Dave Flooks- Entrant

My Mum and Dad both rode bikes and we had many a holiday in North Wales courtesy of the BSA combo my Dad rode. I suppose this made it inevitable I would follow suit when old enough.
My first steed was a Honda P50 (engine situated in the rear wheel) for £15 hard earned pounds, and against the better judgement of my old man, but at 16 who doesn't know better than their parents? The bike lasted some 6 weeks and eventually sold for spares for £10.
It was a year or two before I could secure some more funds, with which I bought a brand new MZ175. I had never had a bike with gears so my Mum came with me to collect. After doing some gear changing practice on some quite roads we set off across Liverpool for home. I must have been bad because at some lights my Mum suggested she rode until I found my skills. She duly rode like a woman possessed through the busy Saturday morning traffic.

Unfortunately the bike was stolen after it's first service and totally wrecked. I then progressed to an ET250 MZ with indicators on the end of the bars. Well they were for the first few days, after which they were removed on a number of occasions whilst I learned how hard Tarmac can be. I had the bike for some 2 years before some engine internals caused its premature retirement.
Due to work and family commitments I never managed to replace the bike until 1996, when due to a change in work pattern I stopped travelling the country and bought a Honda CG125. After passing the test I progressed to a number of bikes biggest (and worse) of which was a Honda VF1000F2 Bol Dor.
Finally I settled on a ZZR600 which gave me many miles of happiness, before being replaced by another of same colour and age, when I crashed it over Belmont (near Bolton). I then managed to blag a company Bike, a brand new Pan European resplendent in 50 anniversary Gold. This took me on my first trip abroad, 4,250 miles through Western Europe with my eldest son as pillion. This trip gave him the push to take his test a few years later when he was 21.
After a while I was bored of the same old roads and routes and was hungry for some other means of feeding the habit. It was whilst surfing the net and speaking to one or two people I came across a reference for something called the RBR. After some careful thought, I think 20 seconds, I enrolled and that was the start of my addiction with the RBR. I've done 4 now and the best I have achieved so far is Gold. The first on the Pan, the second on my old ZZR600 (I had to sell the Pan after redundancy) The last two on my ZRX1100. The last one was in the company of my son who is now also hooked on the Rally. In between we've toured Eastern Europe for 3,750 miles and too many pints to count. Earlier this year I treated myself and went on a holiday to Provence in southern France where I spent 4 days riding old British bikes courtesy of a British exile, Neil Thomas.
The 4 days took us all over the area on quite roads and sunny weather (you don't get much of that in England in late March). The best bike for me was the 1951 Sunbeam S7 Deluxe, I had 3 of these in the mid to late 60's, the rear cylinder overheated something terrible. GF, rear tyre bigger than a Rocket 3!. Even got the chance to ride a 3 wheel (honest 3 wheel) drive Ural Combination. A great way to ride old bikes without all the cost and space to store, plus it was reasonably cheap.
Easyjet and train to Gatwick booked early for best deals, whole trip including accommodation for £510. Classic Bike Tours
Well my Son and I have both signed up for this years RBR and look forward to riding back and forth through some remote village looking for that elusive mileage / sign / plague type thingy that always seems so bloody obvious when you find it! Research, research and research. GF Hope to see you out there.