Lexmoto Assault,

a Star is Born.

June 2017...

This is the story about my New Lexmoto Assault that I had to buy has a back-up bike for our TSB Charity run for the Katharine House Hospice.

 And the Little Machine quickly became the star.

So much so that it has spent the last month, after the Adventure, taking the praise, and sat in place of honour in a TSB bank branch.

~~~~~~~

Gareth (with the shades) and me, (Charlie)  with Lexmoto Assault "Duncan", in front of the Savings Bank Museum at Ruthwell. Scotland.

"Ted" takes it easy in the SideCar-e.

~~~~~~~

About the little Lexmoto Assault.

So on with the story.

By the end of May 2017, I had started to worry about the second side-car getting here from  South Africa in time for the trip.

So I made a decision to go ahead and buy another bike as a back up.

 The stipulation for the journey was that we would do the trip with bikes built in China, as I had said to Gareth that they were very much improved from the early years they were imported from about 2001-2.

And the main reason they had a bad reputation was because of the time limit the unskilled labour force at that time spent throwing them together.

This had changed now and they were put together in clinical factories, with a skilled workforce and a lot of the work IE. frames, etc ,were actually done with state of the art Robots.

So I watched the video above several times, and did my homework into the little bike that had caught my eye as being something different, and fitted the bill nicely into the concept of slightly off-road machines, like the ones pulling the eRanger, and Side-car-e, that were fitted to the other two bikes.

So I rang Matt at Speedway Motorcycles in Cannock Staffordshire.

And asked him, if I bought one of the Lexmoto Assault's in Blue,

(TSB colours), could he get it registered and on the road by the following Thursday.

He said it would be tight but also possible, so I paid him a deposit on the bike there and then

26/05/2017.

On the first of June we picked the little machine up from Stafford, why the rush I hear you say the ride was not until the 19th of June.

Well Matt had said the bike will need running in if you are going to use it, and this needs to be 500km/311 miles, and then the bike needs checking and the oil changed and the filter cleaned.

By a competent motorcycle garage.

So for the next week I did about thirty or forty miles a day on a ten mile lap, I had devised around the yard in Warwickshire.....

Gareth came out with me for a ride on the side-car on the Sunday, and we put a few miles onto the clock of both machines.

The next week was the same, a stint of a couple of the ten mile laps, and let the bike cool down, and then do another couple if there was time.

In the meantime I was also changing the gearing several times on the Side-car ambulance to try and get the gearing to my liking. The problem being that with the miles we needed to cover in the day meant the gearing needed to be has high as possible on the little machine.

Anyway by the Thursday before we left I had got 519km onto the clock of the Little Assault,and also changed a sidelight bulb that had blown, and adjusted the swinging arm at its pivot to stop any side-play, and also adjusted the chain a couple of times.

Not having time to take the little bike to a dealer, I changed the oil for new, and cleaned and blew dry the wire filter in the engine drain plug.

I did tell Matt that I had been working on motorcycles since 1959, so I hope he did not mind me doing the work myself, and I treat every machine as though it is due to do several laps of the TT Mountain course in the Isle of Man, and I do work on these bikes.

So I could do no more, the bikes were has ready as they they ever were going to be, and I had been working on the Side-car-e for six weeks none stop, and could have just kept changing things. (That story later).

Sunday came and Gareth had picked Pete up in the "Banbury Van and Car Hire" rental van and met me at the farm.

My old dog was going to stay there for the next few days.

The bikes were loaded and all the spares for the Side-car outfit, only oil and a couple of sidelight bulbs for the Lexmoto Assualt.

By three o'clock we were on the way to Scotland with Gareth at the wheel.

The day was another hot one, and it was a bonus the van having air conditioning.

With a glorious journey up the M6 using the toll for a better run through, the sun was showing up the marvellous scenery we have in the UK right the way up.

With one stop for a coffee and Gareth to keep up his bad habit of still smoking cigarettes, we were not long crossing the Scottish border.

 We arrived in Dumfries for our overnight stay, before the start of the run from the Savings Bank Museum at Ruthwell Scotland..

