Honda 500 Four 4 sale

Everything must go!

Selling the Honda I bought last December…….

After a prolonged battle to get the logbook registered in my name,
at last I have the same -the “Carte Grise”
NOW I need the money to finish offf our house..
SOOOOO

everything must go!

1975 K2 model.
totally original condition.
there are a few “character” scratches and blemishes
All in keeping with the patina of an older machine.

Maintenance has been good,nothing needs doing.
She is ready to ride away.

43,000 kms from new(about 25,000 miles)

The BEST colour!

I want £2600 for her.

Ring me on my mobile-(0033)0630798243
if you are interested

Again delivery to the UK would be £200

English registration would be easy.

“Not many about in this condition”
as the salesman would say…….

Pampera for sale

Just a thought…….

is anyone out there interested in our Pampera?

Its a GasGas pampera 125.
A 4stroke yamaha copy made by Kymco for GasGas.

As blog readers may know,we bought it in France
in January 2008.
I had the shock shortened

-dropping the seat height
by a couple of inches
making it ideal for ladies or the shorter man.

Very,very light in weight
very very quiet in operation
it is truly an easy bike to ride.

I changed the headlight for an aftermarket item,
I fitted good quality hand guards,and removed the indicators
(I still have the unused original items in a box)

Ann went on one trail ride and didnt like it.
She has probably done about 100kms in total.
Needless to say,condition is as new.

I would accept £1600 for it.
(new price is over 3000 euros in France)

the bike is French registered
but registering in the UK
should present no problems

If interested -get in touch
mobile number(0033)0630798243
I can get it delivered anywhere in the UK
for £200

It is a lovely little bike
with a nice spec-excellent marzocchi forks
a sachs shock,very sharp disc brakes.

A modern,lighter replacement for the Serrow?

Ferrari fest

This is an event worth going to
if you are around this neck of the woods.

7th June at 3val de Vienne” race circuit
Isle de Jourdaine
near Poitiers.

500 ferraris
500 sports cars
and 500 classsics

A really good day out for petrolheads.:P

TVRs “R”us

WOW
This is my 100th post!!!
AMAZING

I had the chimeara transported down to France
a few weeks ago

I had to give it a clean up and a service
and then ,naturally,
“A damned good thrashing”
the only thing to do with “an English thoroughbred,what?”

The tickover was a little haphazard
it would settle down to its proper revs
when it felt like it.
It was clearly the return springs
on the throttle countershaft,
stretched and not returning the shaft
to the closed position on demand;

NO PROBLEM

I went down to the local hardware store
and one of the lads
cut me 2 replacements.

I returned home and fitted said springs…….

Out for a spin……..

BLOODY NORA!!!!!

Arnold Swarzenwhatsisname
would struggle to depress the throttle!!!

A little too much resistance???

ANYWAY I,ve ordered “Proper” TVR springs
and the problem should be sorted.

From what I can see,
the only problems seem to be a dodgy rear light connection
and a defunct window motor.

I,ll need to replace the headlights
with French spec lenses,
but theyre cheap
at £20 a piece

I must admit I love it!!

Its a true blue British Sports car.
Big ,lazy engine….
Great predictable handling
and a spacious cockpit.
(oh and its doing 25 to the gallon)

It draws a crowd wherever its parked
and kids whoop and holler when you pass…..

Does it go?

You better believe it!!!!

It burbles along like a normal car-very predictable and inoffensive,

But when the chips are down;;;
WOWEE

I was overtaking 2 cars
on a long straight
and a tractor decided to pull out
against me……

with about 250 mts of space
and already committed to the overtake
I had no choice but to gun it
and go for the gap

NO PROBLEM

Acceleration in any gear at any speed is instantaneous.
It picks up like a big Ducati
Gobs and gobs of torque;

4.0 litre V8
167 mph top whack
0-60mph in 4.5 seconds
280 BHP
1000 kgs all up

The figures speak for themselves;
A bientot:P

Gordon Bennett!!

12 months on………
15,500 hits………
1800 plus per month……….
61 per day………..

Have you lot got nothing better to do
than read the PETERBETABIKER blog??????

Meteorite rallye

WELL!!!!!!!

I,ve been SOOOO…….. busy working 7/7
on our new house that I havent had time to blog.

I,ve sold my red Elise
and my Barchetta

to fund the house build

BUT

I couldnt resist buying a TVR Chimaera!

A 96 model,4 litre,cherry red with big chrome wheels
and a red and white leather interior……….

Every bit a California dream car!

I,ll write a post as soon as I get the chance to give it a thrash,
(It only arrived last night on the back of a car transporter)

ANYWAY……

yesterday
I was on the way back
from getting a new rear stoplight bulb
for the Volvo estate

When I happened upon the LME rally in Rochechouart.

“Loisirs Mécaniques d,epoques”
-a club for car enthusiasts based near Poitiers.

About 50 cars had turned out for the club run from Confolens
to Rochechouart.

A 3 hour lunch,a breakfast and a snack at “teatime”

A TYPICAL FRENCH EVENT THEN?

lovely friendly folk and a very wide spread of vehicles.

There was a very large Porsche representation
Carreras are VERY popular in France!

A very smart Lotus 11(or was it a 13?) caught the eye!

