Another batch for the Powder Coater

Since Part 2 was published I have had a radical rethink about what I was doing.

The frame which at first glance looked OK wasn’t really good enough. I decided that as I’d already removed the swinging arm and most of the frame brackets and I was going to remove the engine anyway, I might as well have the frame and ancillaries powder coated.

The first job was to take the engine out and, as the bike was already stripped of many things, removing the engine turned out to be quite simple.

I removed the exhausts, disconnected the wiring loom, removed carburettors (which was a pig of a job) and then disconnected the drive shaft.  Then I put a trolley jack under the engine (a bike lift is more secure if you have one) and it was out and on the bench in no time.

I wanted to strip the fork legs so that the fork lowers could be powder coated and in order to refurbish continues………

Even Harrods doesn't stock these exclusive items!

This Blog now has its own on line shop.  You can go there by clicking on the Blog Merchandise link which is on the Go To list on the right hand side of the screen.

Not that I’m planning to develop the Blog into a commercial enterprise of any sort but since the Blog now has a stylish Badge and many Wingers are fond of badges, I wanted to make it available.

There is also the Friendly Winger badge, which I also wanted Wingers to have the chance to wear, to show their own commitment to friendliness among Wingers, regardless of whether and which club they might be in.

So the Blog’s On Line Shop offers a simple range of badges and embroidered garments using either the Blog or the Friendly Winger  badges.

The garments will be supplied by Storm Embroidery of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, which is owned by Alan Mason who is a Winger himself and has been supplying regalia to the UK GoldWing community for years.  The Blog’s On Line Shop is a way of ordering regalia from Alan and pay him (directly) so that he can make up the order and post it directly to you.

It works in the same sort of way as on line shops you are likely to have used for other purposes.  If you are not comfortable with on line shopping you may order these items from him directly by telephone if you prefer; the number is provided on the Blog Merchandise Page, where the Shop is located.

This article is aimed at those brave ladies who ride pillion on GoldWings and really it would be better if the blokes skipped it, although of course I can’t actually make them do that.  Let’s just say you blokes might be more comfortable leaving this one to your good ladies.

So, dear, long-suffering GoldWing ladies, this one’s for you.  If he’s still with us after that clear warning, on his own head be it.  He’ll be sorry.  The picture has absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter of course.  I just thought you might like it.

I’ll just prattle on a bit for a couple more paragraphs, to get him to lose interest in the article, then we can start the real business.

Got all your presents have you?   That nice little packet of hankies for him that are really for you when you’ve got a cold and your nose is running?  Don’t want to waste new hankies on him when he’ll use them to wipe the shiny bits on the bike do we?  He can have them back when they’ve been washed a few times; they’ll be kinder on his sensitive nose then won’t they?  And those nice man socks that work well inside your riding boots?  Does he get a box of chocolates too, which he won’t really want, so you’ll have to eat them in the New Year – which is why you might as well get him your favourites.  Not that he would know that they were your favourites of course.  Had to be told what to get you for Christmas again this year did he?  Then forgot and had to ask you to remind him? continues………

Friendly Winger patches, which are not linked to any club, are available for purchase directly from Storm Embroidery 01226 231054

Friendship is at the core of what GoldWing clubs are about but one way and another, sooner or later and despite the best of intentions and efforts, trouble might start brewing up and serious or lasting loss of friendliness can easily come with it.

And this year unfriendliness threatened to break out in my Club, GoldWings North West.  Thankfully only relatively briefly but was a gut-churning experience for me and I doubt if anyone enjoyed it.

Friendliness in a Club is  important to me and perhaps to other Wingers too.  I don’t think friendliness in a club can be taken for granted or expected to look after itself.  And having written about difficulties which other clubs have had, the least I can do is be open about problems in my own, especially if there are lessons to be learned.

Does the size and structure of a GoldWing club make a difference to how successful you can hope to be in staying friendly?  Will a set of club rules help or hinder the protection of  friendliness?

Is it in the nature of human group behaviour that there will be trouble from time to time in almost  any club, as in any family or even every marriage?  Is it more realistic to try to minimise risk and mitigate effect when trouble crops up rather than kid ourselves that it can be avoided altogether?

What can you do when disputes become a matter of principle to some of those involved?  Is personal principle more or less important than personal friendship?

Or do any of these things really matter if it boils down to being genuinely friendly above all else in your GoldWing club if you want it to stay friendly? continues………

• first registered 1-May-04
• ABS (UK Spec)
• 1 owner
• all recalls done
• 55,000 very-enjoyable miles
• complete main dealer / Appleyards service history
• MOT until May 2011
• Taxed until April 2011

Lots of Accessories/upgrades fitted (many recently): continues………

Don't expect just to be handed one of these, they have to be earned!

There hasn’t been much snow here in Central Lancashire but it has been very cold during the past few days and since building work on the new gatepost had to be suspended I’ve spent too much time in a chair and on the keyboard.

I know, I said to myself, I’ll go and visit the local DVLA Office.  That’ll be a painless excursion, even if it does mean a bit of queueing.  And it might even be interesting to see how things go there these days – and strangely enough that’s exactly what it turned out to be, interesting.

I didn’t really go there purely in search of amusement of course.  There are better places for a retired man to take refuge when necessary from his wife’s instructions and admonitions than a DVLA Office but some of them involve contraband foods so in the interests of keeping my options open for the rest of the winter I’ll keep those to myself.

It was the last day of the month and I’d been thinking for some days that with this unseasonally early and unusually cold spell we’re having at the moment my biking season was well and truly over.  So why don’t I surrender the tax disk on the bike this year and save myself a few quid, instead of kidding myself that there will be a few winter days on which I could enjoy a nice ride.  They never are quite nice enough or salt-free enough to be tempting, so why pretend otherwise?  The last day of November would be my last chance to get a refund for December so off I went,  damp tax disk in hand, to claim my refund.  I have never yet managed to keep a tax disk dry on a motorbike.

As I arrived, at about 3.30pm on what would inevitably be a busy end-of-month day for a DVLA Office continues………