What did you do to your bike today?

[Fiddlesticks]

Fitted a top box and back cushion.  Maybe get a bit of a tour in before the end of the summer.

[onesea]

48mpg and my daughter thought we where going faster than normal…

Even past the Mach Loop and had a plane fly over…. 

[S-Westerly]

Rode to South London via Guildford and Motolegends. Having melted in 30 C heat bought a mesh jacket for my jolly to Germany. My mate who lives near Guildford showed me his magnificent new 1979 Honda CBX 1000Z. What an awesome bike and the exhaust note is utterly fantastic. Probably be banned in half of Europe!

[linuxrob]

Tomorrow I am off to the Whitby regatta on the 1980 Z500. Will be parking up nr the VJMC N Yorks stand on the green behind Whitby Pavilion. If you`ve not been before just follow the brown tourist signs for Whitby Pavilion. Lots to see and chat about. As usual at this event there will be a concours competition with members and the public voting on best in show.
Sunday the VJMC s N york stand will be at Hornsea Bikefest which is held in Hall Garth Park just off the High St in Hornsea that runs from 10-5pm. I can not attend unfortunatly but there will be plenty to see and do.

[Fish]

I think tomorrow I'll be taking the Akrapovic off the tracer ready for sale/trade in.

[S-Westerly]

Well today I rode from south London to Epinal in France and it was stinking hot. I used the shuttle and after I return on it that will be the last time i ever set foot on that particular form of transport ever again. It might be quick but at 0630 to find there's no working toilet on the entire train sucks. On ferry you can grab a coffee and a bacon butty. I am absolutely banjoed now but after a couple of beers and a bite feel more human. On to the black forest tomorrow. 

Edited August 12, 2022 by S-Westerly
Stupid bloody predictive text.

[Fiddlesticks]

Most of my bike jobs today revolved around stands. And glue. Probably not an ideal combo, we shall see..

 

First job was that nasty clang,  the sound of metal on metal when the centre stand springs upwards with the force of a medieval catapult. I had some spare rubber cabinet feet in the cellar. A quick modification with a hacksaw and Bob's your mother's brother.

 

 

The second job was the sidestand puck, which came with a metal bracket that is supposed to clamp around the foot. It didn't, and I wasted far too much time and energy with a hammer trying to persuade it. In the end, I just scuffed up the surface with sandpaper and poured epoxy into the recess. The bike is proving to be a useful clamp while it dries. It will either work or it will fall off. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

Lastly the phone mount, mostly because I'm too cheap to buy a sat nav. Here, I chopped off the handlebar clamp, shaped, sanded and painted the metal edge, and screwed it to the Triumph mount that came with the bike, with a bit of thread lock for good measure. There's about 2mm free with the bars fully turned, but it seems solid.

 

One concern was that I found a spot of dot 4 fluid had leaked from the clutch reservoir. I checked it when I got the bike a couple of weeks ago, and it was very full. Either I've not put it back well, there's been some expansion in the heat, or a bad seal somewhere.  Will keep an eye on it.

 

After the tyre change we have messy black tyre lube all over the Axminster. My mate happened to have an old carpet he was disposing of so, to the vexation of Mrs. Fiddlesticks, who does not believe in carpets in garages, much less ones that have been liberated from skips, it is being "fitted" tomorrow. (The term is used loosely, more "thrown on t'floor" ).

 

Night all...

 

 

Edited August 12, 2022 by Fiddlesticks

[S-Westerly]

Made it to Ulm. Yesterday was a slog across northern France and no fun at all. Today through the Vosges and the Black Forest was sheer fun. Took about 8 hours on the scenic route but was very enjoyable.

[S-Westerly]

Now in Munich and drinking beer with my brother. Unfortunately his daughter is in a bad way from a psychiatric point of view and has suffered bullying, physical and cyber at the hands of some Russian bitch. So not all fun and games.

