Hello again everybody!

More apologies for the lack of posts, I’ve been very busy dealing with the aftermath of the grain harvest…but there is now light at the end of the tunnel! You all know how much I hate riding in tunnels as well!!!

I haven’t had any time for any pleasure rides during the last couple of months and have had to be content with commuting on Harley when I could. There has been something bothering me though…

Just before I went to France in June as part of the service I changed Harley’s spark plugs, put in a par of Harley Davison (Made by Champion) Golds. She ran fine but, well, something wasn’t quite the same, there was a slight “crispness” missing. I’ve been trying to put my finger on it since I got back; checked everything and in the end decided to try changing the plugs back. Bingo! That was it, I really could not believe what a difference it made.

So off to The Green Spark Plug Company for a brand spank me new pair of NGK Iridiums to suit Harley. Within 48 hours the plugs had arrived and were fitted. Result, a crisper ignition, better fuel consumption and sharper on the go-grip when required, excellent! For the technically curious the plugs are NGK DCPR7EIX.  So what’s the difference? Well, the Iridium plug has a thinner centre electrode giving a stronger spark and better combustion, additionally, cos iridium is harder than other electrode metals it is not so prone to spark erosion and lasts longer, certainly the old plugs pre the H-D Golds were still within tolerance after 15,000 miles. Which means that even if they are a bit more expensive to buy, they are still good value and that’s ok by me!

Also I can’t praise The Green Spark Plug Company enough for their assistance and customer service, usual disclaimer, their web site is worth a look, and their prices are very good as well; http://www.gsparkplug.com/shop

New NGK Iridium at the front, nearly new H-D Gold at the back.

Now prior to this, I would have said a spark plug is a spark plug…I’ve changed my mind now. The right choice for your bike, car or lawnmower can make a huge difference. I can almost hear Vifferman saying told you so!

Oh, nearly forgot…the weather was superb yesterday, lovely early autumn sunshine that almost caressed you with it’s softness, so I treated myself to a blast up the ’30 to Okehampton and a more leisurely trundle back to Cornwall on the ‘Old Road’, also known as the West Devon Drive. Just what I needed!

Today the weather is *issing down, so seems good to read the Sunday papers by the log fire whilst the roast cooks, the red wine breathes and Jethro Tull plays on…I might even have a little snooze later!!!

Chasing Shadows on the Run. Ride On!

Dookes

Hello again folks!

Sorry about the delay in posting anything new, but to be honest there’s not much to report.
Except that Mr & Mrs Dookes became Great Aunt and Uncle again recently to two arrivals for nieces and nephews! Big congrats to Kerenza and Richard for little Bella; and also Caroline and Shane for little Tristan, love to you all.

Like pretty much the rest of the country, the weather here in Cornwall has been…..well, not very good, unless you are a duck, or sell umbrellas for a living! No weather at all for much in the way of ride-outs, so Harley and I have had to be content with the odd commute.

For those of us that ply our trade in the agricultural sector the weather is nothing short of a disaster. The dry spell in March and April screwed the winter crops at the flowering stage and as we all know it’s never stopped raining since = poor yields, even poorer quality and worse of all a shortage of malting barley for beer! C’est très mal! As my French friends say.

At the grain store my team are plugging away trying to make some kind of sense of the awful stuff that the farmers are throwing at us, talk about silk purses and pigs ears! It never ceases to amuse me how many of the growers moan like hell at the charges that their products incur as we try by working long noisy hours to turn it into saleable grain…Mind you it does get a little hard to feel great sympathy when the biggest moaners then drive off in a Range Rover Sport! There are however, some really hard working farmers out there, some of whom I count as friends, who’s hard work is being reduced to unsaleable mush and who deserve respect cos they just take it on the chin and get on with life! Hang in there Martin, John and Anglian Andrew, you guys are OK!

Anyway enough of the soap box, here is Harley hiding from the Cornish Sunshine at lunchtime today…it wasn’t raining when I rode to the store this morning!

The ride home was actually OK, holiday traffic jams all gone and no rain either!
Good news at Dookes Towers this evening; Mrs Dookes has cooked a full blown Indian meal, excellent! Sorry no menu details, but even the onion bhajees were homemade and the curry was HOT!

Want something throbbing between you legs?
Ride a V twin!

Dookes

OK, I spoke too soon….the weather was great for a week, now it’s Standard British Summer, you know, cr*p!

Still, Harley and I got out for a ride on Saturday before the rain set in, I even had time to cut the grass at Dookes H.Q. when we got back…and that takes over an hour!

Did you watch the Olympics on Saturday night? Three athletics Golds in under an hour! Brilliant!

I spent last Sunday driving a miniature steam train at a local visitor attraction here in Cornwall that is owned by a good friend of mine. Unfortunately the day was largely spent diving in and out of heavy showers, part of the line was a little flooded but it didn’t stop us having fun!

