on the road is actively trying to kill you, so they say.  And sometimes of course that’s precisely what someone is trying to do, even if he or she doesn’t quite realise it.

I was attacked (the only word for it) by a car driver recently who decided he needed to teach me a lesson of some sort by passing very close and cutting in sharply at high speed.  He passed within less than two feet of me and was clearly doing it quite deliberately.  There had been no previous encounter or altercation, so presumably it was because I had dared to be on his road and in his way.  I wasn’t riding as fast as he was driving and I had therefore put him to the trouble of changing lanes to overtake me, so maybe that was it.

But would there be any point in reporting it? Would the police be interested?

As I pulled alongside him at the roundabout about half a mile further on, on the approach to which he had been forced to brake very hard and was now stopped in traffic, I was able to speak to him.  I pointed out that he could have killed me by passing and cutting in as fast and close as he did.  In response I got told to learn to ride properly and in the meantime to get off the so-and-so road.  There were some other vehicles ahead of us both but no-one had been following who might have seen the incident and no policeman handy, so what could I do?  Well, I told him I would report him to the police anyway and he gave me another mouthful.

So I followed him at a safe distance anyway, to be sure I had got his car’s number.  And since I had a camera mounted on the handlebars (I was on the hunt for riding pictures for this Blog) I took a couple of pictures.  But I also decided fairly quickly there would be little point in actually contacting the police; they wouldn’t have enough evidence to prosecute (no corroboration) and they were unlikely to be bothered doing anything else anyway.

Instead I consoled myself by following him for a while longer, still at a safe distance behind.  If nothing else he would learn that you cannot easily shake off a following biker in a car, at least not without getting really silly and attracting all sorts of attention to yourself.  So you can be followed home or to work or to wherever you are heading and the biker can then take note and maybe use the information to your disadvantage.

Nothing provocative and no further attempt to talk to the driver, I just followed him for long enough to give him something to think about, something which might just start to make him think twice before buzzing a biker again.  He did seem to notice photographs being taken as I followed him and he did thereafter seem to be driving on his best behaviour, so maybe I did get him wondering quite who was following him and whether he had got himself into trouble of some sort.

It was only necessary to follow him for a mile or so before he pulled into a college car park and went inside the building.  It was just before 6pm; he was probably going to a night school class and had needed to get there on time.  He now knew that I knew where he went on a Monday evening and where he parked his nice shiny car for an hour or two, leaving it unattended in the college car park. And if he thought about it at all, he could have worked out that it would not be difficult for me to have found out quit a lot more about him too now that I had this lead, if I was so inclined.

Contacting the Police

It was a couple of hours later, after I had got back home and told the story to Management, that she persuaded me to ring the police anyway.  They might not be interested but this young man had clearly used his car as a weapon with which to attack a motorcyclist.  If it had been my son, who I suspect has had his moments while driving, as I did when I was younger and wilder, I would have wanted him to have his horoscope read by a policeman in these circumstances, so he’d think twice before doing it again.  The driver probably hadn’t given any thought at all to what it would feel like as a motorcyclist to be buzzed as closely as this and it would do no harm at all to make him more aware.

So there would be value in him having that pointed out to him by Authority, if I could get Authority interested in doing so.  I didn’t have high hopes, but I gave the police a ring.

I started off  by saying that I realised they probably couldn’t do anything in the way of prosecution but that it might do some good if a policeman had a word and if it was my son etc etc.  I then outlined the incident and explained my concern that it had clearly been a deliberate attack rather than an inadvertent near miss and that the young driver had also responded in the way he had afterwards, by giving me a mouthful and telling me to get off the road.  The key point I made was probably the one about the driver having used his car as a weapon to deliberately intimidate a motorcyclist; that seemed to count for quite a bit.

Instead of the polite “sorry there’s not much we can do” I was expecting, she then said she would look into it and would I be happy to provide a statement?  It sounded like she was looking up his car’s number on the computer as we spoke and maybe something on the computer influenced her too; of course she didn’t say anything either way.  A couple of hours later she rang back to make arrangements for an Officer to interview me; clearly the police were willing to take the trouble to look into the incident.  I was impressed.

