Gremlin's Tall Stories

Following on from the circus that took place Saturday and the early hours of Sunday (previous blog post) the headlight needed a more serious looking at.

While at Dargaville the previous day I had pointed out to GiJoe his scottoiler was empty (after he constantly annoyed me reminding me how mine was getting low). Unlike his (under the seat) my scottoiler is on my trellis frame, allowing me to see the level constantly, even adjust it on the fly (seldom do tho). If you run them out though, they can be very annoying, getting the vacuum working again. During the evening he txted me asking how to sort it out (can you believe, he had no idea how to top it up)? I replied it was easiest to see it for myself, as they can differ a little.

After the little adventure with headlight bulbs, the headlight on Katie also needed looking at. After surfacing in the early afternoon, I flicked him a txt, and his response was typical. Free now, get over here.

Packed up some tools and all my spare bulbs I headed over, to find him expecting me earlier. Seems he had a date later on, and was more impatient than normal. First up was his scottoiler, and it looked like the breather hose had been glued on, so instead of being able to go direct into the tube, we went down the breather instead, and I showed him where to open it (before the length of hose itself). A mechanicly minded boy, he catches on quick, but I carry on filling. A couple of squeezes later, the tube pops off the bottle unexpectedly (honest, I've never had it before) spraying Mr GiJoe himself with oil, the bike, the ground. Used to the abuse I somehow continuously inflict on him, he just sighs. He even points out he wanted to go on the date in the shirt, but that wasn't going to happen. Being the helpful sort, I could barely stand, I was laughing so hard... this stuff just keeps happening.

With the chain oiler topped off, I turn my attention to Katie's headlight while I instructed GiJoe to learn how his own headlight came off, as we always blow bulbs in the middle of nowhere. GiJoe had remarked when I turned up, hey, its working now, and yes, the bulb still was. Pulled the bulb out to have a look... hang on, low filament can't work, its clearly missing some filament Back into the bike, yep, another low beam gone. Put my last +90% in, worked fine. Tested the other spare GiJoe had, yep, low also blown, and double checked in his bike to make sure. Threw away the two bulbs (total count of 3 bulbs in under 24 hours). GiJoe then experimented with bulbs in his bike a little, stating it was good already, but more light can't hurt. I advised, based on experience, the +50% seemed to last much longer, and I had 3 spare.

One was duly installed, I gave him another as a small compensation for his assistance and the remaining +90% I installed in Katie. Pleased that we were hopefully sorted for the next few months at least we packed up.

I went home arriving around 5.15pm, he went off for his date, and both bikes were happy once more