Posts by UK_Paul

You will certainly get used to the noise and quickly lern to love it.
However you'll spend more time watching the faces of people you pass than thinking about any noise that it's making.

Quote from Mateo

@Alpha Media My engine bay is about to scream Alpha!

My engine bay has already screamed "Alpha!"
It's now sitting in storage and whimpering for me to fit it all. Big thanks go out to SlingMods for getting things to the UK so well.

Quote from Ruptured Duck

double nuts when done correctly work great. I wish Polaris had just copied 4x4 solid axle front hub assemblies. One nut to set proper torque, second to lock in place with a lock washer to insure they didn't back out. Also could have just copied tried and true tapered bearings as well.

I'm with Ruptured Duck on this one. If the jobs done right it should be fine but his recommendations are much better.

I was considering having the replacement swinging arm on my one done, before it's replaced but now I'm considering leaving it as standard.

Any additional advice will be greatly apreciated.

So that now completes the circle, back to the first posting on this thread.

Other things have since happened, like the N. Irish distributor parting company with Polaris and difficulty insuring a SlingShot, at a reasonable price, in the UK. But I'll possibly save those things for another day.

We headed home...

Elaine hadn't got to hear the closing conversation with the distributor, but if she had then she would probably been just as disgusted. I recounted the outline of what he had just told me and the response was. "I didn't trust him anyway." Well that was the two of us, not very impressed with him now.

Our conversation continued and it was possibly about half an hour before Elaine actually said "Well do you want one then?"
My response was: "Yes, you know I do." - - Pause - - "But what about you? - Did you like it?"
Her reply: "YEEAARRR! Of course I do!"
Well that was it. The next Monday morning I picked up the phone to the distributor and asked if he could match the same price. He looked a the figures and after a little discussion about some extra work that I also wanted, we made a deal.

What comes next proves to be quite interesting.

Elaine and I had not directly discussed weather we would get a SlingShot, during the test drive. We had only discussed the pros and cons, leaving a final decision still open. Elaine knew how I would negotiate, things like this and therefore realised that I would start talking prices, even if we ended up not choosing to buy, so that we would have a firm figure to base our decision on.

This particular dealer and I had spoken over the phone, with regards the price and when I now discussed this with him, face to face, the price had mysteriously increased. (I suspect he had forgotten what he had previously offered to sell at). This didn't impress me very much. Eventually, he reached a price that I would be happy with, I would still give the first dealer a chance to reach the same price (but, perhaps, that was for another day).

A while ago in this thread, you may recall that I mentioned that, I knew someone was supplying the local military, (near my home), with Polaris equipment. If you have been joining all the other pieces of information, in this thread, together, then you will also have probably picked up on other information relating to what branch of the military this was. That's all well and good, but...

When I was about to leave, I dropped a very tenuous and discreet link to the fact that I knew he supplied them. His response was shocking. With a little suggestion from me he quickly revealed the details of the QM, at the camp. (Quarter Master. Not the same thing as an American or Canadian QM - British ones are Captains or Majors, drawn from the ranks of the regiment).
THIS SHOULD JUST "NOT EVER" BE DONE!
I of knew the man he was telling me about, (he even gave me his name). That same man does not know me; I know his brother, his wife, what motorcycle he rides, where he was born and a shed load more than that. This sort of information should not have ever been mentioned to anyone. Particularly as the SlingShot distributor didn't know me any better than Adam.

That was it... He had just lost himself the sale!!!

Elaine took the wheel and we both set off. The weather was still fine and we headed off along a small country road, passing the occasional horse and rider, as we went. After a while we met the main road and headed off for more of our ride.

Elaine appeared to be enjoying herself, however commented later that she was a little unnerved, at first, with the steering wheel positioned on the opposite side, of the vehicle, to what she was normally used to. She may have felt unnerved but she very quickly got the correct positioning of the SlingShot sorted out and we had a very good run.

We drove for a while and then turned the SlingShot around, to head back to the dealers. We both were more impressed with the ground clearance than we had expected. This wasn't going to change the fact that we would, still, need to get the incline of our drive sorted out to be able to reach our home in it.

Just a little way before we had reached the distributor's location, we pulled over into a layby (I believe this may be referred to as a "turnout" or "pullout" in the US). The car behind us also came into this area and the occupants were looking out of the car at us, as if we had just landed, from outer space.

