Today

[Bigfeesh]

Most of the Cumbrian side of Hartside has been gravelled, so don't bother passing through until 2020! Just bought new output shaft seal & seal bush for Tigger, (behind drive sprocket) 99p for the bush! Even the counter assistant looked it up twice! The bush was destroyed in it's removal, been leaking for a while after I discovered it was badly corroded last year. A cheap repair for a change 

[Lee337]

Spent most of Sunday in the garage playing (it was either that or help the Missus in the garden.

So, full service of my 06 955i, oil & filter change, fuel filter change, throttle body balance (the middle pot was way out), wired in the 12v socket on the dash and re-connected the DIN socket (so I can now trickle charge the battery without taking the seat off), made up some spacers to fit between the front fairing and the dash (a trial fitting with an old screen & no spoiler on the top worked a treat at reducing buffeting), cleared the error codes that appeared from running the engine without the airbox and fuel gauge (when balancing the throttles), reset the TPS and finally gave everything a good going over.

After many cups of coffee, some good tunes to work by and a quick stop for lunch, all is right with the old girl.

Pinched the idea for the screen off another site but also noticed that Triumph do something similar on the new Tigers, so thought I'd give it a go.

[Lee337]

After changing the fuel filter, I put some fuel in, enough to balance the throttle bodies & get to the garage, 2 miles away.

Filled up the tank today, 23.5 litres in a 24l tank. must have been the fumes that kept the engine going.

[Lee337]

More money spent. Ordered a new chain & sprocket kit, a sheepskin seat pad and some amber LED lights for the dash instruments.

I originally replaced the standard bulbs with a nice calming shade of green, but now the nights are drawing in (again), it's not so easy to see the speedo and with the number of speed cameras around my locale, that's probably not a good thing.

MOT is also due & booked in for this coming Wednesday, so I'd better give her a bit of a wash & brush up too.

[London_Phil]

Stuck indoors with Gastric Flu....niiiice.

Looking at a few mods on the 800xc.

Runs like shit when hot, Ie uneven tick-over/cutting out when idling in London, so based on some advise on the 800 site, I may turn the O2 sensor off, and run a different map.
Apparently the fan temp is set at 103, and many people in hotter areas set it to 93 with good results.
Probably going to order the upgraded gear selector spring, and mod the operating pin, as the people who have had them done as a factory recall experience the pin pulling out of its mount due to the increased pressure from the new spring.
Round we go...

[Tiger-G]

Today.......well, yesterday.........I took Tiger out for a warm up ride on a dry winters day in the UK. After negotiating the black ice on the road out of the village I decided against going for a blast round the back roads, as no doubt there would have been more black ice lurking. So with heated grips on full blast I stayed on the main road which lead me to a large Outdoors retail outlet where I thought I'd have a mooch around for some manly, outdoorsy things. I parked right outside the front of the store because I'm very security conscious, and I do live in one of the crime capitals of the UK. I put my helmet and gloves in the panniers and tootled in for said mooch for all things manly. After about 20 mins mooching but not buying anything I came back out and noticed Tigers' lights were on ?? Bloody idiot I thought, you've turned the ignition key one notch too far when putting the steering lock on and left the lights on. So as I fumbled around in my pocket for my keys as I approach the bike, and not finding them, I look at the ignition switch and realise I'd left the keys in the bike while I was in the shop !! Noooooooo ........!! 

I couldn't believe it. First at how forgetful, lax and feckin' stupid I'd been, then at how lucky I was that the bike hadn't been nicked !! I gathered my thoughts as I moved the handlebars to turn the ignition off, felt how hot the grips, were then thought.......I know what's coming next  . Sure enough, as I went to start the bike, the starter motor said "sorry you idiot, you deserve everything you're gonna get here". Bugger, the bike wouldn't start. So I gathered my thoughts again (I had plenty of spare thoughts as I hadn't used any when I pulled up and got off the bike !!  ) and went through the options.........1 - wait a bit and it might just start, 2 - phone for my recovery company for a jump start, 3 - try and push start it ?? I went with option 1 and tried again to start it off the ignition....it didn't. Thought about option 2.....nope, couldn't deal with the shame. Went with option 3. I found a willing volunteer, who by the way had noticed the lights were on and the keys were in the ignition when he went in the store, and asked if he'd help me push start it. He said yes......so off we gallop down the road pushing all 200 plus kg's of Tiger, me thinking if I jump on this side saddle to put some weight on the bike for the back wheel to grip and I balance the wrong way and it goes over, that would just be the icing on the cake !! Fortune was on my side this time and Tiger started with a click into first gear and a bounce on the seat......phew  . After a quick thank you to my willing volunteer, I thanked my lucky stars and rode home vowing that would never happen again !!

[London_Phil]

Phew, scary Black Sunday story...

[Lee337]

A lesson to learn here, leave your shopping to your other half (assuming you've got one, of course).

Having said that, I'm regularly dragged round the shops when I could be out riding 

[Tiger-G]

A lesson to learn here, leave your shopping to your other half (assuming you've got one, of course).

Having said that, I'm regularly dragged round the shops when I could be out riding 

I'm really lucky.......I don't have an other half 

[Geoff W]

I'm really lucky.......I don't have an other half 

I wish I still had my other half, she died two months ago and I am just devastated.

I took my steamer out yesterday , I was struggling squinting into the low sun when lorry from one of the many local quarries went past me in the opposite direction and sprayed enough fine mud allover me and my visor to totally blot out the sun. One of the joys of winter biking.

[JayDub]

Sad news.  I'm really sorry to hear that Geoff, hope you're bearing up mate. 

[Tiger-G]

I wish I still had my other half, she died two months ago and I am just devastated.

I took my steamer out yesterday , I was struggling squinting into the low sun when lorry from one of the many local quarries went past me in the opposite direction and sprayed enough fine mud allover me and my visor to totally blot out the sun. One of the joys of winter biking.

Sad news mate, sending a big manly biker hug from Hartlepool. And I know what you mean about the quarry lorries !!  Near Coxhoe perchance ??

Post us a pic of the Steamer, it'll cheer us both up 

[Lee337]

I wish I still had my other half, she died two months ago and I am just devastated.

I took my steamer out yesterday , I was struggling squinting into the low sun when lorry from one of the many local quarries went past me in the opposite direction and sprayed enough fine mud allover me and my visor to totally blot out the sun. One of the joys of winter biking.

Sorry to hear that, I can't imagine what you're going through at the moment but I'm glad to see that you've not completely shut yourself off as can so often happen when something devastating like that happens.

[Geoff W]

Thank you for your kind words and thoughts, it all helps.

[threepot]

Condolences to you and your family Geoff.