If your bike is a Gen 1, have a read through the FAQ’s for New and Prospective Owners, at the top of this page. Pretty certain the answer’s there.

Next stop was the Ace, which had a celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of the making of the film The Leather Boys, which featured Dudley Sutton and Rita Tushingham. The turnout of period cafe racers was, I thought, a bit disappointing, but maybe that scene is not as heavily supported as it was only 10 or so years ago. Besides that, the records played were right up my street, with a backdrop of the film being shown. A drag around the south and north circulars is torture at the best of times, but now with the added bonus of endless 20mph limits, let's just say I won't be in a rush to do that again. A few pics from the Ace.

Quote from: Grahamm on 31 October 2023, 08:16:23 pm

Sounds like a born engineer 

If he shows interest, I'll start with measuring and marking (where to hit) 

Middle of the tank seems quite a favourite with bike dealerships. That’s what gets a lot of bike owners into diy maintenance, as they are quite capable of over tightening the chain and putting a scratch in the tank themselves, without the added expense.

Sounds like a born engineer 

Coming to a dealership near you .

Took the Triumph to the ULEZ emissions test centre this morning in Deptford. They operate a no pass no fee regarding the test, so now being £175 lighter it is ULEZ compliant.
If the weather stays dry I might have a crawl round the North Circ. to the Ace on Sunday for “ton-up” day. Plenty of rock’n’roll and hopefully plenty of proper cafe racers.

Without a doubt for the home diyer, Halfords Pro range is more than good enough. Kamasa made some good tools when they were made in Japan, also Gedore(German I think) was my first Whitworth/AF socket set. Can’t help being impressed though, by huge roll cabs stacked full with Snap On tools, even if just to look at .
I expect, like most things, that quality and longevity are not available and maybe not required anymore in a chuck away society. That’s no doubt what will happen to my stuff that’s for sure.

Any winter motorcyclists out there, next years Dragon is on the weekend of Feb 10/11. Tickets will be on sale very soon, all details on Conwy MCC website.

Haha - not gone yet.   

Never thought you would . Thought you were still on holiday

It’s surprising how little attention is given to traffic passing in the opposite direction. I have tried using a closed and rapidly opening fist towards the top of my crash helmet, ( to represent flashing), and have been warned accordingly using the same method, but many would not understand the message being conveyed.
On my trip to France last month a group of ten pals,were returning to England on the same day, on a similar route to me. In fact we passed each other on a long straight stretch of road between Vernon and Pacy sur Eure, and despite me flashing and waving, none of them saw me. So the chance of quickly conveying the presence of cops, other than a headlight flash, which of course is illegal in this country and certainly is in Spain, will be difficult I think.

Yesterday I took advantage of the last days of our summer for a whizz around my local counties, Surrey,Sussex and Kent. The first task was to check out quite a torturous route from home to the M25, that will get my non compliant car, out of the ULEZ zone with no charge. This will work until another strategically placed camera gets installed, although how long it stays active is another matter.
The plan for the day was to pick up the A22 southbound, for a while, before heading south east to get to the eastern section of the A272, leading to Heathfield and eventually Rye. The destination was Jo’s cafe, halfway along the A259 between Rye and Brenzett.
I had visited this cafe a few months back but it was close to their closing time. I was however impressed by the owners willingness to rustle up some bacon sarnies even though she had closed the kitchen. The full English was the order of the day, and very good it was too.
Saddling up after a chill in the sun outside, we continued our way to Brenzett before turning left towards home, but not before a stop off at one of our favourite pubs at Offham. After just the one, we split to go our respective ways home, my pal west on the A25 and me north, past Brands Hatch on the A20.
All in all a good day, with 158 of our lovely English miles passing under the Fazer’s wheels, hopefully not spoilt by the speed camera van on the Caterham bypass. Only time will tell.

Quote from: robbo on 26 September 2023, 04:51:50 pm

My Mrs not too happy with booking.com after a saga trying to book accommodation for my youngest grandson’s passing out parade at Dartmouth in December. Dealing with the owner is definitely the way to go.

I've come across several instances recently, where dealing with businesses directly, (and with cash) helps the world go round.

We’ve nearly always managed to deal with the owner for self catering holidays, but of late have used a hotel, mainly for the peace of mind of ABTA protection with a package booking. Just have to try and get in quick with any discount deals.

Down at the MOT station by 07:15 this morning to make sure I was first in the queue for the 07:30 opening. The MOT guy seems to get more and more thorough as each year goes by, but the Fazer came through, as I expected, clean as a whistle. Just got to refit my slightly smaller number plate and remove the db killer and normal service will be resumed.
Just over 47k pleasure miles have rolled under her wheels over the last 7 years since I bought her with only a measly 8k showing, and only a failed reg/rec being the only blot in the Fazers otherwise troublefree copybook.
My trip last week to Magny Cours for WSB  accounted for just a few miles short of 1k, and despite the really high 35C+ temperatures, she never missed a beat. I'll have to run her into winter for the first time as it's my only ULEZ compliant transport at present. I just hope I'll be able to keep on top of the cleaning.
Pic taken on one of the poorly signposted "deviations" that seem to be blighting northern France at the moment.