This is the little engine, between the rain. For those of you who want the technical details, it’s a 0-6-0 Romulus design in 7 1/4 inch gauge, coal fired and three years old. The track is a mile long circuit that takes about six minutes to go round. It’s at a place called Hidden Valley Adventure Park, click here for the link. It’s a great place for family’s to visit, a bit random and quirky, but good fun for everyone.

Grease top? A type of hat worn by steam locomotive crews.

I’m a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride!

Dookes

It’s been a week of fantastic weather here in Cornwall, which Harley and I have been happy to enjoy! The commute to and from work across Bodmin Moor has been an absolute pleasure.

Mind you the number of summer visitors, Emmetts in these parts, has been steadily growing making the return journey a tad tedious, do these people drive as badly at home????

Today I popped Harley back into Thor Motorcycles, near Bodmin.

When Colin and his crew gave her the post trip check last week they made some adjustments to the primary drive sprockets and chain. During this week I thought that I could detect a slight vibration from the area of the primary drive, so hence the visit to check it out. “What is he on about?” I hear the four cylinder bikers cry! “V twins always vibrate!” True words cos V twins do, but hey I’m a little fussy, she wasn’t vibrating right, if you know what I mean!

Colin was as fantastic as ever; as soon as we arrived Harley was whisked into the workshop and up onto a bike bench then Steve set to on her drive train. Becky made me a cup of tea as I settled to wait, what excellent service! Soon Colin invited me into the workshop to have a look at the work. He had found that the clutch hub had a small irregularity, it was running about seven one thousandths of an inch eccentric, yes imperial measurements, American engineers still use feet and inches, thank goodness! Now 7 thou, is about the distance a gnats bum cheeks flex when it passes wind, like not much at all…. After much debate and head scratching we could find no obvious sign of damage and concluded that the hub must have been slightly incorrectly machined when manufactured by H-D, unusual. As we did not have a new part to hand, this was Saturday afternoon as well, we decided to refit the hub and to replace it in the not too distant future when we have another exciting job planned! Whilst we had the drive case off, I got Colin to fit a new primary drive chain, the original has done 26000 miles and it seemed sensible whilst the case was apart. Watch this space for details about the next job we will be doing…..

Anyway, this is picture for you folks who like me have gotta know how things work.

To the left is the engine drive shaft and compensator sprocket. In the middle is the primary drive chain with it’s white adjuster. The large round object to the right is the clutch assembly, the hub is hidden inside this. To the top right is the starter motor shaft, whilst just visible to the extreme lower right can be glimpsed the final drive belt to the rear wheel. Beautiful, isn’t it?!

Anyway, Steve soon had her back together. Riding home she felt better, not quite perfect yet, but much better. So thanks Colin and crew, nice to know you look after us so well! See you soon for six times the fun!

Lids on, let’s ride!
Dookes

Finally it looks like summer may have arrived in Cornwall, the sun has come out after ten weeks of rain!

I picked Harley up from her post tour service late on Friday afternoon and promptly set off for one of my favourite events that the Plymouth HoG Chapter hold each summer, the Looe Fish and Chips Ride.

As I was running a little late I headed off to the rendezvous point at Trerulefoot, Bodmin Chris and Bikerpatch Phil were already there. It wasn’t long before others started to arrive and we soon had about twenty bikes gathered together.

Head Road Captain Derek led us off towards Looe and the Coddy Shack for supper of fish and chips. The Coddy Shack is actually a few miles outside Looe so after our meal we started up again and rode into the town for a tour of the narrow streets and ice cream, another Chapter tradition. Very good it was too!

After ice cream it was time for a bomb burst as we all set off for home in different directions, massive thanks to Judith for the impeccable organisation as always.

Ride on V twins!

Dookes

Hello again everyone.

Now you know I have said in the past that those of us that get on motorbikes accept the risks that sometimes goes with our passion?

Spare a thought for my mate Big John from Somerset. Last week he went to Llandow circuit in South Wales for some track day excitement.  Unfortunately he got a little more excitement than he bargained for when his “Kwak” high-sided him and he collected a broken collar bone and two broken toes!

Good to speak to you this week mate, hope the bike mends as well as the bones seem to be doing!

Ride on.

Dookes

I promised some stats. for those of you with either an enquiring mind, or nothing better to do!

OK, so as I said in an earlier post, we went quite a long way in only a few days, 2160 miles to be precise.

We used 212.27 litres of petrol/gasoline, mainly 98RON.

This gives an average consumption of 10.18miles/litre or if you like, 45.79 miles/imp.gallon.

Harley has a 1450cc engine and a five speed gearbox.

Now for the WOW statistic!

In the mountains we climbed a staggering 10,466metres, or 34,337feet, vertical height. Mount Everest is 8,848metres, 29,029feet.

Not bad points to ponder.

The Heart of the Matter!