It's funny how people seem to pick on Cubbie. I mean, whenever something goes wrong with it, they start saying things like, oh we always had trouble with that when I was young, and the worzel-grommet-ends on 'em always blew up after only a few miles, blah blah blah, and yet when their bikes go wrong, it's a one off, out of the blue, never happened before! Ha! Well I don't care, so what if I have to strip the engine and find out exactly what The Noise is. It's all good practice for me, and although it's annoying, and I skin my knuckles and have a whinge or two I do quite enjoy it - I wouldn't have an old bike or three if I didn't. The general consensus is The Noise is either the big end or the main bearings. Now, when I had the engine partly stripped just recently, I found a wee shard of metal in the vicinity of the bearing on the primary side, so perhaps that's a hint I should have taken more notice of.
So in the meantime, I've got it ready for its Ingliston debut - you won't believe this but I have actually CLEANED it. Nothing OTT you understand, just a wipe with a clean rag and a bit of spit 'n' polish. The rear wheel has about an inch of grime on it though so I'll have to take a chisel to that. Hehehe.
After Ingliston, and after The Noise has been apprehended, Cubbie's Counties will kick off officially. You may have seen the short news piece about it in Classic Bike Guide this month, but for those who haven't here's my plan....I intend to ride to as many of Scotland's 33 counties as possible, on Cubbie, visiting places / people / things of interest along the way. If you know of something in your area that you think I should visit, let me know. Also if you can offer cheap or free camping or know somewhere that does, again please let me know as I'll be trying to keep costs down (so that I can buy more Cubbie spares...) and if you wish to join us on any part of the journey, and you don't mind cruising at a snails pace, give me shout, as company for when I break down would be handy (bring your own spanners though). When I get a mo' I'll fix up a permanent point of contact on here so it's easier to get in touch, but until then, it's comments please!
I'm off to varnish the back door, plant some trees, do the sheeps feets and stuff like that. Have a nice Sunday.
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When I was just a nipper and learning stuff, fixing the old bikes was like being an explorer, must have invented the wheel a hundred times .... did what i could, learned by doing.
I guess now, with a bit more knowledge ..... I'd strip the cubbie to the bone, and do a complete rebuild from the ground up ..... then it would run forever ....
The 33 counties run .... now thats something special girlie .... excellent idea. Be well worth getting yourself wired for internet/mobile phone before you go so you can keep everyone informed where you are day to day .......
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