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Insert lots of swear words….

May 18th, 2012 by

Following on from the last post about my V8 trike, I decided to take the risk on a break in the rain and booked an MOT for today.

The MOT was quite and experience. It was an old bloke who looked like he would have been more at home out on a farm in a cow shed.
He was complete with overalls, a battered old sports jacket and a greasy flat cap.
More oddly, next to the MOT bay was a bale of hay and a couple of logs!!
I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to sit on it and wait for the sheep dog trials to start.

Anyways, I digress.
He put his knee pads on and started crawling around looking at everything.
We then did the lights test.
Finally, to test the brakes. He got me to set the tri/ke up on one side of the workshop. He climbed aboard then rode it across the workshop and hit the brakes. They passed.

Ticket written and off I went.

The trike had been popping and decaling a bit, so I knew the timing would need a bit of a fiddle.
When I reversed back up the drive the engine cut out. Then I noticed the oil over the back end of the valley gasket.
I finally got it started again, and it started chucking white smoke out of the left pipe.
The valley gasket was also bulging upwards, rather than being valley shaped. Looks like it had blown out.

So, I now have to take the front of the trike and inlet manifold off again.
Hopefully it is just the displacement of the valley gasket that is the issue, and the oil was coming in though one of the inlet bores.
I also need to sort why there was a critical pressure build up.

Updates to follow.

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IAM – Advanced Plus

May 16th, 2012 by

Last year I completed my IAM Advanced Riding course.
Actually, strictly speaking it is not a course, but a series of observer rides where an experienced IAM observer comments on your riding style and makes suggestions on how you can improve. They also introduce you to the principles of IPSGA
I was lucky and was assigned a serving Class 1 Police rider.

For the past year I have been keeping up with the principles and putting them into practice.
I have also changed bike, moving from a TDM850, which I have ridden for many years for an ST1100.
I am still trying to learn all its nuances, to perfect corners and gear changes, making the ride as smooth as silk.

Last month I was offered to join an intensive training course to become an Observer myself.
Initially I accepted, but decided that I am not 100% happy with my “oneness” with the ST, so subsequently declined the offer.
If I am going to teach someone else, I want to make sure that I am as smooth as I can be, even if I am fairly confident that I could pass the IAM test if I had to take it tomorrow.

So, I have decided to undertake the IAM Advanced Plus course, and I have been assigned my same Observer as before, which is great news.
This time there are less observed rides, but you are expected to put in at least 60 miles practice each day. This time, commuting miles definitely do not count so that means I will have to put an additional 60 miles on top of my 60 mile commute.
The miles should cover all road types, though I am going to concentrate on small roads as my commute is mainly dual carriageway and A roads.

This has also meant that I have started cramming the books again.
Resultantly, I have also started to update my Advanced Riding series, the latest being to add the section on Positioning

As before, I will provide regular updates about my trials and tribulations.
The first ride is this Saturday afternoon, and the weather is looking good :)

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Life without Wi-Fi

May 7th, 2012 by

Last week I had the distinct displeasure of getting a taste of what it would be like if there was no WiFi in the house. I also had to go through the most obscure fault finding regime I have ever done, with some confounding results, leading to desperate measures.

In the house we have 2 laptops, 2 Android phones, 1 Android tablet, 1 iPhone4S, and a colour scanner/printer, all attached to the WiFi.
There are 2 WiFi routers, one in the living room and one in my “office”, with one of them serving DHCP requests and acting as the cable modem/gateway to the Internet.
For 3 years everything has worked fine.

The first thing to change tox the infrastructure was the introduction of a “HP ProLiant MicroServer” running Microsoft Windows Home Server 2011. Needless to say there is no way that this could have any bearing on the status of the wireless connections, but was worth mentioning as I will do a review of it at a later date.

