- 8,843
- Ottawa
- Automotive_Buff
To Mike đź‘Ť
To Mike đź‘Ť
All I want to do is just drive, drive, and drive next to and through the mountains.If you told me at the start of my 5yr stint away for uni that by the end of it, I would be called back by a car journo to spend a day with some of the most insane scenery and driving roads to shoot an Audi S1, I would tell you you're dreaming.
Chuffing magic day, really. Although I got so wet in the process it's actually untrue....
What happened?Just had an awesome few days at the NĂĽrburgring, which was great....
... Then wrote off my car on the way home. Bugger.
What happened?
Bought my 2nd motorcycle a couple months ago. I bought it 2nd hand and I am really stoked to have it. I have the Yamaha for speed but wanted something that could eat miles for breakfast so I bought a Harley for the long haul trips. Well, excited, as anyone would be, I rode it to work. At some point during the day someone backed into it (of course they did, why should you be able to buy anything nice without someone else almost immediately damaging it). They didn't seem to do much harm, actually, or so I thought. I was riding home when the front brake slowly started to fade away. I looked down to see brake fluid all over the front end of the bike - the front forks, the wheels, everywhere. Turns out the hit tweaked the brake line just enough to crack it. Well, on this bike the wheels and front forks are (were) brushed aluminum with a soft/pale gold paint/clear over. The brake fluid ate through the paint and stained the aluminum. So in order to save what I can I've been polishing my ass off all night with the aluminum polish. The plus side is the aluminum is polishing out to a mirror finish (which for a Harley looks appropriate). The downside is I really liked the wheels and forks in the soft brushed/gold finish. So I'm really peeved about the entire situation. I might re-brush the forks, but I certainly can't paint them like the factory had. I doubt my abilities to brush the wheels without a serious machine, so they are what they are. I don't know who hit it either...
Thanks man. Yeah, I hear that, definitely. Especially on the roads people seem to be 50/50 - they either automatically hate you so much that they wouldn't care at all if they "accidentally" ran you off the road, or respect you enough to give you your own little bubble in traffic. Most however seem to be more cautious in parking lots, for whatever reason. Although I have had people (strangers) sit on my bike without permission, put candy wrappers in my saddle bags, touch it while walking by, all sorts of things that just aren't normally done with cars.That sucks to hear, but it happens so often. I'm always really paranoid when parking my bike anywhere, as it's a bit more vulnerable than a car, and you get people who hate motorbikes just because someone went lane splitting past them at some point (even in countries where it's legal).
Pulling out at a junction with no visibility, got hit by a chap in a 420d, it was however my fault, which I'm ashamed to admit, since it transpires I'd pulled out through a no entry sign, and he had no chance of stopping. The fact it was in France was a substantial inconvenience.
ouch, I still miss my first car
mine was sadly a tree's fault