Our hobbies other than bikes

Well I went down to the Mens Shed this morning and everyone that was there all asked when I was coming back so I decided to do 2 mornings a week Monday and Friday they are the 2 quietest days down there so that will be the days starting next Monday, I took some ply with me this morning that I wanted to cut on the bandsaw for a station platform, the bandsaw cuts better than my jigsaw with neater cuts.
Tomorrow I will move the Norton out, drain the sump and fuel tank, put some fresh fuel in and see how I go kicking it with the peg leg, with fresh fuel and the Joe Hunt it should fire up on first kick if I can kick it with the peg leg, fingers crossed.
We have a council kerbside clean up in 9 days time so good timing I be able to throw stuff out and put on the kerb to be collected, get rid of some junk I no longer need and make room for my good junk lol, so a busy weekend of cleaning up around the house and yard, I should throw out some of Debra's junk, she is such a hoarder but every time I do that she brings it back in.

Ashley

A good start with the Mens Shed starting back on Monday, bloody public holiday on Monday lol, well was a busy day yesterday moved the dirt bike out of the way cleared the Norton it is now sitting beside the lift table and been clearing everything out from under the layout tables ready for the major wiring job, today have stuff to put out on the kerb for the kerbside clean up next weekend, only allowed to put a small trailer load out but put it out early and the scavengers come along collecting stuff which works out well as then can put more stuff out.
The hardest part moving my storage stuff under the benches I have to find another place to put it all, 10 boxed stored under the snooker table and just have my 3 camp fridges to move and find a space for them, but once I start the wiring it won't take me long to do, I have everything ready to go for the wiring.
The Norton I will do the oil and fuel drain sometime this weekend and try to give it a kick with some fresh fuel, see if I can do it with the peg leg, my Honda dirt bike has a ES so its good when I get a new battery for it, but think my dirt bike days are over, but then you never know, love playing in the dirt, never know till I give it a go.
Lucky I haven't got too much to dump on the kerb and I have this weekend and next weekend to get the rubbish on the kerb before they pick it all up, we get a free kerbside clean up twice a year, but I missed the last one, its 9am now so time to get started.

Ashley

Was just having brekkie and a thought jumped in my head, with my peg leg and if I am able to fire it up with a kick, if my Norton decides to kick back, which it don't, but if it did, I won't get a sore leg from it, Titanium is my protector .
So many on this site always complain about kickbacks when kicking their Norton's, lose a right leg, problem solved.

ashman said:

Was just having brekkie and a thought jumped in my head, with my peg leg and if I am able to fire it up with a kick, if my Norton decides to kick back, which it don't, but if it did, I won't get a sore leg from it, Titanium is my protector .
So many on this site always complain about kickbacks when kicking their Norton's, lose a right leg, problem solved.

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Not a viable solution for almost all of us!

grandpaul said:

Not a viable solution for almost all of us!

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Just doing everyone's head in, I wouldn't wish losing a leg on anyone, but just me joking around with my situation, so GP don't take things so serous, so kick starting with a titanium leg and I am no 6 million $$$ man but I have a $27,600 leg lol.

ashman said:

Just doing everyone's head in, I wouldn't wish losing a leg on anyone, but just me joking around with my situation, so GP don't take things so serous, so kick starting with a titanium leg and I am no 6 million $$$ man but I have a $27,600 leg lol.

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So you (titanium man ) went for a ride with magneto (very apt!) and the crimson dynamo?
Can you pick where that's from?
Cheers

ashman said:

Was just having brekkie and a thought jumped in my head, with my peg leg and if I am able to fire it up with a kick, if my Norton decides to kick back, which it don't, but if it did, I won't get a sore leg from it, Titanium is my protector .
So many on this site always complain about kickbacks when kicking their Norton's, lose a right leg, problem solved.

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I could imagine that the power of the kick back would go straight up your titanium leg and into your goolies. Could be -very- bad news. Don't want to hear of any more parts of you being amputated, and even less ofthe recovery that might be required.

daveforty said:

I could imagine that the power of the kick back would go straight up your titanium leg and into your goolies. Could be -very- bad news. Don't want to hear of any more parts of you being amputated, and even less ofthe recovery that might be required.

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Renamed......... Steve Austin !

Well the good thing my Joe Hunt don't kick back so I be right there, I haven't ran with my Titanium leg yet, I wonder if I hear that strange sound and be in slow motion when I do, my dad loved watching the 6 million $$$ man all them years ago.

Well I spent more money on the layout yesterday an extension to the DCC controller with a dual control hand throttle and wireless interface so I can walk around the layout while running the trains, don't tell Debra as this is not a cheap hobby but it's like owning our bikes we seem to keep secrets in how much money we spend on our toys, but I worked hard all my life on low income so it's about time I spent money on myself and it's keeping me sane in the process, we been having a few issues with each other of late so the shed keeps us both apart and I been saving a bit of money from my pension each fortnight to spend on my hobby but once it's all set up and running and the bike going things will settle down, but high fuel cost has kept both of us home of late and spending too much time together, we sometimes need a break from each other, I know I am not the easiest person to live with I am set in my ways, but Debra knew that when we first started going out together and of course Debra is Debra.

Ashley

Anyone else into the model trains, I had some fun with the old slot car raceway but the trains is what I wanted to get into, I know Greg Mash did in his days and I bet a lot of us had train sets in our childhood, but they got boring as they only went around in circles, my slot car raceway was large but the trains using the old SC tables has grown bigger and 2 more 2.4 x1.2m tables connected to the 5 tables I had from the SC raceway.

