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Poland To Czech With Nitwits
After a night in Poland the British Buffoons head into The Czech Republic. They're tired and reading between the lines getting a little grumpy, but there's booze and food so they'll be fine.
Bungling To The Bungalow
The first day of the South West Scotland Adventure is a total washout. Ren is moist and Sharon is leaking - and yet it's not all bad at the end of the day.
The Z500 Mods Continue
Sharon's conversion from Z500 naked sports bike to Z500 touring motorcycle continues. MO' money, MO' problems is what dey say innit? Ain't nuffink eezee.
5 Fools For Kilmarnock - Prologue
The tales of mishap and trepidation leading up to this adventure is not for the faint hearted. Gird your loins we're only at the planning stage so far...
5 Fools In South West Scotland
Title page for The BATties Ayrshire expedition.
Soft Brake Fix Weirdness
Ah the old trick of zip tying the brake lever to get a good brake. It seems to work but does anyone know why?
Escape From Colditz To Poland
The lads take a brief look around Colditz before making a dash for Poland. There's a handful of shenanigans and guess what - beer.
An Easy Day Out Going Round In Circles
How can you get lost in the days of Satellite Navigation? Turn the Sat-Nav off. Now you can ride around in ever decreasing circles - which oddly enough seems to be just fine with Ren these days.
Chaos Towards Colditz
More mayhem from a bunch of blokes old enough to know better. Brits used to try and get out of Colditz, these lads are struggling to get in. Fear not - there is beer.
The Perpetual Summer Problem
Ren is typically annoyed that other people are allowed to use his personal race track. If it weren't for those pesky people life would be slightly less miserable for Mr Curmudgeonly.
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Poland To Czech With Nitwits
nab301 said :-
£1.35 for "Breakfast" sounds good and considering the recent (hot) weather at home 23°C sounds lovely!
Nigel
15/07/2025 12:49:19 UTC
A Perfect Day Exploring
Ian Soady¹ said :-
The original pads on mine were poor quality, and a decent bit of shoe leather much stouter.
15/07/2025 12:35:56 UTC
A Perfect Day Exploring
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I have corrected my errors - thank you for pointing this out "Wee comment"!
15/07/2025 12:30:14 UTC
Bungling To The Bungalow
nab301 said :-
Ian thanks for that , I'll try evo stik
Nigel
15/07/2025 11:56:11 UTC
A Perfect Day Exploring
Wee comment said :-
Hi! Just wanted to point out its Achiltibuie and not Achiltibuei ! thanks
15/07/2025 09:43:28 UTC
Bungling To The Bungalow
Sharon said :-
As Ren has said I have been very happy with my Daytona boots and very happy with my Berghaus waterproof pants.
Nothing lasts forever and it was just real bad luck that both items decided to give up at the same time.
My boots have a tough life, out in all weathers including salty roads and they get walked around in a lot as well.
I been thinking about my boots and I wonder if they got compromised in the bike accident I had last December. They did suffer some visible damage so it may have shortened their lifespan? Who really knows?
I did list them as damaged in my claim.
I'm more than happy to replace like for like because after searching for alternatives for both the boots and the pants it would appear that both original options are still the best options for my personal needs.
I was like you Ian rather alarmed by the increase in price of both items but it seems I'm always shocked by prices these days.
Daytona are really expensive but they are still hand made in Germany using quality materials and they are a product I'm happy to put my faith in.
My new defunct pair only cost me around £150 in a sale and when you divide that by 40,000 miles and 7 years of use I'd say that pretty good value.
Even at the current price of around £300 if I get another 40k miles and another 7 years that's only a £50 a year investment. Not to bad is it when you break it down like that..it eases the pain.
Talking if pain, unlike the Altbergs that has been mentioned there is also no pain in breaking then in. Sure they were a little stiffer at first but nothing of concern.
I just hope in the intervening 7 years the quality has remained the same. On paper it should be as it was. But I did note Nigel that you said your newer zips were not as robust as your older ones.
Time will tell when new boots are duly ordered and delivered if I remain happy with mine.
