Solo Ventures

Retired army pretty officer, and self reported adrenaline junkie.   Reported having not had RE rego'd for "two years" but some old rego papers found in a jacket sold with the bike indicated that it had not been registered for three years.  Rather than expire and lapse,  the registration was stopped perhaps the result of a near miss or bout of our mental health,  though i am only guessing.   The RE was bought new and without a pillion seat due to The Wife's demand that he not double with their children on the back. The RE was only ridden in fine weather on more scenic routes and occasionally to work.   The decision to sell was in response to The Wife's Ultimatum: " too sell my truck or the bike and i love my truck".  He spoke freely of service in the army as a special force in Kandahar. He told stories of drones and how in armed conflict it was only legal to shoot the enemy as they were in the process of throwing a grenade,  having r...

after doing online research i was confused about RE pillion seats.  some fitted the 350 and 500 models,  some didn't;  some fitted only late models,  some didn't; some needed to be bolted through the rear mudguard, some didn't; some needed a separate rack and some didn't.  => I needed to handle one in real life. Ordering online seemed to fall into two categories too. One was the expensive British option ( this applied to ordering locally too), or offer from India which was a cheaper lucky dip. The Indian ads are more about garnering positive feedback than describing the hardware ie: please leaving a positive feedback. We are being best experience off you are having problem please call us too resolve.  With my heart in my wallet,  I plumped up to my local RE dealer.  I was prepared to pay about $100 extra to get the right pillion seat system, and one of known quality.   At the shop, near a dusty box of Butt Plugs, which the heavily tat...

Reading "scraping pegs" is kind of enjoyable but mostly confusing.  the author, a self described lounge long rider has (over) thought what it means.  Places too much credence in brands,  engine sizes and bike style and tries to slam The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and "Oddballs" thus who ride with poorly trimmed beards and don't care what others think of them.  I could dwell quite easily in either of those camps.   At one point The Author strikes a deer which apparently leapt at him from behind a bush,  ambushed him even.  Well,  that's bad for anyone to endure life threatening injuries,  it's not something I've had experience with,  but I do wonder whether he was blinded by mental distractions that he entertains at every bend in the road.  

Fortunately today there was rain,  so i wasn't required to work for money.  Mind you,  hanging with Ch. on holidays feels like work sometimes.   Today's "work" on my bike began modestly,  with during the replacement battery.  Being the correct model battery,  fitting was enjoyable and straight forward.  It required no bodging up, no creative engineering.   But starting was a bit piggish. Too piggish, to the point it had me concerned.  Earlier,  I'd made a failed attempt at taking the handlebars,  but these electric controls were too complicated to budge enough to properly reset the levers.  I had to return it all to factory settings.  I thought I'd upset something along the way. I removed the spark plug and air filter,  finding both soiled in their own peculiar ways.  Soon after she fired up, but reluctantly.  A run up V Rd reinforced my concern; she was running like a headless chook!  In...