Editorial
April the time to shake off
those winter blues and check out the gear. Dent has enjoyed our visiting hordes
of spring yet again, whetting the appetite of members for further adventures in
the sun. The roar of bikes along our bypass is now a frequent feature through
the day, as the bi-wheeled and often tri-wheeled fraternity are propelled along
their mobilisation in the sun (hopefully!) So far this year we have enjoyed
weather of `normal’ unpredictability, April’s showers have been just that, a
shower. Nothing unusual about March before then either, It would be great if the
summer months follow on from this.
Martin.
Dave Ramsden sends a glowing report of what looks a well supported attendance at Cumbria’s Dent rally. It looks as though the weather was up to the mark, with enough sunshine to actually cause visible shadows to form under the bikes! This isn’t a phenomenon always to be found at our events.
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Martin
Dent Spring 2009
‘Oh ye maker of all things,
shine your golden rays upon the heads of the righteous brothers and sisters of
that great family of Russian/Soviet velocipedes, henceforth known as the Cossack
Owners Club, for their annual spring pilgrimage into the hills of southern
Cumbria, and on the heads also of their fellow travellers on lesser machinery,
and even on the heads of those who travel in various pantechnicons.
Such was the cry that rose to
the heavens prior to their pilgrimage. And the great God-head was good, and he
did shine down his golden rays upon their heads, and on the shiny parts of their
machinery and the shiny parts of their ageing heads – though the rays were
absorbed by the drab green of the finish and the attire of others.
And they assembled and
erected their temporary shelters on the freshly mown fields of Conder Farm. And
the Landlord, the great St Michael, was good also, and charged them but four
English pounds for the privilege. And the Great Nidge was there, gathered about
him great piles of constipating ration packs, which he tried to palm off on the
unsuspecting. And Mighty Binsi was there, two of his three wheels driven, but
having covered only a short distance on that wagon. But the Lord smiled on him,
and kept him on the straight and narrow, and caused him not to enter undergrowth
or streams or trespass in the fields of others.
And Lord Gary was there, the
great beast which he rode snorting flecks of smoking blue saliva on all who
followed. But the beast was subdued, and afterwards wobbled, its forward mantle
pierced by the small sword of an invisible devil.
And
others too came from lands far and near and extolled the virtues of their hardy
mounts and of the terrain and the peoples through which they had passed.
And as night fell, and before
even that time some of them, they took themselves to the temple of the Sun, and
partook of their liberating beverages, and freed themselves of demons by
incanting tuneful and dissonant melodies – such was their wont.
And the same St Michael, good
as he is, being also the keeper of the temple of the Sun, and needing his own
sweet respite, cast them out of his temple and onto the land, where they braved
the chilling night air to expostulate on the purpose of existence and on less
weighty matters. And later the owls hooted, but all else was silent as the
pilgrims took their welcome rest.
And so the second day dawned
on the sleepy pilgrims even brighter yet. The tender fingers of Rosy Dawn warmed
them through their flimsy shelters and put new life into their weary bones. And
after invigorating drinks and healthy sustenance they took themselves out to
spread the word - answering politely all those who addressed them in an
ill-informed manner, causing them to retire humbled and more knowledgeable.
And the second night the
same. And people from other places came, of different sects. Those who wear
great brown boots and have coloured humps upon their backs came. And they mixed
freely with each other and took wine and food together and exchanged their tales
of men who had entered hostelries and the premises of general practitioners and
of ladies of the Lord taking themselves about upon the rough streets on human
powered transport and finding themselves together whilst bathing. Their lewd
tales amused the ladies from the sect with the great brown boots and the
coloured humps upon the backs. And the men of that party were not misguided by
archane traditions of chivalry so that they took offence.
And
again they were tactfully ejected from the temple and took themselves back to
their bivouacs where after some time they were called upon by their fellow
pilgrims to take restful retirement and save their incantations for another day
and it was good. And the young and old alike benefited greatly from it. And they
rose the next day and an image was made of them all assembled. And a tall man
who occupies a particular place in the temple of the Sun also had himself
included in that image, as he did last year. And he told those assembled how
this very year his own mount will cross the plains like theirs do. And all those
assembled nodded in approval as they had at his same utterance last time they
gathered.
When the image had been made
and the tall man had made his way back to his place in the temple they all went
away invigorated and with a lightness of heart to their various parts.
Dave R.
