Bye bye Cubbie.

Sniff. Sob. Took Cubbie to Jim's place yesterday. Sniff. Still, its in good hands and good company. There is a rather nice 1935 (?) 500cc Rudge in one corner, which Jimbo fired up, glorious, what a sound. Over the other side of the garage are two big Triumphs. A Thunderbird I think (although I might be completely wrong) and er, A N Other one. On the end wall, above the bench are all the tools the man will need to fix Cubbie. For example, there is a hammer, a bigger hammer and...a....ok ok I'm only kidding, that is what I have in my toolkit but I think Jim is a little more sophisticated. He seems quite confident that he will soon get to the bottom of all this, so I wish him luck, and pray that he doesn't go down with the bug that most of his family seem to have caught.

Oh, the man made me a spare key too, mucho thankos, and he didn't half chuckle when I told him how I'd lost mine on the morning of the BBC filming that we did at the end of the summer! Check out the key fob he put on it too....

Had lunch with the Bin Yin before unloading Cubbie. What a star, even let me have sticky toffee pudding and ice cream. Guess thats my xmas pressie then.... Was supposed to go to B&Q to purchase a new hot water tank for Victor My Plumber chum to fit when he returns from off shore...but...um...didn't so much forget...as didn't get aound to it...still...he's not due home for a week or so yet.

PS Happy St Andrews day.

Oh me, oh my.

Ok, so it wasn't that traumatic on the grand scale of things. But you know the worst of it is, I can't tell you about it, 'cos I'm too blimmin' embarrassed. Apart from that, yesterday was a reasonably good day, 'cos I rescued a buzzard. Well, I couldn't just leave him sitting on the road side, could I? The rest of the population seemed happy enough to do just that, whizzing right by him as he sat, dazed, just on the white line on the edge. So I screeched to a halt, not bad going in the van, parked up opposite in a convenient driveway and crossed over to the poor chap. I thought he would be aggressive towards me, especially if he was injured, so I tried to shuffle him off the road with my foot but he wouldn't shift. So in the end, I had to pick him up and carry him into the field. It was ploughed. I had my bestest work clothes on. I didn't care. He weighed practically nothing, sat him down in the sun beside what remained of a stone wall, tried to shoooo him away but he wouldn't go. Got my camera out of the van, took a few pics for the record, and all of a sudden he took flight and perched way up high in a tree. It then became obvious why he was keeping to ground. Another buzzard, a huge beast of a chap, began to bomb him and beat him from the trees. Seems like the wee one was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just as I thought I was, as another car stopped and a guy approached across the mud. Thought I was about to be arrested for getting my work shoes muddy, but the chap said he'd seen me trying to get run over and doubled back to help with the buzzard. Sorry for writing all over the pics but I don't want any bad people helping themselves to my photos - I know none of you lot would do it but just in case others pop in looking for pics to nick. Tis a story I've heard from others with websites where their brilliant pictures get downloaded and then sold by someone who gets all the credit. You can never be too careful!!

So in other news....Cubbie is going away today. Not to the skip, as some have suggested, but to a Lecterical Guru (no pressure Jim!). I really should nip out and give the bike a bit of a clean for the man....Y'all have a nice day, and thanks for the comments. All better now, thanks thanks thanks.

Snow, snow, glorious snow.

Had quite a lot of snow on Friday, which made my journey home from work at 21:30 quite interesting...a couple of slippy moments...sliding towards the fence...spin the wheel round the opposite way and weeeeeeee....sliding towards the other fence! Still, it gets the old heart pumping. Sat'day morning had to dig my way out to get to work, not a gritter or plough to be seen and the roads were atrocious. Wondered if I'd have to walk the last mile home, its all up hill ya see, but I made it - its all down to the skill of the driver. So the boss at Old Bike Mart had said a few days ago, that if it snows, he wanted a pic of Cubbie out in it. Yes Sir, no problemo. Up early-ish today (Sunday) and out in the snow. Gotta be a few inches deep but threatening to thaw as a light misty rain fell. Small matter of putting the headlight, battery box and seat back on Cubbie before any pics could be taken. Freezing fingers, brrrrrrr, no worries about it thawing just yet. Got it all back together...shovelled the snow from the door....wheeled Cubbie out....gave it a good tickle...kick...kick...hmmm....tickle....KICK....lift off! Warmed it up, climbed aboard, big clunk into first gear, off we go...er, well, actually we don't. Way too deep to ride in, couldn't even get to the top of the drive, had to push the blimmin' thing. Ah well, at least the boss will have some snowy pics.

Spent the rest of the day tidying. Yup. Always seem to end up with piles of paperwork and old envelopes that I don't want to throw away a the time...but then come day of the mass clear out, they all get chucked, so I spose I might as well have binned them in the first place. Exciting stuff eh. We had planned to move the sheep around to their winter locations but tis too snowy for all that.

