Gold STANDARD

STAGE 3

At last, a real day to remember. Tim arrived early and quickly fixed the fuel gauge. The wiring loom took some head scratching, investigation, more head scratching and finally removal of the wiring in question. It was not clear why connectors and additional wires had been spliced into the loom, but they seemed to be doing more harm than good. The points were reset, engine was restarted and carbs rebalanced. The bike sounded good.

So, off up the road, then? It was 15 years and one day since the machine’s last MoT! The Wing is from 1975, so as an historic vehicle now requires no MoT or road tax. When I acquired the bike it did not have historic status. I’d applied some months back; the process was quick and simple and I soon had the required paperwork in my hand. Insurance was already in place.

Tentatively, I rode the Wing out of the garage and up my lane to the main road. All seemed well, the brakes were effective and the engine pulled relatively cleanly. Out onto the road, up to the roundabout and back. Pulls smoothly, clutch works, changes gear: look at the speedo: 18mph. All the way up and back. Mmmmmm. I was definitely not doing 18mph all the way: momentarily, yes, but not the whole way.

Back into the garage. The speedo cable was removed from the wheel and an electric drill applied.