Back in the fold. Sort of.

So...there was I, at a quarter past midnight a few days ago, watching a DVD
on the laptop. Steptoe and Son, series one, I think it was. A sound
announced the arrival of a neemail. It was from Freecycle. Somebody local
was giving away a Virago.

Second take: Someone local was giving away a Virago!

There was a definite perk. It was a 1988 Virago XV535 in neglected
condition. It had covered 12,000 miles since new and had lived in a garage
near Deal, Kent, untouched, for the last ten years of its life and had been
bought when Viragos were new and exciting, by the current owner, when it was
born .

A manic, lunatic version of typing happened and 24 hours later I was
informed that I could well be the new owner of a Virago XV535 as I had been
the only loony awake at 12.15am, ready to reply immediately to a Freecycle
advert, though many followed.

Today I went to have a look at the beastie. A lovely big house on the coast
near Deal revealed a ten-year-neglected, filthy, burgundy Virago which I
gladly loaded into a van and drove back home after much shaking of hands and
the proffering of a decent bottle of Cab Sauv. (It was FREEcycle, after
all).

Much fettling with car shampoo, paint restorer, wax, metal polish, WD40, and
silicon spray later, until it went dark at 4.30pm today anyway, revealed
*extremely* shiny, metallic paintwork and everything I wiped with a cloth
revealed itself to be surprisingly brand new-looking. There is still much to
do, obviously - the forks are very pitted and one fork seal has gone, the
battery is ferked ("After only ten years? Really?"), it needs a front tyre
at least, and the tank looks very rusty inside, but I'm assured all the
mechanicals are in excellent condition.

Much fettling will take place from now on until the beasty is clean, MOT'd,
insured and ready to go.

Cries of "It's a girl's bike!" or "It's a gay bike!" or "It looks slightly
akin to a fuckin' Hardly Davidson!" will be completely disregarded and
treated with the contempt only available to those of us who have been
bike-less for far too long.

 

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot says...

Free bikes are good bikes, well done.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
GSF600SW (broked)
'I do not object to people looking at their watches when I am speaking.
But I strongly object when they start shaking them to make certain they
are still going.' William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett, Oct 1960.

 

Lozzo tossed off:

Yeah

How's the SR250?


--
Dan L

1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11

 

Nice.

Dammit, I havcen't checked my Freecycle addie for weeks. Wonder if
anyone's giving away a Vincent?

 

If they were you can guarantee it went within minutes. Stranger things have
happened though. I gave away a huge frozen turkey once. Not quite a Vincent
but you get the idea

I'd say it's worth having Freecycle email sent to you from as far as you are
willing to travel to pick up a free...thing-of-potential-value. London's
within range for me but that group does get bloody busy!

 

Dan L says...

Haven't picked it up yet. Owen's not available for 2 weeks.

--
Lozzo
Triumph Daytona 955i SE (Black with added black bits)
GSF600SW (broked)
'I do not object to people looking at their watches when I am speaking.
But I strongly object when they start shaking them to make certain they
are still going.' William Norman Birkett, 1st Baron Birkett, Oct 1960.

 

I think you have 2 hopes of that - Bob and none. And Bob just left the
building..

Phil

 

Not as pretty as the virago!

 

Owen tossed off:

I had plans for that.

<sob>



--
Dan L

1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr

BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6)
X-FOT#000
DIAABTCOD #26
BOMB#18 (slow)
OMF#11