I took the wheels off my XB today ready to fit some new rubber. It's been a unbelievable 10 years since they were last fitted. The fact is that my annual mileage has dropped off year by year as other more pressing life events took hold. What the f***:happened? At last years MOT the apparent age of the tyres on my Buell had attracted a cautionary.

The act of removing the wheels that used to seem relatively easy was now also a bit of a task for these older bones! At each step I realised that another tool I had mislaid was needed. Even my almost essential T27 torx screw driver was no longer wedged under the locking seat where I could swear I put it in 2015!

All too slowly each shortcut I used to take to make this a seamless task began to come back to me!

I could not find my trusty socket to fit over the hex head into wheel spindle and so used a ring spanner! Amazingly the shafts unscrewed without fuss.

The wheels now sit in my hallway ready for the car journey to my trusted tyre centre, who are fortunately still in business. I'm thinking of trying Dunlop Mutants for a change instead of Road Pilot's.