Saul

Thanks, HH the soft lad cried when he saw it. Apparently he thinks it looks better than when he bought it. I don't know as it has always looked like a death trap to me but he had the bike long before he met Shadow. All I can say is that I am glad he liked his birthday present and I enjoyed playing bikes doing it. Reminds me of being a kid and having to make stuff good myself as paying someone was out of the question.

Ohh what you got?

Cheers. He is, but if it were my bike I would have taken much longer over the job, looks good from a few feet away but not so much up close. But you know teenagers they want everything right now. He doesn't understand why I am taking my time over the Sprint but I want it right so I feel it's good. Again my problem I suppose.

Got the Kwacker death trap back together. The repaired panel is looking ok but my eye is drawn to the imperfections. The mirrors look odd but work pretty well so I suppose that again is my problem. You can tell this bike has been down several times as there are multiple broken fairing mounts and alignment issues. Got it all secure but had to use a few discrete cable ties where mounts used to be. Suppose I need to be less critical as HH is chuffed to bits and out with my Mrs and Shadow for a birthday lunch. Looks better from some angles than others but is an improvement from where we started and does have it’s full compliment of indicators. For contrast this is the side I haven’t touched. I would like to give it a good clean but will wait for the new paint to cure first.

I think he is just a Jonah. He's been off on Ice and Gravel and was knocked off by a DPD van. He's ok on the bike really, nowhere near as competent as Shadow but ok. His main problem is that he doesn't plan ahead or allow for road conditions. Hopefully he will learn.

Cheers, I'm sure it will look okay when it is on the bike. HH last tumble shook him up so I'm hoping he will stay upright for awhile now.

He has thanked me several times. . He is a good lad. I wouldn’t being doing it else. Finished, not perfect but better than it was, much better than the other side. Which I will do at some point. Needs Fork seals first.

There is a heater in there, twas 9 degrees here but around 25 in the tent thing. Perfect to spray the fairing panel. It's up the shed drying now, I'll see the results in the morning.

Tried out my new paint booth.

Cheap as chips really I think I paid £11 for mine. I have since bought another box of staples for £7 but worth it for the occasional time you might actually need it. First go at filling, just given it a dust coat of paint when that flashes off there are some spots that will need some fine knife filler but I am not going for perfection only tidy. I am sure you could get it perfect with enough time and effort. Not worth it in this instance.

Well it’s How High’s 19th birthday tomorrow so I have bought him some new mirrors and am fixing the crash damage on the right hand side of the bike best I can. I have got a spare indicator and in the process of patching up the fairing. I recently bought a hot stapler to stick the fairing back together. Works surprisingly well, much better than I thought it would. Still gotta patch two holes and fill the cracks but I am hoping it will look presentable from 10 feet once I have painted it satin black. Holes filled with fibreglass. Hideous mirrors, but it is what he wanted.

The Oxford Heated grips on my CBF were worn smooth and the controller was on its last legs so I treated it to a new set of the same. Also while I had it stripped down I fitted an upgraded Scott Oiler that I was generously given a few weeks ago. I will put the simpler Scott oiler on my Hornet. I bought the commuter versions of the Oxford grips as they are significantly cheaper and don’t have the smart controller. They only have 2 settings but I never used the 5 levels of heat on the standard version of the heated grips. Plus they have an on off switch rather than a load of buttons. I also took the CarPlay GPS off the bike as I just wasn’t using it. To much clutter on the bars.

Just got to do a valve check then the Sprint will be confidently on the road.

Finally got the chance to sync the carbs. Bike is ticking over beautifully. Throttle response is spot on and sounding very smooth. Short of getting a colour tune and playing with the air screws not sure there is much else to be done. As to the chinky gauges I am amazed at how good they are for £19.99. Not suggesting they are the best but the appear to be working very well.

I've only been out twice, once on my CBF600 and once on Shadow's bike. I will see if I can get something up before the weekend.