My name is Edd and I`m from the UK. My brother
in law Trev and I go to Europe (France) twice
a year to visit WWI and WWII military sites,
as we both have a keen interest in the subject.
The first few visits were by car which enabled
us to move quickly from site to site but
limited us to where we could go on narrow
lanes and we always seemed to have to park
miles away from where we wanted to go. |
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We decided to buy a couple of mountain bikes
and take them with us to France. This gave
us a lot more freedom and so we decided to
leave our car at the ferry port and do the
rest of the journey by bike. We went to all
the Normandy landing beaches, Utah Gold,
Juno, and of course Omaha beach. The freedom
was great but after a 160 mile round trip
we found it very hard going.
Our story really starts I suppose in spring
2002 when I saw a bike fitted with a petrol
engine at a county show here in the UK. This
started me thinking that an engine fitted
to our bikes would still give us the freedom
we needed on our trips to Europe but would
not tire us out. |
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The original engine I saw at the fair relied
on a rubber drive wheel acting on the tire
for its transmission. The engine was neat
and compact but knowing the little French
lanes we had been on and the amount of mud
that had covered our bikes I could see there
being problems. I started to search the internet
for similar products, some were 50cc engines
with chain drive it would be easier just
to by a small motorbike I looked at others
all of which seemed to be made in the US
none in the UK.
Time was passing and we had plans to visit
France & Belgium in September 2002 and
were about to give up on the idea of motorizing
our bikes when I found the web site for Golden
Eagle Bike Engines. The idea of a belt transmission
appealed to me straight away as I am an engineer
by trade and deal with belt driven electric
motors daily. To be honest for us in the
UK it was a quite expensive option taking
into account the initial cost of the engine,
postage and our UK import charges, also we
had only seem photographs on the web site
but would be putting a lot of trust in Golden
Eagle that the engine was as good as they
claimed. |
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| We took the gamble and bought 2 engines in
August and having fitted them and road tested
them we were ready for our trip to Europe.
We both live in Staffordshire in the north
of the UK and are about 210 miles from Dover
which is where we were going to catch our
ferry to Europe. |
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The first leg was done in a small commercial
van, this was allowed us to carry the 2 bikes
complete with the rest of our gear and it
was also to give us some where to sleep if
needed.
We set of for Dover and after about 4 hours
driving we were boarding the ferry to Dunkerque
in the north of France close to the Belgium
border. At 7pm we arrived in Dunkerque and
headed south past Calais to a little coastal
town called Hardelot–Plage. We parked just
of the beach and ate our French bread and
cheeses that we managed to buy on our journey.
The meal was washed down with of course French
wine before we called it a day and got some
sleep, ready for our early start next morning. |
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| At dawn next day we set off inland, parked
the van and took out the bikes. It was great
after being in the van to be out in the French
country side with the little engines buzzing,
riding on the picturesque country lanes.
We kept the engine revs down a little and
pedaled at about 18 mph a lot quicker than
normal but slow enough to let us look around
and enjoy the hilly area of Mon St Frieux. |
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Quite a few heads turned as we buzzed up
and down the little lanes searching for the
WWII fortifications in the area. As we approached
towns we switched off our engines and released
the belt tension so that we could pedal to
the little shops for more provisions.
We traveled northwards op the coast towards
Calais reaching the coastal defenses near
to Boulogne, Wimereux, Cap Griz Nez and Cap
Blanc Nez. As the majority of these sites
were on a busy main highway we decided to
cover this area in the van. |
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The next place we visited was an underground
site at MimoyecquesIt was very eerie as we
walked down the tunnels where Germany's “Super
Gun” was developed
Knowing that when it was bombed using the
massive Tall Boy bombs thousands of prisoners
used as forced labor , had been buried beneath
our feet. It was a similar feeling when last
year we had stood with our bikes on Omaha
Beach (if you’ve seen the film” Saving Private
Ryan” its that beach) and thought of all
the brave American Lads who were so cruelly
killed on this beach it really can bring
a tear to your eye. |
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On the cliff top is the Omaha Beach Cemetery
this really does require an American word
to describe the feeling as you seen all the
white headstones that represented Americas
youth “Awesome”.
By now nightfall was upon us and we still
had nearly 60 miles to the town of Ypres
in Belgium and so it was into the van and
foot down to Ypres, park up and find a nice
bar. |
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As we crossed the French Belgium border the
maps and sign posts changed with the language.
Ypres, now became Lepres very confusing.
We parked up in Lepres as the last rays of
sunlight faded and walked to the Menin Gate
Memorial. The beautiful white stone arched
gateway to the town, flood lit to illuminate
the inscriptions of the 370,000 men who gave
their lives in the fierce fighting here in
WWI.
Our next mission was to find a nice quiet,
relaxing bar and chill out. The bar had outside
lighting and a patio area where we sat until
1am sampling the Belgium beers. |
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| A little After dawn next morning thanks to
the effects of the beers, we drove a couple
of miles outside Lepres to the east parked
up and change to bikes. We kicked in our
little engines and set off for a WWI memorial
site called Hill 60 and Caterpillar Crater.
Hill 60 as the name suggests was a small
but strategic position that many soldiers
died trying to take and hold. Caterpillar
Crater is the large crater left after the
Australians had tunneled under the German
position on Hill 60 filled the tunnels with
explosives and detonated the lot killing
a lot of the enemy who remain buried there
to this day. |
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| "Buzzzzzzzz" and off again down
the country lanes to a crossing over a single
rail track (Larchwood Railway Crossing).
A fierce battle had taken place here and
many Canadian soldiers were buried in the
small cemetery at the side of the track.
Railway workers recently digging here had
unearthed an unexploded shell and this lay
at the side of the track ready for collection,
still a common event at WWI sites. |
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| We paid our respects in the small military
cemetery before moving on to the next site
Hill 62 and Sanctuary Wood as the name suggests
Sanctuary Wood was an area of woodland between
trenches where the WWI soldiers got a brief
break while they regrouped. |
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| We covered many more miles on our bikes before
heading north to a small area near Dodengang,
in Belgium the Belgium and German trenches
were only a few hundred feet apart here and
the killing went on for many years hence
it earned the gruesome name of Boyou de la
Mort “The Trench of Death”. |
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| This was to be our last site, time had run
out and we had a ferry to catch. The engines
turned out to be a great buy an investment
even as they performed so well that we have
started to organize our next trip in March
2003. |
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The little 25cc engines had enough power
to make pedaling easier but not so much that
it took the fun out of cycling, we never
did run them flat out to see what they could
do.
The lads at Golden Eagle were great they
offered help and advice all along and any
enquiries were sorted out fast. |
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| To sum up honestly I suppose our mini trip
to Europe was at first a bit of a “what if
vacation”. What if the belt breaks, what
if the polymer wheel isn`t up to the job,
what if the engines have no guts... |
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VERDICT??
We are already planning our next vacation! |
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