Road Rash! It kinda struck me about five minutes ago when I
started to write these very word‘s.
Road, Rash? That’s actually a description of
something rather painful and messy. A condition I sincerely hope, that not one
of you will ever come down with. To those of you who already have, or will
encounter it in time’s to come. Commiserations.
I have been lucky enough I am happy to say. To
having never suffered much more than a minor graze, or several ok I won’t deny,
yet the very worst of these in my memory was inflicted during a school Rugby
session back in 1972, and nothing to do with motorcycling in anyway whatsoever.
N0! All the rest of the pain experienced, and
into which I will add bruises/sprains and several broken bone’s, was in the
main, largely down to me. Just about every other moment of pain happened while
involved in that good old fashioned, yet ever-new experience! The search for
the edge. Mastering the art required to ride along it. And if at all possible,
a way over and beyond without it, the edge, actually noticing you weren’t there
anymore. That’s what some people do with things and themselves. Evolution is
the name of the game, and some people do it very well.
Some of course, do not get along at all well
with the concept of making things better than they are. And that’s all fine and
dandy too. There are plenty places for them to fit into, from modern classic
machinery to ancient marvels where the use of any form of braking is considered
a tad new fangled. Ok, I exaggerate I know, but hurrah to them all! Without
just one of them we are all a little more diminished.
I personally just can’t not make improvements or
cosmetic changes that please me. The world of interesting things is out there.
Specials to which the word ‘custom’ truly belong. I do not apologise for saying
catalogs bigger than Freeman’s and Littlewoods put together that sell stuff
made by the thousands is not a very custom thing to do. But it’s a huge market.
That cannot be denied. The perceived image, the propagandised, the mainstream
media image is the one in those catalogs. Here’s where you can buy the bad
boy’s boots. Fair enough. But really, someone please explain. “Chap’s“! Its
some broke back easy ass sort of deal no? Lets make protective pants for riding
bikes. Here’s a great idea. Lets wear leather leg shields with no arse in them
for that unexpected kiss with the tarmac… Rash!
Sticker Modification
Sorry, am I? Well, No not really. The reason
being, more & more people are riding Standard bike’s & what with a load
of insurance companies now claiming that a sticker, Yes you heard me, a sticker
is a modification that must be declared! Wtf are these licensed highwaymen
thinking! With Brussels & the European state busy pursuing its normal
ignorance fueled hate programme. Our own politicians neither use nor ornament;
49%round the Top Table are some of the banks, best customer’s! I mean, after
all..
I didn’t mean to get onto runty wee rant but
when you look at them you know they’re we’re made for control!
Which; rather neatly leads me back to this
question: Why must our bikes conform to a manufacturer’s spec sheet in the
first place. Being as they come, directly from The far East in The majority of
cases. China In ever increasing numbers. But that line of thought is an
irrelevance to this matter I’m wondering about.
It’s How often do these Expensive & evermore
complicated piece’s of precision machinery bring un rectified faults with them.
Their manufacture is a exercise in logistics and line shop practices To keep
the production/assembly process efficiently polished!
No what slips out of the factory door may be a
generic fault in the design. Or a Human mistake that allows the wrong thing to
happen. Bikes change design rapidly today. Some stay the same but the
Electronics change so rapidly that the ignition systems don’t match from year
to year or even From model A to model A/b. There’s no point in naming name’s
here because every single volume manufacturer with a stable of different models
dose it. The choice of two or three different colour schemes. No real choice in
what you end up buying because they are all about to be governed by the same
rules. Here at the edge of Western Europe we face the European Economic
Community.
I think we could for argument sake just call
them Rome. And frankly, we will be the last European
biker’s to have anything approaching the freedom to do what we do best! Make
things up as we go along! And I might add create myriad specials. We just do it
better than anyone else.
I have to be careful here so as not to turn into
the semblance of one certain bike hating car tester.
