So how are you getting through this period of Isolation?

[speighty]

Me, with not having a 3 hour commute each day, Ive found time to get in the garage and currently have the Beemer stripped down ready to:

1. replace ABS control unit
2. Replace alternator belt
3. Fit New GPS mount
4. Adjust valves
5. Usual Service
6. Replace final drive oil
7. New front and rear shocks

So far only had to drill out one bolt


Might even replace the front fork oil.
Though i can never think of doing that without remembering the time Reaper and hung the Busa from his garage roof whilst trying to get the fork seals off.


Assuming this all goes to plan and if this isolation continues, I may even have a look at what i need to rebuild the Fazer

[Reaper]

Isolation what Isolation I am still at work as we are clased as key workers

Although our customer base is shrinking every day, from 200 down to just 14 as garages close.

Loz is at home though and may not have a job to go back to as the company she works for look like they may go bust, no doubt one of many in this troubled time.

Chris pay attension to the final drive oil as it only takes 180cc from memory and not all of it comes out, very easy to overfill and blow the oil seal.

Hope you are well and keeping safe, in fact hope everyone is safe and well.

[OatCake Productions]

Not done much at all due to the fact I am working from home.
Only just swapped from a tower PC to a laptop; damn. If only lock down could have happened 3 weeks earlier, then I would have had a shed load of time to do stuff.

Had to cancel my tour of Ireland over Easter week, that really pee'd me off as I was really looking forward to it.

I did manage to purchase a rear disc & pads before the Triumph dealer shut.
So I have that to fit this weekend.
It needed doing as I had a worn disc as on advisory on my MOT.


Hopefully this imprisonment won't last too long and we can get out on the bikes again and I can maybe think about booking an Irish tour again.

Carol is still working as she is a key worker, risking her health and mine helping to keep the country fed.
Plus making sure idiots don't go buying all the bog roll.

What is it about the obsession with bog roll, are they expecting to have 73 dumps a day.
COVID-19 doesn't give you the 5h1ts.
Just grow up and shop as normal and you'll be fine, you bleeding idiots.


Stay safe guys and gals.

[Doom]

Just to make this a North Staffs triple, we are all well over here in the Moorlands.

I just have an issue with the Mighty XJR needing an MOT in April but it seems the Government have sorted that one for me for now. I can't take it out to play anyway.

Keep safe everybody. See you on the other side.

[spike240]

Certainly testing times for relationships. This is where the mancave comes in to its own.

Chris - have you thought about an ABS bypass on your BM? I think most ABS units are an absolute fortune.
On the BM's I owned, I always used fully synthetic gear oil as recommended in BMW club journal from way back, and change it same time as engine oil.

Hi Paul good to hear from you. I am still using your videos when servicing my D9. Glad you are still working (helps to keep you sane).

Sorry about your Irish trip Dave. Its a bummer eh? I had a few weekend jaunts in the planning stage which had to be cancelled.
Totally agree about panic buying - it's unbelievable innit?

Bikes are cleaned and serviced, but there is always summat to do. For example swing-arm and steering head greasing on t TDM.
Sheds to creosote etc etc...


Take care everyone - and I don't know why, but was thinking of Gav this morning. Not heard you on here lately - hope you are ok.

[m40man]

I took the mt03 for an essential ride, to warm the oil for an oil change.

Other than that, working from home as normal.

Sadly Chris’ mum died last week, only permitting two [EDIT: now up to 18!] to attend the crematorium. So quite a difficult time for the family. Hopefully later in the year we can give her a proper send off with all the family getting together.

Meanwhile my dad, 100 miles away, keeps popping out to the shops. Not much I can do to stop him!

Take care, one & all.

[General Gman]

I work from home anyway, so the only change is not going to the office once a week. Apart from that, I miss the pub
Jools had several suspected cases of Covid-19 at the prison where she works as a paramedic, but that was a week ago, so hopefully all is well. Weather looks good for the weekend, so will pull the bike out and give it a clean, then maybe use it to do my essential shopping.
Martin - sorry to hear about Chris's mum.
Stay well, all

[OatCake Productions]

I have just heard this afternoon that a guy I interview in February who was to Join RR after Easter has sadly died of this awful virus.

