I can't believe it.. I have had criticism. me!

Our friend Dovey (the one with the busted leg with clearly too much time on his good hand) was on the phone saying I have not given enough information about “The Shed” and its specification in my Blog. I thought I had bored you all to death with it. So for people who are not that interested in all the technical details of “The Shed” please don’t read on ……….

Right that just leaves Dovey then…….

Ok “The Shed” was bought as a bog standard 1996 BMW R1100GS in red. It was purchased from the north east of England it had three previous owners 34,000 miles on the clock (not accurate, me thinks) and a bunch of bills and history with it. I got it cheep ish stuck it on a trailer and drove it back home some 300miles to the south of England.

It was ok I guess, but things started to wrong, before, during and after our ride to Morocco a 2800 mile round trip. Don’t get me wrong the bike kept going but it was in need of some serious TLC.

Symptoms

Clutch slipping like a very slippy thing

Front brake spongy and what can only be described as the Grand Canyon carved into its front disc

Rear brake non existent (disc in a similar condition to the front)

Throttle bodies worn to such an extent that there made metal on metal clicking noises all the time.

Final drive ….. Well dead

Leaking oil from front forks

Rear swing arm wobbly

What I have done to date to make it work

Clutch change

Throttle bodies overhaul

Final drive replaced

New brake pads and disc front and back

New alternator belt

New front forks seal

New rear swing arm bearings

New throttle cables fitted

Additional stuff to make it work better

Braided brake hoses all round

Strengthen rear sub frame

Strengthen gearbox to sub frame mounting points

Modified handlebars to take additional equipment such as sat nav etc

Replaced 20lt standard fuel tank with 31lt tank

Removed old plastic panniers and fitted alloy box panniers

Duel seat (very uncomfortable) removed and replaced with new single seat

Intercom fitted

Sat nav fitted (Garmin Zumo)

Two spot lights

I have also ran extra throttle and clutch cables next to the existing ones should any cable fail.

Right that’s enough of all that….

Next week I will be explaining how arable farming in the late 18^th century was under threat through ill conceived government legislation…….. Riveting

Get well soon mate