The amazing yellow peril...

[garynortheast]

Great tale, thoroughly enjoyed reading that. The SV is as tough as old boots, particularly the engine.

[Geodude]

Fantastic tale, thanks for taking the time to share it with us

Will there be a 'How to modifiy a CB500 Givi pannier rack to fit a curvy sv thread' go on you know you want too

Great story, best colour to!

[andrewsmith]

Cracking read

[millemille]

Originally Posted by Geodude

Will there be a 'How to modifiy a CB500 Givi pannier rack to fit a curvy sv thread' go on you know you want too

Simple....

[Geodude]

Haha and awwwww

[millemille]

Well, the peril had had another few thousand miles put on it on commuting into that there London and some gentle 2 up day riding with the missus on the back and was doing ok.

Unfortunately last weekend I got the news that a friend, John, had died over in Ireland. His funeral was to be Thursday just gone in Northern Ireland, Portaferry, and I was determined to make it.

The yellow peril had developed a series of small oil leaks from the clutch cover and water pump so I hurridly fitted a 1-piece clutch cover from an injected SV and replaced the water pump o-rings before setting off at 7pm on Wednesday evening just gone.

Blasting around the M25, with the MP3 player filling my head with songs so I diddn't dwell on John's death, I looked down at my right boot and it was covered in wet spots. Pulling in at South Mymms services it was apparent that the water pump was weeping coolant.

I nipped up the water pump bolts in the hope this would pinch the o-rings a bit tighter and fix the leak and smoked a couple of tabs with the engine running and the fan cutting in and out to see if it was still leaking. All appeared fine so I set off again, heading up to Lymm truck stop on the M6 to meet up with a mutual friend of mine and John's, Colin, who was also coming over for the funeral.

Arrived at Lymm 4 hours and 220 miles after setting off. Loaded the peril into the back of Colin's van - it was only marginally more expensive to take a van over on the ferry than 2 bikes but meant we could share the driving - and headed off for Holyhead for the 02:40 ferry to Dublin.

We got into Dublin at "00:Crack, Sparrowfart" and we're met a mate who lives over there who guided us to his house where we unloaded the bikes and left the van, after a hearty Irish breakfast, and headed off for the 160 miles to Portaferry.

Arrived at John's parent's house at lunchtime - having cruised up the motorway and then some relaxed scratching for the last 40 miles or so - and got to see John for the last time and pay our respects before joining up with a hundred or so other bikes for the cortege to the church.

As soon as the service was finished we had to push on back to Dublin at some speed to stand a chance of making our ferry back at 20:40. We made it with 40 minutes to spare, but the peril was looking a little sorry for itself - the chain was waaay past it's best and was nigh on dragging on the ground, the water pump was still weeping and the right hand side of the bike was covered in white streaks of dried coolant and one indicator had packed up.

Back in the van, on the ferry, swift pint in John's memory and then crashed out in our cabin for a couple of hours kip before driving the van to Lymm where we parted - me with 4 hours riding still to go.

Chain tightened and water pump bolts nipped up again and heading home down the M6 and M1 as the sun rose. Stopped at Watford Gap for a dirty McDonalds breakfast with 100 miles left to go.

Hit the M1 and M25 at the beginnings of the rush hour and the width of the panniers put the kibosh on too much filtering but made it home for 07:30.

So 36 hours door to door, 700 miles riding, 200 miles driving, 7 hours on the ferry and an emotional goodbye to Dr John Hinds.

I've treated the peril to a new chain and front sprocket and some RTV on the water pump o-rings and an oil change......

[andrewsmith]

RIP Dr John

A big loss to the road racing scene

Sent from my D2303 using Tapatalk

[millemille]

TBH it's a far, far bigger loss to the people of NI. John's work on the MCUI medical team was a small part of his contribution to society - he was an outstanding aneasthetist, intensive care consultant, community emergency response doctor and a world leading authority on pre hospital trauma care as well as being the driving force behind the desire to get NI a HEMS....

In bike related news the peril has been the lucky recipient of a new cam chain tensioner on the front cylinder as it was all getting a bit noisy down there. Nice and quiet now..

[millemille]

The yellow peril has become a test mule for lightened flywheels at the moment. Massive improvement, going to put in a few thousand more miles and then they'll be ready for selling.

Another weekend of fairly major miles...

Friday was Brands Hatch to Odiham and back for lunch with a mate and his family, unfortunately he's terminally ill so spending as much time as possible doing things with him and his family.

Saturday morning was Hereford and back to see Matt at A H fabrications so that he could fabricate a bracket for the belly pan on the SpokeyV project bike and we could discuss mounting side draft FCR's as well.

Sunday was round the M25 to Fleet to meet 27 other bikes for a run down to Goodwood to the breakfast club, via the A272 and some other lovely roads, I'd organised for the same terminally ill friend. He's got a Triump Speed Triple 1050 and wanted to get out with his wife on the back - unfortunately he's not well enough for that so I took his wife, who's never been on a bike before, pillion on the peril and he rode with everyone else. He was chuffed to **** with the turn out and had a brilliant day - his missus was a good pillion but didin't really enjoy the bike riding but was over the moon with how happy and excited her husband was.

The peril is still running well, with the lightened flywheel making it faster, nippier, smoother and easier to ride.