Then there were the new kids on the Malvern scene, from the Classic Yamaha Club. They took home one of the club awards at their first visit to the show and nearly sneaked the Bike of the Day trophy, too, with an array of old Yams which included the inevitable air-cooled RDs and XS650s. The judges also spotted an interesting, eight-valve XS500 in their ranks, which runs the risk of being featured in the magazine if it returns to the autumn event…

Business was brisk on the RealClassic stand, which was graced by the presence of Tony Lort’s Triumph TSS, Pete and Pauline Dawson’s very clean Matchless G80ES (which starts on the button, too!), and – finally – Dave Minton’s BMW Krauser.

The Krauser is proving to be one of those bikes; it should have made an appearance at the 2007 autumn event but came over all shy and electrically unhappy. Since then it’s been given the once-over by an auto-electrician – which probably explains why it ran fine until it reached the gates of the showground, and then refused to fire up for the final ride to the hall. Dave Minton's Krauser framed BMW So, on top of doing his share of the judging for the morning, Dave also had to push the Krauser into place and then organise a trailer to ferry it home again in ignominious disgrace. See? It happens to all of us. Even Dave Minton!

Classic BMW bits on eBay.co.uk

Still, much can be repaired with the application of a Jaffa Cake at an appropriate moment (if not the Krauser itself then at least Dave’s good humour). It helped that a crowd of sympathetic and interested RC readers were on hand to make soothing noises and express admiration – well done Jim Rendell, BikerMarc and Cal, Will Morgan, Ian Soady and all the others whose names escape us due to age and infirmity. Oh, and it was nice to see Pete Sole buying a wicker basket, presumably to keep all his concours awards in!

Of course, it’s much easier to remember the gorgeous bikes which caught our attention, like the well used, faired Francis-Barnett, the pair of stunning Tritons, owned by a father and son, and the matching BMW GS machines which took the off-road award. These high mileage bikes were obviously ridden in all weathers and were owned by a couple who must surely enjoy travelling together. The Norton Owners’ Club stand was knee-deep in handsome Commandos and the like, and Dave Catton, an NOC man, took home the Bike of the Show trophy for his splendid 40M Manx. That was a popular choice, too, if the roar of approval at the prize-giving was anything to go by…

If you were paying careful attention, you would also have noticed Rowena taking some snaps of a pair of interesting Kawasaki two-strokes. RC regulars Pete and Pauline were kind enough to bring along their cute 250 once again (and we’ll try not to lose the photos this time, folks!), while Michael England displayed his extremely unusual A7 350. Michael’s on a campaign to educate everyone about just how rare his A7 really is; ‘few people know of them, let alone have ever seen one’ he explained. ‘Kawasaki UK told me that only 100 of all models were sold… and with the early model like mine, the figure of 18 is often mentioned.’ Of those eighteen, Michael knows the whereabouts of five A7s still in existence today. Look out for more on both of these Kawasakis, coming to an issue of RealClassic soon!

2-Stroke Kawasakis on eBay.co.uk