(Left to right: 175mm wrench with inspection cap tool and bottle opener, vice grips and 9/16 UNF socket, 5/16 Whitworth ring and open end spanner, narrow flat head screwdriver 3/16th hex allen key)
What are the chances that the fork end caps fall off and the front wheel goes with them and I fall to my death face ground off on tarseal? Fork end caps: Five-sixteenth Whitworth.
How are the odds on my handlebars rotating away from me loose in their stays throttle winding open and the brake and clutch beyond my grasp? Handlebar stays: Five-sixteenth Whitworth.
If the carb is cranked on too tight the throttle slide might stick wide-open, sickening visions of fumbling for the key as bottom ends suck white metal out of a bearing and start flailing any second they’ll be a leg-out-of-bed… Carb manifold nuts: Five-sixteenth Whitworth.
There’s an odd tension in riding a motorcycle that was built 61 years ago, and has been fettled and fiddled constantly since. It’s a constant holding of “what if” and “beautiful, she’s running nice today!” I’ve had the Speed Twin for 76 days, rebuilt the clutch four times chasing slip; crashed it once - necessitating a new headlight, shell, speedo bracket; had the front wheel out once; pulled the carb apart twice; chased dodgy cables; and tightened the headstock thrice. I’m getting to know her. She’s wet sumped me once with half-a-litre spewing from the crankcase vent, but otherwise been a gem.
Tonight was 60 kilometres at dusk, up the hill, round the hill, down the hill, to the lake, back through town (just for window reflections) and does the new headlight work?
We’re bedding in, learning our ways.