what have you done to your "bike" today

[AMCQ46]

These 2 lads are my god children.

Great fun being on track with them, even if the eldest one ( guy Martin helmet) is already as fast as me and he is only 12!!


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It sounds like you had some fun Al

A bit of a shock when that happens from a 12 year old when you’re not expecting it

Chris,

he is only 50 yrs younger than me, imagine how much faster he is going to get!

[sirch345]

These 2 lads are my god children.

Great fun being on track with them, even if the eldest one ( guy Martin helmet) is already as fast as me and he is only 12!!


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It sounds like you had some fun Al

A bit of a shock when that happens from a 12 year old when you’re not expecting it

Chris,

he is only 50 yrs younger than me, imagine how much faster he is going to get!

Exactly

Chris.ķ

[Duffy1964]

Well I feel Tony’s pain owning an Aprillia Brought a new battery, drained old fuel and put in new fuel. Turns it over and it gradually started.
Then every time I opened the throttle it cuts out
I think it’s a vacuum issue or a split diaphragm, but will investigate another day.


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[fabiostar]

Looking good duffy, id the same problem on my kids scoot and it was the vac line split.. hows the hoarding going then???

[Duffy1964]

I will give that a look Rob. Getting there up to 7 now might be 8 soon as I met a guy with a bounty LC 250 with a 350 engine and front end who is thinking of selling


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[tony.mon]

Well I feel Tony’s pain owning an Aprillia Brought a new battery, drained old fuel and put in new fuel. Turns it over and it gradually started.
Then every time I opened the throttle it cuts out
I think it’s a vacuum issue or a split diaphragm, but will investigate another day.


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I'll give you £160 for it, as long as it measures less than 41" to the top of the screen. I can take the mirrors and toolbox off. But it needs to fit in the motorhome garage.

If only a bit over, I can use tie down straps on the front end.

[freeridenick]

I was out last night seeing Red Snapper with a mate. The weather has been great so I decided to take the bike for its first proper spin. I loved it. Amazing amounts of torque and more comfortable than I thought. Roll on more warm dry weather.

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[sirch345]

I was out last night seeing Red Snapper with a mate. The weather has been great so I decided to take the bike for its first proper spin. I loved it. Amazing amounts of torque and more comfortable than I thought. Roll on more warm dry weather.

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Good news on how your first proper ride-out went Nick

Chris.

[MacV2]

So went out for a spin on The Murvinator, mainly to drop a package off & then get some fuel.

On the way back, the fast route

I was on approaching roundabout to take the third exit & spotted what seemed to be a bike with a rider next to it fiddling on the second exit... So aborted the exit swung back round & pulled up behind him...

Young chap with some sort of Chinese 125.

So after chatting with him turns out the chain had come off the rear sprocket & was a bit jammed.

He had been giving it his best, hands smothered in grease, so at least it was lubed up ok .

Only tool in sight was a screwdriver...

Do you have any tools to tighten it ? No but It's only 10mins to home...

Although I did have some tools I doubt the Storms 27mm spanner would be any good on the spindly spindle.

So quick bit of logic I said If I lift the back up It should take the weight off... Nice chunky grab rail stood it up lifted it up & he managed to get the chain over the top. Lowered it down wheeled it back a bit & the chain was back on, hanging down looser than Pat Butchers under crackers...

Guy says he has a new C&S to fit at home, advised him to try & get as much of the grease off his hands before putting his gloves on & ride nice & smooth, get up to 3rd & pootle home avoid changing gear too much.

I did offer to follow him home but he declined the offer.

Watched him ride off & glad to report he had full riding gear.

Happy days. Never leave a biker down.

[Pete.L]

Good on Ya Mac

I knew it wasn't true what the other's were saying about you

Pete.l

[MacV2]

Good on Ya Mac

I knew it wasn't true what the other's were saying about you

Pete.l

Few years ago I stopped to help a guy on a Vespa...

It was on the M25 so a bit dodgy. He had his son with him & had run out of petrol...

I whipped out my tube & made him do the sucking...

Bottle of fuel later & they were on their way...

[sirch345]

Good man Mac on both

Chris.

[tony.mon]

I went out yesterday to meet an old friend. I've known him since I was in my late teens, but since he split acrimoniously with his wife ten year ago, we've been out of touch.

