It's Not Raining..!!!

[Miti]

I spend a LOT of my two-wheels miles getting rained on... Kind of comes with the territory... Literally.

I'd arranged to meet up with a pal for lunch today... We live about 150 miles apart and agreed that we'd meet up near Aberfeldy - just about half way for both of us...  With the weather on my side, I decided the V1000 was going out to play...



My Route took me through; Fintry, Kippen, Thornhill, Callander, Strathyre, Lochearnhead, Killin, Kenmore and Aberfeldy to Grandtully, where we both had sizeable pizzas for Lunch (Pizza is the only game in town at the place we stopped).



Mike had come down/across from Montrose, on the East coast.  He's recently shed his BMW K100 and bought this monster:



It's a pretty rare beast anywhere in the world, but especially in the UK... It's a Honda V65 "Sabre" (VF1100C).  This one was built in the USA, exported to Japan and then imported to the UK.  Very low miles for a 1985 bike and it goes like a new one...

Great to get a chance to actually use the Hesketh... Carbs need balancing, but the bike is running OK despite that... I filled up at Aberfeldy and calculated that she's returning just under 10 miles per litre (just under 45 mpg).  The Google direction finder estimates the route to be 157 miles and the V1000 speedo turned in 159 miles, so not too far out...

Anyone else get theirs out today...?

Miti

[Travelling Wilbury]

Yes, went to Chinor and Princess risborough railway,
I would upload a pic but cant find out how to do it.
Why cant these things be simple?
if someone can explain how to....... put it in simple english not computer goobledegook

[HOCAdmin]

Before you can insert a photo into a Forum post, you need to upload your photo(s) to your own webspace first...

There's a "How do I..?" Thread for uploading photos in the "Getting Started" board at the bottom of the Forum home page:  Here...

Once the photo is online, you use the "Insert Image" buttom (under the "B") to insert the image as a kind of link...

To find the link details of your uploaded photo; you right-click your mouse on the photo and then left-click the "properties" selection.  In the dialogue box that opens, the details in the "Address (URL)" section are the link details for the photo.  Copy this and past it in-between the "IMG" tags.

It'll look like similar to this:

[I M G]http://www.heskethownersclub.org.uk/images/testphoto.jpg[/ I M G]

Where the info in between the IMG tags is the URL of the photo.

Hope that helps... Very difficult to explain stuff specific to internet and computers without using terms specific to internet and computing...

HOCAdmin

[Miti]

There was a "Ride In Bike Show" at Stevenston today (close to Ayr on the West Coast... The weather was on my side again, so off we went...



Round trip was just under 95 miles, so managed to get the V1000 off choke again...

The bike seems to be running quite well, but I couldn't get 98 Ron fuel today... I noticed a spot of "pinking" coming out of a roundabout, uphill in 3rd, when I should have been in 2nd...  I'll make sure my route takes in a known stockist next time...

Miti

[Miti]

Managed to finish the chores earlier that anticipated today and it wasn't raining again..!!

Took a wee tour into and around sunny Glasgow to visit a few pals... Just under 40 miles covered:



Soon have to do the 1,000 miles service... 

Miti

[Miti]

That's the V1000's mileage into 4 figures..!! (on the current set of clocks, anyway).  I used to be a member of Glasgow's Mercury MCC and they were holding their "Tartan Rally" at Killin this weekend... A few old pals in the club had been pestering me to bring the Hesketh along and it wasn't raining again..!!



I didn't sign in at the rally as I was only visiting... I was amazed at the number of non-Japanese machinery at this event... There were loads of Triumphs, both old an new, Loads of H-Ds - mostly old, a brace of Nortons - both old,  and a Guzzi that was old but looked new...  Anyway, here are some snaps...

Three new Bonnevilles in a row... All in lovely nick, as was the R100GS looking lovely in red/black:



Very tidy Commando in unusual gold colour (looked green in some light conditions):



This Electra-Glide belongs to a pal of mine - Looks like we'll be re-wiring the bugger this winter...



And just in case you thought that the luggage on it was big enough for any trip... You're wrong!



It's been ages snce I saw one of these outside of a museum... I think it's a Dominator 650ss, but no doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong...



This Bonnie was surprisingly quiet for a bike without silencers... Very tidy too...