[cam7777]

I am classed as an essential worker, so roughly 60% of my time is in an office in Cambridge, with the remaining 40% working from home.

Planning to use my motorbike to commute when the weather warms up so I get get some justified riding in.

Strange times eh?

[adbru]

Hi all,
Good to hear from you.
Ruth and I are well, i am working from home and teaching by video link (interesting!) however am currently on my two week easter 'holidays'!
Still getting out on the bike as our blood bike group went live on lockdown Monday!
Just a coincidence as the date was planned well beforehand.
Fortunately it is still relatively quiet re covid up here so not too busy.
The fjr is a bit different to the D6 lol.
Stay safe everyone and stay well.
Adrian

[speighty]

Glad to hear people are still around and getting through this very wierd time !.


1 & 3 are done now, GPS sent back as it wont now switch on !!
ABS is now clear of errors, rear brake is rock solid, however the front is spongy as hell !
Ive never ever been any good at bleeding brakes, sometimes they are great and sometimes they are crap. Ive no idea what i do different.

Oh well, push comes to shove I'll drain the front again and do it again.

Time to get on with the rest of the jobs!

I'll take care with the final drive change Paul, thanks for the heads up !

Chris

[bev]

Glad to hear people getting on with getting on. I'd just MOT's the 1250 when lockdown arrived. Bike is in lockup 7 miles from home I can't go there. I have the D9 at the door. Won't start and tools are down the lockup. Working from home and have been for 3 weeks. Yvonne doesn't work so it's just normal life for her except she can't see her mates for a coffee.
Sorry to hear of your loss Martin.

Stay Safe everyone.

[bobh]

I was in France from mid-February, planning to come back mid-March. But I could see the writing on the wall, so I came home a week early - good call, I think. I've never seen a Calais-Dover ferry so empty of private vehicles.

I was planning on going down to Devon to visit my son's family after I got back. But I decided, even before the lockdown, that I didn't really want snotty grandkids fresh out of the bug-breeding grounds known as school or playgroup scrambling all over me, so I've not seen them in ages. Video calling is better than nothing, but when they've got the attention span of a goldfish it doesn't help much.

I did get a few rides in before the lockdown, and living out in the sticks it's quite frustrating because the roads are empty, and how much more isolated can you get than behind a visor? And petrol's cheap just now, too. So far I've been doing my own shopping, but limiting the number of visits so I've had to carry quite a lot at one go, meaning I have to use the car.

Anyway, the veg plot is all dug over ready for seeding, and I've even started to do some sorting out in the house. But as the local recycling centre is closed, that means stuff is piling up in the spare room and under the carport, so it's starting to look like a scrap yard (Martin will probably say it always did, but pot/kettle?) Plus the (dark red) car's parked under the overhead power lines and it's jackdaw mating time, when they sit (did I miss out a letter there?) up there in pairs. And I've recently had bird-proof chimney pots fitted so I'm sure they're getting their revenge. If only I could find a use for the guano.

Enough already - Bob

[ContourMac]

Had plans for trips to France & Spain in May and Austria in June which have all been put on hold.
Not much hope for Bikers Classic in July or Classic TT in August either.

In the meantime have busied myself in the garage:
Oil & Filter to 900 & 700 Tracers
X7: Clean carbs and polish everything else
GSX750R: Braided hoses and brake service
Garelli: Clean carbs and fresh fuel (Avgas 40/1 so it should keep longer)
Next to do is service the R1 and recommission the RG50

Then Debs mentioned something about cutting the lawn..........

[verde]

Riding to and from work as normal, apparently I'm special 🤔. Fern hiding at home, slowly climbing the wall.
All this dry weather and empty roads aren't doing my fuel consumption any good 😁

[HRHpenfold]

I am doing fine,

Spending my time virtue signalling on Facebook,makeing up memes, to show people how superior I am, no I am not, but plenty are,

Other than that I am working at driving the wife up the wall, fixing things that were on my roundtoit list, starting more jobs that can’t be finished, moving stuff from one place to another, randomly chucking stuff out, just to see what I should of kept a week later,

Nothing much really.

