Wrench'n Ride'n

 They are just not wide enough. The tank is too wide. Thoughts that loomed into the front of my grey matter. Every time I looked at the  MICRO BEND-A-LICIOUS APES I had fitted. Drove me mad. Not the fault of the bars. Not the fault of Steffan who made the bars. They just didn't look right. Before Fitting a narrower tank. No. Too much trouble. Lots of fabricating. Don't have all the tools. Widen the bars! I have tools to do this. I have mate, Big Dog, who has TIG welder. One very large bolt was bought to be turned into a slug. 4" was cut out of another set of bars. Holes drilled. Rode to Big Dogs place. He welded the extension in. Grinder over welds. I get home. File and emery paper to smooth out the grinding. Coat of Satin Black. After Now have a set of MICRO BEND-A-LICIOUS EXTENDED APES! They are 31" wide. The eye now tells me that they suit the width of the tank.

Pull into a parking spot this morning and as I apply a small amount of rear brake I hear a very slight grinding noise. Shudder I know that sound. I peer down into the darkness of the rear brake caliper and oh shit. There is almost no pad material showing. Ride to local Triumph dealer. Do not use rear brake. Ride home with new pads in saddle bags. Do not use rear brake. Fit new pads. Find that this is the easiest pad change I have ever done on a bike. Thank you tea drinkers of Hinckley. The original pads latest just over 16000 kms. Chain needed a tighten. Twice in 10000 kms. I think the chain oiler is helping. Also replaced the spark plugs. They were about 11000 kms old. Amazing what a computer can do for your fueling. They don't look too bad. Noticed that she runs a bit better with new plugs. 

Today I had a look around at the Maitland Bike & Hot Rod Show put on by the Gladiators MC. Some very nice 2 and 4 wheel devices were seen. That's the cars out of the way. They are cool that's for sure. Top box on front. These two were ridden to the show. And by ridden I mean they screamed along on them.  When they fired this up it made noise like the end of the world. Teenage boys standing around now have grins they can not nor want to remove. Old girl The owner told me this paint is how it came from the factory. Fucken nice.