Category: Events and Shows

1. Bike night @ Hull College

   Posted on 10:46am Thursday 11th Jul 2013

   I would just like thank all who came to our Bike night (10th July)

   What a brilliant night! We raised just under £370 for Help for Heroes.

   Well done people and thank you.

   Keith Watling

2. LEGENDERY DRUMMER JOHN COGHLAN CHANGES THE STATUS QUO AT BILLING BIKE FEST

   Posted on 10:46am Tuesday 9th Jul 2013

   The original drummer from the legendary rock group Status Quo will be performing at Billing Bike Fest, held at Northamptonshire’s Billing Aquadrome on 20th and 21st July.

   John Coghlan was the bedrock of the group in the 1960s and 70s, playing with Status Quo right up to 1981. Playing the drums with the iconic rock band, he toured the world with the Quo as the powerhouse behind the band.

   John, now with his own band John Coghlan’s Quo will be performing many of Quos hits and favourite tracks, at Billing Bike Fest on Saturday.

   Tom Siddall, Event Director of Billing Bike Fest said: "We are so delighted that such a legendary rocker will be at Bike Fest with his group. He is bound to be a great favourite for all visitors, whether they’ve come for the motorbikes or the music!”

   John Coghlan is not the only new addition to Saturday’s line-up as Bike Fest will also be joined by the Joseph Peace Stunt Show. According to Joseph Peace, he set out to devise a show like no other, blending circus and comedy with an insane amount of fire. This show is sure to have you cheering one moment and gob smacked the next!

   Visitors can also enjoy the Bolddog Lings Mini-X Tour, uses Britain’s best motocross and extreme sports participants, introducing the mobile Mini-bike freestyle ramp. Plus other bands appearing include last year’s headline act The Great Divide along with Sons of Icarus, Dionysus Unbound and Foo Fighters tribute band The Four Fighters.

   Supporting the Marco Simmoncelli foundation, Billing Bike Fest will host more than 250 riders taking part in their 2013 charity ride out, as well as having hundreds of bikes on show from motorcycle manufacturers. Motorcycle clubs will showcase everything from great British classics to modern day heroes, Japanese elegance to American icons.

   And what festival wouldn’t be complete without the fantastic camping facilities at Billing Aquadrome including an indoor aqua park for all ages, go karting, climbing walls and much more.

   Adult ticket prices start from just £10 when booking in advance or £12 on the gate. Children under the age of 16 get free entry when accompanied by an adult. Parking is also free throughout. The show is open from 10am to 5pm each day. Camping is £25 per adult and £12.50 per child. Camping can be booked by contacting 01524 781453 (8am-8pm weekdays). To book day tickets call 0844 8540064.

   For the latest updates visit www.billingbikefest.com

3. RIDE TO WORK DAY 2013 SEES MORE BIKERS THAN EVER TAKING PART

   Posted on 8:12am Friday 5th Jul 2013

   Ride to Work Day 2013 took place on Monday 17 June, with dealers, biker cafes and companies up and down the country taking part. Riders were asked to use their motorcycle or scooter to commute to work to demonstrate the benefits of commuting on two wheels.

   2013 saw the largest measured rider participation ever with over 8,000 bikers on the Ride to Work Day Facebook page and another 1,200 on Twitter - all pledging their support. The Ride to Work Day team introduced a mile counter on the website and encouraged riders to send in their mileage for the day, just the miles sent in via Facebook and Twitter come to over 30,000 and the count is still going!

   Manufacturer support came from Harley Davidson, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda and ZingBikes, while insurance companies, BikeSure, Carol Nash, MCE and Bennetts all helped promote the event and held their own Ride to Work Day celebrations. Large corporate firms encouraged their staff to consider a motorcycle for their commute, such as Santander and Visteon Global Engineering.

   Competitions were run in celebration of the day, not only on the Ride to Work Day sites, but by MCN, Twist and Go and MCE’s Big Ed, with motorcycling app REALRIDER giving away BSB Paddock passes and Michelin tyres if your route was picked from all those uploaded via their app on Ride to Work Day.

   One of the winners of the Ultimate Ride to Work Day award went to new rider, Rachel Jones, who passed her CBT in May this year and now commutes the 40 miles from Bo’ness to Edinburgh everyday: “I know I'm a newbie, but even with town riding, I'm getting 140 miles to the gallon! The guys at work laugh at me in my bike gear, but I have the last laugh - I've cut my commuting costs from the train being £8 a day to just £1.50 on the bike”.

   Dealers and biker cafes opened early, with special offers and tempting freebies such as bacon sandwiches, cakes and hot drinks to welcome riders. Even councils in Leicestershire and Neath held riding events in their car parks, with free bacon rolls for passing bikers!

