tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70620431000399510632024-03-05T04:11:46.200+00:00All The Motor Vehicles I Have Ever OwnedThis blog will catalogue my motoring history, for no better reason than motorcycling was the reason I do what I do.Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-9759915122005350872019-02-15T13:36:00.001+00:002019-02-15T16:42:16.857+00:00Big Vern Goes to Shetland 3: Liverpool, rain and pie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Day two:<br />
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We had a stroll around Chester, which was very pleasant and has ancient shops on galleries with two levels and Roman Walls and amphitheatres and stuff...<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Potatoes and added ruins</td></tr>
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...and had nutrition free breakfasts and returned to collect the bikes from the NCP. </div>
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The Bonneville had been a little incontinent in the oil department, though nothing excessive, while the Kawasaki had managed to burn its way through a quantity of semi-synthetic, so I donated a half a litre of Castrol GP I’d picked up at an autojumble, and we set off and immediately got lost. </div>
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We had intended to grit our teeth and belt up the M6 to Preston, but a check of the map suggested an alternative. Why not go through the Mersey tunnel and skirt the coast, head up to Southport and rejoin the A6 further north? The first part of this brilliant plan went well. When we got out of the tunnel at the other side we found ourselves being directed by friendly waving policemen, who had obviously been told of our arrival, and ended up at Liverpool docks, having been mistaken for being sports bike fans on the way to the Isle of Man TT. </div>
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Extricating ourselves from the city through Liverpool’s old docklands was interesting – I have a thing for derelict industrial wastelands, and this was just that. </div>
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Onwards we rode through Mersey's fat suburbs and it suddenly all went to heck. </div>
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For some reason, that part of the country is infested with aggressive and stupid Audi drivers, possibly overpaid football stars or something, all of whom seemed to be intent on running one off the road at every opportunity. </div>
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It also seems to have a set of traffic lights every three hundred yards, all of them at red. All of which was a bit of a bind for a Triumph Bonneville with a stiff clutch and a Kawasaki that belched black smoke at every acceleration point. </div>
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The dreadfully dull Crosby and Formby, their gyms, tanning parlours and takeaways passed by in a tiresome, unattractive and clunky hack, and a trip to the beach where Antony Gormley’s cast iron sculptures gaze out to sea had to be aborted because there was a 30 car one-hour queue to get into the car park, and a ridiculous National Trust parking charge too. So we headed for Southport. I’d been to Southport as a very small child and had fond memories of it, and my Dad had told me magical tales of being evacuated there during WW2 so this looked promising. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stalag Luft Pontins</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">First of</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span>all, <span style="text-align: left;">we took a wrong turning and ended up on a bleak beach, girded by a Pontins holiday camp that had barbed wire on the walls. Whether to keep people out or keep them in was</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span>moot<span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">point. There was a derelict hotel too, which looked as if it was something from League of Gentlemen, and this added to its charm.</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>
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After we blatted up and down the esplanade for a bit and passed a nightmarish Fun Park made to look like an Arab fort which looked as if it had been attacked by a drone strike we made it into Southport for lunch, at our second Wetherspoons.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southport. How lovely</td></tr>
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Southport, we felt, was doing its best, but had some truly ugly features. A couple of psychotic motorists in Range Rovers attempted to kill us by driving stupidly – surely not everyone round there plays for Everton or Liverpool? Or is a coke dealer? </div>
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Anticipating a clearer run from there on we headed on, and found Preston to be almost as ghastly as Crosby, but we chugged our way through it and made Lancaster just in time for another gridlocked rush hour. We fought our way through, stopping afterwards at an actual proper truckstop near Carnforth, and took a look at the map. </div>
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Our destination in Westmorland wasn’t that far away, and we decided that having endured a series of horrid runs, we’d try and have some fun, so decided to go into the Lake District, head over the Kirkstone Pass, down past Ullswater and on to our destination on the other side of Penrith. There was a light drizzle as we left the truckstop, but we felt this was sure to change, and sure enough it did, becoming a torrential downpour as we made it into Windermere and we began to climb the Kirkstone Pass. The rain got even heavier until we found cloudbase and not only could we now not see where we were going, but were still soaked, while passing signs indicating that half the accidents on the Pass involved motorcycles. </div>
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We kept climbing with about 15 yards of vision before getting caught behind a lorry carrying flammable gas. So far, so Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The lorry chugged along at 20, stopping occasionally for hairpins and eventually pulled over. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the Kirkstone Pass. Pretty, isn't it? That's not what it looked like in May</td></tr>
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To be honest the road was so treacherous I hadn’t minded going so slowly, and the subsequent steep drop over the pass to Ullswater put a strain on the Bonneville’s single disc. I’d gone onto reserve as we made it down to lake level but reckoned that with just 10 miles to go to Penrith, all would be well. It wasn’t and I rolled silently to a halt in the middle of nowhere. </div>
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We checked phones and miraculously we found that not only was there a signal, but there was a filling station not half a mile distant. Even more serendipitously there was a discarded plastic cyclists water bottle by the roadside. All we had to do, drenched and tired as we were, was get half a pint of fuel from the Kawasaki’s tank and pour it into the Bonnie. Removing the filler cap it became clear however that there was some fuel in the Bonneville’s tank. So I laid it over to the right and some sloshed over to the working tap, just enough to get me coughing and spluttering to the filling station. We wrung what rainwater we could out of our gloves. The black dye on Sean's brand new and very expensive summer weight gloves had sent his hands completely black and despite copious scrubbing remained like that for days. My own sopping wet Richa wax cotton jacket had failed in its task of keeping the rain out, but I'd been too damp to extricate my nylon overjacket from its hiding place. And thus, squelching slightly, we began the final ride on to the Shepherds Inn, Langwathby. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visit this pub</td></tr>
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We arrived 20 minutes late for dinner, dripping dirty water on the carpet and looking dishevelled. The landlord, the kind of grumpy looking chap who you only find running rural pubs, took pity upon us and rustled up one of the finest shepherds pies I’ve ever eaten. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">great joy it was in this evening to be alive</td></tr>
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In return, we partook of many of his ales and had a long conversation with a local whose tales of mysterious barns full of classic motorcycles in the area were very probably too good to be true…</div>
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olliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12128548313729109177noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-87093531229855261112019-01-25T17:16:00.001+00:002019-01-25T17:16:39.480+00:00Big Vern Goes to Shetland 2: Chester Draws us in<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Without anywhere near enough planning, one Tuesday lunchtime we headed off. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready for the off</td></tr>
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The auspices were not great. Despite our intention to only use A-roads, the only way north was across the Severn Bridge to Chepstow, and that meant the first 30 miles would be either a horrid ride through the chemical flecked wastelands of Avonmouth, or up the M5 and along the M4. <br />Not having ridden the Bonnie along a motorway yet and having a pathological hatred of riding motorcycles along them anyway, I didn’t enjoy it. We stopped briefly at the first services to make sure all our luggage was staying put, then progressed at a steady 65-70 up the M5, onto the M4, stopped at Aust, rode over the decidedly pockmarked old Severn Bridge, with a considerable crosswind and the threat of a shower, and passed Chepstow into the Wye Valley.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tintern</td></tr>
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This experience was better. I hadn’t ridden the Chepstow to Monmouth road in an age, but it was as good as I remembered, though it did also seem to have quite a lot of cliffs falling onto it. We stopped briefly at Tintern, then headed onwards, blatted through Monmouth and kept going. </div>