Very period and very good condition….

Renault Dauphines,

Renault 4,s
TR3,s
MGB,s
Spitfires

All the usual suspects were there.

A big brutal Yank-a Dodge perhaps???

A luvverley Porsche 956


and a dinky Renault Alpine.

What about this beautiful Karman Ghia??

I got details fo the club info and think I,ll attend the next rally.

Apparantly they do car trackdays as well………..

put the TVR through its paces perhaps?????????

à Bientot

Odd Jobs

I love my Manitou forklift.
It is sturdy,reliable,versatile.
We have used it every day
whilst building our new house.

It carts pallets of blocks and tiles
around the site with ease.

It provides a working platform
that can be moved more easily
than a scaffolding tower

By turning the forks upside down
the extra metre of height
has enabled us to work on the roof
with the platform at eaves height.

A detachable 1 ton front bucket
made spreading and grading 50 ton of stone
(creating the front drive)
a breeze.

How many more jobs
could the beast do?

WELL

one more!

A friend arrived on site
the other morning-
“could he borrow the Manitou
preferably with a driver”

I drove the forklift to his house
up a very narrow track
into the woods
eventually into a small field
where one of his 2 horses lay dead.
The job was to forklift
the dead animal to the road
where the knacker wagon
would collect it later
A relatively simple job
as the horse was an Anglo Arab stallion
and not much bigger than a shetland.

The final journey passed without incident
albeit slowly for fear of the body
sliding off the forks.
Getting the animal off the forks
proved more difficult.
Ropes,crowbars and a ditch
provided the answer.

I didnt have my camera to hand
and cant show you the pics.
Perhaps as well really…….
The horse died of
“ENGORGEMENT OF THE PENIS”
I leave the scene to your imagination;
Suffice it to say
it was not a pretty sight!!
You can imagine the subject of the jokes
for the rest of the day
cant you?

Pau Historic GP

HI,Ive just found some photos
of the Pau Historic GP 2007
I went down to the midi Pyrenees
with Nick and Francoise Lowings
both of us in silver Fiat Barchettas.
(flying in formation)
Pau is a lovely town
that nestles in the foothills of the Pyrenees
with the most spectacular
part of the mountain chain
directly south of the town.

The GP is held in July.
The weather was hot and sunny on Saturday,
damp and cool on Sunday,
with torrential rain arriving mid afternoon.
The racing was very competitive
There is always a very broad spread of cars
from single cylinder,bike engined cars
to full blown classic Formula 1.

The circuit snakes through the edge of the town
and through a large park.

There is a long, fast uphill straight
The sound of V8 formula 1 cars
on full chat is awesome!
ditto some of the American cars
-Corvettes,Mustangs,Camaros.

My favourites were the single cylinder race cars,
from the ,50s
Manx Norton engines on open pipes-awesome.
The winner was a non homologated(non points scoring)
Honda XR engined beast,
faster,better handling
BUT not old enough
to compete officially!
Similar to the Ramparts race in Angouleme
in some respects,
Pau is a more serious occasion,
with a much broader selection of cars
and a much larger circuit,
but doesnt have the charm
or atmosphere of the Ramparts

If you could only attend one event,
I,d plump for the Ramparts in September.
If you do go to Pau,
try the Chinese restaurant
just up from the Kyriad hotel,
on the North of the city
-its really good.
Peter:P

Quick sale

Last summer I bought a Kawasaki GPZ 500

advertised on “leboncoin.fr”
-a French “freeads” site.
I paid 700 euros,
buying it to see if my wife
would like it
(she didnt!)

If not it could be sent over to Dundee,
for my son John to use
for his college transport.
Again not a good idea
as he has to carry
large art portfolios back and forth to college
as he is an arts student.
No point in it hanging around.
I stuck it back on “leboncoin.fr”
at 800 euros.
The advert appeared at 12.45 pm yesterday,Sunday
It was sold and taken away by 5 o clock!
NOT BAD EH?

Nigel Hammersley

It was with terrible regret
that I learned from my sister in law
who is visiting us in France
that Nigel Hammersley is a patient on her ward
at the North Staffs Royal Infirmary
in Stoke on Trent.
Joan is a nurse on ward 21
where Tigsy was admitted
suffering from a cerebral aneurism
and accompanying stroke.
Whilst out of immediate danger,
he remains confused,
immobile with lower limb paralysis
and generally very unwell.
Any stimulus from friends and customers
would be greatly appreciated;
Ducati stories and photos may help to refocus his brain.
If you know Nigel,
PLEASE help!
Whilst never one to suffer fools gladly,
Nigels coarse manner and speech
hid a rare talent and a generous spirit.
He allways supposed he knew better than you did
but in truth -HE DID.
A truly gifted bike mechanic
Nigels skill with the Honda V4 engine
saw him dealing with the problems HONDA UK couldnt fix.
Nigels lifelong passion has been for Ducati
“a proper motorcycle”
and a few years ago he nearly lost his life on one.
A trials rider of repute in the late 70,s
his passion for bikes inspired many.
I implore friends and acquaintances
to rally round and show their support for Tigsy in his hour of need
All messages to
Ward 21
North staffs Royal Infirmary
Princes Rd
Hartshill,
stoke on Trent
Thanks:P