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Back now from holidays in France, 4 days in Bordeaux then 9 days with my mate near Auch. It is great sitting on his balcony, enjoying his company, in 30 to 40 degrees C heat looking out on the snow-capped Pyrenees tinted purple with distance.
There is a thriving bike scene in Bordeaux with lots of younger riders, something you do not see so much in Britain. Chinese Suzuki cloned 125/250/400s singles with chunky tyres and brown leather seats are very popular over there.
I did manage to mess with a Gas Gas 300 enduro which has stood in my mate’s garage for 10 years unused, put there when it refused to start. Despite nearly a full day cleaning the carburettor and checking all the wiring it remained silent. Almost certainly the electronic control box has died/fried. Probably just as well as it is a bit of an animal, seat about 4 foot off the ground and a hair trigger throttle and low gearing, great for lifting the front wheel over logs but with my off road skill level I would probably end up on my back with the bike on top of me.
For the next few weeks I will have a big push to finish the carbon fibre work
a) the tank, (tidying the external finish of the tank top, trimming the edges of the top and bottom halves, cutting the filler hole and bonding in the inset for the filler cap, and then bonding in a “ledge” so that I have a “gasket face” to bond the lower half of the tank to, applying ethanol resistant resin to top and bottom halves and finally bonding them together),
b) the seat (making the fork mounting for the front to engage in the frame bridge, making pads either side to set the seat at the right height versus the frame tubes, making a mounting point for the rear spring catch and bonding in the underside) and
c) the fly-screen ( one more CF lamination, tidying up the external finish, cutting the hole for the headlamp and cutting and trimming the edges)
Better get on with it then.
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