“Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do ride everywhere.”
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Midsummer Ride’s Dream
Author: Arthur
Seasoned London commuter, doing my best to stay rubber side down and never stop moving forward.
You’ve all been there, spent ages on Google Maps trying to plot a perfect super twisty route down all the quiet back roads; but come unstuck when trying to follow the route whilst on the bike. At the end of the day, you’ve got a computer with a route on the screen and a phone in your pocket with a GPS and maps – why is it so hard to plan your route from one point to other and then ride it? This howto guide goes through all you need to ride a route off Google Maps on your bike, using your phone.
The ABUS Granit Detecto XPlus 8077 is a big chunky, yellow disc lock alarm with a chunky long name. But, as we already have big chunky security chains, why did we buy this disc lock which is surely not as effective? Yes, it’s true, chaining your bike to something does make it more secure, but lugging a 10kg of chain and padlock around where ever you go is less than ideal. Especially as a Givi Monokey top box is officially only rated for 10kg…
→ Check out our full Motorcycle Security Guide
Thus, the choice to use a disc lock that is easier to transport and still reasonably effective as a theft deterrent is appealing. For example, when out for a quick blast to seaside chip chop and don’t want to take a huge top box or when touring and you’re already carrying tonnes of luggage, the last thing you want to pack is a huge chain as well. Far easier to just squeeze in this little disc lock amongst all the other luggage. That and spotting this lock reduced on Amazon Prime sealed the deal.
Today has been a productive day finishing off my regular servicing of the bike. The big downside of tackling routine servicing yourself is finding the time, and so I was forced to split the work across to free weekends a couple of weeks apart.
First the oil change, air filter and rear brake service (which included a new Hel brake line). Today finishing off, front brake service, carb balancing and other remaining checks etc.
The Morgan Carbtune tool makes easy work of balancing. The most difficult thing on the Fazer is finding the adjustment screws buried deep between the carbs. They’re almost impossible to see and you just have to poke a long screwdriver down into the engine and guess where they are!
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Trip to North Wales July 2016
Last weekend I made another motorcycle trip up from London to Welshpool, North Wales to visit family and friends; which of course took a long, convoluted and twisty route there and back. Come on?! With beautiful weather and a couple of days to kill on the bike, do you think I’m just gonna sit on the motorway for 4 hours? Stuff that…
Over the last year I feel my cornering has improved a lot, I’m definitely more confident, leaning further over and carrying more speed (safely) through a bend. This became very apparent following a trip up to North Wales at the weekend and comparing my chicken strips to doing the same trip last August 2015.
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Dress for the Slide, not just the Ride
It’s forecast to hit 33°C here in London today, but we still wear full leathers. Dress for the slide, not just the ride.
As tempting as shorts and t-shirt are in this heat, you just never know when you may have a spill. Mary often tells me stories of a stint she did as a nurse in A&E & theatres. Once putting a biker under a general aesthetic so they could use scrub all the grit out of his remaining skin after a coming off with no decent gear on…
It maybe hot and sweaty in gear, but I’d rather retain some skin through which I can sweat.
Earlier this month I popped along to the IAM’s 60th birthday bash up at the Nation Motorcycle Museum in Solihull (near Birmingham), being a member of IAM it seemed daft not to. Especially as they had guest talks from Steve Plater, Peter Hickman and Mick Grant and a chance to check out all the classic bikes in the museum.
I rode up with another from my local ELAM (East London Advanced Motorcyclists), avoiding the M1/M6 by taking the old A5. On arrival, of course we had to check out everyone else’s bike, including the parade of bikes from every year of the last 60. Next we hurried into the main hall to listen to Steve Plater, Peter Hickman Mick Grant discussing BSB, the TT and how bike racing has changed over the years.
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Alpinestars S-MX Plus Boots Bargain
My latest eBay bargain has been these Alpinestars S-MX Plus race boots. Albeit a slightly older model from around 2010, they’ve been barely worn and came in for the princely sum of £50. A damned sight better than their usual £250 retail price – sorted!
They’re a little different from my past S-MX 4 and current S-MX 5 waterproof boots; firstly they’re not waterproof, rather they are nicely vented for cool feet in the summer – which really works once you’re over about 40-50mph.
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MOT Time @ Burwin Motorcycles
That time of year again – MOT. No matter how confident you are the bike is all fine, there’s always a little worry in the back of your head, just in case it fails for some reason. Certainly been a well used bike with 9k gone on the clock since last MOT.
After a prior bad experience at my usual MOT garage, I decided to give Burwin Motorcycles over in Islington a go. Had heard a few good reports and they open at 8am. Big bonus, as I couldn’t afford much time off work. As it happened, they started even earlier and I was done and down the road by 8:30am – that’s what I call service. Barely had chance to drink a coffee in a nearby swanky pre/post drinks artisan coffee shop cum off license specialising in gin…