MooN

I was lucky.

well I didn't punch anybody ?

I instantly thought of you when I felt that bolt let go! ?

This was supposed to be a ride report! first day for ages that the temp wasn't around freezing and I was at home and had nothing else planned for the afternoon. Quick ride I says to meself, get a few miles in before curfew... "Oh" said Pooh, " I'll just replace Tigger's broken rear indicator before going out, cos it's dangling and we don't like dangling, do we?" I discovered it Dangling a few days ago and had picked up a new one from Triumph in Dijon yesterday. Replace an indicator... quick job you'd think... I could do this on the transalp in about 10 minutes ( having had plenty practice at dropping the tralp and breaking them) It's fixed on with one allen head bolt threaded into an insert or a clip inside, and the two electrical connectors under the seat...right... WRONG! I lifted the seat to find that the wiring is all hidden away under the rear fairing thingy and I can't get to it AND the allen bolt is not threaded into a captive clip but into a nut that is clearly turning with it and that I can't reach either. "POO" said Pooh, "I'll have to take the rear rack / topbox carrier off to access behind the rear light." So, 4 bolts to remove the luggage rack, easy right... WRONG... 4 bolts ringed in red were so tight I fucked the 12mm 1/8" drive socked getting the second one undone, obviously you cant get a spanner to them and I only have my smallest socket set with me. " Bollocks" said Pooh, as he realised he was going to have to drive to work to pick up his toolbox. So 40km and 45minutes later, with a proper 1/2" drive 12mmsocket and 6" ratchet I managed to get all 4 bolts out but they were obviously heavily overtightened when fitted. That's the 4 bolts out then... yep, but wait...what's this? below the sliding rack for the topbox is the original rack, with 4 more bolts ( ringed in yellow) 10mm this time and though dry and tight they drew with some progressive force but only needed the little socket and drive. Lift off the rack and.... OH FFS! Another plate with 2 more 12mm bolts ( ringed in blue). remember this is all in order to access 1 electrical connection and 1 nut for the indicator. Big socket out again, first one waaaaaay tighter than it ever should be, 2nd one...I didn't even need the ratchet handle...? " FECK!" said Pooh, and swore loudly whilst throwing his toys out of the pram ? That's not normal! the bolt on the right came out first and the one on the left, from the marked hole, basically snapped as soon as I touched it. Not being a particularly patient bear, Pooh threw a wobbler at this point and sulked so hard that he didn't take any more pictures ? so I removed the passenger handle which left me with about 2mm of bolt proud of the frame, not enough to grab, or cut into, but luckily the broken surface was quite flat so a centre punch and a 3,5 and then 4,5 drill bit came into play, I only had a 6mm "easy out" in my box so that wasn't going to work but the easing oil I had applied earlier and the heat generated by drilling loosened it sufficiantly so that an old 4mm flatblade scredriver could be hammered into the hole I'd drilled into the bolt and used to twist the broken bolt end out. I was also lucky that I had an 8mm x 60mm stainless bolt in a box of bits in the shed that I could replace the broken one with. I replaced the indicator, checked it worked, and then put it all back together ( with a little grease on the bolt threads and not having a torque wrench, tightened to " contact + 1/4 turn" it was then nearly curfew time so I just managed to ride to the car wash and back, as I'd put it away dirty last time.

any reason why I often, but not systematically, get notifications twice? I just noticed for example that I got a notification that Tym hes reacted to a post in "x"thread, the notification icon top right of my screen shows a little red "2" and I have 2 identical notifications. as per below.

feck! there's an ignore button?! why wasn't I told? ?

nope, just everybody hides whenever they see him coming.

don't call it blood sausage Perdro mate, you'll have the philistines vomiting at the very thought, call it " black pudding" and they'll fight each other for it. ?

Hullo.

Nor deos Pete, he just changes bike so often that on a more or less regular basis the laws of probability mean that the latest bike happens to match whatever lid he's wearing.

it's just garlic butter with Parsley in it Pedro. As you say the only interest in the snail thing is the garlic butter, the snails themselves have little or no taste and I imagine very little nutritional value. I'm not a huge fan but the kids love them which is why Mother in Law cooks them, so I eat some, but i wouldn't choose them from a menu.

Uuuurrrrpssss.... Look what Mother in law fed us with this evening

ouch!

Pleonasm doesnt mean verbose, and I never said Buck was wrong I just said that Bus and harley come to the same thing. The Only problem Buck has is that he hasn't moved on from the quips and quolibets he made pete giggle with 15 years ago, stuck in the past... which would explain why he rides a Harley too.

That's scary...

two words with the same meaning ( i.e. Bus & Harley), a synonym in the same phrase = pleonasm.

is that not a pleonasm?

I had one of those, a black and red one, did 60,000km on it in 3 years and absolutely loved it, I could sit on it all day in comfort, and madame would doze of on the back...

Allo Allo, and welcome. Nice bike too ?

I'll just add it to my list of many talents Pete. I expect Glitch has been called worse, by better too. ?

who, him or me?

I like it but Pedro's right in that it is a bit gloomy, which is probably mostly down to the general colour.

Was drinking this Ninkazi and this lat night. Ninkasi is a Lyon brewery and I like most of their beer, The Japanese Kyoto was an experiment cos Madame likes fruity beers and this has a fruity lemony tang cos of the Yuzu content. It wasn't bad, drinkable but more a summer beer. Desperados lined up for lunch along with Jambon a L'os a la chablisienne with fried 'taters. We've just raided the local patisseries for a sticky bun dessert so I imagine the plan for this afternoon is reclining on the sofa like a beached whale, burping gently to assist digestion... ?

Put it this way Pete, NOBODY in Auxerre owns a Hummer

No1 daughter asked me to check on her car yesterday, as it's been snowing here a bit and she doesn't take her car to Dijon with her but leaves it in the street here. I went for a walk in the snow and then sent her this photo with the message; " been to check on your car, he's much happier now..." I can't underrstand why she's yelling at me... ?