Following on from my last post I can confirm that the last person to remove the down-pipes from my bike did indeed reassemble it using Firegum instead of exhaust gaskets.  It has taken me an entire day to get just one of the four free.

One of my pet hates is bodging.  It’s just so easy to do things properly.  A job that should have taken mere hours is going to take me days simply because some muppet couldn’t be bothered to get real exhaust gaskets and do the job properly.  Strangely it would have been easier to put it together again had it been done right as well.

So, for the sake of my sanity, the general well being of your health and so as you don’t offend me beyond endurance

JUST DO IT RIGHT !

As an old engineer I’ve always known that the simplest jobs are the ones that cause you the most trouble so why is it I’m surprised today.

I have need to remove the exhaust from Jessica.  A simple job I hear you say and usually I would agree whole heartedly.  However, today it’s turned into a real show stopper.  The first indication that all was not well was when the silencer came away easily but a small pile of rusty particles appeared on the drive beneath the bike.  A quick look reveals the collar that the link pipe slots into has rotted at the point where it joins the collector. Bizarrely the bit outside of that is spotless !

So, the header pipes have to come off to allow a new collar to be welded on…easy….no.  Now I can’t get the downpipes to come away from the cylinder head, aaaargh.  With a bit of luck WD40 and a few hour to soak will solve the problem.

This is unashamed plagerism here.  The below is copied directly from the e-petition page but this is such an important matter for all bikers and road users in general that it’s best explained in its original form.  Please sign the petition, you never know when you might need it.

Return VAT on Air Ambulance fuel payments.

Responsible department: Her Majesty’s Treasury

The Air Ambulance Service is forced to meet rising fuel prices year on year including VAT.

The Air Ambulance Service have saved successive governments millions and millions of pounds funded by charitable donations given by the general public to run what has proven to be an essential service.

Whilst the Lifeboat Service has been exempt from VAT on fuel costs since 1977, a similar privilege has not been afforded to the Air Ambulance Service;

We call on the government to have an urgent review of this situation and in doing so
We call on the government to return in the form of grants to Air Ambulance Service providers all the future VAT which the Treasury collects from them so that the Air Ambulance Service is in practice exempt from paying VAT in the same way as the Lifeboat Service.

Link to Petition