Birthday Card for Bernardo

Hi Bernardo, :Party:

A BIG Happy Birthday to you and many, many more.

Have a great day.

I thought I would get this card in a day early.

DennisB

From Me Too Bernardo

Hope you have the greatest birthday ever

And have one for me (if you are so intentioned)

Hey Bernardo,

Happy Birthday to you and wish you many more. Have a great day.

ohy me old salty seamen how you doing not heard from you or seen you in a while happy birthday in the words of michel jackson arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr wheres all the worms come from happy birthday you old fucxxx :afro: :afro: :afro: :afro:



:afro: save the world play with kids take lots of drugs then shmon mother fucxxx

Cheers Bernardo! Have a great B-Day...

Happy Birthday a day late! I'm sure there's still cake left!

Wow... Thanks everyone!! Have been really busy so much going on..... Have recently finished a Mediterranean cruise with family, and also found out I have now sucessfully completed my second undergrad degree, a BA arts (the main component is creative writing). Alas I have to redo a case history for my post grad certificate in psychosocial interventions... Will also be starting some extra nursing work in the community soon (I'm a psychiatric nurse...) Been catching up with friends, adjusting being back at work, and for my birthday I went for a test ride on a Ducati ST3. The first pic is OK as was taken in daylight. The others I have just taken via my phone camera at night so not so good. Hope to take some better ones soon



and the following day spotted a deal I couldn't resist and treated myself to my dream bike and an overdraft. My garage now looks like this...




The new addition, the red bike in the foreground is



A fazer 1000 (older carb version)


Just as well we don't use the garage for a car....

I plan to sell my old Green Yamaha Diversion....... That should pay off the overdraft nicely! Plus there will be a bit more room to move about the garage.... It's either that or I will get to sleep with my bikes in the garage rather than in bed with my Mrs..... !! My trusty Silver Wing will of course be staying......

The Yamaha Fazer, the older carb version, and the Honda CBF 1000 had become my favourite bikes to replace the Diversion, but I'd planned to buy one when I had a bit more money saved and after selling the Diversion, but this deal came up and so I went for it...

Will have to do a write up for the Ducati and the Fazer sometime. The Ducati was great, and fun to ride ... but the Fazer is awesome...! What a machine...

I am very happy right now...! sigh......!

Bernardo wrote:

The new addition, the red bike in the foreground is



A fazer 1000 (older carb version)

Bernardo wrote:

This is unlike the Fazer which although also gives you plenty of that “biker grin” it also seems to hint more strongly of grunt lower in the rev range, and there is a danger that you can easily get seduced into wanting to use it more, and a bit more…

Becareful about that seduction

:lol!: :lol!:

Hello Bill...... That made me smile

I have just realised your warning has come too late!!! Sob... yes it's way too late sob.....!! I'm a hopeless case.... reckon I was actually seduced long ago....

And it all started with that Silver Wing which has less than a third of the power that the Fazer knocks out in bhp.... (or half the torque).....

But now I have the dream machines that I want... and I actually own them, and am not just fantasizing about them......! OK so I have (for the moment) very little disposable money left....... My god, I remember life went like that when I became a daddy and I gave up my job and looked after the kids.....

It seems my biking days have turned full circle again cos I've never owned a machine like the Fazer (or the S'wing) before....

I had a bike from age 16 right up until having kids in my mid 30s, then nothing, no bike for a good 12 years...... I had a pram/pushchair thingy for the kids and (sob! ... bursts into tears!!!) an estate car........ (Pause to catch breath and feel sorry for self)

BUT now I am feeling like this

and this :bounce1:



Y'know at the moment I really feel I'm a good 10 years younger.....

But I am going to be taking it easy with the bike.... Jeez open the throttle hard to overtake and its like big overkill

Not so much this


but more like this....

:space ship:
But despite all that power and poise, I still love and cherish my S'wing That machine, and the folk that ride them have a lot to answer for.....!!!!! Thanks!!

Bernardo wrote:

I
have just realised your warning has come too late!!! Sob... yes it's
way too late sob.....!! I'm a hopeless case.... reckon I was actually
seduced long ago....

Yes ... I know ... I knew it when I read it

Bernardo wrote:

But now I have the dream machines that I want...

So what is your next dream machine ???

Are you going to continue test riding other rockets .
I do enjoy reading them, but that does not seduce me

Well, firstly at some point and hopefully very soon, am going to have to sell my 900cc Diversion to clear the overdraft....

In the meantime I don't think I've stopped smiling ever since riding the Fazer the 55 miles home.... Holy S**t this bike can shift.....! I just have to sort out the road tax.... and for the rest of the summer I have another steed to enjoy ... Who would have believed that I could actually afford my dream bike (well another one of them at least, I've already got my dream scoot!!) And it has recently been serviced, had its MOT, it has new tyres, and check this out, tuned up hyperpro suspension front and rear!! I've never had a machine like this before..... She has done just under 30,000 miles, and is half the age of my 900cc diversion at 7 years old ... My Silver Wing is 6 years old. Oh and I also got a Givi carrier frame and 46 litre colour co-ordinated top box to match...!



