I have found that, in motorcycling as in life, it is nearly always the small things that cause the most aggravation. Nowhere is this better illustrated at the moment than in the on-going saga of my motorcycle mirrors.
You recall that I snapped one off while doing the beached whale impersonation in Picton a couple of weeks ago and, as I noted in my story about it, I needed to buy a new set. I found what I wanted on ebay (an overseas site, unfortunately) and went ahead and placed the order. Stupid me didn’t read the small print nor remember that O/S freight times are crazy at the moment because of you-know-what and I was horrified to read the order confirmation which said that the mirrors would be delivered on or around the 29th of SEPTEMBER. I contacted the supplier to try and cancel my order only to be told that it had already been processed and that I would have been told the approximate delivery time at the time when I placed the order (in other words, stiff bikkies, buddy).
Well, I’ve been riding with two mirrors for all my motorcycling life so there was no way I was going to ride around with only one (and a left one at that) for 6 weeks while I waited for the new ones to arrive, so, it was time for Plan B. Plan B was my good mate Murray at MLR engineering down the road from me. Murray and his crew have helped me out with a myriad of welding an fabricating jobs over the years and I wasn’t surprised when he said to me, “Oh, yeah, sure, we can weld that.” Later that afternoon I went back, handed over $35 and took home a freshly-repaired mirror.
Great, right? Except that it wasn’t. In spite of looking exactly like the left hand mirror there was no way I could get the newly-repaired one to sit with the mirror itself aligned horizontally. No matter what I did it remained firmly pointed UP at the outer extremity, looking stupid and not affording me the visibility that I needed. My limited engineering ability was soon exhausted with no apparent improvement in the situation. So, it was time for Plan C.
Plan C was to ask my internet friends if anybody had a set (or even ONE) mirror that could get me out of the hole. Such is the power of social media that I received a reply almost straight away from a lady in Sydney who husband and her both ride 5th Gen VFRs. In the garage she had a set of original 5th Gen mirrors that they were happy to lend me until my new ones arrive from O/S. So, a quick trip up to Blacktown yesterday afternoon and I now have rearward visibility on both sides. Yes, they are the older-style mirrors (see above) with the rubber sleeves (we VFR folk call them “condom mirrors”) but there ARE two of them and I can now ride so am I going to look a gift horse in the mouth? Hell, no, I am not.
Another little thing that has been bugging me (I know, I’m getting old) is that, when Bexie came back home, she didn’t have her centrestand. At some stage while in Margie’s tenure of her, it had been removed (refer to the story above). Well, the good news is that my mechanic assures me that the stand WILL fit around the new exhaust system and that a set of bushes to enable it to be bolted in correctly will be coming early next week. I am chuffed in the extreme.
With the second wave of COVID-19 seemingly upon us, it may be some time before I get away to do some riding again – Netrider has their annual Brass Monkey Ride this weekend but it kicks off from Windsor at 0800 on Sunday morning. That means that, in order for me to take part, I’d need to leave here at 0600 and ride there in the freezing cold just to START the ride. It’s not going to happen.
The good news is that my local classic bike club is now scheduling club rides again starting in August so I can see the good people there and also give Goldie and Bexie a bit of a shakedown.
In spite of the virus (or, perhaps, BECAUSE of it) motorcycle sales are going great guns, actually increasing, which is great news. Having said that, the prices don’t seem to be falling, the new Honda Fireblade listing at an eye-watering 50K and they are all pre-sold. I don’t care, I wasn’t going to buy one anyway.
Catch you next time.
