the heart of darkness

or, how I travelled to deepest Essex on the train, and survived.

Actually, that was the easy (though slow) part. 2 hours for a
40-miles-as-the-crow-flies public transport "experience".

Where the **** is Maylandsea? I mean, I can see where it is on the map,
but why are all the roads pointing in random directions? Essex is a
silly place; don't go there.

Still, Blaney's 400 Four: what a lovely bike. Excepting the front
brake, which is a bit dire.

Sounds lovely, looks lovely, handles surprisingly well for a mid-70s
bike, pity about the front brake. Still, using the rear brake makes
things OK, but it's something that is a bit of a learning curve when
you're used to modern machinery.

Also, leaks petrol if you leave the fuel tap switched to "on", rather
than "of"[1]

But still, what a nice bike; looks like a bike, sounds like a bike,
smells like a bike etc.

[1] yes, AFAICS it's really etched "of" rather than "off".

 

"The force is strong in this one."

 

I found myself earlier considering the possibility of running nothing
but classic bikes. I think I need some sort of help.

 

http://personal.advicemeant.com/anon-00/0813.shtml

 

backatcha:

http://portlandmercury.com/2000-07-27/savage.html

 

I'm not the one with the goatee.

 

They absolutely all do that, sir.

I took mine into work the other day, and one of smokers (who congregate
close to where I and the only other biker in ther firm park our steeds)
ran in to tell me there was a nice puddle of fuel under the bike.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

I trust you informed the H&S lady?

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single"

 

Damn!

 

Well I doubt anything I own at the moment is 'classic' (2xK100, 1xK1100)
but I've little or no intention of getting anything newer; as long as I
can keep them reliable (and so far I've done >70k miles on Beemers
without any serious break downs) I'm happy.

New bikes don't involve me to the same degree.

 

Are you the one with the strap-on though?

 

You should have tried it before I cleaned the caliper, replaced the
perished pads and fitted braided hose. 'Interesting', it was.

I'll be interested to give it a try at Chimay, because honestly, I
didn't think it was that bad as long as you have a strong right hand.
Or maybe I _had_ just got used to it. Or maybe it's because in my
early years I had lots of bikes with brakes so much worse than even
that.

It did this once in my garage, but I never quite worked out why. Most
of the time it was sat there (~3 years) it was fine regardless of tap
position.

I'm missing it already. But I am pleased it's being used - I used to
take it out for a little blat two or three times a year, but it seemed
such a waste somehow.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

I'm used to bikes where one finger's worth of pressure on the lever is
enough to get the back wheel off the ground.

 

Puff.

 

hah! Just because you've bought a big traillie, it doesn't mean you're
not still soft as warm shite, Dan.

 

No argument from me whatsoever - in fact you could say warm shit after a few
too many prunes, however, returning to motorbikes, only the GSX-R had brakes
that worked okay'ish with one figure. Two were better.

The Strom definitely needs 2 to work well.

 

dwb says...

You need some AP Racing calipers then. One finger stoppies from 100mph.

 

Not sure either the suspension or the tyres would be up to that sort of
power TBH

Anyway, 100mph? As if I'd go that fast.