Gang Update

Those of you who have been keeping tabs on this blog for a while, will no doubt have noticed the lack of involvement, or even mention, of one or two of our regular ride-out group. So here is an update. In no particular order......

Mr Plough - Nobody has seen or heard from Mr. Plough and his trusty tractor for over a year now. So bugger knows where he is or what he is doing, although I have a theory or two....

Pathfinder - Still an active ride-out attendee, bless him. Knows all the best roads as well.

Grifter - Is a VFR rider, so is probably still on his way back from our Germany trip last summer, but will be back out with the guys this summer.

H-Boss - Poor old H-Boss, his business fell foul of the global downturn last year, again, but hey that's why we call him H-Boss. He sold his bike to re-start his business but has promised to be back soon.

K.G - Well, after K.G's well publicised problems in Germany (details in older posts) last year, he was advised by Doctors to take a year out from biking to let his injury heal completely, so he sold his bike and invested the dosh in a Grasstrack Mini (never one to sit still is our K.G). The lad has done well in his first season scoring a heat win and a third in an event final. But he wont be able to resist the lure of a blast across the moors to scoff a tray of crap chips in Scarborough for long, he will be back.......

Bungle

Oh Dear!!!

The Honda Blackbird.

A legendary bike with legendary build quality.Super fast, super cool and meticulously looked after by mature owners who pour love and affection on their machines as any Honda should be.

So! What the bloody hell happened here then-->

Also, while surfing around I found a pic of

'another' purple Blackbird, not sure it works

so well this one though.

Mr Bungle

Testing times

Well, the sun is shining (sort of), the roads are dry (hmmm), the biking season is officially here.

But first and foremost one or two minor obstacles need to be overcome.

The first of these is the annual MOT (or bi-annual in Papa Phallus' case).

Mine and PP's bikes were booked into the excellent Trackside Motorcycles in sunny Stockton to be prodded and poked and bounced and squeezed by the charismatic, sharp as a knife, MOT tester.

My Blackbird went first, to be honest I was a little nervous, not because the bike is a shed (shut it Zippy) but because I had put the noisy Micron race can back on the bike (after spending the latter half of last year with a standard set-up on the bike) so I was a little worried the tester would knock it back as being too loud. I need not have worried, the money spent on a re-pack kit for said can paid for itself with a thumbs up from Mr tester man. Positives for tyres, brakes and condition came next but he did pull me up on my slack chain and my wobbly luggage rack, but these were only advisories.

So far so good, until we came to lights, I had checked all the lights the weekend before and all were working fine so I was shocked when the brake light refused to light up on the front brake lever, bollocks. The tester apologised but he had to fail the bike.

A quick drop in to Tillston's in the town for a replacement micro switch yielded nothing, so it was just a matter of raping one off of Fruit'n'Barley's bike to get my XX through a re-test. And that is exactly what I did, and now my bike has a lovely shiny full ticket.

Papa Phallus' turn now. He rode 'Yellow Snow' into the testing station looking more nervous than I was, he had a right to though, he was worried about his front tyre which was showing signs of unequal wear but our friendly tester just issued an advisory for it.

The tester was tempted to fail PP's bike on the amount of chicken strips on his back tyre, but another mechanic in the garage pointed out it would be unfair to fail it as it was clear that PP could only ride a bike upright and in a straight line........Ha ha...hammered.

'Yellow Snow' passed with flying colours, so a good job all round, 2 bikes passed and ready for a cracking spring and summer.

Your turn now Zippy...........

Bungle

Scotland tour update

Hey Guys,

I'm thinking of changing the "centre" for our Scotland trip. Instead of Inverness which is a 300 mile trip, I'm now thinking of Loch Lomond as a base. It's considerably nearer, at about 180 miles, therefore cheaper with more options for suitable accommodation.

Me and Zippy have checked out the roads in the area and, to be honest, they are nothing short of stunning. It's a very popular area for bikers but I didn't see a single speed camera in the area.

Let me know what you think, I have already been in touch with a hotel who can accommodate all of us and our bikes.

Happy Days

Bungle

Scotland Tour July '10

This July the Ouch! My Piles crew will be off on a little tour of Scotland. Starting on Thursday 1st, we will travel up to Inverness to our Hotel (which we have provisionally booked for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd) and then spend the following 3 days exploring the fantastic roads of northern Scotland.

On the itinerary will be a run up to John O'Groats and some of the minor roads in that area, also a run down to Fort William and the Glencoe Pass is a must-do.

If anyone has any other ideas then please drop a line on here.

So far there are 7 of us confirmed on the trip, but anyone is welcome to come along or even to meet up with us on route, just drop a message on here and we will get it sorted.

Ta

Bungle