What's going on!

I can't believe I haven't done anything on either bike for over a month! I've loads of good excuses, but still.

Finances heading toward Christmas were always going to be tight, and that tends to slow up progress at the best of times. But at this point in Abigails' development, lack of money has proved a killer. I have not been able to buy the gaskets and stainless steel bolts needed to bolt the engine back together. I'm hoping that my new job which I'll be starting in January and the re-shuffle of family finances will free up cash to continue the project.

Pippa has also kept me out of the shed. It's like having a baby around the house! She is settling down now and the boys are getting better at walking her without fighting so I might be able to sneak out for an hour or two in the new year.

The last stumbling block is a biggy. Planning permission for the kitchen extension has been approved. Good news indeed, but time will tighten up again once I start knocking walls down and building them back up again.

Heyho! But all that is for the new year, for now I admit defeat and shall sit back and enjoy Christmas. 10 days off, at home with my pooch and the family. Brill.

Happy Santa to anyone out there.

A new member of the family

Please put your hands together for.....

.....Pip!

Full name Pippa, she is a four and a half year old ex-race dog that joins the dray from the Dogs Trust. So far so good with her house training, though she is a little fretful at bed time. But she seems to be a very happy, soppy pooch and a welcome member of the family.

More stories to follow, I'm sure.

Weekend's work

I set about the little jobs that came out of Lucy's MOT on the weekend. First one on the list was the front wheel bearings. With the bike on a jack and the front wheel off the ground, it took all of a minute to whip the wheel off. I knew that was going to be the easiest part of the job and I was right. Trying to get a drift behind the bearings to knock them out was a right mare. But eventually one bearing was teased out, and with the centre spacer removed, the other baring was a doddle. As you can see, the old ones were rusted with little grease left. The replacement ones are the double sealed type and should hold out better than the originals. Knowing the wheels have open slots in the castings that allow water out (and in!), it's amazing that Suzuki use open sided bearings. I mean, what did they expect??

Next was the rear disc. No need to remove the rear wheel for this, just withdraw the spindle enough to allow the calliper to slip off, then an allen key can remove the 5 screws and release the disc. Piccie shows the replacement disc ready for bolting down. I picked this up from a scrappy delivered for less than half the cost of a new item. Plenty of metal (and life) left in it, in fact, according to the vernier callipers, it's nearly new. Result.

Once everything was bolted back on it was time for a quick spin around the block to make sure everything was running smoothly. That done, a quick cuppa to celebrate my hard work and good fortune. All in all, a successful day in the shed.

Abigails' shiney bits.

Finally finished the outer casings to the level I wanted them. I like to think they're clean and tidy rather that 'show bikey'. I'm not going to lacquer them, just spray with ACF50 and keep on top of things with the old Autosol.

All I need now is enough spare cash to buy the stainless bolts and gaskets to put everything back together again. That could be a problem this side of Christmas, but I'm not worried. 2010 is the big year for Abigail. That's when she must start making serious progress.

Happy day

Lucy passed her MOT today!

Chuffed to beans as I thought the rear disc would fail. Too be totally honest she didn't get a completely clean bill of health as I've been advised of slight play in the front wheel bearings. But that and a replacement rear disc will be sorted by the weekend and the pink piece of paper the nice man at the garage gave me means the wheels can keep rollin'.

Love my bike me :-)

Hippy burpday to me

45 years old and don't look a day passed 44! Looks like it's all change again as I've just got myself another job too. This is going to be yet another interesting year with the new job, a return to college probable and the extension build on the house! Fitting in bikey bits could be tough, but I'll give it a damn good go!

Lucy gets a new swingarm

Today's the day I replaced Lucy's swingarm with the replacement one I've sprayed with hammerite. Too be fair, dismantling the backend was quite straight forward with no nut or bolt being too awkward and putting up any sort of fight. Even the swingarm pivot bolt came out easily. Here's a veiw of the resulting gap.

My plan to repair the original swingarm was quickly forgotten once I gave it a poke with a screw driver. Totally rotten and not worth the effort.

Fitting the replacement was no bother either and I'm chuffed with the completed job. Very smart. The new item does have a dent in it on the RHS, but it doesn't notice too much.

The only problem throughout the job was the discovery that a previous owner had bodged the rear caliper. Looks like the bleed nipple had been sheered off and a bolt, complete with some silicone was used to effect a repair. I've tapped out the caliper to 8mm and ordered a suitable bleed nipple, but for now I've bodged it wth another bolt. I have a working rear brake so I can use the bike for now, but will have to do a proper job before the MOT. One more thing done.