A Police Officer Calls

Promptly at the appointed time along came a PC to my home.  He was quite a sight to behold, wearing all-black uniform, military-looking boots and a yellow vest which, together with a belt with all sorts of things attached to it, seemed to contain quite an arsenal of weaponry.  This included a Taser gun in a quick-draw holster.  It emerged later in our conversation that Tasers are now carried routinely in Lancashire by at least one Officer per team; it looked frightening to me just sitting in its holster.  Things have moved a long way since Dixon of Dock Green pounded the streets.  And of course the Police Officer looked extremely young to me; indeed he looked like he had only just left school.

Mind you, policemen have been young to me for the past 20 years at least, especially the small ones.  This guy wasn’t small and you wouldn’t want to mess with him and within a few minutes it became clear that he didn’t want for experience either.  He listened or rather read through the story of the incident, which I had written down for him in advance, to save his time.

He gave no indication of either his impressions or his intentions until he had finished reading and had also asked some questions.  Again it seemed to count for quite a bit when I said that what bothered me was the driver using his car as a weapon against a motorcyclist and that he couldn’t have been taking late avoiding action because he had been crossing sharply from right to left as he passed rather than the other way around.  The Officer then explained, as I had anticipated, that there would be no realistic prospect of prosecution.

But he then said there were two things he could do.  First of all he would go and see the driver and have a word.  It was likely that the driver would deny that he drove at me deliberately; he would probably say that he was merely taking avoiding action as he passed me and might deny passing close at all.  The officer would nevertheless make clear to the driver the dangers of driving at or close to motorcyclists.  This is what I had hoped would happen; the driver would realise that dangerous driving was taken seriously by the police when it was reported.  The second thing the Officer intended to do took me completely by surprise, but I’ll tell you about that later.

Tell it calmly and accurately

I think it helped to get the police interested in taking action that I didn’t pull over immediately after the incident and ring them up while I was still angry – which of course immediately after being attacked and then getting a mouthful of abuse as well, I was a bit.  By telling them the story unemotionally and by asking for help to educate the driver rather than demanding his immediate castration, I presumably came over as more credible than otherwise, and having a sense of proportion about the incident too.

It probably also helped that as an advanced rider, trained to observe and analyse what is happening on the road, I could describe the incident in a way which showed that I had observed things accurately and that I had good, logical reason to conclude from the line he took (moving rapidly right to left as he passed) that the driver must have passed very close to me deliberately rather than having been taking late avoiding action. (No apologies for plugging advanced rider training, it’s something I would encourage everyone to do.)

I’ve done it (i.e. reporting an incident to police) the wrong way and ended up feeling fobbed off, probably as a result of coming across as angry and maybe wanting revenge.  If you are doing it because you’re angry and want to get the other guy in trouble this will of course be apparent to the police and they will take your anger and desire for vengeance into account when they assess your credibility.

From their viewpoint road rage incidents, as they call them, are often six of one and half a dozen of the other.  So if there are things about the incident, for example about your own riding or belligerence, that you would prefer not to have to detail to the police, don’t be surprised if they suspect something anyway or discover it from the other driver; the police are not mugs and they won’t let themselves be used as mugs either.

So, just as the police themselves have to keep their cool when an incident happens, so do you if you want to retain credibility as a reliable witness.  It’s probably best not to tackle the bad driver yourself at all unless you can stay calm and courteous as you do so – and certainly not to do so in any aggressive or challenging way.  Almost any driver’s instinctive reaction to anyone giving them an earful about their driving is to return it in full measure or at least to argue the toss, so the police won’t automatically assume fault from his having sounded off at you when you probably also sounded off at him.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak to a bad driver who has put you at risk and if you can find a polite way to say that you’ve just had quite a serious fright and could he or she possibly consider not doing that again to a motorcyclist, it might not automatically provoke an aggressive reaction and it might even have the desired effect.  But any aggressiveness on your part will almost inevitably provoke aggressiveness in return and will be potentially counter-productive if you wish to involve the police.

This is perhaps particularly true for women drivers whom you have seen driving badly or dangerously, which of course happens these days.  Women who drive aggressively might be inclined to accuse aggressively too, and might not be above putting on a tearful performance about being verbally assaulted by a nasty man for no reason at all while they are at it, so beware.