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Like the rebels we were we had not, at this stage, considered a first night stop off, intending to find “somewhere near Shrewsbury”. </div>
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Sean’s speedometer snapped it’s needle and seemed to seize. We got to Hereford, which turned out to be a horrible place to navigate. This was especially the case as we hit it at school run time, in a city that had just the one bridge over the River Wye and is a massive bottleneck. <br />Halfway across town my clutch started playing up and was slipping badly. We pulled over in the car park of a closed-down pub opposite a run down Pizza Hut. I have to be honest, Hereford wasn’t as pretty as I remembered it. In fact, it was so ugly I didn't take any pictures.</div>
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After giving the bike half-an-hour to cool down and tweaking the cable a little, we were back rolling. We had actually broken through the worst of the traffic and the road to Leominster is a good one, though the time lost waiting for things to calm down meant we had to forego the recommended stop at the OK Diner. The road stretched northwards, and after the Bonneville's little tizzy, there were clear and delightful roads through the Welsh Marches, through Church Stretton, where I forgot to take any pictures here too, which was a shame as the area is stunning. We whizzed and clattered around the Shrewsbury bypass and on to an old school transport caff outside Whitchurch where we had to decide what to do next. </div>
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Maps were studied, and websites perused, and we decided to head for Chester, for no more good reason than it possessed a cheap Travelodge. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old ruins in Chester...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vern marks his territory, and not for the first or last time</td></tr>
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<br /><br /><br />Here we found our promised twin room had been given to a trio of angry Japanese tourists, So we got one with a double bed and a put-me-up single. Dinner was had in the inevitable 'Spoons and Sean had his first experience of my snoring. The hotel was indeed cheap. Sadly the overnight NCP parking wasn’t and swallowed up all the savings made... </div>
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olliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12128548313729109177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-73556917600480480772019-01-02T18:00:00.000+00:002019-01-02T18:21:49.318+00:00Big Vern Goes to the Shetlands<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It started, as many good things do, over a pint on a winter evening. I’d had a communication about the Shetland Classic Motor Show and thought it might be a suitably stupid thing to visit. I mentioned it to my chum Sean, over a pint of Wetherspoons finest mediocre real ale, and he, owner of an early 80s Kawasaki Z650, agreed that riding motorcycles from Somerset to Shetland was a stupid idea, so we decided to go for it. At the time I wasn’t sure I even had a suitable machine to attempt it on. Back in my teens I’d managed to pilot an MZ150 from John o’Groats to Lands End along with a trio of like-minded fools, but I thought I might try something a little larger. </div>
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I had my BSA Starfire, but the idea of taking that on a 2,000 mile round trip wasn’t something that filled my heart with joy, and while my FT500 Honda single was a possibility, I felt it might not really be up to the job of hauling self, plus gear to the other end of the country. My XS650 was in a state of flux, as despite an expensive top end rebuild it stubbornly refused to run effectively. My Ducati was definitely not a goer in any way, needing far more money throwing at it than it warranted. Still, the plan was born, and I was sure a suitable machine would either materialise, or the Yamaha would rise from its zombie state. Perhaps I could borrow something if needs be? The Ducati was sold some months later, and I was lurking around HJ Pugh’s auction site one Saturday morning, considering picking up some superannuated old Jap four for the trip, but few attracted my attention. </div>
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And then I unexpectedly bought a 1973 Triumph T140 Bonneville. Which of us can say they haven’t done that? I had placed an absurdly low bid upon it and expected someone to over bid me. Nobody did. The Bonnie arrived a few days later, and apart from a dodgy paint job, it seemed a fine bit of kit. I’m one of those people who likes to name their motorcycles and it was christened Big Vern. Why so? Big Vern, back in 1975, had a bit part as a getaway vehicle in an episode of the Sweeney (Season 3, episode 5, The Taste of Fear). <br /><br />Big Vern, is also a character in the scatological adult comic Viz – a 1970s gangster who constantly rants about “needin’ a shootah” to visit the shops and always shoots himself in the last panel after a misunderstanding, because “no copper is gonna take me alive”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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A mid 70s Bonneville wasn’t part of the plan to go to Shetland. I’d been planning on a cheap old jap, or a new Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. Or a Guzzi V7. None of which looked like materialising, and in any case the cookie jar was empty. So the Bonneville it was.<br />
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Sean and I were, we freely admitted, not really match fit. We looked at maps. We decided that motorways were out, out of deference to Big Vern’s years. We would try to do most of the journey on A and B-roads. We were also far too old and stiff to camp or do anything silly like that. Pubs, Travelodges and B&Bs were the agenda. We worked out a route that meant we would need to cover 180 miles a day at the most, with plentiful stops. We went on 150 mile weekend proving runs. The Bonneville and the Z650 were fine – the Bonnie wasn’t rattling or banging, burning or leaking excessive amounts of oil, and the Z was whirring on nicely, if occasionally squirting out black smoke. The Bonneville was given an oil change, spare bulbs and a clutch cable were acquired, and as it wasn’t obviously broken anywhere else, I decided that I wouldn’t fix it. If it broke on the way, I’d just have to fix it or give up. The tool roll was packed with as many spanners and sockets as I could manage – probably enough to do an engine rebuild.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Kawasaki broke its speedometer drive the week before the trip, so that was replaced and Sean, concerned about the state of his front forks, slotted on a replacement set from a Z750L4.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Tank bags were bought at a discount at Stafford, Sean picked up panniers and a tail pack from Ebay and I resorted to my old army surplus panniers. We were good to go.<o:p></o:p></div>
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olliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12128548313729109177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-20226816847456599312016-04-05T18:37:00.001+01:002016-04-05T18:37:09.660+01:00Shiny thing make it all better<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDyEKdUjis3c188_WLMYtFkAipGZlfG3fEai4E7lMeqbcFOCijlic6pg1JcG4yDAY32h4QtZnuX7J0tsSHA4ByIUITFg_EyajbHlgn_7YqGzkIbQ77TrNc96XJhB5nJb2Ejw7VxaHI_Rcl/s1600/12957642_777271072416564_1963938708873260286_o+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDyEKdUjis3c188_WLMYtFkAipGZlfG3fEai4E7lMeqbcFOCijlic6pg1JcG4yDAY32h4QtZnuX7J0tsSHA4ByIUITFg_EyajbHlgn_7YqGzkIbQ77TrNc96XJhB5nJb2Ejw7VxaHI_Rcl/s320/12957642_777271072416564_1963938708873260286_o+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alpha have vapour blasted and ultrasonically cleaned my carbs. aren't they pretty?</td></tr>
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<br />And this is what they used to look like<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_m0-4P8t94zmWpP3hyGAo05cS331W7dMPMV-qpKsZ7iGwLoiFTn-zrriMsIQAFi1Pekv-gYmSb2A7WKk-lHmKMguZJ3n3ROj-nLnXh7axWxdpNh1HqfgrK10S9xqdJPdDDUPn26DIm3rB/s1600/carbs.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_m0-4P8t94zmWpP3hyGAo05cS331W7dMPMV-qpKsZ7iGwLoiFTn-zrriMsIQAFi1Pekv-gYmSb2A7WKk-lHmKMguZJ3n3ROj-nLnXh7axWxdpNh1HqfgrK10S9xqdJPdDDUPn26DIm3rB/s320/carbs.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><br /></div>
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olliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12128548313729109177noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-18144787441244720282016-04-03T21:53:00.001+01:002019-01-02T18:01:00.111+00:00Such things as reams are made of....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Cassius has been in the shop for a while while the very nice men at Alpha work their magic upon him.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I've been buying lots and lots of parts from Germany, and Holland and the Bristol Classic Bike Show.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And the Germans sent me a new set of oversize pistons and a cam chain and an oil filter.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And the Dutch sent me a gearshift shaft and a starter motor gear and a new wiring loom and a very groovy thing called a "Hall Effect Ignition", which basically does away with fiddly old contact breakers, but doesn't need the big box of troublesome electronics on an electronic system.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyyzPQKxNYJ4uaFhYS6QEnmz4itlMrjU-4nLDCYQHvRw4-P4OKIXZTLWFpydlUwLoGBymGIxY0HVUkWYq22EJK4szIM3e9jenOuQatY747BDD0F91gVeKciiciaHEYv58pFyWGHvs6Nws8/s1600/IMG_6865.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyyzPQKxNYJ4uaFhYS6QEnmz4itlMrjU-4nLDCYQHvRw4-P4OKIXZTLWFpydlUwLoGBymGIxY0HVUkWYq22EJK4szIM3e9jenOuQatY747BDD0F91gVeKciiciaHEYv58pFyWGHvs6Nws8/s400/IMG_6865.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG10CGZmElnzcGUKQLpBNHiV4jfXELxUQ-TFWZQTXxLWMelv8hZrzvorFQl6Dc1FcVqVeVhXv2rdJCcjzWLfU85qM1d9JBUsZGI5XU3xBfJHhfw9JUWVg1Gq3HoHVE8WAlySQz9v9pIpiF/s1600/IMG_6863.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG10CGZmElnzcGUKQLpBNHiV4jfXELxUQ-TFWZQTXxLWMelv8hZrzvorFQl6Dc1FcVqVeVhXv2rdJCcjzWLfU85qM1d9JBUsZGI5XU3xBfJHhfw9JUWVg1Gq3HoHVE8WAlySQz9v9pIpiF/s320/IMG_6863.