Apologies in advance for my inability to cut a long story short .
Went over to Fowler's yesterday for a Cuppa T and a mooch around . It was nice weather when I left but got caught in some serious moisture on the way back along the M4 and the bike died . Clearly that amount of water and the bellmouth intake I fitted to the airbox aren't compatible , I got caught out with the same issue with Burbler and Co in the Brecons last year and sadly didn't learn my lesson
Managed to get it going enough to start it and coughed and spluttered my way to the nearest flyover where I sat underneath a bridge on the hard shoulder for about half an hour in heavy rain , with trucks flying by and giving me a nice fine pressure washing . I was soaked to the skin , the bike was bloody filthy , not working and it was getting dark in about an hour so was a tad narked ( mostly at my own idiocy). I took the filter out , gave it a good shake and a wipe off , put it back together and managed to limp into Leigh Delamare . At least I was off the road .
While I was there on my knees , in a wet car park , in the rain , buggering about with the filter , the bike not starting at all , and contemplating my next move , two guys in bike gear came over and chose to stand out in the rain with me . We exchanged pleasantries and a bit of lighthearted banter while I put the old girl back together . In the meantime the rain had eased off a bit so I rode it round the car park a couple of times , still a bit spluttery but decided to chance it and these two fellas said they would follow me back in case it died again . I almost got to the end of the sliproad on to the M4 and it went again , there was a lot of standing water being thrown by the back wheel straight into the side of the airbox .
One of the guys then offered to ride me back to Swindon to pick up the van while his mate stood on the side of the motorway...... with my bike , but it takes a couple of hours at least to strip the van out and it's usually a next day job , depending on the time , so I scrapped that idea and we pushed the old lump all the way back up the sliproad to the petrol station and chained it to a post underneath a couple of cameras , left my reg and explained the situation to the manager who assured me they would look after it and no financial penalties would be incurred .
After all that farting about they then offered to drop me off , so got my kit on and they rode me home ......... to the front door .
Numerous times I tried to insist that they get on their way and I would get it sorted , but neither of them would have it , also one guys phone went and i heard him tell whoever was at the other end that they were busy with something and they would be round shortly , so they clearly had somewhere else to be , but chose to spend some of Saturday afternoon buggering about with me in the rain .
I FECKIN' love biking , and the brotherhood is still well and truly alive ( and Sisterhood ) love you too girls . Even when S**T happens the day just got better and better and I'm grateful .
I don't think they come on here but anyone who knows Lee Prior and Jason Ellen from Swindon , give them a pat on the back next time you see them and remind them what thoroughly decent individuals they are .
Anway my Brother drove over to the services this morning and I dried off the filter , ran the engine for a bit , got some fresh air through and fitted the stock SNORKEL , yeah it's called a snorkel , I've always known it was called a snorkel , it even looks like a bloody snorkel . You would think that would have been enough of a clue ........... Ran like a dream all the way back .
Top Blokes......
