sommelier Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 Didn`t Ole Olsen bung his bike into one like that or was it a Volvo. He had a 2002 BMW before his Volvo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dornier Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 He had a 2002 BMW before his Volvo Don`t know about the BM but remember the Volvo its a long time ago now. thanks for the update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sommelier Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 I remember flying up the motorway to a meeting and heard a massive bang and thought the bike had fallen off the v shape bike rack but it was a blown back tyre possibly with the weight in the boot and the bike on the back. I had a van before I retired but not like the ones today which are so well kitted out and must cost a fortune. what gets me is the way clubs dish out hire vans for foreign riders. The first person that I can remember who first used a van was Kristian Praestbro when he was riding for Cradley Heath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Thumper Posted December 6, 2016 Report Share Posted December 6, 2016 The first person that I can remember who first used a van was Kristian Praestbro when he was riding for Cradley Heath The trouble with vans in the 70s and 80s was that they were pretty primitive vehicles designed for builders and Herberts delivering things. Many vans didn't have radios or seats which you could endure for more than 30 minutes. If you wanted music, you had to dangle your transistor radio from somewhere. It is not surprising that speedway riders zipping up and down the motorways looked for something a little more sophisticated than the bog standard Transit and were overjoyed with the arrival of the big estate cars. But don't despair, dear friend, if you have a bit of a soft spot for 70s and 80s light commercials, pop to some of the northern NL tracks and some of the guys are still using them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherwatcher Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) It has now come to the stage where not only the top riders but most in some of the lower leagues think of themselves as being some sort of demi- god. You either pay what we ask for, with a van and spanner lad thrown in for good measure or we go to a club that will do as we wish. It is not a cheap sport any longer, they have to have the bikes race tuned by expert tuners at stupid cost all to be paid for, mostly by silly sods like us who pay to get in. If clubs what to offer big money and the extra perks, then they should be looking for some really big name sponsers to make up the short fall. You get the clubs announcing that they have got Simon Stubbings washer and bots supplies as the main sponser this year. He gives them a few spare nuts and bolts and a few quid. They need bigger and better sponsers than that to pay for all these litle extras in life. Soon we will be back to the days of the 60's with Fred spending the week in his shed getting his bike ready afor all the advertisingnd getting around £6 a meeting, he was happy though he loved the sport, not the money. Plus riders these days have so many sponsers of thier own, there is hardly a space due to the avertising on thier kelvars, helmets, gloves, boots and bikes. So they must be getting a feww quid of thier own on top of everthing else. Today they are just big posers, just take the GP's where they have to flash an arm advert to the camera's, how much extra do they get out of that. There is not many riders left that do it for the love of the sport. Once past the mid stages of the second level of the sport. So we may just end up with some shale in a field and a couple of quid to get in, with old Bill on his Weslake. Might at see see some good racing, instead of watching a long string of 4 riders covering half of the track or more. Seen some really good racing at MDL meeting at BP. Young lads that do it because they enjoy it. Edited December 19, 2016 by weatherwatcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 Think practice starts on way to tapes should be banned,either that or you should not be allowed to turn back and adjust chain, its a lot of nonsense IMO.What really slackens off when they do a start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Thumper Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 Think practice starts on way to tapes should be banned,either that or you should not be allowed to turn back and adjust chain, its a lot of nonsense IMO.What really slackens off when they do a start. Never understood all this chain adjusting business. Must be really cheapo chains if they stretch as soon as you look at them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dontforgetthefueltapsbruv Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 I think the adjustment they make is to the clutch mechanism as opposed to the chain after a practice start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Thumper Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 I think the adjustment they make is to the clutch mechanism as opposed to the chain after a practice start. I quite often see them slackening the rear axle nut and using the adjusters to alter the chain tension. Never understood how the chains stretch so badly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman2006 Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 Think practice starts on way to tapes should be banned,either that or you should not be allowed to turn back and adjust chain, its a lot of nonsense IMO.What really slackens off when they do a start. Should stop all this gardening as well. And when there is an unstaifactory start riders should go straight back to the start unless there is a real machanical issue. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemuppet Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 Speedway should be a £10 sport it's not worth any more. What a great idea . One season at £10 and there would be no speedway again in Uk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fromafar Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) I think the adjustment they make is to the clutch mechanism as opposed to the chain after a practice start.They also tension clutch springs at times but they slacken rear spindle and adjust chain tension is what I am talking about,cant believe it makes any difference IMO Edited December 19, 2016 by Fromafar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray c Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 Should stop all this gardening as well. And when there is an unstaifactory start riders should go straight back to the start unless there is a real machanical issue. gardening as always part and parcel of speedway don't see a problem with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman2006 Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 gardening as always part and parcel of speedway don't see a problem with it Never used to be, so why should it be now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Science Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 gardening as always part and parcel of speedway don't see a problem with it Agree. As long as its within the 2 minutes whats the problem ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray c Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 Never usied to be, so why should it be now.well I've been going to speedway all my life and always been there as far as I can remember Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman2006 Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 well I've been going to speedway all my life and always been there as far as I can remember Nope we never used to have any gardening, it needs to stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray c Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Nope we never used to have any gardening, it needs to stop.as you seem to know so much about gardening you tell me when it became a regular occurrence at the start gate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Back in a few more hours after he's got to the end of searching all his old videos for lack of gardening. I'm not going to bother checking but I've been going for 65 plus years and there has always been messing about at the start, in fact it used to be a lot worse when riders were continually pushing the tapes backwards and forwards in an effort to get a good start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray c Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Back in a few more hours after he's got to the end of searching all his old videos for lack of gardening. I'm not going to bother checking but I've been going for 65 plus years and there has always been messing about at the start, in fact it used to be a lot worse when riders were continually pushing the tapes backwards and forwards in an effort to get a good start thanks for backing me up 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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