Weekend debrief

[guest7]

Well, there was actually a high amount of bike-related activity for me this weekend.

Yesterday the family and I drove up to Lampeter to visit forum stalwart Steffan. I dropped off a crank and head that he needed from Jethro and I also took the opportunity to offer up a set of crankcases to his engine-less Enfield chassis. The result of some basic suck-it-and-see activity was that I decided that an XBR engine would be a good fit in the frame. 

Why did I do this? Simply because the thought had occured to me and I wasn't going to be happy until I established if it was viable. The motor will go in (with revised engine plates, etc.), the sprockets can be made to line up and, most importantly, the gearbox sprocket isn't too far forward.

This line of thought was prompted by Simon's Enfield dilemma (would an Enfield be a suitable bike for his winter rallies?) and our visit to the diesel bike rally where all sorts of engines could be seen shoehorned into Enfields.

Thank you to Steffan for making us so welcome and for allowing my inept hands near his bike.

This morning I set off on another drive and a bike-related task. I drove the van over to Yate (near Bristol) to deliver the shorty sidecar outfit to its new owner. It's the chassis I built for the Tauerntreffen and it's been in my way ever since. I forgot to take his house number, but luckily I remembered the street name. I was worried about which house it would be, but as I turned into the road I saw an open garage full of lathes, drills, etc. and a CG and Superdream on the drive. No mystery there then 

I got my money, including diesel costs and Severn bridge toll, and he chucked in a small modeller's lathe and told me to sell it to get some more dosh!

I was back in Cardiff by 10.00 this morning and since then I've been looking after my kids. A chicken is roasting the oven as we speak and wifey is due home from work soon (those massage parlours do open at funny hours).

Even better than all that, I will be going out to the pub tonight for the first time in two weeks.

GC

[robG]

Had a fine weekend .

Friday evening , myself and the Memsahib loaded up the Bonnie and made our way to Somerset for the weekend .M5 was actually OK and progress was good . Stopped at Gordano services as Memsahibs hat was playing up . Had a nice chat with a lad from the Rhondda on his way to Yeovil for a rally on his Harley . Resumed and had a lovely ride along the A39,late evening sun and all that . Bonnie still a bit fluffy , but on the whole ran very well .
 
Saturday saw a late start , fueled by a cracking breakfast .Explored Exmoor , including Porlock Hill and trundled around the Doone Valley and Brendon Hills . Found some hideous hairpin bends on the road from Brendon to Oareford . Also located a couple of charming pubs ,including one with a micro brewery attached. Stunning cream tea at Lorna Doone campsite cafe ,far too much cream and jam , but it was a matter of honour to clear the respective bowls .Incidently they will hire out a field to a group . Made our way back along mainly B roads. Stopped off at Porlock and had a chat with the owner of the Exmoor Classic collection situated in the village . First look over a Moto Guzzi V7 Cafe .Very nice all round motorcycle .Good place to stop off , some nice bikes and cars , only small , but a good way to lose an hour . Cracking hamper collection as well !

Came back today , stuck with the A39 / A370 into Weston , before getting involved with the M5 . Very nice ride back with the Bonnie running well .Stopped in Burnham On Sea for coffee and sausage sandwich. Lots of old boys telling me about their Triumphs they had in the past 

This was the first time in ages that we had the opportunity to bumble about like this and the general consensus is that it won't be the last .Both myself and the Memsahib thoroughly enjoyed it .Not that many ,miles 'bout 300ish I guess .However very relaxing ...

Rob 

[bullet350]

 i set off yesterday morning at 5am (apparently there are two five o'clocks) for dover and a lovely holiday on my cbr thrapping around germany and poland.

 the weather had other ideas. saturday was spent dodging the rain and getting wet twice. the local weather reports predicted rain in almost all of mainland europe for the next five days. bugger!

 added to this was the cost, £1.25 for unleaded. £2 for a loaf and £2 for a tin of soup i cooked myself! £50 for a B&B!

 right-o then; its going to rain wherever i go and its going to cost me a lot. this isn't a holiday!
 this morning i ate as much breakfast as i could (£50 a night remember) and pointed the bike towards home and gunned it- straight into several different types of rain.
 i'm home now and shattered.

so this weekend was:

  450 motorway miles to frankfurt.
  expensive night in a basic B&B, with no dinner
  450 motorway miles to home.

bullet350

[KirriePete]

Guinevere the Suzuki GN400 - lovely engine, typical Suzuki electrics.  That's all I'll say on the matter as I'm still trying to get 28 years worth of insulting (not a typo!) tape residue off my fingers.

Oh yeah, popped a Dunlop TT100 on the front of the GN in place of the bloody awful Cheng Shin.

