and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

It's a point, yes. I did say my first cheapy exploded in my hands, it's a bit of an exaggeration but it made a loud fshz-ing noise and threw out a cloud of sparks, fortunately I had the presence of mind to just drop the thing, but I could well imagine this one jamming up, smashing the ali casing and chucking the crownwheel in my direction. I'm usually wearing the standard Croat safety equipment too...

Ryobi? Just looking in the Bauhaus catalogue ('cos it's all overpriced here but Miloš has a contact for a staff discount) but the only one is battery-powered. Not sure about battery stuff, if you're not using it constantly the batteries tend to die.

What else have we got?
Bosch - used to be good, now crap.
Makita - sadly going the same way.
Skil - not sure, seem like cheap tat but I've had a Skil circular saw for yonks and it's been fine.
Hitachi - don't they make radios?
AEG - washing machines.
Toolson - pure Chineseium. Like anything else is made elsewhere.
Matabo - No idea.

[highlander]

AEG - washing machines

I discovered today at work that AEG also make uninterruptible power supply units (battery backup for server and network equipment)

I discovered it today because the one that was providing backup supply for one of my company's buildings decided "Sod it" and died. The equipment it was protecting from spikes/dips/input power loss is now running on direct mains supply.

To be fair, I've worked there 3 years now, and I have no idea how old it is (it was there before I joined), or what caused it to die. But I wasn't previously aware they made UPS units. I hadn't been aware that particular building even *had* a UPS - so I guess I learned two things today.

[steve_earwig]

A lot of the exchanges I used to work in had (probably still have) a different sort of UPS, usually with something interesting like "Rolls Royce" written on them...

Guess what me and Goran did today.
FRsGtxkyCr0
It's alive! (Sorry about the shaky cam, all I had was my old camera) Tbh I didn't think today would be much more than a "what do we need to get it started" fact finding mission, but we couldn't see much wrong with it, besides leaking oil out of the primary chain case. It took ages to get it going - fuel? Check. Spark? Check. Compression? Ouch, er, yes. Starting technique? Maybe not. It popped and farted a few times but nothing significant. Then, while Goran was off buying beer I gave it another go and it started. I was kind of shocked.

Then Goran rode it to his gaff for some more fettling




Then we took it for a wee spin, up into the hills (Goran riding) and back down (me riding - eek!) Then it went to a local pub for coffee (with me following up in the yoyo)


And then Goran decided he wanted to ride it right out into the hills to his family's weekend house, where they were having a party.

That's his wife's Z750 behind it.

Goran loves it, I'm a bit cautious, the gearchange is on the wrong side so I was constantly changing up instead of down and visa-versa, one of the fork legs has little oil in it and I think the chain's knackered but... It was last registered in 1975, since rebuilding it in 1993/4 my dad's had it up and down the road a couple of times but then it sat in his lounge for 15 years, in my brother's garage for 4 or 5 and in my garage for 3 but today we put about 50 miles on it. And it didn't explode!

I have some more film of it from the dash cam but it's mostly a tiny thing in the distance.

[steve_earwig]

I thought maybe it would be worth it for the scenery so here you go, 9 minutes of "dot in the distance". The is from when I caught up to Goran after we filled up at Ozalj to his "hero's welcome" arriving at Kamanje.
7u7qxGAweMc

[highlander]

A lot of the exchanges I used to work in had (probably still have) a different sort of UPS, usually with something interesting like "Rolls Royce" written on them...

Rolls-Royce generators? No wonder our phone bills are so high!

Our datacentre is backed up with a fairly large diesel generator (can't remember who built it, but it's not a Roller), but the thing about them is that they can take a few seconds to spool up and begin producing the right voltage. So we have 3x Chloride 70NET three-phase UPS battery units whose job is to run the whole room for a certain amount of time - enough to allow the generator to kick in, and to allow the generator to be powered down for maintenance and refuelling should mains power be lost for an extended period of time.

The building with the AEG UPS unit doesn't have a generator. It's a workshop, and the only kit in there that needed UPS power is a couple of 24-port network switches (which also provide Power over Ethernet to the Cisco IP phones in the building).

[steve_earwig]

You should try living in another country for a better idea just what constitutes an expensive (and unreliable) telephone service...

When I was a wee small lad my dad used to work in Howard B repeater station (Howard = Ponders End, North London), he was charged with running the generator for the building and he often used to bring me and my brother along so we could see it running. I believe it was a train engine but it definitely had Rolls Royce written on it. After WWII there was a lot of equipment going spare (e.g. Merlins were so cheap you could use them as anchors) and I'd suspect this is the kind of era we're talking about. All exchanges also had a battery room, I presume battery back-up until the big boy comes up to speed, although I doubt they called them that then. When I was working I used to see a lot of them empty but I do remember seeing them filled with row upon row of glass secondary cells. I believe there's now an UPS built into the base of every equipment rack for this purpose.

Howard B is now a housing estate, I wonder what happened to the engine...

[Welly]

The Matchless bike looks new from where I'm sitting, your Dad did a great job on the refurb, bet it was a nice day all in

[steve_earwig]

It was a weird day to be honest, Saturday morning I had no idea the day would be so eventful, from actually getting it started to riding it off into the country and gatecrashing a party.

