In Balance

The fast pace of life in the magazine world.

Chopping and changing as things develop at a fast pace.

❝Often there is little rhyme or reason as to why what you did easily yesterday and will likely do equally simply tomorrow, is, for today, akin to changing a tyre with teaspoons .... ❞

Writing a column for your magazine is like any other task – sometimes it goes easily and sometimes not so. We all have those days when whatever we do goes so simply and so fast that it impresses even us, then there’s the flip side of that… Often there is little rhyme or reason as to why what you did easily yesterday and will likely do equally simply tomorrow, is, for today, akin to changing a tyre with teaspoons.

I had prepped a list of what I was considering writing about, then, in the space of 24 hours it all went out of the window… for the best of reasons actually.

The pre-planned list was thrown into the scrap bin as the easing of restrictions, imposed to deal with the pandemic, allowed the first trial for a long time up here in the north east – my own club’s Baa Classic at Edmundbyers – to take place.

It was great to get out on a bike again, especially as the lap was a decent 11-mile one. I’d also hoped to touch on the wearing of pandemic face masks and the notices in shops and petrol station requesting motorcyclists to remove full face crash helmets so their faces can be seen… so let’s see, helmet off outside, face mask on? Hmmm. Nor am I keen on the wearing of face masks while in shops and I suspect anyone else who has been held up at shotgun point by mask-wearing scum will be equally uncomfortable with the idea too.

But no, this all went out of the window when I was invited along to see John Fleming’s 380 CZ which we’ve featured in this issue… oh, you’ve seen it already…

Like most of us in this scene I do my own maintenance and have done so for years as it was deemed important by a parent who realised in a longer trial if things went wrong I may not be near him for ‘advice’ or probably more correctly, an acidly delivered comment “well, you should have prepped it better in the workshop.”

I do freely admit to being a ‘follow the manual’ kind of mechanic, as my formal training is in a different industry and unless someone who does know what they’re doing suggested a better way I always reckoned the manufacturer’s handbook would be best.

This is why I’m in awe when presented with superbly built machines obviously created by people who know what they’re doing. Equally when such engineers are describing their work they tend to feel everyone could do what they do, or perhaps more correctly can’t see why everyone can’t do what they do. Where they describe the fabrication of complex parts in steel tube, or the creation of castings in exotica as if it’s a simple job “oh, aye, you just…” I think of the small bracket I produced to hold the mudguard to the frame tube on the Triumph project in my workshop and how proud I was it lined up after an hour’s work.

Equally when hearing of the work completed inside the engine I marvelled at the thought process needed to come up with the ideas in the first place, never mind the engineering skills needed to carry them out.

In the same way, while I do have some machine tools in my workshop they are not fancy as I know I’d not be able to use anything too complex to its best ability, anyway the idea is to ride bikes rather than teach myself engineering so my basic tools work well for me. Anything more complicated I pick the phone up and call those who can…okay sometimes my call is directed to an answer message along the lines of “we’re out, we’ve moved and not left a forwarding address” but I’m sure they’re joking.

One thing which does transfer from my old trade to my amateur mechanics is tool care and buying the best tools you can for the job. Sometimes though there isn’t a tool to do what you need to do and one has to be created, or something modified. There is a fine line though between tool abuse and tool altering and chucking spanners in a big box where they clatter around and ding into each other isn’t the best way to store them, especially when auto diy stores stock tool box organisers or walls of sheds can have boards fixed to them and tools laid out in place.

However that said, no matter how well organised my tools are or what board is used I’d still not be able to produce the quality of workmanship on this aweinspiring CZ but at least my tools would be nicely presented.