Category: Uncategorized

I went to the Muay Thai class today. New things are always a stressful time. This was newer than most. It is completely unlike any martial art I’ve ever done. I think it must be like boxing. I did the usual stretches and warm up, then the instructor had me do a jab, a left/ right combination, knee strike and a pushing front kick. Then it was timed intervals against someone with pads calling out each move and moving around, so I was constantly moving and having to punch, kick, and knee. The few minute (I wasn’t wearing a watch obvs, and there is no clock in the gym) intervals were exhausting. There were an even number of fighters there and me, so they had me do one interval while someone sat it out, then I’d cycle for an interval, then back fighting again. I can see why MT is so effective. It’s actual fight training from lesson one.

No disrespect to the other martial arts I’ve done, the black belts are all scary, but in my experience it takes ages for the lesson to work as a fighting system. You go to the dojo, warm up, do a kata, then do specific drills each week. The trouble is it’s a different drill each week. For a noob it’s confusing and you don’t retain much beyond the basic principles of the moves. And you do a bit of light sparring every now and then. Eventually it all must gel.

I swear down though, in that one session today I must have thrown more punches than in 18 months of Taekwondo. That is what makes it such a real world fighting system. If you repeat a move often enough it becomes muscle memory. And the fitness needed is extraordinary.

That simple idea I had to line the shed. Bloody hell, what a pain. So far I’ve put the clear plastic tarpaulin up on the window side and lined the ceiling with heat retention foil and bubble wrap. It’s taken me 2 days. I still need to fit the tarpaulin over the insulation on the ceiling. It’s a full-on pain. It doesn’t help that my staple gun is totally temperamental and only works every few goes. To do the ceiling and the other walls I’m going to have to cut the tarpaulin to size in sections. It’s been blowing a gale so that’s not happening. Then I’ve got to take of all the tools I’ve hung on nails on the end wall, move the racking out of the way, and have at it. It’s going to be a nightmare. Also the Harley is still in the shed, so that’s less than ideal.

I got a new tool chest and put that in the shed. Then had a clear out. I’ve brought my tri bike indoors and put my touring bike out behind the shed. I’ve covered it over with the two motorbike covers that were also taking up room in the shed. Then put some plastic roofing sheets over that. It should be pretty dry and snug. I don’t know why I get these sudden enthusiasms. And why I didn’t foresee this project was sure to be a hiding to nothing. Ho hum. It will be better. At the moment everything is stapled in place, but when I’ve got it all up I think I’ll screw down some thin slats of wood over the length of the edges.

The Harley hasn’t progressed. I’ve still to suss the rear indicator. I’m waiting for the Chinese LED one’s to arrive then I’ll make a proper job of it. I’ll whip the back wheel off to get access to the indicator wiring under the mudguard. I was about to say I’ll spray the back wheel, which I will, but it strikes me if I’ve got the wheel and the indicators off, this will be a perfect time to take the rear mudguard off and respray it.

Last post I was saying I just had to throw the bike back together and it was all looking like a suspiciously good job.

Ha!

I made a total meal of it. I put the yokes on, the handlebars, clocks, fitted the forks, mudguard, brake calipers, went to fit the front wheel… No. You have to have the mudguard and calipers off to fit it. OK. Took them off, fitted the front wheel, put them back on. Steering a bit tight. Had a look and I’d routed some of my cables on the wrong side of the headstock. I tried just taking the bars off and lifting off the top yoke. Struggled for a while, then conceded defeat. Had to take everything off again, reroute the cables, then refit the yokes, bars, clocks, forks, wheel, brake calipers and front mudguard. I turned it on for a test and realised I had no headlight or indicators. Which is to say, they were there, just not working. *facepalm*

I’ve had a productive couple of days off.

Yesterday I fitted the bearing race and bearing to the top of the headstock and applied clear polish to the bits I’d already painted.

Today I polished the clear lacquer on the bottom yoke and got a nice glassy finish. Then noticed on one small section it was glassy over bare metal. The paint hadn’t stuck. It was only a small section so I was tempted to leave it like that, but I’m hoping once the job is done, that will be it. For the sake of another day’s delay it’s not worth years of knowing it’s a bad job. So I reprayed it and added more layers of clear. Hopefully that will have done the trick.

I’m still learning as I go with this painting lark, but I’m getting the hang of it. 90% of it is preparation, the other 10% is patience. You have to have a perfect surface to get a perfect finish. And then you have to apply very thin layers of paint many times. Also, I only found out yesterday, there are different types of clear coat. I had normal clear coat, which gives a nice shiny result when polished, but it seems there is also gloss. I’m hoping that is the final step.

Here is some stuff I’ve done.

It’s hard to make out detail there, but the fork stanchions are in black satin, the mudguard is in black gloss.