Another year passes....

[steve hawkins]

Howdy Peeps,

Its been a while.  Just thought I would drop you all a line now that we are moving towards the end of winter and thoughts of Spring and Summer come to mind...

I am still mucking about with my Scimitar GTE, which although is in storage, I am able to do a few jobs on.  Currently I have the timing chest off the Ford Essex V6, to replace the timing gear as the original is prone to stripping the teeth and lunching the engine.  Whilst in this area I found I had water leak, so a new water pump is being fitted as well this weekend.

Like my old airhead/s the Scimitar is relatively simple compared to modern vehicles, which is part of the attraction.

My last airhead, the R100 is still in the conservatory, much to the wife's annoyance.  But it has an issue with the front wheel, in that when the brakes are put on there is a discernible wobble/pulsing.  Its not the discs as they are new EBC's.  I might be the wheel bearings or a general looseness of the larger airhead front fork set-up, which I have never really come to terms with.  The yoke setup being far more sturdy on the R65.  I need to look into this before presenting it for an MOT. 

As most of you have noted, the Airheads have now become very popular with the 'Hipsters' so that the prices have risen across the board - same as all steel framed, air-cooled motorbikes.  This is fine whilst we still own our P&Js but is problematic when trying to find a new bike...

A similar thing is starting to happen to Scimitars, as people are priced out of the usual suspects in the classic car world, they start casting around for alternatives.  Scimitars have always been very cheap, but now the prices are creeping up for the best cars....Soon we will have 'chancers' asking stupid money for incomplete cars that have spent a decade or more in a farmers field.

My Scimitar is a 'rolling restoration' and will take years to get up together, but I will enjoy it in the meantime.

I have also promised myself to be back on two wheel by the end of March and at some point, early in the year I am going to look at the R100 and get it back on the road.

My son has passed his motorcycle test and he is currently riding my old Honda Bros 400.  Hopefully we will get a few rides in during the year.

Hope you are all well.

Steve

[Lucky_Lou]

....Soon we will have 'chancers' asking stupid money for incomplete cars that have spent a decade or more in a farmers field.
Steve

I was at BCA Brighouse the other day when a rather "Ropey"2012 Ford Focus RS went for £23K yes I will say it again 23K.........internet bidder who obviously could not hear the squeals and groans coming from an abused engine.
Lou 

[steve hawkins]

Old Fords seem to be in a world of their own.  Old 1970's Escorts/Cortina's and Capri's seem to be commanding ridiculous money.  I find it odd as they were so basic, mostly 4 speed manuals, iron 4 pot pushrod motors, cart spring suspension, live axles and drum brakes.  A decade earlier Alfa Romeo were producing similar cars, with alloy twin cam motors, 5 speed gearboxes, fully independent suspension, disc brakes all round.  I know where my money would have gone (if I had enough of it)

Steve

[clonmore1]

Nice to hear of progress Steve, the Scimitar with the Essex engine is a fine car.

Prices as Lou and yourself explain are indeed on the up, about 10 yrs ago I wanted a 1980's 911, found a really nice 88 convertible in white, lovely condition, missed it by just 1 hour! That car was £16k in 2006, a friend of mine who buys/sells modern classic cars rang me the other day to tell me that exact car had just been sold for £35k!

[marcmax]

Steve you ought to consider shipping your Scimitar to the States for sale.  I have never caught the American bug for V8-muscle cars and have owned at various times a Saab 93 (2 stroke - 3 cylinder), Datsun 1600 Roadster (complete with porthole hardtop), Citroen Mehari and 2 Saab Sonnet's. I had not heard of a Reliant Scimitar as they were never available in the States. I checked and one of the few that are here just sold for $49k US

p.s. I love the look of it. Very attractive car, reminiscent of the Volvo P1800ES

[Tony Smith]

Steve


Good to hear from you. Every time I think of you and your SE5a I think leather headgear, handlebar mustache and a flowing scarf. Sorry, I am aware I have serious problems.
 
Anyway, I wanted to ask how your Honda with half a Jazz engine is going? They aren't sold in this country but a recent import to these shores brought one with her and now wishes to sell and buy something bigger.  Needless to say, none of the local motorcycle shops are interested in taking it as a trade at more than a pittance.

I'm not prepared to offer much more, but I am prepared to offer a bit more than the stealership for the KTM she wants.

Personally after my brother's experience with a KTM 1200 I am of the opinion that Kato owners should never actually fill their fuel tank as it represents a gross over capitalization in that the fuel will probably last longer than the engine.

I should mention that my younger brother is a total motorcycling tragic - a Chaplin in what passes for a Navy in Australia he is around number 50 in the Australian chapter of the far-riders, i.e. he does SERIOUS miles each year. After FJ1200s, Triumph Tigers etc with the KTM he finds himself back where he was 35 years ago when he was the less than proud owner of a Ducati 860GT (which looked great, mainly because it never ran long enough to allow the sun to fade the paint).


But I digress, the lady wants and the lady, on the basis of my acquaintance with her, will buy - she is very determined. Which means I may be able to acquire her Honda for an embarrassingly small fraction of what it is worth. It has 110,000 miles on it (she rode it a significant portion of the way to Australia) and it looks like it has been well used, she says that it has been serviced "by the book", albeit by herself.

So my question to you is how is yours going, are the miles on this one really likely to be a problem?


Last question, and this one really should have been in an IM - how did you go reverting your Nexus 7  tablet to an earlier version of Android? Mine has been locked at ver.4 since I reverted it, but I am feeling adventurous and am goign to try and install the Cyrogen Mod version of Android 6 on it this weekend.

[steve hawkins]

Sorry for the long delay in responding Tony.  As far as my Honda is concerned:

1.  I am averaging 78mpg at legal speeds, 80 is achievable by just slowing down a bit.  Drag is your enemy - sit at 60mph or just below and you easily have 200+ mile range.

2. For a commuter bike, its not quite sensible enough - for British roads, riding in all weathers - And I mean rain protection - short mudguards, exposed chain, etc, mean that fender extenders and huggers are selling like hot cakes.  You can even buy a chain cover.  Its what you get for marketing a bike for the whole world and not for local conditions.

3.  The saddle is not as comfortable as it might be for long distance.  You get used to it (or the saddle softens?), but it is a bugbear for those 'occasional riders'.

4.  Mine is a manual, the day I consider an automatic - with all its complexities, I will also be sat in a wheel chair with a pint of piss strapped to my leg.

5.  Very easy to ride, with engine characteristics much like an airhead - in that you have loads of low down torque, but a limited rev range and a rev limiter that's like hitting a brick wall.

As far as the Nexus 7 is concerned, I never got round to dropping it back to the earlier Android release, as my wife bought me a new larger version for my Birthday - bless her - I did not even ask.  So my 7 is languishing in a draw somewhere.

Cheers

Rev Light