Think I forgot to report on the Scottish Vintage Vehicle AGM I went to the other weekend. Shudda seen Shorty's face when I arrived at his house an hour early. Well, was either that or be late, and with his strict time management policy I didn't feel I should risk that one. The meeting went well, until I was about to ask a question, then all the lights went out. You think I'm kidding? Haha, well I'm not, honest. No, really, you can ask Shorty. The good news is our club events don't clash with any others, so you lot have no excuses for not coming to the Large Lunch in April, the Cairn O Mount in May, the Plus 1 in August and the Haggis Run in October. Good good, see you there.

Now, can you overseas guys do me a wee favour? I would kinda like to see some pics of the winter weather where you are. In fact, you don't have to be overseas, anyone who feels like it can send me a piccy, doesn't even have to have snow in it. Use the Cubbies Counties addy over to the left there <<<<<<<<<<<<< Go on, I've shown you mine so now its your turn. Time for roast chicken. Over n oot.

A Friday Funny For You.

And no, thats not my phone number.

The earth (wire) is a moving.

Well chaps, looks as though I might be on to something here...got to go and fit a new earth wire from the headlight and there may be a problem with the bulb....be right back....

Er, ok, sorry, back now, got a bit lost between here and the steading...One of the things I had to do was fit a new earth wire from the light. The present one is hooked up to the handlebar clamp, so the new one now goes to the same place as the earth from the battery. I took the whole headlight unit to Jim and he connected it to this bike, a very nice silver Triumph. The good news is it works fine on his bike, so it follows that the bad news is there's nothing wrong with the bulb or bulb holder. Now while all this seems to be a huge problem and some of you are starting to think I should just spend a heap of money and get everything renewed, it's just one little hitch with a 40 year old motorcycle. I ain't getting stroppy or owt but I have to defend Cubbie! Yes, I do get a bit grumpy thinking about it, but then I look back at the photos of our achievements so far, and d'you know what, it is simply amazing. Well, tis to me. When you consider that it is pretty much unrestored and cared for by a complete mechanical novice, then getting it to the most northerly point in the UK and the highest church in the UK and the highest village in Scotland and around the Isle of Sky, not to mention a week tackling every hill in Yorkshire and the most southerly counties in Scotland is quite good going. There. Do I have to shout anymore? Sorry, but when people pick on Cubbie it annoys me, and when I get annoyed...oh boy....you don't wanna see that! Hehehe. So who was it who left that comment....

A new CC total!!

So there I was, at the last Grampian Classic MCC meeting, asking all the guys for hints and tips on how to fix Cubbie. Several of them offered to help, if I was really really stuck, and one of those kind chaps is called Jim. He's been feeding me snippets of information for the last couple of weeks, try this, try that, check here and there. Combine that with the advice from other Cub owners, Bantam Cub for one, and another guy called Jim, and my electrical guru, Norm, you'd think I would have been able to track the problem down by now. On Thursday, after looking inside the nacelle and checking the wires in the dip switch, I gave up. Not in a 'giving up' kind of way, just in a 'let's be sensible' kind of way. Club member Jim has drawn the short straw and Cubbie will be transported to his place next week for a full electrical check up. I feel really bad about that. But I'll be right there, by Cubbie's side, looking and learning. We'll get through this together. Jim reckons that he will soon have me back out on the roads, in the freezing cold, dark, wet and wintry weather. Oh, er, take your time there Jimbo! Having said all that, there is one more thing I need to try, so I'll do that Monday before I go to work. Which is where I was today, thought you'd like a couple of pics of where I went - Cullen, Portknockie and Findochty, right along the north east coast. Bit of a breeze a blowing, and no' a nice day for a picnic.

Soooooo on to the new Cubbies Counties total!! I have to say a very big BIG thank you to the Stirling Castle section of the Vintage Motorcycle club for sending me a very generous donation - thanks guys and girls, that boosts the total to £1539.30. I'm thinking that next time I have a daft idea of raising money for charity, I should just shave my beard off and wax my legs. People seem to raise £2000 in no time at all for doing stuff like that. Wimps. Pah. Rumour has it, the editor of Classic Dirt Bike (which featured my Bultaco a couple of issues ago), met someone called Charlie Boorman at the dirt bike show down south just recently. Wonder if he managed to get him to sponsor me, hehe. Well, as if by magic, I did acquire some more cash today, not from Mr B, but never mind. That takes the total up to 1579.30 now.

