The Northants V-Twin delegation Last weekend was one long transport celebration for me; Saturday started with my son’s birthday party at a local go-karting circuit (I wasn’t expecting to drive a kart but was delighted to oblige when given the option), followed by a trip to Luton to celebrate the 40th birthday of the Vauxhall High Performance Firenza. Sunday (18th May) involved a trip to Rugby to enjoy the spectacle of the town’s first motorcycle festival.
Regular readers will know that I have written of the Daventry equivalent a few times before (article 1; article 2) but the inaugural Rugby Bikefest was going to be something of an unknown quantity. Amazingly Mrs Baldwin was keen to go as well - to be honest she had a vested interest in that she had a role in bringing the festival arrangements to fruition (nice not to have to argue though).
We arrived in Rugby town centre in time to see the cavalcade of motorbikes stream into Sheep Street from the earlier rendezvous point at The Bell Pub on High Street, Hillmorton. Noisy, varied, colourful and dramatic are the adjectives I’d use to describe the spectacle.
If you don’t know the town centre, it’s pedestrianized and certainly not designed to cater for parking vehicles – both these challenges needed the event organisers to think carefully. Once the bikes were parked up, the supporting stalls/concessions erected, the HGV trailer stage set up for the bands, the bike riders unsaddled and the fascinated public in attendance, the town centre was literally packed to the point of standing room only.
I understand that initial expectations were that 130 bikes might be present, the actual number is believed to be more like 500 – it really was that popular! There were motorbikes on Sheep Street, High Street and Chapel Lane being displayed and then bikes all over the place that had been ridden in by people coming to join in the festivities and see the bikes on show.
There simply wasn’t enough room to cater for all the motorcycles of all the visitors in the designated areas; they ended up parked all around the fringes of the town centre too. It was brilliant though because the sense of occasion and the sense that something significant was happening was inescapable. I wandered around taking photos and dreaming about owning some of the machines on display.
I wrote a few weeks back about attending the start of a Harley “ride-in” to Northampton. The organiser of that run, Dave Barringer of Northants V-Twin, had organised for some of his colleagues to ride into Rugby. This crew turned up slightly later, and once the festival was underway, but the arrival of these riders was more dramatic because the way had to be cleared for them. As they rode from Little Church Street in to Chapel Street, people were within feet of the thundering Harleys. I got some shots of some of the riders coming in and I have shared my favourite one below.
The Police had an obvious presence but not in a way that suggested any kind of threat; in fact the motorcycle coppers had their bikes on display too and were letting visitors get on them. I couldn’t resist a chance to have a go and both I and my daughter had our pictures taken.
As I sat on the BMW, I thought of CHiPs (California Highway Patrol) - you probably have to be my kind of age to get the reference. I can still hum the theme tune, in fact I even have the record somewhere!
The sun was shining, the mood was good, the town centre fizzed with excitement and the event really was as family friendly as it had been trailed. My view is that the festival was a massive success and that the organisers and the town councillors (and Mrs Baldwin of course) should be proud of what was achieved.
For the shop keepers of Rugby, I’d advise more of them to open next time this event is run. Because it was Sunday, many of the shops were closed and those businesses missed out on the potential to do some roaring trade. Still there’s always Bikefest 2015 to look forward to – I’ll be going!
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P.S. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. I have these images and many more in higher resolution, get in touch if you'd like any sent on to you.
Regular readers will know that I have written of the Daventry equivalent a few times before (article 1; article 2) but the inaugural Rugby Bikefest was going to be something of an unknown quantity. Amazingly Mrs Baldwin was keen to go as well - to be honest she had a vested interest in that she had a role in bringing the festival arrangements to fruition (nice not to have to argue though).
We arrived in Rugby town centre in time to see the cavalcade of motorbikes stream into Sheep Street from the earlier rendezvous point at The Bell Pub on High Street, Hillmorton. Noisy, varied, colourful and dramatic are the adjectives I’d use to describe the spectacle.
If you don’t know the town centre, it’s pedestrianized and certainly not designed to cater for parking vehicles – both these challenges needed the event organisers to think carefully. Once the bikes were parked up, the supporting stalls/concessions erected, the HGV trailer stage set up for the bands, the bike riders unsaddled and the fascinated public in attendance, the town centre was literally packed to the point of standing room only.
I understand that initial expectations were that 130 bikes might be present, the actual number is believed to be more like 500 – it really was that popular! There were motorbikes on Sheep Street, High Street and Chapel Lane being displayed and then bikes all over the place that had been ridden in by people coming to join in the festivities and see the bikes on show.
There simply wasn’t enough room to cater for all the motorcycles of all the visitors in the designated areas; they ended up parked all around the fringes of the town centre too. It was brilliant though because the sense of occasion and the sense that something significant was happening was inescapable. I wandered around taking photos and dreaming about owning some of the machines on display.
I wrote a few weeks back about attending the start of a Harley “ride-in” to Northampton. The organiser of that run, Dave Barringer of Northants V-Twin, had organised for some of his colleagues to ride into Rugby. This crew turned up slightly later, and once the festival was underway, but the arrival of these riders was more dramatic because the way had to be cleared for them. As they rode from Little Church Street in to Chapel Street, people were within feet of the thundering Harleys. I got some shots of some of the riders coming in and I have shared my favourite one below.
The Police had an obvious presence but not in a way that suggested any kind of threat; in fact the motorcycle coppers had their bikes on display too and were letting visitors get on them. I couldn’t resist a chance to have a go and both I and my daughter had our pictures taken.
As I sat on the BMW, I thought of CHiPs (California Highway Patrol) - you probably have to be my kind of age to get the reference. I can still hum the theme tune, in fact I even have the record somewhere!
The sun was shining, the mood was good, the town centre fizzed with excitement and the event really was as family friendly as it had been trailed. My view is that the festival was a massive success and that the organisers and the town councillors (and Mrs Baldwin of course) should be proud of what was achieved.
For the shop keepers of Rugby, I’d advise more of them to open next time this event is run. Because it was Sunday, many of the shops were closed and those businesses missed out on the potential to do some roaring trade. Still there’s always Bikefest 2015 to look forward to – I’ll be going!
Blog Home
Blog Library
Home
P.S. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. I have these images and many more in higher resolution, get in touch if you'd like any sent on to you.
 Northants V-Twin top dude award |  I had to do it guv; it's a fair cop |  Oh you are beautiful! |  |
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