Luke Rainbird

Just another reminder gents. Still up for it if you lot are

What an utter retard! Presumably you've checked the rest of the setup and will be replacing with meatier cable?

Such a fun road. While I was staying near Brechfa for work for a few months last year I'd detour and drive up and back at least once a week

Getting bummed by an angry TB.

Decent CCTV camera and some Home Alone style vigilante justice. The camera is so we can all watch the live stream.

For a bit of casual playing around and getting a feel for it it'll be fine. Never going to be as suited as a DJ specific bike of course, but to give you a taster or for the occasional session in the sun just get involved

Pffffft. Only a Widowmaker for me thanks. Nothing but the best.

#becauseracecar, right? Extreme weight saving - no engine, no gearbox, no interior, no brakes, no suspension. Not too sold on the extreme rake or 3" front wheels mind... Hopefully have a flatbed w/ crane here late this week or early next to take the shell. Local chap needs a few parts for his car and is keen to take a load of others off my hands to sell on too. Could be a win:win

Mine's faster...

Will be fine driving it on 4/5 for a little while, provided you're not thrashing it around track/similar of course. Youmention that they're nuts rather than bolts so it'd be with checking how they're fitted: factory studs I'd imagine to be pressed in from the rear rather than threaded in which is a shame as else you'd be able to unscrew the offending item and replace. Still potential to grind the head off and drive it out of the hub though not the easiest location to work, especially with the wheel in situ. What shape is the broken nut? Can you hadn't over a sacrificial socket to remove the b*****d?

"What use are numbers when you can't see?" "I love the sound of fun" That's brilliant. I wonder how well received it'd be if it were released today...

Cliff notes: With wife heading up the country to see family at the weekend, I wanted to get her brakes serviced as they were a bit lacking. Uneven disc/pad wear and an increasingly poor handbrake not ideal, so full refresh and sorted out a pair of seized sliders on the rear which explain the issues it was having. One particularly crusty rear splash guard could do with replacing at some point too! Weirdly she wasn't too keen when I offered her a brake upgrade... Old car is now largely ready to disappear. I have some dollies to get it moved as required, just need to book in a collection with a crane to take it away really. In the meantime it's doing a fine job as parts storage (both for those being chucked with the shell and for some of those that are being kept. It's also rather convenient having an oversized "safe place" for parcel deliveries rather than having to visit the DO Garage is now overflowing, sadly. Prior to the shell going I'll try to get in and have a clearout of stuff so I can look to get things more in order. Could do with selling some bits too, really. Haven't done much to LCR due to lack of time. It's in for MOT on Thursday and whilst I don't have any major concerns, there are a few little niggles that will likely crop up: knocking top mount,soon to be replaced with solids on coilovers; broken splitter with ankle-slicing edges, replacement inbound; dead lambda previously mentioned, so clocks and electrical tape may come out this evening... Otherwise it's just been meeting daily duties without batting an eyelid. Even gave it a quick squirt down before @Ash-Kennard's stag do at the weekend.

Soundtrack, hazy video effects and shirtless Pearson. What year is it?! Nicely done gents

Forgot all about it to be honest

I enjoyed it. Yes it was cheesy but overtly so, so I assumed he'd gone over the top with it deliberately. Huge riding regardless, smashed it.

Ride faster.

12 miles from where I used to live in to the nearest town. Summer used to be filled with sunny days of riding in to town, session for a couple of hours, ride another few miles to the skatepark for a bit, 10 miles to the next town for a final session then 11 miles home. Would it have been easier and less effort in a car? Absolutely. Is 2 miles too far to roll in? Absolutely not. Gears and a seat will make your life better, but sounds like your ride in is barely far enough to spin into 2nd and sit down. ...and another thing...

They also run 20" with a decent bit of pressure too, which will feel much nicer than 3" of rubber around your 19" hole, so to speak.

Perhaps a touch narrow, Heath, but certainly not crazy small. Not sure how tall you are/what your ape index is like, but I'd imagine you'd be fine with something a little wider if those feel a little small

