Busy Weekend. Part 2

Mrs G mentioned it already but when you get a chance for parking in St Andrews, you've just got to take advantage of it.  We had driven to St Andrews on the bike, and when we arrived, there were a group of Honda Goldwings parked up, and their owners were rattling a tin for Cancer Research.  They waved me over and asked me to add my 'wing to their display.  Unfortunately, I believe that muck adds a few mph at the top end, so I'm reluctant to chip the muck off for anyone.  So there I was parked alongside some stunning examples of the art of custom motorcycle building, with a bike that was so filthy, the grand-daughter of one of the bikers told me to wash my bike before taking it out again. That's me told then...

All the kids liked my bike though.  Probably something to do with the box of sweets on the back.

The Goldwing Misfits are a really great bunch of folk that enjoy their bikes, and use their time, talents and resources to help out other folk.  And they were having a whole load of fun at the same time. Something everyone should consider.

Thank You Mr Honda...

I'd always wanted a Honda Goldwing. It's a big bike, in fact, it's probably the heaviest on the road, and it's got one of the biggest engines. It also has an armchair on top, a reasonably good stereo and even a lighter socket. Regrettably there isn't an ashtray. It's a joy to drive. After being knocked off the last bike(more information than you would care about here)by someone who allegedly said "how was I supposed to see them, they were wearing dark clothes" I went large and lit the bike up like a Christmas tree.

So it's lovely to drive, but whoever designed this thing never intended to maintain it. The air filter, a consumable part which on most cars and most bikes, is a five minute job to change requires three hours of tunneling to access. Then you've got another three hours putting the thing back together. In this photo I'm just about at the stage of fitting the filter. Lumps of motorbike litter the garden, the hallway and the boot of the car. My knuckles are bleeding and I've managed to drop at least one screw into the void that is on top of the engine. Perhaps one day it will resurface.Vehicle designers should be forced to spend time actually working on their designs. I don't expect them to be able to strip the entire engine, but if you can't replace the consumables, ie the oil, water, tyres and filters, without the assistance of two mechanics then you should be sent back to the drawing board in disgrace.

Rant over. At least for another 20000 miles.

Now doesn't that look better