Ride this week?

[garynortheast]

If the weather is ok we might see about a ride out sometime this coming week. Anybody want to join us?

[garynortheast]

We're thinking about a ride out to the Raven Cafe near Whitchurch on Wednesday. Anyone? Craig, are you about then?

[Craig380]

Unfortunately not, bike's getting MoT'd tomorrow!

[garynortheast]

Well, we never made it to the Raven café, but we did get up to J&S clothing at Northwich. We went to see if we could find a pair of boots that fitted Jan better than the 2nd hand Sidi boots which are too big for her. We didn't actually intend to buy anything there and then but Jan found a very nice pair of end-of-line, waterproof Frank Thomas boots at the bargain price of £59. Too good not to snap up, especially as they were the last pair they had.

I had a look at crash helmets as my Shoei is due for replacement, and it makes the front of my head hurt after about an hour. I must have tried on a dozen different helmets from Shark, Shoei, Arai, HJC, KGV, and none of them fitted comfortably. I must have a very odd shaped head . I'm sure that somewhere there must be a lid that fits, just haven't found one yet within my budget.

Took the back roads home, down through Whitchurch and Ellesmere. Aout 10 miles into the journey home I stopped for fuel. Filled the tank, paid, came out and started the bike. It started and instantly died! No lights, no starter or solenoid response, nothing. Off with the pillion and rider seats, checked the battery connection, then the fuses, especially the main fuse. Couldn't see a blown fuse, but swapped the main for a new one anyway, and everything came back. Bike started and ran perfectly, and took us back home without further incident. I concluded that the fuse must have finally given up the ghost (after 15 years!) for some reason. I did no more aside from changing the fuse, than pulling the boot over the main battery connection a little more firmly, and make sure that all the other connections in that area were secure. Ho hum.

While I was on the garage forecourt trying to sort the problem a really nice couple came over from their car to check we were ok. I thought straight away that they must be bikers, and so it was. They were very supportive and stayed to make sure that I had sorted the problem before they left. We swapped phone numbers with a view to meeting up for a ride together at some stage in the future. Lovely folks.

A good day out and we got home just before the temperature dropped too far.

[DarrenSV650S]

I've got that same head shape Gary. Shuberth lids are the answer for me

[garynortheast]

Thanks Darren, that's good to know. I'll see if I can find some to try on.

[Craig380]

Good that you sorted the bike problem, as you say, old fuses can get temperamental.

J&S is always good for a browse, I've bought most of my biking gear there from the end-of-line clearance sales.

[Sir Trev]

Glad you weren't stuck for too long Gary.

My current Arai came from JnS Oxford funnily enough. In one of their sales. I will be trying a Schuberth for my next lid but will defo wait for a sale as they're not the cheapest... Good job I also have branches of Helmet City, Infinity and Suberbike Shop within an hour of me - at least one of them will hopefully have deals on in December or January.

[garynortheast]

I'm thinking the same Trevor. Schuberths are a bit pricey so I'll wait and see what comes up in the sales.