A few photos from ACE cafe adventure day
 

A big turnout, and a good few familiar faces;

Was good to see Nathan Millward there with 'Dot', his postie bike.

Blimey, my old wreck is famous (the yellow CCM).

I was meaning to buy a copy of Nathan Milward's book - he was selling them out of the top box on the bike, but got distracted and ended up forgetting. Sitting on his bike just reminded me of how overweight everything seems to be these days (me included!). He was saying that apart from Europe the bike was perfect for just about every other country he passed through, fitting in with what everyone else was riding.

That XT (3rd last) is a damn good looking bike ;-)

Really good to meet you yesterday.

Matthew

Ah hah, I'm famous on the HUBB too, well my bike is, the Derbi Terra Adventure in the fourth picture. It was good to meet a few people I'd met previously only online, to matter with those I've met before at bike days and to have an excuse to tell the world about BMW GSes (thanks Matt).

Oh and Nathan's book is available on Kindle, just search Millward. There's two versions one is only £1.53, and that's the one to go for, particularly if you have a smartphone or tablet and have installed the Kindle software on it as it has embedded links within the text which take you to photos, websites and YouTube clips. Makes reading a bit more interactive, if that's your thing. If not, I'm sure he'd send you a copy.

Me too, HM The Bike, 3rd pic in 1st post.
Thanks for snapping it. (It's sometimes in the car park at Crystal Palace - not the football, the sports centre).

A Great Day.

Very first person I spoke to said straightaway "Hey, you're from Whyteleafe aren't you!"
Well, blow me, how did he know that.....
"I'm a lorry driver, often go up and down the A22, seen your bike in the village!"
A nice introduction to the day.

I like the Ace a lot, sometimes go there weekdays for lunch.

I just wish my memory worked a bit better. My first bike in the 60s was a Zundapp scooter. I lived out beyond Woodford, and Giffs the spares shop was beyond Hanger Lane. So returning home after buying spares meant passing the Ace.
I stopped a couple of times to see the weekend gatherings in the carpark. All I can remember sitting on my scooter is thinking "Uh uh, this place isn't for me, better carry on." :eek3:
Don't remember at all what it was that I saw in the car park.
I bought a 'proper' bike shortly afterwards, but a while after that the Ace closed.
Leaving just Ted's Cafe at what is now Charlie Brown's Roundabout for tea on the way home.

Anyone else go there in the 60s?

Yep - me.
And the Busy Bee on Watford by-pass, and Chelsea Bridge on Friday evenings.
On a variety of bikes ranging from a Francis Barnett to a Bonneville. (Real hard man here :) :wheelchair: )

And my 'modern' bike was in similar Ace photos from the 2010 event, still with BAM road mud on it! Someone, as well as I, recognised it in the photos. Fame indeed!

Like you I was a scooter rider (Lambrettas) back then with a bunch of scooter riding friends and the Ace wasn't that welcoming. We were only based a bit further round the North Circular in the Palmers Green / Southgate area but never went there. Our transition to bikes came with the availability of Japanese stuff; if the only choices had been Nortons / Triumphs etc I doubt many of us would have bothered and gone straight to cars. It wasn't just the engineering (which looked antique to my 17yrs old eyes) but the whole lifestyle nailed to it.

Really good day wasn't it. Other than perhaps a degree or two warmer we couldn't have asked for better could we. I've posted a mini write up on the day here: Anything Goes!
have you guys signed up for the Ripley Meet? Um, lots of new stuff...

So sad!
 

Hi all

My bike didn't make it into the threads above so I though I'd post it up myself! I didn't take the photo, it was sent to me (thanks Steve). Does that make it OK??!!:confused1:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7208/6...9af9d3ce_m.jpg

I'd be lying to say that we rode our bikes from Australia especially for the day, but we did promise ourselves that when we got to England we'd try to make it to a day like it!

We were amazed by how many people turned up. We looked on ADVrider and there was only 1 post about it, but when we got there it was so busy. On ADV in Australia, you get the opposite, loads of people saying they're coming and then no bugger turns up!

We had a great day

Check out our website for loads of photos of our ride

Cheers to all

Was yours the xt250? Lovely to see a smaller bike being used for big adventures, you and Nathan are hugely inspiring, showing you don't need a big expensive bike to travel. I meant to say hi, but didn't work out who went with whose bike.

Those are some great bikes, I came to know about this event and just missed the chance. But the photos are great

Hi

Mine was the DR650, my wifes was the XT250. Yes, its a great bike. 15,000 miles with no problems at all. It was a little breathless on the faster Europe and Oz roads and popped and farted at 4600 metres going into China. Everywhere else though, it was perfect. Kate used an airhawk that helped with the skinny seat - the bikes only real shortcoming.

Don't let anyone tell you that a little bike can't do a big ride!

Cheers

Hi Have a look on ABR Adventure Bike Rider Forum quite a few at Ace where on that forum (me included) I suppose ABR is UK equidistant there are a couppple of Ozzy on there as well in Oz join in the forum.

Hi Selous

Blimey, that looks a bit busier on there than ADV, thanks for the heads up. I got a subscription for the mag for chrimbo but never really checked out the forum. I'll need to joinn up.

Cheers