Gator Grip

This little beauty has got me out of a pinch again. I bought it some time in the 80s at the London Motorcycle show and I'll be damned if it doesn't do exactly what the demonstrator claimed. This time I was being defeated by exhaust clamp bolts. After years of hot/cold, wet/dry, tighten/loosen the bolts finally got to a point where they were rounding before releasing. This Gator Grip just grips what's left and holds it very firmly. Excellent piece of kit.

And, no- of course I didn't put the old ones back on, they were way too far gone this time.

Like a dog

with two dicks- King Dick adjustable; part wrench, part vice, all meat, no potato.

Shed picture #1

As I stand in my shed smoking a big cigar I see my spanners, cold, covered in old grease but always faithful. An odd assortment collected together through many campaigns. Some of them were my dads, stolen when I was a punk kid trying to keep my crappy jap bikes on the road. Back then, of course they had no sentimental value; I just pinched them hoping he wouldn't notice. He didn't. Others were obtained through other dubious means no doubt, some I think I even bought. I have learnt, through using them, mechanics enough to keep my current stable functional. It's too cold in here now to even contemplate turning a spanner on a bike so I just stand here smoking and musing on what these slugs of metal mean to me. They're my tools and I love them.