Mississippi Bullfrog

A handy thing when refitting rear wheels is a caravan level ramp. It takes the weight of the wheel whilst you line everything up.

That's for my rear caliper rebuild.

Rear brake caliper sorted and bled. Of course there is brake fluid all over the garage floor. It wouldn't be a proper job without the hose flying off the bleed nipple when you're reverse filling the system.

It's a very simple tool really. I use one with a ring at the top and an adjustable tube. Yes, you can do it without but with this system it is easy to adjust the level. I can't see why something so simple needs to be expensive. The metal tube has measurements etched into it so it's dead simple to set up.

How did I not see this? Hope you had a good day, and today's recovering is going well.

I've got some leftover rockets if you need them.

That will polish out.

The weekend needs a rethink because the replacement heater motor arrived today. Since it was warm and sunny I got it fitted. As predicted, getting the motor out was relatively simple due to Vauxhall placing it behind the glovebox. Getting at the resistor was a different story involving squeezing a hand into a tiny gap surrounded by razor sharp plastic edges, then needing to release two catches simultaneously whilst at the same time pulling the resistor out of a very tight socket. And then, as they say, refitting is the reverse procedure. My hand looks like I tried unarmed combat with a sabre toothed tiger. But the new motor is in.

There is no water jacket to muffle internal engine noise on small air cooled engines. If you drain the oil and check it for any metallic particles it will tell you what's going on. If the oil is clear I would't worry.

There is a BACs account donations can go to. I could PM the details.

The Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Mark Tanner, rides a BMW GS1200 and joins us on our group rides - The Sons of Jehu (taken from 2 Kings 9:20 - the riding is like the riding of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he rideth furiously). On Saturday 19th April he is organising as charity ride to raise funds to provide 125cc motorcycles for the Democratic Republic of Congo. These enable education, nursing services, midwifery and other essential services to be delivered in areas inaccessible except by small capacity motorcycles. $1,000 puts a new bike on the road in the DRC. The Diocese of Chester has a link with the Dioceses of Aru and Boga to support this work. The ride will be 125cc friendly as we shall have some learners with us. No motorways and not exceeding 50mph. The route is available on www.little-house-in-joppa.uk/BBBMFRoute1 The ride is running within the Biking Bishop's Biking Mission Fund. We are asking riders to donate a minimum of £5 towards the charity. We start at Church House, Daresbury, at 10.30am with a briefing. Directions will be by Tail End Charlie with stewards giving directions at junctions. Lunch will be at the Bishop's House in Chester so please notify of any dietary requirements when booking. To book onto the ride please email [email protected]. Donations can be made in cash on the day. The ride will end at Foxhill near Frodsham at around 3.15pm. All riders are responsible for providing their own road legal motorcycle and riding gear, complying with traffic regulations and their own safety and conduct. I am sharing this here in case there is anyone who would like to support this worthy cause. It will not be a blasting round the lanes of Cheshire, more of a sedate bimble, but for a very good cause.

My weekend has been determined by my clapped out old Astra. When driving it I've got to the stage of listening for new noises and figuring out how terminal they sound. A recent nasty tapping under modest acceleration (yes, such a thing exists) turned out to be the exhaust manifold heatshield making a bid for freedom. It is currently attached by the one remaining upper bolt, with the lower two brackets having declared independence and broken off diplomatic relations. But driving home today I was halfway round a roundabout when a noise like a thousand cats being slowly fed through a mangle erupted from somewhere deep within the dashboard. It turned out to be the heater blower motor giving up the ghost. Fortunately a replacement is less than £30 which I can just about justify spending on the car. The downside is that the wiring for it runs to a resistor pack located in a position that requires the dexterity of a small, lithe and youthful person, none of which attributes I possess.

When I had a 125 I found just dropping one tooth at the front worked very well. The theoretical top speed may have been reduced but in reality the engine didn't have the torque to hold top gear in any kind of headwind or incline. So in reality by dropping one tooth at the front the bike was actually faster.

Same engine in the CBF500. For a bog standard commuter it's not a bad ride. I was talking with a guy over the weekend who said that those engines still fetch high prices. People selling old CB500s find they are sought after just for the engines. There's a chap locally who deals in vintage bikes, he has two warehouses full of them. Last time I was there he had added a CB500 to his list on the basis that whilst most vintage bike prices are going downwards CB prices are on the up.

The worst thing about that was the guy whose first instinct was to pick up the scooter rather than assist the pedestrian.

That would be telling......

Have a great day

Success! That sliding pin has seen better days. To be fair it's ridden all winter and I can't remember the last time I serviced the rear caliper.

Some smug b*****d getting an award for sailing toy boats round in circles.

I noticed the rear brake on the CBF was pulsing a bit. The disc checked out fine so I reckoned it was a stuck slider....sure enough one of them is seized solid. I've got the caliper and mounting bracket in a vice. I got the stuck one halfway out but now it's stuck fast. So an overnight soak in Plusgas might help. We shall see!

Oh dear, on the return journey the pie dish emulated the sausage rolls.

My dear old mum asked me to buy some sausage rolls from the farm shop near us. I have discovered that if you transport sausage rolls in a motorcycle topbox they experience what Elon Musk describes as "rapid unscheduled dissesembly". What were once very tasty looking sausage rolls are now a vast multitude of crumbs.

Morning all. -2 this morning but it will warm up by the time I'm coming home. So it's a two sets of gloves day. Heated going out, non-heated coming back. (The insulation on the heated means they will be too warm even if switched off.) Oh the dilemma of riding motorcycles!

That CD250 ad is a clear demonstration of beauty being in the eye of the beholder.

Sold.