Len the Pen

Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club Run 6th May 2012 to Mountain Breeze Restaurant Stellenbosch

Fri, 18 May 2012 17:26:55 GMT

The bikes arrive and what a lovely day for a ride in the Cape wine lands! Blue sky, early morning wisps of white cloud, who said life is hard

Everybody enjoyed it by the look on the faces, I must say the waitress was very pleasant, the food, yes we had to wait quite a while, but when it came it was hot and as ordered. So no wonder people have smiles

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The 6th One Ton bike event

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:43:30 GMT

Once again the year has gone and its time to dust of those old bikes and old age so that you and your bike equal 100 years, the gathering was again at a large car park in Canal Walk with 3 routs, covering 16 , 44 and 98 kilometres, all ending at the Cape Town Vintage Motorbike Club house in Parow

The weather was very overcast but the rain stayed away, and people gathered, chatted and looked, sometimes with longing, at the various bikes

The group we rode with, covering 44 kilometres, stopped half way round, as usual nattering was the main pastime except Arthur had to clean his spark plugs

Arriving at the club house the organisers had even put on a fly by, unfortunately I did not zoom, but take my word it was a fighter jet!

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Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club run 1st April 2012

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:58:14 GMT

As usual a few bikers met at the club house in Parow, after gathering and chatting we prepared to leave, I held my breath whilst Arthur kicked his BSA , and clapped as it roared into life, so off we set on a beautiful late summers day, with blue sky, very little wind and comfortable temperature, what a way to live!

We took a gentle ride to the Pot Belly Pantry on the R44 just off the N1, our ride was mainly through our beautiful Wine lands , what a place to live!

On arrival there were other members who had departed from various places and in all there were 18 bikes and 1 bike and sidecar combination, with plenty of good parking and wonderful views.

That's as they say “when the wheels fell off” we waited and waited and after about an hour were told that the “Chef” was just plating up the breakfasts, some 15 minutes later June received her order, or was it some unknown person’s rubber eggs uncooked bacon, and it was as cold as her milk shake!

I decided I had seen and been given enough excuses and refused to accept my breakfast and refused to pay for June’s!

What a bad experience to end a potentially beautiful morning

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Nederburg Photo Shoot 8th March 2012

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:46:42 GMT

Another photo shoot, this time at Nederburg in the Wine lands of Paarl, in the Western Cape

This was to celebrate a retired Cellar Master, Günter Brözel who had worked for Nederburg for about 30 years, to be used to accompany a press release on a new wine. The images to be distributed to wine journalists, who could elect to use the picture in their wine columns. And distributed to newspapers, magazines and digital journalists

The story line was that Günter had ridden around the estate in the 1950s on a BSA 250cc motorbike

The day was to be wine tasting, lunch at about 12 mid day, then the photo shoot, all of which June and I were to be part of, at the Nederburg Manor House, that sounds simple

On the day we set of with the BSA on the trailer

On arrival, it was decided I should hide the bike as Günter had not arrived, he had been told that he was coming for a lunch with the current Cellar Master, Razvan Macici, so I moved it around to the side of the Manor House

The bike parked in the shade by a hedge row of Rhododendrons

As indicated there was some wine tasting especially by the Nederburg people, which included the CEO, PR consultants and of course the old and current Cellar Masters, the wine flowed and before we knew it mid day had well past, a trip to the bike and then more wine.


Günter Brözel		Günter & Razvan		Razvan Macici

Eventually at about 2 pm we sat for lunch, there was 11 of us, initially I envisaged a large party for lunch. Well I am glad there was not, as Günter had us all enthralled with his stories and whit, what a lovely congenial way to spend a couple of hours, in stunning surroundings

Well after more pictures on and around the bike it was time to leave, what a wrench to leave such company and place, but as they say all good things must come to an end!

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Photo Shoot at Hangklip on 27th January 2012

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:44:05 GMT

For those, like myself who do not know where Hangklip is, Its about 10 klm. on a dirt track past Pringle Bay

I was approached from Holland,by a Dutch fashion magazine, requiring a motorbike for a photo shoot.