Off to the Scottish Vintage Vehicle Federation AGM tomorrow, up early and then the pleasure of Shorty's company when he gives me a lift to Perth. what a sweetie. Don't tell him I said that though. Life seems to be full of meetings lately, was at the UCAN charity meeting last week, sometime in early Dec I have to go to Perth for a refresher briefing in something. No idea what, perhaps someone can refresh my memory on that one. Then, deep joy, I have to trek all the way down to Glasgow for another refreshing meeting about the training course I attended in London a short while ago. I think it's Christmas after that....

Right, thankee kindly for reading, off to look for Shortie's books to take back to him....

Cubbie broke down 'cos of 2 sheep.

Feel a bit bad about the last few posts. Nothing but whinging about broken this, broken thats and broken others. So we'll have a proper post this time. Although, thats not to say that all the broken things are mended, but the van does have brakes again, and a complete exhaust system (car doesn't yet though...). So yesterday, out to the steading, wakey wakey Cubbie, tools out and multimeter ready to go. Head full of ideas about trying this and that, looking here and there for the problem. First job was to put a new connector on the two wires I accidentally pulled from the coil last time I was a-fiddling with it. Old set up was the two wires on one thing, but I couldn't squeeze them both into the new thing, then I realised that the thing (an O connector) was too small for the bit on the coil. No problem, in an inventive "can't stop me now" mood, so back indoors to the workshop. Pillar drill in the corner, found a drill bit the right size, grasped the O connector in a pair of grips and off we went. Easy. Managed to mangle the first one whilst aiming for perfection, so the second one ain't perfect, but it is in one piece. So thats all sorted. Next up, sort that birds nest of wires out, look at the pic, you'd never even know GBC had been near it in the first place. Part 3 of the mornings work, go over the connections on the 3 wires from the alternator thingy. Not very happy with one of them, seemed a bit slack, maybe slack enough to have caused the last breakdown. Can't solve one problem if I keep creating other problems, so out with the knife, chopped some wires about and fitted new spade connectors. Oh, must have been at this point I had to get the washing in. Then back out. Then more rain but tough, its staying out this time. Nearly ready to take a test run. Ooooh, exciting eh. Wanted to check the dip switch on the instructions of Jim, but couldn't get the screw undone so applied WD40. Couldn't be bothered to fit the battery box again, such a fiddle, so sort of cable tied it to the frame in a plastic bag.... Came in to get togged up, message from BC about another fix I could try, which would determine if it is an alternator problem or the ignition / light switch. Too late to try it though, off to work in an hour. DO that one next time! Pleased to say Cubbie fired up, off we went, running with lights off for the time being. Pop pop, bang, ooooooh ain't it just great. Every Cubbie mile equals 10 smiles. Anyway, set off on my test route, probably about 5 miles in total. Running fine without lights, ammeter just flickering about the +/- border, then flicked the lights on, uh oh, ping, right over to minus 12 (well its obviously not an original meter). Left them on for a bit, then the misfire, then the loss of power, all in the space of a couple of mins. Lights off pronto, ran fine. Got to within a mile from home, two sheep jumped out from a hedge, slowed down, rolled off the throttle....died. Great. Snicked it in to second, paddled a bit, let the clutch out, cough cough, died again. Awwwwwwwww. Blimmin' sheeps. There they go, trotting off down the lane, quite happy and unconcerned. Theres me, stuck in a muddy lay by, with 15 mins left to get home and changed and ready for work. Still, thank the God of Cubs for emergency ignition. It got us home but thats not exactly how I envisaged the test run was going to end, when it was all going soooo well. So today, hopefully, I'll try looking in the dip switch for a short (a short what?) and I'll try that idea from BC. Gawd, I just love messing about with green wires.

Other news, still receiving enquiries about sponsorship of Cubbies Counties, thats absolutely great, might make it to the big £2000 yet!

Went to a committee meeting last night after work, hence being home too late to update blog. Somehow have got myself involved with helping to organise the classic bike part of the Alford Convention next year. 2 bags of mini cheddars for tea. Yum. All very interesting stuff, but the rest of the meeting was about the off road events the club hold - didn't have a clue what they were talking about - should maybe brush up on the subtle differences between moto something, superX, hares and dogs, enduro, red routes, blues and greens. Made me want to get the Bultaco running again and do some messing about off road. One day, I might even do another trial. Last one (and the first one) I did was in 2006, the Spring Surprise in Caerphilly, one of those long distance jobbies. Heck, that sure was a surprise, still suffering I think.

Any other news? Oh yes, got something to tell you, but my fingers are cold and its gone 10am and I really need to be outside doing stuff while the rain holds off. Got to put the wheels on the livestock trailer and wave my multimeter at Cubbie again. Breakfast first though, me thinks.

Official Vote of Thanks -
Thanks to all who keep helping me with Cubbie, can't be easy putting up with my silly questions!