Old Bike Mart Magazine May 2013 Vorige editie

It’s the frantic time of year and it happens to me all the time. Winter is over... we aren’t afraid to admit. We don’t care if we risk causing a blizzard by saying either... winter is officially over! OBM says so!
But we still get caught out, winter is over and despite the long period of workshop time available... and new heater purchased because it is cold in winter, the bike still isn’t quite ready for the road. It’s not that I don’t know that MoT time is always in April, nor can I blame the proximity of an off-road event keeping the Triumph in off-road mode for this lack of bike readiness. I could blame all sorts of things, such as lack of time or so much else to do, but the reality is – and a reality we can all admit to in those time when we’re being honest – getting changed from office clothes to work clothes and heading down to the workshop when the snow is battering against the window is so much harder to do.
The enthusiasm is there, no problems with that, but once you’re in and tea is on and the washing up has to be done and all of a sudden it’s heading for 9pm... it is so much harder to drag yourself out and go do some work.
It wasn’t always like that of course, such as in those far off days of my youth when I was already in work clothes for most of the day and compared with a winter building site a chilly workshop was positively comfortable.
Still, the other day the weather did approach something resembling spring and I decamped to the workshop and managed to finally fit the alloy rear guard I’ve had on the shelf for a while, the new dampers Hagon supplied, and tidied up a few fasteners with some deliciously non-rusting stainless steel… Tim.