Dad? Most of what you see was me with my dad supervising! It was 25 years ago so I've forgotten lots, although I do remember stuff like sweating while I tried to press a main bearing straight from the freezer into a crankcase straight from the oven. Oh, and spending hours polishing stuff with the buffer. He did keep it well mind, and he did all the transfers, although sadly a petrol spill proved they're no match for modern rubbish fuels.

[Welly]

Ah so well done to you then! I'm surprised it survived the storage so well since the refurb, the wheels look brilliant, what's been done to the 'silver' parts on the bike? they look nice.

[steve_earwig]

Most of it's zinc but I think the wheels are chrome. When it was made chrome plating wasn't available so it was all zinc, IIRC the wheels originally were zinc to the edges with black inside. Spokes are stainless.

It spent about 12 years in my dad's lounge as an item of furniture

[steve_earwig]

I've been on the blower to Swansea. There doesn't seem to be a log book with the paperwork, just the new keeper supplement and it's blank. 13 years ago my dad moved house and was supposed to send it off for a change of address but I've not got a clue what happened next. It's also meant to have ended up in my name. So on to Swansea to see if I could worm out any useful information. The website says they'll only talk to the registered keeper so I wasn't expecting much of a result but the young lady I spoke to was extremely helpful - yes, it's still registered to my dad, not registered to his new address, not registered to his old address, not even registered to his old old address. Umm, where is it registered to? I wasn't expecting any help but, after a few blatant clues, I realised it's registered to my brothers address. Umm Apparently all I need to do is fill out an application for a V5 and send it, along with the new keeper supplement, to Swansea and Bob will be my father's brother.

Actually, my dad, my brother and my nephew are all called Bob, my surviving uncle is in fact Derek.

On to registration. After the amount of bollocks I had to wade through and money I had to pay to register the Yamaha here I'm reluctant. They'll want a fortune 'cos it's old, regardless of the fact it's not a Triumph or anything else more desirable, and I'd loose the registration. The law here says I can only ride a foreign registered vehicle here for a year before I either import it or it goes home (how would they know how long it's been here?) and it must be legal in its country of origin, current tax disk, insurance, MOT. So while I was looking I checked the status for vintage motors and it seems it no longer needs an MOT, nor do I need to pay for a tax disk. If I'm reading it correctly all I have to do is appear at a post office with the log book and a an application for a tax disk form and they'll give me one FOC Sweet!

Hold on a mo, no insurance?? Nope, it doesn't say that anywhere. You mean not only would I not need to take it to the UK for an MOT every year, I wouldn't even have to pay for insurance for a country I'll never ride it in?

Am I dreaming?? Here's the document in question, can this possibly be right? https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... hicles.pdf

[Welly]

Last time I used the Post Office to Tax the Twingo I didn't need to show them Insurances; I believe though that the 'system' can verify Insurance using the online checker-me-bob (Ask MID) during the transaction.

I would be staggered if you were allowed to have no insurance on a classic vehicle.

[steve_earwig]

Ah, thanks for the head's up - I knew it was true good to be true A brief exploration yesterday showed that nobody wants to do cheapy insurance that includes 365 days of riding out of the country, so it'd be pointless paying a premium for anything that I can actually use. When I was first here I had the Yamaha insured here, so hopefully I'd be able to do that. But then I'd still have to pay for the cheapest insurance possible just to tax it. I wonder what the shortest period of insurance is: I only need it for as long as it takes to get a tax disk!

[Welly]

Sounds like a paperwork merry go round, the alternative is a cheeky ride now and then with no insurance? not sure how you'd feel about that. My recent plan to get involved with bikes had me thinking "what if I just bought one a rode it around?" I mean what's the chances of getting stopped on a motorbike? and ANPR camera's are no good from behind?

I dunno how sh*t is that though, you can't really register it there without a fight can you?

[steve_earwig]

I wouldn't ride uninsured, obv. I have more to loose here but I presume they do spot checks in the UK, pulled in because they're bored and maybe just you can be a customer. And what if someone else does something stupid, or someone walks out in front of you? You'll be in a world of hurt even if it wasdn't your fault. No, best not to give the cops a reason to find you interesting...

Indeed, after my experiences with the Yamaha that's the last thing I want to do!

Btw I repaired the cheapo angle grinder, a new bearing was a mighty 4 quid and it works fine again. However, bearing in mind your warnings (it's just me and Welly in here?) I've been considering a (hopefully) better built one. Not trusting half the manufacturers and being put off by some of the other makes I looked at (AEG look really cheap 'n' nasty) I decided on probably a Makita. I was in Bauhaus a few days back checking them out and came across a Makita GA5030R, ot very powerful but probably as much as I need, 125mm but not stupidly heavy (like some of the others I fondled), 500Kn puts it a bit over the UK but maybe I can work something out. Yes, maybe this will do. Err, hold on, the trigger's busted, bugger. Ok it's a display but that really doesn't bode well for it's longevity

I did look for a SKil but they didn't seem to have any