Last night I finally got around to whittling down a plastic wine cork to use as a replacement rubber bungs for the top boy on the bike.
I took the bike out for a quick test run last night and it has completely eliminated the knocking and viberation.
Now the only question is how long will the bungs will last - I might need a big supply of plastic cork's.
Categories: Biking_
I've just got back from today's PYW walk from Kibworth near Leichester.
It was an 8 mile walk which must hold the record for the most stiles ever, each field seems to have 3 stiles for each enterance and exit. Unfortunately no one counted just how many there were.
The walk was to start from the Tea Shop in the village end we were going to end the walk with cakes, but alas the the Tea Shop is now a Bcity shop which cause a problem when stating aid meant no cakes at the end.
Categories: Walking_
Tonight I went to see Hot Fuzz with Matt, Martina and Nicola.
The film was great, very funny with that familar style and and sense of humour that you find in Shaun of the Dead.
I think tonight's film was as funny as Night at the Museum from a few weeks ago although they were very different types of film so it's hard to tell which one was best.
After the film, we all went for a slap-up meal at KFC :-)
Categories: Personal_
I was involved a conversation on one of the mailing lists I belong to yesterday about MPG that people get from a tank of petrol on a Deauville before having to switch over to the reserve tank.
The most I have ever got is about 200 miles but he claims that doing a constant 50mph he managed to get to 220 miles before switching. Personally I don't quite believe that but I must admit I don't think I have ever done a full tank where I didn't ride on a Motorway at some point which sucks petrols out of my tank like elephant sucks water out of a pool.
So I have decided for the current tank, I won't go above 50 mph and I won't refill until after I have switched over to the reserve tank.
Never let it be said that I turn down a tedious challenge.
Categories: Biking_
I had Friday off work because I have had both the Bike and Gas Boiler being serviced, that meant I had to sit around all day on Friday waiting for the man from British Gas to turn up.
Then despite having the bike since Thursday evening, it wasn't ready to pick up until 15:00 so I had to wait around for most of the day on Saturday as well.
The boiler work hasn't been finished yet so I am going to have to book another day of holiday but the bike is now running well.
The bike has now got a new clutch which means it can accelerate properly again but I have to drive slowly for a few days because I have a new front tyre which needs to be scrubbed in :-(
Categories: Personal_
As most of England knows by now, it's been snowing and it's been quite a while since I last saw a decent quantity of snow so I went a bit crazy.
First I went running up and down the green (actually white now) area outside my house wearing just a towel, I thought about loosing the towel as well but I really was expecting to run into some else. Of course I did forget to take the house keys with me so that could have been silly if the door had shut behind me but it didn't so I didn't freeze to death.
Then I decided to try to ride the bike to work. That was a mistake, I dropped it going out of the drive, the back wheel just slid out and I ended up doing a 180 with the bike ending on it's side.
A sensible person would have taken that as a warning and given up but not me, I continued up A428 where after realising it had taken 30 minutes to travel 8 miles I decided to turn around and go home because by the time I got to work I would have to leave again in order to get home before it got dark.
I had a big queue of cars behind me so I pulled off at a layby to let them past but without the pounding of tyres the snow on the layby hadn't melted and just as I pulled up to a complete stop, the front wheel slid out and the bike was on it's side again :-(
I have decided that before I go out in the snow on the bike again I need
a) Some snow tyres
b) A lighter bike because I can't lift the Deauville in the snow (I would really like an Harley Davison MT350 but they are getting rare these days)
Later on, I have to take the bike out again because I need to get it to the garage for the service tomorrow and I'm hoping the roads will be clear around 4pm.
Categories: Personal_ Biking_
I woke up early again this morning, the sun was out so I had good visibility and it's been warm enough for the last few days to clear up the last few patches of ice that might have been hiding in those shady places and so I left home 40 minutes early and took the fun country lanes into work this morning.
Gliding along the road in the clear air, picking that perfect line around that complex series of bends and accelerating out as the road straightens up - there really is no better feeling. I want to say it's like flying but I'm not sure that's true, maybe it's more like riding a powerboat down a river, there is a sense of speed which I don't think you get when flying because you have tree's and lampposts and road markings zipping past.
Certainly, I've never felt as at-one with a car which seems to do everything it can to isolate you from the environment you're riding through.
Will I ever get another car, or get my car repaired?
Probably, the only thing I miss about the car was the ability to carry my bike to interesting locations so I could go cycling in places I haven't cycled before (a real problem since I have cycled on every road within 50 miles of my house).
I would also like to join that Canoe club in St Neots I looked into once before but couldn't join then because they couldn't store my equipment there and my house is too small but I now have a shed which would take a small canoe but now I have no car so I can't get there with my equipment - grrr.
But even if I did get the car repaired, I couldn't see myself using it on a very regular basis, a motorbike is always likely to be my first choice of transport from now on because I like arriving to work with a grin on my face.
Categories: Biking_