Not a particularly productive Saturday this week, which is a bit of a shame. Here's a Rainbird update full of excitement: Totally standard, boring cars and a pile of parts Picked up Soph’s hub from the garage where the new bearing was being pressed in. Bolted it all up, but as I was finishing off I noticed that the ABS sensor was cracked. Bollocks. Down the road to Plymouth to pick up a new sensor, home again to fit it. As anyone who’s changed these will know, they can be a pig to remove cleanly, and this one was no exception. Properly stuck in there, so I went with an assortment of punches and drifted it out in a couple of pieces… Some pretty nasty wear on the rear side of the disc, presumably not helped by the bearing failing. New ones ordered. Hub/sensor sorted, I reset codes via VCDS and went for a quick drive. All nice again but noticed a headlight bulb was out. On checking, a rear bulb had also gone. Swapped the rear, wandered to the front of the car and the bonnet refused to open. Lots of faffing later, bonnet open, broken latch mechanism repaired and everything good again. By the time the Golf was sorted I’d lost a couple of hours I’d hoped to spend on the Leon(s). The grey car has an EML for bank 1 lambda, so I wanted to get a good one in place and began pulling off the charge pipe to make access a little easier. On removal, it’s clear that there’s some oil getting through to the charge route, but until I get my catch can plumbed in I’m not too sure whether this is from the breathers or some iffy seals. With the charge pipe (and bracket) removed, I had reasonable access to the back of the engine. It was immediately obvious where the lambda sensor issue was coming from… I was aware that the cats had been replaced by the previous owner, and that they weren’t an OEM part, neither of which concerned me at the time. With a proper view of the top of the exhaust, however, it was clear that the downpipe had also been replaced, and with neither an OEM part or a decent quality replacement. The tubing isn’t particularly well-sized, which I’m not too worried about at this stage (standard power etc shouldn’t really need much more than this, as much as it’d be nice) however the welds aren’t particularly good and the lambda boss isn’t in the stock location, resulting in the sensor clashing with the exhaust manifold and bending. Not ideal… I could have gone ahead and replaced the sensor regardless, but to physically get it to fit the DP I’d have had to bend it much like the existing one, which would likely kill it again. May as well wait for an upgrade to sort that issue then After bolting the charge pipe back on, I quickly popped the front engine trim back in place. When I got the car this was well and truly seized, so I had to be a little mechanically unsympathetic to remove it. I’d tidied up the metal bracket to defeat the worst of the rust, and replaced the plastic bolts/washers with some M6 cap head bolts and nylon washers. Much better (and yes, the EGT sensor was plugged in before fitting the plastic) I’m trying to chip away at the old car by stripping a bit more each week. By now the interior has been pretty well looted of the parts worth having as spares or selling, so I’ve been chipping away at the exterior. As you’ve seen, I’ve now disconnected a load of the engine and box to a point it’s almost ready to drop out, which I plan on getting done next weekend all being well. Without much time , I opted to pull off the nearside front corner parts - coilover, hub, Brembo etc. I had originally planned on replacing with the stock suspension to keep things rolling, but with scrap prices low at the mo I can probably sell a set of hubs for almost as much as a shell, so that idea is long gone now. I’ll pull the lot off, then just need to figure out a way to keep it mobile enough to get on a flat bed to weigh in… No cars tomorrow, might get lucky one evening next week if the weather plays ball.

They've done a flippin' lovely job on that, mate! With a few tweaks to the map it seems like Boris will be back and better than ever!

Sounds like a winner, Paul. Shelves seem sensible too. In Leon news: Have been on a bit of a hiatus lately due to belated honeymoon. Left behind the UK’s spring snow and spent a couple of weeks cruising around California: Now back to a slightly warmer UK, with bonus longer evenings now the clocks have changed. Unfortunately, on our drive back from London upon landing, it seems a wheel bearing on the Golf is about to implode. I removed the knuckle from the car the other night and dropped it to a local garage yesterday morning to swap for a new bearing. Mechanic was pretty busy, but likely pick it up tomorrow and then just a handful of bolts to refit it all again. Could do with finding a new arch for the Golf too, really, as this one’s getting rather crusty. (I should mention that there's an axle stand under the car here, not just the widowmaker!) Seems to be becoming a bit of a habit really - a few days before we left Matt was in town as his dad sadly passed away and he had to sort things out. One thing that had been high on his priority list but then rightly got pushed further down was a dying wheel bearing, so while he was staying with us we got that sorted. Turns out that he’d killed several in quick succession, which suggests that there’s more going on than just an iffy item, so we swapped in one of the spare LCR hubs I had in the garage along with a new bearing. Seems to have solved things for now, and will keep an eye on longevity. Last night I had a bit of time to myself, so figured it’s about time to start dismantling the old car and get it off the drive. I’d pulled some of the interior apart prior to going away, so decided it was time to start under the bonnet. I’ve not done a huge amount, but cleared a load of electrical/coolant connections and generally cleared the way to drop out the engine and box at some point semi-soon. With all the wiring issues I’ve had over the years, I’m not going to even consider selling the engine loom, so cut off a load of connectors to keep as spares since they’re bloody expensive to buy new! Lots more to do, but once the engine’s out the car will be that much lighter again and I can move it about a little more easily - photos are a little deceptive and there’s enough of a slope towards the house that it’s a bit awkward trying to move it around on my own at present. Once the lump/box are out, I can pull it forward from its corner and take the R32 wheels, coilovers, exhaust, ARBs etc off. I’ll likely replace suspension with old standard parts to the extent of keeping the shell rollable for collection at a later date. Will load it up with as much junk from the garage as possible, since that is in severe need of a clearout too! Layin’ frame yo! Looking rather sorry for itself TIP arrived for the new car while I was out the front too. Sods law that I only got round to selling an identical one a few months ago of course. Will get this fitted once the old car is sorted. If anyone needs little odds and sods let me know - I’m struggling for time to send much via post at present, but if you’re able to collect then things can potentially go cheap to hook you guys up.

Story of my life. I used to enjoy building bikes as much as riding them and swapped between 24/26" pretty much every 6 months, thinking exactly the same as you really. When on a street setup everything felt nicer and I enjoyed just following around, but missed being able to do stuff to a reasonable height/standard, but when I was on a more compy bike I was typically riding "better" which we nice but I missed the cruising. I solved the problem by playing with cars and not riding any more... ...but I have just built another Hex as it was the best compromise and since it'll now get used far less I wouldn't be too concerned any more. Just enjoy it. Edit; The alternative, of course, is multiple bikes or to keep a street and hoppy frame kit built up and just swap wheels over (or just a frame if you don't mind the extra effort every once in a while)