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uHrmpMwljEW2NdIVMXAglWWyQGH-TzyG-ItgcLYQF-piLhPqDrPZn1YPmMbdne4I8opsTxTTzibEbffmTr44iVW7PtHlxDk69HQr1dh2ZjtrlPSQbi4hqPv5h1VdCUhW-HK8iFPUaowc/s1600/IMG_6860.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uHrmpMwljEW2NdIVMXAglWWyQGH-TzyG-ItgcLYQF-piLhPqDrPZn1YPmMbdne4I8opsTxTTzibEbffmTr44iVW7PtHlxDk69HQr1dh2ZjtrlPSQbi4hqPv5h1VdCUhW-HK8iFPUaowc/s400/IMG_6860.JPG" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I bought a side stand spring and turned the empty boys room into a workshop, where I've been renovating chrome things and cleaning up brake calipers.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Meanwhile the chaps at Alpha have had the barrels rebored and put the engine back together, and put it back in the frame, where it gleams and makes the rest of the bike look a state.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And then we hit a snag. At some point, between 1979 and 1996, one of the previous owners had messed about with the Mikuni BS34 carbs, and chewed up the heads on the pilot jets - two little brass nodgers in the bowels of the fuel system. And after I had cruelly left ol' Cass to sit for eight years, those jets had got bunged up.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And Simon from Alpha, genius though he is, was reluctant to take on the surgery needed to get them out - he was honest enough to admit he didn't fancy buggering up my carbs doing it. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So I went to the Internet, and search for alternatives and </span><span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">I sought advice from fellow owners online</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Well, obviously there isn't a working set to be had for a Euro spec XS650. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">What to do? Well, I could find a precision engineering shop to try and get the jets out. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Or i could, apparently, buy a secondhand set for a GPZ500 Kawasaki for about 50 quid, which is allegedly a bolt on replacement, but an absolute bugger to set up.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Or I could spend an eyewatering four hundred quid on a brand new Mikuni slide carb set up, which look great, but are also a sod to set up.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Anyway I got the carb bodies from Alpha to measure them up for the sourcing of replacements.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2ploKFHv1c93-akV3NLiAaqb1HxHYA4XTsEtcXEPAs_6CHPsm5lbKuazq9fWz5Y23gK-3gH1OnHwCmvnZyWE0R7ANcI300xZLKOsjJUmghfHiitNEwyp84JIyCIJp9PDEN1J1X3wpnTL/s1600/IMG_6870.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2ploKFHv1c93-akV3NLiAaqb1HxHYA4XTsEtcXEPAs_6CHPsm5lbKuazq9fWz5Y23gK-3gH1OnHwCmvnZyWE0R7ANcI300xZLKOsjJUmghfHiitNEwyp84JIyCIJp9PDEN1J1X3wpnTL/s320/IMG_6870.JPG" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And then I did what I usually do when confronted by a knotty problem. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">I looked at them for ages. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I went through my screwdrivers and could not find one that fitted the pilot hole. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So, I filled the holes with wd40 degreaser and nipped down my local hardware shop, where I paid £3.11 for a set of six long jewellers type screwdrivers. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I got them home and worked on the jets with the biggest screwdriver of them for a bit, just in case they would budge, but they wouldn't. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So I had another think, and remembered that ages ago I bought one of those cheap modelling power tools from Lidl. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So I went through all the hundreds of grinders and polishing wheels and drill bits in the set and found a tiny little reamer. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhECI8UoPIhzATLhiGxZTD07YmjQeBttZNgx6uHhVw5xX0XZzbY7ChghIqa36eqta94SOtPpUpQVH_1eKRvhpVDXqwLU4OgayWw4HfKQNu_doSNb3jfiZh2HYthoXRstGsPJ419bu8_Z2D/s1600/IMG_6874.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhECI8UoPIhzATLhiGxZTD07YmjQeBttZNgx6uHhVw5xX0XZzbY7ChghIqa36eqta94SOtPpUpQVH_1eKRvhpVDXqwLU4OgayWw4HfKQNu_doSNb3jfiZh2HYthoXRstGsPJ419bu8_Z2D/s320/IMG_6874.JPG" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Now the modelling tool itself only runs clockwise, and reasoning that applying clockwise pressure on a screw that is already jammed in clockwise was a bad idea, I clamped the reamer in the old Black and Decker drill/driver and gently at reverse, made the business end pilot hole a little bit bigger. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Then I gently tapped the smallest screwdriver from the jewellers set into the hole, unscrewed and hey Presto, out came the pilot jet Did the same to the other one, and it looks like the problem is solved... </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOwF04IE6ILTlJnu8JoRYFScySraXWZigbcfTjx0NtX5Kxh0Q7dbfkzb948944Rk0NV_ViloVX0uNqLJIsNeVg2hxl8XzJH4CGnt8uK2cS2bYYdv5whKBkQNaKHetdBHz6fdIuUmPu5TX/s1600/IMG_6878.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOwF04IE6ILTlJnu8JoRYFScySraXWZigbcfTjx0NtX5Kxh0Q7dbfkzb948944Rk0NV_ViloVX0uNqLJIsNeVg2hxl8XzJH4CGnt8uK2cS2bYYdv5whKBkQNaKHetdBHz6fdIuUmPu5TX/s320/IMG_6878.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">I am, needless to say, well chuffed, and under the rules that apply to Man Maths, am now £450 better off than I was on Friday. Might buy a new front brake caliper to celebrate...</span></div>
olliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12128548313729109177noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-48714987542889874652016-04-03T21:53:00.000+01:002016-06-30T22:58:41.231+01:00Such things as reams are made of....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Cassius has been in the shop for a while while the very nice men at Alpha work their magic upon him.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE5VNFlqmeOfWl33H76392wwm3CZKVlyQ9DI0N8-EOJauxGlDDqVGNlbd5bpMU1STAlPR9T1_R7Oc6uZX9Arz-VY3RZn5nZ8k6OqYW8UoshvpD_3REVPCzC63BZgsBaiXeSaEaUS-y3ij/s1600/IMG_6267.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE5VNFlqmeOfWl33H76392wwm3CZKVlyQ9DI0N8-EOJauxGlDDqVGNlbd5bpMU1STAlPR9T1_R7Oc6uZX9Arz-VY3RZn5nZ8k6OqYW8UoshvpD_3REVPCzC63BZgsBaiXeSaEaUS-y3ij/s320/IMG_6267.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzcMDvkR7Z_RUI2QwPwB6MhVr4eZ3GES-1OexuocJff1Uhf08VMONRaZoqd7R8hGg4EkptcYWZ03zBrAlWvRtKjGl8AyBItY2IGvsG1agR7HxaJDH3L5Hq-1TlxmQhZtk4zdErZftdL6E/s1600/IMG_6263.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzcMDvkR7Z_RUI2QwPwB6MhVr4eZ3GES-1OexuocJff1Uhf08VMONRaZoqd7R8hGg4EkptcYWZ03zBrAlWvRtKjGl8AyBItY2IGvsG1agR7HxaJDH3L5Hq-1TlxmQhZtk4zdErZftdL6E/s320/IMG_6263.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vlmD6_Rm39p4Tjhz8ybQcvdaEtVmiw0D1nDB2EcMnjQMY2lAReqeHt_zm_bWN3iYAhw39r9CEZBu5zyufCFZP2Ao7We6lR3kGXsKAmv-emXhlsHOw_1QwvPqu9868h-J1nfg2X23BV36/s1600/IMG_6261.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vlmD6_Rm39p4Tjhz8ybQcvdaEtVmiw0D1nDB2EcMnjQMY2lAReqeHt_zm_bWN3iYAhw39r9CEZBu5zyufCFZP2Ao7We6lR3kGXsKAmv-emXhlsHOw_1QwvPqu9868h-J1nfg2X23BV36/s400/IMG_6261.JPG" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I've been buying lots and lots of parts from Germany, and Holland and the Bristol Classic Bike Show.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And the Germans sent me a new set of oversize pistons and a cam chain and an oil filter.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And the Dutch sent me a gearshift shaft and a starter motor gear and a new wiring loom and a very groovy thing called a "Hall Effect Ignition", which basically does away with fiddly old contact breakers, but doesn't need the big box of troublesome electronics on an electronic system.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyyzPQKxNYJ4uaFhYS6QEnmz4itlMrjU-4nLDCYQHvRw4-P4OKIXZTLWFpydlUwLoGBymGIxY0HVUkWYq22EJK4szIM3e9jenOuQatY747BDD0F91gVeKciiciaHEYv58pFyWGHvs6Nws8/s1600/IMG_6865.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyyzPQKxNYJ4uaFhYS6QEnmz4itlMrjU-4nLDCYQHvRw4-P4OKIXZTLWFpydlUwLoGBymGIxY0HVUkWYq22EJK4szIM3e9jenOuQatY747BDD0F91gVeKciiciaHEYv58pFyWGHvs6Nws8/s400/IMG_6865.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG10CGZmElnzcGUKQLpBNHiV4jfXELxUQ-TFWZQTXxLWMelv8hZrzvorFQl6Dc1FcVqVeVhXv2rdJCcjzWLfU85qM1d9JBUsZGI5XU3xBfJHhfw9JUWVg1Gq3HoHVE8WAlySQz9v9pIpiF/s1600/IMG_6863.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG10CGZmElnzcGUKQLpBNHiV4jfXELxUQ-TFWZQTXxLWMelv8hZrzvorFQl6Dc1FcVqVeVhXv2rdJCcjzWLfU85qM1d9JBUsZGI5XU3xBfJHhfw9JUWVg1Gq3HoHVE8WAlySQz9v9pIpiF/s320/IMG_6863.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uHrmpMwljEW2NdIVMXAglWWyQGH-TzyG-ItgcLYQF-piLhPqDrPZn1YPmMbdne4I8opsTxTTzibEbffmTr44iVW7PtHlxDk69HQr1dh2ZjtrlPSQbi4hqPv5h1VdCUhW-HK8iFPUaowc/s1600/IMG_6860.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uHrmpMwljEW2NdIVMXAglWWyQGH-TzyG-ItgcLYQF-piLhPqDrPZn1YPmMbdne4I8opsTxTTzibEbffmTr44iVW7PtHlxDk69HQr1dh2ZjtrlPSQbi4hqPv5h1VdCUhW-HK8iFPUaowc/s400/IMG_6860.JPG" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I bought a side stand spring and turned the empty boys room into a workshop, where I've been renovating chrome things and cleaning up brake calipers.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Meanwhile the chaps at Alpha have had the barrels rebored and put the engine back together, and put it back in the frame, where it gleams and makes the rest of the bike look a state.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And then we hit a snag. At some point, between 1979 and 1996, one of the previous owners had messed about with the Mikuni BS34 carbs, and chewed up the heads on the pilot jets - two little brass nodgers in the bowels of the fuel system. And after I had cruelly left ol' Cass to sit for eight years, those jets had got bunged up.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And Simon from Alpha, genius though he is, was reluctant to take on the surgery needed to get them out - he was honest enough to admit he didn't fancy buggering up my carbs doing it. