Its all about the Bike, the Bike, the Bike.

I have spent a lot of time hanging around in motorbike workshops. Our 135cc Tiger has been upgraded to a 140cc and B says it "feels lovely". In the village we stayed in with our extended family, the loose ignition switch was tightened and the chain and sprocket was replaced by the local mechanic. In Khan Kaen, a total of 6000baht, about 100GBP, was spent to do the following: new stater coils, rectifier, battery, starter switch, hooter and indicators . The new 36 tooth sprocket was replaced by a 32 tooth one. The starter motor was overhauled. A service was carried out. The bad earth terminal was fixed. A new cush drive fitted and also new brake linings, rear. And the problem with headlamps resolved, or so we thought. Tiger originally had one headlamp bulb, somewhere in the travels this had been replaced by 2 headlamp bulb configuration, but the wiring was still only for one bulb! In Mukdahan a new sparkplug made riding a bit better and drilling a bigger hole in the petrolcap reduced the stuttering when the tank got half empty. With no fuel gauge this did act as a warning to fill up at least every 100kms. In Kong Chiam the cylinder head gasket blew and the piston siezed . So the search was on for another workshop, fortunately at the junction as we entered the town. Late Saturday afternoon and the mechanics expressed a lot of oohs and aahs as we scrapped in. So now, another 3000baht, 60GBP to replace piston and sleeve, lap the valves and replace the timing chain. Well this mechanic is a genius, number one. He took the bike to his home and worked on it the whole of Sunday. He rebored the engine cylinder 20/1000 oversize,up to 140cc, replaced the timing chain and rocket shaft. Cleaned the air filter and carburettor. He repaired the headlamp configuration back up to 2 bulbs and now we also have a tail light. At some stage in this bike's history it had been fitted with a side car (Thai version) and the wiring harness possibly damaged in the process. This master of ingenuity used the metal cover from a AAA battery to weld. He clipped a set of jumped leads onto the battery, with a nail held within one clip. He fused the broken wires together and welded a piece of the battery metal cover to the wires as the wire had broken inside the socket. This enabled him to solder a new lead onto the welded arrangement to get the tail light to work. He replaced the rectifier and positioned the plug the correct way round. He repaired the fuel gauge and again secured the ignition switch. New disc pads in the front have stopped the scrapping noise. Tonight, Monday, he cut a bracket off the frame of another bike, welded it on to the existing bracket and raised the front section of the seat by 2inches, so now B is not falling forward when he rides. And then presented B with a speedometer drive off the same scrap bike. We are only short of a speedometer cable, but we can ride without that. And there we have it, a bike that "feels lovely". Border crossing into Laos tomorrow. ......