We arrive at the hotel in Dumfries at seven thirty.

~~~~~~~

Monday Morning.

At The Savings Bank Museum...

The Lexmoto Assault,(Duncan) had started to become a "Star".

For the TSB.

Before the start of the journey we have a marathon Photo shoot, along with a radio interview, and best of all a guided tour of the little Savings Bank Museum by Marie the curator of the Museum.

We then left following the Blood bike's to Gretna Green the last house in Scotland.

The day was hot again, and showed up the wonderful scenery that this part of Scotland has.

By the evening we were at Berwick upon Tweed, and the Lexmoto Assualt (Duncan) had taken over the staring role, for most of the rest of the journey.

More Later as we get further up the road.

We  left the blood bike's at Gretna, "go along the old Military road" they said,

 so we set off thinking we were heading towards Berwick, but we kept looking for the signs, and they did not appear, what you must realise by now? No ? that Sat navs and mobile phones do not work in this area, or it seems anywhere else on our journey.

We stopped after a considerable time, because we were not finding signs that said Berwick upon Tweed, and in fact  they did not guide us anywhere.

We stopped in a huddle at the side of the road, we have to turn back was the majority decision...

We retraced our route, and stopped in a little village to try and buy a road map.

Gareth trotted off, while Pete parked the support van a distance away, and I looked after the bikes.

 A little old lady said "have my parking metre card, and here is a pound for your charity I think you are so brave and I wish there were more people like you in the country."

I thanked her with pride beaming on my face, why?

Gareth returned with a scrolled note and said l think we had been pillocks and the "Blood Boy" must have thought we were heading to Newcastle.

Oh, we had got it wrong.

The only way to get to Berwick was to follow the road to Newcastle first.

We set off in the gone midday heat and it was hot, Bloody hot, and even with the breeze through our hair, it was too hot to handle.

We set off for Newcastle, and the A road just got longer, and the gradiant more steep, the bikes were feeling the pressure we were putting them too, and the time was running out to get to Berwick by closing time of the bank.

The morning of being Film Stars had just been too long, and being guided in the wrong direction by over eighty miles had been even worse.

With the hot road and three mile ascending road, we were just asking too much of the machines, and something had to give...

 On a severe climb of three miles the Side-car-e had spit out its dummy and said it did not want to play any longer, weeping all of its life-blood oil onto the floor.

Gareth was wringing the last blood, sorry oil out of the machine.

"Stop, Stop", I said it has had enough.

"What are we going to do now", was his reply".

After Pete returned with the Support Van, we looked at the time and decided the only way to get to Berwick in the time scale we had was to load Side-car-E, into the van, and Gareth to take over my ride, the Lexmoto Assault (Duncan).

We arrived at Berwick-upon-Tweed at Five Sixteen on the nineteenth of June.2017...

We then realised that we had under estimated the time it takes to do this many miles in a day at the speed we had set ourselves, on these 125cc machines...

And look what we missed if we had have been there earlier.

~~~~~~~

We got back to Newcastle upon Tyne at seven and found the hotel,

I said I would check out Side-car-e in the morning.

Finding somewhere to eat involved a taxi ride, and on the way back, Pete told the driver of our mission for our local Katharine House Hospice charity, the driver reached into his pocket and gave Pete a fiver for our charity, saying he had had cancer in the family and was only to pleased to help, this meant we had a free journey to eat that night, and a further five pound in the kitty.

And someone else was aware that the TSB did everything they can to help local communities.(2017)

Video of the Bridge History.

Setting off the next morning early we had left the bikes loaded for our short journey into the middle of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Gareth nipped off to find the TSB branch, and I went off to look at the brilliantly clean surroundings of this inner city.

Gareth was back saying we could not unload the bikes, as the landlord of the site would not have vehicles on the paved area.

So we spent a good hour in this superb updated branch of the TSB. And after helping capturing a young pigeon that had strolled into the bank, we were chatting to the manageress of this branch, a very nice lady, when an old boy came walking in and said, "here you have this bag of change for your Hospice, I may not be rich but if someone put's their self out to do good deeds you deserve it more than I do". Everyone thanked him, and I said he was a Star, and a gent, and thank-you.