Don’t kid yourself that you stand any real chance of persuading any offending driver, male or female, that he or she was wrong and you’ll then get an acknowledgement let alone an apology; that is extremely unlikely ever to happen.  Generally it will be best to restrict yourself to saying, if anything, concisely and politely, that you have noted the registration number and intend to report the incident to the police.

Don’t risk another attack

If you’ve just been attacked by another road user, it’s obviously a good idea to deny him any further opportunity to have a go at you, so whatever else you might do, it is vital not to put yourself in a position, on or off your motorcycle, where you can be attacked again.

On this particular occasion the driver who had cut me up was alone, respectably dressed and in a newish car which was in good condition.  I reckoned I was safe enough following him providing I kept well back.  And since his driving settled down and it looked like he was on his best behaviour as I was following him, I even took the risk of riding directly behind him to get a clear picture of his number plate, although I did follow at more than my usual following distance.  The picture which heads this Article was taken while halted by traffic lights, after he had shown himself to be on his best behaviour for a while.

Ideally you should keep at least one other vehicle between you and the object vehicle when following a bad driver, so he (or she) cannot stop and reverse into you at speed.  Doing this would put you on the ground and prevent you from continuing to follow as well as damage your bike and maybe cause you injury.  And it might also allow an ill-intentioned driver to turn the tables by claiming that you had rear-ended him.  This is a common way of deliberately causing an accident to conduct an insurance fraud.  (Likewise accelerating hard into the side of a vehicle which they have just waved or flashed out of a side turning ahead of them; that’s another trick they use.)

Really it’s best not to follow bad drivers at all unless you have a clear purpose in mind and there are indications that it will not be dangerous to follow them.  I wouldn’t have followed a car containing several young men wearing baseball bats for example; I would have simply got the registration number as best I could and then quietly scarpered.

Bear in mind too that your eye-catching motorcycle can sometimes generate obstructive and perhaps even violent envy from other road users as well as the friendlier interest from the public which we have the privilege of attracting.  I’m convinced that some drivers of old cars, perhaps because they are losers in life themselves, get so resentful of the symbol of someone else’s success (or as they might see it unwarranted privilege) that they can be goaded into obstructing if not attacking GoldWings in the same way that motorists are generally less likely to show generosity to drivers of Jaguars and other “flash” cars.  This might be even more likely to happen if they think a GoldWing is on their case by following them.

Take your own revenge?

Revenge is sweet, so they say, but they also say it’s a dish best served cold.  Tempting though it may be to take issue or to extract vengeance, at least try to avoid doing so when hot blooded.  Whatever entitlement you might feel to take revenge on bad drivers if you can, allowing the red mist to descend and take charge of your actions while you are still riding a motorcycle is not a good idea.

I suppose I could very easily have damaged the car I had been following as soon as the driver left it in the college car park but, putting the morality of doing that aside for a moment, I could very easily have been spotted and remembered.  GoldWings are eye catching bikes.

But what if you could get away with it?  One chap I know was outraged when he saw an obviously healthy and agile young woman park her Chelsea Tractor in a disabled bay right outside a supermarket as he was leaving it, also on foot.  He pointed out that it was a disabled-only space and when she told him to mind his own business he told her that if she didn’t move her car he would slash the tyres.  She ignored this warning and went into the store; he then slashed all four tyres and left.  He got clean away with it but vigilante actions are a risky business with all the CCTV that’s around these days, even if you happen to think the victim thoroughly deserved it.

Another biker I know once turned up at a meeting and proudly showed off a set of keys which he then ostentatiously dropped down a drain.  He had been at the Council’s Recycling Centre that morning dumping some stuff when a really pushy bloke barged in front of everyone with his BMW and was being a real pain to others, including the biker.  The BMW driver happened to have left his keys dangling in the lock of his open boot lid as he bustled around, getting stuff out of his boot and then out of his car and to throw into the various skips.  The biker took the opportunity to pocket the dangling keys, finished his own business and left.

So if taking revenge on other road users is attractive to you, opportunities for vigilante justice may sometimes present themselves without too much risk of getting caught.  It’s worth bearing in mind however that in both of these cases the victim of the vigilante action, even if she and he couldn’t identify the actual perpetrator, would probably associate the incident with a motorcyclist and have something of a down on all motorcyclists thereafter.  One way and another vigilante action is probably not a very good idea, if only because it can easily rebound and/or escalate out of your control.