   Harley Davidson was a particularly strong supporter this year, supplying goods for competition prizes across the Ride to Work Day social networking platforms and encouraging all their dealers to get behind the event. Don Rutherford from Glasgow dealer, West Coast Harley-Davidson said: "Ride to Work Day works very well as a general awareness campaign promoting the benefits of motorcycling. We had the opportunity to use Ride to Work Day to generate solid local media coverage in the local press and radio, and that's good for us. We laid on free coffee and buns, but at the end of the day people were riding to work, and so wouldn't have the time to visit a dealer on the same day. For us, we don't judge the success of Ride to Work Day on the numbers of people that came through our showroom on one day, we have reached a larger audience with an important motorcycling message and that means they could visit us tomorrow, next week or next month. As an industry, we need to promote ourselves and Ride to Work Day does a very good job of that."

   Surrey-based dealer, Doble Motorcycles has always supported Ride to Work Day and 2013 was no exception. Michael Lee at Doble explained: "We always support Ride to Work Day, it's a positive event for motorcycling with a good message. This year we organised a staff and customer ride out before work with a free breakfast at the end of it! We had a lot of customer interest with around 50 customers signing up, but unfortunately the weather let us down.  It rained in the morning and this obviously put some people off, but the ride out still went ahead with around 25 riders, and we all enjoyed a 'full English' overlooking the runway at Redhill Aerodrome. We enjoyed the early morning ride out and would definitely do it again next year. Ride to Work Day is the only annual event that is committed to promoting the benefits of commuting by bike - why wouldn't we support it?!"

   The team at Zing Bikes celebrated Ride to Work Day by opening early and giving callers to their Huntingdon showroom free coffee and muffins throughout the day. They also held a free prize draw that was open to the public and to employees of parent company Encocam, as long as they rode to work on a motorcycle or scooter. Peterborough biker, Pete Formosa, was the lucky winner and won a ZingWear leather motorcycle jacket and gloves. ZingBikes General Manager Paul Hinchliffe said “We were really pleased to back the Ride to Work campaign.  It gives people a chance to consider the alternatives to the car and to look at the cost savings in fuel and road tax, but also the joy of getting out on two wheels.”

   The campaign is part of the MCI’s annual calendar of events. The MCI opened its Coventry headquarters this year, with free bacon rolls on offer for passing bikers, while acting CEO Steve Kenward, recorded his own 136 mile commute.

   Overall the aim of promoting the benefits of commuting by motorcycle to existing and potential riders was fulfilled and 2014 promises to be another exciting event!

   www.ridetoworkday.co.uk

4. Triumph Open Day - 13th July 2013

   Posted on 8:10am Friday 5th Jul 2013

   Joining us at our annual Open Day* is not only the perfect opportunity to swing your leg over the current Triumph range but could also win you the loan of the Triumph of your choice for a whole year!

    Simply register to let us know you’ll be attending on the 13th, and we’ll enter you into the competition. It’s that easy!

   Alongside a list of other prizes, including service vouchers, clothing vouchers and items from our personal accessory range, we’re also offering 25% off Triumph clothing**, valid on the 13th July.

   Now there’s no excuse, clear your diary on the 13th July and register today...

5. TUCANO URBANO LAUNCH COMPETITION WITH BRITISH BAND THE CHARLATANS

   Posted on 8:11am Thursday 4th Jul 2013

   Tucano Urbano has teamed up with The Charlatans to offer one lucky winner the ultimate festival package this summer. Two weekend camping tickets to see The Charlatans perform at the award-winning Kendal Calling festival, 26th - 28th July, alongside legends such as Primal Scream and Basement Jaxx.

   The winner will also receive an iconic Charlatans T-shirt featuring front-man Tim Burgess and signed by the band, plus a signed copy of the band’s latest DVD Mountain Picnic Blues.

   The exclusive prize package is available to win only by entering the competition at the Tucano Urbano UK Facebook page. The competition closes on Monday 22 July at 14:00 –so enter now,– it’'s so simple, just click!

   As scooter riders, The Charlatans are long-term fans of the Tucano Urbano brand, having worn Tucano Urbano clothing for many years, including recently choosing several items from the latest collection.

   The Spring/Summer 2013 collection is available now at stockists nationwide

   www.tucanourbano.co.uk

   The award-winning Kendal Calling festival is set in the beautiful surroundings of the Lake District and over the years has attracted big-name performers such Pendulum, Dizzee Rascal, Doves, Blondie and Mumford & Sons. Maintaining an intimate, happy atmosphere, the line-up for 2013 looks like this is set to be the best year yet and you could be there! Find out more at www.kendalcalling.co.uk