Author: Arthur

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

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Riding

Autumn Ride to North Wales

For this half term holiday, I had the chance to undertake one last ride for the year, out to North Wales to catch up with family whilst having a blast on the bike. I took Friday off work to ride up but didn’t set off until near lunch as I waited for the rain to abate. The roads remained wet for most of the afternoon and the weather was grey. I took things steady, even though there were much fun and technical bends to negotiate. The route was very similar to the one I undertook last time: London, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Brackley, Banbury, Stratford-upon-Avon, Droitwich, Kidderminster, Bridgenorth, Shrewsbury and finishing in Welshpool. Nightfall hit I passed Bridgenorth, whereupon I was glad I had the Fazer with decent headlights and enjoyed the London’s novelty that is the main beam.

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Motorcycles

Honda CBF500 Bargain

This week I picked up this CBF500 bargain for my wife. For sometime now, she’s been hankering for a bike, something simply and low to get back into biking properly after nearly 15 years. A while ago we tried an old Kawasaki ZZR400 but it just wasn’t a good fit for Mary – too wide, too heavy, too tall and too much of stretch to the bars. She just wasn’t comfortable or confident on it, so it didn’t stay long.

A while ago, Mary had a great back-to-biking session at the local training centre 1 Stop Instruction on a lowered CBF500, hence we opted for this bargain. It’s definitely a commuter hack, certainly not pristine, but it’s mechanically sound and should be ideal to regain confidence. It’s a 2006 model, with 44K on clock. Engine is good, forks seals recently done, tyres 1 year old, chain/sprocket have plenty of life, wheel and head race bearing seem goo, no holes in downpipes and it came 6 months MOT left.  It’s been down a couple of times, with some minor dents to tank and crack in front fender, but still a bargain at £900.

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Maintenance

Motorcycle Maintenance Month

Following the summer, things haven’t been terrible exciting around here. Kids have gone back to school, work has been busy and this month has mostly been spent catching up on essential maintenance chores. The trusty Fazer has done 6000 miles since Feb, so I’ve done the regular oil / filter change, cleaned the K&N air filter, greased, checked everything and gave the bike a good covering of ACF50 ready the winter ahead.

FZS600-Brake-Clean-1

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Riding

Summer Ride Outs Via Finchingfield

FinchingfieldRideOutAug15-5Not a lot beats a hot August for getting out on the bike and enjoying oneself.  Which is exactly what I’ve been doing this last couple of weekends, lots of exploration on many an Essex ride out, which invariable entails a stop in Finchingfield. This picturesque village is quite the Mecca for bikers at weekends. With so many great country roads leading to and from it (see routes below), it’s no surprise.

Essex ride out - FinchingfieldBosworth’s Tearooms Cafe still rustles up fine food, although did change ownership earlier this year which has led to some menu changes and price increases. Their ice cream kiosk is still very much welcomed on hot days when sweating like a pig in full leathers.

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Riding

Another Jaunt Across Middle England

Wroxton, Warwarkshire, UK

Just home from another long jaunt across the middle of England, from London to Shrewsbury, and back. Catching up with family for the weekend up in Shrewsbury, Welshpool and surrounding areas. I took a slightly different route from last time, running a little further North.

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Maintenance

Clutch Cable Swap

I’ve had trouble with my clutch slipping lately, it’s really noticeable when trying to press on or accelerate on an overtake. I’ll give it a twist, the engine rev’s like mad for a couple of seconds, before the clutch finally catches and I shoot off like a rocket!

Clutch Cable SwapOf course I’ve been tweaking the clutch cable adjusters, in case it simply wasn’t engaging enough. Both at the lever and down at the sprocket cover. Next up was this new clutch cable, to eradicate any issues from stretched or sticking wire. It was a quick and simple swap and the Haynes manual was actually rather good for this job. The old cable certainly had a lot of resistance in it, plus a little kinked near the lever.

If this doesn’t resolve it, I’ll be ordering a set of new clutch plates and springs shortly, before heading down to OMC again…

Categories
Riding

Scenic Ride Back From Shrewsbury

Over the weekend I rode up to Shrewsbury on the bike to see family. Heading North I took boring motorways, but on my return South I took a far more enjoyable and scenic route:

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Riding

IAM Skill For Life Test Passed – Yippee!

IAM-SkillForLife-Pass

I’ve finally done it, I’ve passed my IAM Skill For Life Course, I’m now officially an ‘advanced rider’.

I started the course back in January, when I signed up with the East London Advanced Motorcyclists (ELAM) group. The course is based upon the Motorcycle roadcraft police rider’s handbook, but is presented through a slightly more digestible ‘How to be a better rider’ book (included  with the course). The ELAM group begin the course in a fairly structured manner; starting with a machine control day on an airfield to practice slow manoeuvres, emergency stops and slalom. This is followed by 5 observed ride outs roughly every fortnight, each concentrating on particular areas, e.g. overtaking, bends, motorways, town riding etc. There were also 3 theory night sessions around these rides which covered the ‘system’ – an underlying principle to apply to your riding, various best practices and many legal points.

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Categories
Maintenance

MOT Passed – Phew!

That time of year again, MOT due. You know the bike should be fine, you know you’ve serviced it well and checked it over thoroughly yourself. But still, there’s that little niggle of doubt over whether it will fail the MOT on something. Thankfully my trusty Fazer passed without a hitch with no advisories at all. Sorted.

Checking out past MOT passes, it seems I’ve put on 7200 miles in the last 12 months. Not too shabby at all really. A little more than previous years, but I have been doing a lot more riding for my IAM course.

On a side note, a thumbs up to London Scooters for turning the MOT round super quick in my lunch break. They’re just around the corner from my workplace, so super handy for me.

Edit: I took my wife’s CBF500 to London Scooters in May 2016 and received less than satisfactory customer service. Please see this video here.

Categories
Riding

Commute Delays in London

Most of the time when on a motorcycle in London you are immune to commuting delays, as you can filter past pretty much anything. However, on this day, my commute was delayed by a cruise ship. Bummer.

Here we are at Tower Bridge, waiting for this large Cruise ship to undock from HMS Belfast and make its way down the Thames. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t quite filter past this one. Still, it was a nice day to take stock of the fact I ride past some great icons of British architecture every day.

What iconic landmarks do you commute past on your way to/from work?