Well just as the title suggests, my daily blew up! that’s right caput, it’s a sad day indeed.
we’ve been through a lot, my little div and I, the trouble with the bike started back in may, up until that point she had been an awesome little workhorse, well more of a donkey really, but the little custom faded 98 diversion was a good reliable little 2 wheeled companion, I commuted on it, had fun on it, and strapped more things to the back of it than the laws of physics should really allow, but she always plowed on and never missed a single beat.
But then in may, out of nowhere I get hit by a car at a crossroads! The damage to the bike was mainly cosmetic with scrapes and cracks to the bodywork, bent bars and levers and a snapped off gear selector, all an easy fix really, and compared to the little 106 I got off pretty lightly.
But right there boys and girls is where the curse of the devils bike started, you see the insurance company wanted to write her off as the garage bills would be to high, so I said forget that, I can fix it myself with things I have in the workshop, £20 quid and a solid saturday and decided not to claim. Bike saved from the grave.
Now if you’ve seen final destination you know that if you cheat death it will be out to get you and will eventually claim it’s prize i.e. my div. so after fixing all those things that were broken in the bump, I had another few weeks of relatively event free riding, the little divvy had lost the spring in it’s step but was still pretty much the same bike, until one day, parked up outside the coop (other convenience shops are available), while I nipped in to get some man fuel, a young lady reversed into my bike parked a good 8 feet away from her car, destroying the front fender, bending the stand to an unusable angle and knocking the bike over, driving straight over the front wheel and stopping there when she panicked, plus another unsavoury bump to the head!
At this point I was planning my winter fix up anyway so i wasn’t to bummed out, I was set to replace the chain and sprockets, two new tyres and the usual filters and what not, only now I had a whole front end to replace too plus a third set of bars to add to that list!
A stroke of luck however came whilst browsing fleabay one day when i stumbled across a rolling divvy frame, pretty much complete aside from engine, electrics, exhaust and bodywork, tyres we’re new, as were the sprockets, they’d never even had a chain fitted! happy days! so two hours up the m1 and the roller is locked and loaded, a weekend of tinkering and the divy was fit for the road once again!
And not a minute to soon as I was due to start work at a new job the following Monday which was set to increase my daily commute by about 30 minutes each way so after having 7 days of working out the kinks I start the new job.
It was a cold, wet and miserable Monday morning and I’m trying to convince my new work chums why I ride bikes, and that it honestly it is a good idea, the very next day on the way to a meeting, coming down the dual carriage way the div starts to pop and fart like it’s running out of fuel, “fuel? it can’t be I thought I only put some in this morning” more pops and farts and 100 yards later I have no power at all, and coast gently and silently to the hard shoulder.
First I check the obvious one, nope, plenty of fuel, then I check the tap, yup that’s on, it’s fine, what’s going on I wonder there’s no obvious signs of a problem at first glance? I flick the start button and the div flies into life, all be it sounding like she’s firing on 2/3 cylinders and sounds something like a panzer tank, but there is light at the tunnel, just another 200 yards away is a maccy d’s, if I can just get there I can have a proper look without the lorry’s brushing past my arse! so I hop back on and go for it, just as I get to the car park, the bike cuts out again, this time in a massive, look at me cloud of white smoke, for those that don’t know, white smoke is generally burning or really hot oil, so masses of white smoke is really not good, now the bike won’t turn over at all, the motor is blown and after waiting patiently for 5 months and two failed attempts satan has finally claimed the div.
Or has he??…………..
