Removing the cover
Rick laments lapsing into an accidental lack of insurance, but is cheered by a mate’s finished project
BEING A RIDER himself, my dad had a fairly relaxed view of legal dos and don’ts when I started motorcycling – but he had two iron rules: don’t drink and don’t ride without insurance. Speeding fines and fixed penalties were one thing, falling foul of those two would haunt you forever.
I’ve adhered to his advice ever since, so imagine how I felt receiving a week-late letter from my insurer saying they’d cancelled my insurance. In the same delivery was another letter, dated two weeks previously, saying the policy renewal had failed and could I call them. I don’t do online banking, so I had no idea the payment hadn’t been taken. Besides, having had a problem before,
Rick Parkington has been riding and fixing classic bikes for decades. He lives and fettles in a fully tooled up shed in his back garden.
I checked the Motor Insurance Database soon after the renewal date and it said I was covered. But it now turns out that was the day after the policy had been cancelled.
The insurance company cannot be blamed for postal delays – but they have my email and phone numbers, so why depend on the post, whose deliveries, due to the pandemic, have understandably become very unpredictable? For eight days I could have been out riding with no insurance and subject to the full wrath of the law... and my dad!
I only went for ‘auto renew’ because I thought it would help at a difficult staffing time – in future, believe me, I’ll be using the phone.
But I was cheered by an unfamiliar exhaust note outside – it was Will Coleman who has just got his project Triumph Tiger 100 (see March issue of CB) on the road. He’s built it as a tribute to the American desert racers of the mid-1960s and it looks great! I grabbed a quick ride myself (having sorted my insurance) and it rides really nicely; congratulations Will!
‘FOR EIGHT DAYS I COULD HAVE BEEN OUT RIDING WITH NO INSURANCE’
1
Make or find pressing dies. I use old bearings (tough, rounded edges). You need an outer the size of the cup and an inner slack enough to leave room for the cup material. 2
Cut and grease a thin steel disc, place it between the dies and press one through the other in a vice or press. Don’t use too much force – you don’t want a shattered bearing!