So what have you done today..?

Picked up my bike

Proper ride tomorrow

 

Had a good blast around on the mutley,stopped off at Riders in Bristol on the way back to have a look at the Panigale R. Trouble is the place was stacked out by the tractor boys. Why do the Harley mob insist on wearing their pants on their heads ?

 

went for a blast on my hyper as the 996 wouldn't go, my fault forgot to plug it in, no such dramas with the hyper, press and go, wasn't that great, too many holiday makers clogging up the roads and twistys to have fun , now raining! time for footy scores me thinks

 

Thanks Pete.

Today I stripped my duc down to taking the heads off. Got them back on, new oil seals, new cambelts installed, fresh coolant. Started first time, new I'd had it in the bag.
Buttoned everything back on it, went for a spin on the Fazer first, then took the ST out for a spin this evening. My duc doesnt seem to corner as confidently as my fazer, so Ive been leaning off the seat a bit more and it sort of helps.

Early night, Santa Pod with my father and brother tomorrow.

 

Friday I got geared up to go to the UK. Loaded luggage on bike and then pushed bike down to end of drive to bump start it down the hill (battery a bit feeble - hasn't had too much use of late). Managed to fail to swing my leg over it properly - think it hit the tail bag - overbalanced and dropped the bike on the LHS. Dammit! A couple of minor scratches, but - bent gear selector pedal! Aaargh! Pushed bike back down drive, removed helmet, jacket, gloves, got out toolbox, unbolted pedal and attempted to bend it back in a vice. Semi successful, in that the pedal now worked OK and no longer fouled the fairing, but if you screwed it up tight, the selector wouldn't spring back after I'd selected a gear. So I screwed it up loose and figured it would fall off sooner or later, but probably sooner.

Bump-started bike. Rode back to house to reapply back-protector, jacket, gloves etc. Fortunately, I was able to replace the bent bit at a Ducati dealer's in Neuchâtel, en route and not far away. But my piece of mind was somewhat wrecked when the mechanic told me that my brake pads were on their last legs and that I shouldn't do any hard braking. Is there any other variety? Dammit!

Headed off to Alsace anyway for the twisty roads of the Ballon d'Alsace in the Vosges mountains. This was fun, but slow. Loads of traffic, villages and then speed cameras on the fast bits. And I was worried about braking harshly... Finally got to friend's house at 9pm after 500 kms. Pleased to arrive.

Saturday, friend told me that he reckoned there were another 5'000 kms left in the brake pads, so no need to worry. Headed off from Saarguemines to Saarbrücken and thence to Calais via Germany, Luxemburg, Belgium and France again. All motorway, but at least free. When you have a Tunnel train booked, you have to keep up the average. It is stressful. I generally cruised the bike at about a ton. The bike is very happy here and sips its fuel, but then you get stressed out looking for hidden speed cameras of which there were plenty. It will be interesting to see how many speeding tickets are waiting for me when I get home or which show up in the next weeks. I am suspecting a few... This is the paradox of sports bike ownership: When you actually need and want to use the power to some useful purpose (like getting through France) you're not allowed to. And the bike was only doing 5500 of its 11000 available rpm...

The other things I found (or was reminded of) was how very uncomfortable it is to spend about 11 hours on a 999 on a motorway. Your bum, surprisingly, doesn't suffer that much (despite having the stock plank saddle). But my knees were agony (one is arthritic, it is true) and then the pain spreads into your shoulders, arms and wrists. It's being locked into the same cramped position for hour after hour that does it. On motorways, you find yourself filling up every 95 to 100 miles, just to make sure you're not caught out. If you had a 1098, it would be even less - this really destroys your average. Even tonning it up, a lorry will still make better time than you, or a family saloon. Quite depressing.

You have to apply constant restraint not to ride fast, ie, comfortably. This is because it is illegal. The bike wants to, and you want to (so at to get to the Chunnel on time and get off the bloody bike ASAP). In the UK, it's the same problem. The only upside is that everyone else is speeding too, so you don't really feel you're going that fast.

I was mightily chuffed to arrive and pleased not to be riding today. On the way back, I'm going to avoid motorways as much as possible... But I was still pleased to fit 700 kms into my day without wimping out. And now that I think about it even when I was younger, the 916 was even more uncomfortable.

 

did 100 miles on new bike, watched racing, little else. Lazy weekend

 

This morning has been clearing the loft of Mrs Mervyns motorcycle clothing.She no longer wants to ride pillion any more,as she fears an accident would not be good for her brittle bones.However she did show me how well she still fits into the leathers-that has made my morning.I have taken a tablet and now resting up due to getting too excited.
I suppose I now have to go down the flea bay route to get rid of the gear,some of it never used.

 

stick it up in the ads here, you never know

 

Will have a go later ta.Have just done the photos.

 

did the Plymouth megaride on sunday and met up with JR45 and catman1199 , nice to meet you and enjoyed the ride

 

Hardboarded the bathroom

Nice to use a small hammer occasionally

 

Its a 5lb lumpy for that

 

Got up at 5am and was in the garage by 5:30am changing the cambelts on the 996. First time ive done it and was surprised how straight forward it was to do. I was expecting it to be much harder. Unfortunately I ran out of time before I had to get to work, but managed to strip bike down, get old belts off and fitted new ones in the correct positions. Just need to tension them tomorrow morning, then can start putting bits back on.

Also going to do oil, oil filter, plugs, fuel filter, brake pads, brake fluid and chain/sprockets. So, will be quite busy for a few mornings to come. Still, luckily a lot of those bits i had to take off to get to the belts, so as i re-assemble I can just fit the new bits at the same time.

I initially had planned to do the oil this morning, but then realised really the engine needed to be warmed up first and wasnt sure my neighbours would appreciate a 996 with race cans being fired up at that time of morning.

 

Out again by 0600, 180 miles, 3 hr meeting and now home having sarnie before the laptop comes out. May take bike out tonight..

 

Taken the 848 for its first service then working at home. Mileage just over 700 in a little over 2 weeks....