It all started when the Android devices stopped connecting to the unit in the Living Room. I checked the settings and nothing seemed to have changed.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 had had a recent firmware update, but that would not explain why the others would not connect.
A few days of playing with the settings had various results. The worst being nothing in the house could connect and the most frustrating that everything would connect, but the Android devices would not go out on to the Internet.
They all had a valid IP address, issued via DHCP, from the router downstream on the router in the Living Room. Not only could I not get out to the Internet, I could not ping either of the routers!! I could ping the device’s own interfaces.
By now, the GF was beginning to complain about the up and down of her Internet connection, and the effect it was having on the Facebook games she was trying to play ;-) .
Finally, the router in the office was allowing everything to connect to it, but signal strength is very weak in the living room.

It was time for a serious plan B, and a bit of desperation, so I decided to buy a new router. Well, to me it was about the only logical thing left.
I settled for a “Belkin F7D1301uk SURF N150 Wireless Cable Router”
We were now running three wireless routers whilst I tried to sort security settings that would allow all the devices to connect.
To cut a long story short I ended up with the Belkin in the office, as the only device in the house, providing the connection to all the devices.

I let that run for a few days, and then decided that whilst the signal in the Living Room was pretty good, I would really like a dedicated router in there.
So, I set about reconfiguring the Living Room one. I finally cracked it by enabling “WPS”.

I can honestly say there is nothing more frustrating than having a wireless tablet with no wireless to connect to.
It becomes a rather expensive book reader :)

Life is now good again, and I will never take the wireless for granted again.

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Posted in Technical | No Comments »

Project Twist and Go – Resurrected

Apr 15th, 2012 by

V8

Some of you may remember a year or so ago I brought a trike.
It is based on a 3.5l Rover V8 with a Borg and Warner 3 speed automatic gearbox, fitted to a XJS rear axle. It also happens to be dual fuel.

I did run it for a few months, but the engine leaked oil all over the place and was gutless. I then managed to get another engine, off of ebay, but when I put that one in it leaked water into one of the cylinders, so I gave up and walked away from the trike, leaving it in the back of the garage.

For the past few weeks I have been busy working on getting it back on the road.
The first job was to get the heads skimmed. I used Banda Engineering, at a cost of £22 each side.
I then changed the routing of the water, so that it by passed the frame that goes over the top of the engine. This meant that I could run the engine up to temperature without having to put the front of the trike back on. It also means that I can easily remove it again without having to drain any fluids.
The engine test went well, with no leaks, and it running on both petrol and LPG.

Next, was to sort out the electrics. When I put it all back together, nothing seemed to work.
Tracing the wiring is not easy, as whoever wired it used green cable for everything :O
It took me a good 2 hours to get it all up and running. I still need to replace 3 fuses!!
Whilst all the electrics are now working, I am still convinced that I have some leakage to earth, so I may need to check that out, and ensure that the charging circuit is working.
Ultimately, the aim is to totally rewire the trike. I am planning to do it myself, but I have found that Taff, at the Bike Shed, is a dab hand at re-wiring things so I may palm the work off to him, especially as he already has a selection of cable.

I am gonna bite the bullet and book the trike in for an MOT on Saturday, again at the Bike Shed.

All I need to do now is get the old V8 engine, and an ST1100 (Pan European) engine out of the way so that I can get the trike out of the garage :)

Read the previous instalments

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Posted in Bikes, Project Twist n Go, Technical, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Reeds Rains – The Management Fiasco – *Conclusion*

Mar 28th, 2012 by

It is with regret that I have to report that I gave up with Reeds Rains Property Management.
They did reply to me, again just quoting the contract saying that they did not have to pay me any advanced rent, and so any rent that had been paid had been paid in accordance with the terms of the contract.

In my last email to them I had pointed out that the obviously could not read their own contract and stated the points that they were in error with.
My comments had been ignored, giving the same response that they had given me before.
I could escalate my claim again, this time to the Managing Director, but to be honest I just can not be bothered.

The thing that really annoyed me was the fact at that no time during this entire process did anyone for Reeds Rains Property Management pick up a phone and endeavour to speak to me.
This beggars belief. I can not understand how a complaints procedure can progress, with a company that is offering a service, and at no time did the person looking my complaint not consider that it would be appropriate to call the client and try and get to the bottom of the issue(s).