And lapped in the new exhaust valve for Arfur the XBR, so now the head's back on - waiting for the cam to come back from reprofiling before I can go any further.

That about covers it.....

[themoudie]

Plenty motorcycle related activity. Good weather and quite chilled, now raining!

Saturday into Perth to pick up bits for Sally on the MZ'thing'. Blether in at the dealers, then got showered on. Mr and Mrs Smudge turned up, slurpped tea, had a conducted tour and blether. Jim of the 188K mile BMW R80 fame turned up, more blethering. The posh black Traveller disappeared westward and I trust continued the outing in good form. Jim past around some shots of a Matchy G3 he's located and may be acquiring, afore thudding into Perth. Stripped out Sally's forks and cleaned everything off. New seals, and those poxy retaining clips required, all else A OK minimal expense there.

Sunday, went for a hurl on the MZ'thing' and the Boy Bros. Perth, Cupar Angus, Forfar, Arbroath. Fish and chips at the inner harbour, tasty, gave a glassy eyed sh1te hawk the evil as it sidled up to nick a chip! Four wifey's blethering next to us about all matters gynacological and lactating! After two of them cooeed off, one of the others asked if we had 'learnt anything'!  Just smiled and replied that we already had the 'Tshirt'! They departed muttering! . Left Arbroath via Condor and had an agricultural sprayer wipe out a roe deer in front of me, luckily it was killed outright and fell back onto the verge rather than across my path! Caught up with Kat, then back into Forfar and out to Kirrie and past where I think Pete lives, no sign of bikes and being a glorious sunny Sunday didn't poke my nose about. No offence Pete. On through Airlie, Alyth, Blair, then the beech hedge road through to Spittalfield, Caputh, Murthly, Stanley, Luncarty, Pitcairngreen and the back road to our place. Consequence of the MZ being held in  favour. The gearing is sh1te for backroads! It's just hard work and the buzz up through the seat meant I got off with a fizzy crotch! On A roads or better at 55mph+ it thunders on fine and the handling is really good with plenty of grunt for overtaking, BUT or should that be BUTT, it's hard work compared with Sally or a Duke.

Being Father's Day, a 'secret' barbie had been arranged! Tasty! Steak, burgers, sausages, salad, tatties, jalepino chutney etc was very tasty. Then my 'Weeun' produced a home made Victoria sandwich filled with fresh whole strawberries and cream with more cream and strawberries to 'top up' with! Fat bloater! Now corpulant and sleepy.

My regards to you all, Bill.

[guest7]

  450 motorway miles to frankfurt.
  expensive night in a basic B&B, with no dinner
  450 motorway miles to home.

Sorry to hear about that, it sounds like no holiday at all.

What's plan B? A week of mooching around the house with the curtains shut so your neighbours don't know you're back? 

GC

[niblue]

Decent weekend here as well, with a bit of it bike related too.

Had to get up early on Saturday morning to take the motorhome to get MOT'd, then later I headed out to get some more miles on the CBF as it has its first service booked on Friday and needs to be at 500-600 miles by then. Weather was mixed but had an enjoyable 180 miles or so on A & B roads to the south-west of Edinburgh. It's up to just under 500 miles now so commuting for the rest of the week and then the 15 miles or so to the dealer should sort it out.

On Sunday I took my son to the Museum of Flight, which we both enjoyed.

[KirriePete]

...... Arbroath. Fish and chips at the inner harbour, tasty

Harbour Fish Bar, aka Peppo's?  If so, good taste my man, if not, try 'em next time.

.... out to Kirrie and past where I think Pete lives, no sign of bikes and being a glorious sunny Sunday didn't poke my nose about. No offence Pete.......

None taken.  Lemme think - Sunday was mostly rewiring Guinevere, then went for a 'test ride' - had to make sure the new Dunlop on the front was on straight, didn't I?  Just a quick mile or two (Kirrie-Blairgowrie-Coupar Angus-Glamis-Kirrie) - that would have been about 2-ish.  Then it was dog walking and collapsing in front of the idiot box with a Pinot Grigio after 2 days spent outside in the sun bending over a GN400 with a test meter and a soldering iron.  Watching Clarkson shovelling coal really cheered me up - kept hoping for the big cardio-vascular incident, but 'twas not to be - won't even mention the Hamster trying to kick over a Black Shadow, much merriment!

Roll on next weekend and more parts to throw at Arfur!

[guest7]

I notice nobody has mentioned that little race at Silverstone yet 

GC

[KirriePete]

I notice nobody has mentioned that little race at Silverstone yet 

GC

What race?  I only saw CCTV coverage of the M25 on a Sunday afternoon.  Bit of a prang at South Mimms, someone lost their front bumper, but that was about all.

Seriously, taped it to watch once I'd given up on Guinevere's electrics, used the f/fwd to zap past the dull bits and ended up watching the whole thing in under 10 minutes.

