Hiya Doc. Yeah, would be good to meet up again. We're off to the Ace Cafe for breakfast on Sunday morning if you've got nothing to do!
NO, 'fraid it
didn't pass.
Wasn't really sure it would, so not a total suprise, but no free re-test & with my finances as tight as they are, it'll be several weeks before I can sort out the probs & get it tested again.
The local bike shop, ("Just Motorcycles" of Basingstoke), is run by a couple of guys who are "proper" bikers, rather than jobsworths -they're into streetfighters & were pretty fair, so no complaints.
So -failure points:
Despite my best efforts, the exhausts were just
too loud. 105 decibels to be precise. They said they'd have turned a deaf ear to anything up to 100 or even if the note was a little deeper, but it's just too much of a sharp bark. Fair enough. Annoying cos I paid out 50 quid for a new pair of aftermarket silencers, but I'm sure they'll find a home on some other project -with a quieter engine! So I'm now looking for a
very cheap pair of standard Harley tapered mufflers. Exactly the same design as my ones but much more baffling. If anyone has a pair for less than £2.50 let me know please!
The tester's off to the Stafford autojumble this weekend & actually said he'd look out for some for me.
Next, the headlight. It's a cheap Chinese copy of a 125 Yam light & has no beam pattern -just a big splodge of light. It's supposed to cut off straight or kick up to the left but mine would dazzle oncoming traffic. Again, fair enough & easy enough to fix with the Bates light I planned to fit on Simon's trike, which is conveniently already powdercoated black, but it used to live on my green trike & passed 4 MOTs with no problem.
The seat's held with the original plastic lug at the front that tucks under the tank, & heavy duty Velcro at the back that sticks it very well to the frame rails. Yeah, O.K, maybe that was daft, but it's pretty solid unless you physically rip it off. Not good enough & I can't argue with that, so it needs a metal securing tab self tapped to the underside & the mudguard. They also deemed the seat long enough to be a dual seat, although the back end only covers the leccy stuff underneath & would be bloody uncomfortable -so I need to fit passenger footpegs. Again, if anyone's got some cheap old moped ones they don't want, sling 'em my way please.
Finally they gave me an advisory on the soft front suspension -it doesn't return very well, although we buggered about with it for ages trying to improve it. The testing chappies were O.K about it though & said it's normal for them so no problem.
So that's it. No ride to London for me on Sunday. I'll have to bum a lift with Ska Man instead. Nothing major & all fixable although the pipes may take a while to track down & pay for. Riding to the test station I gave it a bit of a blast & it picks up really well. A bit of popping & banging on the over-run & the tickover's a little erratic, but some decent silencers would probably sort that out. Otherwise, a nice little runabout.
Only trouble is I'm kinda bored with it now! I've got back into my trike build & can't wait to ride that & have my battered old van for daily transport over the Winter, so the bike's not really a priority. The paperwork's cost more than the bike's worth & other than a local toy run I want to attend in December, I probably won't get much use from it.
Do I keep it sat outside my flat for the days I fancy a blast? (I reckon it'll be pretty reliable & does go well), or flog it for 3 or 400 quid & use the cash to finish the trike?
Can't decide.