This does nothing but leave me with the impression that they just buried their heads in the sand and blindly kept ignoring the the points of my complaint, and just pick up on the point of late rent.
Any potential loss that I had made , which I had worked out to be £24, was never an issue. The whole point of the complaint was to highlight the inadequacies of Reeds Rains Property Management and hopefully prompt a change in the procedures and internal communication. Clearly that has not happened.

I can only recommend that you do not touch Reeds Rains Property Management with a barge pole, unless you are sure that you will never actually have to engage them to do something.
The are very good at getting the contract in place, but a little problematic at releasing funds, or providing consistent information.

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3
Read Part 4

Posted in Rants | No Comments »

40mph is the new National Speed Limit

Mar 8th, 2012 by

Ok, so it isn’t officially the new national speed limit, but I am beginning to think that it is the speed limit adopted by the public for this year.

There are a couple of routes that I can take to work, and they are some of the few roads left where there are nice long stretches of B road that still have the national speed limit (60mph) posted.
They are the type of road that offers various challenges, enough to keep you on your toes and make you work at making progress.
This year, I have noticed that the general speed seems to be 40mph. The problem with that, on these types of road, is that all the traffic bunches up. When they bunch up, it is not possible to safely progress through the traffic, so I too end up doing 40mph.

It may sound childish, but I can not help thinking “it is not fair!”.
I love my commute, regardless of the time of year or the weather, but after a Winter of cold weather and damp salty roads, I really look forward to the sun and dry roads.
I make the effort to observe the highway code, leaving 2 second gaps, doing the speed limit, etc. Why the hell can’t the other people on the road.

I guess I’m gonna have to start a search on Google Maps for a new route, one that the “great unwashed” do not use.

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Posted in Rants, Rides | No Comments »

Reeds Rains – The Management Fiasco – *Update 3*

Feb 21st, 2012 by

I had hoped that this post would have been the conclusion, but alas it is not.

I did get a reply, in relation to my complaint, from Reeds Rains Property Management but in my opinion it was a total cop-out.
They answered pretty much in exactly the allowed 15 working days, pointing out that the contract stated that if the rent was paid in advance then it would be paid when it was due (monthly). However they noted that I had asked for it in advance, so apologised that some of the payments had been a little late.

They did not mention the inconsistency in information from two people at Reeds Rains Property Management relating to when rent was received/paid out. They did not mention the fact that I had to prove that they had taken management fees in error. They did not mention that they had withheld a payment for contractor work that had never been undertaken.

They did, however, add that in their opinion their actions had not led me to suffer a financial loss, a somewhat ironic statement when the contract also states that they can keep any interest on monies being held.
I guess that if I had had the money I would not be earning interest??
This is especially relevant when you take into account that I have an offset mortgage, so every £1 that Reeds Rains Property Management were hanging on to I am paying roughly an additional 6p in interest on my monthly mortgage payment.
You can then add in all the time I had to spend clarifying Reeds Rains Property Management’s errors and omissions, and the phone calls made and other correspondence.

So, I have written back to them stating that I am not happy with their reply and that I wish to escalate my complaint to the next level, asking for a fuller explanation of what occurred and recompense for my losses.

The complaint is now sitting with the Lettings Director.

Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3

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Blew the Head Gasket on the XT

Feb 12th, 2012 by

The recent really cold weather has meant that I have not had much of an inclination to head out on the weekends.
So, today I decided that I needed to start up and run the Hardly and the XT.

I started off with the Hardly and could hear a rattling.
Nothing to worry about, as it was one of the heat shields. The arse is that it is one of the ones that is held on with a Jubilee clip, threaded through a loop on the shield. I can only guess that the loop has failed.
Still, it fired up without issue and ran sweet.

On to the XT. This has been starting really well since the “rebuild“. This time around it had not been started since before Christmas :O
Fuel on, choke all the way around, and 3 twists of the throttle. Finally, “jiggle” the piston to just after TDC.
First kick, nothing.
Second kick a massive backfire, and the sound of air escaping.
Third kick and it started. Tick over is always a bit rough for the first minute, so it is best to just “tickle” the throttle a bit.
Once it was sounding constant, I gave it a blip of the throttle.

