What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Worty]

Stoke is where my Dad worked as a lecturer, there was also a bike shop in Fenton called Foley Motorcycles which supplied and serviced all our bikes for years - the proprietor was a Joe Martin.  Eccleshall is 3 miles from a village called Woodseaves on the A519 (you may have been through it on your way to Newport/Bridgnorth?).  Eccleshall is also the place where Sue worked for a while - I used to have a lot of reason to be in Eccleshall.  If you went through Woodseaves, on the first estate on the right hand side is where I grew up and got walloped for rolling car tyres across the road.  It has average speed cameras on it now due to the number of accidents through the village.  It was all around that area that we ran our newsagency, delivering papers to all the farms down the backroads.  The BMW R60 I owned was also found around that area back in 1984.

I reckon getting down to Havant in 6.5 hours is pretty good for 230 miles or so.  Last time I did that mileage in one go it took me around 8 hours, but I was pottering down tiny back roads in the Yorkshire Moors.

Nice to hear of your journey - very envious!

[Catz]

Worty, lovely bit of road from Woore up to Loggerheads and on to Eccleshall, it's one of my favourite local to me roads.
Anyway what i did today was take the A10 for a rip down the by-pass then got home and dropped the engine oil and primary case oil. Only the second time out on the A10 this year but a lovely short and sweet blast. 60mph, not arf.
The main reason for the minor service is because i've got the bike booked in to the Heartbeat rally in Goathland at the end of the month. Free entry if anyone is interested.https://www.facebook.com/groups/heartbeatvehicleowners

[Worty]

Aye, some crackin' roads round there Catz.  Very fond memories of times past.

I road through Goathland a few years ago.  Seemed very apt to be riding past the village green on a GF - very Heartbeat like.

It's great to see the roads that I actually rode down.  One of the most memorable is the one where there's a ford on a single track road with an incline either side - it's featured in a few of the Heartbeat episodes.

Which bit of Cheshire are you at?

[Catz]

South Cheshire, Haslington near Crewe, not far from Staffordshire and Shropshire border.

[Worty]

South Cheshire, Haslington near Crewe, not far from Staffordshire and Shropshire border.

Not far from where I was at all.  I don't know if you've lived in and around that area for long but, 40 years ago, the lads and I went to a party at a remote house just outside Nantwich.  We pitched tents in the front garden and there was a lot of beer and weed.  Unfortunately, two of the lads went for a ride at 3.00am on Saturday morning through Nantwich, and got picked up with loads of weed and drunk.  They then raided the party after telling the pair they could face jail time if they didn't come clean.  I, and about 12 others, got busted for possession, et al, by the Cheshire and Merseyside Drug Squad (dogs, riot vans, everything).

Later on, when we went to court in Crewe on the bikes, we got stopped again by a Plod on foot.  He gave us all document producers, and I realised I had no MoT.  Fortunately, the Plod didn't put a date on the ticket, so I got the MoT done and produced at Stafford nick.  When the desk sergeant saw the MoT was for the same day, he asked when it was issued.  I said it didn't matter because there was no date on the ticket.  He went away, came back, gave me my documents and grimaced as I left with a big smile on my face.  Sort of made up for the £100 fine and £20 costs I got for possession.

Those were the days!!

[Catz]

I'm 64 in two weeks time and lived all my life here, apart from a 13 year stint in The Smoke as a despatch rider.
I know a lot of people from Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach, so our paths could have crossed at some time. Drop a few names and i'll see if it rings any bells. I've smoked my fair share of weed too and back in those days it was a fairly tight knit community round here.

[Worty]

I'm 64 in two weeks time and lived all my life here, apart from a 13 year stint in The Smoke as a despatch rider.
I know a lot of people from Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach, so our paths could have crossed at some time. Drop a few names and i'll see if it rings any bells. I've smoked my fair share of weed too and back in those days it was a fairly tight knit community round here.

The only fella that lived out your way that I know was a Pete McDonagh.  He was from Stafford originally, but lived in Nantwich for some time.  As for the rest, they were pretty much Stafford based.  There was a pseudo Hells Angels wannabe group in Stafford called the Eagles, with whom I had a passing acquaintance - ever heard of them?

[Catz]

I'm 64 in two weeks time and lived all my life here, apart from a 13 year stint in The Smoke as a despatch rider.
I know a lot of people from Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach, so our paths could have crossed at some time. Drop a few names and i'll see if it rings any bells. I've smoked my fair share of weed too and back in those days it was a fairly tight knit community round here.

The only fella that lived out your way that I know was a Pete McDonagh.  He was from Stafford originally, but lived in Nantwich for some time......... the Eagles, with whom I had a passing acquaintance - ever heard of them?

No, not heard of them but i had a mate, Steve McMath from Nantwich, and he mentioned Pete McDonagh a few times in conversation, though i never met him.
Oh well, i reckon we put this one to bed now.

[Worty]

Last word on this, I promise.  The Pete McDonagh I knew lost the use of one of his arms after a horror crash on a RD250 I'd lent him outside Nantwich Golf Club (it was his house the party was at and was just up the road).  He'd come round a corner a bit too quick, hit the back of a car that'd just pulled out from the golf club, and went straight through the back window severing the nerves in his arm - it was a wonder he wasn't killed (the bike was written off).

[CheeserBeezer]

I had to fit a new wheel rim to the rear of my black A10. It had a Borrani, previously, and the nearest I could get at a sensible price was a Jones flanged alloy. I've used these before and they're usually OK, but this one was so badly welded it was impossible to true it up. I did my best but I'm not very happy with it. Fortunately, it didn't go out to a customer! Anyway, job done! The bike runs and rides fine but the new rim is almost as badly buckled as the last one!

[Worty]

First ride out on the GF today - 127m round West Yorks and the Peaks, even found some unexplored roads and two dead ends!

Bike was almost faultless, with two things hardly worth a mention.  The first was it spat at me twice during tickover/low revs, and the second is that the clutch lever action is a bit stiff.

The clutch cable is new, changed for a longer one because of the higher bars I fitted.  It's correctly routed and oiled, but is a bit like the Kwaka clutch with the stronger springs I put on.  It works perfectly fine, and gear changes are no different to before.  I did think that a bit of 'wearing in' was needed, or clutch plates were sticking a bit due to it being laid up, but surely they'd have freed up after an almost non-stop blast for 5 hours.

The only other thing that occurred to me is whether securing it tightly against the frame may have some effect, but with the metal inner, I doubt it?  Any ideas?

Brilliant being back out on the old gal, just can't beat it!😎👍👍

[berger]

worty let the cable be released i found they don't like being tied up

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
On Saturday I went to the Casper Rally at Abercrombie River. I rode the old girl a couple of years ago and won a trophy for oldest combined bike & rider. The weather looked like shite and I had to go down & back as I work Sunday. The rHonda got the nod. It's only 150Km each way but the wet back roads can be a challenge, especially at my speeds  . I got there about midday and had a few beers with the Wobbly Boot Tourers. Not as cold as last year of MINUS 11C. My club turned up at about 3pm so had a couple with them before I had to head for the shed. I probably shouldn't have stopped for two more at Oberon so the last 20 minutes was in the dark (wallaby & wombat time). Note to self, needs more sparkles in the headlight.
So I survived another one. My clubs Winter Rally in two weeks (should be minus C by then) then the Hat rally two weeks after that at Araluen. This is the first winter I've had heated gloves, luv'em.
Cheers