weekend debrief

[guest7]

Not much on the biking front, which is just as well as the outfit is close to being a career-worst in terms of bike condition whilst still being ridden.

The footrest hanger lugs are cracking so the silencer sways alarmingly, the silencer no longer clamps the downpipes tightly so it's rattling, the battery is dying, the motor is down on power and there's an ominious cracking jolt going through the sidecar clamps.

added to which I tore some of the mudguard off reversing out of the garage.

I worked on Saturday morning, removing 100 year old panelled doors and replacing them with £10 B&Q(spit > items. Not a job that pleases a workman. The only good thing was that on Friday evening I had spent a couple of hours honing my chisels and planes and they performed superbly on the job.

The rest of the weekend was spent with the kids (three parties in total).

Rob G wandered around on Sunday afternoon and we pulled out an XBR piston and gudgeon pin to compare to his knackered GB400 pin. We were surprised to find that although the diameter is the same, the 400 pin is much longer. We had been hoping to find that they were the same or that the XBR pin was longer and could be shortened... no such luck 

I fired off an email to 'XRs Only' to see if they have a pin to suit, because Honda has less than obligingly discontinued the GB400 pin.

Work on the new sidecar box has stopped because I'm time-poor, but I hope to have an update on that project later this week. I also need to get my 650 motor over to Jethro for an examination and top end rebuild.

Anyway, what did you get up to?
GC

[themoudie]

Aye GC,

I hope you rescued the doors and have given them a good home afore fleabaying in the Spring

My regards, Bill.

[guest7]

I wanted them, but space is tight and also, Cardiff being almost entirely constructed in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, those type of doors are very common here. In fact it's odds on that if you see a skip it will have beautiful panelled doors stuck up the sides of it.

A salvage yard near here has two warehouses full of doors!

But still, it's no excuse. The doors had been over-panelled with hardboard in the 60s or 70s and the owners felt that filling the little pin holes would take too long, despite me laughing in their face when they said that to me. Fucking numpties.

The neighbour told me it was heartbreaking when they saw all the downstairs doors in a skip one day (I was completing the ruination by replacing the remaining upstairs doors).

And to continue the rant, they were horrified when I said that I would be removing the door stops (the wooden strips that the door closes against). They honestly expected the new doors to be an exact match for the old ones and to close snug against the stops despite the fact that the frames and original doors had had 100 years of coexistence through subsidence, bomb jolts and weather extremes. I had to reposition every single stop, as expected.

All of this would be fine if they hadn't treated me like an idiot for wanting to keep the original doors and insisting on fitting the new shite properly.

Ho hum
GC

[andy230]

I feel your pain GC...!

I worked on the race motor... and thats it.  Saw Barry Johnson on Friday night, but the rest of the time was spent repeatedly stripping and building the motor.  'She' was at the mother's so I thought I'd use the relative harmony to get some work done!

a

[Mart]

Saturday went to the NEC. Saw some nice bikes. I could still be tempted by an MT03 but not when you can get an SR or SRX for a fraction of the price. Then there is insurance and servicing to add to the purchase price. Sunday removed the twist from the front forks. It must have happened when the passat parked on my front wheel. I still don't understand how the handle bars and front wheel can be misaligned without the forks actually being bent. Hopefully some enlightened soul will explain it to me in words of one sylable one day. I was amazed that I had not noticed this misalignment on the way from the accident to my house. Mart

[Steve Lake]

Well....following the sad loss of both my border collies this year.......now got a new little chap to fill the void......a lurcher pup by the name of Monty....so been busy making him feel at home, and inbetween times fixing the myriad little problems on the 'new' Volvo .... including making a dog gaurd for the back, S'os Monty can travel in comfort, without chewing the drivers ear.....he obviously thinks much the same about volvo's as do most bikers....on the first shakedown trip (2 miles to a bit of parkland) he vomited, poo'd and slashed in the back.....luckily i had taken precautions, like plastic sheeting etc.....god, i hope he grows out of this stage pretty bluddy soon!

[Andy M]

GC, think of the money and the next job! It might be the equivalent of putting LED under lights, sub-woofers and a "whale tail" wing on the back of a vintage Bentley one day, but the next one could be pulling the **** off and repainting in BRG with real leather as required 

Steve, glad the Volvo at least has some practical use. Gooner (Alsation-Collie cross) did the same on every trip over 2 miles for the first 7 months. I'm not sure if that's good news for you or not !

My own weekend was a case of running repairs after Llanthoney. I have the new toneau and some better clips, I fixed the paint damage and the coil now has a nice covering of grease. Now working on the heated visor.

Andy

[andy230]

Now working on the heated visor.

Andy

Hello Andy,

Am looking forward to a write up for the above in the club mag... And how is the heated jacket doing??  STill working?

Plus, I bought some crows foot wrenches on Ebay.  Dunno how good they'll be but there we go...

a

[guest27]

Weekend - family  nuff said.

Still have an imic now for the Mac - so have 300+ bits of vinyl to add to itunes.  No1 sons chrismas bow turned up - still think I should make him one.  12 longbow arrows arrived, missed a superdrive for the mac on ebay - went for 99p plus £2 postage or the like.

Theodores at Bridgend seems to always be on the look out for victorian panneled doors - as am I - have plenty of uses for them so GC - next time.....

Rised some money on fleabay for welding on the TZRotax - than spent it on christmas pressies for The Boss and family.

Have booked on a thratment programme for ME with a 80% success rate for next year - here is here is hoping.

R