So our next port of call was the Sunderland TSB call centre, we got out of Newcastle and unloaded the bikes, I topped up the oil in the Side-car-e and we set off to the Sunderland stop, I rode the side-car as Gareth had fallen in love with the Lexmoto Assault the day before.

I must say the Side-car-e did feel a little sick, although he ran quite well.

 We got to the call centre and signed into security like you have to anywhere important now-a-days. There is just no trust any-more, and we know why now don't we...

Gareth had set up the shaving of his beard here, but what he did not know was that the girl that had set it up was on holiday.

So another kind girl had to stand the torment of removing the growth from Gareth's face, while we all stood by smiling.

"Its behind you",

Gareth just had to know where "Duncan" the Lexmoto Assault was.

So had we again set the challenge with to many miles in a day to be covered?

York Next, and the time was ticking.

We had to get to the York branch before they closed their doors that night.

It was decided that running the side-car would only hold the day up more and we would run out of time, at less than thirty miles an hour we would not get anywhere near York.

We set off with Gareth behind us with a stipulation that he should follow the van and not do more than forty five miles per hour, on the Little Lexmoto "Duncan" or he would cook that too.

We got to the outskirts of York, but what we did not reckon on was the traffic going into the City. Four cars per traffic light change was the norm we found out over the next half hour, and we were still three miles away from the TSB branch that were expecting us.

We eventually got to the City centre, and sent Gareth off on "Duncan" to find the branch, while we found somewhere to park the "Banbury Van and Car Hire" support van.

 Pete found a side street with one parking slot, we pulled in and primed the meter for an expensive ticket for one hour, we then nearly sprinted up to the town centre through the many tourists to York to find Gareth and "Duncan".

The sight and sound of York ,Magic.

We were just in time again, and met by the sound of a street buskers band, that not only fitted the bill, but made the occasion more like a carnival for our arrival.

And we were right, the branch staff were loving our visit and attracted a good few passing public to what was happening at the TSB.

Gareth will just not leave "Duncan" Lexmoto Assault, it is now his bike, and he loves to show it off to the TSB staff at these branches.

*******

We left York late again and needed to get to Leeds and our Hotel for the night.

With the chain needing adjustment and oil checking on "Duncan" the Lexmoto Assault, we decided that not only had we fulfilled the bill for the day, but done more, having to be re-routed from Sunderland to York,

 and done more miles again than expected, so "Duncan" got a lift for the short miles to Leed's too.

Day three and we set off to find the TSB branch in Leeds from our hotel, I had adjusted the chain and checked the oil on "Duncan" and Gareth had set off on the little bike while we tried to find somewhere to park the support van, we had decided to leave "Henry' the side-car in the van so that if we had time, I could look at its problems later.

We eventually found a parking space, not far from the branch in a very pleasant urban area, the part of the merchants side of the City, that you always dream of living when you have made it, so to speak...

Paul our paramedic friend was to join the fun this morning, and had "trained" in to Leeds station from Banbury, and a early start from him.

The TSB branch at Leeds had put themselves out for us, and had put more than a good effort into the cause, even baking cakes with the Katharine House logo on.

 When you say the TSB looks after the local community, this Leeds branch went out of its way.

Again TSB's Lexmoto Assault "Duncan" hoggs the Spotlight.

Thank's guy's for your support.

Next port of call was Doncaster, but we had a problem!

Gareth and "Duncan" had shot off from Leeds in a moment of overwhelming pride as to what he was doing, and had forgotten about his back up crew, that were his lifeblood so to speak.

An hour later with frantic phone calls, that just don't work anywhere in the country it seems, and we told Gareth we were just down the road from Headingley Cricket Ground, "I am by a derelict Monastery" he said.

Paul his mate said in no uncertain terms that he must have had a brain storm, and don't forget he Paul, is training to be a paramedic, and he does know a "pillock" when he sees one.

More of the journey tomorrow.

When we did eventually rein Gareth back into what he and "Duncan" were actually doing, that was to use the team for not only plotting the whole route as we went along with Two GPS Satellite Navigation units that neither seemed to work? anywhere! they were totally confused in the middle of large Cities, and would keep directing us to a route that used the Motorway system that we just did not want.

