Author: Arthur

Seasoned London commuter, doing my best to stay rubber side down and never stop moving forward.

Categories
Maintenance Videos

How to Replace a Clutch Lever (Honda CBF 500)

We’ve all a dropped a bike or few, so easily done when new,
Your joy laying on it’s side, gone is all your pride,
Clutch lever broken in the fall, repeatedly you now stall,
Such a cheap repair, why did you not pack a spare?

A snapped lever is so common after an embarrassing drop of your bike. But fear not, replacing a clutch lever is a such a simply and quick job, that anyone can do it. No need to pay for garage labour, let me show you how to replace it in 5 mins with just a spanner and screwdriver. This is on a Honda CBF500, but many other bikes will be near identical.

It’s also a good plan to order a couple of replacements (these non-genuine levers were only £6.50 from M&P), so you can stow one under your seat in case you find yourself inconveniently stuck.

Note: this guide is for traditional cable clutches and not a hydraulic clutch.

Categories
News Videos

Video Montage 2017 Highlights

A new year, but before we look forward, here are some of the highlights from 2017

A little late maybe, but that ruddy flu got me and has set me back.

Categories
News

Farewll 2017, Roll on 2018

Riding a Harley in San Francisco

2017 was quite the packed year on and off the road. In my main line of work as a software team lead I’ve been managing multiple projects in parallel, done three work trips to New Jersey and one to San Francisco, and have now just taken over a second team!

ELAM Folembray Track Day

On the biking front, I’ve also been busy in 2017. The highlights were a couple of track days (except when I binned it), an Essex Fire Service/Hopp Rider skills day, hiring a big fat Harley Dyna in California and seeing my better half, Mary Crash Bobbins improve her riding on her IAM course. I’ve been heavily involved with ELAM, sorting out their new website  which has been very rewarding. And let’s not forget all the great rides over the year, with ELAM, London Bikers, solo or as a couple with Mary.

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Categories
News

New ELAM Website Launched

As well as working on this blog, I am involved with the East London Advanced Motorcyclist (ELAM) group and over the last few months have been revamping their website. That’s my excuse for the somewhat sporadic updates to on this blog recently.

The group’s old site was pretty dated, but was WordPress based so plain sailing to update with a theme change. Fresh photos were sourced and page layouts reworked make things more engaging. Whether the IAM is something you’ve considered or not, take a look, any feedback would be much appreciated.

Categories
Riding

Happy Christmas!

Christmas wishes and Happy New Year to you all!

I trust you all had a good year and are now putting your boots up and enjoying a well earning Christmas break. Weather, man-flu and busy work deadlines this last month have preventing me updating here as much as I would have liked. However, I did manage a great day at the Ace Cafe Toy Run with my daughter. No matter how crappy things seem to be going at times, it’s generally just first world problems and we can be glad of our health. Don’t forget those in worse plights or very ill.

Happy Christmas!

 

Categories
Gear Reviews

Comparison of Anti-Fog/Mist Solutions to Stop Glasses Fogging Up

As a glasses wearer, I’ve always struggled with my glasses fogging up/ steaming up on cold days. Whereas as my visor stays clear through the use of a Pinlock, there is no obvious solution for glasses, just a multitude of products to squirt on that claim to stop all misting up. But do they really work? In the name of science, I conducted a mini-experiment to compare some popular products to ascertain which were most effective. These best solutions here should also be equally useful to stop visor steaming up too.

The Experiment

I used a number of old pairs of glasses, which I first cleaned and then applied the various products as per their directions. As a control, one pair was left untreated. I then placed the glasses in the fridge to cool to 5℃, to mimic a ride on a cool winter’s day. First I took the glasses out into the kitchen with a humidity reading of 55%, to see how the lenses misted up (or not). Secondly, I repeated by taking the glasses from the fridge to the hot shower room with a humidity reading of 60% to test a more extreme scenario.

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Categories
Videos

Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 20 (Peds)

So many close calls, can you predict what is about to happen? Reckon you would have the sixth sense skills to avoid these near misses?

So many

Unfortunately, this is the state of London today, too many people completely oblivious to their surroundings.

Categories
Videos

Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 19 (Bad Obs)

I know my video output has been a bit sparse lately, but I do hope you’ll find this one interesting.

There’s clearly a number of lessons to be drawn from this video on planning ahead, avoiding distractions, maintaining safe distances, personal safety bubble and not carrying too much speed into situations. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Thankfully the rider only had an injured pride and some minor cosmetic bike damage.

Categories
Gear Reviews

Kriega US-5 DryBag Tail Pack Luggage Review

Commuting daily into the city I normally have a huge top box to carry my huge security chain, work clothes and lunchbox. The top box is very practical on workdays, but total overkill when on a weekend blast where something more discrete would be preferable. Kriega is a quality brand I’ve heard many great recommendations of, so it was the default choice when I picked up this US-5 DryBag tail pack from Infinity Motorcycles in Holborn for £50. It is the smallest tail pack Kriega does at just 5 litres and not cheap, but I’m hoping its quality will make it good value.

The US-5 tail pack claims to be completely waterproof and fastens to the rear of your bike onto the pillion seat, however, it can also be strapped to larger Kriega bags and luggage to gain more capacity. Fours straps are provided to hook around the frame under your seat, which then pokes out to attach the tail pack too. Otherwise, a specific strap to bolt onto your bike is also provided. Two further straps then thread through the bag and simply clip onto the other straps attached to your bike. On my Fazer, the four default straps made for a simple install, all sorted in 5 mins. Then the bag itself can be attached or detached with minimal fuss.

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Categories
Motorcycles Riding

Harley Davidson Rental – Dyna 103 in California

Motorcycle Rental San Francisco - Harley Davidson Dyna 103
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

This month I was posted to San Jose for work, but unlike most work trips this one included a stay over the weekend. So, stuck on my tod in California I decided to book Harley Davidson rental bike to explore the area as it’s not often you get chance to cruise down the West Coast freeways on a big hog, definitely on many bikers bucket lists and too good a chance to miss. I went to EagleRider San Francisco motorcycle rental, who had a wide selection of Harley’s to choose from (but also have others). I initially booked a Sportster 1200, but due to unavailability was given a Dyna Low Rider 103 as an upgrade – nice one!

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