[divimike]

Like many others it is about finding things to do that could be fun......

"To reach inner peace, you should always finish things you start."

As we can all use more calm in our lives during these uncharted and turbulent times, I looked around the house to find things I'd started and hadn't finished. So, I finished a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha remainder of the valiuminun scriptins and a box of chocletz.

Yu haf no idr how fablus I feel rite now. Pleeze send this to all who need inner piss. An telum u luvum.

[Greendivvy Beeb]

Still working here.
For some reason the Landfill sites and composting sites are busier than ever , machines continue to break down.
Did have a week off work a couple of days ago only due to a bad back and couldn't get around but it has eased now. Thank god day time TV is terrible

Managed to get the Kawaski Zephyr MOT'd the other week (just before the lock down) after a couple of years off the road, Waiting to see if i can actually use it this year.

Going to go and enjoy the sun in the garden. Stay safe everyone and see you on the other side.

[GAv]

Dropping in to say high, sorry to hear of youre sad loss Martin. I think I should qualify for being very high risk, but so far two patt letters and leaflets and like Martin's Dad regular trips to the the shop-Tesco outlet round the corner-this after being a regular home shopper with Iceland but look no delivery slots.
I saw they delivered to a young Harley Rider as on return from getting essential provisions, she looks fit and well and presumably those that co habit are too-so no more laziness when this id all over, buying online. Sorry but there aren't full up spots normally within a day or too. If normal is what we return to?

That off my chest I do feel fortunate to have retired and still be here.

Finally I fitted some hand grips to my Cagiva, they were originally intended for my Aprilia Atlantic. I had spent a good deal on it thinking it would be easier for my physical wellbeing on long trips.
However that was nicked, finally recovered and again lost me a deal of money, plus adding to my precarious insurance premiums. When ringing BWiser to transfer the remainder of that on the 500 Maxis-scoot(twice the cc 3 times the power)I was asked about Mods and honestly reported the Power Commander 3 fitted,to enable it to run on Shotgun exhausts, she asked about power difference which was like when Adrian Flux asked same and one belligerently asked how I was gonna get it to desired Dynotest/ without insurance, tax he said it sounds like its a racing bike for the road, my reaction being by then the wrong side of 60, that any racing aspirations formerly were well behind me, t'wit his response was we only have your word for that, my bad I did have a dyno but for an arrow can giving 125BHP at the rear wheel, via a prior owner,so
When the Girl checked the BWiser broker she said they wouldn't insure it, I said would removing it solve the issue-it did.

Ironical as before the off from my Aprilia Mille I finished up with 3 powerfull bikes on BWiser for £300. It was even less despite my crash/write off thefts and so on with the Raptor replacing the Futura, however the following year I was accused of not informing them-not so I had even rang back to verify that

Partly why I hadn't renewed it on the Ape Mille, as despite fitting new plugs, a TPO sensor, she wouldn't restart after being left a couple of weeks, the battery I suspected was not helping, however after upping that to a 14AMP one I realised the electric fuel pump wasn't primimg, so I fitted one I got off Fleabay and new fuel lines.

I did manage to sell my Sachs 650 before the lockdown and a chap in a borrowed Horsey box Tranny, drove down from Huddersfield to collect it, so that helped.

Well I guess that's kept me outta trouble and honestly since retirement, apart from the freedom to jump on a bike or go in my old car to various dos, nothing has really changed.

I realise that others have had it far worse and good to read that folk on here are A/OK and many thanks Martin for getting in touch-hopefully we can meet up in the not too distant future

Happy Easter.

[speighty]

Update:

2 & 4 done ..

Now im having a proper time with the replacing the shocks.

Cant get the nut off the front until a new air wrench arrives this week to hopefully solve that. What a stupid design that is.

On the rear shock, Ive got the old one off (its proper knackered), but the bushing is firmly seized and i cant get the new shock in till i free it.
Resisted the urge to break out hammers until I've had a think.

On the up side, GPS arrived, and working, just don't like the mounting, so thats going to have to change.

Fitted an aluminium rack to take a Givi Trekker 52ltr topbox. Typical Givi fittings that made no sense even with diagram. However its so big i think i could sleep in there !

