FROM THE FRONT
We’ve tried something rather different this issue. Yes indeed, we’ve altered the magazine’s usual format to include a lot more spannering stories. Is this some kind of editorial insanity? A rush of blood to the brain caused by too much excitement? No. Well, not entirely.
Speaking personally, this has been one of the most wintry winters I can recall. Not simply a question of temperatures, either, more that unusual dilemma of having too much time on our hands, time which would more usually be entirely filled by travelling, at home and abroad, by wheels in any combination and by other methods less relevant to this magazine. Lots of us have taken advantage of this unexpected free-time bonus to do many things – far too many to list! – and in our household while Rowena has instituted major reconstructions of our environment, I have been able to make a serious assault on several of The Shed dwellers.
That sounds great, doesn’t it? Makes me sound like I’ve been hiding away in The Shed, muttering curses and flinging spanners, which of course I have, although what has surprised me is that despite this much vaunted free time, in fact I have failed to bring order to the chaos and any sort of decent deep cleaning – either of The Shed itself or the bikes within it. Remarkable. I am plainly even more disorganised than I already knew.
Others – RC others – are plainly made of sterner stuff than I, and have been setting to with a will and with spanners, hammers, brushes and mysterious things to tackle tasks which may otherwise never actually have been accomplished.
Had you, for example, ever considered making your own panniers to fit your bike? I mean actually making them, not modifying an existing set. Read on, and learn how.
And there’s loads more to come! Slightly marvellously, RC readers have not only flung their spanners, but they’ve also applied finger to keyboard and written about their complete successes, less-than total successes, problems and solutions, in several unusual ways. So we decided to devote rather more pages than usual to inspire the rest of us to tackle tasks and … occasionally at least … to succeed in sorting stuff. That’s the theory, anyway.
Meanwhile, print deadlines and stuff being what they are, by the time you’re reading this, there may finally be some light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s hope so, otherwise I may be compelled to start clearing the rubbish out of The Shed and even – if things get seriously extended – I may actually be forced to introduce some kind of sane and even sensible storage system. I’m reluctant to do this. And it’s not just laziness, not totally.
I wrote about my irritation at discovering how bent is the centrestand on my recently acquired AJS Model 16, and lamented the fact that there are none anywhere in the whole world. Of course, the day after that issue headed off for the delicate attentions of the printer I found exactly that spare centrestand, while looking for a Burman gearbox part to send to a friend who thinks he needs one. Maybe The Shed does need to get organised. OK. I’d rather be riding, but the secret is to make use of any and all free time that appears, no?
Or maybe I’ll buy another bike instead…
Ride safely