No finance. No servicing. No forward movement.

Just a reminder you don’t need a £20,000 adventure bike to get out there 👍

Bought this old girl for £850. No finance, no riding modes, no expensive servicing. Just proper old-fashioned engineering.

Currently waiting for my brother with a trailer, but that’s unrelated.

Chain’s come off again. Put it back on at breakfast and it stayed on for nearly an hour, so something must have changed.

Before everyone starts, I do maintain it. Sprayed the chain this morning. You can see the can in the photo.

Apparently the sprocket teeth are supposed to be a different shape. I assumed they leaned forward to help pull the chain round. Looked quite clever actually.

Previous owner said it had never let him down. Starting to wonder how far from his house he went.

There was a rattling noise when I bought it but the bloke said “they all do that” and I respected his experience. He’d owned it for eleven days.

Had a garage look at it last month. They suggested a chain, both sprockets, wheel bearings and fork seals. Came to nearly what I paid for the bike, so obviously I went somewhere else.

Second place said much the same. Small town though. They probably know each other.

People keep saying preventative maintenance. I prefer to deal with actual problems rather than paying for things that haven’t happened. Admittedly several have now happened together, which is inconvenient.

The fork oil leak has nearly stopped on its own, so that’s one thing off the list.

Please don’t criticise the seat. That tape’s been on there longer than most of you have been riding.

Anyway, still been a cracking day. Lovely scenery, met some walkers, had plenty of time to appreciate both.

If anyone’s passing, could you bring a sandwich? Mine’s at the next campsite with everything else I confidently sent ahead.

EDIT: Brother’s asked whether this is the same chain he told me to replace at Christmas. Not sure why the date matters.

EDIT 2: Someone’s called it a rolling restoration. Bit generous at the moment.

EDIT 3: Home now. Brother reckons I should sell it. Absolutely not. Spent the whole journey explaining how much money it’s saved me.