22 May 2010: Recognition and Service

Recognition at Service


Shadowfax and I took a reluctant hop over to Portsmouth Motorcycles to pick up some oil , a filter, and rear pads it being calculated by my poorly tired old head Shadowfax was due a 8,000 mile service that very day. The mirror cowls held but I was paranoid they'd part company – so I had taken extra precaution to check their retainers would retain.

I was given the speedo for Shadowfax's last 16,000 mile service by the parts guys; 76,366. Today was showing 82,738 – only 6,405 miles since service. Oh, well. The Sun was out and Shadowfax hasn't had much attention lately.



Taking a quick look at helmets on the way out with my carrier and a bloke says, “is that your white Pan out there?” Now, last time I had a Pan-Clan leaflet thrust in my mits – so I'm cautious; “Yes?”
“I'm PompeyAndy off the forum – you're Shadowfax!”
Wow. I've not been recognised before. Oh, the joy: my id! (Funny, I thought all that forum nonsense was an experiment into the world of social learning...?)

Anyway, Andy's a guitar tutor (I have a guitar I can't play) and is a teacher (I like teaching), and rides a white ST1100 (I like white bikes). We had a good old natter and hoped to hook up on a Bacon Butty Ride out some time soon – when he's not playing gigs. (That's not a freaking job!)

Back home, I reluctantly changed Shadowfax's oil, taking care to learn from my first experience resulting in burns and bruises. This time it went well except the oil filter had been over-torqued by the stealers last service and was a pain to remove – earning some bruises and a skinned knuckle.

Next I stripped Shadowfax's RHS cowl to fit the HID replacement. There was no point removing the whole H4 assembly in the end and I got away with slipping in just the bulb and hi/lo device. I was going to tidy up the cables for easier access next time but they'd have risked fouling the forks so left as they were.


The dead HID

It's great to have the twin plasma canons back on line.

There was a little concern the bulb would wobble more than the out-going one. It seemed very shaky as I put it in. Its an interesting design - the hi-lo device has a motor to push or retract the bulb in or out to focus the plasma ball where the normal hi-lo filaments sit. The position of the filament affects the focus of the light; hi beam , or low.

I drew the following graphic to explain the thing on ST-Owners.com. I've had no feedback but it passed a moment.

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