Shadowfax-ST Blog

Shedding Light on the Situation Risers in place; came Sunday morning and some sunshine to warm through an otherwise dank day. Fresh with success and eager to prove the spanners and sockets are good for more than hammering into rounded-out bolts, and that I have sufficient finesse in matters mechanical when put to the fore, I looked at Shadowfax and promised not to hurt him; if I could help it. We'd rehearsed the cowling (fairing, to we Brits) removal including the taking out the bottom cowl (belly pan), mirrors (mirrors), and inner cowl (little bit inside the big bit under the handlebars) but nothing could have prepared me for the ease with which everything came off and piled on the front lawn like some posh Steptoe's yard. An organised workshop area - Steptoe's Yard! Fitting Then the tricky bit. I created a cradle out of zip/cable-ties in which I formed a "bomb" out of the shiny ballast, 23,000 Volts box, and big connecting plug and socket, which fitted within th...

Bike-Quip Handlebar Risers It was Saturday and there was not much time to be "Farkling" about with cables and plasma bombs, so I opted to have a bash at installing the Bike-Quip handlebar risers, which arrived very promptly this week. I mean; a couple of bolts - just like junior meccano, which I can usually just about handle (with the help of a responsible adult). So, tools. I dug out a socket and limited spanner set, some hex keys from ancient history and other bits and pieces you might recognise from the British Science Museum. The instructions, wryly written by Bike-Quip's Keith Munro, called for plenty of towels, plastic bags, and hot water. This was quite a baby we were expecting! I wrapped the handlebars in small towels and bags and lay a larger (United Nations) towel over Shadowfax's tank to give some protection from spanner-rash by proxy and arranged the tools around the area I was required to work in (driveway). Following the instructions I bore down on the 6...

ST Community Site While researching the purchasing and fitting required of the Bike-Quip and HID lamp I came across the ST-Owners forum again - and registered. I'm not rightly in to community sites and I struggle to keep up with Facebook where I have many valued friends and a few "Friends" who may only be collecting as part of a "total number of friends race" for all the actual contact they have made. I find it all daunting - not as an age thing, but I really do value my friends but lament never quite having the time I feel I should have to invest in their routine maintenance: thus, I fall in and out of contact as easily as the talibanees seem to. However, here's a community of not-all " hairy-arsed " enthusiasts who facilitate and engage newbies - and that's quite rare of any similar site I've lurked over. Already, I've been welcomed. Given that here were some 30-odd new members over the few days either side of my joining the group I...

If Carlsburg made buffs... I recently bothered to put my hand in my trouser pocket and find it empty of cash so I asked Ka to pay for an Anti-FREEZE neck warmer ("Body-Shield" in addition to the balaclava bought before and which I just can't get on with (tunnel vision)). We were in Trevor Pope's when we bought my Son his gear for the Tigers a couple of weeks back. Now I've had the item a while I can consider it entirely tested and I'm actually madly impressed with its performance in the keeping holistically warm stakes except one small flaw; it doesn't always seal beneath the helmet. Overall, it really is a "must-have" piece of kit for the winter - it has more wind-proof coverage than the balaclava and, stopping short at the helmet borders around the nape of the swede it hasn't any of the drawbacks of the vision inhibiting and space eating (head compressing) of the full-face garment. It's hem line is a little thick; is all. It gets rucked...

Out on a Limb It's Friday night - I have two sets of instructions out; one for fitting the HID lamp and one for fitting the Bike-Quip risers that arrived this morning after only 2-days thinking about them. The risers are there because Ka is simply at wit's end with my whinging about how, by Wednesday, my back is in tatters from the 300-miles ridden already and how the next 200-miles will have me crippled come sun-rise Saturday morning. Friday night and I'm certainly not feeling subtle, Darling. (Get down off the top of the wardrobe!) Last night I even made two PowerPoint presentations to print with the fairing removal instructions. I'm reading them and rehearsing in my mind what on Earth, "14-foot-pounds" could possibly mean. I've only recently got a grips with x-lbs p.s.i! Should I phone Gregg and ask for supervised time in his warm garage; or should I stick with it and go solo? My Sister-In-Law, Nicky arrives tomorrow. "Where's Pat?" She as...

Well HID There's a lot going on at the moment and I'm not getting any day-light to play with my new HID light, which arrived of Ebay late last week. I've now read and re-read the instruction and I'm a little nervous about its fitting: I need to remove much of the fairing (or, cowling if we get technical) and I have to fit the bulb in the tightest of spaces. It's all the unknown - this is serious mechanicals in the spirit of Farkles. There's an offer to use the garage at the back of our family mechanic's home (thanks, Gregg), which Ka is pushing me to take up but she fails to read the hormonal undertones in this challenge. I'm a bloke and I need to do this stuff without support to be have any chance of riding with my head still held high. She doesn't understand and even chats to the 18-month old next door on the off-chance she might be able to lend me a hand with the dangerous art of swinging a spanner. (Cow. (Ka, not the 18-month old next year, to my...

Bloody Week It all started on Wednesday; not the week, of course because that started on the Monday as weeks traditionally do, but the difficult and noteworthy week all came about from the middle day of the week. I had a gentile start to the commute but made a single aggressive launch onto the Fareham end of the Gosport stretch of the A32 to avoid a hap-hazard red light: I just made it and didn't upset anyone. Along we progressed and onto the urban dual carriageway. A slow filter into the centre and a crawl along the early-morning dazed commuters; eyes open to jittery attempts to swap lanes and blind lurches to do the same. No trouble; a set of typically well-behaved and bike-savvy road colleagues let us through unhurried but, then... She made good eye contact in the mirror but the car had already caught my eye from 3-lengths back. I was (thank God) approaching with high caution. I changed lanes behind her from left to right and gave a hesitation to allow her to do the same but she...