The merry go round

[Suff]

I've been having not a lot of fun with the cold and the bike. I seem to have shaken most of the cold but the persistent cough. Sadly the cold has made me behind on some important stuff at work which I'll have to catch up on.

The bike is just being a mule. Fuel tap fails and carbs leak. Fix the fuel tap and adjust the carbs. Bike won't idle. Adjust the idle jets and find one carb is still flooding, they'll have to come out a fourth time. Fix the exhaust and the front brake fails. Fix the front brake and the front pads wear out. Also the brake fluid which slopped over whilst bleeding the brakes shorted the front brake switch.

I've WD40'd the front brake light switch and ordered the pads (due Thursday). They only take 30 minutes each to change but I also have to do the carbs again. Having fixed the brake lights (now off again), I find one of the two stop tail bulbs has blow the tail light.

It just feels like a long and constant grind.

The bike is due it's MOT in March and, I guess, it will all be sorted by Christmas. So, in some ways, this is progress and the repairs will probably last for a few years.

Mrs S arrives tomorrow and we're going to see BEAUTIFUL and staying in the Melia at Aldwych (just round the corner from the theatre), tomorrow night. Then she's coming back to my place Saturday and heading back north on Sunday.

I've been cleaning up (the hob was not clean under the control buttons when I came in). Now one of the hob ignitors is clicking every now and again because the cleaning fluid has seeped through the seal.....

I thought life was supposed to be easier...

I intend to enjoy the weekend and, maybe, if I feel up to it, I'll pull the carbs off the bike again Sunday.

I'll be busy tomorrow, probably, so I'll be around again on Sunday.

Have a great weekend everyone.

[JoM]

It certainly is one thing after another Suff!

Anyway, forget about all of that for now and concentrate on having a lovely weekend. Is that the Carole King musical that you're seeing?

[Kaz]

Yes, have a good weekend xx

[meriad]

Suff, dare I ask - given your lack of man hours in any given week; would it not make sense to get the bike to someone to repair. I know cost is involved and you can do it yourself, but maybe just this once admit that there is only so much one human being can do within a 24 hour period.

and then once bike is fine and you're feeling better then life will be a doddle

Enjoy the weekend with Mrs S, and enjoy the musical!

[Suff]

Hi Ria,

Reality.

The last time I had a Kawasaki garage do an MOT on the bike it cost me £450, most of which was freeing off the front brakes. The bike only cost £795 but the problem is that I could go out and buy another bike and get one that is worse. I spent £2,000 on my Honda, it's only 15 years old and is causing me as much of a headache (or more), than the Kawasaki.

The problem with old bikes is that you hit a ceiling really fast when you ask someone to repair it at £90 an hour or more. Remember I'm in London now.

My Honda failed it's MOT (the first I've put it through), with a catastrophic failure. The swinging arm (holds the back wheel in place and is part of the suspension), is rusted through with holes. To get a garage to do that for me will cost circa £1,200 to £1,800. For me it will cost about £20 for the special tool to take the swinging arm out and weld it up myself.

The Kawasaki, perversely, has passed every MOT (after that first one in a bike shop), I've put it in for. It's just too old for commuting. That's what the Honda is for. But I spent £2,000 on that and 7 months later it's sitting in the garage waiting for me to work on it.

I know what you are saying but bikes have now reached silly state. A new, larger, bike is more expensive than a mid range car and it has knocked on to second hand bike prices. I have no need of (nor space to put), my car here.

It's just the litany of things. My car is broken, it's been in the garage 4 times now and I'm struggling to get them to fix it. I don't have time to haul the fuel pump out of the tank myself so I'm going to have to take it back, yet again and explain what I want them to do. Both bikes are broken and the one I'm using is consuming time, if not a lot of money yet, which I could well do without.

The hob was clicking most of last night until I took the knob off it and filled it with WD40 using the pipe. Then it shut up.

It just feels like I have a technology based reverse midas touch right now. I hesitate to say anything about my technology right now except for the fact that yet another of my 3TB drives has failed in my storage box and I'm going to have to fix that the next time I'm home. That one is totally my fault because it's now 3 out of 4 drives from the same source, at the same time, which have failed. I bought them all together and they are all failing within a year. Yep, totally my fault as I should have just ditched the lot and replaced them. But, again, there is a cost angle here.

Hence the feeling of a merry go round. It's not that I can't sort all the problems myself. It's just more of a case of "gimme a break will you", spoken to the sky in some informal nod to some deity who has decided it's time to make life more difficult than it needs to be.

[Workingman]

Why not get a 125cc scooter?

OK it is not a touring bike, but it would do for a commute, and at circa £900 for a brand new one with 12 months warranty it could work to tide you over.

[Suff]

It's a thought WM, but every time I see a bike lying on the road and the rider in a less than straight configuration the bike is 250cc or less. Mine is BIG, it's RED and when I open the throttle trouble flows behind, even with one carb flooding at idle. Every time I get that thought I'm reminded that I'd be buying "car fodder".

My pads have arrived at Argos, 6 days early. Guess Sunday is going to be busy after Mrs S leaves.

Christmas is now just over a month away. I'll get the Kawasaki back and the Honda over. Totally different kettle of fish. The tyres are top line hybrid, expensive, tyres which grip the road in all weathers. It has ABS and it has TCS. It's a lot thinner in profile and it has new pads all round plus I have spares at home.

OK it has an engine issue which I'll have to sort out, but I can ignore it for long enough, it did 1,000 miles at speed and the ping is no louder.