Shadowfax-ST Blog

Announcement I feel a right bastard now. I have to announce, I'm retiring Dilbert tomorrow. I bought the Pan ST1300 this morning and pick him up in the morning - in white (NOT an ex-Police bike). Dilbert will need to be sold. What this does for the Blog's title, I don't know, but I know for sure I feel very disloyal to my buddy Dilbert and I'm not entirely sure I've made the best decision to ditch him. What I do know is that, on balance, Dilbert just can't give me what I want over 110-miles a day but he will make someone else an excellent partner for mid-range commuting and occasional long-range touring. I hope they look after him as well as I feel I have and as he deserves. I'm feeling this quite emotionally. I feel like Frodo misleading Golem into the clutches of Farramir. It's like loosing a great dog. I'll miss the little tyke. So might the neighbours' cats.

Difficult Dilbert has surpassed my expectations as a motorcycle in every sense of the word but I cannot do 110-miles a day on him 5-days a week and pretend its all fun, or even only a little adventure. If I was to commute, say, 30-miles each way I could do it; 20 would be great fun. I see the difference when passed by local commuters on sports bikes: weaving like lunatics through the traffic as they only need to work hard for 20 to 30 minutes. I have to work hard (up the A32 and A31) for over an hour each way to make the same rate of progress through the escalating amount of traffic passing up and down the route at annoyingly sedate rates of speed. Dilbert is quite sprightly when called upon to perform a series of overtaking: knock down a couple of gears from 5th to 3rd at 60mph and the effect can be quite exhilarating and effective in passing short lines of traffic, but confidence wains where longer lines need negotiating over short stretches open to overtaking. I'm not going to c

Wind Disturbance I read on the Net that turbulence around the helmet can be caused not by the air being directed around the screen, but being sucked up the gap in the fairing where the forks sit. It makes sense that forcing air up and over the riding space will cause negative air pressure immediately behind the screen, and that this will draw air into it. I've watched rain drops fall from the top of the Vario screen and then, just above the tank, suddenly defy gravity and fly upward toward my face at the speed of travel. It gives some explanation? Perhaps then the helmet is not at fault, nor directly the screens, but my sitting position may be too close to the tank inviting disturbance from this internal (and underhand) air flow. It may also explain why wind direction and strength can have such affect where a cross wind may help to dampen the affect from the side of the screen, but from head on? It's just going to exacerbate it. Hey, this is only theory based on some writin

Temptation: Pat's Pan

Hmmmnn... Snatty stowage 1300cc V4 Fuel gauge Good Stuff Good reviews Big and electric screen 45mpg (or 11Ltr / 100-miles) so slightly more than Dilbert Adjustable seat A few extra ponies Bad Stuff Expensive High mileage (again) Um...did I mention high mileage? Hmmmnnn....I need advice (on where to blag the cash)...Ka?

Helmet Vibration Thursday saw Dilbert and I filtering for the best part of 12-miles down the M3 in blistering heat. He'd managed to cruise at 80mph and peaked to a fright (mine) at 95mph - once; for a look-see. Then we had to filter for that long while in the heat. I got a little heat-stressed. Filtering is listed on the Web as an art form. I came quite naturally to it but then I've been filtering most of my life with the early days of racing bikes about town and then small motorbikes, and then the endless array of cars (and minibuses, some of you may remember) thrashed along past queues in reckless attempts to "make the lights". Anyway, once home I felt ill. The buffeting I'd experienced had been pretty severe and although I'd chosen to ignore it at the time its after effects were server enough to make Friday's ride even more uncomfortable. On the home leg of the A32 I just wanted to give up. The vibration became nausea inducing and mixed with some more h

