Eunos Chump

I had a ride of a Triumph ST 1050 today, courtesy of a friend at work.  It felt a big hefty lump after the deft little Suzuki, it insists on written notice in advance if you want to change direction.  It was stupidly easy to speed too, my license would be in serious peril if I had one.  This particular one has an aftermarket exhaust which is very noisy and pops and crackles on the overrun, it's a bit too unsociable for me; nice comfy riding position though. I did like it, but not enough to want one; I was surprised by this, I thought a sport tourer would be a perfect fit for my requirements but it's just too stodgy, and as it's considered the best in class that doesn't bode well for my VFR800 plan.

Look at this, atomic powered aeroplanes!  I'd never heard of such a thing and I know pretty much everything .  It works like a normal jet engine, but the compressed air is fed through the reactor to heat it.  It could stay in the air for months, theoretically, but never came to fruition: There's more great nuclear shenanigans at this blog I stumbled across:

There were national protests around the country today about proposed EU regulations on biking.  The plan was for bikes to ride at 45mph along lane 1 of major roads/motorways, for 20 minutes.  I went to the M3 northbound one. It was a good turn-out, maybe 150-200 bikes, it was quite an experience when they were all fired up.  Of course, nobody stuck to the plan... we were doing 30mph across all 3 lanes, creating a rolling roadblock all the way to Bracknell.  Apparently the response has been excellent across the country, but then it was a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon. I don't think there's much threat of this legislation coming to pass in the UK, but it was reassuring to see that loose 'community' you feel when riding become real; every type of bike was there, from Harley, through BMW to filthy trials machines.  It was time well spent.

The MX5 is back in the garage until next year, there's no point keeping it out now that it's gone from very weak summer to immediate winter.  This means the bike has to live outside, but I've bought it a cover and an alarmed disc lock.  It has to be this way; the MX is a keeper, the SV is here until I can afford a VFR800. Russell likes the cover a lot , the junior pervert...

I spent most of yesterday helping assemble this, which my friend Rob has bought for his wedding hire business.  It was made in India and came in a huge pallet, like a giant model kit.  It's entirely handmade and a lot of skill has clearly gone into it, but nothing seems to line up very well and the finish  is some way off perfect.  It's also taken months to arrive, so it's missed the season and gone straight onto eBay. My payment was a hoisin duck pizza at a pub.  I normally adhere to a policy of not eating cute animals, but the only other thing on the menu I liked was chicken, and I'd watched 'Chicken Run' the previous evening... I was between a rock and a hard place!  Anyway, it was nice.  Apart from the shame.

A lovely thing I found upon the internet, 1936 custom.