How about a bit of psychology?

Getting a bad driver to think twice about doing it again by perfectly legal and non-violent means is potentially a different matter and might at least give you some sense of having turned the tables.  There are laws against stalking these days so it would be unwise to make sustained efforts to hound anyone but following someone immediately after an incident in order to identify them and show that you have identified them (and incidentally now know where they live or work) is at least something you can hardly be criticised for.

The driver I followed to the college car park would be likely to have had some concerns about what might happen next.  Having a camera mounted conspicuously on my handlebars seemed to have a useful psychological effect too, albeit only after he had attacked me.

Perhaps I should ride routinely with my camera on the handlebars in future.  Indeed if I can get my granddaughter to teach me how to use it in video mode I might even leave that running routinely while I’m riding.  And maybe I could also fit a rear-facing camera, and maybe wear a hi viz vest announcing that video recording is in progress – now that really would be a defensive approach to riding!

The Trick up the Policeman’s Sleeve

Let’s get back to reality and finish the story of my recent incident and the involvement of the police.  Remember the Police Officer who called to gather information from me said there were two things he would do, one of which was to “have a word”.

Unless persuaded otherwise by what the driver had to say when interviewed, the Police Officer also intended to make an Intelligence Report of the incident on the Police National Computer.  This would flag the car’s number plate to any ANPR equipped police car (Automatic Number Plate Recognition, so all traffic cars and lots of others these days) as a vehicle known in connection with a report of bad driving.  It would make his car an object of interest and if it was seen being driven badly it would probably be stopped.  Maybe the driver would also get flagged personally on the computer too, the Policeman didn’t say.  But he did take the trouble to ring me a few days later to say that the PNC intelligence report had indeed been entered, which was kind of him.

I suppose I should have realised that the police will use ANPR to flag up all sorts of potential offenders who deserve a close look, but I had no idea that this included suspected bad drivers.  The police can use this technology to flag up bad riders too of course, so if bikers are reported by other road users for riding dangerously, they could also end up subsequently attracting the particular attentions of a traffic car.

No doubt some people will think it’s an infringement of civil liberties to use computers and cameras to flag people as targets in this way unless they have at least had a relevant conviction, but I think it’s a very good idea.  Abuse of police technology is of course a possibility but that’s always been true of all police facilities and authority – and improved technology also helps to catch abusers too, as the former traffic officer who extracted sexual favours for letting people off discovered the hard way recently; he’s now doing eight years in jail.  The police seem to be getting better at weeding out their own bad apples and good for them.

Of course there’s no point in ringing up the police every time you see an example of poor driving.  You’d never be off the phone and they’d soon have you marked as a nuisance caller.  But it’s surely comforting to know, for those of us who at least try not to ride or drive badly ourselves, that reporting really dangerous driving to the police is not a waste of time providing you go about it the right way.  And since the police were willing to do something when a motorcyclist reported that he had been attacked on this occasion, I for one will be happier to trust them to do so in future.  I’ll be less likely to follow the offending driver myself, scheming as I do so how to cause problems for him.

Well done Lancashire Constabulary.  Thank you for listening properly when I called to report the incident.  And thank you for taking this opportunity for constructive intervention, to the benefit of safety on our roads. Very professional, indeed from my viewpoint it was absolutely first class policing; minimal paperwork and worthwhile impact.

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Also available with black lettering on an orange ground

2010 Pose on the Prom Patches and garments are now available for purchase on line.

They are both available in two colours, black and orange, so orange on a black background or black on orange .

The Orange colour scheme chosen for this year honours Blackpool Football Club, which plays in Tangerine Orange and has just won promotion to play in the Premier League next Season.

The garments come with the 2010 Pose on the Prom Badge embroidered, without a border,  on the left breast.  Orange garments get black lettering and vice versa.  The bike is red this year as a change too.

You can place you orders now by visiting the Regalia Page of the GoldWing Light Parade at Blackpool Illuminations website.

