Not been a good weekend really.
One thing I didn’t mention along with the pictures of the new bike seat, was the little mishap that happened during the fitting of it.
These days I am getting more of the typical nurse trait of lower back pain. So, to ease this I put the bike on my new m/cycle lift. Unfortunately the lift is not wide enough to be able to use the side stand of the bike. So I clamped the front wheel into the fitting attached to the lift, and started sorting out the straps to keep the bike upright and secure.
While I was doing this I had the bike leaning on me to steady, but it started falling the opposite way. I tried to grab the bike but obviously it was too heavy, and fell off the lift just about taking me with it.
Luckily , it looked like there was very little damage other than the stiffening in the leather pannier, and the mirror knocked loose. I managed to lift the bike back to upright, using the technique I learnt for the Harley. Hold onto the handlebar and at the back of the bike with my back to the machine and then lift using my legs rather than my back. She came up very easily, but it still knackered me cos the bike is not light (about 600lbs).
Haven’t had chance to try the seat until yesterday (saturday). I was going to go into one of the local towns to pay the final bill for the en-suite refurb, and then go on to the local Triumph dealer where I got the bike from, to show off the new seat. However, as I was riding to the first stop, I could tell something wasn’t right with the bike. It just didn’t feel to be sitting right from MY position. The bike was handling ok, as I tried a couple of roundabouts with no problems. The more I rode it, I could tell it was the handlebars that were the problem. The right hand side was further back. On further examination it is apparent that the riser , that connects the handlebar to the forks, was bent slightly back and therefore causing the handlebars to be out of line. At least it wasn’t anything too serious, just feels weird. I came straight home and have ordered a new one online, which should be here early next week. Easy enough fix and hopefully that will sort it.
But the story doesn’t end there. I’ve now got two beautifully green bruises on my shins from where the bike dragged me over the lift. Couple with that, last night my left wrist had another flare up of the Rheumatoid Arthritis that I suffer from these days. Took my extra-strong anti-inflammatories, but it didn’t help. It got worse and worse. I was in a lot of pain when I went to bed, and just couldn’t find a comfortable position. Needless to say it wasn’t a very good night. It’s easing now though I’m glad to say.
On the good side, I took receipt of my first “classic bike” for restoration on friday. For some time, Lee and I have been talking about getting an old bike to do up between us. It will be a fun project and also a way for Lee to pick up some mechanical tips from me (hopefully!) We chose an old British bike as they are so easy to work on. So what we have is a James 2-stroke 250. It’s a bit of mismatch as it is a Superswift frame (which was a twin cylinder engine), and a Commodore engine, which is a single cylinder. But the rest of the bike is in pretty good shape with not too much rust on and the metalwork feels solid.
Well, that’s all for now so I’ll sign off. Stay safe, peeps.
Hugz
RNBiker
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