October 2021

 

October 2021

 

Another month gone and heading for winter with doom and gloom on the horizon and reading the attest issue of Road magazine I feel the British government is totally against motorcycles and motorcyclists even the great Khan doesn’t want us around the streets of London. I have not been able to buy a newer car and still have the ULEZ non-compliant 2005 Toyota that refuses to die and so will have to pay the toll until there is a suitable car that I want to buy. I refuse to buy a new car. One that is already made will do. I want to do my bit for the environment. A new car just adds to the misery, in fact new anything. I am not a consumer but a recycler and keep things going as long as I can. That doesn’t help the economy but it does help me. September through to October has been plagued will ill health for me and for Gita. We could do with feeling well again. Even so things are filling the time, with MOT’s for the Toyota and the Burton. Both got through OK.

I have discovered small cracks in part of the hard top that I have filled with paint for the time being to keep the weather out but will need a full repair at some point. I went to a glassfibre specialist for a repair in the gel coat to find out what could be done but the out-come was not as expected. The repair would need reinforcing the structure before sorting out the gel coat with the potential of having a difference in the pigment so the best course of action at this time was to do nothing until it gets worse. A cosmetic approach would be temporary, papering over the cracks as it were.  After removing the rear of the hard top I had to refit it unrepaired.

There were more successful jobs completed during the month like building a transport box for my catering size gas three ring burner. I had most of the bits in my garage and only needed to buy a bit more plywood and a piano hinge. It is almost entirely glued together as you can see it required allot of clamping. I am now on a project to provide a catering set up when camping and now have bought a double burner to cook properly, camping stoves are not man enough for my “Master Chef”, I am working on a transport box for that one too. All this was brought about by a leak in the forty year old camping stove that still gives good service once I fitted a new pipe.

 

Catering aside I have fired up the LE and the Valiant so I know they still run. The Valiant had not been run since the beginning of the first lockdown so I had a look inside the carbs to discover the horrors of modern fuel. It was a bit furry inside and the gaskets of the float chamber had gone to powder and now I have to get some new gaskets for the Amal carbs. 

I managed to reassemble the carbs and now you can hear it running. I have fitted a newer top to the carb if the El Cid as I could smell petrol. It seeped form the choke butterfly spindle bearing and left a residue on the top of the carburettor, not much but noticeable. 

 I had been out on the Buell to the LE bike club night and when putting the bike in the garage the rear brake gave a squeal of protest. This meant a disassembly and replacement of all the rubbers and calliper piston to cure it. The piston, although not stuck, was not operating as it should and not fully releasing the brake pads and rubbed a little. Hence the sound. Last on the list of things was my bike trailer. It has done no miles since mid 2019, not turned a wheel. I thought I should at least check it. It was a mucky disassembly but nothing wrong that I could see although one bearing is a bit rough they had plenty of grease in them only needing some fresh grease before being put back together. I think I shall need it for the Off Road Bike Show on 4th December at Kempton Park.