By 
Firstly, the scene was set for this gig on the beach at Bridlington in the UK and during the 2025 Race the Waves event. I met Joe Hall for the first time and we chatted in between our races. Joe, his brother and father had decided to embrace their motorcycling passions by adding another new business to their already successful portfolio. This is where Hall Bros’ Motorcycles (HBMC) emerged as a new brand and business start-up for this family team. They started by using one of their big sheds that was on-site and converted it into a place for their own motorcycle collection, some retail space, as well as a meeting place for bikers. Plans for a cafe, events and retail space was also on the near horizon, so the summer of 2025 saw them opening at weekends and on Thursday evenings. A great UK summer meant that there was a good turn out on the open days of bike fans, bikers on their own special bikes, as well as HBMC’s own collection. These very inclusive Thursday evenings and weekends went down a hoot! Running more than one business means that the day job becomes the 24/7 job, and the HBMC’s team stepped up with the energy, creativity and tenacity to deliver their plan. New customers kept returning, so there was obviously a need in the area for this type of business location.
The UK has seen a trend over the last 3 years of motorcycle dealership closures due to a challenging economic backdrop, high operating costs, rising interest rates, falling consumer confidence, and overstocking issues. However, whilst UK motorcycle sales have declined a bit in the last 12 months, motorcyclists in the UK still own an average of 2 motorcycles each, and some have more motorcycles than they have teeth in their mouth! This is where the HBMC team have identified that there is a growing need for biker-related destinations, particularly in their area. Bikers need somewhere to ride to, and that means it needs to have a few ingredients like a cafe, maybe some bike related retail stuff to buy, and something to look at other than what’s parked in the car park. As the average age of a UK biker is 54, this means that a lot of the community are very likely retired, not working, and want somewhere to ride to during the week. This all means HBMC have a real audience and opportunity, which they’ve obviously identified. For me, the location of HBMC is special as it’s based on the old Carnaby Airfield that used to be a race track, and the location of my very first introduction to motorcycle racing as a kid. I wrote a post about this special location and historic airfield, so see link at the end.
Back to the beach conversation with Joe. He mentioned that he wanted to run some events, talks etc during the darker, wetter, snowy months. I said I’d happily turn up with my two Cannondales and other related stuff and busk my way through the story of the bikes. He thought it would be good and said ‘he’d get back to me’, which he did a couple of months later. I was to be the second gig, as the first, and the ice breaker, was Graham Sykes with his steam rocket powered drag bike. Tickets were sold out and his presentation went down really well. Whilst he obviously couldn’t start the bike up, we were all allowed to have a sit on it, or rather in it, after his talk. So, the first HBMC gig went down really well.
A month after the Graham Sykes’ gig, and on Saturday 22nd November, it was my turn. As the majority of the audience would not be MX/dirt bike riders or fans, I focussed on the broader Cannondale story from bicycles to motorcycles/ATVs, as well as a deeper dive into the story of my two bikes, and of course, my life with them. Tickets sold well and we made sure that all of the ticket income would go to the charity of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The scene was set.
I took both of my bikes as well as the 1996 down hill bicycle, and my spare engine, and with everything set up, it all looked really good. The audience was a good mix of people who all had one thing in common, they were interested in all things two wheels. Their passion and inquisitiveness was clear throughout the presentation, and we had a collectively engaging time. I’d promised to fire up one of the bikes, and I’d chosen the MX400 as the X440s was displayed on a stand for the evening. This meant that for the 4 days leading up to the presentation, I pulled the bike out of the shed and fired it up. It started immediately every time, so that gave me confidence of it starting on the night. The bikes are reliable if regularly used, but if laid up for a couple of months, they can be difficult, as I well know! Anyway, as my presentation concluded, I pushed the MX400 outside and started it up for everyone to hear. All good! Phew!
After listening to the MX400, it was pushed back in for everyone to sit on and we all slipped into a social session. People looking at the bikes, the engine and just generally chatting and having fun. The feedback suggested that it had been a great evening and I’d had fun doing it and sharing the Cannondale moto brand story. I had mentioned in my presentation about the problem of ethanol in fuel and how it really does cause problems with both bikes when they’re not being used. Even though I drain them of fuel, use additives to counteract ethanol, it can still clog up injectors etc. Imagine how pleased I was when Joe presented me with a container of high octane petrol with no ethanol in it. HBMC sell this fuel, so check out their link below. I’ve now used this petrol to run the bike after I’ve removed the ethanol based fuel so it flushes everything out completely, and whilst it is more expensive than pump fuel, but not as expensive as race fuel, I might just run the bikes on this instead.
The next presentation evening at HBMC’s will be in the early, New Year, and it will be delivered by a local historian on the history of the Carnaby airfield and site. Can’t wait!
My Carnaby Airfield link: https://diaryofamotorcyclingnobody.com/carnaby-industrial-estate-racetrack-special-airfield/
Hall Bros MC’s link: https://www.hbmoto.co.uk
Hall Bros’ link: https://www.hbfuels.co.uk
Many thanks to those that took/provided the photos for me in this post.
By 
