Posts

Ticking over

General updating I've taken the time to give Shadowfax a bit of a rub down and id any issues that need addressing. We're pretty much on top of everything having replaced his rear calliper last month - a brave piece of mechanical DIY, if I may say, but not as difficult as I thought. We bought a poorly conditioned used one off Ebay, which is doing the job but the cylinders are badly corroded. The plan was to recondition the old one and sell on whichever I didn't use. The callipers are very expensive to over-haul and given the bike mechanic in Fareham did these just 2-years ago, it makes you wonder what's best. It's £22 to do seals, £98 to do seals and pistons. It's £490 to buy all the calliper parts from a STealer. The main advantage was that I got to take out the rear wheel by myself - a major outcome being to re-moly the drive gear. It may need a disk soon - another £140 with bolts, but which should give back a firm rear brake. The SMC needs some silicone...

Last Commute

Redundancy I'm redundant in a few day's time. I'm on 'garden leave'. The massive 30K per year mileage is at an end. Of course, with my trade I'm likely to need to commute behemoth miles again - and soon.

Planning - SW Rally

SW Challenge Somerset Advanced Motorcyclists have organised the 2001 SW Peninsula Spring Rally for the beginning of April. Peter has roped me in (kicking and screaming, of course). Our first 'planning meeting' at Loomies the other day revealed my weakness for any challenge. There are 4 'awards (but no money); GOLD - 3 manned and 15 unmanned checkpoints SILVER - 2 manned and 12 unmanned checkpoints BRONZE - 1 manned and 9 unmanned checkpoints LANDS END AWARD (GOLD - 3 manned and 15 unmanned checkpoints + Land's End stamp) Now, which would drive me? Yep. The Land's End one. To begin with I didn't quite see the challenge: ride 400 miles and pick up some answers to geo-cached clues. A standard navigation exercise then, really. But then there is the time appreciation and fatigue deprivation. The Start Point closes at 12 midnight and the 'Rally' starts at 8am. That's 14-hours. With the best will in the World combined with lateral thinking and compro...

Pan Clan Christmas Run

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Pan Clan South Central Christmas run (New Forrest) 3 bikes and 4 members attended the Pan Clan Christmas ride out through the New Forrest organised by Peter. As much as it was a good ride through unfamiliar back roads (including a smidgeon between narrow tracts of ‘snice’ in the northern region) it was disappointing to ride in such a small group having expected a club ride. The video With my new toy I guess boring videos of rides are going to become a feature here. Oh, Lord! How boring are these things? Yes, I know. And here's already ANOTHER poor production, a hastily thrown together 14-minute's worth of travel illness. Sheesh. I think less is more - the next will not exceed 3-mins . I've published the video to YouTube - only my 2nd one and wanted it to last 15-min (YouTube's maximum) to check out upload times and what have you, which were long using my Son's underpowered PC and Virgin's sloath-like broadband. Mainly it is to give access to Peter asnd ...

Christmas Return 2010

Christmas Present Gosh. It's been a long time away from the bolg - what you get for working long days on a PC, I guess. But there's the holiday and Ka gave me a mini-cam to strap on to Shadowfax's wings to recod all these blizzards she doesn't believe in since the coast has thawed long before the Downs. This is my first You-Tube attempt. Judge not the quality or direction for it is a trial of position completed in darkness. Only celebrate that you may now join us once in a while in acidic viginettes set to make you travel sick at your desk.

Infamous BMW Bahnstormer Service?

So, I explain to the guy that sold me the BMW System 6 last week how, on Tuesday the helmet had leaked through the closed top vent and down the inside of the sun visor. He accepted I should be concerned and said that if it leaks he'll be happy to exchange it. "It does leak", I confirmed. "So, can we exchange it?" "No". He says, "I want to be sure it leaks". "It leaks". The argument was that despite my confirming the vent had been shut he wants me to ride through rain again, check it's shut, that it leaks; and he'll exchange. EVEN THOUGH I HAVE DONE THIS. I tried one more time and his body language became defensive and slippery. I am not happy. Right, fight on Bahnstormer. Fight on. And you're not only going to loose now, but I'm going to make it freaking cost you. Dumb nuts.

Shadowfax's Big Day Out

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Shadowfax was transport of choice for an appointment in Camden Town today. It's the first time I've ridden through London and I wasn't sure what the filtering would be like. In the event it was difficult. We trundled up the A3 past the tunnel works at Devils Couldron and onto the M25 for M4 and an A4 entry; it seemed the thing to do and proved pretty timely compared to the boredom of a full on M3 assault. It wasn't easy to get through the queues at the M4/A4 interchange as the road narrows up, then there are the ubiquitous road works, and more in toward Piccadilly. Around that time I was concerned I'd make my meeting but once on Shaftsbury Avenue things hotted up. A Street View recce in Google Maps gave me an idea of my turn in to Lion Square and we seemed to ride on instinct because of such good intel. I had feared spending an hour searching for a free motorcycle parking bay but I ended up with a choice. It was stupidly on a one-way cresc...