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I got on the beans a bit today, the bike is producing a lot of torque right from 1500 rpm through to I don't know where as I haven't gone past 5000 yet. It produces more from tickover it needs less juice to get going. I reset the throttle response to standard which was definitely the right thing to do. At the top end where the lack of Horsepower was evident before it just keeps going now so bhp is well up. Acceleration is very fast, I was the A68 for a while and passed a ton of cars and bikes, probably a couple of Hyabussa as well but it was hard to see them as they disappeared in my rear view mirrors. Climbing up into the Lammermuir hills it never missed a beat and the torque was relentless. It's a lot nicer to ride now, feels like a different bike. The valve train noise is really smooth now and the bike sounds really nice, different from before. I also noticed the sheep ran off more quickly but that might be just because it's a Harley and they didn't want to get raped.

It's all back together and the new air filter system is on.

Well I got 120 miles in after church, I have 250 since Monday so will drop the oil out this week to clear out all the assembly lube and anything from the new parts. Will also an auto tune or two, I think it is running a bit rich at the moment.

**URGENT MESSAGE** A very good friend of mine has bought tickets to fly to the Isle of Man to watch the Races on Friday the 5th of June. The problem is that he completely forgot that Friday is in fact his wedding day. This is because he bought the tickets ages ago before agreeing to the wedding date. Now he's asked me to post on his behalf to see if anyone wants to take his place? The wedding is at 2pm and all paid for you just need to show up - he assures me she'll make a terrific wife

condolances mate, as you know i lost my soul mate in October, i am with you all the way, every week i end crying as some thing will just spring into my my mind. I am told it gets better.

Milestone on the old CBF today.

RIP Pete. 2 years ago today you left us. Never will be forgotten.

So they are a group of lone wolves?

Today me and @Sofia rode to the Algarve, to then unload a truck full of rental bikes ready for our next tour. With guys arriving from Ireland through the day tomorrow. View from the hotel room: Bikes waiting:

It's a side business Sofia started, we do custom guided tours tailored to what people look for. We try to keep it simple and casual like if you were to go on a road trip with a friend showing you around, so no support vehicles or anything like that. We haven't done many, it's basically going from word of mouth. On this trip all bikes are rented from a partner here that has a nice fleet of bikes from scooters to R1300GSA, in this case they're going to be three different sizes of CF Moto, a Transalp and an Africa Twin. We've had people coming from the UK on their own bikes though, and we meet them on the border or exiting a motorway somewhere.

It's going to be 2200km in total, starting and ending in the same town in the Algarve because most are flying from Cork and the only direct flights are to Faro. 8 days riding so people arrive during the afternoon before and leave the day after, to them it's 10 days here. Faro is lovely because it pretty much guarantees nice weather for the start and end of the trip. Shorter distance planned for one day is 250km, longest is 360km, but I can improvise to get away from the weather or take them somewhere more challenging if we feel like, it's all away from bigger roads except one day we hop on a motorway for a couple of hours to go and visit the AJP factory, which is interesting to them as two or three have AJPs at home. We'll have two nights sleeping in the same place in the Douro valley so on that day it'll either be off the bikes or anything from 100 to 300km according to their desire to do more or less, being me and Sofia also means we can split the group if some want to ride and others want to go visit a vineyard, go on a boat ride or just hang around the pool. Older rider is almost 75, I think, and younger is into his 60s but I'm told they're bike fit. It's all inland, so far away from coastal towns and big cities except first and last night. We'll eat mostly in typical unpretentious places, so they'll get a taste of the food as well, including a night in which I might cook a nice beef BBQ on coals. I hope it's good weather, the forecast was gloomy a few days ago but now it's looking like it's improving day by day. It'll be the biggest tour Sofia has organized, with 7 bikes plus us 2, usually we do 1 to 3 and I prefer that but they're a close group of friends who usually wouldn't want a tour guide except they're treating this as a no planning week with their friends.

Stopping by my mechanic today to take off the current tires and put the gay dunlops back on. The current ones have a while to go yet but next week I'm going to be taking a group of Irish around the whole of Portugal, and I don't think there's enough life left in them for that. It'll be a very cool trip if the weather cooperates, but 2200km, plus getting to the Algarve and back as that's where we're starting and finishing.

When you have a friend with a Harley....be prepared to be constantly running to the dealer for repairs...loose baffles in Roland's machine..lol. Wasn't planning to come up for a ride , cause me and BillyRay did 300 km or so in 33c yesterday..and Im looking like a cooked lobster...nice 22 c today. Few more pics from today, Roland managed to get a demo out , took it for about 40 km or so...

