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Here is Bruce admiring his handiwork, the Mk1 panniers. The other guy is my mate Titus who has just been to Kiev, left on Monday, on that bike, the Harley. He has just crossed from Moldova to Romania, heading for the Vatican where he hopes to be appointed as the next pope. The KTM is the bike that I wished I'd kept, but would never be able to get on it these days - far too tall.

Why do I even bother … I try to interact with the rest of the group sensibly but my nightmare isn’t good enough , more of a slight nuisance , thanks how much was the subs on other place ….

My 1150, I loved that bike, the balance on rough roads and the feeling it would always stop on a dime with a passenger no matter what kind of road, I also liked you could do a week's traveling on back roads and never really go above 2500 rpm. It's what got me touring with Maria so really fond memories of it, but it never really rode right. It was a 2001 or 2003 bike, I don't remember, imported from Hong Kong a couple of years after. I must have bought it with a clocked odometer as I got it with just 50 something thousand and sold with it 75000km. The gear change was always hard to get right at the end of a long day, the engine was perfectly smooth after my mechanic synched the throttles and adjusted valves but pretty vibey on the motorway after a few thousand kms. It rode fine balance wise, but something about that engine and gearbox made it tiresome after a few hours on the road, the hotter the weather the worse it got. After I sold it, a bearing inside the gearbox fell apart completely and it had to be completely torn apart, and a few weeks later the diff also needed a proper rebuild even though the tolerances were set straight at my last service when replacing the bearing and seal. Here it is looking cool: And looking less cool:

I followed him on the way to Tregaron when he had the original ones on. I thought that he'd come off on every bend as they were so low. I can't remember whether he rebuilt them or whether he lifted them up a bit. Couldn't go much quicker than about 65mph as I remember due to a weave setting in.

You can see why he won TOTY the last two years running Marcel!

Dick head.... Wax built up in the ears causing pressure on the inner ear..

Unlike you he has electric lights, he doesn’t need to worry about wax runoff on the floor from the candles. I thought you esquimo’s used oil from whale blubber in your lamps anyway?

Sounds normal to me @bobonelegyour just fecked like me.

50k miles. New top end new life

mental health, not really a joking matter. what did he do mass shooting or buy a Himalayan ?

Lots of welding but I have a nice welder...

One careful owner , the other was a welsh twat who almost totally fucked the bike with in an inch of its life.

Hey up @Six30 how come you’re always there to take photos.

Dealers should give you a bike to ride for a month if you clean it for them. They would make a nice profit on having a cleaner bike.

That's his limit without dustbins as well!

Pedro has some horse cock casserole in the fridge you can have.

Fuck off then with your nightmares

In his defence he did build some mammoth dustbins the size of a shipping container.

I had a Triumph Trophy 900 about 17 years ago, which had a hard life, used year round but not properly cleaned from what I could see. I only bought it because I couldn't afford anything more. The oil cooler cracked after I'd had it about a year. I wasn't far from home, so I limped it back. Replaced the cooler with one from a breakers and that was sorted. Fork oil seals went, but that's not unusual for a bike of its age. Rebuilt the forks myself. My biggest gripe with it was that the headers were stainless, but the end cans were mild steel. Consequently the cans would rot from the inside out. Very few aftermarket cans available for it and decent secondhand cans were rarer than rocking horse shit. I found some semi respectable cans eventually. Other than that it went well for the 5 years I had it. But I veer towards naked bikes more now, as so much gets neglected behind the fairings of a lot of fully faired bikes. Out of sight, out of mind!

That was before the Scotland trip. I think it took second place to the holes in the water which he fills with money after that, and it was neglected.

It was fine when he was using it. Never missed a beat riding around Scotland and the islands.

Can't quite get my head round the fact that Marcel and that young lady are genetically connected!

Sir, BMW's dont have problems, they have service issues.

He went bonkers.

Won't happen again.... Im on medication now..

Yes it's mine. I should have the head back next week and I will see if I love the bike and if I do I will make this a all new KLX...

Elen got a DRZ400 this is number 10 in the garage.

twat

Gay

See, all the men want to be your friends now, result!

Absolutely Keith! And you'd be amazed the number of guys our age on big bikes who've messaged me on FB to find out all about it. They wanted the POV of an older guy moving down from bigger bikes.

Well you can count on the little Honda.

That's my old GS out of the picture then! It barely gets past the first week.

Why not a higher price its sorted and detailed properly.

you want money ? knew what this was leading to , how much is an air con unit ?

Should have got a Harley.

We'll chip in and pay them.....what you say everybody?

Sounds more of a slight nuisance tym

With petrol still being in the tank it gunked up the petrol tap, tank breather pipe, and had continued to slowly seep through the carbs, the middle one was by far the worst, Bruce gave me a spare set of carbs, I assumed they were the correct ones for the bike, I only fitted one to replace the very bad (corroded) middle carb, It would/could have been a different story if the tank and carbs had been drained.

10 or more years stood in a garage will not do any bike any good, if It had been started on a regular basis it may have stood better...

Bought a few month old tiger 1050 sport about 6 years back , noticed oil around the head after couple of days …. Triumph replaced the head … in all fairness they was good and was only with out it for just over a week apart from that no other dramas

Or my Mange?

Putting the Sin in sincerity since 1958.

Not me Marcel is 0bviously a man of great character and lineage, its an honour to be able to get some advice from such a fantastic rider. Did i ever mention how much ive looked up to marcel for advice and mentoring over the years, like a father he is to me.

Question. When you fell over did you spill any Jack Daniel’s or were you able to keep the bottle upright throughout the fall?

I recon its age related Bob, I find my balance is not too good these last few years. I was standing on a kerb in work the other day when a jet flew over, I looked up to see it and lost my balance and almost fell off which wouldn't have happened a few years ago, bloody lucky I didn't. Falling off a kerb no big deal I hear you say well this kerb was an island in a sea of shit could have got messy