Over the end-of-May bank holiday weekend we enjoyed, or endured, a record-breaking heat wave with temperatures exceeding 33 degrees. This was the weekend that the region’s premier Triumph dealer, Webbs, had chosen to organise their excellent open house.
PECAM were delighted to be asked once again to support Webbs with their presence in the main outdoor sales area, where we had our recruiting team shoulder to shoulder with the Triumph Owners club, sales stands selling everything from cleaning products to helmets, and a fabulous coffee truck.
In addition, we were even more delighted to be given the opportunity to manage the first ever demo fleet. The demo fleet consisted of 15 bikes, ranging from the fun Tracker 400, to the serious 170BHP Speed Triple, including some of the coolest bikes currently on the market and definitely the coolest brand – ever!
Saturday saw a good flow of people stopping and speaking with our road safety, and advanced riding experts, on the main PECAM stand with a couple of people signing up for the IAM Roadsmart Advanced Rider Course, and a number of people booking free taster rides with our National Observer team.
Also, on Saturday we started our PECAM managed demo rides. We had determined a lovely 45 minutes route taking in a wide mix of roads, with short bursts of 70mph dual carriageway intermixed with beautiful country roads and lovely sweeping bends – great biker roads. This was the first year Webbs had offered demo rides on their open weekend, and we got off to a moderately slow start, but it soon picked up. PECAM provided the ride lead and tail end rider, and after a detailed briefing the customers were let loose on new machinery. We ran rides all through the day, eventually finishing at 5pm.
Sunday saw more of the same, with the demo fleet fully engaged until mid-afternoon, and more taster rides and people signing up for the advanced rider course. I understand that this year’s attendance at the weekend outstripped last years, as did the number of people taking Webbs offers of substantial savings on new and used bikes, clothing and other accessories.
A great success for all concerned. Thank you to Webbs for the opportunity, and thanks to the members and riders of PECAM for supporting the adventure. We even had the scheduled PECAM 4th Sunday group ride use Webbs as their end destination, ensuring PECAM members did not miss out on either the ride out or the opportunity to grab and bargain or try a Triumph.