Seeing as how I'm logged on, I'll do a bit of an update on the workshop. It's ACTUALLY looking like a workshop now, mainly 'cos Paul (The Captain) has moved half his bike collection and all of 30 years worth of tools and odd nuts and bolts in. At the mo we have: 1957 Sunbeam, fix one thing, another breaks. 1984 BMW R100, Pauls resale project, dead for two years, he got it running in half an hour. 1952 Golden Flash (The Bastard), beautiful, but flawed, only two faults, but they work in shifts. 2007 GSXR1000, Ricks pride and joy, spent hours and much moolah getting it lovely, then chucked it down the road 10 mins after leaving workshop. 1979 FZ50, Pauls lovingly restored retro moped that he tries to sell to our burger delivery man Adam EVERY DAY, on account of Adams burger bar "Relish" is the same shitey orange and white colour scheme. Sadly, Adam is not allowed it, and must cycle his deliveries so as not to become a fat bastard like "those fat c**** at Quay Classics" according to his lovely wife. 1955 Triumph Thunderbird. Oh how I wish I'd thought it through when I decided to restore this to standard. a) You can get get 99.9% of parts, but you WILL pay through the nose for them, and the last .1% are unobtainium. b) I'm fucking sick of spraying everything polychromatic blue. 1956 Triumph Thunderbird. Yes another one, got to be standard as matching numbers, V5 present great reg etc etc. 1957 Tiger 110. Mwuuuuhhhhaaaaahaha...ha. Just got a bolt on hardtail for this, so this is DEFINITELY getting bobbed. At last I can post on Dirty Bobbers "SEE, I don't keep everything standard!". 1974 BMW R60/6. Loving this, pale blue, struts instead of rear frame, stripped down, tulip pipes, pullbacks. Just waiting for the MUPPETS at the engineering shop to drill out my busted fork stud and I can get on with it! 200? Dragstar, Pauls better half Emmas bike. She quite liked it as it was, quiet, sensible etc. Paul, not convinced, has fitted the loudest drag pipes in christendom on it, single seat, but is sure that she is "secretly chuffed". Oh really? Anyway thats the interesting bits. Next week we've got an outboard and a 1930's Bentley coming in, and hopefully two bikes that have just been dug up from the grounds of a local school, which are apparently 1920's......

Ok, so I've just got back from Paignton BikeFestival, which is a worthy kind of gig that supports local charities, is good PR for bikers, and generally opens up the biking scene to joe public in a way that the Teutels could only dream of. I was bored (and wet: massive downpour/no waterproofs/I mean it's summer isn't it?) quite literally a mile of bikes on Paignton promenade and maybe 10 that I even paused to look at. Just standard bikes of one form or another, or off the shelf customs. Good thing was I met up with Ian, Steve, Shaun & Kev, who I rode with when I was 16 (32 years ago!!!), still riding together. There must have been about 15 of us riding out from the Saddlers Arms in Lympstone then, Sundays up to Dartmoor (last one to Moretonhampstead was gay etc.) or down to Torbay, cruising the seafront at Torquay and looking for scooterists to annoy. Not to rumble, you understand, we just used to stick orange fur on our helmets, wear silly shades ride past and take the piss. They never really got it. Anyway, out of 15 thats 5 of us at least still out there. Others have gone to great highway in the sky, but are never forgotten. I was really cheered by that. So here's Shauns bike, and a generator powered Ariel.