The Taming of...The Sidecar!
The Taming of...The Sidecar!
So our new purchase of a Watsonian RX4 sidecar had been delivered back from whence it came to the wonderful folks at Watsonian for fitment to our 1500. Said 1500 was duly ridden up for its transformation, with Sally Sat Nav doing a grand job up until Moreton in the Marsh and then throwing a wobbly about finding Watsonian premises. A telephone call with more precise directions solved the problem whereby arrival at the Industrial Estate where they are based was like stepping back in time. The estate comprises of lots of Nissan style huts with woodland beside where the pheasants happily roam undisturbed amongst it all. The site was originally part of an estate belonging to the Churchill family and during the war these buildings were erected initially as a prisoner of war encampment. I understand however that it was never used for this purpose and subsequently became a settlement for Polish immigrants before it finally became the industrial estate it is today.
There was no time to stand and admire The Royal Enfield’s and sidecars in the showroom it really was a case of drop the bike off and make a mad dash to the train station back to Worthing to keep any attempt of an arrival time back home at a decent hour. Tony of Watsonian kindly ferried Mark back to the train station with enough minutes to spare to purchase train ticket and sprint to the train. Arrangements were made in the car to collect the outfit just before Christmas and then it was just a matter of waiting.
A number of telephone calls later to enquire how the transformation was coming along resulted in a fixed date for pick up.
Just before Christmas, they weren’t joking………….. December 23rd!!
This time the whole family went up in the car. The weather was less than clement rain, freezing fog and not a spot of sun, ever!! Mark by this time was now visibly nervous. Remember he had never ridden an outfit in his life and now due to the weather conditions was going to be doing so in extremely poor visibility.
On arrival Tony warmly welcomed us all and gave us time to view the transformed Wing, first thoughts, it looks BIG, not only did it look big but upon commenting on this we were informed it was big 7FT WIDE BIG!!! No 6.6ft country lanes for us then. Have to confess Mark looked decidedly green as the boys were deciding whether they were going to brave the cold and travel with him or stay in the warmth of the car. Gently reminding them that this was the first time that Mark would have ridden such an outfit and that he would not want to worry about them at the same time as mastering this new style of riding it might be more prudent if they stayed with me in the car.
An offer of a cuppa and a personally guided tour of the factory were eagerly accepted. Declans’ mobile phone had never taken so many photographs in one time and he was very quick to point out which one he would like in the garage when he passes his test.
Start saving now lad!!
Tony took Mark out on the outfit first around the estate to talk him through how it handled and then it was his turn. With the boys and I stood on the side of the road watching he went round again and again and again. An hour later and with the daylight starting to fade he was ready for the open road. With the passing words as we left, from Tony, that Mark would make at least one monumental faux pas on the return journey home and to ring him when we got there the convoy were on their way.
I followed behind Mark and think my heart was probably in my mouth as much as his. The weather was appalling and half way into the journey we stopped for a break at the services. He couldn’t feel his fingers they were that cold. After thawing out and a discussion on how it was going he said he felt a little more confident and was starting to anticipate a little as to how it handled, famous last words remember that promise of a monumental faux pas?
Upon exiting the services and having just rejoined the motorway I watched the outfit with my dearest astride lurch towards the central reservation from the centre lane. And just as quickly resume its’ centre lane position. The cause I later discovered was throttle related. Monumental faux pas, wife squeaking moment over, the rest of the journey proved uneventful if but extremely cold.
Physically drained and adrenalin exhausted we finally arrived home to squeeze it through the gate posts, (yes we had measured the gap before we had the outfit fitted, but we knew there was only inches to spare), it was parked under the car port now to be its new home due to the fact it wasn’t going to go through the garage doorway.
A telephone call to Tony to say all was well and a recall of the slight hiccup he had predicted would happen and it was time for bed.
Over the subsequent riding months Marks confidence is increasing in riding the outfit and we can explore this wonderful countryside of ours with our family and yes we have even experienced driving down a 6.6ft road, all I can say is it’s a good job the highways agency doesn’t count the grass verges in its’ calculations!!!
|
GWRRA
Chapter EN-A