Tinkicker

Welcome to the wonderful world of motorcycle restoration....

Here is your coat sir... A respectable try nevertheless. God loves a trier.... Better than I could do...

I can only copy what everyone else has said. Get better soonest. You are a biker, bikers are tough. Sometimes I forget that, I will make you a deal. Get better, arrange a ride and I will take my beloved veteran VFR out on a ride with you, no matter the weather. Sun, rain, fog, the works.

Been pottering about in the sunshine this morning. Every bit of concrete around the house, and the neighbours houses are covered in green algae. We normally get a little green algae during the winter, but I never saw it as bad as this. It is even on the fences and gates. I have mixed up and used 15 litres of patio magic mix in the sprayer this morning and still not finished. Usually it takes just 5 litres at this time of year. Very odd.

Toddled over to SJ Biketech in selby with rear wheel in hand. To my surprise, the bloke remembered me and the VFR straight away. Twas he who did the MOT. Anyhoo. A pair of Michelin road 6s duly ordered and paid for. £371 inc fitting, new valve and balance. Duly stoked, in a very rare burst of winter energy, back in the shed, front calipers removed and front spindle ready to tug straight out as soon as I get the front end jacked up. Also ordered four new rear wheel nuts from CMSNL. Expensive shipping at £14, but the discounted price compared with traditional UK suppliers made it cheaper to buy from the Netherlands. CMSL price 6.50. Some vendors in the UK wanted anything from over a tenner each, plus a fiver shipping, to almost £20 each in one barmy case. It has gone cloudy and my rare burst of winter energy is over....

Concur. The worst part about the whole thing was not one single email I sent giving the relevent details to nip the whole thing in the bud was responded to. Not one. Not even a quick we have received your documents and are reviewing them. The emails detailing the info and the unknown result was worst of all. If everyone passed this sorry tale on to ten of their mates, and they passed it on to ten more each, crap organisations such as these would very quickly cease to exist. A fact is that buisnesses become a certain size, lose their humanity in the chase of the big buck, and after that they deserve to die. In my humble opinion. Devitt has reached that point.

Yes. Time for the acid test. With some trepidation, I just checked on the Motor Insurance Bureau Database and little yeller is indeed, still insured. Check Insurance Details

I strolled out to the shed, looked through the window and noted the battery voltages with solar panel in full sun, 13.7V so all good. It has been a particularly dismal winter this winter, so I have had to top up a couple of times with the charger, not because the solar array was not charging the batteries, but because the grey murk would not allow the solar panel to produce enough voltage to fully charge them. The odd sunny day was spent in building up the capacity of the bulk storage battery and not enough time to fully charge them both. On the couple of occasions when the voltage dropped to 12.5V, it was time to intervene with a quick overnight top up. I stood there, staring at the VFR under its blanket, hands in pockets for a time and thought that with the Ides of March approaching, it was time to actually do something constructive. So armed with a 12mm socket, a 13mm spanner, and a 19mm socket; we have the rear wheel of the VFR out in around 5 mins. Intention is to take it to the local bike shop in the morning, order a pair of Michelin Road 6s and leave the wheel with them. Collect it next weekend, refit and then remove the front wheel for the front tyre fitting. I will have it ready for pulling the loose spindle tomorrow after I drop off the rear. Do not want it balancing precariously on a jack and the centre stand without wheels all week. You know how my luck goes... Shame about the tyres because the Bridgestones have well over 3mm tread left, but were manufactured in 2012. A rare burst of winter activity... Little yeller will be brought back to life sometime in March and both the VFR and DT175 will be recommissioned in April. Panel will not produce more than 12.5V on a grey, cloudy winter day, so batteries will slowly discharge to that level if we have a very long run of cloudy days.. Full sun, the system produces around 13.8V which is all the voltage the solar controller will allow across to the batteries. A couple of days of full sun and we are showing 13.7V, indicating both batteries are fully charged. (Pics taken while building the system last year, not today.). Voltage drops to a nominal 12.8V overnight when the charge current stops. In these pics, bulk storage is showing 13.4V and the controller is banging 1.6A into it to bring it up to full capacity.. The controller is allowing a 0.1A maintenance charge across to the bike battery. Temp in the shed this afternoon is a giddy 19C. Which is fully charged and showing 13.2V in this pic (13.7V today) This particular voltmeter can only show the voltage across the bike battery terminals, it is independent of the solar charger and bulk battery. flick the switch and the display goes blank as it is powered directly from the bike battery, even though there is current from the solar charger present in the system.

At least the magic smoke didn't all leak out.

