Mouse attack pics

Further to the "Mouse that ate my motorcycle", I've finally got around
to posting some pics taken at the time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93076236@N00/sets/72157594198459569

The first indication was some bits of foam lying on top of the upper
chain run; on removing the seat I spotted nibbles to the rubber pegs
under the seat, then seed husks in the toolkit area. Looking forward
(with some foreboding) I could see seeds and husks around the battery
- and more inside the entry port to the airbox.

Removing the airbox partly answered why it wouldn't start - the airbox
was wedged with bits of nibbled nesting foam, seeds and husks. K&N
oil really sticks seed husks to the filter quite well ...

You never look down the business end of your can, do you? Well, when
I did - that was wedged too. Not only the can, as I found after five
minutes with a vacuum, but the link pipe too.

The bike started eventually, once I'd vac'd the can - but it wouldn't
really run and certainly wouldn't pick up. Steam was wisping out of
the can, rather than pumping - and it was wisping out of the collector
too - wisping forwards at that.

I taped a bit of hose to the end of the vacuum extension pipe and
stuffed that down the can, all the way down the link pipe picking up
seeds all the way and eventually into the collector. The old vac just
about wheezed to death at that point, so I gave in and took the can
off. Removing the hose allowed more seeds, leaves and bits of foam to
be removed, but the vac collector tub was getting heavy so I took the
top off. Loads of seeds.

I thought it best to start up without the can - it fired immediately,
caught - and sprayed a beautiful fountain of black sunflower seeds
arching through the air to cover an area a good couple of metres
square on the concrete apron of my garage. The old Bandit ran cleanly
and sounded GREAT then ;-)

So apart from the damage to the wiring, the little beast had done a
few kilos of sunflower seeds into the bargain, not to mention ripping
off anything it could get its teeth into for foam linings for its
nest. The airbox was solidly packed, as was the can, link pipe /and/
the collector.

I don't know how many trips it must have made from the sack of
bird-feeding seeds with its little cheeks bulging, around some
tortuous route up the sidestand - or how it managed to get down the
exhaust. I don't really GAF, TBH. Two traps, three takes on
fragments of chocolate and a reinforced doorframe and nary a mouse to
be seen in the garage since.

It's just about long enough ago to be funny now ...

 

My word!

 

<AOL>

He needs a cat, he does.

 

[snip]

I'm shocked and saddened. All this time, I thought you had a B12 in
the proper colour :-/

I shall think much, much less of you now.

 

The first one was: the B12S that TNTman took away.

I'm disappointed that is conceivable, let alone possible.

 

it gets worse - you had a *faired* B12? You fucking poof.

Don't let it go to your head, but you were quite far up the totem pole
compared to some of the other lowlifes.

 

*waves*

 

And you thought Cane was the first ...

"In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king"

 

A bit like the damage Stone Martins can inflict on a car's wiring loom
overnight. I remember a few occasions in Germany when this happened to
work colleagues

 

We are about to acquire one of those, or so I have been told.

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)

My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
Space in shed where NSR125 used to be
Spare Bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Patio Ornament)
BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6), X-FOT#000, DIAABTCOD #26, BOMB#18 (slow), OMF#11