Saturday was a day spent in the garage, the T3 is back to being a single, after stripping the right head, cylinder and piston it appears the exhaust valve is leaking which is probably accounting for my inability to get it running as sweetly as I should. Good news is the new barrel & piston arrived last week (6 week wait while Luigi and his pals machined it up) Alex has the head to try out his new valve grinding tool (I'm too lazy to do it the old fashioned way) so next weekend it'll probably be back running again.
Sunday (this morning) I was looking forward to a run on my V11, the first in about 7 years, Fiona similarly was looking forward to getting out on her Kawa which really has done little since we went to Argentina in 2012. The petrol station is exactly 1 mile from my house, I got half way there and the Mandello Mauler started to feel like a kangaroo and then stopped, I got about 100 yards at a time before it stopped and when in striking distance I decided to push! I can say pushing a bike as heavy as the V11 on a Sunday morning is NOT a good form of exercise. Fi and I got new Intercoms (thanks Gareth at Perth M/c's) and this was their first trial, I think I can say they relay the heavy breathing and almost heart attack type sounds perfectly!
Bikes fuelled I was dismayed to find this was not my problem, we were almost at the stage of one of us heading back for the van when I had a thought, the fuel tap on the V11 is a strange affair, a kind of screw type arrangement, on checking it was apparent I hadn't opened it fully after servicing it therefore starving the fuel pump! Doh! At least it meant we could still have our ride out and a fun ride it was, it's been a while since we've both been on bikes that can not only keep up with traffic on the main roads but pass most of it. Breakfast at Gullane, a sit in the (Cold) sun at North Berwick and then back by Bert and Laurenne's to hopefully blag a cup of tea, they must have heard the bikes and hid from us so we returned tealess! A braw day oot as they say here, just need some more heat now and to toughen up, a while since I rode with clip on handlebars and my wrists can tell, its a long way to Sicily so better toughen up before then.
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| The Mandello Mauler happier after turning the petrol on, Fi's Kawa creeping into the picture for the first time in a while |
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| Guzzi at rest |
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| North Berwick |
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| A cold but happy Fiona |
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| Naebody in, nae tea! |
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