lproven | Another fine mess I've got me into

This weekend was, as well as Flick's birthday picnic, the Reading Festival, Notting Hill Carnival &c, the weekend of the Team Waste Summer Camp, hosted by geoffcampbell near Carmarthen. My plan was to go down to Bristol on Friday, stay over with mates and then hoon the last 100 miles on Saturday, arriving in bags of time for the party. Stay on Sunday, then go up to North Wales and see some relatives, then come back Tuesday. Well, naturally, it didn't go like that. Firstly, on my way back from the CIX Barbie I noticed the trike's transmission was jumping - at low speeds there'd be an occasional bang and the vehicle would surge. I checked the chain, to find it horribly slack. Now, I'd never retensioned it myself - but I paid VERY close attention when drpete did it for me once. But when I come to try, I lack the tools. I get out the wee 100cc bike to zoom up to Earlsfield to a tool shop my local bike shop's recommended, but the 100 dies at the first corner. I push it home and get on the outfit instead. I find the shop, buy an assortment of tools, get some spare running lights to replace a lost lens on the left side, and return. I start to loosen the bolts holding the differential in place. Oh no. First problem - the new handbrake is mounted on a bracket the shop's put right over the right-hand side adjuster. Oh well, it's reachable from the left. After slackening all the bolts, I give the left hand adjuster one and a half turns. This takes up about half the slack in the chain but it was my first critical error - because tightening the other takes up all of the slack and now the chain's too tight. And there's no way to reverse it. I place a block of wood against the diff and whack it with a hammer, but I can't move it. Bugger. So I loosen off both adjuster bolts to an equal amount, then lube the chain as thoroughly as I can: pushing the trike along my road while spraying on high-adhesion foaming ærosol lube. The chain loosens off a little - maybe ½". Since the rear end, as far as the diff, is rigid, I hope this will do. Check the trike over. My rear lights have failed as well! Only my brake light is working; rear running lights are dead. I check the connections under the seat, reseat all the plugs, check the bulbs but I can see no problem. And now it's too late to go to Bristol. Instead, I rent a video and sit at home sulking. I'd have gone to the pub but the only outing I knew of was certain to have had Bad Stuff™ at it and that was the last thing I needed. I'm up early but dispirited. After the standard time-wasting here and on email and CIX, I take the trike to the local bike shop. We decided fuses are a likely cause; the chap loans me a screwdriver and tells me to play Hunt-the-Fusebox. After 5min or so I find it under the saddle and remove the lid. Eyeballing the fuses reveals no problems, but he starts pulling them and inspecting them. When he replaces the one for the rear lighting circuit the lights come on! Hurrah! The old fuse was corroded and was not making a proper connection. There are several onboard spares; one goes in and all is well. Rush home, throw stuff into bags, set off at 5:15pm. 4h and 1min later I am in Carmarthen. 70mph at all times officer, honestly. I just, er, know a shortcut. Or something. However, the side effect of my [cough] "shortcut" is that my fuel range - normally about 100 miles on a full tank - is reduced to a startling 80 miles, then 60 (!), then 70. The last tank is enough to get us to Llangynog, though, 7m or so outside Carmarthen - and 9:16pm isn't too late to start partying, which I do with intent. Many people were there. I talked to everyone I could but I'm sure I missed some - but in no particular order, from LJ there was: etriganuk turbine2 khaylock landsmand ramptops perlmonger mmcpoland gwynevans tilted_john unclereggie My apologies to anyone I've missed! There were lots more, and one delightful surprise - Hazel Raw, newly returned to CIX life after a couple of years' absence. Tragically engaged now, mind... A night under canvas is much easier when you're trolleyed. Sunday dawned, sadly, and as is often the case, I kept finding clumps of bikers standing around the trike peering at it. I'm amused to see that a notch in one of the struts making up the conversion is not only spotted but diagnosed as the chain cutting through a sizable steel rod, as opposed to a notch cut to allow the chain to pass. However, there is real bad news. My chainlube didn't last. The chain has stiffened up again, going very tight. This has caused massive wear to the rear sprocket - a few teeth have snapped off and the remainder are sickle-shaped as opposed to triangular. The consensus is that my sprocket is dead, and so is the chain and the gearbox sprocket. Several people feel I won't get back to London at all on it now; others advise taking it VERY slowly and hoping for the best. We wheel the trike to Geoff's enormous garage, jack up the rear & apply copious amounts of good old-fashioned spray oil to the worn chain. Amazingly, it loosens up dramatically, becoming almost too loose. If only I'd lubed it properly I'd have been OK. As it is I am not; removing and replacing the sprocket on the trike is a big job and it's going to cost me. The wonderful Mr Haylock lends me his Honda XL250 trailie to help take my mind off things and I go for a splendid whizz around some nearby lanes, including a stop-off for a portion of chips. Barbie nosh all weekend gets rather tedious for a veggie. This is followed by more drinking. I decide to stay Monday night, too, as that way, I can stop off at the Trike Shop in Cardiff and get a new sprocket on my way home. No touring, alas, as I must be super-gentle with my knackered transmission, so I hang around and natter at Geoff's. The weather is mostly kind; naturally, there's one rain shower when I'm out on the bike, but I spent much of Sun topless as it was too hot to sit around in black. Typical; I took my waterproofs and a jumper - it's Wales, it ALWAYS rains - and I actually need a sun hat and shades. Figures. On Tuesday, I get fairly badly lost trying to find my way through Cardiff to Rumney - I've only ever got a lift to the Trike Shop. Eventually, I give up and get on the motorway - then realise that at the next junction I'm closer than ever. I call them, and after copious and excellent directions I arrive at the door. They can't identify the sprocket either, which is a relief, but they jack up the rear end, count teeth and provide me with a new one and a new cover for the diff - apparently, disassembly destroys this. Then a tedious 70mph crawl along the M4 to home. Let's hope next week's planned expedition to Stockholm goes a lot more smoothly...