[OatCake Productions]

Rear disc and pads now replaced, now already for when we are released back out in to the wild.

The weather over Easter week pee'd me of a bit, as I should have been on a 10 day tour around the coast of Ireland, typical eh.

[Pool Boy]

Ironic innit ?
Hardly ridden the bike in the past 2 years.
Now, semi retired and the sun is shining.
The Oatcake videos have inspired me to finally get the bike out of the garage and all I can do is clean it !
Just hoping the urge hadn't left me again when we are finally free to ride again.

Stay safe all

[yampilot]

well at the moment im still able to keep working(self employed gardener)and seeing as all the pubs are still closed im not getting out at the weekend so that means im saving up for a nice tidy 600n divvy for handy money, they have got to let us out on our bikes sooner or later

[kabulcalling]

Hello Yam Pilot,
I'm able to save money too. I normally work overseas, and my monthly paycheque is factored on my having to cover my own accommodation. I've been home since the middle of March, living with my GF/Partner full time - so I've already saved a good few quid. I'll be putting the monthly savings aside for my "new bike" (for me) fund.
As for getting out on two wheels again, I'm sure it has to come soon. I'll be looking forward to hearing the PM's speech next week when he lays out the governmental plan for easing restrictions. I confess to being a tad fed-up with all of these restrictions, and dream of the pubs being open again. However, I think there are two stages to come:
- Life after lockdown, when we can do some things, but social locations like pubs, concerts, and football games will remain off-limits for us. Air traffic will be difficult with a preflight blood-check, and we'll all wear masks on the trains and busses.
- Life after the vaccine, when we will start to get back to normal. I'm not looking forward to the scramble/fight over who gets jabbed up first - or third after; NHS Staff, first - to be followed by the police, fire/rescue, armed forces etc. second.
There will be a separate fight over potential queue jumping by those on private medical care packages

[Doom]

While the Mighty XJR does not have sufficient luggage capacity to accommodate a large haul from a supermarket, it has proved itself ideal transport for the collection of essential medical supplies from the local pharmacy.

I did seem to 'get lost' on my way home though. ;-)

[kabulcalling]

That is terrible news, Doom. Getting lost n all

[yampilot]

ah you mean you took the scenic route

[OatCake Productions]

Took the bike out last weekend for a short leisurely ride, (which was legally allowed as long as you didn't stop to socialize with anyone else).
Loads of bikes out and only a few that were riding like their backside was on fire.

But I couldn't believe how many I saw all gathered next to lay-by chuck wagons and take out cafes all standing in close proximity chatting to one another, totally ignoring the 2 metre distance rule.
It's 2hats like that, that'll just spoil it for the rest of us.

Matlock Bath hit the news that day complaining about the amount of people not adhering to the social distancing rule.
Don't know if you saw it on the news, but it looked like the usual Sunday free for all (Filly Suckers).


But anyway; I enjoyed my little ride out.

[General Gman]

I've been doing a spot of gardening - essential stuff now that I'm officially middle-aged. Found powdery milder on the plum tree, so have ordered some potassium bicarbonate to treat it. Also stripping the paint off a wall at the front of the house - it was poorly painted with a mix of gloss and sand, and has been flaking off. The bits that aren't flaking off are proving stubborn to shift. Need to strip, repair the render and then repaint with some decent paint from Brewers (I get a discount there due to us supplying their software). Bike has a full tank of fuel, so a little trundle is on the cards today, maybe find a route out into W.Sussex then back home. Jools has finally been approved for a bank contract with her old ambulance trust, so she'll be doing a shift out on the road for the first time in 6 months since she left to work at the prison. A couple of my colleagues have been put on furlough, so my work is stupidly busy. I'd asked about being furloughed - I've had to take a 15% pay cut anyway, so a further 5% and a few weeks off wouldn't have hurt too much.
I've also started stripping the pit bike we have. The engine has suffered from water ingress, so yesterday morning I removed the cylinder head and stripped it. No idea how to time it up when it's done, there's a timing mark on the cam sprocket but nothing for it to correspond to. Will have to look online.

[El Fuego]

So how are you getting through this period of Isolation?

Master baking is very therapeutic. (So I've been told).