The Side-Car-e was just not compliant to use this road system, and only doing thirty five miles an hour max, was just not  going onto this network.

With another hour lost in the day trying to find Gareth and "Duncan", had put us onto just too tight a schedule to do what we needed to in the way of miles, for the rest of the day, without making sacrifices. 

There was no way we were going to run an ailing machine, so The side-car was left firmly in the van.

So we finally left the City of Leeds and headed for Doncaster, trying to use the sat-nav's and common sense, Gareth was tagged onto the back of the Support van and told to stay there and follow us, we governed his speed to forty-five by running the van at this speed.

Not far out of Leeds the sat-nav we were using placed us straight away on to the motorway again, we had no option but to continue on this route, as time was pressing, so the Lexmoto Assault had its first experience running on a British Motorway for a while.

The other thing we had not taken into consideration was the volume of traffic on the roads now-a-days, and the construction work being carried out on an ever increasing road network.

We eventually found the branch in Doncaster at about two o'clock, and again slightly behind schedule.

Photo Credited.

 The branch had put on a cyclotron for the day and Gareth and Paul were invited to take a run on the bike to keep the chain running.

Pete and I looked after "Duncan" outside the branch..

And the little Lexmoto Machine again attracted considerable attention.

Pete on the left and me (Charlie) along with the girls from the Doncaster branch, pose for a photo behind "Duncan" Lexmoto Assault..

~~~~~~~ 

We reckoned to spend at least one hour at each branch we visited, because they had put in a lot of effort to accommodate us, so we should show the same amount of appreciation.

So we left Doncaster for our run in to Manchester, and with building traffic as soon as we left, we knew the schedule again would be tight, to get there before the branch closed.

We had just got to follow the route directed by the out of touch sat-nav's,

One hour fifty nine minuets it was saying, so we  would again be struggling to get there before the bank closed.

The route involved the M1, M67, -A57, and the A628, Woodhead Pass.

Don't forget this little Chinese Motorcycle was an urban worrier, and not an all out Adventure bike, and was not even run in for its forthcoming life.

But somehow the Sat- nav had found a route via the A1, onto the M62,

"We don't do motorways" I said to Paul, "Well we do now" was the reply.

Photo Courtesy Wikepedia.

Gareth was stuck to the back of the van like glue, up hill and down dale, wind, and extreme heat, bends, and inclines, and the extreme pressure of those hot uphill climbs.

The determined Gareth just kept reeling off the miles and the little Lexmoto Assault just responded to his needs, to make it to the next destination...

Gareth and the Lexmoto Assault"Duncan" taking a break from the motorway at Brighouse services.Time.3.01pm

Back on the road again...

Sowerby Bride at 3.25pm.

What a little bike, I could not believe that something so humble as this could totally live up to a challenge it was just not developed to do.

3.26 pm at Littlebrough, and Gareth is still behind.

We eventually arrived at the outskirts of this sprawling City, the traffic was building, and the stop-go for the next five miles proved the little bike did exactly what it was designed to do, commute.

The centre of Manchester was a nightmare for our GPS and it just did not find where our destination was. We had to rely on instinct and luck.

Even the street we needed did not show up on the device, and it kept telling us we were in the wrong destination.

Through luck, and luck alone, we drove by the TSB Branch, stopped Gareth, and sent him off back to find the bank.

 We then spent ten minuets trying to find somewhere to park the support van,

 we did eventually  and then had a mile walk to get back to the TSB bank branch.

"Four forty-seven" and we reach the destination, Manchester.

Gareth was waiting, he said the girl that he had spoken too to organise the event, was on holiday, and the manager did not even know we were coming, and the branch was shutting down in a month, there was a solitary poster on the wall in the branch to prove Gareth had done his homework.

We then had to walk back to the van, in humidity I had just not encountered before, it was hot, very hot.

Gareth had been told to wait at the TSB branch until we came back to find him in the van, so we would not get lost again, trying to find our way out of the City to get to Liverpool, our hotel for the night.

Lexmoto Assault "Duncan" and the staff from the Manchester TSB,

with crew, Pete, Paul, and me..(Charlie).