Indeed. The sim can be very surprising and breathtakingly realistic. At other times, it can be a disappointment. Depends on server capacity ect. In its present form it is a tad unstable and very power hungry. To get it to perform, you need an absolute beast of a PC to run it, esp in VR. I think my time with the comanche is nearing the end. I have 112hrs in it now and I am wanting to do things it clearly is not designed to do. It is far too slow for one, is not safe for long water crossings and is very range limited. The light twin I alluded to ferrying back from Florida earlier in the tale is 100mph faster, has a pressurised cabin and can fly at 30,000ft. It is just as detailed and true to life handling wise as the commanche. However, it is not yet available for fs2024. Needs some alterations to make it work in the new sim due to the way the new physics model calculates the pressure differentials over the flying surfaces ect to provide lift. In the old sim i'm told there were maybe five calculation points on each flying surface. On the new sim, there are hundreds of calculation points, all taking into account airfoil shape at that particular point, surface area, air density, airspeed, angle of attack, induced and parasitic drag ect. The aircraft really do "fly". Still relatively simple though, compared to the far more complex DCS physics engine. The parameters that DCS computes is mind boggling. Right down to the material and thickness of the flying surface skins and how much they need to deform in flight due to the pressure under and over the skin to give absolutely realistic handling qualities.

Letter arrived from Devitt today. All good, disaster averted, thank the lord. Glad I did not have to fight to clear my name. I can breathe easy now, its been quite a "challenging" week.

Helmet lock for the 175 arrived from Singapore today, so got that fitted. Not a particularly onerous task. One screw.

18:00 local time and the sun has set. I should arrive in Stockholm at 19:30 local, a quick count on my fingers shows I should have enough of a fuel reserve for 1.5 hrs flying (18 gallons) on arrival, so all good. The wind has got up, giving me a useful 10 knot tailwind and it is also shredding the fog bank. Even better, that fog was depressing. Unlike the UK, Sweden has very few streetlamps compared to the overcrowded UK. Large patches with no polution light at all. Looked up out of the side window and saw the milky way. Have not seen that in the UK since I was very small. Breathtaking. Just over an hour left to run.. 40 miles left to run and the lights of Stockholm are already filling the windshield. Taxying in at Stockholm after a gruelling 7hr 6min flight. I need a beer..

Mike comes out to greet me. Hi Mark, I have another trip for you. James has asked me to brief you, for some reason he seems to be keeping a low profile.. I know, every time he sees me approaching, he scuttles away in the other direction. I gather that things are still a bit frosty in the James household? Debs still not speaking to him? I gather not. She blames him for nearly getting her killed by insisting on flying a clearly, completely un airworthy aircraft home. So wither are we bound? Stockholm. Stockholm? Hells bells. Weather is going to be crap and over mountains too. Should I send the parts by Fedex instead? Ah no, I'll do it. I pull the weather for Brussels. Not too bad Scattered low cloud 1000ft ceiling, 12 degrees, so no icing. Pull the weather for Stockholm. Broken cloud, ceiling 300ft, 3 degrees. light wind 6kts. A bit problematic, but it may improve with age. I make my flight plan. six legs in total. Climbing out into a showery 7 octas , ceiling 300 ft, over the moorland just to the west of Leeds, We are treated to a double rainbow. Once I turn onto heading, I expect the weather to clear a lot by the time I reach the Nottingham area. One of the most fascinating things for me is looking down at open farmland. Often you can see the outlines of buidings, long since demolished still visible from the air, yet nothing to be seen at ground level. I once saw the outline of what looked to be a roman fort, complete with perimeter wall, foundations of buildings and even the streets. Here you can see the remains of a long torn up WW2 airfield still imprinted on the landscape. You can see the runway intersection where they cross, and over to the left, a little bit of concrete hardstanding still remains This airfield seems to be a likely candidate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Little_Walden Pretty much a flight from hell so far. Holland and Germany were fine, flying in and out of broken cloud. However Scandinavia is covered by a huge fog bank. Nothing to see. I will press on... Malmo below under the fog, just turned for Stockholm. 288 miles to run...

Well. About to fire up the old sim and go flying. No idea where yet. If you ever want me to fly somewhere, just tell me where you want your parts delivered. Must be somewhere in Europe and must have an airfield nearby. Oh and no long over water legs. Those are just boring and this is supposed to be fun. I will do my best to get your parts delivered...

Indeed. Olivers Mount Road Racing Circuit. Just five minutes away from Scarborough town centre. A very atmospheric place. You can almost smell the Castrol R from the 1950s racers on the wind... The best riders in the world have raced on the narrow, winding track over the years. Hailwood, Agostini, Granty, Sheene, Parish, Ivy..... This pic would have been taken at the esses, at the top of the hill where the track climbs up through the trees, then turns 90 degrees right, straight across the cultivated field. They are ordinary public roads and you can ride the circuit yourself on non race days. Just head for the mount and you suddenly find yourself on a road with blue and white checkered kerbs... When I was a young hooligan, I rode it on my CB900 at speed. Scared myself silly.