I love my bikes but once I retired I wasn't riding the bikes everyday and less income coming in I spend more time at home now and even more now with the missing leg, high fuel cost and just living paying the bills and I need to clean the dirt bike and fix the Landy so I can sell to throw more things into my hobby and drinking less these days I been saving a little out of each fortnight pension to keep things moving slowly, but the hobby bug has bitten hard and my other things I have to do has slowed down, but it has taken my mind off with our other problems we been dealing with since the accident/recovery and early next year the compensation to be worked out with the insurance parties.

So much happening in the new year and all I want to do is get back on with my life and hopefully Debra injuries will heal/recover better than what she is going through now, her injuries are taking longer to recover and the pain she getting in her leg, they told her it will take up to 2 years for her recovery, but her younger days injuries are also catching up with her, but no amount of compensation will fix that or bring back my leg, all this from one person mistake, as one person said, life wasn't suppose to be easy.

So now doing things I want with my hobby keeps my mind active and doing things has taken my mind off everything, I just wish Debra gets more active instead of mopping around doing nothing, its not doing her any good health wise, well time I get started no used to be mopping around.

Ashley

grandpaul said:

Yeah, don't get too tricky trying to do a 2-man job solo.

In other words, DON'T do what I DID (or TRIED to do)

View attachment 131192

No helpers/friends to be found, and I needed to unload my green 880 at the old ranch. So, I came up with a half-baked plan to use my rope hoist, lashed to the vice on the tool bench, and slowly easy the bike up the slightly inclined ramp. Once I got it "out on a limb" I realized it wouldn't work. It almost fell 3 times, then I gave up. Putting it back in the truck was even harder than getting it 2' up the ramp...

So, I decided to go to a high school reunion and take my fishing rod with me. MUCH better idea.

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I constantly sport fish using the Norton , my only vehicle other than my bicycle . Tip : Use bungee cords to affix lengthwise , not across .

Travel.
National and International.
Much of it involves motorcycles, not all.

According to the Beatles, "The farther one travels, the less one knows" (Inner Light)
Cheers

ashman said:

...I had some fun with the old slot car raceway but the trains is what I wanted to get into, I know Greg Mash did in his days and I bet a lot of us had train sets in our childhood, but they got boring as they only went around in circles, my slot car raceway was large but the trains using the old SC tables has grown bigger and 2 more 2.4 x1.2m tables connected to the 5 tables I had from the SC raceway.

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I have a friend who smashed his bike into the back of a van at over 80MPH and his eyes literally flew out of his head, leaving him blind. Once he recovered, he managed to build a 1:24 slot car track that was built on a hand-built 2x4 frame structure about the length of a bowling alley, and about three bowling lanes wide. His two boys had started out with the little plastic tracks and 2" long tiny cars; this setup had cars that were about 8" long, and AWFULLY fast. If they flew off on a curve, they could hurt you bad. He was also into high-end stereo stuff and still has a real nice Onkyo receiver, Denon turntable, and a pair of Bang and Olufsen speakers of mine that he was supposed to sell like TEN YEARS ago...

Anyway, Bobby has been running BIG races for his sons' friends, people come from all over south Texas to enter those races, it's nicer than any other track.

grandpaul said:

I have a friend who smashed his bike into the back of a van at over 80MPH and his eyes literally flew out of his head, leaving him blind. Once he recovered, he managed to build a 1:24 slot car track that was built on a hand-built 2x4 frame structure about the length of a bowling alley, and about three bowling lanes wide. His two boys had started out with the little plastic tracks and 2" long tiny cars; this setup had cars that were about 8" long, and AWFULLY fast. If they flew off on a curve, they could hurt you bad. He was also into high-end stereo stuff and still has a real nice Onkyo receiver, Denon turntable, and a pair of Bang and Olufsen speakers of mine that he was supposed to sell like TEN YEARS ago...

Anyway, Bobby has been running BIG races for his sons' friends, people come from all over south Texas to enter those races, it's nicer than any other track.

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Wow!

I had only ever seen it in Car-Toons magazine.
He must have had a whole mess of other injuries...

concours said:

Wow!
I had only ever seen it in Car-Toons magazine.
He must have had a whole mess of other injuries...

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Yes, his head was extremely swollen, totally purple and stitches everywhere (he WAS wearing a proper helmet, or he'd have been dead instantly) Broke an arm, messed up his legs, he needed a zimmerframe to walk, etc.

This is pics of my old slot car raceway, inside my shed a few Carra slot car sets and extra track I brought off another collector, had 9 cars and the good thing with this set it had 5 lane changes, 4 controllers 2 fix and 2 wireless, a few mates would get on the piss then we race, drunken race driving was fun, but I always want to build a train layout, I sold the raceway for $1600 and was the start of my trains

Ashley

My late brother in law was an independent owner/operator in the trucking industry. Many years ago he was stopped on the side of the road with an empty 40 ‘ flatbed. A drunken driver in 60’s era sedan came speeding down the shoulder and ran squarely into the back of the trailer hitting dead center of the ICC bumper . The impact bounced the trailer into the air and the ICC bumper cleaned off everything in and on the car from the intake manifold and above including the driver’s head. After the site was cleaned up my brother in law looked at car dashboard and every plastic knob kept going leaving the steel shafts poking through the faces .