Huntsman Motorcycle Show 2011

After such a disappointing summer for weather  - it was great today to get some sunshine, and so riding my 1977 XLCR and armed with my Pentax and a 14mm lens - I set off to the annual Motorcycle Show at the Huntsman in Eridge.

This is a great annual event with live music, a BBQ, real ale and some great old bikes all ridden there - not a trailer in site.  Here are some of my favs including my XLCR.

Harley Davidson XLCR 1000 (1977)

Whilst on Twitter yesterday, there was a tweet from Warrs Harley Davidson showing a picture of Halle Berry on the back of an XLCR looking very cool.  Back in 1977 this was the bike I wanted the most, but being still at school, and only 17 I had to get the 125cc Single cylinder Harley and pretend it was this beast.

Anyway seeing this picture prompted me to do a quick search on Ebay to see if there were any going - and to my surprise there was an unrestored 1977 XLCR in full working order with only 6500 miles on the clock and all the original documentation, with only a day to go until the auction closed.
So I put in my best realistic bid, and thought nothing more until I got the email this morning saying I had won!  So cash out the bank, train to South West London, where I met a real gent Paul who has a huge collection of bikes, and rode it home in the warm spring sunshine.

The bike is an absolute delight, purrs along with its 4 speed box, brakes are more for slowing you down than actually stopping, but you can compensate for that - but a real treasure and one I am delighted to own.  My plan is to keep it as it is un-restored after all only about 1900 were built and they wont be making anymore.