Andy Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Regular readers of my column when it appeared in the weekly press will know that I have a very soft spot for the South Western Centre Gazette, the local ACU magazine that is distributed on subscription to around 700 riders down in the UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bilco Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 Awesome post Mr Mike. I love hearing about those story's of the past. It's a shame there's not more being aired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overthehill Posted April 2, 2007 Report Share Posted April 2, 2007 (edited) my first bike (sorry it was a road bike) was a 14 year old 1962 honda 125 - it had electric start, did 70mph, was 100% reliable and the only time you saw the oil was when you changed it. For some reason that i will never understand i then got a 1968 (yes it was 6 years newer!) BSA bantam - 3 speed gearbox 50mph downhill with the wind behind you when the electrics decided to work - pushing pace when they didnt (which was often) you had to premix two stroke at 16:1, if you didnt get covered in the oil dripping out of the gearbox you got covered in the unburnt two stroke dripping out of the exhaust pipe. Quite why i rode this i do not know but thankfully i never did sell the little Honda - your first bike is always special. what was BSAs answer to the little hondas? - "lets push the boat out and fit a 4 speed box to the Bantam - that will see the japanese off" - well the rest is history. my little honda now - after a bit of a refurb! Edited April 2, 2007 by overthehill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillary Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 What a beauty, not many hits to this week's column, but there has to be something for everybody through the year. Love the Honda though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpa3 Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 It might be just my imagination, but I would say hits on TC are down in general at the moment. Is it because everyone is out on their bikes or getting them ready for the next ride now that Spring is here? Perhaps Andy can give us some stats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted April 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 It might be just my imagination, but I would say hits on TC are down in general at the moment. Is it because everyone is out on their bikes or getting them ready for the next ride now that Spring is here? Perhaps Andy can give us some stats? Do you mean stats on the site in general or on the forums? The site overall is always a bit quieter in Jan/Feb/March than it is throughout the riding season, but that's because there is less news, photos etc being posted so hits (which is the only real way I can monitor things) do drop a bit. Yes, there's the indoor championship, but there are loads of people (myself included) who aren't really bothered about that. If anybody's interested, the stats for the entire site from the end of last June (which is when I deployed a new stats system) run: July - 8.2 million hits, 1.9 million page views August - 9.3 million hits, 2.1 million page views September - 9.2 million hits, 1.7 million page views October - 11.6 million hits, 2.3 million page views November - 12.0 million hits, 2.4 million page views December - 11.1 million hits, 2.1 million page views January - 12.4 million hits, 2.2 million page views February - 10.0 million hits, 1.9 million page views March - 10.1 million hits, 1.9 million page views Looking at the forum stats over the same period New Topics July - 283 August - 326 September - 297 October - 418 November - 375 December - 367 January - 454 February - 383 March - 390 Number of posts July - 2234 August - 2807 September - 2744 October - 4047 November - 3817 December - 3760 January - 4445 February - 3181 March - 3358 You can see two peaks in the stats - October and January. October = Scott Trial, January = Sheffield indoor. I've also just checked the old stats system for May 2006 - SSDT month. The site did 11.1 million hits and 1.2 million page views - and I was only there for two days of the Trial. This year I'm there for the week so expect traffic records to be broken Overall I'm not bothered about whether site traffic is up or down. It's not something I monitor regularly. The site was started as a little hobby so I've done virtually no advertising or publicity, but it has grown WAY beyond what I ever expected it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpa3 Posted April 3, 2007 Report Share Posted April 3, 2007 Wow, thanks for that Andy. I'd never have guessed that there were that many hits on the site each month. It's about time the advertisers realised the potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinnied Posted April 4, 2007 Report Share Posted April 4, 2007 Great piece Mike Would anybody have a shot of this 220 Minarelli engined Cotton love to see it Vinnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofasttim Posted April 6, 2007 Report Share Posted April 6, 2007 Would anybody have a shot of this 220 Minarelli engined Cotton love to see it Vinnie, I searched..and for the life of me I couldn't find the ebay listing of the Cotton clubman I saw a week or so ago. The clubman was similar to the expert but the shocks weren't as upright, it was a 175 (the expert was a bored out 175) and it had less flywheel. Nonetheless I don't see why you would want to be exposed to one. My