[billy sugger]

Clutch now rebuilt and engine back in frame.. Managed to break the connector off the thermo switch in the radiator in the process, new ones are £67!. Found a cheaper version, same part number online so ordered one. Now need a new chain slider and all side panels, because I can't find the underneath seat ones and I managed to melt the front ones when I accidentally set fire to the garage. I charged the battery up, and the bike actually turns over, so I must have got something right so as soon as the switch arrives it will get coolant and oil added (also need new oil filter, on its way from SBS, via this forum) 

[Gerontious]

Turned the cover. Bike is outside so I turned the cover inside out so it was white and controlled the heat a little better than if it was the right way round and black. But cooler weather and rain is coming. Not today… but on Thursday I went out for a ride. Fearful that the heat might have done for the lithium battery. But it started just as any other time. Instantly. Been hotter than it w as in Italy in June. Quite bizarre.

[JRH]

Went out for a long run, Leamington, Worcester, Hereford, Leominster the back to Leamington. I found the rain it persisted from Hereford to Leominster. Then dried up and got hot. But still a good day out on the bike.

[onesea]

Tightened the head stock bearing and chain for good measure..

[Gerontious]

4 hours ago, onesea said:

Tightened the head stock bearing and chain for good measure..

I do like a good measure. But life is going to get complicated once our dear leaders get rid of eu surrender metric and replace it with the queens own patriotic flag waving imperial. I have no idea what a chain is. I thought I knew, but I don’t mean that one but the other one. What fraction of a chain is my chain?

[S-Westerly]

I think someone is yanking chains.

[onesea]

1 hour ago, S-Westerly said:

I think someone is yanking chains.

How many shackles is that?

 

@Gerontious

Imperial/ metric, I spent a while working in an industry where it was normal to order 6" diameter by 2m long with particle size in microns and weights in yards and Oz's.

The Best Bit was it worked.. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by onesea

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Once prices go back to groats all will be fine. That will fix inflation.

[JRH]

18 hours ago, Gerontious said:

I do like a good measure. But life is going to get complicated once our dear leaders get rid of eu surrender metric and replace it with the queens own patriotic flag waving imperial. I have no idea what a chain is. I thought I knew, but I don’t mean that one but the other one. What fraction of a chain is my chain?

I worked for an international company that had offices  in Europe and USA. The fun was always in liaising between the two area when States department were suppling into Europe and the Germans / French were having kittens because everything was in Inches. The Italians didn’t care one way or another. However all the Europeans agreed “wire nuts” were not the best way to terminate onto 3 phase motors

[Fiddlesticks]

My dad was a machinist who worked on railway rolling stock.  He would use millimetres and thousandths of an inch in the same measurement.

[Pie man]

22 hours ago, Gerontious said:

I do like a good measure. But life is going to get complicated once our dear leaders get rid of eu surrender metric and replace it with the queens own patriotic flag waving imperial. I have no idea what a chain is. I thought I knew, but I don’t mean that one but the other one. What fraction of a chain is my chain?

Its just not cricket or is it. 22 yards or as they say, 1 Chain.  

[Gerontious]

12 minutes ago, Pie man said:

Its just not cricket or is it. 22 yards or as they say, 1 Chain.  

 

I need to know what fraction of a chain my chain is to the nearest 16th or 8th if you want to cut me some slack with my slack.

and don't get me started on the O rings. my nerves can't take it. especially if they start to swell up and create unsightly bulges.

 

I might have to go the whole 0.005112 of a mile. exhausting.

[bonio]

Time to get off down from you rod, pole or perch, mate. Especially as a rod plus a pole plus a couple of perch is precisely a chain.

[billy sugger]

9 hours ago, bonio said:

Time to get off down from you rod, pole or perch, mate. Especially as a rod plus a pole plus a couple of perch is precisely a chain.

Sounds more like a fishing trip 

[bonio]

@S-Westerly 1 rod = 1 pole = 1 perch = 1/4 chain

[Gerontious]

27 minutes ago, bonio said:

@S-Westerly 1 rod = 1 pole = 1 perch = 1/4 chain

 

He'll be getting out his slide rule next and beware... if he starts waving his log tables around it could turn nasty.