I offered 3 bikes for them to chose from.

1972 BSA A65 1987 BMW R80/7 1972 BSA Bantam

The BMW was chosen and arrangements made with a local company who were coordinating the shoot this end.

On the day I decided to take my buddy Don (Split Pin, see a blog about him on this site) off we set to Hangklip, with the BMW on my trailer.

We decided to leave enough time to get to Pringle Bay to have a leisurely lunch and arrive at Cornelia’s Kraal Beach Shack, Koeka,Cornelia’s Kraal Hangklip for about 14h00 as requested, we were given exact directions even to the gate combination padlock, all of which worked well.

Driving through the gate we were greeted by dunes and a very narrow sandy track, we eventually found the local lady, Nancy, at an old house (well that's an exaggeration, it was a shack!)

Nancy explained they would like us to take the BMW onto the beach, well that turned out to be impossible, as the dunes were higher than the shack, see the view of the house the shack is next to it and hidden by the dunes!

On scouting around I found a place further round that gave a lovely view of the bay, this was accepted, an so the photo shoot took place, with 2 models, the photographer tried to get a moving shot, but the sand was to loose and dangerous.

We were observed by a large male baboon, unfortunately I did not get any pictures.

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Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club run 4th February 2012

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:47:06 GMT

The Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club, holds a breakfast runs on the first Sunday of the month, this Sunday the venue was Dixie’s Restaurant in Glencairn, just outside Simons Town, its right on the Main Road, has a large balcony and superb views, not only to have breakfast but to allow us to see a vintage car and bike run along the coast through Simons Town.

At the allotted time a group of 4 bikes and one car set of to Dixies from Parow, we had a lovely cruise down the N1, onto the N5, N2 to N3 then over Ou Kaapse weg, what a pleasure, lots of twists and great scenery. Also lots of bicycles (yes those silly things with no engine!) on an extremely hot day, about 30 deg C

We arrived at Dixie’s, where we enjoyed the breakfast, the service was very good

As usual the pictures were taken with a low cost camera and an even lower cost photographer, me!

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Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club at Timour Hall 22nd January 2012

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:36:31 GMT

The Cape Vintage Motorcycle Club puts some of its members bikes at the Classics, Vintage and Veteran gathering at Timour Hall

This event hosts many varieties, from stationary engines, through all the ranges of cars and motorbikes to memorabilia and collectables, over a 2 day period. All the gate takings are for various charities.

The following extract taken from the web site advertising

The Classic Car and Bike Show is hosted annually by the International Police Association and after 10 successful years, the event has become a 'must do' on the Cape Town events calendar. The Show was conceived in 1999 when the Western Cape Region of the Association was looking for a method of fundraising for their various charitable programs.

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Vintage Club lunch 17-12-11

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 15:28:18 GMT

Well those who gathered were treated to a very well presented 3 course meal, sorry to those who did not go you missed out.

Well done to the organisers who I am sure deserve a hearty slap on the back.

Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous new year to all members and their families from June & Len

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Bike Run Hudson's 04-12-11

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:59:21 GMT

The usual group meet at Parow, somebody said Robert had arranged a braai with staff just in case we got lost!

What a lovely day to sit out at Hudson's, the breakfast was excellent and the service was good (we have had very slow service there before but not this time) we were about 24 and lots of chatting took place, funny, most was about bikes.

The view whilst having breakfast ( very similar to my garden)( Len’s nose is growing longer, June) is spectacular and really enforces the reason for living in the Cape.

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Breakfast Run to Potbelly Pantry 6th November 2011

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:10:38 GMT

During the week the weather forecast was not looking good for Sunday, imagine my pleasure at the lovely blue sky, although June said it was chilly, but that's to be expected (that’s because June does has more blood in her alcohol stream).

The usually meting place was very busy as apparently a car show was in progress.

The breakfast was good, except the eggs were runny (snotty as June said) and there were more than the expected 15 people, some places we go to would battle to accommodate this numbers in the summer!

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