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So I went to the Internet, and search for alternatives and </span><span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">I sought advice from fellow owners online</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Well, obviously there isn't a working set to be had for a Euro spec XS650. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">What to do? Well, I could find a precision engineering shop to try and get the jets out. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Or i could, apparently, buy a secondhand set for a GPZ500 Kawasaki for about 50 quid, which is allegedly a bolt on replacement, but an absolute bugger to set up.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Or I could spend an eyewatering four hundred quid on a brand new Mikuni slide carb set up, which look great, but are also a sod to set up.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Anyway I got the carb bodies from Alpha to measure them up for the sourcing of replacements.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2ploKFHv1c93-akV3NLiAaqb1HxHYA4XTsEtcXEPAs_6CHPsm5lbKuazq9fWz5Y23gK-3gH1OnHwCmvnZyWE0R7ANcI300xZLKOsjJUmghfHiitNEwyp84JIyCIJp9PDEN1J1X3wpnTL/s1600/IMG_6870.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2ploKFHv1c93-akV3NLiAaqb1HxHYA4XTsEtcXEPAs_6CHPsm5lbKuazq9fWz5Y23gK-3gH1OnHwCmvnZyWE0R7ANcI300xZLKOsjJUmghfHiitNEwyp84JIyCIJp9PDEN1J1X3wpnTL/s320/IMG_6870.JPG" width="320" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And then I did what I usually do when confronted by a knotty problem. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">I looked at them for ages. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I went through my screwdrivers and could not find one that fitted the pilot hole. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So, I filled the holes with wd40 degreaser and nipped down my local hardware shop, where I paid £3.11 for a set of six long jewellers type screwdrivers. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">And I got them home and worked on the jets with the biggest screwdriver of them for a bit, just in case they would budge, but they wouldn't. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So I had another think, and remembered that ages ago I bought one of those cheap modelling power tools from Lidl. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">So I went through all the hundreds of grinders and polishing wheels and drill bits in the set and found a tiny little reamer. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhECI8UoPIhzATLhiGxZTD07YmjQeBttZNgx6uHhVw5xX0XZzbY7ChghIqa36eqta94SOtPpUpQVH_1eKRvhpVDXqwLU4OgayWw4HfKQNu_doSNb3jfiZh2HYthoXRstGsPJ419bu8_Z2D/s1600/IMG_6874.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhECI8UoPIhzATLhiGxZTD07YmjQeBttZNgx6uHhVw5xX0XZzbY7ChghIqa36eqta94SOtPpUpQVH_1eKRvhpVDXqwLU4OgayWw4HfKQNu_doSNb3jfiZh2HYthoXRstGsPJ419bu8_Z2D/s320/IMG_6874.JPG" width="320" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Now the modelling tool itself only runs clockwise, and reasoning that applying clockwise pressure on a screw that is already jammed in clockwise was a bad idea, I clamped the reamer in the old Black and Decker drill/driver and gently at reverse, made the business end pilot hole a little bit bigger. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">Then I gently tapped the smallest screwdriver from the jewellers set into the hole, unscrewed and hey Presto, out came the pilot jet Did the same to the other one, and it looks like the problem is solved... </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOwF04IE6ILTlJnu8JoRYFScySraXWZigbcfTjx0NtX5Kxh0Q7dbfkzb948944Rk0NV_ViloVX0uNqLJIsNeVg2hxl8XzJH4CGnt8uK2cS2bYYdv5whKBkQNaKHetdBHz6fdIuUmPu5TX/s1600/IMG_6878.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOwF04IE6ILTlJnu8JoRYFScySraXWZigbcfTjx0NtX5Kxh0Q7dbfkzb948944Rk0NV_ViloVX0uNqLJIsNeVg2hxl8XzJH4CGnt8uK2cS2bYYdv5whKBkQNaKHetdBHz6fdIuUmPu5TX/s320/IMG_6878.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fffefa; color: #282b0b; font-family: "verdana" , "arial"; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14.4px;">I am, needless to say, well chuffed, and under the rules that apply to Man Maths, am now £450 better off than I was on Friday. Might buy a new front brake caliper to celebrate...</span></div>
olliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12128548313729109177noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-90813081939463628212016-02-10T12:52:00.004+00:002016-02-10T12:54:41.404+00:00One piece at a time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's those tiny details that are so important.<br />
Nut screws washers and bolts<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4B8F1in3fyUa2iUL8MQ1Oy_Ybds2D3C_RwOHgF7SrPXtlY-Te53xkVf7SxwlENOZ6BHszx-WbmNWZqPLaY_vSNH_dGGTcBVUejfn3FHwBwiiqogMQ0koFTSHor7sUL1IHn-K6SthAYThp/s1600/screws.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4B8F1in3fyUa2iUL8MQ1Oy_Ybds2D3C_RwOHgF7SrPXtlY-Te53xkVf7SxwlENOZ6BHszx-WbmNWZqPLaY_vSNH_dGGTcBVUejfn3FHwBwiiqogMQ0koFTSHor7sUL1IHn-K6SthAYThp/s320/screws.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Four tank badge oval set screws, £2.95. Inc postage.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rWHniL8MyMM/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rWHniL8MyMM?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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NEXT!</div>
Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-13139372958928022692016-02-07T22:26:00.003+00:002019-01-02T18:00:59.587+00:00Let's go shopping<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been to the Bristol Classic Bike Show where there were some very lovely motorcycles<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoKOVEMLi9xz7SQiVi90dPfuIeQ0tenBzGjFjbEkJZt45F_27cp3Q6qjq_zqtX8ynkDbmR2mkZF6qzEHBzNDZcsCWqVK6Kl17JYh5YpPi7CkrCmnmrZap7b4KR6qy_B021DKhl2p9BdBbI/s1600/IMG_6284+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjToQW992WDFfF6VeeCQi_N2xHKQpyrCFsE4S1n5eNxMnwa00ttFfRt3wpip_q8qXquvdFcq4dRBwv94cNVVqTQS4-9q7laM5PGiAf8Fo84TS-oPUTKLpvrfjUhnClbvrr2bIzq-ZMJ1wAm/s1600/IMG_6285+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjToQW992WDFfF6VeeCQi_N2xHKQpyrCFsE4S1n5eNxMnwa00ttFfRt3wpip_q8qXquvdFcq4dRBwv94cNVVqTQS4-9q7laM5PGiAf8Fo84TS-oPUTKLpvrfjUhnClbvrr2bIzq-ZMJ1wAm/s320/IMG_6285+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoKOVEMLi9xz7SQiVi90dPfuIeQ0tenBzGjFjbEkJZt45F_27cp3Q6qjq_zqtX8ynkDbmR2mkZF6qzEHBzNDZcsCWqVK6Kl17JYh5YpPi7CkrCmnmrZap7b4KR6qy_B021DKhl2p9BdBbI/s320/IMG_6284+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsnw2Np71AvaMtyKKEVb3FnDpMVGjO0QF2eM8uQL_7cp7z7z6GDjMuXTZ_jMyb1Rg4YHtqiVRitbqa_acPD9RBIG5yNwFjc_mOzD5NCkH-9QUSLIUhryB5aOIV9xHghmVEPyx52_wjOVZ/s1600/IMG_6329+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5peCWn2_-gT0sN6FCyVXTYgr3GE2a7OAxWA7L5BFEXccvmWPSDFlhHS9az4bpyBQQaSNmHcX16mb0cHBpl7Pdm3X0mFxyEiMZ0hE13tLfTUR9Fe24J0f4DxAxVIyYI0O6Re0SA0YpnM2O/s1600/IMG_6324+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsgJMJIBSEP-gZ4a5n1nDHSkmtAhMjCWxFmgKNqS10TowDP8o5fkifZY9ugaP123Uqpb2RLWt5cCwo6pyfV5WU_-a2_OPSHJmoW3nRW3j9mzAH2MzDD9JzpYlla-bxf04uWJdiqA7NbUH/s1600/IMG_6342+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3DbcC9XxwOjHP362M_kAFbqCKN1ZKZQJITYc7mtx1KiS5T51peEvfeUXtz852SA9vDSxGxgX6ttSrBXeCJQXCl9KxuOjzid2yAan-6Yzmg0saEUCQ-rNecE15oKOfdzpSuEJdOyFN2ua/s1600/IMG_6347+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3DbcC9XxwOjHP362M_kAFbqCKN1ZKZQJITYc7mtx1KiS5T51peEvfeUXtz852SA9vDSxGxgX6ttSrBXeCJQXCl9KxuOjzid2yAan-6Yzmg0saEUCQ-rNecE15oKOfdzpSuEJdOyFN2ua/s320/IMG_6347+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsgJMJIBSEP-gZ4a5n1nDHSkmtAhMjCWxFmgKNqS10TowDP8o5fkifZY9ugaP123Uqpb2RLWt5cCwo6pyfV5WU_-a2_OPSHJmoW3nRW3j9mzAH2MzDD9JzpYlla-bxf04uWJdiqA7NbUH/s320/IMG_6342+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5peCWn2_-gT0sN6FCyVXTYgr3GE2a7OAxWA7L5BFEXccvmWPSDFlhHS9az4bpyBQQaSNmHcX16mb0cHBpl7Pdm3X0mFxyEiMZ0hE13tLfTUR9Fe24J0f4DxAxVIyYI0O6Re0SA0YpnM2O/s320/IMG_6324+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsnw2Np71AvaMtyKKEVb3FnDpMVGjO0QF2eM8uQL_7cp7z7z6GDjMuXTZ_jMyb1Rg4YHtqiVRitbqa_acPD9RBIG5yNwFjc_mOzD5NCkH-9QUSLIUhryB5aOIV9xHghmVEPyx52_wjOVZ/s320/IMG_6329+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><br />
<br />
<br />
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and hundreds of stalls, the majority of which were selling the same disposable rubber gloves, and the same Bergen brand socket sets.<br />
<br />
However.<br />
<br />
I have bought<br />
<br />
8 stainless steel dome nuts that are the wrong size for my exhaust studs.<br />
Three 50mm and four 35mm m8 metric fine stainless steel bolts.<br />
One small vice.<br />
one stainless steel brake bleed nipple<br />
a packet of the aforesaid rubber gloves<br />
one metre of fuel pipe<br />
A polishing mop set<br />
A pair of funky little rear view mirrors<br />
and most importantly:<br />
<br />
one pair used pattern Jama megaphone exhausts with down pipes. these are made of unobtanium, and sell for absurd amounts on Ebay. they did not cost me an absurd amount and will replace the efficient but very ugly Motad 2-1<br />
<br />
And one nice new Avon Roadrunner 19 inch front tyre. also virtually unobtainable<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlDkUpjP5fwvhl06Errudcn0gsl2kzt8V3UTiZbI9x_KBSbm5jfzgoa9wm775jg8xjY_uT1xex_SCkNtw_QJzDTnJnfpQgZLZAhduJbdaruDI05ek0dCG2xjcwmAaGfOMLlrrVdhhEiLy/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlDkUpjP5fwvhl06Errudcn0gsl2kzt8V3UTiZbI9x_KBSbm5jfzgoa9wm775jg8xjY_uT1xex_SCkNtw_QJzDTnJnfpQgZLZAhduJbdaruDI05ek0dCG2xjcwmAaGfOMLlrrVdhhEiLy/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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This evening i have used many of my tools and managed to free the piston in my rear caliper and having failed to obtain a pair of first oversize pistons it's off to the internet to buy them from the Dutch. Or the Germans...</div>
olliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12128548313729109177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-8498766483378162752016-02-07T22:26:00.002+00:002016-06-30T23:00:27.718+01:00Let's go shopping<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been to the Bristol Classic Bike Show where there were some very lovely motorcycles<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoKOVEMLi9xz7SQiVi90dPfuIeQ0tenBzGjFjbEkJZt45F_27cp3Q6qjq_zqtX8ynkDbmR2mkZF6qzEHBzNDZcsCWqVK6Kl17JYh5YpPi7CkrCmnmrZap7b4KR6qy_B021DKhl2p9BdBbI/s1600/IMG_6284+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjToQW992WDFfF6VeeCQi_N2xHKQpyrCFsE4S1n5eNxMnwa00ttFfRt3wpip_q8qXquvdFcq4dRBwv94cNVVqTQS4-9q7laM5PGiAf8Fo84TS-oPUTKLpvrfjUhnClbvrr2bIzq-ZMJ1wAm/s1600/IMG_6285+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjToQW992WDFfF6VeeCQi_N2xHKQpyrCFsE4S1n5eNxMnwa00ttFfRt3wpip_q8qXquvdFcq4dRBwv94cNVVqTQS4-9q7laM5PGiAf8Fo84TS-oPUTKLpvrfjUhnClbvrr2bIzq-ZMJ1wAm/s320/IMG_6285+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoKOVEMLi9xz7SQiVi90dPfuIeQ0tenBzGjFjbEkJZt45F_27cp3Q6qjq_zqtX8ynkDbmR2mkZF6qzEHBzNDZcsCWqVK6Kl17JYh5YpPi7CkrCmnmrZap7b4KR6qy_B021DKhl2p9BdBbI/s320/IMG_6284+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsnw2Np71AvaMtyKKEVb3FnDpMVGjO0QF2eM8uQL_7cp7z7z6GDjMuXTZ_jMyb1Rg4YHtqiVRitbqa_acPD9RBIG5yNwFjc_mOzD5NCkH-9QUSLIUhryB5aOIV9xHghmVEPyx52_wjOVZ/s1600/IMG_6329+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5peCWn2_-gT0sN6FCyVXTYgr3GE2a7OAxWA7L5BFEXccvmWPSDFlhHS9az4bpyBQQaSNmHcX16mb0cHBpl7Pdm3X0mFxyEiMZ0hE13tLfTUR9Fe24J0f4DxAxVIyYI0O6Re0SA0YpnM2O/s1600/IMG_6324+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsgJMJIBSEP-gZ4a5n1nDHSkmtAhMjCWxFmgKNqS10TowDP8o5fkifZY9ugaP123Uqpb2RLWt5cCwo6pyfV5WU_-a2_OPSHJmoW3nRW3j9mzAH2MzDD9JzpYlla-bxf04uWJdiqA7NbUH/s1600/IMG_6342+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3DbcC9XxwOjHP362M_kAFbqCKN1ZKZQJITYc7mtx1KiS5T51peEvfeUXtz852SA9vDSxGxgX6ttSrBXeCJQXCl9KxuOjzid2yAan-6Yzmg0saEUCQ-rNecE15oKOfdzpSuEJdOyFN2ua/s1600/IMG_6347+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU3DbcC9XxwOjHP362M_kAFbqCKN1ZKZQJITYc7mtx1KiS5T51peEvfeUXtz852SA9vDSxGxgX6ttSrBXeCJQXCl9KxuOjzid2yAan-6Yzmg0saEUCQ-rNecE15oKOfdzpSuEJdOyFN2ua/s320/IMG_6347+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzsgJMJIBSEP-gZ4a5n1nDHSkmtAhMjCWxFmgKNqS10TowDP8o5fkifZY9ugaP123Uqpb2RLWt5cCwo6pyfV5WU_-a2_OPSHJmoW3nRW3j9mzAH2MzDD9JzpYlla-bxf04uWJdiqA7NbUH/s320/IMG_6342+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5peCWn2_-gT0sN6FCyVXTYgr3GE2a7OAxWA7L5BFEXccvmWPSDFlhHS9az4bpyBQQaSNmHcX16mb0cHBpl7Pdm3X0mFxyEiMZ0hE13tLfTUR9Fe24J0f4DxAxVIyYI0O6Re0SA0YpnM2O/s320/IMG_6324+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsnw2Np71AvaMtyKKEVb3FnDpMVGjO0QF2eM8uQL_7cp7z7z6GDjMuXTZ_jMyb1Rg4YHtqiVRitbqa_acPD9RBIG5yNwFjc_mOzD5NCkH-9QUSLIUhryB5aOIV9xHghmVEPyx52_wjOVZ/s320/IMG_6329+%2528Copy%2529.JPG" width="320" /><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
and hundreds of stalls, the majority of which were selling the same disposable rubber gloves, and the same Bergen brand socket sets.<br />
<br />
However.<br />
<br />
I have bought<br />
<br />
8 stainless steel dome nuts that are the wrong size for my exhaust studs.<br />
Three 50mm and four 35mm m8 metric fine stainless steel bolts.<br />
One small vice.<br />
one stainless steel brake bleed nipple<br />
a packet of the aforesaid rubber gloves<br />
one metre of fuel pipe<br />
A polishing mop set<br />
A pair of funky little rear view mirrors<br />
and most importantly:<br />
<br />
one pair used pattern Jama megaphone exhausts with down pipes. these are made of unobtanium, and sell for absurd amounts on Ebay. they did not cost me an absurd amount and will replace the efficient but very ugly Motad 2-1<br />
<br />
And one nice new Avon Roadrunner 19 inch front tyre. also virtually unobtainable<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlDkUpjP5fwvhl06Errudcn0gsl2kzt8V3UTiZbI9x_KBSbm5jfzgoa9wm775jg8xjY_uT1xex_SCkNtw_QJzDTnJnfpQgZLZAhduJbdaruDI05ek0dCG2xjcwmAaGfOMLlrrVdhhEiLy/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlDkUpjP5fwvhl06Errudcn0gsl2kzt8V3UTiZbI9x_KBSbm5jfzgoa9wm775jg8xjY_uT1xex_SCkNtw_QJzDTnJnfpQgZLZAhduJbdaruDI05ek0dCG2xjcwmAaGfOMLlrrVdhhEiLy/s320/photo.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This evening i have used many of my tools and managed to free the piston in my rear caliper and having failed to obtain a pair of first oversize pistons it's off to the internet to buy them from the Dutch. Or the Germans...</div>
Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-84913141668120468842016-01-30T17:28:00.004+00:002016-01-30T17:38:07.731+00:00Open heart surgery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, it's been a while.<br />
There are various reasons for this, but basically it boils down to having a series of reliable vehicles, that aren't very interesting to write about, ("so I bought a Fiat and it was very nice, and then it got crushed by a 60 tonne crane. oh, alright, maybe that is a bit interesting)<br />
And you might also note that the last posts coincided with the arrival of facebook in a big way.<br />
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Anyway.<br />
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On my facebook page a couple of weeks back I posted this picture:<br />
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This, is Cassius, of whom I have written before.<br />
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<a href="http://atmviheo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/yond-cassius-has-lean-and-hungry-look.html">The story of Cassius</a><br />
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Cassius has been stashed in my lock up for 8 years, sadly neglected, due to a lack of time, skill, and cash, quietly rotting away.<br />
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well, no more.<br />
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I rather foolishly said when I posted the picture that I was saying goodbye to Cassius because of a spate of open heart surgery, which worried a few, given that anyone like me who has been moderately dissolute in their youth (and erm middle age) might indeed be heading for the operating table.<br />
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But its actually Cass who needs the work.<br />
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So a couple of weeks ago I dropped him off with the very nice chaps at <a href="http://alphaclassicmotorcycles.com/">Alpha Classic Motorcycles</a> for major remedial surgery.<br />
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Well after a day of swearing, they've managed to get her apart, and things aren't that bad. Beyond a possible rebore and couple of first oversize pistons, Cass needs not a lot else in the engine department, which, given the she was smoking like a James Bond secret weapon when she was parked up, is remarkable.<br />
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Incidentally the reason why the top end is all lovely and shiny is that she's been vapour blasted. what a remarkable thing that is because it turns this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_v7cusr9kePWqQON2AOqlhEdbUf3r2bfwkLuH-wimoImV0xAFe1wjXU0p1T-JujWzxaAe8XxRdin9pHbZP_tl3NDlVkErXBKg45lhhT0DT8McLQfHzErfdOs-o0azq-sUJCUtdTLoq7ar/s1600/FB_IMG_1453765314756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_v7cusr9kePWqQON2AOqlhEdbUf3r2bfwkLuH-wimoImV0xAFe1wjXU0p1T-JujWzxaAe8XxRdin9pHbZP_tl3NDlVkErXBKg45lhhT0DT8McLQfHzErfdOs-o0azq-sUJCUtdTLoq7ar/s320/FB_IMG_1453765314756.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Into this</div>
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and this</div>
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This is the guts of him</div>
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And this is what the bottom end looks like. Now Simon at Alpha is a bit worried that a shiny top end and grubby bottom end might look out of place, but I reckon that it's going to look like a surgery scar. Evidence he's been in the wars and come out the other side.<br />
And I do like a bit of patina<br />
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Looks like the engine is going to be the easy bit though, because pretty much everything else is covered in a fine film of rust and that's going to be a job and a half...<br />
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The important thing for me is though, lets get this baby going again before the summer.<br />
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Good job I've got a bit bored of Facebook, I suppose.<br />
Break out the WD40, paint stripper, wire brushes, spanners and paraffin. I'm going in.<br />
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Rock and roll, baby. Rock and fuckin' roll</div>
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Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-30368152032922768272013-02-18T22:26:00.001+00:002019-01-02T18:01:00.704+00:00So...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-61627100149468400112013-02-16T19:29:00.001+00:002013-02-16T19:32:00.724+00:00Legs and Co<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Well
I haven't posted anything in an age, but, for the 1,000 or so people
who come visiting each month, here are some pictures from this years
Bristol Classic Bike Show, which, confusingly, isn't held in Bristol.
Couldn't find anything I could afford which was worth buying, sadly...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBGy8VstqmSc4TTcQXai7N7wSug2k22CHVPKeVx3nXHzJBAgvjH9P_3jghvA75tBMHWZLhosV-ZoxrwfQo2mxL_8Htn_fAxNHgODpzFQvMnBSANCpLdQjvFRwn6xpuraYrPWJZjbybuho/s1600/IMG_0908%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJBGy8VstqmSc4TTcQXai7N7wSug2k22CHVPKeVx3nXHzJBAgvjH9P_3jghvA75tBMHWZLhosV-ZoxrwfQo2mxL_8Htn_fAxNHgODpzFQvMnBSANCpLdQjvFRwn6xpuraYrPWJZjbybuho/s320/IMG_0908%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Triumph TRW25. V nice</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6r8tJjQKngNOcKBtiDHpvOzz4fy7Mkglj-uvDkT72VjKwuvk76Y1cZwPjq2tK1citYS3Nfsl8p-9WvVA_8rM6S_GkLyyR2D_B5FwxjtA3M4BYbYPu_Nvq6lxZSY7WcZ1W31YHhxPF3L-/s1600/IMG_0899%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6r8tJjQKngNOcKBtiDHpvOzz4fy7Mkglj-uvDkT72VjKwuvk76Y1cZwPjq2tK1citYS3Nfsl8p-9WvVA_8rM6S_GkLyyR2D_B5FwxjtA3M4BYbYPu_Nvq6lxZSY7WcZ1W31YHhxPF3L-/s320/IMG_0899%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Would have liked this a lot, but a tad overpriced at nearly three grand</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNO7aGyv61hRo14hnNxuuNSMlrP6ptmIx5oyelajMGc-Xly4NkkPL1-Mz5k6MUknO_2QE9jdJ1Gc_V6c-EEPMoxvrC6EOPK8WqaiDWOpeJeiITIxsjfgoEWZCcFA76xBoEA4H4AIhqtBsL/s1600/IMG_0903%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNO7aGyv61hRo14hnNxuuNSMlrP6ptmIx5oyelajMGc-Xly4NkkPL1-Mz5k6MUknO_2QE9jdJ1Gc_V6c-EEPMoxvrC6EOPK8WqaiDWOpeJeiITIxsjfgoEWZCcFA76xBoEA4H4AIhqtBsL/s320/IMG_0903%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some great elbow work in this shot of a KH250 I feel. Watch out for lots of legs, too</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-HRMTsQwTmbhW_TaJsOBxp64Rto2nriY9-MZfa1ngc65GJ5_8P8QNSLEnthT56f-FKjPm_0bwtdOl2e5SRE3NlR_G3tCxCXZ1lv9Dpxza9hz_PKnN9RCkBs7WhomRzzBbA-3Egxpf5hO/s1600/IMG_0902%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-HRMTsQwTmbhW_TaJsOBxp64Rto2nriY9-MZfa1ngc65GJ5_8P8QNSLEnthT56f-FKjPm_0bwtdOl2e5SRE3NlR_G3tCxCXZ1lv9Dpxza9hz_PKnN9RCkBs7WhomRzzBbA-3Egxpf5hO/s320/IMG_0902%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I always wanted one of these, just so I could join the Harley Owners Group</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">142,000 miles has gone under this CX500's wheels. