Category: News

Apologies it’s been a bit slow around here, been suffering from some broadband issues which have hindered updates and have been off the bike away with family for the Christmas/New Year period.

Progress lowering Mary’s CBF500 has been good, but slow. Rear shock refurbished, shortened and refitted, front forks dropped, low seat sourced (NOS genuine Honda one found!) and dropped the bike off at a local workshop to shorten side stand today. Along the way, I hit some issues with the wiring loom full of water and a joint corroded away, requiring some patching up. 🙁  Watch this space for a full low down on lowering the CBF500.

Plenty of new accessories have been purchased ready to fit the CBF500 though: Givi rack, Acerbis handguards, rear hugger and crash bars. Also picked up a better-looking front fender and fuel tank cheap to replace the current ones with a little cosmetic damage. Almost all bits have been sourced cheap second hand, some needing a lick of paint to tart up, definitely going to be a commuters hack / rat bike!

Overall, progress has been slow due to no garage and crappy weather, allowing me to only spend a few hours working on the bike at weekends. Nevertheless, Mary should be commuting into the city on the bike later this month, fingers crossed.

Mary also treated me to a Drift Stealth 2 camera, definitely better than my old Roadhawk Ride. So I hope to get around to some new videos published later this year.

If you’re near Oswestry on the A5 on the last Friday of the month, then check out the British Ironworks Centre. They’re offering free coffee and biscuits for bikers who pop in, perfect for that ride back from the Horseshoe Pas.

When: Last Friday of the month. Open 9am – 9pm.

Where: British Ironworks Centre. Google Map.

These last few weeks have been busy, but unfortunately rather mundane. A running theme of work, juggling kids, gloomy weather and being skint haven’t made for much excitement. Commuting through the winter is not a fun ride, but at least we’re starting to gain more light in the evenings now. Glad I went for the super bright Fluro helmet now. I am however getting more and more pissed off at idiots using mobiles whilst driving. See the shot from my helmet cam, this idiot was even stupid enough to opt for a super bright blue mobile that can be seen miles away! With the Met Police currently running their RoadSafe website to pass on the info, it’d be rude not to do something with all the juicy film footage I collect daily.

And there we have it, another new year and a year older, possibly a little wiser too. The tail end of 2014 was insanely hectic for me with my day job sending me out to Gothenburg  and Boston, followed by a mad Christmas break visiting all our family in Shropshire and North Wales. It has been good to be back in London and back on the bike. It’s funny how some time away from two wheels leaves you hankering and longing, but once riding again at first you feel awkward, slightly nervous  and rusty. It’s taken a couple of days to relax and get reacclimatised, but it’s good to be back.

I suppose I should have some New Year resolutions and plans, so here we go:

1. Do my IAM. My lovely wife treated me to their Skills For Life course (starting Sunday), which I’m looking forward to and hope to complete this year.
2. Update my YouTube channel. Life has been so busy lately, I’ve done little video editing, however I have some plans for a new video series in the pipeline.
3. Bike maintenance wise, I hope to give the Fazer’s forks a good service and swap on some braided brake lines. I also have some yellow wrap for the headlights which I’d like to try out for the dark nights.
4. Fingers crossed, I’d like to resolve my incident from September 2013, which is due to go to court at some point.
5. Lastly, it would be great to get my wife another bike. Hopefully she’ll complete her PhD and get a job, so finances can resolve this.

Happy New Year to you all – ride safe!

The top chaps at Motorcycle House have teamed up and we can offer you a 10% discount code to use at their store. Motorcycle House specialise in a huge selection of luggage bags by Viking Bags for cruiser bikes. They also have luggage for other bikes and a selection of clothing too.

Just enter the code BBIKER10 at the check out to get a discount.