As fans of this Oilyracer blog page, you will have read - many moons ago - of yours truly, and the Almost Legendary Albert Crackleport’s trip to Belgium, to take part in a bike building competition.
Back in the dark days of 2009, yes, that long ago, before the words “ pandemic “ and Covid were even thought of, we took a sailing ship across to Belgium, to a place routed in legend and also in Balen (somewhere in the middle of Belgium) Here we were plied with much Belgian ale and in a secret place known as “ the arcade”, we undertook the building of a motorcycle - ok pretty basic - within 3 days.
Albert supplied the forks, wheels, engine and gearbox - our Belgian hosts, the steel tubing and welding equipment, sandwiches and pop.
The result was the famed Picklington Precision and again readers of this blog will - after a triumphant return to U.K. shores - mayhap also remember tales of daring do up the slope of Park Rash, in the Yorkshire Dales, back in 2010 - when Albert allowed myself and a couple of fellow gentleman racers, the privilege of riding said machine up said slope. What a day that was - recorded on film, and I believe still available somewhere on the dark web.
That day took a vicious toll on our beloved machine - oil was lost and the gearbox casing broke under the huge stresses and strains of flat out racing - don’t let the formula 1 guys tell you that they know all about g-forces, PAH !!!, they know nothing - it was uphill after all.
The Picklington was brought back to its home - now in Yorkshire - where it’s damage was assessed and remedies commenced, but unfortunately as with all things like this, time passed, it’s glory day almost forgotten, the Picklington ended up under a floor in a cellar in darkest Pudsey - history and time moved on.
Eleven years later - it may have been home brew or over a slice of pork pie and a dripping sandwich - in any case the Picklington once again came up in discussions and memories harking back to those long forgotten days were stirred. Could she be resurrected.
Now, Albert has many fine machines deserving of his huge skills both in preservation and oily racing, and sadly the old lad can only handle so many, thus a suggestion was made - would you like the Picklington to restore as a task in your retirement - which is how we came to be standing in a freezing garden in darkest Pudsey in April 2021 (masked and socially distanced - of course) to retrieve this historical artefact. Thanks Albert, I am truly humbled by your generosity. Pictures are attached hereabouts, which provide evidence of the great day, when the Picklington was brought back into the light.
Awoken from it's slumbers the Picklington is hauled up the cellar steps.
Cobwebs - and spiders - removed it's time for a swift cuppa out 'o flask. Cheers!
and the motorcycle began a short trip back to a new home, a comfortable dry garage, where a strip down, clean, paint and re-assembly will begin.
Over the next few months I hope to be able to provide a bit of a story and pictures to accompany my musings on the restoration of my part of oily racing history.
Bye for now Splut !!
