Interests.

Violence. Often the only way.

Having been to the pub, I did eventually turn my attention back to cleaning the Z250 engine. Though, it seemed prudent to remove the remains of the rubber engine mounts prior to investing too much effort in cleaning the engine. The mountings are essentially bits of rubber hose with an inner sleeve at either side of the engine and have a spacer tube between the inner sleeves. Drilling out some of the rubber was a step in the direction of progress, and the journey was completed by the scientific application of "Ingrid", my pet hammer. As you can see, it was just a little rusty in there...

There are whistles that aren't as clean

 Having conclusively proved that the corroded remains of the rear engine mounts weren't necessarily a permanent feature of the engine, then there seemed to be little else to do but to clean it. A can and a half of aerosol engine de-greaser eventually saw most of the grime, grease, and gooeyiness rinsed off, and then it was down to an application of paint stripper to remove the horribly mutilated factory black finish.

You're in the frame for this one...

The Trumpety Springless frame has occupied a little of the intervening time, but vis-a-vis the frame, that's job done now. As I mentioned earlier there may be some minor pedantry involving fitting the twin leading shoe Triumph brake into the Suzuki forks. Though, thinking about it, to call it minor pedantry may be to understate the case some what. We shall see...

Mounted from the rear....

I've been unhappy with the appearance of my welding ever since I got back to it after my accident in 2002. I made a conscious effort not to weld the Triumph frame in a deeply fatigued stupor, and I think it all looks a lot better for it, though sadly it just adds more time to the already extended process. It all drags on for far too long which makes it less than viable as a commercial venture these days.

A little young, but....

In a similar vein, I came to the conclusion that I was never going to have the energy to get my Softail sorted out, and so I sold it  and bought myself a Sportster. It's a 2004 883 of some description, and it now runs, has an MOT, and is taxed and insured. To celebrate, I went out and bought myself a leather jacket, my first since the last one was cut off of me. That's a "vintage", or "second hand" leather jacket, as I'm probably of an age where a recent Harley and a new leather jacket makes you look like you're having a mid-life crisis.