As for other alternatives suggestions thank you all but don't forget that the Daytona offer me something very few other boots do and that's a height lift of 6cm.
Also I have well developed calves or fat calves call then what you will. No chance of my legs getting into a Sidi boot. Believe me I've tried, like a ugly sister getting into Cinderella shoes, no bloody chance. Daytona are adjustable to accommodate those who did gymnastics as a child and ended up with non average calves. As we have said often enough on this page size does matter.
15/07/2025 00:19:55 UTC
Bungling To The Bungalow
Ian Soady¹ said :-
My current boots - some cheapos I got from a discount shop - also had detaching gearchange pads. The solution? Cut a pair of stout leather patches from a pair of old shoes and glue them on using evostik. Still going strong after a few years. If you don't have any suitable old shoes I'm sure a local charity shop will help out.
As an aside it's nice that they still sem to fit the patches on both feet even though the right hand ones must be very rarely used these days. Apart from dinosaurs like me.
14/07/2025 11:26:35 UTC
Bungling To The Bungalow
nab301 said :-
I got Altberg boots (clubman roadster I think) years ago and still have them , they took forever to break in , I was clomping around the house like Boris Karloff for weeks before wearing them on the bike , they were comfy eventually for many years but I haven't used them in years , they really need some work but they don't have the protection of the latest models and the costs and logistics of getting them repaired don't add up.
I've used Daytona boots since then but the oldest pair have a detaching gear shift reinforcement and the newest pair have different zips without shrouds and have taken to failing , at least €50 per zip to repair locally so I'll be on the look out for something shortly.
Nigel
13/07/2025 14:50:17 UTC
Bungling To The Bungalow
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Stiffness can be a problem Ian. Ooooo er missus, oh please ya'selves, no don't. Oooooo.
I'm here all week.
I think wearing the Altberg's as job boots probably helped, you know 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, rain, heat, sweat etc.
They are literally like slippers, but like I said they should be.
The TCX are made with lots of alternative materials and I suspect that resists the bedding in process.
Plastic can be blummin hard.
I think with all bike clothing, even wellies, you need to try it on, get the right size etc.
Upt.
10/07/2025 10:33:24 UTC
Bungling To The Bungalow
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I went to the Altberg factory near Richmond a long time ago having been persuaded that I needed their boots. I was measured up and the boots arrived at my home a couple of weeks later. Beautifully made but so stiff and unwieldy it took ages to get them on and when I did I could barely operate the gear lever. I persevered for a couple of weeks but just couldn't get on with them so reverted to my summer boots of the day which were the German paratrooper ones which I don't think are available these days (the wellies were for winter commuting duties).
Sold the altbergs on ebay for a huge loss.
10/07/2025 10:18:16 UTC
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Ian Soady¹ said :-
Yes, I did hanker after a Scott for a while till I realised just how involved they are. Velocette singles also had a strange bottom end as the final drive was outside the primary rather than inside it. This gave a very narrow stiff crankcase but that used taper roller main bearings and had to be assembled with about .004" (.1mm) preload so that when the cases expanded the crank would rotate freely.
That layout also led to the notorious Velo clutvh although I have to say that on the Venom I had the clutch was pretty good.
15/07/2025 15:43:11 UTC
nab301 said :-
I found an interesting video on Scott crankshaft assembly which seems quite involved with 2 tapers , requiring building the crank into the cases to calculate the end float and then disassembly again (splitting the crank tapers ) to fit the required shims... I'm not sure how that compares to a V4 500 LC
Nigel
15/07/2025 12:41:06 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
They also remind me of the Scott crank. A 2 stroke (sorry Ren) parallel twin which had a central flywheel and overhung (cantilevered) crankpins at 180 degrees. You could replace the big end rollers by taking a little door off the crankcase side! You can just see the big end in this photo.
15/07/2025 10:21:21 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Looking at the crank on a NTV600 Revere (which is a V-Twin shafty) the crank looks remarkably similar to the VS600.
https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-ntv600-revere-1989-k-england_model3733/partslist/E__...
