Velosolex Owners Group

December

Well 2020 went like a flash didn’t it. Here we are now in 2021 and the VOG’s have done two fantastic jaunts terrorising the neighbourhoods or is that entertaining them. Perhaps it is gauging by the amount of smiles and waves we get when the “swarm” of Velolex’s pass through suburbia, we’ve even had a couple of “tradies” who were unloading a van stop and salute us as we hooned by, you don’t get that when you pass them by on your Jap’ Superbike. Hope you all had a fantastic Festive Season and are now looking forward to healthy happy new year with adventures a plenty ahead. Our December run was organised by John McIntyre and based in his hometown of Rangiora on a very hot Nor’Westerly Tuesday making for a challenging push especially when the wind hit us sideways, Father Christmas aka’ Pieter Maat even took part in the run on that day. Don’t know how he survived it after his journey from the North Pole. Believe me there was a lot of pedalling required by Pieter as his Solex is lacking a bit in power (compared to others) and with the full Father Christmas regalia on it sure was a mammoth effort. We had a great ride around the quieter streets of Rangiora but at times we had to brave the onslaught of giant juggernauts and motor vehicles as we crossed over main arterial routes, blimey Rangiora is no longer a sleepy little country town. The morning’s route eventually brought us to the ‘Brook Hotel for a very scrumptious roast lunch and after being fully fortified and entertained by the usual chatter we headed back on the roads, fortunately by then the wind had dropped a couple of K’s per hour making the return journey back to the start/finish much more enjoyable. Only one breakdown this time and that was right at the start, lack of fuel getting through was the problem and even a rebuild of the fuel pump on the side of the road by team ‘Solex expert Rhys Jones wouldn’t coax Alan Stack’s “little tart” into life.

Thanks John for organising a magic day out.

2021

And now it’s January 2021 Tuesday 12th in fact and we all survived the Festive Season, the VOG’s once again hit the roads to do what we thought was just going be a short doddle but ended a 34k jaunt, now that’s a big number when you’re riding a Velosolex at between 20 – 22km/h Our member Dave Marks had organised a journey from his home in Highstead Road out to Spencer Park via Regents Park and Northwood, to Belfast and eventually ending up on Lower Styx Rd, and of course a head wind to battle all the way to Spencerville and turn off

for Spencer Park. That Lower Styx Rd is a marathon and a half even without that strong easterly so we really welcomed the arrival of Spencer Park where we able to dismount and stretch our legs and have a bit of a yarn. We had 13 riders turn up on the day but only 12 of us managed the ride, poor ole’ Gary Thompson’s beast once again let him down. He didn’t even manage to pass “go” and collect his $200 so Gary did the trip in the backup vehicle again, he was the worthy recipient of the Lyall Hurst Hard Lucky Trophy.Once again another enjoyable day doing what we all enjoy. All the Best for 2021 to all our readers. Royce VOG1

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