a summer's tale...

[ferguzzi]

Soooo..way back in june we had the uk get together in scotland so off I went. I knew I had only one night, as I had to be in london for saturday afternoon,so up at sparrows fart in friday morning,I strapped on the bike and left southwest Ireland, hitting the meet about 4pm, plenty of time for a few spins, followed by much mirth and frivolity in the bar.

This part involved many of the motley crew who contribute here( people from belfast, spies from denmark, artist from wales, madmen from the orkneys, weird dutch guys claiming it was their birthday-you know, the usual) and didn't we have a laugh, and even some haggis. yum.

Only I was up early the next day, so up at dawn on the bike and off to glasgow airport, leave the bike, and catch a flight to heathrow.

I fly for a living, so off to new york, quick turnaround, few beers, decent sleep, back to london, catch a flight up to Glasgow, and I'm leaving the airport Monday afternoon intending to spend another night in the tent where we had stayed for the meet, and then catch the ferry for ireland on tuesday morning, next day.

As luck would have it, The weather in gorgeous, and I'm not feeling too wrecked at this stage, so I head for the hills to find some great scottish roads, except all the roads seem to be great and a fabulous day is had. I even went to the highest village in Scotland.

Come around 7pm and I'm nearly back at the campsite and it's time to refuel, so I fill up at the local station, feeling flushed and looking forward to another haggis,yum, and a few soapy scottish ales.

Only the bike doesn't start first time, then coughs, then splutters, then starts after a backfire.

I manage to roll out of the station, and get off the bike to have a look. It's idling fine, but if I rev above 4000rpm, it coughs.hmmmm. was that petrol or diesel? The thing is, I distinctly remember grabbing the green pump, which should have been unleaded(I own a diesel truck as well as a couple of petrol cars so I'm always checking). dirty petrol? maybe it'll sort it self out.

So I remount and head back to the campsite, about a 10 mile ride, And the bike is fine, unless I hit 4-5000rpm, and then hic-cups.

Back at the campsite I set up the tent and think, maybe it'll be better in the morning.

Who hasn't thought that?

Next morning I try to start the bike quietly(?), so as not to wake the other campers, I think if I can make the ferry ,someone had mention a guzzi dealer somewhere near belfast.....If I can get there....but no. The bastard won't even start now. At this stage I've woken everyone within a 5 mile radius. Time to call the AA.

What I couldn't figure was there seemed to be a heathyy oil leak too. The AA man comes, and can't figure it either.

Someone at the meet also mentioned a good guzzi dealership in Scotland called moto ecosse, so I figure what the hell, I give them a shout. thank god for mobile phones. They couldn't be nicer.. The guy on the phone says definitely dirty fuel, but the oil leak makes no sense, am I sure it's oil?

It's dripping on tarmac, so it looks black,but.... the AA man has a goooood look and now reckons it's fuel. mot ecosse guy says now it must be diesel, something about the fuel injectors not accepting it and pissing it out.

So, off to a local greasy garage, drain the tank(suprisingly easy), and vrooom! up she starts, not a problem.

I made it home at midnght, tired but happy to have made it. In Ireland the diesel pump is always black, unleaded green, but it seem in britain(or dumfries at least) there's a type of diesel SHELL sell called optima, WITH A GREEN PUMP. To be fair Iwas jetlagged and running on adrenaline at that stage, still, I should have known better. I'm amazed the bike ran at all, but I love the fact that the bike didn't let me down, just my foolishness.

Hooray for guzzis!

[drewscura]

I'm sure we've all had our goofs. I'm just glad to hear another happy guzzi ending.

[Ballabio Bertie]

Glad you made it home safe.Have a cool Yule!See you in May?

[ferguzzi]

For some God awful reason I'm on call for all of this May as well. so I won't know for sure until about a week before.

But I'll do everything humanly possible....

[Skeeve]

I made it home at midnght, tired but happy to have made it. In Ireland the diesel pump is always black, unleaded green, but it seem in britain(or dumfries at least) there's a type of diesel SHELL sell called optima, WITH A GREEN PUMP. To be fair Iwas jetlagged and running on adrenaline at that stage, still, I should have known better. I'm amazed the bike ran at all, but I love the fact that the bike didn't let me down, just my foolishness.

Hooray for guzzis!

 

Being forewarned is like having an extra pair of appendages [four arms] so just so you know... the fuel nozzles on U.S. pumps are usually red or black for gasoline & green for diesel. Pump colors depend upon the fuel vendor's color scheme; I'm just talking about the actual nozzle.

 

Ride on!

[Admin Jaap]

This one just cries BODGEPOINT

[luhbo]

Does it?

 

Hubert

[raz]

I don't see why not. I got my bodge point just for screwing up. Maybe we should have kludge points too

[luhbo]

Well, if I remember right it was not enough just to make something silly. This happens every day, to every one. For a Bodge Point you had to come up with an interesting solution to come out of this problem, I thought. Maybe something like using Irish sheep piss to neutralize the Irish Diesel piss. If you're now getting these points so easily I could tell you a lot of stories of which I thought I would better not tell them to anyone else.

 

Don't get me wrong, is's a nice and interesting story, really a summer's tale. I once read a similar one of a german guy who filled up his bike in Italy using a 20 euro note. As he couldn't use the whole summ he offered the rest to some italian bikers behind him, but the Italians kindly denied. The funny thing was that he felt offensed by this refuse and started to argue about "bigheaded" foreigners, himself being abroad ofcourse and not talking their language, only to find out 5 minutes later that he had filled up with Diesel - unfortunately.

 

Hubert

[ferguzzi]

What, a point, a real point, for meeee????

And some ***** is saying I don't deserve one?

I can be as silly as anyone. And I want it. I worked for it. I deserve it. I'm a bit pathetic too....

 

Depressed in Dubai. Muslim new year. No beer. <_>

[badmotogoozer]

I KNEW these lumps would run on diesel!

[docc]

My Sport ran about four feet on the tank of diesel I offered it.

 

A friend was nice enough to provide me with a nice, big orange "GASOLINE ONLY" sticker.

 

I keep it on my forehead.

[jrt]

My Sport ran about four feet on the tank of diesel I offered it.

 

A friend was nice enough to provide me with a nice, big orange "GASOLINE ONLY" sticker.

 

I keep it on my forehead.

 

Is that worth a point? Maybe only if it was a tattoo?

[Todd davis]

Is that worth a point? Maybe only if it was a tattoo?

But only if it were backwards so it could be read in the mirror!