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't imagine this MV Agusta 850 gets out of the garage much :(</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Harley-Davidson</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is an entirely British-built racing motorcycle. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barton engine made in Carmarthen.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That Harley, close up</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BSA Hornet. Slather.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panther bobber. Drool.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pjDOTtV7KeCuUWM9VB_DK92WPphmLfURfV1YonBbOXQea9fqbo7e185JZDbGRrFCBD-VpvKv12tqOfuNZlQENBdVocb7aG07-RE1uAbocDmzVahYMcbChTSPTVplvCUNtsmZdFVt1y6U/s1600/IMGP0135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5pjDOTtV7KeCuUWM9VB_DK92WPphmLfURfV1YonBbOXQea9fqbo7e185JZDbGRrFCBD-VpvKv12tqOfuNZlQENBdVocb7aG07-RE1uAbocDmzVahYMcbChTSPTVplvCUNtsmZdFVt1y6U/s320/IMGP0135.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at this row of Triumphs. Isn't it lovely?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1CE67kPLUCb7jo4IS-_5GPTFR4MpUm_jzCWA8SEA84PUDzkNDTU-3Jo1R3Vg7pQ70D5VmD27dqplBKOD0Pq-Z_ScVAJQkT5thba8zx84ckmatCeqGK3BUK-5LL-9Ae4Fq7QbyW6W7AqF/s1600/IMGP0137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1CE67kPLUCb7jo4IS-_5GPTFR4MpUm_jzCWA8SEA84PUDzkNDTU-3Jo1R3Vg7pQ70D5VmD27dqplBKOD0Pq-Z_ScVAJQkT5thba8zx84ckmatCeqGK3BUK-5LL-9Ae4Fq7QbyW6W7AqF/s320/IMGP0137.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The thieving ratbags flogging this pile of scrap wanted more for one Triumph 650 engine than I paid for a whole Ducati.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">British you say? What makes you think that?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kawasaki KH500 of utter gorgeousness</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNpisK-gCmGce_mcvZBGPrVIva1x0lF7ZjbfkMGoEvy8mfMu_ngTFo-rrKGzo8XUq8uXsz3bQhOuhHrceCCEBvTnryPto1cFUBaiD46RMUZIdOV5LaoaqcR2cPeKtvsORtcI_QqWEJkVO/s1600/IMGP0147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNpisK-gCmGce_mcvZBGPrVIva1x0lF7ZjbfkMGoEvy8mfMu_ngTFo-rrKGzo8XUq8uXsz3bQhOuhHrceCCEBvTnryPto1cFUBaiD46RMUZIdOV5LaoaqcR2cPeKtvsORtcI_QqWEJkVO/s320/IMGP0147.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banzai!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2-rzpOlHkWwa5nYsoEhL57FoCIw35Dd1UwS-3FBFSFmvbRNMBtE2yzMBhvg_o7ZbKEdnq7gfUDxZ1i_f1KlXPraA0AkNC6_LlqdAmRhDPj5YbQ9Z_Ofp5c5DA2IaxpxKYpnXfxCwU9p7/s1600/IMGP0148.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2-rzpOlHkWwa5nYsoEhL57FoCIw35Dd1UwS-3FBFSFmvbRNMBtE2yzMBhvg_o7ZbKEdnq7gfUDxZ1i_f1KlXPraA0AkNC6_LlqdAmRhDPj5YbQ9Z_Ofp5c5DA2IaxpxKYpnXfxCwU9p7/s320/IMGP0148.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For the Emperor!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cZ2JvAc4SDSjlrxZ8ULQCJ8iiLYS3RXeAkUc-_0OlQ6dvnJPUC8QycfOaMfoSur75sDkj6K8mpdx71dbBMOcDMTyA7FA8YyWimtmmCw0aPkLvQseGyStmTXuz5dag0HUSK81fq8blLMO/s1600/IMGP0151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cZ2JvAc4SDSjlrxZ8ULQCJ8iiLYS3RXeAkUc-_0OlQ6dvnJPUC8QycfOaMfoSur75sDkj6K8mpdx71dbBMOcDMTyA7FA8YyWimtmmCw0aPkLvQseGyStmTXuz5dag0HUSK81fq8blLMO/s320/IMGP0151.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the last motorcycle BSA ever sold. A 100cc Yamaha with stickers on the tank. How are the mighty fallen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTR0Ekdi8j8a3u8iMfVhF128gwF2cG_HINNQrTXbC0S6isnX3e8Ojj2ZeBxgjol9MyTkewKWhkkh72MsGYIsIokN30wz9VA1S1baEIdlC2UreXFPdq-RAjYOKRHoHoSi9m_GxiNTZZfSL/s1600/IMG_0896%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTR0Ekdi8j8a3u8iMfVhF128gwF2cG_HINNQrTXbC0S6isnX3e8Ojj2ZeBxgjol9MyTkewKWhkkh72MsGYIsIokN30wz9VA1S1baEIdlC2UreXFPdq-RAjYOKRHoHoSi9m_GxiNTZZfSL/s320/IMG_0896%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now I really want one of these, A BSA B44. Not at this price though.</td></tr>
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Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-81784599811105371392012-08-29T18:52:00.000+01:002012-08-29T18:55:53.826+01:00Automatic for the people<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Anyone following this drivel will have noticed that my life has been the last resting place of what frankly were a whole bunch of dirt cheap sheds.<br />
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Most of my cars, certainly, have been merely stopping off on their way to the scrapyard.<br />
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But there is one motor vehicle which broke that mould – my Nissan Primera 2 litre SE Automatic.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxg3cLVRUeHcH4vF8OMK6RAMlRKM0iyi67u4HXgbVp17cFAWY7t04iR-TjaLcHzNnYf0NOwdfkyeIYZXb8kFM7ruP1bX1QB1VlM7copW3kePtoo7MzVx2dBoncDttR-WejnaUsnhX4jRt/s1600/primera.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxg3cLVRUeHcH4vF8OMK6RAMlRKM0iyi67u4HXgbVp17cFAWY7t04iR-TjaLcHzNnYf0NOwdfkyeIYZXb8kFM7ruP1bX1QB1VlM7copW3kePtoo7MzVx2dBoncDttR-WejnaUsnhX4jRt/s320/primera.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ideally suited for the executive car park</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
This is the single most gorgeous motor car I have ever owned.<br />
<br />
True, on the surface it’s a very ordinary saloon car and nothing special. But after Fiat 126s, ancient Escorts and decrepit Avengers it shines like a diamond.<br />
<br />
The Nissan was my 41st birthday present. It used to belong to my mum's husband Bob, who had passed away, and my mum didn’t want it, because it was just too damn big for her. <br />
<br />
He had damn good taste. He bought the car as an ex-demo and being a canny devil, he ended up with a car with every single goodie added for nowt.<br />
<br />
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So I leapt from the driving seat of a rattly old Renault 11 into the world of luxury motoring.
In order to get the motor I had to drive it from London to Edinburgh, and then back from Edinburgh to Somerset.<br />
Getting behind the wheel I luxuriated in the leather seats, air conditioning, and CD auto changer – hell’s teeth, on most of my motors you had to slow down to hear the radio over the roar of the engine.
It had big fat alloy wheels, and a deliciously smooth automatic gearbox.<br />
<br />
It purred.<br />
<br />
It purred all the way home and purred on for another 80,000 miles in my ownership – once whisking the family of four to the Scottish Highlands on a traditional motor tour of the kind people just don't do any more, mile-munching effortlessly with a full load up, and camping gear three feet high on the roof.
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZKVnBj843Qs7LxsCZjSGwFHelFp8KPp1l4pfJBe2HuQmUv_xrR6FGYtcd9QoaMDxtcipt207UlilUacBWy_FiPlPCUd2mtKvAf3teV8t85QK-LGSktXqdibJ7UF47G_HvuxAhOcF0Mzb/s1600/nissan+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZKVnBj843Qs7LxsCZjSGwFHelFp8KPp1l4pfJBe2HuQmUv_xrR6FGYtcd9QoaMDxtcipt207UlilUacBWy_FiPlPCUd2mtKvAf3teV8t85QK-LGSktXqdibJ7UF47G_HvuxAhOcF0Mzb/s320/nissan+001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">C'mon kids! It'll be fun!</td></tr>
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The air con was a revelation in traffic jams, as was the gearbox.
For a while I was loath to use the air con as I was told that it made the car use more fuel, so I drove with the widows open. Then someone pointed out that actually this was a false economy.<br />
Most modern cars have been very carefully designed in wind tunnels for aerodynamic efficiency. Drive with the windows down and this all goes, well, out of the window.<br />
The rush of air increases the drag, and you use more fuel as a result. Allegedly.<br />
<br />
I spent three happy years zooming round corners, with the car never putting a wheel out of place, and it was actually quite easy to work on – just a bit chunky in the engineering department.
I did get hit by a tree on the Wedmore road in it, and it snapped off the radio aerial and cracked the windscreen – yes that’s right, I was hit by a tree – not the other way round.<br />
It had been felled by the overheight lorry I was driving behind, and bounced off his roof, swinging down into my path.<br />
The chaps in the cars behind had looks on their faces that said “how the hell did you get away with that?” and I’m not sure myself.
The windscreen had to be replaced with a wallet-lightening bill for nearly £400.<br />
By now with just over 100,000 miles on the clock the beast was beginning to show its age, and as one might expect the odd thing started to go wrong with it.
The air conditioning only worked when it felt like it and the CD autochanger got very temperamental. For some reason it only really liked the Clash, and Wagner.
It also snapped a drive shaft clean in two in the centre of town, and hereby hangs a cautionary tale.
I phoned Nissan and asked if they could get a replacement shaft – just the metal bit – and they said sure – as long as I could wait six weeks for one from Japan and could pay £350 for it.
A driveshaft specialist in Newport wanted £200 for a reconditioned one.
So I went on the internet to look for a secondhand one. You would have thought that as the Primera was pretty popular there would be a few in the scrap yards, but no – eventually I signed up to a part finder service – who said, by a text costing £3.50, they had found one at a breakers in Birmingham – I called the breakers – they said they had one and wanted £60 for it. But it was for a car without ABS. So it was the wrong one. I figured that actually as all I needed was the metal shaft, I could use the bits off my old shaft using the necessary bit from the non-ABS one, but decided to keep searching anyway.