I was going to make my own exhaust but on a trial, welding tube pieces together I found it difficult to make them neat as I don’t have a rotary thing which turns the work piece so I have to stop every few seconds to reposition everything. I also don’t have a way of purging the inside of the tube with argon so the inside of the weld looks shit and I’m not sure how that would affect the strength long term …. So I gave up and bought a used one. Even with the rough mock up exhaust the kick stand hits the muffler so I thought I would drill and tap a socket head screw into the yoke of the kick stand so by winding the screw in or out I could control how far the stand closed in the up position to keep the end clear of the can. Even being very careful with the tap the bloody thing broke off in the hole and I don’t have a broken tap extractor & at 4mm it might be too small anyway. Plan B, after some shouting a swearing, biuld up a weld on the thing the kick stand closes against and I can then file it down to suit once I have the new exhaust…then find I’m on the last gasp of Argon so had to do it with the min possible gas flow rate so it looks shit, but at least it will / should work. I was too annoyed and irritated to take any photos

My bike only carries one passenger, the bus carries 130. The company wouldn't be too pleased.

Duuuuuuuh Newport Gwent or Newport Pembrokeshire your reply has now made it complete.

You’re a ray of sunshine

Four gigs done and knackered. Newport is vastly improved from the last I was there 20 years ago.

Fitted a radiator gaurd today . The rad had taken a bit of a biff after on off last time I was out, it's very slightly crushed at one end but no coolant loss that I can see .

Cheeky bottle of white from the Napoli region with tonights pasta .......

Well I was thinking of having the timing chain , tensiner and guides replaced...not having the proper tools here to take on such a job , deceided to take it to the dealer , that was a month ago , the service tec , insisted that I bring it right away before the summer rush starts...so I did...

Pushrods and lifters are all in, clutch cable is attached to the gearbox. I decided to do some painting on a few bits before I refit the exhaust as it will be a pain to do afterwards so got that done and put the bike away to let the paint dry properly. Will finish up during the week.

this is Fred's entry. He wishes to point out that absolutely no photoshop was involved here and up yours @Buckster

Hornet at Helston with Seaking

On the sauce again.

Theres only 1 retard on here and he got banned for a month recently....

Rear brake caliper rebuilt , should be good for another while.........

Going to Jean's place in a wyll to help him install some forward controls on a old 2003 vmax 4 that he picked up this winter...the bike is in half decent shape...ill try to snap a few pics...I keep telling him...you better be careful when you take that thing out...has he never ridden anything else than a Harley...I think he's in for a surprise...lol.

Yesterday I went to the opening of a new Trumph dealership in Porto, because Sofia was invited. I parked the GS on the other side of the street behind some cars The Speed Triple is, by far, my favourite current Triumph.

At 40k miles, i had to fix a leak in my 950's engine. Was told that it would be $1500 just to tear it down to the point where they could figure out where the leak was. Suggested that while they were at that level there was a bunch of other work that should be done. I asked them for a rough estimate - $4k. I then asked them if people just threw these bikes away at 40,000 miles. Didnt get an answer.

All back together..the seal came in yesterday afternoon at the dealership...was planning to have it sent by mail..but didn't want to take any chances for it not being here Friday..so I borrowed my mom's car wich is a little easier on petrol..lol. Should be out in hour or so to test things out..

I didn’t go for the extra knobbly ones. The choice wasn’t great due to the weird size rims. Keeping the high bars so not gone full artisan coffee, but I’ll fit the cup holder tomorrow

Weather still to cold to do any morning rides...it's 2c at the moment...but we had a few afternoon of 15c or so and was able to take the indian for a few times...has the ktm is still waiting for parts...sure was nice to take the bike out after this long winter...

Waiting for the throttle cam, deceided to clean the front sprocket area to remove the old chain lube...when I pulled off the clutch slave , a big table spoon of engine oil leaked out of it..from what I could tell the clutch pushrod seal was leaking...still waiting for the seal...suppose to be in this week...anyway the manual called for the pushrod to be removed in order to replace the seal...I didn't want to drain the oil has it was still fresh or take apart the pressure plate..so I did the old screw in the seal trick..

Welcome back

Got quite a bit done today, although it still looks like a bag of crap. With the exception of the hazard lights ( need a switch) all the lights work, rad is back on, back brake works, forks back together. Still trying to find a 6.5" old school headlight that I like, then I can burn the £12 alliexpress one that's on there. I might leave the tank as it is ... and I have a second one that I might eventually get painted. Need to find somewhere to stash the ignition barrel, and make a coolant expansion tank. Oh and get my wheels back. Still awaiting the front brake lines. I can't alter the stand, or make the exhaust until I get the wheels back and I can see how much space a have to play with in front of the back wheel.