Elaine and I swapped positions for the very last part of the run back to the distributor's. I quickly felt at home again driving/riding it, but I should say Elaine had been positioning it better on the open road than me at this time.

When we got back we sat in it for a while and discussed the pros and cons, then I measured and took pictures of items that I wanted to check later, when we got home, like how low the front was to the ground and how wide it was at various points.

I was also making note of things like the lock nut on the rear axial, as none of the dealers, that I had spoken with, so far, appeared to know if they had been supplied with 15, 16 or 16.5 models (We don't get the 17 model in Europe yet).

The next job was to talk with the distributor...

At last!
A Friday came around, I was feeling reasonably well and fit, the weather looked good for Saturday and I made the call. Everything was booked up for the following day, so that Elaine could get the drive/ride.

We set off, bright and early, heading out to the distributor. No problems with the traffic and arrived in good time. The weather was still fine and it looked like we would be having a good run in the surrounding countryside...

Quote from Tripod

More about UK healthcare...

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32057948

Things could be much better, but I'd probhably (in fact, almost certainly) be dead without it.

Sorry to upset the pro-chain people, but...

I belive that it's the same belt as the one fitted on my Victory Vegas (sure looks the same to me).
I have not had any problems with it on the bike and the only Victory that I have seen with a chain on, snapped a link right in front of me, when the rider was trying to show off.

I don't think a chain could be called an upgrade, more likely just a problem you should be expecting to happen. (But, it sure would look good).

Dam!
I sure am glad that I live in the UK. If you check out my recent thread, you will see I have been very ill for the last year. We have a system that we call "National Health Insurance" Every person working contributes a portion of their salary to it and every person in the UK has totaly FREE Health care when they need it. (You can have additional insurance if you want shorter waiting times, for non urgent work and a softer bed, in a posh room. But the doctor's tend to be the very same people). The important part of it all is the "when you need it" comment. You never have to worry if you are headding into hospital A&E, in an ambulance. They don't care if you are a king or a tramp, you get the care you need. (Not always the best care but you do get it).

I would have gone bankrupt by now, if I lived in the US with all the problems that I have recently had.

UK_Paul's - Slingshot Build & Other Adventures -

Quote from dangerdarrell

Man. It sure is hard to get a ride in a SS in England.
My wife is checking on going to the Ireland office of her company for a year. Hopefully it will work out. Have to see how much trouble it will be to get my SS over there. I could probably make a fortune selling it there. Then I could pick up another when I get back and start all over.

Only one SlingShot in Ireland right now...
It's in the north and unsold. Nothing is yet in the Republic of Ireland, at this time.

It gets completed but the story will tell all, as it works it's way through.

The SlingShot story now continues:

As things started to improve Elaine and I decided that we needed to get on with things and organise a test drive, for her.

I checked out the dealer's and I knew that we were off to London to see a couple of bands playing. Therefore I tried to book a test drive with a dealer, not too far from where we used to live. This would have been good as I could meet up with old friends whenever I needed to return for servicing.

I spoke with the salesman and arranged the day.

Two days later the email confirmation came back with a different date on it. when I phoned up to question the date, it turned out they were off to a show on the day I thought that I'd booked and they had assumed the next day. (Oh well, stuff happens). We had now booked our hotel and couldn't change things, so (as we would say in London) "We 'ad to blow 'em out" (ie. We had to miss them out, this time, for the test drive).

So: Plan B. This was to arrange a test drive with the guy that organised the Mallory Park day. I spoke with him on the phone, then tryed to arranged a test drive. He was very helpful and was the man that had been trying to supply me a Slingshot, for Elaine to have, for a weekend. We agreed that we would arrange a day at short notice and that was exactly what we did.

Quote from dangerdarrell

Just read Pete's story. That is one tough guy!!!

Yes & he has a heart of gold. He does amazing work for disabled survice men. I have watched him take a guy, with no legs, on a 125 mile, non stop canoe race, with 77 portages (Portage: That's a "getting in & out place"). Each time, he just picked the bloke up, out of the kayak they were both in. Carried him, to the next point, then went back, got the boat and continued on with the race. He treated and worked with him just as he would any other person and pushed him just as hard.