~~~~~~~

We got back to the TSB Manchester branch, Gareth was ready, and we said we would just have to find a way out of the City before we could re-route to Liverpool.

 The traffic was slow and gridlocked, all the sat-nav would say " At the next roundabout take the third exit," in other words it wanted us to re-track where we had come from, we could not even move forward.

After forty five minuets we had just about got out of the City but the traffic was still hardly moving, and all three lanes were blocked.

 Where were we?

 The GPS did not know and all we could do was look for road signs for Liverpool,

"Yes he is still behind" I said to Paul who was driving the van,

Then cresting a steel three lane bridge that looked like it was heading for a junction of the motorway, Gareth sailed bye on the little Lexmoto "Duncan" on the outside lane.

 "What does he think he is doing" said Paul.

I was just gob-smacked, Pete just did not comment.

Why! Why! was all we said,

Perhaps he will be waiting further up the road, and wanted a break.

But when we eventually did get moving again and found ourselves near the Warrington Services on the M62 we thought Gareth might be there, or somewhere near.

Not a sign of bike and rider, and we were now not doing the forty-five mile an hour we had been all day.

Luckily we had got the files for the overnight stay destination in the van, and had typed the post code  into the Garvin sat-nav, surely it could get this right, we were cruising down a marked motorway the M62.

We got to the hotel after a little excursion at the end, but we were back in a City again... Liverpool...

We booked into the hotel and had decided we needed something to eat, still no sign of Gareth, and I had been worrying since I saw him disappear into the distance as the rain was starting to fall.

 Paul's phone rang,"Where are you? what were you doing?

"Warrington Services, and you took a wrong turn",

"Well we are going to get something to eat".

At least he was safe, but inside I was fuming.

The boys watched the football on the television  for a while, I just sat looking over the harbour cutting to the dock and the kayak's practising their racing starts.

It was an hour before we had another phone call, Gareth was now in Liverpool by the "Liver" building but the wrong hotel. "Where were we"?

 Paul said "if you had stuck to the plan you would have been enjoying a cool beer with us by now".

Fifteen minuets later The little Lexmoto Assault crept into the car park.  After a few harsh words to its rider, "Duncan" was left to cool down, and then put to bed for the night in the van.

We did have that beer at the hotel continental restaurant, before taking a stroll along the dock to find something to eat, at the Harbour Yacht Club, it was just nine O'clock and they had stopped serving food. (Gareth's fault). But a lady there said if we hung about they do free food later on if there was any left over, so we  waited for that as we were all by now very hungry. 

A warm evening in Liverpool docks...

More Tomorrow.

 Thursday morning was wet in Liverpool, and it looked like it was set in for the day.

We were told the Yacht club would do breakfast in the morning, so we arrived at eight o'clock, looking forward to a meal to start the day, but were told by one of the staff as they opened the doors, that they would not be serving breakfast until eight forty five.

This was just too late, and the last thing we needed today was a late start, with the miles Gareth had set for us to do, and again we would have to use motorway for some of the journey.

After riding a couple of times up and down the the dock road looking for now somewhere to eat, we had to settle for a MacDonald's as this was the only place we could find open.

The rain was now persistent as we finished our breakfast, and unloaded the Lexmoto "Duncan" in the car park, I checked the oil and adjusted the chain, before Gareth set off to find the TSB Liverpool branch, in a street behind us.

Again the sat-nav was giving us the wrong street as we found the venue, we just now had to find somewhere to park the van near by.

The only place we could find was the taxi rank at the IOM sea terminal, and some of the taxi drivers were not pleased, the Mananan ferry was due in, it was nine forty-five.

I said we were waiting for the ferry to dock, to the Taxi drivers.

Well it was the only time I will see the vessel this year and that is a first for a long time as you know.

Gareth rang when he had finished his meet-up at the TSB branch and to honest they were not expecting him that early, although they had put up balloons and bunting for the visit, but again the timing was wrong, they had obviously checked the route we were taking and worked out the mileage..

So Manchester, and then Liverpool, and just look at the hassle we had had getting to the two branches.

We found Gareth waiting at the bank ready to go, and he knew from the rainfall that he was going to get wet.