However there was a reason that I could afford the bike, and that is it was a bargain which brings me to the only downside in that she has been used as an all year, all rounder from commuting to touring and in all weather. So whilst the frame and wheels and even exhaust are in good condition, the lacquer on the engine is coming away in a few places, and there is a bit of surface corrosion where that has happened..... But I checked carefully and true to the last owners promise, it is all cosmetic... That means that even non mechanically minded me can with a bit of elbow grease, and lots of time address most of this on my own.... I might even get a small drill thingy, small enough to get into the nooks and crannies to get to the awkward bits, and gently buff away the corrosion and re-paint the offending parts myself.... That means the major expense, which would be the labour, I can do myself! On a more positive note, there is a full service history and because the last owner used it all year, he was fastidious with servicing and maintenance, also items that aren't on the service schedule such as the ex-up valve (valve system in the exhaust collector box that is a major contributer to this bikes perfromance ) were also regularly serviced.



I'll send in some better photos in the next few days....



Of course, another sad thing is that I now have no "disposable" money left and instead have a small overdraft, but hey I don't seem to be caring at the moment... I have paid off all the major bills for this year and so all I need to do is sell my Yamaha diversion and that should put me back to normal.....



I am sooo happy! I firmly believe I now truely do have the best of both worlds, a souped up S'wing and a tweaked Fazer...



Actually I have just realised that since getting the S'wing two years ago I had it extensively tweaked to suit me and my foibles... And what fun it has been... Then I must have test ridden at least a dozen or more bikes I think around 20 in all, and all the while was looking for ostensibly an all rounder / hooligan tool... Hmmm an odd mix perhaps, but if I had the money then I would have settled for a big garage, and say 6 bikes instead....!!! But back to reality what a ride it has been.... I have learnt so much, and met so many new people and made great friends, some whom I know only over the internet...

Life is indeed very good, and in my case wonderfully enhanced by owning / riding a decent motorcycle(s) Oh and of course, friends to talk to and share my adventures with!!!!



Happy Riding everyone, be careful out there.....



On a final note, interestingly my Mrs sent the photo of my bikes in the garage to a friend..... He laughed and said very nice, but where is the BMW? (he has just got himself a 1200 GS!) I laughed and jokingly wrote back that if I sold all three I could afford half a 1200GS... Then in horror I realized that in fact this isn't that far off the truth....!

And that reminds me of a certain clip about BMWs... if you haven't already seen this, then you should have a look it is very funny..... But a word of warning it is a dramatic clip from "Downfall" detailing the last few weeks of Hitlers life in his bunker at the end of WW2, it is made funny by the English subtitles...... If however you have strong feelings about this time period and Hitler, and or if you like BMWs (notably the 1200 GS) watch with caution as you might find it in bad taste, and if so I apologise in advance... Oh and er the language is er colourful in parts.

By the way, the 1200 GS is actually a cracking bike, even if a tad expensive...!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukAhlxl4hmM




Oh and if anyone wants to buy a green 1995 Yamaha Diversion 30k in superb condition with full service history, bar risers, touring screen, wind deflectors, new tyres, recent new stainless steel down pipes and collector box, then for £1275 you can get mine….It also has a carrier rack, and hell I’ll even throw in the Givi monokey baseplate and two other screens, the original and a medium size I’m kicking myself for spending all that money on doing it up, only to be seduced to an even more powerful machine… Ah well, lifes like that I guess…. If you are interested, then please pm me…..

Just realised I didn't answer what my next dream bike is going to be.... Well I feel that I have reached a natural resting point now... I think rather than spending money to buy another bike, I'll use it to do-up the cosmetics on the Fazer a little do some touring and have more fun with the excellent machines I already have....!!! Another option would be to get the Fazer tweaked a bit more re-jetted and dynotuned, possibly a new exhaust. That should be good for a bit extra mid range/low torque and a few more bhp.... Changing the front sprocket to make it wheelie easier, now that would be fun...! I could also see about improving the front brakes on the S'wing, and maybe rear suspension....

But to be honest My S'wing is just great as it is, and why I would need any more power form the Fazer, well I don't know..... I mean it has brute power as it is... But then when I bought the S'wing I had it tweaked, then got a 90bhp bike, and now I have a 140bhp bike.....

But I do like the 1200 GS right enough........

And the 2.1 litre Triumph Rocket 3.... Now that would be a blast to ride I'm sure... And its a cruiser too... Never had a cruiser before...Hmmmm

A bit late but happy birthday anyway and nice bike