Author: Arthur

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

Another Fricking Puncture

Post author By Arthur
Post date July 2, 2013
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There I am trying to make a quick getaway from work with an afternoon off to watch my daughter on her sports day. But something is wrong, bike is all wobbly as hell. Back tyre totally flat. 🙁

A lot of crap stuck in the tyre, but crucially a big hole with lump of glass in it. Tried to pull it out, with a view to repairing it, but I can’t get it with the pliers, just ends up crumbling. The hole also seems bit big for emergency repair. Breakdown recovery it is. At least I’ve got some this time.

Well that’s my afternoon off work scuppered.

Riding

Good Ride to Ace Cafe

Had a good blast out to the Ace Cafe last night. Another newbie night for the London Bikers forum. This time however we sorted a babysitter and I took Mary along. Bit of a round trip, but not too bad on the North Circular.

First time at the Ace for Mary and out with the LB lot. Great night, meeting people, some new, some not. Mary had a sit on Ally’s Kwak ER-6n, now convinced it’s the bike for her and even more determined to get her own wheels. Fair enough really.

Tags Ride Out

Hardware

Found a Yamaha Fazer Belly Pan

Post author By Arthur
Post date July 1, 2013
No Comments on Found a Yamaha Fazer Belly Pan

Managed to find a replacement Yamaha belly pan for my Fazer. As you may recall, my current one got bust in a recent prang. However I have the the original Yamaha belly pan, which is nigh on impossible to find these days. Plenty of after market ones, but few look anywhere near as good and all would need declaring as a mod on insurance, cue premium increase. Recently this one turned up on ebay, listing is a bit vague, but it does appear to be the one I need. Obviously, it’ll need a good sand and respray, but still, it should be a good match.

Regarding the prang, insurance claim is still under way. My insurance underwriters and accident claim firm both agree the other party is 100% to blame. The other parties insurance are however fighting this. 🙁 Now my insurance are taking the matter to court… Can’t see myself getting a result for quite sometime.

Riding

Aching Wrists, Bad Riding Posture

Post author By Arthur
Post date June 21, 2013
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I’ve recently found my wrist aching slightly whilst riding. Namely around town, where I’ve noticed my riding posture is all tense and rigid straight arms. Not good. I need to relax my elbows more, use my legs to grip the tank to support myself, and ultimately take my weight off the bars and my wrists.

On the open road I have no problems, but around town, when filtering and doing lots of low speed manoeuvres I keep unconsciously tensing up. Such that periodically I have to mentally remind myself to relax. I guess, with practice I’ll get better.

Some suggestions I’ve read about include gel filled grips and raised bars. What tip do you have do to avoid this?

Uncategorized

The Most Common Causes Of Motorcycle Accidents

Post author By Arthur
Post date June 14, 2013
No Comments on The Most Common Causes Of Motorcycle Accidents

So many of the things we do in life carry unique benefits and dangers and motorcycle riding is certainly no exception. While we savor the freedom that comes with our motorcycles, we must be mindful of the risks we take every time we strap on our helmet. Consider these risks and then please consider the ways that are suggested to make the riding experience safer.

Riding

New Bus Lane Cameras

Watch out, it seems these cameras are the new favourite toy of cash strapped councils. Bolted to lamp posts and enforcing bus lanes, councils can move them about at ease. This one recently popped up on a bus lane along my daily commute, on Lodge Avenue, Dagenham. A spot that used to be covered on occasion by a Smart car with a roof camera. It’s an awkward bottleneck, often in gridlock, with unbroken white lines down the centre, so no filtering at all. Yet the bus lane is invariably empty.

Quite why some bus lanes allow motorcyclists and others don’t had no rhyme or reason. But we can be certain the motivation is purely for revenue generation.

Hardware

Shiny Red Wheels

So a fellow biker pulls up at work with these spankingly shiny red wheels on his bike. Seriously funky and big improvement to his bike, much better than the old grey wheels. However the wheels are not new, he’s just had the bike professionally cleaned!

The top chaps who cleaned this were Over The Rainbow, next door to Ace Cafe, who also do bikes. Done a very good job, cleaned all the grime, chain lube and other detritus and got whole bike sparkly clean. All for a tenner and in 1.5 hrs. After spending ages the other weekend trying to remove the chain lube off my bike, it’s a tempting offer.

Riding

Back to School

It was back to school this week for the kids, after a half term break away. Their blue uniforms match the bike perfectly. If only I had a pair of mini helmets, the school run would be so much easier.

Riding

London Bikers Apple Crumble Pudding

Post author By Arthur
Post date May 30, 2013
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Another Wednesday night, another London Biker meet up at Borough Market. Traditionally home to some of the best food produce, organic fruit, veggies, quality meat, game, hand-cooked meals and deserts. So, of course not to be outdone, Thamer arrives with a home-baked apple crumble strapped to the back of his Street Triple. And why not?!

A little quiet on attendance (bah! you other fair-weather bikers!), but we all had a good chin wag and tucked into some tasty pudding. But what culinary delights can others bring next week?

Tags London

Riding

Shropshire Ride Out, Shrewsbury to Keele

Post author By Arthur
Post date May 30, 2013
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During my recent visit to Shrewsbury I had chance to catch up with two of my sister’s buddies who are also avid bikers. We had a nice leisurely Saturday afternoon ride out, with excellent sunny weather, quiet ish roads (compared to London anyway!) and a decent pub at our destination. I was joined by Blake, riding a heavily customised Harley 883 Sportster that sat barely a hairs breath off the road and Pete on a Honda Transalp adventure style bike. With me on the sports-tourer Fazer, we couldn’t have as far apart from one another in our styles of bike and riding posture.

Tags Ride Out