Weekend debrief

[Andy M]

Well Chaps, something positive to report for a change.

Friday afternoon, I did a bit of DIY to keep the peace, but still managed to get 20 miles in on the MZ going to collect bits.

Saturday I fixed some rust on the Bonnevilles rear mudguard, almost sorted a scratch caused by the tank bag (still a Bl**dy good excuse for a Bagster bag) and saved a few quid by sleeving the rear light lens where the screw hole had cracked.

Sunday is turning into riding day. The dog gets up at 6.15 on the dot, so it's up, on the road for 7.00, 60 miles of traffic free Yorkshire and call in to McD's on the way home to buy breakfast hockey puck thingys and earn more brownie points. Having cooked up the full works at lunch time, it was a case of sitting down with a pint or three of Timothy Taylors to watch England beat the French (not a classic match, but better than loosing).

All in all a pretty good couple of days.

Andy

[guest40]

My weekend was ok except for working Saturday and the MuZ starting to pop fuses everytime I hit the turn indicators. I'll chase it down thru the week, it looks like the Yammies going to get another week of a hiding. The weather was brilliant and I started off Sunday escorting an elderly lady riding a Today 50 scoot at 40-45 kph from Perth to Cottesloe,usually a 10-15 minute ride. It took about 1hour. We waited at Cotts until the rest of the club ride turned up, They went via the moon on the larger machines. After enjoying the serenity and a free art show on the sandy beach, I headed off to pick up #3 son and take him to #2 daughters place for a BBQ. Another ride home(30klm ) and a bit of quiet to wonder where the short circuit is.

[Steffan]

see previous post on runout

Steffan

[squirrelciv]

Not so good over here I'm afraid :-( and all pretty much self inflicted.

After getting a nasty shock when Dolly decided she didn't want to lean as far as I wanted her too and slipped across two lanes I thought it about time to replace the rear and check the pressure in the front. I knew the rear was bald, but was a little shocked to find only 16PSI in the front :-0
Saturday AM forced to buy a trolly jack to pick the back end up as I couldn't get two neighbours to lift Dolly onto the mini tressle . (grumble grumble) Fought for 1/2 hour to break the tyre off the rim and proceeded to remove old and re-fit new. Bugger! Pinched the inner tube! (grumble grumble) 1/2" split=useless so it's a mile walk (wifey off with the car) to buy a new one. Pump some air into the new tube to give it some shape and proceed to fit it, but I've got too much air in it so I remove the valve. Struggle to get everything on and go to pump up only to find it wont hold air! (grumble grumble) I assume I've pinched it again so as soon as I've stopped swearing at the bloody thing, I remove the inner tube to inspect it only to find the reason it wont hold air is cos I haven't replaced the valve! (grumble grumble) Loads and loads of swearing, 10 deep breaths, and put everything back together again. Job done, out with the pump and.......... I've pinched the inner tube again!!!!! The air is purple and my neighbours are coming out into the street to see what all the noise is about, only to see me shouting at a wheel and threatening it with a tyre lever while it lies on the floor in complete defiance. Wife is home by now, so I'm off to another bike shop to get another innertube (can't face going to thew first shop and admitting I popped it) Finally at 3pm, I finished the job that I started at 10am.
But my biking misery wasn't over. Due to the stress of fitting the tyre, I retreated to the sanctuary of the pub and watched the rugby. This meant I was left with fitting the new chain on Sunday. Couldn't be as bad as Saturday I thought, but I was wrong. I ordered a 'split link' chain, but after removing the old one (and buggering the spring clip) I discover its a 'soft link' version instead. I don't have the tool and I have to get things back together for Monday, so I struggle on! Basically, I've two 'G' clamps holding a spanner across the back of the link, then some 1mm spacers jammed along the 'O' rings so I don't clamp things too tight. Next I use the mole grips to hold the face plate in place. It springs off and I spend 1/2 an hour on all fours searching for it, swearing lots (mostly about bloody bikes, why's my life so shitty etc etc) Once found, I clamp it in place and attack the soft link with a ball point hammer untill I've neatly riveted the link in place.
That was a weekend I can't forget too soon I can tell you! The only light was the Good (for England) rugby result :-) Lifes not so bad.

[Martin Churchill]

Well, I had a thumping good weekend, although not actually on my Thumper (the 612cc Bullet needs new rear wheel bearings which i've bought but not yet fitted).

Saturday, I took the Ducati Monster 900 (a sort of "double-thumper") for a 150-mile thrash around the Peak District, including the Cat & Fiddle pass and the Snake Pass - great fun, with almost no tupperware torpedoes to be seen.  On the way back I was passed by a handful of would-be organ donors who were evidently using the A6 near Matlock to practice trackday riding techniques.

On Sunday, I took the blonde goddess Anna as pillion for 120 miles on the Moto Guzzi (another sort of double-thumper) to visit Wroxeter Roman City and back.  Was passed - way too closely for sanity - in the centre of Burton on Trent by another nutcase  with a deathwish who was riding at racing speeds on the road.  Hmmm, i realise this makes me sound like a grumpy old slowcoach, however only 2 x other bikes overtoook me during the entire 270 miles, so I don't think I'm THAT slow!

Do these nutter sportsbike riders come out of their winter hibernation with a burning desire to prove something?

[beeman]

Managed a 150 mile run around North Lincs taking in Willingham woods plenty of plastic rockets to be seen, over taken by several at race speed in 50mph limits (with speed cameras in attendance). Only to find them at the next set of trafic lights and pass them as they are still in car mode and que with all the traffic instead of filtering. Booootiful warm and DRY roads for a change. Makes a change from the dragon weekend or wet rides to work every day.

[guest18]

Can't remember. Too busy!! Highlights included finally getting the truck running properly and going for a look at one for transalp John, he should get it in a month or so and it's looking really nice
Dived Sunday, we had to pass on the planned wreck due to the neverending gales :-/ but had a couple of quite nice dives in the vicinity of the Isle of May.
Back to work and my unusual bout of self control in not buying another bike just crumbled when I got the chance of a cheap semi closed circuit rebreather... if I cease posting suddenly it means swmbo has found out and I'm lying in a shallow grave somewhere
Still, diving in Oban 24/25th so everyone pray for calm weather for us so we can show the novice divers a cracking weekends diving... I hope!