PART THREE
Exactly two months to the day after I’d bought the bike, the brand new V5C landed on my doormat. I informed my insurance company and ordered a numberplate from Chestnut Registrations. One week later the new numberplate arrived and was duly fitted. Time for a road test!
This ride was very local, just round the houses. I didn’t want to be too far away just in case I had to push it home, and the ride didn’t go as well as I might’ve wished. The charge light came on and became brighter the faster the engine ran. Happily that turned out to be a simple fix. One of the spade connectors had pulled off the relay, so I stopped and pushed it back on and all was well. Changing gear was rather difficult, not helped by the position of the footrest. Of more immediate concern was the brakes – or the lack of them. They may have seemed OK riding along the flat, but descending my favourite test hill showed them to be somewhat absent, the rear brake in particular.
To get the brake shoes out, first the QD rear wheel has to come off. Once
