Mission Accomplished..... Sar....!

following on from my "Autumnal Computing" post i though I'd post about my "First" manual mechanical surgery to my little 125 bike beast... now, in beast terms i refer to rats n mice as the 125 is far too meek to be anything bigger, but hey...

you know what, i get some pitiful looks from bigger motorcycles at the lights, and i do get a bit of "Pen!s envy" going on. the only bikes/bikers that give me a nod are the other learners, and they are the ones on scooters.

i am going to soldier on though, because i see this as my rite of passage to progress onto a bigger bike. I'll work through the looks at the lights, and the cold winter ahead, and the rain, sleet and cross winds... all whilst riding my lil' Honda.

At the moment in military terms i think i have moved from being "Private Foxtrot" through "Lance Corporal Foxtrot" to now being "Corporal Foxtrot". i say this because i have managed 2.5 months (10 weeks) biking from home to "Marble Arch". i have experienced

• West End Traffic
• City Traffic
• A13 Traffic
• Local Traffic
• Being pulled out upon whilst filtering
• Being almost side-swiped by a Merc or Park Lane
• Being accosted after tapping a wing mirror at Parliament
• Enduring Heavy downpours
• Travelled 2600 miles on the bike

Just some of the events i have had to endure in such a short space of time. so i believe the rank fits. What lies ahead are the following obstacles

• Dark mornings & evenings
• Bitter cold weather
• Wet/possibly icy weather
• impossibly more mileage

by next spring i may have risen through the ranks to "Warrant Officer Foxtrot". i will not reach any higher i do not think until i have undertake the decision to take my "module 1 & 2" and actually upgrade the bike...

anyhoo. with regard to the pending Autumnal equinox, i have actually purchased some heated grips. "R&G Racing Heated Grips". i looked at Oxford grips which are double the price nearly, but in the monthly rags, the R&G grips are recommended as best buy, so i ordered some. The reason i am told is that even if the weather temperature drops to freezing the grips help keep the fingers moving. i was nervous fitting them, as i had to remove my stock grips and wire in the new grips to the electrics.

i found a useful set of tips though from a blog by "CBF125Rider" who has already done this procedure, and has recommended a solution to wire in the live so that it is switched to the ignition, meaning that the grips will not draw power whilst the ignition is off.

i ruined my hand a little until i found that use a wooden plat and a mallet helps bash the grips onto the bars, rather than my palm. (Sorry Palm....).

The picture here shows that the negative is placed straight onto the battery

 

This Pictures hows how i attached the live, by adding it directly into the local fuse panel.

 

 

This picture shows the overview from front to back.

 

 

The new grips before being plugged in. 

 

 

 

i took the bike for a ride afterwards. to ensure that the a) the grips worked, b) the grips did not pull off and c) that the power did not totally disappear.

 

and to my utter surprise, they worked. Now i am ready for the bitch of winter to bring on the fun....:)

 

til next time..