Killin is in the heart of the Trossachs... It's a beautiful place and the rally site - Breadalbane Park - gives a great view of the surroundings... It makes for muddy camping, but the village is packed with B&B's so no problem there...





Not the best photo in the world, but seemed quite poignant to see one of Mr Mockett's oldest "triumphs" in front of one of his newest (if you see what I mean...?)



So, another 136 miles covered...  Came home the really long way 'cos the high road along the top of Loch Tay is just superb riding... Covered the last 40 miles or so after darkness fell and in actual fact, that Hella headlight isn't half bad...

Anyone else get out today..?

Miti

[Miti]

I've been very impressed with the BBC's weather website of late... Their forecasts have been increasingly accurate... Today was forecast as "Not Raining" and, as Mrs M had been good enough to issue a 12 hr pass, I took advantage of this marvellous coincidence to pay a visit to some old friends who recently moved to the sunny Isle of Bute...

I chose a "round robin" route which took me onto the island via the Colintraive - Rhubodach ferry (a 90 second journey) and back via the Rothesay - Wemyss Bay ferry (about 30 mins).  My overall distance travelled was just under 160 miles, which included a tour of the island, where I saw the marvellous views of Ettrick Bay, the Kyles of Bute and the Isle of Arran...  A great day out!

I took some photos with my old phone...

Here's Big H resting at the top of the "Rest and Be Thankful":



And waiting to board the ferry at Rhubodach:



Jeff

[Miti]

I took my V1000 for a run up to St. Andrews yesterday.  We've lived up here for over 16 years now and I'd never been... The V1000 was a bare handful of miles away from clicking over the 3,000 mark, so I thought that, and the fact that it wasn't raining again justification enough...

The route from Chez Miti to the M876 is one we've rolled along many times now, but I'd never had the Hesketh over the Kincardine Bridge before, so that's a first...  When it was built (in 1936) it was the world's longest single span bridge as well as the first road bridge across the Firth of Forth.



Once onto the north side of the Forth, we took the "Fife Coastal Tourist Route", hoping that this would afford some great views of the Forth Valley.  "The route runs 85 miles (136 km) around the beautiful north-east coast of the 'Kingdom of Fife' and takes you to some of the region's most attractive corners", or so the advertising blurb would have you believe.  Connecting the Kincardine and Tay bridges, the route does pass through historic towns picturesque fishing villages of Fife's "East Neuk", but their cottages with their distinctive pantiled roofs and the unspoilt beaches are somewhat at odds with the (apparently) endless diversions away from the coast into 20mph limited housing estates.  Neither me nor the V1000 enjoyed these parts of the journey in the least!!  That said, the route did provide some beautiful views, especially of the Forth Railway Bridge:



I left the Coastal route at Upper Largo and headed up the A915 into St Andrews.  The town reminded me a lot of Linlithgow (same stone in the buildings probably) and the High Street was absolutely filled with parked cars and bustling tourists, so I headed down to the Harbour to find a place to park and take a wee break.

I found a few like-minded souls too... There were about ten bikes parked up next to the harbour café, so I parked the V1000 alongside them and found a spot to sit and take in the scenery.  The harbour sits just below the ruins of St. Andrew's mediaeval Cathedral and the 33m high tower of St. Rule's Church can be seen from almost anywhere in the harbour.




The harbour is home to a fleet of around a dozen small fishing vessels, landing high quality shellfish from around the nearby shores, so there is a plethora of sights, sounds and smells to enjoy there.  It certainly added a lot of local colour to my "roll and chips wi' a wee cuppie".


I chatted with the other bikers there, who advised that the North Fife Tourist Trail would probably be a better route home... I also chatted with them (at length) after they'd gone over to collect their bikes, realised that the Hesketh was amongst them and come back for another chat about it.  It's true; you're never alone on a Hesketh..!!



They were right about the North Fife Tourist Trail...  Stretching along the A91 from St Andrews in the east to Kinross in the west, the trail passes through the glorious Howe of Fife, with its rolling hillsides and farmland abundant with colour. The pace was much brisker on this route, and I deviated from the A91 onto the M90 for a short section (not compulsory, but quicker) after passing through the marvellous town of Cupar.  I was tempted to keep heading wets and pass through Stirling – a route I've enjoyed a few times before and that includes the ultra-fast A811 (watch out for cameras though!!)  But a very dark rain cloud and a smattering of raindrops persuaded me to stick with the plan and I headed back to Kincardine and the uneventful journey home...