The regalia is being supplied by Alan Mason’s Storm Embroidery.  Alan is a Winger himself and has supplied regalia for many years.  Both Patches and Garments can be ordered on line and paid for using any credit or debit card using the PayPal system.  Alan’s phone number is also provided in case you need to ask for more information.

The prices are very keen and there is also a maximum postage charge of only £2 per order, so it pays to buy everything at once rather than doing it in dribs and drabs.

If the cap fits?

There has been a debate – or rather an attempt at debate – on the GWOCGB Forum, in the context of the Club’s declining membership.  It was about what constitutes “politics”, often cited by Wingers as something they really don’t like.

“Politics” seems to be a pretty important membership factor – especially in membership retention, which has been a serious problem for GWOCGB for some years.  The Club has suffered steadily declining membership and took a particularly big hit last year. Generally speaking the new independent clubs are thriving and the older ones are also doing very nicely too; it’s really only GWOCGB that’s in serious membership decline.

So if “politics” is what turns Wingers say causes them to leave the Club, what exactly do they mean by it and what can be done to improve things?

This was potentially a very useful question for GWOCGB to pose to itself and in the privacy of the Members-Only Area of the Club’s Forum it could have led to constructive discussion and maybe thereby to ideas for turning the Club’s fortunes.

Unfortunately it rapidly degenerated into challenging personal criticism and argument and it got quite heated, even by GWOCGB Forum standards.  The webmaster called time and locked the Thread; the discussion was nipped in the bud.

The Thread is still there for Members to see, or at least it was when this Article was published.  It illustrates very clearly to those Members of GWOCGB who don’t already know that friendly discussion comes hard to their Club – and that joining any discussion on the Forum puts you at risk of personal attack if any of the resident bullies takes objection.  Perhaps this answers the question which was posed anyway, by providing a vivid illustration of what Wingers mean when they say they don’t like about GWOCGB’s politics.

There was however a short calm before the storm broke and one or two ideas about what constitutes “politics” were mooted.  For example that discussion of business matters at Club (i..e. Regional) Meetings often takes up too much time, when what Wingers really want to be doing is riding their bikes.

This was a useful observation and it also provided an example, the constructive implications of which seemed to have been completely missed, of a new approach to group riding activities which is actually being handled almost as if it was part of a GWOCGB recruiting initiative and has proved to be very popular.

Maybe those who run meetings do need to make more effort to sense when other people have had enough and it’s time to get out on the road but Wingers who ended up leaving the Club for this reason wouldn’t necessarily say it was the politics; they would probably say that there weren’t enough ride outs or simply that they were bored by the meetings.

But it is perhaps typical of the blinkered view of things which burdens GWOCGB that instead of praising this contributor for his successful initiative in attracting lots of Wingers to what is at least partly under the GWOCGB banner and is part of an attempt to interest them in joining the Club as well, he was attacked for taking Members away from the local Region by competing with them.

However, let’s get back to what constitutes “politics”.  Another idea was that Wingers leave (and call it politics) when what’s really going on is that they aren’t getting what they want – the implication perhaps being that they are selfish or opinionated people  who are no great loss to the Club anyway.   Again Wingers who leave because they are not getting what they want (as opposed to not getting their own way in arguments) will probably say so, rather than call it politics.

And although some drop out or don’t join GWOCGB or any other GoldWing club at all because they say they only want to ride and/or they prefer riding alone or with other sorts of biking groups, the mixture of riding and non-riding activities which GWOCGB Regions have offered has appealed to plenty of Wingers in the past – so why should that appeal have tailed off so much in recent years unless there is something more to it than not getting the sort or quantity of rides or other activities they want?  Plenty of Wingers still enjoy getting together at WingDings, so even though GWOCGB doesn’t offer much of anything other than camping weekends, they obviously still hold their attractions.

Another suggestion was, as far as I could make out, that Wingers have probably left the Club because they found the circumstances or sequence of events which resulted in a substantial number of Members leaving the Club and starting independent clubs (following disputes with the National Committee) too political, so they themselves have since left the Club because of this, presumably in disapproval and presumably of the way the dispute was handled by the Club.  Alternatively, since the contributor clearly strongly disapproved of the conduct of those who had left the Club rather than toe the Committee’s line, so it was their fault for causing others to leave too.  Or maybe he meant the Club was well rid of them, so politics is a good thing if it flushes out and gets rid of non-conformists, even if there was also collateral damage.

