Range anxiety

 So I was on the M25, in a slow queue (as usual) and I noticed my voltmeter was showing 12.8v. I've mentioned before that I haven't been getting more than 13.3v recently but 12.8v is basically battery charge level ie. the alternator was not charging the battery. This is not a good thing - means that everything electrical (sparks, lights,ECU etc) were running off the battery alone. I'm not sure how long the battery would last like that but I couldn't take the risk, so I got off and went home.

What this did mean is that I lost the £80 MX5 drift session I had booked up in NW London!! Urghhhh....

Today, I did some serious staring at Zedster...and my knackered old brain remembered something. The brake warning light on my dash actually has 3 functions; tells you when the handbrake is up, if the brake fluid is low and, crucially, it is part of the exciter circuit for the alternator.

My light has always been flaky; the handbrake sensor is bolted (just) to the side of the handbrake and the plugs keep fouling on my gaiter, so the plug comes of quite easily. The light has not been working for a while (about the same time as my voltmeter has been showing 13.3v, in fact) but I didn't put 2 and 2 together. Until now...

So, 10 minutes to get the gaiter off, put the plug back on, started up and, voila, 13.8v on the voltmeter!!

Now, I have form for thinking I've fixed something, dancing around like a nutcase, only for it to break again a week later, so I'll hold off on calling this a fix until I'm sure. But looks promising...

The ride quality on Zedster has been a bit hard lately, even more so than usual. Some research (which I should have done BEFORE I bought them) tells me that the new Avons are utter junk in all areas but especially hardness; it seems there are several reports of premature cracking and hardening. Great...I don't want to give up on them just yet (£380 worth of tyres and they're only a few months old) so I took them off today and clicked the shock absorber settings softer by a couple of clicks - see if that helps. Also checked the rear pads (about half worn) and checked nothing else loose or hanging off - all looks good.