Total journey: approx 153 miles and I was out about for just under six hours... Time well spent though.  My V1000 now has over 3,000 miles on it's new to me clocks and it seems to be thriving on the regular use... I still need to sort out the high speed running though...  80mph is about all she'll do at the moment  - I could "wring" a few more mph out of her, but I should easily be into 3-figure speeds (when legally appropriate, officer).  As I haven't blown up the engine with my persistent attempts, and it's clear that she's running very rich, my next piece of work will be to sort the mixture out properly... But not until the salt is down on the roads... Until then, I'll be out and about as often as possible...

Jeff

[Miti]

Time to take my rebuilt V1000 back out on the road...  I've taken this week off work and it turns out that my pal up in Montrose - Mike - is also off... So, we arranged to meet up for a spot of lunch...

I didn't throw caution entirely to the winds with my rebuilt bike... Yesterday I tooke her out for a short spin - about 15 miles... everything seemed to be ok... The bike feels more powerful but is "missing" or "hunting" at lower revs...

I needed to pop into Glasgow this morning, so went on the V1000... No probems evident, so another 20 miles covered and I filled the tank for the run out to Dunkeld...

Mke has bought a '98 VN1500 Cruiser - less than 10K miles on it and a lovely bike... Another pal - Pete - joined us on his veteran Z1300 (70k+ miles and still pulls like a train)  and we had a good old catch up over some great food at the Taybank Hotel..



I checked the bike over at Dunkeld (about 70 miles covered).  There were signs of oil leaking from the usual places (bugger!!)  The bike definately has more power and this has meant the clutch has started to slip - although, if I'm honest, that has happened before but nowhere near as often...

I took the scenic route home and just as I was swooping through the bends between Strathyre and Callander, the speedo stopped working...  My immediate thoughts were that the speedo cable had snapped (I've always thought it was an inch or so too short).

When I got back home (154 miles today) I checked the speedo out - NOT the cable... It's my new wheel spacer... It appears that the clearance twixt spacer and speedo drive isn't enough and that the drive rotor seized onto the spacer... Being pushed along by near 600lbs of bike and about half that again of rider; the wheel completely ignored this incident and simply bent the drive tang out of its way... Result - no speedo...

Spacer and drive unit (unharmed by the ordeal and bent back into shape) are now off the bike and we'll be back at the engineer's tomorrow to discuss solutions...

I re-adjusted the clutch with the engine hot... There was no play at all on the adjuster... I'll be interested to see if the clutch drags when the engine is cold now...

And the front wheel needs balancing - it does a little dance at about 80mph and I'm not interested in finding out if that caused any kind of high speed weave... 

But the best thing about today's ride is the improvement in the handling... There are a LOT of slow speed bends and junctions on Perthshire's B-roads, with many opportunitites for the bike to "shake its head" whilst dropping in or pulling out of them... Well, it's stopped doing that completely and it's also noticeably quicker to steer though complex series of bends than it was...  Result..!!

Lots still to do, but what's the point of buying a toy if you're not going to play with it, eh..?

Jeff

[Miti]

I took a visit down to see a pal in Ayr yesterday... It gave me a chance to see how the modification to my wheel spacer/speedo drive has worked out...

It worked fine... With the bike running between 70 - 80 mph down the M77 it didn't present a problem at all... My engineer pal has taken about 0.5mm off the diameter of the section within the speedo drive and it's stopped it "pinching up" completely... 

I do have a small problem with the idle speed... Ever since I sorted out the front carb float height, the idle speed has increased (because the spark plug isn't drowning any more...)  The idle screw is so far out that it's not touching the slide any more and the idle speed rests as somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm... Not good in busy traffic.

And I MUST find a place that can do dynamic wheel balancing up here... The front wheel is badly out of balance and I daren't take the bike over 80mph because of the way the wheel swings back and forth...

But, 80mph is plenty for most days and yesterday's ride was a good one... 98 miles all in with a scenic detour on the return journey...



Did you have yours out over the weekend..?

Jeff