Saul

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.

I do know that but thinking of you in a monkey suit made me laugh more Anyway the Monkey suit guy was Urko but still made me laugh

Fuck me that is a blast from the past, just laughed way to long at that. Definitely a 1970's reference

Going stir crazy today as I haven’t been out on 2 wheels for 10 days or more. Had to run a couple of errands so took Shadows bike for a run, she’s hasn’t been on it for maybe 2 months. She has had health issues and it’s hit her confidence a bit. Anyway not dwelling on that, it was good to go out on a bike even if it was a 125. Throughly pleasant little thing as long as you’re not in a hurry. It handles well with plenty of grip even in the wet, Not sure I could cope with life at mostly 50 mph. Just feel to vulnerable with next to nothing in reserve. Better than not riding though.

What a stunning pup, he looks a lot like my dog only younger . Congratulations on you new buddy

Living the Dream Skip

I have had mine for 20 years, used it for my BMW Airheads many times in the past (if you have owned one you will know how obsessive carb balancing can be with those bikes). It's a great piece of kit that works well. Anyway in the time I have had it the the pipes that came with it have aged to the extent that are no longer usable. I tried softening them with heat but they are past use. I looked at sourcing some new genuine Carbtune replacements and it is cheaper to buy a Chinky set of gauges with all the adaptors and pipes than buying 4 new pipes for my Carbtune. I can bin the Chinky gauges if I need to and still have all I need to use my Carbtune again.

If it were up to me I would put in a gravel path but my Mrs likes to call the shots in the garden . I couldn’t care less, she leaves me alone regarding bikes and stuff so that’s all I care about really.

Spent a few more hours on the Sprint this morning. When I got the bike the oil light worked but after a few starts it went out but sort of glowed when the motor was running. I didn’t worry to much it didn’t run badly at all, I thought electrical gremlin more than low oil pressure. A gamble I know but that was the choice. Anyway when I changed the clocks I put new bulbs in the idiot lights as there were some cheap LEDs in the old clocks. The oil light never worked again. I checked the oil light bulb again and it was fine. Oil pressure switch is a known weak point I was advised by the Triumph cognoscenti. So replaced that and no joy it made no difference. I got the manual out and studied the wiring diagram. Traced the wiring runs from joint to joint. All good until I checked the last one between the pressure switch to the first connector behind the battery box. So simple enough to fix, ran a new wire and replaced the connector. Covered everything in dielectric grease reassembled everything and the job was done. All technically simple enough but it took bloody ages tracking the different connections on the loom and making sense of the wiring diagram next to the bike. I got there in the end but what made it more of a ball ache was that some of the wiring colours were different to the illustration in the Triumph workshop manual. Yes I checked I was using the right diagram with the bikes Vin. Must have just been a random week that mine was built in Hinckley Works perfectly now though. Next job is to sort the low fuel light.

It's the main route up through the garden, the dog is charging up and down there several times a day, it's also the main route to get my bikes put away so it's hard on the grass this time of year. You can get grow through vehicle matting to lay on the grass to stabilise it. I think I will be buying some of that soon as I don't want to take my bikes out because it's almost impossible to get them back up the path on my own they just spin up and tear the grass up more.

Like the bloody Somme out there today. Going stir crazy waiting to get out on two wheels