Author: Arthur

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

Riding

Delays on My Commute Home

Post author By Arthur
Post date April 18, 2013
No Comments on Delays on My Commute Home

There were long delays on my commute home today. I ask you, who brings a yacht up the Thames into central London and gets Tower Bridge to make an unscheduled opening at rush hour?! It wasn’t even a posh or expensive looking yacht, nor very fast!

That said, sat on Tower Bridge on a warm Spring afternoon, Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, Dome to my right, and to my left I can see the Shard, HMS Belfast, City Hall, Tower of London, St Pauls, the nearly complete ‘Walky-Talky’ building, and in the distance, BT Tower, the Eye and Big Ben. London is a mental place to live and work in, crazy, busy, total bedlam, but there are moments when you stop and take in all amazing history and breathtaking sights. Over 15 million people each year, travelling from around the world to visit London, the city I call home.

Hardware

Repair Quote

Eeek! Just got repair quote to get bike all sorted. Come to just over £1600! Mostly a replacement front cowling. They did however factor in a new Givi top box as it was scratched. Sure a lot of it is just fixing cosmetic damage and not essential to run the bike, but the claim is to return the bike to its previous condition.
However at that price, I suspect the insurance will want to write off the bike… Not what I need. 🙁

Tags Crash, Repairs

Riding

Car Pulled Out On Me

The other night on the way home from work I had an off. Thankfully at very low speed and just a slight clip, so no injuries or serious damage.
I was approaching a red light junction with two lanes to turn right. The first of these had two stationary cars, the second was clear. So I took the second clear lane and prepared to pull up at lights. However a car on the left suddenly pulls out into the second lane, causing me to swerve, just touching his car and come off.

Bike now has some cosmetic damage, cracked and scuffed faring and a crumpled bust belly pan. Indicator was bashed in, but thankfully has a rubber mount, so just clipped in. Bike still rides fine, just looks a mess.

However, the other party was very reluctant to exchange insurance details. Firstly, he promptly moved his car around the corner away from the traffic, then insisted he wasn’t to blame and as there was no damage to his car, there was no need to pass on his details. What a wanker. In the end, it wasn’t until I started calling the police did he dig out his insurance details. He did eventually concede he changed lanes without indicating and ‘just didn’t see me’ – didn’t check his blind spot. He has a big scuff mark in the dirt on his door, where I clipped him (which I photographed)

Insurance claim is under way, just hoping the other chap doesn’t spout some bullshit to his insurance firm and leave me to fight this one out. Going to try put off any repairs and costs from the insurance until blame has been assigned, I don’t want to be left out of pocket if the other chap is an arse.

Tags Crash Protection

Riding

Close Shave with Cyclist & Scooter

Post author By Arthur
Post date April 4, 2013
No Comments on Close Shave with Cyclist & Scooter

This morning on my way into work I had a rather close shave, that could have so easily have turned out badly. I was going round the block just South of London Bridge to negotiate the one way system on Bermondsey Street. Picture me, stationary at a T-junction ready to pull out and turn left, looking right, waiting for a clear gap in the traffic. Also to my right, is a zebra crossing with some vehicles just pulling away as some pedestrians finish crossing.

A scooter comes along, indicates to turn left into the road I’m on, but as he turns, all of a sudden a cyclist comes bombing along on the inside and slams into the side of the scooter, sending him flying towards me! Thankfully the scooter rider manages to remain up right and came to a halt inches from me. The cyclist? Checks he’s OK, apologies, said he didn’t see him indicating, then zooms off.

Obviously, the cyclist was at fault for undertaking. The scooter probably should have done a left shoulder life saver as he pulled away from the pedestrian crossing and about to turn left. As for me, I’m not what I could have done. I couldn’t have pulled out to avoid the scooter, I would have gone into other traffic behind the scooter. What would you have done?

Clothing/Protection

Ah! Warm hands again

My replacement Gerbing’s heated gloves arrived last week. Quick turnaround time again from Gerbing’s. Good stuff, but they really should be more reliable than this. Of course, sods law strikes again, Monday was fairly mild, so I found myself scrabbling to turn them down on route to work as my knuckles were burning!

Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Alpinestars Gloves – Jet Road Gore-Tex Review

Post author By Arthur
Post date March 17, 2013
2 Comments on Alpinestars Gloves – Jet Road Gore-Tex Review

Alpinestars Gloves Motorcycle Jet Road I picked these Jet Road Gore-Tex Alpinestars gloves up second-hand after being thoroughly disappointed with my Hein Gericke Pathan gloves. I opted for them based on their widespread regard on various motorcycle forums and due to their abundance on eBay cheap. As such, I found this pair in almost new condition for £30, a bargain considering they sell new for over £100.

