July 9 2001 |
|
Well, it's been a strange week. I went out with a few of my friends on Thursday for a run, we ended up in Helmsley. Whilst eating cholesterol heavy snacks and drinking coffee we were approached by a very nice woman who said she was from the BBC. She said there had been a report published saying there had been a 10% increase in motorcycle accidents and that "born again" mature riders had featured heavily in these figures. I said "what are you looking at me for, go and find some old geezer". Ha! Anyway a couple of us did a little interview and sure enough we were on the telly at teatime! Not sure how I feel about my only moment of fame being because I've got the life expectancy of a snowflake in Hell! One of my friends put his helmet and sunglasses back on as soon as she announced who she was. This puzzled us all! When she had gone we asked why and he said that he could not be on telly as his mother did not know he had a bike and she would go ballistic! We all nearly died laughing as he is 34, married with a child! |
|
| I got my credit card bill today and guess what???? Yes you've guessed it there was 2 Screens listed from M&P. So because of their returns policy of not sending out the correct screen because I would have paid for 1 and had 2, I HAVE NOW HAD TO PAY FOR 2 - BUT I HAVE NONE! This is an absolute disgrace! The Powerbronze Flip-up arrived today and guess what - - The holes are OVAL!
|
|
|
|
Not as bad as Nuvo but none the less I will have to do something with them SIGH! I'll use a file this time and take care. Obviously neither of these manufacturers have attempted to fit their product to the bike COS IT WON'T FIT! The Powerbronze is very similar in size and shape to the Nuvo. |
|
|
|
| It is however a dark tint. This is the colour I originally wanted but M&P did not have one I think it will fit in very nicely with the black fairing if I can get it on without busting it! and it comes with trim supplied! On attempting to fit the screen to the bike it soon became apparent the thing was not going to fit without a fight. I decided to persevere with it as I felt my options were running out as far as fitting any screen to the GPZ. The first job was to carefully file out the bottom holes so those pesky plastic fasteners would fit. This done I offered the screen up to the fairing only to find it would not clear the brackets the hold the fairing and mirrors in place. I could only get it to within about 2 inches of where it should be! The cut out parts just below the top mounting hole had to be altered - more filing. Having got the cut outs to clear the brackets, the screen then went somewhere near where it should be but the holes did not line up! - more filing!! They were not far out, just enough to make it impossible to get the screws in. Ask me if I was getting angry by this point! The next bit was to attempt to fit the screen with the plastic fasteners and the piece of plastic that masks the back of the instruments all attached - IMPOSSIBLE!!! The Powerbronze was slightly thicker than the original. This may be necessary to make it strong enough as it is quite a bit bigger than the original, but never the less it meant the plastic fasteners kept popping off and falling behind the instruments. In then end, as the Powerbronze is quite dark I thought I'd be able to dispense with the mask all together. There is no way you can see through into the back of the instruments anyway. There was only one thing that was not black that could be seen in there and it was a small cable connector so I moved it out of sight. I then turned the plastic fasteners the wrong way round so they could not be pushed through the screen and fall into the gubbins again! This means they are not actually doing anything other than holding the screw in place. I was not worried by this as there are 6 other screws to hold the screen. After all that it FINALLY FITTED!!! I've put pics HERE |
|
July 18 2001 |
|
I've swapped various emails with Powerbronze and they assure me they test the screens they make on the actual bikes. I queried this as there is no way the screen will fit the GPZ500S but they were adamant! However, they did say they would check. Will they???? There are two events I really like to go to in the year. Barton Bike Night and the charity ride out from Dunston. Barton bike night (Wednesday 11th) was ruined because wet weather and high winds. The Humber Bridge closed to both high sided vehicles and Motorcycles so we could not get there. This, I am told, really spoiled the whole thing as traders could not get their vans there and of course many bikers could not attend. I believe they opened the bridge to bikes later in the evening but the damage had been done. The Dunston charity ride is tonight but as I look out of my window at the pouring rain I don't think many will attend (myself included). GRRRRR!
|
|