MEMBERSHIP
PayPal
A facility has now
been added to www.cossackownersclub.co.uk so
that new and renewing members can now pay online. They also have to of course
enter their ‘snail mail’ details to complete the PayPal activity plus they
should fill in a membership form on line and email it.
These transactions
are picked up by the Membership Secretary to update the admin system and are
monitored by the Regalia and Web guru Dave Cox. So far we seem to be gaining a
new member every couple of weeks. So perhaps they have found our website and
whilst there join, rather than not bothering to find the cheque book, print off
a form, find a stamp and envelope and post it.
So thanks to Dave
Cox for setting this up, I am sure it will maintain and indeed increase our
membership numbers.
ALSO
Monthly
Every month we issue
a Newsletter then twice a year we issue a Magazine, if you miss one then please
YELL! Membership Numbers
Your number is on
the address label of every monthly publication. You will probably only need it
to buy regalia or prove to an insurance company for a discount. We no longer
issue cards since they actually serve no real purpose and cost you money.
Renewals
We send you with
your Newsletter in the last valid month of membership an application form for
you to use to renew your membership. We also put on the top line of the address
label a note to the effect that your renewal is due, late or very late. We will
repeat this for a month or two to prompt you. Even if you delay, your membership
will be renewed from the end of your last valid membership month, no gaining a
month there then!
BUT if you keep
getting reminders and you believe you have paid, then please contact the
membership sec to check what might have gone wrong, this does happen
occasionally, sorry and thanks.
Peter ~ jack of all
trades and master of none.
MAG (Motorcycle
Action Group)
Still fighting the ban on new right hand sidecars
Although those in
MAG having discussions with DfT (Department for Transport), DVLA and VOSA
(Vehicle Operators and Standards Agency) seem eventually after 25 years to have
grasped the nettle, the MAG editors’ insertions in their journal ‘ROAD’ and
their newsletter ‘NETWORK’, were not quite right.
MAG is now in touch
with Hari Schweighofer the boss of the official importers into the EU of Urals
to see what can be done to push from the European side, maybe on a ‘restriction
in trade’ front.
The most likely
compromise will be a proposal to fit a lamp of a set size, position and
brightness on the off side sidecar mudguard, but MAG fears that there will never
be sufficient evidence available to demonstrate that this will not have an
adverse effect on safety. Your Government collects statistics on road
casualties, but does not distinguish between solo motorcycles and sidecar
outfits, so no chance of there being statistics related to the handedness of the
sidecar!
ALSO, have you seen
the latest Government proposals to reduce some typically country road speed
limits from 60mph to 50mph and some residential area limits from 30 mph to 20
mph, yet their official released statistics state that around 5% of causalities
involve exceeding
the speed limit, yet 30% are related to inappropriate use of speed ~ there must
be some logic there somewhere.
But cameras are
cheaper than training and traffic police vehicles on patrol I guess. Still, one
death is one too many.
Peter
FBHVC (Federation of
Historic Vehicle Clubs)
Further to my response to their invitation for us to affiliate to their
organisation, this was their expert’s understanding of the current
UK sidecar law:
“Please accept my
apologies for not contacting you earlier. My immediate problem is tracking down
the legislation that concerns us. Memory plays mean tricks, but I have a feeling
that this goes back some thirty years and that it was included in a whole series
of measures supposedly concerned with road safety. I remember the situation
quite clearly and there was no statistics or any evidence that suggested that RH
sidecars constituted a problem or a danger and there were and are plenty of LH
drive cars around that do not appear to constitute a problem. As the law stands,
anyone visiting the UK with a RH sidecar may do so legally in the course of a
vacational activity - and anyone with a LH sidecar may do the same in mainland
Europe. However, as the law stands, a RH sidecar is not permitted to be used
here by a resident, so, if you owned one, you would not be able to use it abroad
either. As soon as I have tracked down the offending piece of legislation. We
will raise this with the "All Party Historic Vehicle Group" at Westminster on
the occasion of our next meeting”
Not quite there was
he! Trust he will not look too foolish in his discussions! I will not waste
space here to correct it, since by now you should all know the what’s and
wherefores. I did fully expand on the problems to FBHVC, it all seemed a bit new
to them. The FBHVC have a meeting on 26th
April to discuss, amongst other
items, our response to their invitation. They have promised to get back to me
afterwards, so we will see. I was quite, no, very disappointed with their
initial response since they had formally invited us. I would have thought that
they would have had all their ‘sidecars in a row’ ready for a response to
their formal invitation.
Peter