Scottish Vintage Training Day numero two.

Did I mention that the second Scottish Vintage Training Day is booked for Sunday 22nd May at Lanark? Gosh, how remiss of me! Well it is, and you'll never guess what, we've had our first enquiry already. The trouble is, we don't have any bikes lined up yet, soooooo, if you have a pre1931 machine, or indeed, some later models will be ok as long as they have either hand gear change or lever throttle, or any features that makes your bike just a little bit different and challenging to ride, then I want to hear from you. The Indian we had last year was so well received, that anything along those lines will be most welcome again, along with Morgans, BSA three-wheelers and sidecar outfits.

The training days are the only way that some people can experience vintage motorcycles, so please consider lending a machine. The day is overseen by Chairman Kim Allen and is conducted in an educational manner with riders (and owners) being fully briefed before any riding takes place. Please note that your machine must be roadworthy and road legal - but you've got 4 months yet so get those spanners out and get cracking, Grommet!

If you have any questions, have a bike to lend, want to help out (yes, we need a few helpers to make sure things run smoothly - how about if you were an entrant last year, switching roles and helping out this year?) or want to book a place, give me a shout - cubbiescounties AT aultan.com but change the AT to @.

Finding GBC

Haha, er, right. Someone just emailed to say they found the blog by typing GBC in Google and following the link. Well, that's good, isn't it? No, not really, cos if you just type GBC, look what you get...

Must tell people to type the full Gorgeous Biker Chick, then you get...

...although it was a little unnerving to follow the link to the Triumph Rat forum and see my almost twin sister staring back at me, almost as large as life and some discussion about her gorgeousness.

On the pull.

Settle down you lot, it's not what you think. I need a puller for the timing pinion. Captain Bill came round yesterday bringing with him a selection of 3-legged pullers and others, but none would fit due to the lack of space in the tiny Terrier motor.

So I looked on the Greystone Tiger Cub spares website, with the intention of buying one, and noticed they also have a distributor drive gear removal tool, ooh, thought I, I could get ahead of the game here and buy one of those at the same time, but they're out of stock. So, I've asked my chums on the Tiger Cub forum if anyone has these two tools and if I can borrow them, we'll see what transpires.

Captain Bill also confirmed that the nasty grooves in the barrell were more than likely to have been caused by the circlip going on holiday allowing the gudgeon pin to move about and score the barrel rather deeply. So, with what looks like a +40 piston already, I'm on the hunt for a +60, a decent second hand one would be fine if you happen to have one in that box of bits at the back of the shed....

Well done Graham B for spotting the small hitch with the oil pump - it isn't connected to anything!

Good job GBC didn't just fire the engine up without checking it all over...as if...!

In other news, if you follow Gee-Bee Chick on Facebook, you'll know I've now crossed even further over to the wrong side and signed up for Twitter. They won't let me use a - in my name over there, so if you wanna follow me there, I would be delighted if you do, then you need to look for GeeBeeChick, I think, I don't know if you have to put @GeeBeeChick or waaaaat. I've got 3 followers already, so hello and welcome if you've come over here from over there.

Right, I'm off to work. Is there no rest for the wicked? No, obviously not.

GBC and the Flame Thrower, part II.

Ok, just in case you left a comment on the previous post but haven't noticed my reply, I'd like to say...Thanks for all your suggestions, luckily I didn't have to do anything serious (like welding, cos I can't weld) but I soaked it over night with WD40 and then set fire to the darn thing this morning, and gave it another wallop for good measure. I forced a small flat bladed screwdriver bit into it and that got a grip so I was able to get more leverage on it. Bingo. Next problem...

Yep, so, got the split pin out of the spindle, then couldn't get the spindle out. There seems to be a lot of rustiness about Terry. I gave it a dose of WD40, tapped it gently in both directions, managed to get the tip of a small flat bladed screwdriver in the groove to try and gently lever it out, with some persuasion from a small hammer, but it wasn't shifting. On Cubbie I simply grasped the spindle with a pair of long nose pliers but this one was stuck firm. Out with the flame thrower again. I really quite like that particular toy - Mrs BC got it for my birthday a couple of years ago and I haven't really had cause to use it...until now...then I had one of my better ideas. Mole grips. Problem solved. With the jaws clamped on the end of the spindle I was able to twist and pull the spindle free.

Right, undo the 4 screws that hold the inner cover on, but there are only 3 and, you're there before me, the last one was stuck fast. Where does that expression come from, I wonder. I really couldn't be bothered with the gentle approach so it was out with the flame thrower again and it soon gave up the fight. Gently wiggle the cover up and off, being careful not to pull any bits of the gearbox out and hey presto, there's the distributor shaft, timing stuff and oil pump. Something odd struck me about the oil pump, I'm sure it shouldn't be like that. See if you can spot it in the pic.

Next job was to remove the big coggy thing and drop the tappets out (now I know why the things at the top in the rocker box that I call tappets, aren't really tappets), and then the timing pinion. But I don't have the correct puller for that one so we're back on hold for now. Still, at least progress is being made, if a little slowly.

Anger management.