The Alpinestars gloves are made from Gore-tex, so totally waterproof. On top of this is, there are sections of leather and a decent amount of knuckle protection. There are two Velcro straps per glove one around the wrist under a flap and one on the cuff. I found the cuff a bit on the short side and didn’t go over my jacket very well, thus letting in a draft and water. My arms are quite long though. These gloves aren’t however the latest iteration, later versions appear to resolve this with an extended storm cuff.

Tags Gloves

Hardware

Tax Disc Woes

Oxford-Tax-Disc-Holder-Good-S — Decent Oxford Tax Disc Holder

I recently taxed my bike and through the post came a quaint little circle of paper to affix to the bike. A bureaucratic vestige of a bygone time. Now almost every road in the country is under the watchful eye of ANPR cameras, do coppers still look at these little discs? Regardless, it is still an offence to not display one.

Problem #1: My tax disc holder would not open, not even budge. Tried WD40, tried thread free spray, tried everything, stuck fast. 🙁 In the end, seemed easier to just get another tax disc holder. Picked up a basic Oxford one (pictured below) off eBay for a couple of quid.

Problem #2: The hole in the new holder is too small for the existing bolt on the bike and my toolbox lacked appropriate drill bits. So I bolted it to a random fairing bracket which had a convenient hole already there.

Oxford-Tax-Disc-Holder-Crap-S — Crap Oxford Tax Disc Holder

Problem #3: Tax disc holder is crap. Just a flimsy rubber band around the edge to hold the disc in place. Kept coming open every time I took the cover off the bike and brushed past it. A couple of times (by luck) I found the disc on the floor outside, long after I put the bike away. The seal is crap too, the holder is full of damp.

So at last, I purchased another tax disc holder (off eBay), one with the correct size hole, is solid and has bolts holding it together. It is also of the Oxford brand (pictured top), but a much better one. The little alan bolts are a bit fiddly, but then you don’t want it too easy to get into, lest a tea leaf takes a fancy. It’s also anodised in a fetching blue, which almost matches the bike.

Buy an Oxford tax disc holder off eBay

Clothing/Protection

Cheap Motorcycle Gear at Aldi

Post author By Arthur
Post date March 13, 2013
2 Comments on Cheap Motorcycle Gear at Aldi

This week Aldi supermarket are doing lots of basic motorcycle gear cheap. Pop by and check it out. Details of what’s on offer can be found here.

My wife had a quick look, came back with a couple of different neck tubes. Seem reasonable, though not super thick, but very cheap. They also have some Kevlar trousers, but very thin denim and minimal padding on knees only.

Still, you might find something useful.

Clothing/Protection

Feck My Fingers Are Numb

Sod’s law. The weather turns cold again and my lovely Gerbing heated gloves (XR12 Hybrid) have packed up again. 🙁

As great as they are, I’m really beginning to have doubts about their reliability. Bought them new in November (4 months ago). Two months in, one controller had an intermittent connection fault. Last week the spare controller I purchased, has started exhibiting the same problem. One hand keeps cutting in and out at random.

I dig out the replacement controller I was sent, but this one randomly won’t turn on, just flashes blue when you press the button. Apparently this means it’s getting a feed of less than 11V from the battery. OK, but why then does the other controller still turn on? And why does it start doing this after a long run and momentarily stopped for a refuel?

So I persisted with that for a week, but now my left-hand glove won’t heat up at all. From neither controller nor either wire on each. 🙁

Have sent the whole lot back for replacement. But in the meantime, it’s barely above freezing out there, I’ve reverted to my Alpinestar Jet Road gloves with woolly gloves underneath and still getting super cold hands and numb fingers after 5-10 mins on the road. I’m hoping they won’t take too long to send out replacements, they turned the last controller around in a couple of days. However, I’ve lost a lot of confidence in the Gerbing’s. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great when they work, but when you’re paying top dollar, they need to work for more than a couple of months…

Tags Gloves

Riding

Don’t reverse into me!

Had a really close shave this morning. On my way into town, with Mary pillion, going down A13 as it crosses junction to Blackwall tunnel, I pull up at some red traffic lights. I filter so far between the two lanes of traffic, but have to come to a halt due to lack of room. I’m a bit hemmed in, sitting between the lanes behind a couple of cars, but everything is stationary. The lights turn green and whilst I’m waiting for the traffic in front to move, the people carrier in front to my right, rolls backwards towards me. Not just an inch or two, but a good metre or so. I have to lean the bike right over on my left leg to dodge it, they still clip my mirror and continue rolling backwards right alongside me as I hammer the side of the car!

A couple of centimetres closer and they would undoubtedly have pushed us over into the near side lane of moving traffic. Good job my right hand foot was on the brake or they would have rolled over it. It turns out the car had Polish plate and was left hand drive, but still no reason why he didn’t see us in his mirror, I could see him fine… And certainly no excuse to roll backwards so far.

Not sure what there is to learn from this one. Had I not been between lanes, they would have rolled right into us and done serious damage. Tricky one. There’s no accounting for incompetence on the roads.