Monthly Archives: October 2010

Repairing a Broken Zip

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After 3 1/2 years and about 30k miles, my trusty Alpinestars SMX-4WP boots have suffered a broken zip! These boots have been brilliant – they are the Gore-Tex version (hence the “WP”) and haven’t leaked a drop in all that time.

Luckily, the broken part was the zip puller and so a simple fix with a large paperclip got me home from work that night.

I had seen those repair kits for zips that basically provide a plastic clip that goes over the paperclip but couldn’t find one anywhere.

Trying eBay (as you do), I came across this rather neat little gadget from Minerva Crafts & Fabrics

£1.99 plus 99p postage

Job done!

Smart Repairs to SLK Bumper

I recently had some small scuffs imparted to the rear bumper of my SLK by a nice lady who reversed into it in a car park. I thought I’d try the “Smart Repair” available from a local dealer as opposed to the full-blown insurance repair (about £400!) and at 1pm today, George duly arrived in his white van with all his kit.

Apologies in advance for the photos – it was really bright this morning and he was working so fast that I had to take what I could whilst trying to get around the deep contrast caused by the direct sunlight on a silver car…

Her he is masking the job off:

After rubbing it down:

Five coats of silver paint and one coat of lacquer:

Heat treatment:

Job done!

While George was here, I asked him what I should do about the wheel nuts, which were rusty (and ridiculously expensive to replace)

Before:

After:

Silver engine paint and a funnel made out of an old cornflake packet to stop the overspray. Maybe it won’t last long; we shall see!

90 minutes and £80.

Job done.

Solus Rideout (?)

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OK, I know the weather forecast was dreadful and that the actual weather was wet and windy, but this is the first time in 3 years that absolutely no Bulldog RATs have shown up for an organised rideout.

so·lus
[saw-loos; Eng. soh-luhs]
–adjective Latin
(referring to a man) alone; by oneself

I hope that you are all ashamed of yourselves…

So, quickly back home to catch up on the Japanese MotoGP on the Red Button and/or iPlayer (plus coffee and a warm dry house of course)

Triumph Street Triple

… and a revisit of the latest Speed Triple 1050

On what was possibly the last sunny day of 2010 (felt like it anyway), I decided to celebrate the successful submission of both my company accounts and my personal tax return (don’t you just love the online service – no more traipsing down to the Post Office for Registered Mail and waiting for an acknowledgment).

An Earl Grey tea (they were out of my normal espresso-strength coffee) and I decided on the spur of the moment to take out the latest Speed Triple and the Street Triple for a back-to-back run.

First the Speedy:

This one was Tornado Red with a White stripe (very nice…)

More-or-less as I remember it from April this year but note that the Brembo caliper is now highlighted in red.

Sounds lovely and went as well as I remember. I was a little disappointed with the harshness of the front forks – maybe my old Sprint is just a little soft. It was quite uncomfortable on some of our pockmarked roads.

I tried a 90mph blast along the M4 and must admit that the natty little fly screen/deflector thingy seems to work well. No buffeting at all – the arm-stretch is still there though and I wouldn’t want to go any faster for long.

The clocks are nice – I like the white on black digits.

So, back at the dealer, another Earl Grey (still no coffee) and a go on the Street:

First impressions (100 yards up the road): WOW!

This is brilliant! Smaller, lighter, (cheaper), lovely feeling from the front forks. Very flickable.

The brakes are not as good as the Speedy – maybe I need to try the Street Triple R.

There’s also no burble and pop on the overrun. Maybe an aftermarket can would fix that.

There’s a very useful gear indicator (showing “n” for neutral – I initially thought that it had a dead LCD element). Also a silly line of blue lamps (LEDs?) that come on at 8k revs – presumably a “change gear now” indicator)

I had a ball on this bike.

Better than the Speed Triple?

Miles!