Phut Phut - SOLD! The ebay purchaser is quite local and has not done the CBT yet so I agreed we'd deliver. I started Phut-Phut up on the driveway and added some choke to get him warmed up: family boarding the Rover ready to follow me to Havant. We dribbled to the road and I couldn't believe just how tiny the poor mite is. Up to our junction and I indicated right; "BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...", and turned them off again as Ka was following and knew where I was going and people started to stare. Onto Portsdown Hill with memories of our last trip over there on the way to the dealer's to get the new carb. The Sun was setting some 9-million miles behind Fareham and the air was balmy. Phut-Phut fizzed along the 40-mph road without a murmur and quickly we got used to one another again. I couldn't believe how little power he has. On down the Hill toward Havant and down again to our North turn; through the gears with his little farty burbles bubbling joyously away beneath me

B2 FMA The driver of this black VW Golf GTi surpassed most anything in the way of dangerous driving or stupidity yesterday since I last saw one on the same stretch take out an approaching car. That one was driven by a Rodney from Sandhurst at about 85mph on the straight stretch South of Warnford where he was overtaking a line of 30-odd cars behind which I'd given up as there was no way past before joining the A31 even on the tree tunnel stretch at Privett. On the slight dog-leg he met an in-bound Ford, which took brave avoiding action into the trees. The Golf hit a tree back on our side after glancing some motors in his panic to get back in. This time the GTi twat was hustling behind me out of Warnford travelling South. He near clipped me following me past the first of 3 cars dawdling at just over 50mph and then, too late for the end of the second straight he gunned it past the last two cars into the right-hand corner on the wrong side of the road. B2 FMA: you are officially a T

Exoskeletal Explosions The Vario screen is doing okay, over all. It does very well except into some wind, and I don't know for sure which one. I have to point out though that Dilbert's new screen is for sure hoovering up more flying insect debris than the other two screens did. It's rather disgusting; after being obliterated on the Vario, or worse disemboweled or decapitated on the screen's variable geometry spoiler, these bits of former pollinisation strategists and moths** ooze up the screen and then plop onto my visor. The rain (when we had some last week, I have to note) was actually forced off the visor in a useful way on the same setting. So, in the rain I get a clear visor, in the warm and Sun I get loss of vision with a Taliban-cemetery worth of smeary creepy crawlies and their still-twitching legs. ** Moths ; what DO they do for us? All I see is the antithesis to photophobes kamikaze-ing into Dilbert's headlight of an evening and gross stupidity in the vici

Sold Out Phut Phut enjoyed a quiet week on Ebay and I've had to watch him go after just 2-bids at £500. Ce la vie!? I've agreed to deliver (local) and after charges and replacing that tax disk that fell off I'm on about £460; so a total loss of some time and £240; or 10-days Alpha petrol at the height of Gordon's summer madness. It's not been the best investment portfolio but look at it how Ka sees it; I saved on bike hire I gained experience at £4.25 per day fuel I learned why chain drive is pants I took a motorbike apart (having earned the ability from half-building it) I did a carb I got scared from 40mph through to 60mph I dropped and replaced boiling oil with only a minor scald I have memories on which to compare if Dilbert gets to seem uncomfortable I gained the confidence to jump on and ride Dilbert Fair points, all, but I'd have liked to have been closer to breaking even and can't help feeling disappointment. At least I can get half the insurance bac

Disloyalty to Dilbert Dilbert can cruise at 80mph with only minimal discomfort in light winds with his Vario screen in place. I can throw him hard into corners at close to satisfying speeds and can keep up with a boy-racer on a CBR-600 off the motorway and through town traffic for fun. Overtaking is exhilarating on a double-tap of the gears and I've got the commute time down to an hour if I work both Dilbert and I hard. We've emergency-stopped from 85mph while learning when not to overtake and also similar stopping speeds for when not to try and filter. Dilbert has kicked his but round hard on THAT Warnford corner and we've had a moment of front-wheel drift on some stones. We get on well. We get on very well in fact but Dilbert is beginning to lag behind at times. I didn't open this relationship with an aim of ragging the poor old fella but I can see that's the way we're going. It's getting more and more like driving the Alpha and all the other V6s we've