Broadcasting arguments isn't likely to help

Is it simply argy bargy that Wingers don’t like?

The same contributor seemed to me to be getting much closer to the real meaning of “politics” when he suggested that “strife” was what turned people off.

If people want contentious debate as a club activity, whether at meetings or on a forum, they will join a debating society or a political party rather than a bike club.

They join a bike club to enjoy friendship with like-minded Wingers and certainly not endless arguments, for which at least one GWOCGB Region has acquired something of a reputation.  And at national level too, Club meetings are attracting smaller attendance and are rarely without controversy of some sort – and some arguments, for example the one about admitting caravans and motorhomes to camping events, never seems to go away for very long, even when it’s supposed to have been settled.  Sooner or later someone will have another go at expounding his traditionalist view on the matter.

Could it be as simple as that then, that “politics” is simply an aversion to endless arguments, in what is supposed to be, above all, a friendly Club?  Anyway that was that as far as suggestions for the meaning of “politics” during this Forum discussion got before it turned into interpersonal argument.

I think there are more aspects to “politics” than this relatively short list and if the Club is to turn its fortunes, it needs to study them carefully and learn all possible lessons.  So it’s a real pity that this potentially useful discussion failed.

So let me suggest some aspects of “politics” too, because even though I am no longer a member of GWOCGB and now think there is a better way to provide national-scale services for UK Wingers, I enjoyed my time in the Club, I didn’t choose to leave and I take no pleasure at all in seeing it going downhill.

Everyone should do it my way

An irritant which Wingers might label as “politics” is having strong views stuffed down their throats, especially if it relates to how they should be riding.  Unsolicited advice, let alone edicts from the ruling committee or anyone else who thinks he or she has a right, is rarely welcomed or appreciated in any volunteer organisation.  Telling a biker what/where/how he should be doing things is more likely to get up his  nose more than most people’s.

So even relatively polite discussions about whether this or that is the “right” way to do things, as if there is only one right answer, can be very irritating, even if the reluctant listener doesn’t take issue at the time.  If Members who express opinions can’t see that there is almost always more than one way of skinning a cat (or marshalling a ride out) and fail to respect other people’s ideas and opinions, it isn’t friendly.

Rules and Rulers

There is a limit to how much in the way of rules and regulations bikers are likely to feel necessary for the running of a club, especially a club which aims to be friendly.  Maybe the elaborate Constitution and the set of Rules which GWOCGB has built up over the years are themselves something of a turn off.

Why does a friendly bike club have to get so institutionalised – and therefore politicised?  GWOCGB’s rule book reads as long-winded, lawyerish, mumbo jumbo – isn’t that in itself a turn off which Wingers might label “politics” if they ever come face to face with them?

People don’t like being bossed around in any volunteer organisation and Wingers are no exception.  They probably get quite enough of that sort of thing at work or at home.  Biking is an escape to freedom rather than a journey into conformity.

GWOCGB grew rapidly in its early days to become the predominant club for Wingers it would have been natural to develop a composite national structure, so that Wingers would be welcomed anywhere at Club events, even when they were organised by local Regions.  And few Wingers would object to the idea of a national Club which is a genuinely friendly national network if it can stay that way.

But therein lies the problem.  A ruling national structure is potentially oppressive.  And if heavy-handed action is taken to get members to toe the line it could very easily be seen as bullying.  Whatever else it might be, being told what you can or cannot do from above isn’t going to feel friendly.

Integrity and fairness at the top

Friends are people whom you regard as trustworthy.  There may or may not be honour among thieves these days, but among Wingers, in the context of their friendly Club, honesty and trustworthiness from Wingers towards other Wingers is rated pretty highly.

Honesty and fairness in dealing with the Club’s affairs and in exercising power or judgement on behalf of the Club is something which Members probably have fairly high expectations of.  So if Committee Members are seen as having done something improper or disreputable, Wingers may feel they are letting the Club down.   Stuff like that isn’t compatible with friendliness and the more there are in the way of whiffs of any of it, the less comfortable some Wingers are going to be with the Club.