14/07/2025 16:39:21 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Two singles running 360 degrees out from each other Ian - ie akin to a 360 parallel twin. This would produce a smoother power pulse output than any other V-Twin config that comes to mind and that might be easier on the shaft drive?
14/07/2025 15:06:43 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
That's what I was surmising, although it's more akin to two singles than a parallel twin. I wonder what the point is?
14/07/2025 13:10:19 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Now - according to this website it appears the VS600 Intruder 1995 has a central web and offset crankpins. I am *GUESSING* the offset will be the same as the angle of the V therefore making this run akin to a parallel twin?
https://www.motorcyclespareparts.eu/en/suzuki-parts/1995-vs600-intruder-motorcyc...
14/07/2025 12:56:52 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
ps How is an engine with 2 crankpins configured? There must be a central web as they can't just slot into a normal pair of crank wheels.
14/07/2025 11:28:14 UTC
Glyn said :-
Great anecdote Ian. Sounds very feasible to me.
13/07/2025 21:27:23 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Oh go on then. Too hot to either be in the garage or on the bike.....
The most familiar British V twins would be the JAP (J A Prestwich) and competitors in the pre-war era and the Vincent twin early pre-war and post-war. Both had single crankpins with the big ends side by send meaning that the cylinders were slightly offset one from the other. I believe some manufacturers like Harley Davidson had one forked big end with the other running inside it, but still a single crankpin.
The story about the Vincent is that the designer, Philip Irving, was idly playing with the blueprints for the 500cc single which was the only engine they made at the time and realised that by putting one copy of the drawing reversed over the other he had the layout for a V twin. How true this is I don't know.
All above from my patchy memory so caveat lector.
13/07/2025 16:32:39 UTC
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nab301 said :-
I've been having similar problems, I had a zip on bib with an old Hein Gericke set up but this has let me down recently , however with the help of Ian I found a local shop which seems to stock such items if I can pluck up the courage to call in and actually try on a pair!
@ UPt , that is excellent customer service from Oxford.
Nigel
04/07/2025 12:56:19 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I did consider braces but...
I didn't. I'm a belt guy I spose.
As for fishermen's troosers.....behave ya'self.
Upt.
01/07/2025 16:29:03 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
In the long ago days when I rode in all weathers I used to have braces on my overtrousers which were much more comfortable. In fact latterly I used Helly Hansen bib & brace heavy duty PVC items designed for deep sea fishermen and the like. Easy to get on & off, reasonably cheap and totally waterproof. I may even have a pair stashed away somewhere.
https://workweargurus.com/collections/helly-hansen-bib-and-brace/products/helly-...
01/07/2025 14:48:07 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Weise Hydra troosers update.
All's good except....
1. They fit too low, it's fashion innit? Now at the local upholsterers for belt loops to be attached and a new Levi bovine leather belt acquired at the right price. Should be sorted.
2. Took the drop liner out before taking them to the upholsterers and found the lining puckered where some errant seam tape had been carelessly attached onto the rear. Pffffffftttttt.
3. Contact Weise UK on their online form, pffffffftttttt, email the next day from Fowlers of Bristol asking for piccies. "New lining is in the post sir". Now arrived. Great customer service from Weise and their UK agent.
Picture of tape below which seems just about impossible to budge, which is probably why they use it as seam tape.
Upt.
01/07/2025 11:38:04 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The weather was fine until the ride home.....33 of your c's was a tad on the uncomfortable side when dealing with traffic and slow movers. But better than blummin wet.
23/06/2025 12:32:10 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Very nice Upt'. Looks like the weather was on your side too.
23/06/2025 08:49:16 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
It is Ian, I'd never seen the programme and can't envisage I ever will but it's a lovely ride over the tops. Anything to avoid the masses of Whitbyites.
Pffffffftttttt.
22/06/2025 17:09:24 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Very nice too. Is that Goathland ("Heartbeat" country)?
22/06/2025 14:17:49 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
22/06/2025 13:57:34 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
22/06/2025 13:56:28 UTC
Random Link - Givi Handguards (HP1121) Review