31 March 2008

Yesterday, we went to the Wistanstow classic show. Jon wanted to ride the New Hudson there so we decided he would drive the Transit van as far as Church Stretton, then unload the New Hudson and ride it along some of the back roads as far as Wistanstow. I was to ride the Tribsa all the way. It was a lovely sunny day when we set off. I was in front and knew where I was going so didn't haven't to worry about anyone else - I could just concentrate on me, the bike and road. This worked really well and gave me the first ride on wet roads, since I fell off on diesel in Belgium a year and a half ago, where I didn't have at least a moment of sheer paranoia that I was going to fall off dramatically and painfully on a slippery corner. I felt as if I had turned a corner and thoroughly enjoyed the ride to Church Stretton. It was a good thing my buff neck tube was covering most of my face as I was smiling a ridiculously smug grin and, at times, even gave in to the impulse to shout "I love you, little bike" while patting its tank affectionately.

The show was, as usual, very interesting and, for a change, the weather was very warm. We had a look around the show and the bikes in the car park. I had to tell BH never to park the New Hudson next to the Tribsa ever again, as it steals baby Tribsa's thunder.....New Hudson was constantly surrounded by nostalgic old blokes. Having said that, baby Tribsa had its/his admirers as one bloke kept dragging his friends away from the delicious array of tea and cakes inside so that they could appreciate the neat way the 3ta engine had been fitted into the Starfire chassis.

I followed BH back to Church Stretton, him on the New Hudson and me on Angus the Tribsa surrounded by a huge cloud of blue smoke! Some of the tighter, rougher roads were more like hard work on the Tribsa than they were for Jon on the autocycle. I could feel the two stroke haze filthying my face. It started hailing while in the Church Stretton car park and Jon offered to load the Tribsa into the van. "Oh no", I said, "This isn't a fair weather bike!"

It had obviously rained a lot over Wenlock Edge while we were enjoying the sunshine in Wistanstow, as there were huge puddles everywhere, somtimes meeting over the middle of the road. We did cross one ford during the day, which was fun, but I wasn't really ready for the depth of some of the puddles and got caught out a couple of times !

Still, most of the trip back was sunny and pleasant and when it started to hail I couldn't help but sing "Raindrops keep falling on my head"

Sunday 23 March 2008

Myles rang today to say his bike was in bits and could we bring back the clutch puller he leant BH some time back. Slight panic ensued as a search of the conservatory began, neither of us having any idea where said item was. As it turned out, it was in a very sensible & safe place so we were able to return it to Myles. He is hoping to have the B40 back together to ride to Red Marley tomorrow but it is now 8.30pm and we have still not received the expected phone call announcing his success. Still, the night is young.......

We changed the gear box oil in the Tribsa today because the old stuff was horribly emulsified. I then dragged the bike into the back garden to see if it would start. After a few kicks to free the clutch (really needs attention soon, I think) I was giving a half-hearted kick, thinking I was still priming it but BH switched the ignition on and baby Tribsa roared into life without any effort at all and ticked over happily too. The new clutch lever, a multi-adjustable pretty thing from Trail & Trial UK (or is it Trial & Trail UK??) via ebay, has vastly improved the feel of the clutch.

It was by now trying to snow so I pushed the Tribsa back inside to dab a bit of black paint on the new bracket BH made for the "new" from the autojumble £5 front mudguard and a bit of red paint on the damaged part of the tank. The front mudguard now also has the bird mascot I bought at Newark autojumble last January.

The forecast for tomorrow is sunshine but with a frosty start so we are looking forward to Red Marley hill climb but quite pleased we decided not to camp there tonight :-)

Sunday 16 March 2008

We are planning to go to Red Marley Hill Climb on Easter Monday. It's one of my favourite events of the year, watching madmen (& women) race up an impossibly steep hill on classic bikes. So that I can lend my Morini to friend Fred, if his bike is not sorted by then, we decided to try and have the baby Tribsa sorted before then. BH started it last week and it kept running on one cylinder. With that in mind, we went round to Myles' house to borrow his 3Ta manual and arrived in time to assist with the fitting of a subframe to the B40, for the purpose of towing the trailer he has built. After a couple of attempts it fitted nicely and looked very in keeping with the rest of the bike, having been painted in military green paint. I offered to chuck some dirt at it so it would blend in even better but I think my suggestion was frowned upon. BH has just telephoned Myles and he is out test riding the bike and trailer.

Back home, we tried to fit the new points and condensor that I bought a couple of months back but the points appeared to have been damaged in the post so they were rejected and we just replaced the condensor and carefully sanded and re-gapped the points. Attempts to start the bike were not successful and two new spark plugs later we were no nearer success and there was no spark. We changed back to the old condensor and tried again. Now there was a somewhat "weedy" spark. So we tried the "lucky" spark plug, which is not the correct one for the bike and, hooray, the bike started and ran happily (and loudly) on both cylinders. Next step is to buy some more plugs so I have spares and hopefully we'll find that we were just unlucky and the two new ones we tried today were just duff ones. Then, BH will be taking the Tribsa to Fred's to have the timing checked.

Longer term plan is to have electronic ignition, which the sale proceeds of my Bantam will help with. Slowly, it is all coming together!

Saturday 8 March 2008

Why a blog? Well, apart from the possibility that someone else might be interested in some of what I have to say, I have this idea that if I set myself some targets and tell people about them, it gives me more incentive to get things done!

I have come to a conclusion that I may have too many bikes. Or, at least, too many bikes for the space I have. So the plan is to get one of the Raleigh Runabouts finished and sold, get the BSA Bantam B175 finished and sold and the same with the Yamaha Radian. No 2 Runabout needs some work to get it running and I need to reclaim the registration number. I have the original logbook and a couple of tax discs so this should be possible. The Bantam is pretty nearly there but lack of time and my falling in love with the Starfire 3Ta have meant that it has been shamefully neglected. The Radian shouldn't take too much work either. I get too attached to my bikes so I want them all to go to good homes. So those are the targets I am setting myself for this year - not to mention getting around to doing some much needed decorating and DIY to the house and making the garden presentable. This includes making room for a new shed to house the bicycle collection, which currently resides in the kitchen......