first bike was an expert, a hand-me-down from my dad, and it was arguably the worst bike I rode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofasttim Posted April 16, 2007 Report Share Posted April 16, 2007 Having just had a look at some of the articulate replies to Rappers most recent column, and having developed a guilty conscience after slagging off Cotton, I thought that I'd be obliged to add a little to my reply above. In one of my brief forays into the northern climes (in between leaving Zambia and emmigrating to South Africa) I lived in Gloucester, where my father worked for Malcolm Davis. Not too far from Malcolms shop was (if I remember correctly) Vulcan works, where Cottons were made. Malcolm had enjoyed a long association with Cotton (as he did with Bultaco) and it was natural that my father would become friendly with Pat Onion, the owner of Cotton at the time. Occasionally my dad would take me to Vulcan works and the impression that remains with me to this day was the smell of paint and the size of the building. As far as I remember the Vulcan works was a former bakery of industrial proportions and Cotton were using a fraction of the floor space. Dark and dingy, for the most part and a complete contrast to the Rickmans factory, it was clear, with hindsight, that Cotton were in trouble. Poor Cotton. Resurected by Pat and puching well abover their weight, had like many others been dropped by Villiers. In desparation they turned to Minerelli motors and thier fate was sealed. Reading Mikes column it helps you realise what a more graceful age that was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yodaferret Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 hello folks. just happened across your site tonight whilst looking up cotton. i worked for cotton when they were at stratton rd just off barton st in gloucester many moons ago. i well remember pat onions and others that worked there. i remember pat giving me a bollocking for complaining that the frame parts that i was deburring on the linishing machine were burning my fingers. his reply to my whinging went something like this, " try alternating the part that you are working on you dozy *******" no pathetic pc in those days you were told exactly what was what. of course old pat was right and my fingers did cool a little. pat was a girt big man and someone you could'nt help but like the moment you met him. there were some wonderful characters there and i remember that there was an ariel 1000cc square four on the ground floor, poor thing had the heads off though. at the time i rode a 200cc tiger cub and remember being in awe of a bike that was 1000cc though today with the big cruisers going well and truly through the 2000cc it seems a little dated, a bit like me really.lol. i remember the shop just around the corner that sold bikes too and the sad time the guy there was killed. i know he was a local hero and it hit hard. it still feels very strange that as i sit here writing this that i am 16 going on 53 and am now one of the old farts. then again, how lucky i am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hillary Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 The guy that was killed was probably Malcolm Davis who had a shop in Gloucester. He was a great trials rider, along with his brother Tony, the current organiser of the Victory Trial reunion dinners., Malcolm tragically died in the Otter Vale President's Trial, back in 1981ish I think. I was riding in the trial on a Suzuki sidecar outfit and Malcolm died as a result of a RTA - nothing to do with the trial except that he was competing in the event. Sad day that was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpa3 Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 The guy that was killed was probably Malcolm Davis who had a shop in Gloucester. He was a great trials rider, along with his brother Tony, the current organiser of the Victory Trial reunion dinners.,Malcolm tragically died in the Otter Vale President's Trial, back in 1981ish I think. I was riding in the trial on a Suzuki sidecar outfit and Malcolm died as a result of a RTA - nothing to do with the trial except that he was competing in the event. Sad day that was. Thanks for that. I remember going into the shop many times when I was a youngster and drooling over the bikes and never realised that was how Malcolm died. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toofasttim Posted January 5, 2008 Report Share Posted January 5, 2008 Thanks for that. I remember going into the shop many times when I was a youngster and drooling over the bikes and never realised that was how Malcolm died. Scorps, could you PM me with your age? If you're uncomfortable with that, I used to haunt Malcolms shop in about 70/71 'ish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yodaferret Posted January 5, 2008 Report Share Posted January 5, 2008 thanks for the info. yes it was indeed malcolm and i feel a little ashamed that i could not remember his name, just put it down to premature senility. i thought it was a lot earlier than the 80s that he had died but what do i know. can anyone remember the other bike shops in gloucester at that time? like mead and tomkins in southgate st with all those beautiful old riley cars in the showroom. i think my favorite was lundegards at the bottom of westgate st, i can still feel the atmosphere of the place and the anticipation of fetching a new part for my bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts