]> http://www.bikeweb.com/blog/22 en http://www.bikeweb.com/node/796 <p>For photos from the latest gathering of UK FFers, go to 'Events and Meetings' in the Image Galleries section and click on <a href="http://www.bikeweb.com/image/tid/67">Beaulieu 2005</a>. On a blisteringly hot weekend in June, this entertaining annual event at the historic village of Beaulieu in the New Forest saw most of 'The Usual Suspects' turn up, along with some welcome newcomers. Most notably, Beaulieu 2005 was the first public appearance of Andrew Gibbens' ComforTmax and its superb level of finish was much admired. Originally transformed to FF mode by Royce Creasey way back in 2002, Andrew has spent much of his spare time over the last three years making top-quality bodywork and seating to make a 'proper job' that almost looks as if it could be an official Yamaha option. (For pix of how it looked back in 2002, go to <a href="http://www.bikeweb.com/image/tid/37">'Royce Creasey's creations'</a>.)</p> Sun, 26 Jun 2005 09:44:27 +0000 http://www.bikeweb.com/node/373 <p>Paul Blezard – potted FF history<br /> I've been riding scooters and motorcycles for over 30 years and writing about FFs for more than 20. I was 'turned on' to FFs by reading Royce Creasey's HighTech articles in Bike magazine in 1979-80 and by meeting Malcolm Newell with the Cibie Z13 Phasar at the first NEC motorcycle show in 1981. I have ridden a very high percentage of the FFs to be seen on this site, (something like 40 in all), and had articles published about most of them.<br /> My 'FFing career' started when I bought the Difazio-Creasey CX500 Flying Banana from Jack Difazio in 1983 and rode it to the south of France ten days later - see the July 1984 issue of Motorcycle Sport for the full story . I also rode and wrote about Royce Creasey's first solo attempt at an FF - the Ducati 450-engined 'High Techati' in 1985 - and the prototype British Racing Green Voyager 850 in 1988. The Banana was also mended and modified by both Royce and Malcolm during the time I owned it, from 1983-1990. For most of the 1980s I combined scribbling with chaperoning teenage American schoolgirls around Europe on coaches. I've since written features for most of the UK specialist press and several foreign magazines and also had motoring articles published in the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Sunday Mail, Top Gear Magazine and Auto Express, amongst others. Many of them have been about FFs, including the Ecomobile.</p> Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:05:07 +0000