Well Done Yorky. But as Meatloaf once sang... Two out of three aint bad. I need specifics... Think one of my of my personal mentors, and role model, Mick Grant. Also Barry Sheene, also of course mr slippery himself, stavros aka steve parish...

Nothing crazy to report. The comanche just had a 100hr inspection and I conducted an engineering test flight in her. So. A where am I. Three places within a 20 min flight from Leeds and all within 5 mins flight time of each other. All are well known landmarks. 1. The hardest one. 2. A big clue to number 1. 3. Some on here may have spent the weekend..

Well I never. Whatever next. Spag bol without the spag?

I used to teach my CBT pupils that roundabouts are just road junctions with grass in the middle. In your case you would just treat it like a crossroads. Left hand lane turning left and straight on. Right hand lane for turning right. Unless road markings advise differently. Again, although the road markings in your case say use either lane, be aware that the red line carries the greater risk.

I checked to see if the code has been viewed yet. It has not. Does not matter, the fact is that devitt wanted the written, explicitly stated info to authenticate my policy in writing. I have proved I sent the information. What devitt choose to do with it is not my concern... The noose tightens. Devitt pissed off the wrong guy... One has to wonder how many peoples lives the insurance industry have negatively impacted by cancelling policies unfairly and on a whim. Luckily for me, this time they encountered someone with a bit of legal training. Not a lawyer but a couple of years of night school. I needed another one and a bit full time semesters to be "legisperitus". I think it is time they were reigned in. Thinking on it... Any ideas? Obviously it needs start with statutory legislation. Insurance is big money, and money is the root of all evil. Just releasing a bit, well in fact a lot of stress. Should have been asleep long ago..., Yet this crap keeps going around in my mind...

Indeed. I just got the paper copy of the email they sent on Monday, saying they are cancelling my policy. It will be kept, along with everything else.. I am starting to make a case for the financial ombudsman to delve into, should my policy be cancelled, on the grounds that as the email containing the notice to cancel actually arrived before the reminder document landed on my doormat, clearly I was not able to rectify the mistake that the reminder was issued to advise of. In addition, I made several attempts to adhere to the scope of the reminder letter, only for further demands to be made, despite agents of devitts previously admitting everything was now resolved. I absolutely do not expect to have to put this into practice, it is just poor admin at devitts causing it all and everything will turn out fine. However, it pays to be prepared. From what I understand, given the grievous long term implications of a cancelled policy, the financial ombudsman takes a very dim view of unfair cancellations. I wish I had not been lazy and read through those policy docs.... Rest assured, once the policy expires, I will not darken devitts door ever again. Just typed out a timeline of events thus far. Luckily, in a previous life, a big part of my job was fighting ambulance chasing lawyers and fighting future court cases that probably may never happen. I have a certain "nose" for laying the groundwork for the professionals to get their teeth into. Let's hope I have wasted my time and I do not need it, but the evidence I have collated and jotted down is pretty damning, esp if they cancel and charge a cancellation fee, which they have already said they would do. That is the final nail in the coffin. as far as the financial ombudsman is concerned. In legal terms, they receive a "valuable consideration" if they cancel, therefore it could be proved, given the circumstances that it is in their interest to cancel, whether fair or not. Root cause of this predicament is my mistake, I am not a victim in that regard, however the ongoing incompetence displayed by devitt is really starting to piss me off. Not one of my emails or documentation has been acknowledged in writing. How long does it take to type " we have received your documents and found everything in order" and press SEND, actually less than 20 seconds, I counted...

Well, I gave in and sent them a new licence check code once again. The reason I gave in is the fact that the email and my reply is a convenient way of documenting that I have indeed sent what they asked for. It only takes a couple of minutes to get a code. Of more interest, DVLA records if the code has been read and when. The last code was checked on the 19th of Feb. Proof in writing that I sent it and they checked it. I no longer trust Devitt as far as I could throw them. What a piss poor organisation. Take away from this is always read the paperwork and do not forget to send them your proof of no claims (even though you can only use your no claims on one vehicle - probably why they ask you if you own other vehicles) and Driving licence check code. Here is where you get it.. View or share your driving licence information - GOV.UK

OK. Not a lot to go on, but just ease yourself in carefully. Bit like easing yourself down into your favourite chair after a,long and harduous day at work.. Thats just fine.. And welcome.