Oh, Oh. I could see two jets of exhaust coming out of the head gasket on the right side of the engine.
Arse! Arse! Arse!.

The engine does run fine and smooth, but the gasket is going to have to be replaced.
This time I will not be skimping on a HiLite one, but will be purchasing a genuine Yamaha one.

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Posted in Project XT | No Comments »

Time for a Weather Post

Jan 18th, 2012 by

I am very aware that the Reeds Rains posts have been taking up a my thoughts a fair bit recently, so I thought I better put something new up.

In true English fashion, when we have nothing to talk about, I thought I would mention the weather :)
To be honest, the weather does play quite a part in my life as I commute to work everyday on a motorbike, a journey of around 30 miles each way.
I wear proper kit so whether it is raining or not does not really come in to it. I am always dry.

What I do wonder, is what the hell is going on with the weather.
Looking at last year, I do not remember much rain and I do not remember much sun. Saying that, I think there was a lot of rain, but it just did not rain during the times that I was actually on the bike, a fact that I love.
There is many a time when I get to work just in time for the heavens to open up with the mother of all downpours.
I even go as far as altering my route based on which direction has the blackest clouds.

We were forecast another blinder of a Winter, with Councils stockpiling salt and grit, plans were being made to keep the Country running, railway companies were hoping that it would be the right kind of snow, employees were hoping that everyone f^%£&() up again and they could not get to work, and the shops had got snow shovels and sledges in stock ready for Halloween.

HA!! Mother Nature threw a curve ball and gave us the mildest Winter that we have seen in years.

We have had a few days of cold, though. I reckon I have seen maybe 4 frosts this Winter, and the seat on my bike has had a layer of ice on it three times, when I have set off for the commute home.
To be honest, I love it when it is sub-zero temperatures and I am on the bike. Everything is so crisp to look at, skies really are clear, and you really can see for miles.
Add to that everything having a coating of frost, and the thick tendrils of breath in your helmet and wow does it feel good to be alive.
The Councils are obviously making good use of their salt mountains as the road salting seems to to be much thicker this year. The salt granules also seem to be three times the size, kind of a disadvantage when you are on a bike because it causes ridges of salt/grit that a perfect to cause you to lose traction, causing buttock clenching, though exciting, moments.

Today was a day of the thickest and finest drizzle that I have ever seen. A perfect day to have been working from home, which I was.
I am kind of hoping that it has dried out by tomorrow, otherwise all the salt that it has dissolved will makes its way into all the nooks and crannies on the bike. Which is never a good thing. It means I will have to wash it.

Blimey, 534 words on the weather.

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Posted in About Me | No Comments »

Reeds Rains – The Management Fiasco – *Update 2*

Jan 11th, 2012 by

It really beggars belief what they have done this time.

I wanted to ensure that I had the same facts that Reeds Rains Property Management would have whilst investigating my complaint.
To this end, I contacted the local branch and asked them to provide the dates that my tenants paid the rent and the dates that the funds were released to me. Remember, all I know is the tenants pay the rent in advance and the dates the money end up in my bank account.

I had a prompt reply from a person at Reeds Rains providing the dates, clearly showing the tenants had paid all the rent at least 10 days in advance at each renewal. It also showed the dates that payments had been made out to me.

The next day, today, I got an email from the usual representative at Reeds Rains, who stated that at the recent renewal the tenants had paid the first two month’s rent as single payments each month, and then 4 months in advance in the third month.

Both emails agreed on the dates that the money was passed to me.

I am now going to have to contact the local office, who would have taken the rent payment, to see who is telling the truth.
Hopefully, I will not have to resort to asking my tenants.

I am beginning to look forward to the response to my complaint, and if it will include an explanation to the inconsistency in the replies to my request.

On a positive note, Reeds Rains Property Management have now agreed that they had taken for 2 months management fees in error, and have released that money to my bank account.

Read Part 1
Read Part 2

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Posted in Rants | 4 Comments »

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