Hitchcocks Forum

As I was saying in the helmet review post earlier, today I went shopping.

Firstly though, take note folks! Make sure all the bungie cords you are taking with you actually make it to inside the pannier box! Got one stuck between the rear hub and brake disk. No damage to the bike at all, but, well, the bungie's had it!

I realised today that it's been six weeks since I rode Webley, in fact, the last time I rode her was the National Road Rally, which finished on July 8th. Needless to say she started up first time, which is not what I wanted as I wanted to get a bit of oil round the engine before she fired up, but clot here had her in neutral with the side stand down, not in gear, hence she fired up instead of just turning over. Mind you, the clock was well out, and in the process of correcting this, yet again I somehow messed up the compass! Another couple of attemps at the figure of eight at the RE factory site, but the compass is yet to sort itself out.

Anyway, with her warmed up, and the afore mentioned bungie cord removed, I set off for Hitchcocks Motorcycles at Chadwick End to check out their newly released Himalayan engine bars, which are just what I've been after as they don't stick out a mile like most of them do. You see, space constraints at home mean I have to be mindful of the width of any bike, not just Webley.

However, I had a thought whilst I was riding there, and that thought related to the oil filter cover, and the fact that the engine bars may restrict access to it, and thus having to remove one side when it came to changing the filter.

Fortunately, this isn't the case and I was told the design brief included being able to change the oil filter without removing the engine bar on the righthand side. The somewhat shorter oil filter used on a Himalayan means that this shouldn't be an issue. However, this wasn't the only concern of mine, the other being how do you fit the right hand engine bar without taking off the exhaust, as access to the bottom bolt hole is very restricted due to the close proximity of the exhaust?

The short story is that you undo the bolts that hold the exhaust into the head, but don't remove them and you don't take off the exhaust. By loosening these bolts there's plenty of scope to just pull the exhaust away from the frame, thus allowing access to fit the bottom bolt.

With me still a little concerned I said to one of the chaps at Hitchcocks "prove it, and if it does I'll have a pair". His reply was "I thought you were going to say that" 🤣.

Five minutes later and Webley has a nice pair of Hitchcocks engine bars fitted, FREE!!! (that's the fitting free, not the bars as well).

So thank you Hitchcocks! Thank you very much indeed! Can't knock their service, at least in my experience.

Now all I have to do is find space for the big head Bullet they have up for grabs!

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Thank goodness we don`t have these problems with automobiles; my Mazda handbook says, Don`t idle the engine on start-up, drive off immediately.

What problems? It was my fault. Getting oil around an engine and letting it warm up a tad showeird respect for the engine. Glad I never bought bought a Mandarin when I had the chance.

What problems? It was my fault. Getting oil around an engine and letting it warm up a tad shows respect for the engine. Glad I never bought a Mazda when I had the chance. I say Mazda, but over the last, what, 20 odd years it would have probably been a rebadged Ford.

Mazda 626, 17-years-old now, doesn`t use oil between services, and still mechanically quiet, so it must be the right way to do it.

Yeh must be. 626. That'll be a Monday then. C.

Yeh must be. 626. That'll be a Mondeo then. C.

For the record; down here, Fords are rebadged Mazdas. As the salesman said when we were buying the Laser in 1985, "Made in Japan by robots."

Of course they are.