Time like Tar

Verdict


Monday was really difficult. Firstly, I was back in the Alpha and the stagnation of car-in-traffic. Secondly, I was worried about what might tip up on Dilbert.

I drove up via Taylor's Garage and saw nothing. I drove home by M3 as I'd red-lined a little too often in the morning and needed to be more casual in the hot late afternoon heat. What a great choice - 30-minutes stuck for an accident at the M3 / M27 Junction.

Tuesday morning. Up the A32 and a quick pull-in to see if I could catch Dilbert naked. No such luck. Job done.

Nigel gave me the run-down; the engine's sweet, the bike has been looked after in his opinion (it had a pretty new air filter), the front tyre has a couple or three thousand miles to it, the disks aren't bad for the milage, the back brake needed a good clean and bleed but isn't that light to operate - get used to it, the carbs balanced up, the plugs were okay but re-gapped, the valves were sorted, and he should rattle a little less for some new nuts and bolts.

Total; £244.20 for 6-hours work and £38 of bits and lubes. Having not thought to load my bike gear in the car, "just in case", as Ka had warned I couldn't ride him away so needed to return that evening with Mrs G.

I'm quite relieved. When we picked it up later that night I sat astride "my bike" for the first time; not the "big bike", or "the Honda" in addition to the Sanya. This time, after a short absence, it felt right.

I was looking forward to the following morning's commute (having the wife driving behind you doesn't half cramp your style - even if she does happen to be a fellow speed freak.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Picking up Sherbert

Image
To recap, we'd been awake and travelling to Offenburg, Germany since 2:30 am. Bikemoto's offer of a free coffee felt overwhelmingly generous while we waited for Sherbert's paperwork to be readied. There was a hire agreement to cover our ride back to Ireland, the ownership documentation, Certificate of Compliance, manuals, sales agreements, and more. It all took time. All the time I was taking stock of the enormity of the day and second-guessing the plan. Self doubt I'd not ridden for nearly 5 years since fixing Arod's speedometer sensor and finding his fork seals were leaking. COVID 19 and working from home were little motivation to set things right. Now I am about to ride a new-to-me model of bike I've not ridden before. Sherbert is heavier than an ST1300, a weightier insurance liability, and has a dual clutch transmission (DCT). He's extra expensive to buy and more-so to fix. I'm riding on the right side of the road in Europe and with my wife rid
Read more

28 February - Jammed Screen Blues

Head Trauma The LHS winder for the screen is jammed. I’ve had the screen at a medium-high stetting for the cold and rain but this really gives some buffeting in some conditions – especially at speed on the M-ways. It was so bad on the way to Stoke I had to stop and hand-force the screen all the way down for some relief. It needs either another overhaul (gave it a good oiling when symptoms first appeared) or replacement, which is just so expensive. Even a knackered one from a ‘brakers seems to command an inflated £100+ tag. Daft greedy b’stards. Anyway – the jobs waiting for a quieter moment. Too much going on to rip the plastics off Shadowfax just now. We both have a job to do.
Read more

To Offenburg from beyond

Image
Offenburg is a couple of hours south of Frankfurt.  Initial plans were to fly to Frankfurt, catch a train to Offenburg, and then a taxi to the bike shop. Unfortunately, RyanAir fly to Frankfurt Hahn airport and don't hint at the fact Hahn is two hours west of Frankfurt. We discovered that gem after booking the flights. No plan survives first contact, right? So we adapted and hired a car to drive the 3 hours to Offenburg. Adapt or fail We learned that RyanAir will only allow helmets on spare seats–one helmet per seat by the read of it. Otherwise your life-saving equipment needs to go in the hold to be crushed, battered, and invisibly compromised by damage. Our new Shuberth C5s had arrived only a couple of days ahead of the flight in two smart boxes within a single purpose sized box. Mrs G called RyanAir and confirmed a 'suitcase' can be a box and what the maximum dimensions can be.  The box fitted the bill. Into Hahn Typically, the Friday flight out was at around 6am and w
Read more