"Just stay behind this time" we said.

We were now reliant on the road atlas we had purchased the day before on the  M62 motorway, while Gareth was having one of his "thirty mile breaks", and refuelling the little bike.

The plan was today to try and stick to the route originally set.

And the last thing we wanted was Gareth to be in the spray from the rain on a motorway.

So plan "B" was to type into the sat nav the names of the towns we were heading for, and then when we got there type in the next. "Come on Sat-Nav keep up".

So Runcorn was the first name typed in, are we forgot about the new road bridge being built, across the Mersey, so there were diversions in place, rendering Sat-Nav useless again. All we could do was look for the Runcorn signs, and hope Gareth kept up, and to honest we had slowed to below forty mile an hour  anyway.

We Reached the Runcorn "Silver Jubilee Bridge," so we were on the right track.

We now had a one hundred and twelve mile stint to get to the Leicester branch,  and it was raining. 

The control centre was now in full swing. I was looking at the map and finding the next port of call for the Sat-Nav, and Pete the mathematician was typing in the code and mileage into the little machine on the screen that to be quite honest did not want to play this silly game.

Paul was driving, and commanding comment on whether the rider was still behind, what seemed like every one hundred yards "Rider behind driver" was the reply, and please keep the speed down, Gareth may find it slippery on the little bike.

Northwich was typed in next the A533, when we got there, with it still wet but looking like easing.

Northwich June 22 at 11.39 am.

Gareth was due for a break, so out of Northwich we looked for somewhere to stop and found a little country park just of the Knutsford-road, so pulled in.

It was Twelve fifteen, and just has we stopped the heavens opened, proper stair rod rain for more than ten minuets, just as I had got the spanners out to adjust the rear chain again, and check the oil on the little Lexmoto bike.

Gareth could not believe we had got this right, and he could shelter in the van for a while.

Gareth and Lexmoto "Duncan" after the storm...

~~~~~~~

By the time we set off again the skies looked brighter, and there was a chance that we had seen the end to the thunder storms that day.

 Next onto the Sat-Nav was Congleton, and then Kidsgrove, Stoke on Trent, onto the A550 then the A50,

By One twenty-six it was dry again, and even warming up, this would please Gareth as the rain had left him cold and wet after the temperature drop from the storm...

Now a long stint to Burton upon Trent on the A50.

~~~~~~~

These long old Roman road's just kept going on and on with very little meanderings off of a straight route.

It just seemed like a long way of continuous road with very little to alter the speed, and the road was made of concrete and that only made harsh and worse.

 I had dreams of this being a test run of set up roads in China to just test little bikes like this to destruction, and not only that but the day had started to warm up again.

We eventually indicated to take a break before the next stint on the M1 motorway.

 At the "Derby and Burton Services", we enjoyed a Kentucky Chicken meal something none of us had eaten for years.

More tomorrow.

Photo Credit Graham Hogg.

The day was now hot again, and the humidity after the thunder storms was quite telling,

A quick check of Lexmoto Assault "Duncan" and we led Gareth onto the motorway and we controlled his speed down even though we were running late again.

Soon the Junction indicating the "National Space Centre" loomed large on the signs, this was where we get off for the run into Leicester and we were already encountering heavy traffic.

Sat-Nav was getting confused again as we neared the City centre.

One-way systems change weekly, and unless you have a system that updates daily you have no chance of finding your destination.

We eventually got two streets away we thought, and pulled the van up. Paul said he would walk and find  the TSB branch, where Gareth had hopefully arrived at by now,

Pete took over van parking duty, all we could find was a loading bay several streets away.

We had travelled around the same circle of urban streets several times to try and find a convenient parking space, and we had the same problem in every city of the journey.

Pete and I decided to just wait in the parking bay space we had found and stick with the van in case we got moved on.

 A phone call from Paul after about thirty minuets ensued a hunt for the van by him using his phone guidance, and Gareth was following him at walking pace on the Lexmoto Assault..

Apparently the Leicester branch of the TSB did not quite believe that Gareth would or could, turn up on the date shown,(Had they looked at the route map too?) and to be honest we could have bypassed Leicester, but this was on our to do list so that is what we did.