Nikki's Skate Nikki is a sensible rider, she tells me, even if she is related to my Wife. She has a good value Suzi GPZ, which she looks after, keeps under cover, and my niece falls asleep on the back of because Nikki is so boring riding down the A34...is what I'm told. I do not expect Nikki to fall off; nor even, to be pushed off. I'm proud of Nikki's instructor qualifications across a range of vehicles and although she tailgates dangerously in the car (yes, you do!), she's getting on a bit and wouldn't pass as a speed-pushin' biker idiot. Surely? If she could grow a beard any better than she does she'd ride a Harley, for goodness sake. Nikki fell off. You have no idea what this has done to my (up to now) burgeoning confidence and id. This is Nikki. She fell off. In fact she fell off rather stupidly by the sound of it; part due to speed (" speed is always a contributory factor "), partly due to her speed while someone else was stopping, and pa

Owing The Wife (Clever me!) Honda's Immobilising Security System (HISS) is fitted to Dilbert, which makes him a slightly younger model than I thought and explains why he came with only one key - because they're expensive. While I played video games at work (yeah, right!)Ka went to Portsmouth Motorcycles to pick up the £22-50 key blank for Dilbert and ran it across town to Advance Locking Locksmiths on Stokes Road where their excellent technician span his craft around Dilbert's broken key to cut to the blank. They couldn't help code it, though, although an attempt was made. 'You know, they only charged £3! Bless them. I arrived home and sat the key in the ignition and turned it. All lights on. Good. Clever locksmiths! I pressed the ignition button - engine turned over, choke applied, no sparking? "Perhaps it's the immobiliser", through in Ka, like she's a biker's chick, or something. In fact, I noticed the little gree

Key Statement So, I called Portsmouth Motorcycles up on the phone and laughed at how lucky I was not to have broken the key in the barrel, how fortunate I was to have Green Flag all wrapped up in my Churchill car insurance, and how much I was looking forward to going through all the security stuff with them so they could order me a new key. The reply? "You need servicing department, mate. I'll put you through." So I explain again (as one does when calling any company these days due to the stupidity of argument behind the efficiencies of call centres staffed by numb skulls without a freaking clue what to do with you if you come off the scripts laid out in front of them in their battery-telephonist compartment. Let them free - let them roam free-range, and maybe - just maybe - we could improve their intelligence by a whole IQ point across the Globe?). "Ah"; that ominous pause while bad news is prepared, "Honda don't keep a stash of keys so you'll need

Key to Recovery I pulled in to the Esso garage to fill up on go-juice for the start of the week and pulled out the ignition key. The bottom half of it fell off onto the tank. "This", I announced to a loud outside World, "is not the way to endear yourself to me today!" Dilbert was pushed clear of the pumps and I put in a call to Green Flag, who promised to be with me in an hour as the Key and Lock people couldn't help with a motorbike, least of all my Honda. Not being a pub I decided to try out a pastie and some water while I settled for a wait. A long wait - certainly over the prescribed hour. When the guy from Boarhunt (under the Castle banner) arrived with the flatbed I had a push from him up the ramp and had a scare holding the front brake on the slope, with the bed lifting off the concrete, and the whole bike slipping back on the oily stainless steel. Once flattened again we pushed Dilbert against the bulkhead and his handlebars were stropped tightly to the

Karting Off to Loomies Cafe Mat texted on Saturday to see if I couldn't get out for a play on Sunday. Saturday (my birthday) saw my Son take me Go-Karting: his first driving experience, never-mind with a powered Go-Kart. This ended well for me with the day's lap record and some excellent sideways karting action including picking up my Son's kart on the way into a wall, but my Son span on one of the fastest corners and had two big karts collide with him. He knocked his knee against his steering column too badly to enable him to carry on and badly enough for me to need to carry him to the car afterward (bless) with an ice-pack in tow. He has a good set of bruises and aches to show off at school on Monday. Waiting to ride Me - too quick for KA to photo (brag) Son No1 Back to Bikes So this morning I got up early enough to have a relaxed blat over to Loomies. I quickly dispensed with Sunday foraging traffic and soon began to overtake and blat far more freely than I do with 50-mi

