Yes for now @Sandi T I've just ordered a couple more pairs of jeans and pair of boots and another triumph jacket but hanging space is quite tight and I have to hang my bike gear in the garage now for two reasons 1 no room in my wardrobe and 2 the most problematic reason is if my Mrs sees anymore bike gear arrive i will have to find room in the garage for a camp bed
4 litres of Famous Grouse. £12.25 a litre. I’ll take that thanks. Oh, and a very nice haggis made by my local butcher. Technically it was a Yorkshire haggis but it was very good.
Ordered a new radiator to thermostat housing hose and new clamps from Fowlers for the 1050 Tiger. I’ve noticed an ever so small leak previously and tried tightening the clamp but it puts a few drips still on the floor after a ride. I put a dusting of talc in the area and there’s nothing tracking from the joint where the thermostat housing bolts on so suspect there may be a small split in the end of the hose on the side I can’t see.
Fowlers delivery came yesterday and whilst I had a bit of spare time this afternoon (and the weather was decent) I got it swapped out. There was nothing obviously wrong other than the old one looking very tired and a lot less flexible than the new one. Thermostat housing spigot has no issues either….. all back together now so will just have to see if the drips are stopped (fingers crossed).
I've had ABUS locks for years now, and trust then, but having had them for over 25 years, I thought it was about time I upgraded to a better lock. Well after looking at this video, I thought why not. I bought the LITELOK X1 PLUS I got £15 off using the code MOTOBOB. It's a solid bit of kit, only 2 downsides, it's just not long enough to cover both fork legs at once, and not wide enough to go over the tyres of both my bikes. That said you can easily use 1 fork leg and through the cast wheels to secure it. If the lock was jus an inch longer it would be perfect. Reading some of the stories of theft attempts on their website, and how this lock has stopped it, it's well worth it for me anyway. https://www.litelok.com/blogs/success-stories
Tickets for the full weekend and camping for WSBK at Donington....always a fantastic weekend of entertainment .
Also...got home from work to some new / replacement bits for camping, just my Jetboil pot support yet to come, it's on back order. I went loads of times last year and am already dreaming of routes and plans for my rest days this year.
something totally different many years ago my family had several first world war-era gewehr 98 rifles. used em for deer hunting, for which they were great. the guns were lost in the sands of time, and ive been looking for one for many years. i managed to find a really nice one for sale last month. the gun was manufactured in berlin in 1917, and has all matching numbers. needs some work, but shoots well and without issues. chambered in 7.92 x 57mm, its still a decent deer gun. the local whitetails ate my entire garden this last summer, and i intend to keep them at bay this coming growing season with this. its a curious thing. my grandfather rode an indian in the american signal corps in france in the great war. theres a small but non-zero chance that some prussian used this exact weapon to shoot at him in the closing days of the war. ah yes no pictures. i forgot again.
i formerly had no difficulty posting images. i can still do it with pictures that are on my phone, but i have lots of images from long ago or elsewhere that are inaccessible. the bayonet is a 1917 butcher blade with unit regimental numbers. strange to look at these old bolt actions and see them as the state of the art assault rifles of their time.
There’s a lot to be said in favour of some of these old bolt action rifles, from a different era in infantry warfare. Back in the late 80’s/early 90’s I had a beautiful Lee Enfield No.4 Mk1, with ladder aperture sights, in .303 British obviously. Maybe no match for a good telescopic sight but still more than accurate enough out to 200yds+. The LE action is a very slick one, more so than the traditional Mauser action of the time and prodigious firing rates (for a BA rifle) could be maintained by experienced Tommies in the trenches. Back in the 80’s, government surplus ammunition could be had for around 10p per shot compared to £1 per shot for Norma factory ammunition for the 300 Winchester Magnum rifle I also had at the time. Had some great days up at the range with the old LE.
the bolt actions are simple mechanisms. less fussy than select-fire and easy to operate. but they fell short in a world where a 30-round magazine could be slapped on in the same time it takes me to insert a five round clip. but im not planning on shooting hundreds of people all at once, so i dont need that. ive got a pretty nice short spike bayonet for the lee enfield kicking around somewhere. i think i bought it for ten shillings way back. a different world.
I remember firing a .303 enfield when a cadet back in the day, before being introduced to the SLR when I joined up. Just a massive world of difference between the two. Basically horses for courses.