I like the French in the main. See, German’s
Too. Italian’s, Great! I have not met a Spaniard yet whom I did not like. But I
will venture this opinion that the Spanish are under the least threat from this
legislation. The reason being Spain is still reasonably empty. There’s a line
of mountains full of Basques with guns to keep trouble out. {Or am I just
talking Toss} France And Germany are all on the one joined up landmass with a
huge & efficient police force. Like here, the roads are monitored so all
the machinery rolling out of the future factory is in synch with the system.
The French, for all their protest have a 100bhp thing going on. To build a
special in Deutschland You need plenty of money And a special compartment on
the bike or, a purpose designed document-filing pocket upon one’s person. The
first Deutsch Chopper rider I encountered was carrying Three Hundred plus slips
of paper which were TUV approval documents for every single modified piece of
metal That went into creating a the Chopper he rode. So people in Europe are
already used to that sort of System. Everyone carries id card’s and attitude’s
are fundamentally different. This recent time has somewhat brought
edsafwxs’,potty..
No matter where one goes in Britain you will
find someone who has modified their Bike Or car. There are still shed’s all
over the country from which emerge Weird And wondrous things. There are still
wild men in Norfolk building outrageous stuff. Its one of those national
pastime’s that goes largely unnoticed by the media and pretty much everyone
really for we are much quieter about it, group Ye know. What needs doing..
I think its time to go in search of it again.
Design out European efficiency, remove the little black box A world made up
from stuff that does most things acceptably well is a bit like surrendering to
the man who runs the car parks at graveyards. The first thing they always do is
make a one way system to which they can add byelaws & offence’s involving
stepping off the path or whistling the wrong way round.. So before ‘upside-down
standing in windows. I’m having a stand downside-up.
Confusing Fey’ria`es…Keep’s the bugger’s wary
& interested at the same time. Not to difficult with the fey’ if they’re own
was about the. Edge? Its miles still over there...
A
ndrew FilsonEditor SYB Magazine
The tube is a great little device, because it is totally water and air tight so you can put in it vital
personal information about medication, medical history, or
allergies that you may suffer from etc. also you can put in details of loved ones who may need contacting if required. 
RideSafe BackSafe Road Safety Centre
The
total repair bill was £9.50 (second hand wheel bolts via e-bay) bit of a
bugger to remove all the sheared bolts but shifted them with a punch.
If you have similar problems don't go down the stud/screw extractor
route as they are as much use as a chimney on a dog! Disc
was a bit out of true, but a swift chat with a hammer got it back and
is now bob on. Have put a plaster on the bottom of the torque arm and
expect this to heal up in time.Worthy
of a note is that I had free RAC coverage via MCE insurance and this
only covers you up to 10 miles from home for recovery. Living in Horwich
it cost me £130 to get it back and it's pay before recover, so check your policy!!
I
had managed to pull into the side of the road ahead of Stuart, but his
wheel was still on the move and heading for the stationary oncoming
traffic. You should have seen the expressions on the faces of the
drivers, one of 'what the f--k, then oh shit' as they realised it was
heading towards them. The driver of the second vehicle quickly jumped
out of his car in a half-hearted attempt to stop the wheel from hitting
it. Too late, it hit his front bumper and fell to the ground, no damage
done though just a scuff.
Rewheeled
#1 is based on a Honda CB 750 Sevenfifty 1995. The bike was completely
torn apart. The engine was in good condition so it is virtually
untouched. Air box was removed and DELO pod air filters was mounted. New spark plugs and oil filter, some new gaskets and re jetting the carbs (a jet kit from 6 sigma racing). 
The wiring is completely
remade. In order to keep the handlebars as clean as possible the only
controls on the bar is turn indicator and horn (left side) and
high/low beam /right side). Main switch, lights and starter button is
moved to a custom made aluminum panel behind the engine. Headlight
and headlight brackets, indicators, switches and rear light are all
brand new retro style parts. The meters are replaced by a Acewell
multimeter which is Speedometer and Tachometer and also holds all the
necessary control lights.
Re-Cycles Bikes Rewheeled ABGaloppstigen 39