MRA Vario Screen Ka bought a Vario screen for my birthday, which arrived promptly from HPS enough for me to fit it on Thursday night for a Friday test. Starting off, I was impressed that where with the original screen I need to close my visor tightly up from about 3mph the Vario made visor 1/2 down possible up to about 45mph, although a strong side wind could gust cold air into my eyes from the side. The protection continued from maximum adjustment all the way to 70mph. Anything much quicker introduced similar high-frequency turbulence about the helmet that made my eyeballs shake enough to make life unpleasant at Motorway 80mph speeds. Still, a good run up, which seemed to only suffer from the stronger winds near Aldershot. The trip back was into a stronger head-wind. Once released from the traps at Farnham I quickly discovered 60mph to be too shaky to see anything, and the vibration was violent enough to give me nausea where I chose to try and ignore it. I tried adjusting the screen&

Protection "Yeah", I recall each of you saying at some point in our bike-hunting for Pat conversations. "A fairing'll keep most of the weather off you". Exactly what bit of the weather do you old-sweat bikers mean? In the harsh late June summer Sun the heat made my arse slippery with sweat, my hands damp with perspiration, and my armpits soaked in lost body fluid. In the harsh mid-autumnal rain of latter days here in July the water on my seat made my arse slippery with rain, my hands damp with precipitation, and my armpits soaked in a flood of sweat because it was still bloody hot! The fairing doesn't help when stationary at lights, or slow-filtering traffic. In fact, it doesn't do a hell of a lot of good at any speed up to and including those reserved for moments of exhilaration or calculated dash to avoid the raindrops. The best it seems to do is prevent insects splattering over my knees and diverting them to my calves or my visor (it's difficult t

Dodging the raindrops There were showers today. I slalomed between some on the way in to work and ended up filtering through traffic in bright sunlight making folly of my choice to wear a fleece, which had seemed sensible down on the cooler coast. From work, however, I hit upon the reverse. First, there was much filtering fun. I have to say thanks to those who move out of my way like a Rozzer, or something (must be the white fairing and fluorescent vest then, coincidentally) and "up-yours dick-wad" to those who move deliberately to stop me filtering. What's that about? Even on my worst days out in the Alpha I wouldn't obstruct a bike unless just before the lights where they'd only slow me up if they got through. Anyway, Mat H put in a sighting report of me at the Shepherd and Flock roundabout and at that point I was feeling pretty relaxed and just gauging my timing between the traffic lines to take advantage of those drivers I like and time for those I don't.

Riding Comfort When the wind is only a breeze I can cruise sensibly at 80mph on the A31 and A331 but as soon as a sheep farts in the next field the wind buffeting and noise around my helmet (on my head) is outrageous. I'm looking at buying a Vario screen from HPS , which is one of those snatty screens with a variable geometry spoiler fixed to its upper surface; meant to adjust where the shifted air will flow to, or over. They have limited reviews on line and seem to have mixed press. It can't be worse than the Dilbert's screen is, can it? I'd prefer a taller (but not as tall as my touring screen) version but there's not much else I've found for the bike. I just hope it eases some of that buffeting! Bollocks Where does the judgement that bikes can be, "refreshing", or the idea that you can ride 400-miles in a day and still feel fresh at the end of the journey? This is bollocks. My wrists are sore and my thumb joints are both in pieces - I've had to

Verdict Monday was really difficult. Firstly, I was back in the Alpha and the stagnation of car-in-traffic. Secondly, I was worried about what might tip up on Dilbert. I drove up via Taylor's Garage and saw nothing. I drove home by M3 as I'd red-lined a little too often in the morning and needed to be more casual in the hot late afternoon heat. What a great choice - 30-minutes stuck for an accident at the M3 / M27 Junction. Tuesday morning. Up the A32 and a quick pull-in to see if I could catch Dilbert naked. No such luck. Job done. Nigel gave me the run-down; the engine's sweet, the bike has been looked after in his opinion (it had a pretty new air filter), the front tyre has a couple or three thousand miles to it, the disks aren't bad for the milage, the back brake needed a good clean and bleed but isn't that light to operate - get used to it, the carbs balanced up, the plugs were okay but re-gapped, the valves were sorted, and he should rattle a little less