But you would never want him against you.

Quote from Jonathan Thompson

I will assume you are planning on getting back to the Arctic Circle story at another time...

I've decided that I'll tell you, a little about, who fixed me up, but that's all your getting.

Copy the line below, or use Google:
http://pressreleases.responses…eter-bray-to-share-story/

There is a lot more to this man than you'll ever find on the net.

The next time I got to see Pete Bray again was, a long time later, when I was backpacking, in Ireland and as he landed, in a kayak, one bay south of his actual planned destination. I was standing at the top of a steep hill/cliff and wached a local farmer walk out to him, on the beach below, as he put his boat, coverd in solar panels and sponsorship ashore. All of his suport team were approximately 1-2 miles further up the coast. (That's was typical of Pete). It later turned out that this was the end of his, epic, Atlantic crossing, that you can read about with the above information.

I'd not seen him for years and at that time, I didn't realise that it was him, below me, on the beach. I was just watching him, from a fair distance and only found out a few days later, when I met up with some mates, that knew the full Arctic/leg story. We then got put back in touch, with each other, again.

This guy is a very special person indeed and I owe him a lot.

Quote from Jonathan Thompson

I will assume you are planning on getting back to the Arctic Circle story at another time...

Perhaps, if I do, I may just have to kill you.

This time I wasn't going home until I was actually getting better!

The pain was greater than I'd had with this before, however in retrospect, I perhaps didn't complain enough. In Britain they ask you to describe the pain in a range from 1-10 (10 is bad). I would regualy say "Seven" when asked, so they thought that perhaps it was not too bad.

It was only when I explained that I'd had previously experianced very much more pain and pushed through it, that they realised that to me 7 probhably meant 10 to the next man.

The explanation came out when I told them that I'd carried myself 1/4 - 1/2 mile, while I was up in the Arctic Circle, with my left knee joint broken and my knee-cap sitting at the rear of my leg (now that's a 10!). Fortunately one of the people that I had got myself to, then administered me with some realy good (military issue) morphine and took me the 500+ miles to hospital, where they then set about to rebuilt me. Now, that was what I'd call real pain.

So, now back to the UK hospital admission:
More antibiotics, lots and lots more morphine based drugs, (see... it's not all so bad), lots of scanning and camaras getting pushed into places that I'm not going to talk about.

This admission lasted for about another month and much to there annoyance I refused to let them discharge me untill things were definable getting better.

Eventualy things did start to improve and I went home again. This time I continued with more checkups and antibiotics for an additional two months.

It finally appeared to be working and everyone concluded that this dam virus had been nesting itself in my prostrate gland and then attaching the rest of my body. (More scanning and camara visits would appear to have confirmed this later).

• Now it was time to start some recovering.

So it's now around the start of September and I'm back in hospital again' just a few days after being discharged. Everything has started all over again. Or perhaps more accurately, everything still has not got any better. This time the stay will be about a week (if I remember correctly).

Then, just like last time, the symptoms had reduced, after copious amounts of different opiates. Once again I was discharged and told that the antibiotics were working well and all I needed was a check-up with my local doctor, in a few days.

Three days later I had my scheduled check-up, with my General Practitioner.

You guest it...
I arrived at my doctor's surgery, driven by my wife Elaine, as I was unable to drive myself. They helped me into the surgery, I was shaking, (trembling with cold, as I had been, when I was in Australia, 7 months before, when it all started), running a fever, I couldn't concentrate, unable to sit because of the pain, in my prostrate and generally feeling as if I had been run over by a fleet of, fully loaded, trucks. They put me on a bed in one of the rooms, at the surgery and the doctor came into see me, rather than me go to him.

That was it!
He went, to the phone on the desk and called 999 (that's the same as 111 for you in the US). Time to head back to casualty again, with sirens and the blue lights flashing away, as we went.

This was all getting a just little too monotonous now.

Quote from gpcustoms

Are you getting frequent flyer miles? Keep the demented humor. I found that it helps to laugh at anything and everything young Jedi

I don't know about frequent flyer miles but one of the ambulance crew, (on the next admission, after this. - Yes we still have more coming) was a guy that I had last spoken to, over 30 years ago, when he and I both had very different careers. It just proves that it's a very, very small word that we live in.