So, I went to pick up Cherry from Burwin’s – they weren’t sure that they’d fixed her problems, although she was running better… 245 quid that MOT ended up costing – new front wheel bearings (apparently they were completely shot), new fork seals, new brake MC/brake-light-switch and a free mirror (because they rock). They changed the oil, checked the timing and the mixture and found that Cherry’s been running very rich.
She does now rev much higher – but as soon as we hit 65 there was the familar sudden loss of power and back down to 50-something she went. She is now running better though, and seemed to do over 50 fairly reliably. However, 245 quid means I ain’t buyin’ no new jacket for a while. The bike also needs a new front tyre (tread’s fine, but it’s too old); so I need to order one of them and sort out fitting…
She does, however, look vastly more respectable – they replaced the fork gaiter which I’d been gaffa-taping back together for some-time, and with two chrome mirrors perking out from the bikini-faring she’s looking all the more like a motorcycle.
Hopefully she shouldn’t drink quite so much fuel now, either, which’d be nice. It would, of course, be nice to be able to travel at speeds over 60, but this I fear is not something that’s likely to happen while I’m riding Cherry.
Quote of the day, though, I feel was me as I transiently got lost in London:
“Who stole the A3220! I was bloody using that!”
I also (and I say this while hiding so that Kathryn can’t tell me off) touched the exhaust down on a corner. They really do lean over a long way, do ‘zeds, if pushed. I wasn’t even going particularly fast, I don’t think, but as I ducked around the corner I felt the familiar sensation and heard the light scrape which meant that the exhaust had touched the ground.
Oh, and London? Not so good traffic wise – had to filter almost all the way out, which was tedious. Also had to buy petrol, thankfully Burwin directed me to a 116.9p/litre ($8.55/US gallon) which was less painful than the next garage I saw (120.9p/litre)… Here’s praying that the bike running leaner puts her back up towards the 60mpg mark.
Whilst I’ve not bought a new jacket I do still have the new helmet, which is grand. I’ll break that one in on Saturday. Anyway, I should get on with my ATLS reading, I’ve cleaned the kitchen, taken the washing down from outside (where it got rained on many times) and hung it on the rack inside.
Oh, quick question: anyone read Vinyl Underground? Is it any good? I heard a recommendation for it (from cadhla’s journal) and it looks interesting…
At some point I’ll comment on the internment thing in the UK (42 days without charge; y’know it’s sad that we’re having to rely on the House of Lords saving our civil liberties because of the pathetic excuse for a government we have at the moment); but at the moment I’m rather too pissed off about the not-so gradual destruction of our liberties that I doubt I could say anything sensible. Incidentally, days you can be held without charge in Canada? 1.