Then I got another expensive text.<br />
The Birmingham breakers had one from an ABS motor after all and they wanted £85. So I bought it. And guess what. It wasn’t from an ABS motor at all – it was the original shaft, they had just lied to me – by now I was desperate to get back on the road, so I cannibalised it and just decided to put the £25 price difference down to experience.<br />
Three weeks later I got another text from the part finder service asking if I needed any more parts. At £3.50. Then another. And another. It was six texts before I finally got them to stop sending them. The lesson being, be careful who you give your mobile number to.<br />
Sadly, after putting 80,000 miles on the Nissan, it got less and less use.<br />
The trouble is that a 2 litre fuel injected dohc engine and an automatic gearbox isn't exactly eco-friendly.<br />
With increasing maintenance needs, 240 miles a week at 18mpg and petrol at what was then a quid a litre, what you get is impending bankruptcy.<br />
God knows how anyone affords to run anything bigger than a 1.8 now.<br />
I started using the good lady's ridiculously frugal Peugeot 106 Diesel, rather than the thirsty Nissan.<br />
So eventually it was parked up when the tax and MOT ran out, and with a house move on the way, an advisory note on the last MOT that the catalytic converter was on its way out costing another £600 and the impending departure of my off-road parking it had to go.
I sold it to a second hand dealer for £200.<br />
I think he sent it abroad, and it's probably being a taxi in Estonia or Liberia or something.<br />
I do apologise to Bob, but on my salary the Primera was just a fast road to financial ruination. I doubt I'll ever own such a superb motor car again.</div>
Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-78542062829521157332012-07-31T22:06:00.002+01:002016-04-05T19:36:52.329+01:00Hipster Chainsaw Massacre<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Now, here's a curious thing.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bikeexif.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/derringer_cycles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bikeexif.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/derringer_cycles.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ringdingdingding</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's a Derringer. Like those little guns saloon girls would pack in Randolph Scott movies.<br />
<br />
The manufacturers say:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<article>
"A modern interpretation of the board tracking racing motorcycles
of the 1920s, Derringer cycles capture the simple, pared-down,
aggressiveness of early motorsport while delivering an intricate level
of personalized customization. Like their owners, no two Derringer
cycles are the same.<br />
For the discerning rider, Derringer offers the opportunity to own a
truly unique, one-of-a-kind motorbike that combines innovative
engineering with a classic high-performance aesthetic.<br />
Powered by a moto-hybrid drivetrain, Derringer cycles are built
for our modern age."<br />
<br />
But hang on, Board racers are like this:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.motoredbikes.com/phpBB2/userpix/318_8valve_right_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.motoredbikes.com/phpBB2/userpix/318_8valve_right_1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Board Racer, yesterday</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</article><br />
1,200cc deathtrap nut jobs with no brakes, designed to take you straight to Hell. Ridden by men with balls of steel, who had just come back from charging the Kaisers machine guns armed with a toothpick. Or by women with even bigger balls. It will eat your children.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
This, however:<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://a2.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/30/664705a4b3c07e4f16eaf8c705d85909/l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://a2.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/30/664705a4b3c07e4f16eaf8c705d85909/l.jpg" height="236" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">oh look, I'm so ironic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
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on the other hand is a very nicely built bicycle, with a chainsaw motor shoehorned into the frame.<br />
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<br />
Is it a motorcycle, or a means to sell $650 leather jackets and $49 t-shirts to people with more money than sense?<br />
<br />
You decide....<br />
<br />
<br />
http://derringercycles.com/</div>
Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-43704553832069059662012-07-14T22:27:00.001+01:002019-01-02T18:01:01.486+00:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda-CB-1975-Honda-CB200T-CB-200-Cafe-Racer-Vintage-Antique-Custom-Built-Super-Clean-/150853652155?pt=US_motorcycles&hash=item231f940ebb#ht_2096wt_1154<br />
<br />
<br />
http://www.barebonerides.com/the-bikes.html</div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-32498247541432953422012-07-05T21:26:00.001+01:002019-01-02T18:01:01.029+00:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.aspx?RacerID=285&lpos=0px&letter=V&txtFname=&rblFname=S&txtLname=&rblLname=S&discipline=0</div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-44045287999595501772012-04-29T20:09:00.000+01:002019-01-02T18:01:01.811+00:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /></div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-61563263329073233852012-04-16T20:24:00.000+01:002012-04-29T00:04:09.372+01:00Renault build a better car. They just keep them for themselves.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Papa?</div>
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Nicole?</div>
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Ma Renault Cinq cest tres petit.Avez Renault un auto midi?</div>
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Mais oui. parce-que vous would ne pas appear so shaggable dans la..</div>
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Ces't la vie. Mon homme friend avoir moi up le duff de toute facon <span style="font-family: Arial;"><b><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span id="ID0EIC"></span></span></b></span></div>
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Some vehicles come your way more or less by accident, like this one. We weren't really looking for a new car, but the Escort was so very, very tired. Just down the road from the mouldering pile we had come to call home was a car dealership. Pretty standard stuff on the forecourt - a tidy line-up of resonably good small hatchbacks and saloons, all far too expensive for us.<br />
But round the back, periodically, he would have the odd old banger. And one day I belched past in the very smoky Ford Escort, and there was just such a machine.<br />
A gold 1984 Renault 11, with a sign on the windscreen that said: "£200." AHA! Just my price range. And I knew my Renaults, after all - this was of the gereration of cars I'd spent a far from merry year poking inexpertly with screwdrivers back in the day. I knew how these things worked. I took a look.<br />
18 years old and only 69,000 on the clock? Surely not.<br />
I popped into the sales office and there I met the only honest second hand car salesman in the UK.<br />
He was wearing a yak wool jersey and reading the Guardian. He rather grumpily told me that the Renault belonged to a little old lady who had decided she couldn't drive any more, and who had bought it off him many years before. She had come to him and asked if he could sell it for her. He'd agreed. And agreed to give her every penny of the sales price.<br />
I went and had another look round it - genuine low mileage, unmarked upholstery, factory wheel trims, the real deal. I returned to the garage with my beloved. "Well?" he said, grumpy as ever. "It looks to be a nice little car that," I said.<br />
"Are you kidding? you can't tell from a look. It could be a bloody death-trap." he said, sighing. "But it's £200, so no comebacks, alright?"<br />
I put it on a credit card and drove it off the forecourt..<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8U0fgXuJmud13IRwWP1QhjoybV1QUpgdYzCQn1bVKty2YFLVFfLssVMpI1Kd9P9duGvavGSEIujTp8OeaIkw5afj2F5Vsz4r2OxXRqgfcXba7pno1MAKodqLD-VUHvzcOPYUqgNEjh-H/s1600/renault-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc8U0fgXuJmud13IRwWP1QhjoybV1QUpgdYzCQn1bVKty2YFLVFfLssVMpI1Kd9P9duGvavGSEIujTp8OeaIkw5afj2F5Vsz4r2OxXRqgfcXba7pno1MAKodqLD-VUHvzcOPYUqgNEjh-H/s320/renault-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you squint, it looks a bit like a Delorean...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Funny little motor, the 11. A 1.4 litre engine that dated back to the stone age, huge boot, ridiculously huge road clearance, which was good given the potholed state of the roads, but did make it lurch around like that other ugly French bugger, Quasimodo. There was just on small problem. Every so often it would simply stop. Dead. You'd pull up at junctions, go to pull off and it would just die. There was no rhyme or reason for it. No special weather conditions or anything.<br />
just Phut. Thats it, I'm going nowhere, mon brave.<br />
And an hour later, it would burst into burbling life again. I checked for a failing coil, for petrol icing, for faulty points and condensers, but nothing worked. Just burble-burble-phut. and always at the worst times.<br />
I wracked my memory banks. It had to be ignition related. I remembered looking for tracking out in distributor caps - this was a problem with Renaults - they'd used shonky plastic on their distributor caps - they developed hairline cracks, and instead of the spark making its way from cap to plugs, it would run along these hairline cracks and earth out on the engine block. But the cap was fine. but, while putting the rotor arm back on, I noticed a faint black line on the end of it.<br />
Aha! enlightenment - the rotor arm had a crack in it - but was it the cause? In the old days we had been taught to take a hand drill and perforate the cap along the line of the fault, because the errant spark couldn't jump the gap and that sent Sparky back to the plug lead. so I decided to interrupt Sparky again.<br />
Instead of drilling a hole though, I put a tiny blob of superglue on the crack. Instant success - it never missed a beat after that. We kept ze' Automobile Francais for quite a while, or nine months in my money, eventually chopping it in as the deposit on a little Peugeot diesel when the ride started to get lumpy. They gave us £250 for it. When I took the Peugeot back because the thing wouldn't charge, the dealer complained bitterly that we had stitched <i>him</i> up as we'd obviously been driving around with only one rubber engine mounting intact out of three, hence the lumpiness...</div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-74005766319859134342012-04-06T19:48:00.004+01:002012-04-06T19:48:31.520+01:00Zero-Budget cafe racer part two<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, I've just spent the afternoon at the lock-up rewiring the Ducati's petrol pump and generally moving stuff around - which is what you are supposed to do on bank holidays anyway in my opinion.<br />
After I'd done all that, I decided to have a tinker with the dormant<a href="http://atmviheo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/zero-budget-cafe-racer.html"> RS100 cafe racer project. </a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7zAIXVNXNXUP5dtf8e7wBgd7UH8JIrpbQyQcfQ4DfpTYYnkOufQV8CAGoswX0U1TKYfdp5oA6XbvWBMElirNOKXvR4oHIbXWEhyphenhyphenXN7jtS5vaLTmrcLhnrb9V4h4yFpfgnyHfiIQeUmIB/s1600/06042012153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ7zAIXVNXNXUP5dtf8e7wBgd7UH8JIrpbQyQcfQ4DfpTYYnkOufQV8CAGoswX0U1TKYfdp5oA6XbvWBMElirNOKXvR4oHIbXWEhyphenhyphenXN7jtS5vaLTmrcLhnrb9V4h4yFpfgnyHfiIQeUmIB/s320/06042012153.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Such incredible workmanship</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Didn't do a lot to it - attached a new tail light, mucked about with the seat a bit and fabricated a seat hump out of a some scrap alloy, a bit of stainless mesh and an old guitar case.<br />
