Laverdian
Senior member
- Location
- Brigadoon, Scotland
It's been one of those days that beer o'clock couldn't come fast enough.
Today I had a couple of the Laverdas booked in for their annual MOT tests (UK road worthiness examinations). I'd just finished a refurbishment of one of my RGS's, it had taken much longer (read far too much money) to complete but it was now looking and running quite respectably. The other is a Cropredy Jota 120 that I bought last winter and is a credit to its previous Owner but still needs a few things sorted but I needed to get it road legal for that.
The RGS was first up and parked on the MOT bay parking area. I saw the Tester fire the engine up and check the exhaust, he switched the engine off and proceeded to move it to the test area. It was one of those horrible moments that everything happens in slow motion and there's nothing you can do to stop it. He was an old fellow and of slight build, he had one foot in front of the other at the side of the bike and grabbed the bars to position it vertically. He wasn't aware of the self retracting side stand and when he realized the bike was heavy he thought he was putting it back on the side stand at which point the Lav was was heading south and he wasn't going to stop it. A crunch followed by a scream, and the Lav had the poor old bugger pinned on the ground. Luckily the old fellow looks like he got away with heavy bruising and a twisted ankle. The bike wasn't too bad as it had fallen on top of him, we had the bike off him seconds but had to helicoil the clutch master cylinder clamp, fortunately the body didn't snap, just the threads got pulled on the clamp, managed to t-cut out a small mark in the paintwork of the tank, the PK cover is scratched but I can sort that easily and the front indicator head got busted. Got the bike tested and sent Grant an SOS message to see if he had a spare indicator head as these are like hens teeth to find. Top marks to Grant for coming back to me within minutes to say he'd put a spare head in with some other parts I was after.
Next up was the Cropredy Jota, the Tester didn't want to move this one around so I happily obliged, couldn't bear to see this one on its side. No problems with the test, headed for home across the narrow B roads frequented by tractors, only rained 10 mins today but it was when I was going home and the dried in road dirt turn to mud and covered the bike. I don't think it has ever got wet in its life so had to spend an age scrubbing it up. Hopefully the old fellow will be fine, the bike's just more time and a little money to fix, could have been a lot worse. A day to forget.
Lucky white heather anyone?
Ian
RGS BEFORE THE TRAUMA
CROPREDY JOTA 120 AFTER A SCRUB UP
Today I had a couple of the Laverdas booked in for their annual MOT tests (UK road worthiness examinations). I'd just finished a refurbishment of one of my RGS's, it had taken much longer (read far too much money) to complete but it was now looking and running quite respectably. The other is a Cropredy Jota 120 that I bought last winter and is a credit to its previous Owner but still needs a few things sorted but I needed to get it road legal for that.
The RGS was first up and parked on the MOT bay parking area. I saw the Tester fire the engine up and check the exhaust, he switched the engine off and proceeded to move it to the test area. It was one of those horrible moments that everything happens in slow motion and there's nothing you can do to stop it. He was an old fellow and of slight build, he had one foot in front of the other at the side of the bike and grabbed the bars to position it vertically. He wasn't aware of the self retracting side stand and when he realized the bike was heavy he thought he was putting it back on the side stand at which point the Lav was was heading south and he wasn't going to stop it. A crunch followed by a scream, and the Lav had the poor old bugger pinned on the ground. Luckily the old fellow looks like he got away with heavy bruising and a twisted ankle. The bike wasn't too bad as it had fallen on top of him, we had the bike off him seconds but had to helicoil the clutch master cylinder clamp, fortunately the body didn't snap, just the threads got pulled on the clamp, managed to t-cut out a small mark in the paintwork of the tank, the PK cover is scratched but I can sort that easily and the front indicator head got busted. Got the bike tested and sent Grant an SOS message to see if he had a spare indicator head as these are like hens teeth to find. Top marks to Grant for coming back to me within minutes to say he'd put a spare head in with some other parts I was after.
Next up was the Cropredy Jota, the Tester didn't want to move this one around so I happily obliged, couldn't bear to see this one on its side. No problems with the test, headed for home across the narrow B roads frequented by tractors, only rained 10 mins today but it was when I was going home and the dried in road dirt turn to mud and covered the bike. I don't think it has ever got wet in its life so had to spend an age scrubbing it up. Hopefully the old fellow will be fine, the bike's just more time and a little money to fix, could have been a lot worse. A day to forget.
Lucky white heather anyone?
Ian
RGS BEFORE THE TRAUMA
CROPREDY JOTA 120 AFTER A SCRUB UP
Like, roll your own papers?
