Shadowfax-ST Blog

Adventurer A long anticipated ride out. The weather is not as forgiving as I had hoped but easily ridable - with caution in the shadows. We rode to Cornwall, stopped over the night a rode back via an ST owners West Bay meet. That was the plan as although cold it looked sunny and dry - mostly. The journey was made difficult by racing the Sun while suffering sub-zero temperatures, a dodgy route plan that took me over the frozen wastelands north of Honnington over snow-iced country roads most quads might fear to ride, and a Police-inspired diversion that put 10,000 motorists into conflict on un-gritted roads and nearly dismounted me on a frozen bridge where 5mph was just not slow enough. I was elated to make Cornwall, and although not travelling too deeply into it it made a personal milestone for me as so much of it remains unexplored by me. I stopped to take a photo - despite resisting earlier due to the temperatures - and felt a tremendous sense of adventure and achievement given the we...

STOC Stats According to STOC, I achieved the 54th highest mileage of its World members over 2009 and highest mileage of UK members (12,000-odd strong). 22,385 miles (and that's with 3-months not commuting at all and a week off because of the weather). It's an odd sort of statistic - one impossible without the Online community of today; certainly a strange feeling. What of other riders not registered? How representative are these statistics? Am I REALLY so insane for commuting the miles, hours, and days that I did instead of spending the same time with my family? I don't need to answer that, do I?

2010 (already) Mechanicals It's been a busy old time so I've not been as industrious on the blogging side as I'd have liked to have been. The time I've scrounged to spend on the Web has been spent glancing through the ST-Owners.com forums, which has paid dividends in bringing along my meagre mechanical skills up to an "interested" level. I've not only become expert in removing Shadowfax's plastics but also competent (?) in exchanging his brake pads fore and aft, swapping out the engine and rear transmission oils, and nobbing about with his general well being. I've yet to master the brake bleeding and coolant swapping (needed with the addition of swapping out the thermostat, which is jamming on making fuel consumption les frugal) but there's time if not weather to do these. Rear tyres have continued not to last too long. The last one near killed me running out in the space of a run from Loomies to Portsmouth Motorcycles (about 20-30-miles) w...

My Son had been nagging us to get his bikes to his Aunt's so we surly loaded up his KX85 and CRF100 on the trailer and gave him an afternoon out on an airstrip's apron. He was timid on his Honda fist time round and reluctant to have another scoot so I placed some items out to lay out a circuit around which he happily navigated. His Aunt and I meanwhile blatted around on the '85 and I explored the powerband, which felt like riding the CB1000F the other day; fun but too soon "done that". My Son got quicker; and started to worry me. His circuits got more and more extended and we realised this is because he's still not using brakes! On the return leg to his Aunt's my Son asked when we were going to take Shadowfax out together again. With all this commuting I've had little energy for such treats and my fear factor of falling with him on board is very strong. I just can't imagine crawling over to him if he was hurt through being on the bike with me. ...

Chippings I throttled back out of Droxford to rid myself of a brace of annoyingly slow Micras and noted a vibration at 90, which Honda Portsmouth told me wasn't there. Once home I inspected the rear wheel and found a 1cm sharp pebble embedded in the (new, damn it) rear BT021R. I'm guessing this affected the balancing; well it would, wouldn't it? Soft Rubber The thing is, this rear BT doesn't half seem soft compared to the favoured Pilot 2s. It's training up a bit like a racing tyre, too. To be fair I'm riding a little harder and more quickly than usual / before but these Tyres are meant for that style of ride. I do wonder if that's not a factor (being softer) in picking up stones, though. I'm due a new front soon and need a match for the BT. I just hope these observations aren't indicators of faster wearing, or anything. All the hype on these BT020 replacements suggest they're Pilot2 beating but my feeling is far from that. I was happy with the ...

Testing Times Shadowfax came with an MOT put on him by MGM motorcycles on the day I bought him and Tax I'd bought only minutes before; insurance was just a phone call away. A year later and all three costs coincide with a needed 16,000-mile service and only 5-weeks following the last expensive rear puncture. Testing times indeed. The Bennets Insurance I raved about last year has shot up to over £300: that's over a 50% increase and I know I am not alone. Utter thriving bastards! On phoning them it seemed my milage did for me, too. Although I am gaining experience with every mile each one penalises me as a higher risk. Bastards, again. So, if I ride 1000 miles in 3 trips over a year I'm less a risk? Fine, obviously the fact I'm "new" to the bike each ride has no stock in this? Idiotic. I digress, but I'm also pleased to not I had 3 quotes from £135 to £175 FC; not bad and they come with similar packages and a lower excess than Bennets. I follow this lead up...

Speed Limits We're a Nation, if not a developed World of time watchers; speed, efficacy, ease of learning; no time, need to do it now; to have done it 10 minutes ago. A new model is coming out. It's under development but I want to see it now. Human kind is going to Mars; are they there yet? The train leaves at 0713hr (not bloody 0715; else we'll be late). Just tap those Ruby Slippers together 3 times and you'll be as good as back at home without so much as the need to blink through the transdimentional pathway as you instantaneously appear in front of your microwave to cook chips inside 3-minutes flat. This isn't a new state of society; I remember Brains Faggots* heated in a gas oven was the height of convienience in the early '70s, and to my math that'd put 60 to 70-year-oldsters in the realms of instigators of haste; the inventors of rush, and the executers of swift time. Then why must these not-yet-old teats swan about in their safe Nissan Micras at 35 a...