Para 4 of last-but-1 post
May. 31st, 2007 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lprovenThis is what para 4 /should/ have said, roughly. I've had to rewrite it from memory. The post /was/ quite a bit longer and made rather more sense before. Read this if you didn't quite follow!
(Moral: don't use LJ's rich text editor to modify a post composed offline in Logjam or Drivel, 'cos it *will* bugger it up. Useless POS. I'll just have to live with raw HTML. Why is it that all the rich text editors I've seen that try to edit HTML are absolute rubbish? It shouldn't be hard, FFS!)
When I got the trike from the Trike Shop in Cardiff in about 2001, it wasn't running. I took it to Big Four Engineering in Whaley Bridge up in the Peak District. It's got to be said that they didn't do a great job. When I went to collect it and take it for its MOT, they'd forgotten to fit a speedo cable. It passed its MOT no problem, then on my way home, it died after a few miles; the engine control unit failed. So they came and picked me up, took it back, replaced the ECU and I set off again. It had a bit of an oil leak, though. The clutch cover was badly bashed up in the original crash in '94 and they'd not only not replaced it, but when re-fitting it, as far as [LJ drpete] could tell, they'd not bothered to fit a new gasket. That's why the leak. It used about 2l of oil every 50mi. One trip to Wales to go to [LJ geoffcampbell]'s annual party used about 5l of oil and on the way back she ran low enough to show the oil pressure warning light. I limped into a petrol station to fill up. That was probably the error that shafted the big end bearings - I was told later that I should have walked. But it was late at night, we were 2 up, with luggage, in the pouring rain, after 250-odd miles of travel... Ah well.
Still, I reckon that it's ultimately Big 4's botched replacement of the clutch cover that shafted the engine. :-(
Anyway, I took it for its MOT in Buxton. It passed with flying colours.
The next year, though, down in London, they wouldn't even look at it. It needed a hand brake, they said, and a rear fog light, and hazard lights, and so on.
I phoned up & down the country trying to find a custom shop or trike builder to bring it up to spec. Nobody wanted to know.
Then, as it happened, I took the little Honda 100cc bike I was given by [CIX marauder] for [LJ kjersti] to do her Compulsory Basic Training on into Hartgate to get it roadworthy and mentioned the travails I was having with the trike - and their top man John said he'd be happy to do it.
(Moral: don't use LJ's rich text editor to modify a post composed offline in Logjam or Drivel, 'cos it *will* bugger it up. Useless POS. I'll just have to live with raw HTML. Why is it that all the rich text editors I've seen that try to edit HTML are absolute rubbish? It shouldn't be hard, FFS!)
When I got the trike from the Trike Shop in Cardiff in about 2001, it wasn't running. I took it to Big Four Engineering in Whaley Bridge up in the Peak District. It's got to be said that they didn't do a great job. When I went to collect it and take it for its MOT, they'd forgotten to fit a speedo cable. It passed its MOT no problem, then on my way home, it died after a few miles; the engine control unit failed. So they came and picked me up, took it back, replaced the ECU and I set off again. It had a bit of an oil leak, though. The clutch cover was badly bashed up in the original crash in '94 and they'd not only not replaced it, but when re-fitting it, as far as [LJ drpete] could tell, they'd not bothered to fit a new gasket. That's why the leak. It used about 2l of oil every 50mi. One trip to Wales to go to [LJ geoffcampbell]'s annual party used about 5l of oil and on the way back she ran low enough to show the oil pressure warning light. I limped into a petrol station to fill up. That was probably the error that shafted the big end bearings - I was told later that I should have walked. But it was late at night, we were 2 up, with luggage, in the pouring rain, after 250-odd miles of travel... Ah well.
Still, I reckon that it's ultimately Big 4's botched replacement of the clutch cover that shafted the engine. :-(
Anyway, I took it for its MOT in Buxton. It passed with flying colours.
The next year, though, down in London, they wouldn't even look at it. It needed a hand brake, they said, and a rear fog light, and hazard lights, and so on.
I phoned up & down the country trying to find a custom shop or trike builder to bring it up to spec. Nobody wanted to know.
Then, as it happened, I took the little Honda 100cc bike I was given by [CIX marauder] for [LJ kjersti] to do her Compulsory Basic Training on into Hartgate to get it roadworthy and mentioned the travails I was having with the trike - and their top man John said he'd be happy to do it.
