I thought it looked a bit odd...

... the toolbox had been fitted upside down. I know why, because with it the right way up, the silencer wouldn't allow the lid to open beyond a couple of inches - not a lot of use when getting a tool roll in and out.

The cure was to heat up the silencer and beat the top of it down - not pretty, but effective. And whilst I had the torch out, I adjusted the handlebars so that the ends come further rearwards making the seating position more relaxed.

As I suspected, the fork bushes were completely worn out. A trip to Draganfly Motorcycles turned up new ones. Luckily, I had a 1" hand reamer to finish them before fitting. Ideally, the sliding portion of the forks would benefit from rechroming, but I'm not going to be doing any long-distance foreign touring, and with the state of British roads, I wouldn't notice any inconsistency in their operation anyway.

Getting them back together again - having forgotten the disassembly sequence, was not without its moments. Searching the workshop floor for escaped ball bearings became irksome the third time. The single saddle will be an improvement both in aesthetics and rider comfort.

Removing the rack and dual seat left brackets to accommodate rear indicators...

,,, the front pair being mounted on the headlamp fixings.

With some unusual wire coding, I'm going to have to be careful not to cause problems. I may consult Awkward before hooking it all up.

Following the auction, one of the unsold cars from The Great Collector's stable was this Armstrong-Siddeley Hurricane.

Counsel and I spent a good three hours cleaning and polishing inside and out in readiness for a potential buyer arriving the following day. Of course, he didn't turn up and not a word since. He's missed out - it's a really nice example.

In other news, over-fuelling problems with a Walter Mikron engine continued to baffle us, although narrowing down the potential causes has seen the priming system overhauled, plugs renewed, carb ultrasonically cleaned and new gaskets fitted. A closer look at the choke system revealed a disintegrated rubber seal, which would have allowed unmetered fuel straight into the venturi. Aha!