I then made free with the old matt black spray paint.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHGBaCCTlrZykhALfT43gbBf8ahFMlqV5hPbJ7e_m5K8Gp_7gtLa-edq4m0pF9p6BoBPqfw52gjYLY-HacCQ_etCHbgFdvX16w-8lAjLZ9n1czw_p34a3qA4kKxLLWr7y6oPCkWFVt2NHd/s1600/06042012151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHGBaCCTlrZykhALfT43gbBf8ahFMlqV5hPbJ7e_m5K8Gp_7gtLa-edq4m0pF9p6BoBPqfw52gjYLY-HacCQ_etCHbgFdvX16w-8lAjLZ9n1czw_p34a3qA4kKxLLWr7y6oPCkWFVt2NHd/s320/06042012151.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like the day it came off the production line</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I've got a battery on charge, so I might just whip up there with half a gallon tomorrow and see if it'll start. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0l_1nNL-xjaQgRb_RkUhP6D19G3q_MXV1uoR5CR92ze7XKO3SzHZmvz75aR_ut8OOhCCA5Vu-aiUoN19TTZPd4DZ6_eRu3kSbrzQs7YKJhJwIe4vrtlduaZX9Fr6KmkIohgYC-FhwpK4/s1600/06042012154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR0l_1nNL-xjaQgRb_RkUhP6D19G3q_MXV1uoR5CR92ze7XKO3SzHZmvz75aR_ut8OOhCCA5Vu-aiUoN19TTZPd4DZ6_eRu3kSbrzQs7YKJhJwIe4vrtlduaZX9Fr6KmkIohgYC-FhwpK4/s320/06042012154.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">looks like 45mph standing still</td></tr>
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<br />
If it does, I may strip it down for a proper prep and build. Or I might just MOT it and flog it.<br />
<br />
I've got another one in the shed with a good chrome exhaust, so i might swap them, though I do quite like this matt black job - makes it all purposeful.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPe7SHQ-9CWOgl-pWn1kRnnVMK_ju4vCelFLBj2Dv6Tk0c10wsnzt2fotfPZQNmhdlTBNQy1vhI_v56BN0csEa41XTL4mWxBqx8GG7LJ-6laucE-VLgspE52Nj-RGoDMAD_I3CXq1HIX8r/s1600/06042012155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPe7SHQ-9CWOgl-pWn1kRnnVMK_ju4vCelFLBj2Dv6Tk0c10wsnzt2fotfPZQNmhdlTBNQy1vhI_v56BN0csEa41XTL4mWxBqx8GG7LJ-6laucE-VLgspE52Nj-RGoDMAD_I3CXq1HIX8r/s320/06042012155.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yamaha RS100 cafe racer. Spirit of the 70's...</td></tr>
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<br />
Need some chequered tape to set it off properly. Still pondering a little mesh screen too.<br />
<br />
The tail light/numberplate combo cost me £9.99 - five quid less than the identical one I bought in 1986 to go on my <a href="http://atmviheo.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/trophies-and-dreams-and-rock-and-roll.html">Honda 250 Dream</a><br />
Total spend so far. £79.99. Including the bike...<br />
<br /></div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-37830192688826347662012-04-02T17:33:00.001+01:002012-04-02T17:44:28.355+01:00Rocking Horse Shit<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Behold, in all their wondrousness. A pair of 35mm Marzocchi forks from the late 70's originally fitted to a Ducati Pantah, now destined for my Moto Morini 350 Strada, thanks to a very nice man in Southampton via ebay. My birthday present to me.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZmyEudYbY88rfvaHu28so3Iodigr-x24tIIf9Ci-P9CraQ1jKNY_52Ku0RvRsBn953IyWhQQWkkuSyiqvUIhCUWtox3KtuB-2-FRsNP0boEuO1q5XFmwK16ERg26ZOpaLBaHdIPazMly6/s1600/SDC11522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZmyEudYbY88rfvaHu28so3Iodigr-x24tIIf9Ci-P9CraQ1jKNY_52Ku0RvRsBn953IyWhQQWkkuSyiqvUIhCUWtox3KtuB-2-FRsNP0boEuO1q5XFmwK16ERg26ZOpaLBaHdIPazMly6/s320/SDC11522.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well, hellllooo beautiful. Great legs...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;">Let joy be unconfined.</div></div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-40000907100999350562012-03-29T23:01:00.001+01:002012-03-29T23:03:09.585+01:00oooo new project.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://somersetfests.blogspot.co.uk/">http://somersetfests.blogspot.co.uk/</a><br />
<br />
All the news you need about Somerset's Festival Scene, all summer. Can you afford to miss out?</div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-5464930920050958082012-03-10T16:50:00.000+00:002012-03-10T16:50:05.625+00:00Local Derbi...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I'm always on the look out for the interesting and spotted this at my local dealership - their usual stock is relatively new Jap sports bikes and scooters, so this stood out. It's a Derbi 659 Mulhacen.<br />
Its got a Yamaha XT660 engine, like the other bike thats tempting me , Yamaha's MT-03.<br />
I'm very taken with it, and it fits me beautifully, but I understand that after 15 minutes its so uncomfortable you can barely sit on it anymore.<br />
<br />
Shame, cos its very, very funky.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtrFgxXaXd9E9O1c8xPpQ0qdflO3K_BoOHk2OjJ4TFNuWbgJDZBjNVKi1NyljtEdBThvGAUPvAnh94acK5sOSG7wkCSmx7uV8THtsQpN2OnRJWS4hq7XbubAvA0afmj5HCl4Vix98az8li/s1600/derbi+659+mulhacen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtrFgxXaXd9E9O1c8xPpQ0qdflO3K_BoOHk2OjJ4TFNuWbgJDZBjNVKi1NyljtEdBThvGAUPvAnh94acK5sOSG7wkCSmx7uV8THtsQpN2OnRJWS4hq7XbubAvA0afmj5HCl4Vix98az8li/s320/derbi+659+mulhacen.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Donkey, this Derbi</td></tr>
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<br />
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</div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-79328002098059140742012-03-10T09:06:00.001+00:002012-03-10T09:06:55.818+00:00untitled motorcycles: The secret to making an easy seat pan.<a href="http://www.untitledmotorcycles.com/2011/12/making-seat-pan-can-seem-very-difficult.html?spref=bl">untitled motorcycles: The secret to making an easy seat pan.</a>: Making a seat pan can seem very difficult if you have never done it before. I hadn't made one until I did my "midlife crisis bike" in 2010. ...Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-12260862370141104882012-03-07T17:38:00.007+00:002012-04-29T19:35:06.449+01:00Camping it up at the seaside<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So, let’s get the Easystart out and clean the plugs and see if we can’t coax this baby back into pulsating life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It's summer 2001, and I’m about to be sent off on a 12 week training course to darkest Hastings. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This causes something of a kerfuffle, and instead of spending the money my delightful employer is prepared to cough on a bed and breakfast I have a much better idea.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll buy a camper van and live in that. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A quick scout of the classifieds throws up a Ford Transit, my affection for which I have previously waxed lyrical upon. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s a 1986 mark 3, long wheelbase diesel and yer man wants £750 for it – almost exactly the allowance I’ll get for being away from home.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah, it's a bleeding Winnebago</td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Using the rules governing man-maths, this means I’m going to come out of this with a free camper van, obviously.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They bloke selling it is a bit, ermm, odd. <o:p></o:p></div>
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A funny little homunculous with a scraggy beard.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The van is a home conversion job on a minibus. There’s a single bed, a cooker and sink – which is what you need to have a vehicle registered as a camper. It’s the laughably named Hi-roof – five foot from floor to ceiling. There’s gaffa tape holding the rust together on the back doors. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Disturbingly, it’s got a rubber floor. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“I go away with my dogs at weekends” he says, “ They get very muddy and the rubber floor is easier to keep clean.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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“Yeah, and it’s easier to get the blood and entrails of your victims washed away as well, mate,” thinks I, as images of Hammer Horror movies rocket across my brain.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'll have a bucket of popcorn and a Kia-ora please</td></tr>
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But hell, it’s got a long Mot and a bit of tax, so what the hell.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We get it for £650.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It’s a chunky bus, first of the wedge Transits with the engine out of the old model and a four speed overdrive gearbox.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The overdrive is a button on the top of the gearshift. When you reach 60mph, and the engine is roaring like a distressed walrus and making noises like it’s about to leap out of the bonnet, you flick the switch. </div>
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The engine starts to make a noise like a distressed sea lion instead, and continues to propel you at 60 mph.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We load it with essentials, shove the BMW in the garage, lend our rural idyll to some homeless chums and head for the south coast belching a cloud of black smoke behind me, while my beloved follows on in the white Escort.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With only five feet of headroom in the back, and a single bed, the van is a bit cramped. So we take a two berth tent to actually sleep in, and a steel pole gazebo to mark out our territory and move onto a campsite situated in a bog. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first day we leave the camp in the van the heavens open and when we get back the tent has been flattened by the deluge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We move campsites, and as the law prevents us from actually living there, we have to move pitches three times. It’s an interesting experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
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If you ever feel like destruction testing a relationship, live with your partner in a van for twelve weeks in an English summer. If it survives that, it’ll survive pretty much anything.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We make it through to the end of the twelve weeks, load up and head for home. The Transit has done jolly well.<br />
A few months later we move house, and the van serves as removal vehicle, and it gets hacked up and down the M5 for a while as a thoroughly unsuitable commuter, blocking the works car park.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The new gaff has plenty of off road space, and I start to acquire more and more motor vehicles, until I sit down one day and decide that having five - or is it six? is a bit excessive<o:p></o:p></div>
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So I sell it to a Glastonbury hippie for £400. Which seems like good karma.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Maaan.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vegetable rights and peace!</td></tr>
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</div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7062043100039951063.post-2395802173695829962012-03-07T13:11:00.003+00:002012-03-07T15:52:30.836+00:00Going, going, gone...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhglLMy6D4zmHpDvywMTo4kE51o8qj_Vu0VSZonDNjFdrCgQhS5aaVfmQPTSrZZm7lnrRJErcp2wn4aFaqOfPwWklf4XfDIBwErrrn7vjx2rXCAUnLK3AXUGqc78P9PHuv7DFSOgMKtE0ak/s1600/26years+GT750+T500+BSA+C15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhglLMy6D4zmHpDvywMTo4kE51o8qj_Vu0VSZonDNjFdrCgQhS5aaVfmQPTSrZZm7lnrRJErcp2wn4aFaqOfPwWklf4XfDIBwErrrn7vjx2rXCAUnLK3AXUGqc78P9PHuv7DFSOgMKtE0ak/s320/26years+GT750+T500+BSA+C15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Put the hammer down... I'll take the GT750 and the B50. Don't bother to wrap them, I'll eat them here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Just found this in the archives - a second hand bike auction from 1986 at Shepton Mallet featuring a Suzuki GT750, Suzuki T500, Honda Goldwing, Couple of BSA C15 s, a BSA B50, and is that a Norton Commando sidecar moto crosser? <br />
<br />
Oh for a time machine...</div>Ixion's Disciplehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301723327087233527noreply@blogger.com0