 We just now needed to get out of this City as soon as possible, so that I could get the Side-car-e back to the workshop in Warwick and get the motor removed and stripped to see what damage we had caused by cooking the engine, I had the option of fitting the spare barrel because the spare motor had not even been run.

A Long night loomed ahead, If we were to get the bike mobile enough to get the run in to Banbury on the Friday.

So It was decided in the Loading bay in Leicester, that being as it was now going to take us at least an hour to get out of the City with the now building traffic, that it was pointless The Lexmoto "Duncan" and able rider Gareth, trundling all the way down the M69 to Coventry, where we would start the Friday run at the TSB branch there.

So both "Duncan" and Gareth had to patiently sit in the traffic with us in the van.

I was eventually dropped off at the yard to deal with the ailing "Henry", the other boys went back to Banbury for a good nights sleep before setting off for Coventry early on Friday morning.

Superb footage from Tom Donnely thank's Tom.

~~~~~~~

At the TSB branch in Coventry Gareth met Jonathan his boss, and a keen cyclist,

Jonathan had set up a match race with Gareth, to who would get back to Banbury first. 

He would be setting off a bit before Gareth, mathematician Pete had worked out the time advantage Jonathan needed, to make it a fair race?

After the boys had set off on their run in from Coventry to Banbury town, Paul and Pete came to pick me up from the yard near Warwick, they had phoned to make sure the Side-car-e "Henry" was running...

We had made a plan to meet Gareth on the old Warwick road, it was then decided to wait for Jonathan at the top of Warmington hill, ( The Falcon) so that we could have a run into Banbury with both bikes and the complete team, Ted the bear was replaced in the side-car by Pete, for the run in.

Photo Courtesy Mel Kew.

Happy Days...

 Engine back in the bike at 10.03 on June the 23rd and even Ted is loaded with his high Vis vest on.

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We all set off at thirty miles an hour, in parade from the pub for the last four miles, it was not until we got into Banbury and were baulked by a passing steam traction engine, which slowed our progress slightly, But helped us get to the Last venue on the trip, the TSB branch in the High-street in Banbury, where they had not only rolled out the "Blue Carpet" for us, but we were met by Banburys Lord Mayer, representatives from the charity Katharine House Hospice, and upper personnel from  the TSB bank.

But the Stars of the show were Gareth and his replacement steed, the little Lexmoto Assault "Duncan" who had tirelessly stuck to the plot that Gareth had planned, and with the able assistance of Pete and Paul we had achieved what we had set out to do.  And completed the whole distance set out for the Charity run and also in the time scale, that had not really taken into consideration the hot weather, and encountering the amount of traffic on the road's, and the delays this volume of vehicles makes. And of course satellite navigation not really working in the cities of the UK..

Well done Gareth and Lexmoto Assault "Duncan"

The Banbury Lord Mayer cuts the celebration cake.

Superb footage of Banbury early in the morning great stuff Mr Butler.

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I must thank Pete and Paul for getting involved with our mission of adventure , because without them it would never have been achieved.

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And I must also thank Matt at Speedway Motorcycles, for selling me a grand little machine, and also Llexeter for bringing these little machines into the country, and proving that a Motorcycle made in China is not only has good as most, but in a lot of respects better, £1400 says it all.

Lexmoto Assault "Duncan" in pride of place.

In Banbury branch of the TSB bank

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The story of Lexmoto Assault "Duncan" does not end here, there are already more plans already in the pipeline, and he may be coming to a show or meet near you in 2020...? after another adventure...

(now it will be in  2021)... Or Now 2022

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The Covid pandemic stopped play in 2020 and 2021..

Then in 2022 the TSB closed a lot more of their branches, even our own in Banbury is now closed for good, and Gareth as moved on to live in Wales...

So in 2023 we are looking for other road trips for charity for the little Lexmoto Assault...

Broughton Castle..............

The Lexmoto Assault "Duncan" passes bye here, just out of Banbury quite a lot on its little ride outs.

Superb footage again. of North Oxfordshire.

More later next year (2024) on "Duncan's" continuing adventures...

More later..

Updat2023...06...