Honda-SOHC

https://www.cybike.co.uk/

Cybike are offering a 10% Discount and they sell Yamiya stuff. Might be worth calling them.

My 2010 BMW F800ST is for sale as I have a Hernia (I think) and until that's sorted, I won't be doing any riding.

Nice bike.....well looked after and has a good history, with only 12K miles. It suits the black paint and everything works as it should. It's a UK supplied NON ABS model, so no worries about that going haywire (£££££). I have a shedload of documents as the previous mature owner was rather fastidious during his ownership....one of the reasons that I bought this particular bike. Excellent Continental tyres. BMW Rack and BMW Top Box with a Givi Pannier Rack fitted to take their V35 Panniers and a spare BMW Pannier Rack to take the BMW Panniers (Panniers are NOT included as I don't have them).

MOT till next March and it needs nothing doing....just riding ! It has a few minor scratches etc but it's 11 years old and with this low mileage, and it's overall good condition, you won't need to spend anything on it for a year or two.

Dealers are asking £4K+ so I think £2950 is a fair price.

The bike is in Lytham St Annes (near Blackpool) and I might be able to deliver up to 50 miles or so or happy to assist your Courier.

No point in a P/X as I can't ride it !

If you need more details or photos, please ask.

From this months Triumph Owners Club Magazine, Nacelle:

Wanted: Honda 500/4 Engine. Any condition.
Contact Bob.
Mobile 07919 064123.
E Mail: bobwoof41@gmail.com.
Location: Lancashire.

This is nothing to do with me, I don't know the bloke but somebody on this Forum may be able to help.

Just to add my twopennyworth about Bike (Engine) Builders Rates....I was visiting a local Triumph bloke today - Thunderbird Spares in Inskip (near Preston) and I posted his published Workshop Rates just so members on here could compare. He is not taking on any more Engine work until 2022 as he has a full order book - which kind of supports his Rates !

Incidentally a friend of mine recently bought a 67 Bonneville for about £10K from a well known dealer but realised that 'all was not well' after a few miles so he took it to Thunderbird Spares for it to be sorted out........I think the phrase used was - 'the fella who built the Engine last time didn't do a particularly good job of it' !

My Son In Law owns a Garage in Manchester which specialises in German Cars, and he gets a lot of work when these cars are out of Warranty as he charges £85 per hour compared to £150 per hour at the Main Dealers......all his guys are factory Trained and he uses Genuine Parts....which also keeps any cars which are still under Warranty protected.

His Technicians don't wear Armani Suits to work and they don't have £100K Company Cars parked outside ! LOL.

I recently sold my 1979 Suzuki GS750 and did the necessary online to advise DVLA. I duly received a note in the post a week or so later confirming they had done their bit and thanks for letting them know. 10/10....Roger so far'.

A week or so later I received another note in the post reminding me that said bike needed to be Taxed.....DOH....(the fact that it's an Historic vehicle which is registered with the DVLA as such and doesn't need to be Taxed just adds to the irony).

I used to be an Accredited Lead Auditor, but if I was to carry out an Audit of DVLA's Quality Management Systems (if they actually have any) it wouldn't take long to do would it....and I could even 'Write up the failures and findings' before I walked through their front door.

It seems to me that they feel they must have and must follow complicated systems as they try to cover every possible eventuality, whereas if they used one simple System for 95% of the vehicles they could save themselves (and us) a whole heap of time, trouble and expense and for the 5% of cases which cause the Gremlins, they could have Humans managing the process and charge a little bit more....now wouldn't that be nice ?

Ref: Hondabond. Just looking at the threaded holes on a Triumph Crankcase to decide whether they will take the screws holding the Primary Chaincase Cover or not. They won't, and two screws were broken off inside the blind threaded holes. Out with the grinder as it was impossible to extract the broken screws. Got a fair way down and I was able to remove the remains of both broken screws.......so I can salvage the cases by welding them back up and re-tapping the holes. The reason the screws had broken is that each hole had a goodly dollop of 'Hondabond' bunging up the bottom of each blind hole and as the screws couldn't be tightened any further because of the 'pistoning' effect, the Orangutan PO had given them a bit more welly and they had snapped off. FFS.

Some monkeys shouldn't progress from peeling bananas and scratching their arses in public just so that little Kids can have a good laugh.

My two pennyworth (for what it's worth).

Golden Rule number one: ALL Government Departments are crap ! If they had to run their Departments like a normal business, most would be out of business or bankrupt within months ! Fact.

Governments, Ministers and MP's are elected (supposedly) to represent their Constituents, but don't actually have any interest in mundane stuff like Vehicle Tax, Registrations and MOT's etc as they are too busy running the country (Government and the party of Government) or they are too busy telling the party in Government how to do their jobs (H.M. Opposition Party). We - the Voters therefore have no voice, no say and no chance !

Most Government Departments have little clue about running a business so their Systems and Forms are mostly 'not fit for purpose'. Designing a Form (online or paper) is an Art which few can manage well. When you are designing a Form that 66 Million Users can easily follow is nigh on impossible because in an audience of 66M, there will be many thousands who simply don't fit the model it was designed for. Sitting down face to face with a human to explain why your situation is unique and needs special attention is simply not allowed, so you have no chance of getting a fair hearing.

The concept of making the 'Customer' tell the truth, getting their problem resolved ASAP and if they tell lies they understand and accept they will be severely punished is alien to Civil Servants, so the onus is on the Department to ensure that everything is 100% rather than it being down to the 'Customer' to make an accurate - and legally enforceable declaration just isn't allowed. 

Most Civil Service Departments employ a large number of 'Agency' or 'Short Term Temps' as the Government wants us to believe that the Civil Service is not 'Top Heavy' with Staff (although it actually costs more in the long run, but these costs are hidden or come out of easily disguised 'other' funds) which takes the pressure off Government, Ministers and Heads of Sheds in the Civil Service. As such workers may not be with the Department next week or next month, their training is minimal, and as I have already pointed out, where the Systems and Forms are unworkable or so cumbersome or difficult to follow, even their own personnel can't understand or apply any consistency when out of the ordinary situations crop up.

I have spent many years as an Accredited Lead Auditor and have audited many leading Companies in many different fields. I have also undertaken many Accident and Incident Investigations (to find out exactly what went wrong and to put suitable controls in place to prevent it happening again) and have been responsible for writing and developing Management Systems (including Forms and Monthly and Annual Reports), and over many years I have reached the conclusion that the Civil Service is inept, and 'Not fit for purpose' ! My simple solution - if I was reporting to the Transport Minister - would be to streamline the Systems and Forms so that 90%+ could use them online and for the other 10% where things are not so easy, have local or Regional Offices where the Customer can speak to a skilled and experienced Operator or make a face to face appointment, pay a reasonable Fee to talk through their situation and leave with the problems resolved satisfactorily and everyone would be much happier. The Fee would pay for the Offices and some Operators could work from home using Flexible Working arrangements which as this Pandemic has shown, is a thoroughly logical and desirable option in today's world.

Lastly, they only get away with such a crap service because we let them ! WE pay the wages of these people. I will happily write a 'round robin' letter for sohc Members to send to their MP.......I'll happily do it, but to have any effect, a lot of members will have to send it to their MP's. What do members think ?