Institutionalised Unfriendliness

Going Negative

Attacking Wingers who are no longer in the Club by casting them as non-persons or calling them or the new clubs they might have formed names, and trying to undermine these Wingers and clubs by spreading smears is what politicians call “going negative”.

It can be hurtful and damaging to the targets, especially in the short term, but it can also backfire in a big way because whatever else it might be, it’s not friendly.

The ideal of a single national GoldWing club, serving the needs of all Wingers in friendship is an aim worthy of respect but at the end of the day it’s just one of a number of ways of running a bike club, not a religion, in defence of which holy war becomes justified.

Spreading smears, like those who have joined other clubs have “gone over to the dark side” or are “scabs”, and false information, like saying the Blackpool Light Parade is no longer running, or passing the word that going to the Blackpool Light Parade is now regarded as an act of disloyalty to GWOCGB, carries a risk of being seen as thoroughly disreputable.  And it’s hardly likely to encourage the Wingers who have left because of “politics” to come back either, even if they are not the targets of the smears themselves, quite the opposite.  It just isn’t friendly.

Friendliness is the key

Friendliness lies at the core of what people join bike clubs to enjoy and unfriendliness is the common feature of all the possibilities of what “politics” means to the Wingers who feel driven away.  Maybe it boils down to a feeling that GWOCGB is no longer a friendly Club – or at least it’s not friendly enough for their needs.

There is still lots of friendliness in GWOCGB too of course, notably in the more successful Regions, but unfriendliness has become far too prominent. Taken as a whole, GWOCGB has arguably become institutionally unfriendly.

So it ain’t rocket science guys, if you want your so-called friendly Club to be more successful at retaining and re-attracting members, stop being so unfriendly to each other.

Likewise stop being nasty to Wingers who have left; they are among the people you need to win back. Mixing with them, going to their events and being friendly to them is more likely to cast GWOCGB in a new and favourable light in their eyes than keeping a wary distance, calling them names and throwing brickbats whenever you get the chance.

Just as professional footballers and policemen have to learn self-control in order to stay in the game, so do Wingers if they want to be part of a genuinely friendly club.  And that’s just as true for Committee Members who are overheard saying “more trailer trash” on the radio about Wingers arriving at a Club Event as it is for belligerence on  the Forum.

Personal criticism is always provocative

Personal criticism of any kind, on the Forum or elsewhere, is a particularly potent way of being unfriendly without necessarily intending to be.  It’s easily taken as more hurtful and offensive than just being “a bit abrasive”.  Why be abrasive to other Members anyway within a friendly Club?

I’ve posted personal criticism myself in the private area of the GWOCGB Forum in the belief that it was a way of conducting a robust debate among grown-ups and I was wrong.  I’ve learned the hard way that it’s almost always likely to be taken the wrong way when it’s done in writing and it’s almost inevitably counter-productive.  I have to admit to making an exception for President Obama and Senator Screaming Skull recently, who seriously disappointed me with their anti-Britishness, but they’re not in my bike club and they’re politicians who have themselves been expressing very critical opinions, so they’re fair game!

Anyway personal criticism among Wingers is unfriendly and that’s why this Blog doesn’t normally carry any at all.  Contrary views are welcome, belligerence and personal criticism isn’t.

A friendly approach is never a bad thing

Friendliness is blossoming again in the UK GoldWing Community.  Wingers who meet up on the road or at shared events, like Appleyards Open Day and the recent Cumbria Ride for help for Heroes are behaving in, at the very least, a courteous way to each other when last year that would not necessarily have happened.  The worst of the turbulence, or at least the nastiness of the past two years is probably behind us, thank goodness.   Wingers are riding their bikes in company and thereby rediscovering friendliness between local clubs and/or Regions by direct contact.

Indeed at the Cumbria Ride for Help for Heroes a very surprising and very positive thing happened.  An active member of Lancs & Lakes, who last year was cutting me dead, presumably because he blamed me for the difficulties with the National Committee and the split in the Region, took the trouble to bring a Winger over to introduce to me, which he did by name, using my name too, in a brief but perfectly polite and helpful way.   This was surprising enough from my viewpoint but it was even more surprising that the Winger he introduced had asked for me because he wanted to know more about our new independent Club, GoldWings North West.  The Winger said, and perhaps he had said to the Lancs & Lakes Member too, that he didn’t want anything more to do with GWOCGB; he had tried it and didn’t like the politics and squabbling, so he wanted to try something different.

