Shed some weight and tat

First step with the Honda was to remove some bits that I don't want and put them on ebay.

Things like this crash bar:

And the solid wheel covers, sissy bar and other small odds and ends. I also binned the saddle bags, the rear fender, some tassles and eagles. In total I made over £100 and shaved several kilos off the weight.

Honda Shadow VT600 bobber project

I've bought a running but slightly neglected Honda Shadow VT600 with the intent of turning it into an old-skool bobber. When I bought it it looked like this:

And the plan is to strip it down and make it look a little more like this:

I don't have a garage so work on it will be weather-dependent, and with three young kids time isn't particularly abundant, so this is going to take some time.

Crash!

Came off this morning in the wet. Was filtering slowly in Bristol centre when someone decided to switch lanes without checking their mirrors. I had to brake hard to avoid a collision, but unfortunately I was on wet painted lines, so lost the front end and ended up on the floor.

Almost effortlessly I was back on my feet shouting at the driver, part in anger and part in shock. He was very apologetic. I picked up the scooter and apart from the number plate falling off there was no damage done.

New panel flashes

Fitted these new panel flashes from ScootRS. Nice huh?

Also fitted yet another air hose. They don't seem to last long!

New stand

I've now fitted a new stand, completing the damage repairs from when it was knocked over in the street a few months ago. It's a stainless one from Scooter Republic. I had to seriously modify the stand brackets to fit the profile of my replacement cross member, using an angle grinder and trial-and error.

Photo to follow.

ScootRS tubeless rims - a safety warning about chrome rubber-type valves

Yesterday I received this email from ScootRS:

"> Hi. We are recommending that anyone using a CHROME rubber-type tubeless tire valve change it to a non-chrome (brass) valve. Over many years we have only seen a couple valves come apart at the stem, one with a non-standard cap, so it may just be random but they were CHROME rubber ones so possibly the chrome reacted to road salts, or some such thing. We included this type with some of our tubeless rims before, so we are sending this note to you. Of course the same recommendation applies to ones obtained elsewhere. This is ONLY about a valve of the following flexible rubber type AND ONLY if CHROME - not the brass color shown here: http://scootrs.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=1661 If you have a CHROME one: change it to the exact same type shown in the photo - brass color, non-chrome. These are standard valves available at any tire shop or from us. If you have a brass one already or different type: don't do anything. You should replace old valves when changing tires, or if leaving tires on for years, but if you haven't done so yet and you have a CHROME rubber valve on one of our tubeless rims, you can change it without removing your tire. Let the air out, push the tire over, and the valve can be replaced. It is much easier to let a tire shop handle it, but if you need a replacement valve, let us know and we can send you some. To avoid misinformation, please note: - this is NOT related to our tubeless rims at all. Our current v.3 design was released in 2006 and has earned a PERFECT record on both the road and track, greatly enhancing rider safety over regular rims by preventing blowouts. We have always included valves as an extra at no charge and simply included this chrome rubber type on some rims before. Our apologies if any actual problem has since appeared with that type. - there is NO problem at all with any other valves, especially the same rubber tubeless type but non-chrome. (Older bolt-in type valves are OK too, even if chrome. Do NOT change this chrome bolt-in type: http://scootrs.com/moreinfo.cfm?Product_ID=1189) Again, there may not be any problem at all with the CHROME rubber valves either, this is a very rare occurrence we've seen, but we are recommending you change them to non-chrome. Cheers. Customer service~ http://scootRS.com"

Allow me to translate. If you've got one of these (see below) in chrome then change it. Brass ones are ok. Chrome bolt-in ones are ok.

While we're on the subject, I should add that after 500km my rims have proved great. The only small problem I had was slow deflation on the rear tyre. This was due to the valve core not being fully screwed in, probably by the tyre fitter. I bought one of these cheap valve core tools and tightened it up, and it's been fine ever since:

New fibreglass front mudguard

Since the recent parking collision (at which I wasn't present) the front mudguard has been precariously partially tethered with strong cable ties. Its replacement arrived this weekend from http://www.fibreglassparts.com/ and I'm very pleased with it. It fits well and it has the metal brackets to the rear moulded into the structure, although I did have to buy longer M5 set screws to attach these.

I was lucky enough to have dry weather which gave me enough time to sand, wash with turps, and then give it a coat of primer, and then a couple of top coats of my near-match beige.

 The new one is on the right :)

Snow & ice

Spot the scooter. It sat there unused for three weeks :(

Knocked over in the street

Got to my scoot yesterday, chained to the lamppost opposite my house, to find that the weatherproof cover had pools of neat fuel hanging down like incendiary saddle bags. The bike had also moved. And what's this? The side panel was loose, and the front mudguard was dented and hanging off.

Conclusion - some arse knocked it over while parking. I suspect it was a van as the mudguard dent is too high and square for it be a car. I guess they (or somebody else) picked it up, which is a relief as it would have just lay there leaking fuel.

The stand has also bent which means when I kick start the lever hits the floor. Total damage, if I were to get it done properly, runs into hundreds.

Looks like my decision to 'keep it shabby' has paid off. I'll bend the mudguard back, and re-attach it as it's dangerously loose. Not sure about the stand though, that might need a little more work :(

I guess I'm lucky there's no snapped levers, broken lights etc.

mylicenceplate.co.uk - very poor indeed

I know there was somebody there at mylicenceplate for the following reasons:

• they took my money
• I have their fingerprints permanently on my number plate

I know there's still somebody there at mylicenceplate.co.uk, because despite them ignoring all my emails and telephone calls, they recently had the tenacity to send me a marketing email.

This came somewhat as a surprise to me because I'd actually decided that they must have gone out of business. I thought this because a few weeks ago I was trying to contact them about said fingerprints. And here they are:

Nice huh? These prominent and indelible marks passed their non-existent quality control and actually got sent to me.

So I emailed them a polite email informing them of my problem, with this picture attached. No reply. I emailed them again. No reply. I emailed another email address. No reply.

Then I phoned. No answer. I phoned another number. No answer. And another number. No answer. And then I phoned them all again on a different day just to make sure. No answer.

Then I used their contact form on the website. No reply.

So, after using their website, and after three unanswered emails to two different addresses, and six unanswered phonecalls to 3 different numbers, all over a period of about 3 weeks, I decided they must have gone out of business. Well they haven't, as last week they sent me a marketing email. It's now clear they just don't care.

My advice? Whether you're looking for number plates, decals, stripes, sunstrips, graphics, then go somewhere else. If you buy from mylicenceplate.co.uk you'll be met with a wall of silence if you need any help.