Open letter to Bernie, Max et al:

Watch last week's Catalunya MotoGP and learn!

Vettel, well done sunshine, now let's see if we can get some wheel banging between you and Button.

[Andy M]

Saturday was a dead loss, Karens sister moving house again. The only good news was that despite the new house design (min land area = modern take on Victorian/Georgian large terrace), everything fitted. Getting a bed up four flights of stairs and two sofas up two wasn't something to look forwards to, but the builders had had the tape measure out and everything fitted (with mm's to spare).

Sunday I was up at the crack of dawn, got the new gearbox sprocket on the Bonneville (geared down 6%) plus the Starcom unit and got off to Squires at Sherburn with the old boy (good excuse Fathers day!). The coffee shop was full at 9.00 am! It also took us almost half an hour to get away due to the numbers of people wanting to photograph Gooner in the chair with his Doggles on. Same again at the drive through for breakfast. Daft hound takes it all in like he's a *****y film star! Still, great ride. After that we popped in to see Karen's dad and then took the dog to the pub. Three pints in the sun while chucking his ball and talking ******ks with the missus then home for chicken dinner with veg out of the garden and a bottle of chardonay. A rather good day.

Gearing down the outfit even only by 6% BTW makes a positive difference on performance. I can now cruise happily at 70 mph, there is a lot less clutch slip starting and top speed is (theoretically of course) out of the "going a bit fast were we Sir" zone and into the "They ban you for that" zone. I'm guessing range/economy will be hopeless if I use the performance, so a case of trying to control the nut on the throttle. Still, good to have less stress on the clutch and the ability to get out of any trouble I get into.

The Starcom unit I'm less impressed with. It's better made than Autocom and it works, but the claims of "works straight out of the box" are incorrect. I'll reserve judgement on the performance until I've tried adjusting the VOX levels and so on. I guess I'm going to have to set it up right as I've already binned the ****** scotchlock ***** and cut off the ****y glass fuses they supplied (will that get me moved into rants?). 

Andy

[Steffan]

Spog watch on Saturday, so took youngest down town for breakfast, got back in time for the arrival of the Carricks, a pleasure to meet GC's better half and the kids. Let's face it we all knew he had to have one somewhere - a better half I mean  Thanks for bringing up the parts #1 - forgot to give you the alloy barrel to take back to the Dr.

After a cuppa and a chinwag it was down the shed with the aforementioned XBR bits; after my tragic failure to locate a tape measure, it was time to say goodbye. The rest of the day consisted of loafing with youngest.

Sunday was the usual drill with a  couple of hours spent fiddling with the enfield's clutch and BBQ in the afternoon with Keith et al followed by beer with Mr M at the local.

Minimal riding but a good weekend nonetheless

Steffan

[guest18]

Good weekend 
Saturday we had a lie in then a lazy breakfast before we went for a bimble on the shiny traveller, Mrs Smudge's first proper trip on it and the first time in ages we've found time to go for a run just "because", good to see Bill and Kat again and catch up on the projects etc (and blag a cuppa  the kettle's always ready if you chaps happen by..)
Bit of a sprint back so swmbo could rush off to visit a Guide camp and I had a mild tidy of the garage washed the bike and prepped stuff for Sundays diving. Only about 100 miles but nice roads and although the showers were fierce we both stayed dry 
Sunday I had a gentle start to the day then went to Elie for the Cupar Sub Aqua Club 30th Birthday dive and photo session, much hilarity and silliness and a generally sociable time, even if the mildly overcautious dive manager insists on putting me with experienced buddies because ho doesn't understand my rebreather 
Now sitting in the back garden finishing a lager typing this on wifi while the cat snoozes by my elbow (he likes company). Life is pretty good 
Mind you... if I don't get a move on and cook dinner now it may deteriorate!  lol

[bullet350]

"What's plan B? A week of mooching around the house with the curtains shut so your neighbours don't know you're back? 

GC"



Plan B is already in action, heading for Scotland tomorrow. its one of those places that southerers like me always want to visit but rarely end up going. After seeing recent photos here of a thumper riders weekend route i decided scotland was to be my next holiday. Should be cheaper than Europe, although the language barrier remains

bullet350

[guest18]

Plan B is already in action, heading for Scotland tomorrow. its one of those places that southerers like me always want to visit but rarely end up going. After seeing recent photos here of a thumper riders weekend route i decided scotland was to be my next holiday. Should be cheaper than Europe, although the language barrier remains

bullet350

Hmmm can't help with the language barrier (excepting translation services ) but at least the exchange rate is easy to calculate 
Showery here of late but we're getting breaks of sunshine and there are a lot of storming roads to ride. Hope you have a good run