My new set up. More room in the front room and easier to do the thing that is the thing that I do!
Posts
Austerity and Charity If you live in the United Kingdom in 2013 you will just be starting to understand ‘Austerity’. It’s a scary word because what Austerity means is that the politicians have run out of ideas. Well what I mean is, they’ve run out of sensible ideas. I mean they’ll spend 84 billion on Trident when it’s pretty clear we no longer have the means to maintain the submarines that are supposed to deliver it and we don’t really want to start a nuclear war. They’ll spend hundreds of millions on failed IT system after failed IT system to ‘root out’ fraudsters when it runs at 0.3% of all claims but they can’t do something as simple as lower VAT. They’ll pour hundreds of billions of quantitative easing into the pension funds and banks who will promptly pay bonuses and dividends with their tax funded windfall but they won’t give working households a tax rebate that they’d spend. Heating and food bills are on the up while incomes are on the way down, I’m no economist but eve...
The Plan!
TRIXXER/TRUMPTRIP-RT PROJECT My name is Gaz, my mum thinks I’m special and I am a biker, I think? The realisation that I am never going to experience the thrill of a knee touched down in well taken corner or revel in the induction howl of a big GSXR engine while toeing the rear to keep the front planted firmly to the tarmac on the throttle again has come as something as a shock and a bit of a personal milestone for me. I’ve raced, toured, dicked about on, fallen off of, dusted myself off, got back on and generally loved motorcycles all of my life I’ve been around bikes since I was about 12 and knowing that part of my life is now very firmly at an end I must admit to having shed a private tear or two the last few months. In fact, my mental health has got to the stage where the NABD work has started to suffer, to the extent I might add that I am stepping down from the national committee at this years AGM. I will still be doing some of the things I do for the associ...
The thick plottens!
My mate Dom and I spent the day sorting a few bits and bobs out and we now have three distinctive piles. Stuff to go to people, stuff to be sold on E-bay and stuff that just needs to be binned. Alien popped by to have a brew and a natter and we kicked a few trike related ideas about and have sort of decided on a plan of action. Over the next few weeks I intend to have the garage emptied out and Alien and I will build a wooden jig to start laying things out. Apparently there may be some issues with getting a RT configuration trike through the inspection process so I need to make a few calls to see which way the wind is blowing. Stevie Simpson's arrived now so we are going to have a few beers, get shit-faced and play some tunes. more as the plot thickens!
Clueless?
Well fortunately not. I've had some experience of setting jigs up, I also now know to check twice, cut once! I apply the same methodology to assembly too, tack, check, re-tack, check and then weld. My first job, and this will be the hardest bit is to come up with a set of drawings that people will be able to understand. I know what I want but need to be able to show other people what I want in case we can't make it in my shed. This is where it will get interesting because I do everything in metric, taught that way and everyone else I know works in pounds and ounces! This has the potential for confusion and laughter so no doubt it shouldn't matter too much in the grand scheme of things. Kayleigh my 15 year old is a maths whizz so will be able to arbitrate any arguments that arise. Now those of you that read my first post will know that because of my particular health issues I can't ride a sports bike or street fighter. The normal riding position on bikes and trike...
Once more...............
You’d think by now I’d have learnt! Obviously not and despite my failing health and precarious financial position I have decided that I must build the ‘Thing’ that has been rattling around in my head for the past 18 years. It’s become increasingly obvious to me that riding a bike is probably never going to happen again, well not in a way that would excite me enough to risk it. It was my long suffering spouse that pointed out the first time she’d seen me sketch the ‘Thing’ was just over 18 years ago, I’d had some of the bits around for years and that Id probably not rest again until I got it out of my system once and for all! I am somehow going to have to build the bloody ‘Thing’! I’m pretty sure it’s a midlife crisis, it’s either that or I have subconsciously bullshitted myself into thinking I’m going to drop stone dead on my 50 th birthday. It’s also based on the fact that over the years I have ridden just about every conceivable trike type and configuration, some good, some ba...