He contacted me a few days ago and asked me to help him learn to ride his new bike. He's never ridden before, and is now in his sixties. He passed his part one in April, but then only bought a Mutt 125 adventure bike, with three sandwich boxes, a couple of weeks ago, so he's forgotten some of his training since then and has no confidence. He's wobbled round a local trading estate car park a few times, but has ridden less than 20 miles total since buying his bike.

So I went over to meet him, and we rode to the trading estate he's familiar with. He nearly dropped it at a standstill pulling off his drive, which slopes fairly steeply down to the road.

But he can pull away without stalling (although he forgot to put it into neutral a few times when stopping during the afternoon, so will have to work on that aspect). He follows the advice he was given in training, which was to dial in 3k revs and let the clutch out slowly. That works, of course, but what we all do instinctively, but he hasn't learnt yet, is that it's better to add throttle as you let the clutch out. That'll come in time, so we started on some basics, which I knew he would have done in training- figure of eights, nice wide turns, steady speed; building up his confidence and re-establishing his muscle memory.

Then a bit of slow speed riding, which caused kangarooing.
So I had a look at the bike. There was lots of throttle slack, which I adjusted out. The clutch lever had almost no slack but he has medium sized hands, so I adjusted that so that the bite point was nearer the bar.

Lastly I checked the chain, which was too slack. One of the adjuster sides was also finger tight, so the dealer's PDI wasn't too good. The onboard toolkit didn't have rear wheel spindle sized spanners, so back to his place to adjust it. Knowing that the new chain will stretch in the first fifty miles I left it just on the tight side of ideal, and showed him how to do it. He's not mechanical (an electrician) so has no intention of doing his own maintenance.
But he will manage the basics.

Then back out to see whether it was now easier to ride, which it was, but it now feels different, so there's a bit of re-learning to do.

Back to figure of eights, and this time I introduced using the throttle to pick the bike up as it drops into the turn, which he got right a few times, and understood it, so that'll come in time.

Next, how-slow-can-you-go exercises, using the back brake to keep speed down, while holding the clutch in a bit.
No more kangarooing, so that's another bit of learning locked in.

By then he'd had enough for the day, and we'd had a handful of rain drops, so we called it quits. Slalom turns can wait until next time.

I checked up on him later on, he was pleased with his progress; the adjustments on the bike made it much easier to ride and he's looking forward to another session in a week or so. To be fair, I don't think he'll ever trouble the "progressive" group on our rideouts, but it's good to see another rider out and about.

Oh, one other thing happened which probably didn't do his concentration and focus much good: while we were back at his house adjusting the chain, we heard a crash from his front room. His Alsatian had managed to pull over a tall glass fronted display cabinet, which had fallen face-first onto the carpet. They're doing up the house atm.
When we tried to lift it back up, apart from the broken glass, they'd put a tin of paint inside; the lid had come off, and the broken glass was mixing with green paint on their pink carpet.

To his credit, he just said "I'll sort that out later; with a bit of luck my other half will deal with it before we come back from riding".
So at least he's got his priorities right!

Funny how these things go.
I heard that he'd been in hospital over Christmas, I had dinner with his ex and a couple of friends last Friday.
Sent him a message last Saturday asking when he wanted to get back out on the bike now the weather's picked up.

He died that day, I discovered a couple of days later.
It's a bit sobering, tbh.
I've booked a festering bolok prostate test at the Doc's. It wasn't that that got him, but it's an easy one to get ahead of. No symptoms as yet; I'd rather keep it that way for a while.

Clock's ticking....best make good use of those sticky tyres, you never know when it's your last set.

Pirelli diablo rosso IV supercorsa's are going on the bike next time.
At my age I'm not that bothered about tyre longevity

[neil]

Tony, I know what your saying about clock ticking, I am planning to retire for the second time this year. Last time I tried in 2019, one month later I was in hospital with Guillain Barre Syndrome. Once I was able to and strong enough to do some work I wanted to prove to myself I could still do it. Looking forward to 2 months in Australia and buying a campervan and having time to get the Firestorm out again

[sirch345]

Tony, I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

I’m more or less the same age as you, so I know exactly where you are coming from,

Chris.