A new rear shock absorber arrived from Italy today, I ordered it from there because it was £30 cheaper than a UK sourced item, bit of a dumb thing for me to do as I got stung £50 customs duty.
A lesson learnt.
I was out and about on the NX650 today, it is running much better now i have changed the CDI unit, still not perfect especially at idle.
Followed my daughter while she bonded with her bike she has named Bruce. She is taking lessons with a professional and on today's ride she will have no problem when it comes to test time.
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| Bruce |
The parts for the carburetor rebuild arrived allowing me to fit the new jets, valve, needle and gaskets.
Once all back together I had my first ride on a sunny IOM afternoon.
When the job was finished it was time for a test ride.
The bike went ok and sounded awesome.
Some tweaking with the air/fuel mixture screws is required.
The suspension still needs sorting.
After meeting my pal Angus at Heysham port we set off for the highlands.
It was a bit of a slog getting to Ullapool using the M6,M74, M80,A9 to get past Inverness then it was the A835 to our destination.
It was a nine hourtrip with stops for fuel,food and coffee.
The weather on route was cold and showery until 10 miles from our hotel then it became a monsoon, this ensured we turned up at reception looking like drowned rats
The Caledonian hotel was comfortable enough and the buffet breakfast was reasonable at £10.
In the evening we had a couple of beers with dinner in the hotel's restaurant.
Tuesday was a completely different outlook, blue sky and sunshine all day.
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| Ullapool. |
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| Harbour |
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| View from Ullapool prom |
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| Kylesku bridge. |
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Another different day weather wise on Wednesday, we had showers and gusts of wind blasting through the valleys pushing the bikes off their line.
A shorter 4 hour trip to see Eilean Donan castle.
When we arrived the whole castle was closed to the public for a 3 day private function.
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| Eilean Donan castle |
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| From the WWW, much better than my effort, |
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| This is a sandwich! |
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| The Manxman |
The Triumph has been packed and I'm ready for the 08:30 ferry in the morning to Heysham.
After docking it will be a 7hr ride up to Ullapool where I'm booked into a hotel for four nights.
The plan is to do the NW coast of the highlands and a tour around Skye.
It doesn't look like I will be getting the glorious weather that I rode in last year, but I'm prepared for that.
While waiting for the carburetter refurb kit to arrive I turned attention to the seized front caliper.
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After a strip down and good clean i fitted it with new seals and pistons.
It's back on the bike now and working as it should.
I used to have a hydraulic bike table to elevate bikes to be worked on, I gave it away when I stopped racing.
I now need something to get the dommie raised so its easier for my old bones to work.
I have ordered one of these off Amazon
Carb is a bit of a faff to remove.
After disconnecting the throttle cables, choke and fuel pipes - releasing the bolts to the airbox allows it to be wiggled back a few inches to allowed just enough room for the carb to be removed from its isolator and pulled clear of the frame.
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| Carburettor on the bench waiting for parts |
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| Honda NX650T |