I've been suffering from a bad back since the start of my Christmas hols - typical, 'cos I haven't been able to get as much done as I wanted to, and that includes work in the shed. Well, I've been feeling a bit better these last few days, so I took the spare half hour I had before going to work to do a bit more to Terry's engine. You wouldn't think that one teeny weeny little innocent looking screw, could cause so much trouble. It's one of the ones that holds the cover on that you have to remove to gain access to the split pin so that the camplate pin (I read that somewhere, it could be the wrong name) can be removed - you with me? Mr Pres informs me that he sometimes uses an impact driver on them, but I never had any bother with the ones on Cubbie, so I wasn't anticipating any bother today. The first one came out, easy peasy, but the second, and indeed, the last one (why is it always the last one and not the first one?), no way was it shifting. I tried my trusty screwdriver with interchangeable bits, can usually find one that gets a good grip, but no luck, then I tried to set fire to the darned thing, don't know whether that was a terribly good idea or not, but by then both my shoulder and back were hurting. I remembered spotting an impact driver somewhere in the shed, gosh, didn't even know I had one, so I dug it out and gave it a go. Well, a thump, to be precise. But it ain't shifting. About three days ago I drenched the screws with WD40, but you can never have too much WD, so I after another soaking I chucked my screwdriver down in disgust and got ready for work. Grrrrrr.

The offending item. Looks like it'll have to be dug out with an excavator now that I've successfully chewed it up.

Oh, this'll make you laugh. I'm going to build a blasting cabinet to facilitate the cleaning up of Terry's rusty bits. I was inspired by a link that UN kindly sent me, detailing how you don't need to build a cabinet, just use a huge box of bicarbonate of soda, and because it's non-toxic, you just use it straight out of the box, outdoors, then a quick rinse with the watering can will sort out your patio. Now, that's not a bad idea, only it's usually cold and breezy outdoors in Scotland at this time of year, and I don't think bicarb is going to quite cut the rust on the wheels, so I reckon if I get a bit of perspex and some ply, build a box, cut a couple of holes in it for arms, get some thick gloves, and some sand, away we go. Anyone out there built their own cabinet? Want to send me a piccy? Please? Go on, pretty please?

All the way from the swamps of...

You probably don't believe me, but the Postie has just delivered a big box addressed to THE MOST GORGEOUS BIKER CHICK (nice, very nice) and inside, amongst other things, is a miniature alligator head, complete with miniature teeth.

Ok, so you don't believe me, do you? How's this then...

Hmmm, thanks Darrell!

Terry and Cubbie II

That's a point, what am I going to call my trials Cub? There's no hurry but I need a name for it. I plan to let the local Scout group have a go at working on it, not sure to what extent yet, maybe it will just be wire brush and painting, or maybe I'll let them help me strip the engine, we will see how that goes, but I can't think of a better way to get youngsters interested in old bikes, than by letting them get their hands dirty.

Now, talking of getting dirty. There's a lot, and I mean a LOT of wire brushing to be done to Terry the Terrier. While I think about it, I really ought to set the wheels in motion (ha ha) for sorting out the reg number and official bits too, cos if I don't get on with it, before you know it, it'll be June and I'll be ready to set off to Shetland... Yep, that's my aim. Get it ready and running and on the road for the Simmer Dim 2011. Whaddya mean that's mad? I've got 6months yet!!

I've got some pics for you of the rusty pile of bits and pieces, which I'll put up after we've moved the sheep today.

PS, anyone else following the cricket...

Engine dismantling work started yesterday but didn't progress much due to the absence of a clutch puller, and the rotor seemingly being stuck on the shaft. I'm sure it should just pull off? Then I thought I'd move on to taking the carby off, and such like, no go, the nuts are stuck and one of the rocker studs (that doesn't sound like the right term...) unfixed itself from where it should be fixed to. So I gave the stuck nuts a liberal spray of WD40 and gave up.

I think I'll keep the two-tone job on the oil tank, it gives the bike a bit of character. Just a spit and polish required, not that I would actually spit on it 'cos I'm a lady.

Two 20" wheels. The brake bits look a bit rusty, but at what stage of rust does one have to do something serious to sort it out?
Alright, alright, I'll get a new sprocket!

Mr P made a good point at club night this week, he suggested that finding 'affordable' tyres for the 20" wheels might be tricky - following the pointers from the guys on www.cubsite.com I've started getting prices - some horrendous, ie £77 for one tyre!!! And some not so bad, around the £45 mark. Still pricey tho, that's my whole budget for the bike ;-)

Ah, the easy bit. Hopefully. Wire brush, de-grease in the bath with the help of Mr Muscle, paint it up, away we go. Oh yes.

Pre-Xmas comp...and the WINNERS ARE...

Well, hang on, let's set the scene first....way back sometime, I posted a pic of a sign at Cubbie Towers and invited guesses as to what the last line might be. I boldly stated that there would be a prize for the right answer and a prize for the funniest.

The right answer is, of course......

I couldn't announce the winners and answer before, because this is the first time that the sign hasn't been completely covered in snow since the competition opened. No, really. All the names of those who guessed correctly are in a hat, the only thing is, I've lost the hat, so a winner will be announced when I can find it, and as for the winner of the funniest, it was a hard decision, but I left it to MRS BC and she whittled it down to....

BEWARE OF...
...eating chocolate on these premises and not offering a bit to GBC
From U N

...Snowploughs
Stu

...Pickpockets & Loose Women
BigBob

...of being aware?
ng

...Gorgeous Chocolate Eating Semi-Scottish women?
Darrell

...Mrs BC
The Big (but not very brave) Yin

But the one she couldn't stop laughing at....was.....drum roll please......
BEWARE OF Free Range Biker Chicks
Well done Stuart, some kind of mystery, if not invisible, prize will be on its way to you!

Thanks all for having a go, can't believe that attracted nearly 50 comments - must do it again some time!!