For the time being at least the Winger who was introduced to me seems to be a lost cause to GWOCGB and to Lancs & Lakes.  Perhaps the L&L Member who brought him over realised that.  And it wasn’t that he had been subjected to any sort of hard sell of GoldWings North West’s virtues and certainly not any denigration of GWOCGB, or at least not from me he hadn’t.  When he had emailed me about GoldWing clubs in the North West (via this Blog) some time previously, I had replied in a balanced and non-judgemental way and I had mentioned Cumbria Wings as his nearest option, and Lancs & Lakes as well as GoldWings North West.  I just gave him the facts.  He’d then tried Cumbria Wings and been disappointed, although to be fair to them it was not because of squabbling.  But he also made it clear that he was fed up with the bickering and arguments he had seen in GWOCGB, presumably elsewhere.  I didn’t ask.

But by bringing this Winger over to me and introducing him in the way he did, the Lancs & Lakes Member left a far better impression of Lancs & Lakes and of GWOCGB than if he had said I didn’t exist, or pointed and said I was that so-and-so over there.  It left an impression of GWOCGB friendliness rather than the opposite.

Heartbreaking times

For those for whom a national GoldWing Club which provides for all Wingers in friendship remains the ideal, these must be very disappointing if not heartbreaking times.   They may have suffered broken friendships themselves.

Maybe they still wouldn’t contemplate leaving GWOCGB themselves after all these years and they’ll try to hang on to the friendships in the Club which they still have, but some have become semi-detached, at least until the climate changes.  Even among some of the Wingers who are still paying their subs there are therefore disaffected and disillusioned Wingers, as the personal testimony which popped up in the Forum Thread I’ve been describing illustrates very well.

Likewise another Forum comment a while ago from a former Committee Member, in the context of the difficulty the Club is having to get volunteers to take up the vacant Treasurer post, saying that he felt driven out when he tried to contribute and would never have believed the nastiness he encountered from other Committee Members.  Surely that speaks volumes.

Turning GWOCGB’s fortunes isn’t just a question of projecting friendliness and suppressing unfriendliness.  It needs willingness and capacity to recognise other weaknesses and deal with them, and to recognise constructive opportunities so they can be exploited.  These skills and personal qualities seem to be in short supply.  If GWOCGB is to stand any chance of recovering credibility as a national Club which can provide for the needs of all Wingers in friendship, maybe it going to take rather more than just finding a new Treasurer.

Anyway, what a pity to see GWOCGB, which was a great Club in its hey day, going to the dogs.

Postscript:

This Article has revived a relevant Thread on GWOCGB’s Forum which sought to welcome the spirit of friendliness which has been reappearing in the UK GoldWing club scene.  This suggestion has provoked some spirited responses which you can view for yourself by clicking here.

Related Articles:

GWOCGB Membership – Worth renewing this time? (December 2009)

What makes a friendly GoldWing Club? (October 2009)

“Support” GWOCGB Style – The Troubles of 2008 (December 2008)

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First registered April 2001, UK spec, ONE owner from new. Odometer = 39,993 miles

Cherished Registration Number H18 00G is included

Accessories include:

Garmin Zumo 550 GPS ,  Honda 6disc CD changer,  Front fog lights and upper Spot Lights, Utopia rider Backrest, SpyBall Alarm, Superbrace ForkBrace, Muth Mirror indicators, Memphis shades blue tinted windshield, PLUS various chrome accessories and LED lighting accents.

This bike is Taxed until March 2011 and has an MOT until May 2011.  Brand new Avon Cobra tyres have been fitted.  Full service history and complete paper trail from new, excellent condition.

This bike is being offered for sale by Ian Cardwell on behalf of the owner who is treating himself to a new GoldWing.  Ian has known this bike from new and can vouch for its excellent condition.  Ian is going abroad on holiday shortly and would like to sell this bike before he sets off.

Now sold to B&M Honda.  Please address any enquiries directly to them.

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Garmin Zumo Satnav installed with interface to the bike's intercom

Muth Mirrors serve as additional indicators