Filtering the UK is perfectly legal. On a motorbike. Filtering in a car is just plain dumb.
Good news for London bikers, the TFL has just announced a new campaign to increase motorcycle safety in the capital with the aim to reduce injuries and casulties by 40% by 2020. A bold ambition, but I think we can all agree something needs to be done about the disproportionately high number of motorcycle incidents. 21% of those killed or seriously injured on the capitals roads in 2012 were on a motorbike, yet motorcycles only make up 2.3% of road users.
The plan highlights a number of key factors that need addressing, including improving rider skills (e.g. through BikeSafe), educating other road users, greater enforcement of traffic offences for all road users (e.g. speeding, red light jumping) and promoting the use of proper protective clothing. It also includes a move to add rear facing average speed cameras to the A13 (planned for 2015) and elsewhere.
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ZZR Gone!
And there we have it, the ZZR has now gone. Mary never really got on with this bike, as great as it is, Mary was just too short to really be confident on it. It was too high (even with cut down seat), wide and too much of a stretch across the tank for her. Real shame.
Still, whilst servicing it and getting it running sweet, I’ve learnt a lot of invaluable skills. I’ve enjoyed having a good tinker and it’s been really satisfying to fix the odd niggle. It was also great to borrow when my Fazer was off the road. It’s sad to see it go, but the cash will be go towards a better suited bike for Mary.
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Day Out At Ace Cafe
Had a good day out at the Ace Cafe today. Catching up with a bunch of fellow Fazer riders from the FOC-U.co.uk forum, bumped into some of the LondonBikers too. It was Overland & Adventure bike day at the Ace, with the place rammed with huge Dakka and globe crossing bikes, loads of big Beemers, KTM’s and Triumph adventure bike. My Fazer didn’t wholly fit, but that didn’t matter, it was great to check out other styles of biking. The day also saw off Steph Jeavons on here sole trip round the globe on a little Honda CRF250.
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Tinkering With The ZZR400
Over the last couple of weekends, I have been tinkering with Mary’s ZZR400, trying to diagnose some running issues. I had known for a while the HT leads and spark plug caps were on the way out and last time I had the tank off I had managed to split a fuel line – doh! So with some new fuel hose, fuel filter, NGK leads, caps and spark plugs I set to work.
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A Night at Biker Down
The other night I had the pleasure of attending a Biker Down night with Bucks Fire Service. For those not familiar with Biker Down, it’s a great (and free) course run by a number of local fire services aimed at preparing you to deal with a traffic incident when first on the scene.
The bulk of the course content covered first aid that would be directly relevant to the trauma that would be common in a biker off. This including checking airways, circulation/bleeding, providing reassurance with a brief rundown on techniques such as CPR, dressing bleeding wounds and how to safely remove a helmet. I know this last item is a controversial one, however the presenter argued it was better to this earlier, whilst a biker is (hopefully) conscious and before they go down hill (say if they’re loosing blood etc). He argued the first thing a paramedic would do is remove it anyway and he showed us a two person technique to carefully remove it and support the upper spine. If it’s a full face helmet and there’s issues with blocked airway, it’s arguable more critical to get them breathing again regardless.
On top of that, we got a brief rundown on managing an accident scene, from where to park visibly to warn other vehicles, yet not leaving yourself in danger should a trunk hit your bike; to delegating tasks to other members of the public and handing over to emergency services. We also got a quick bit of information on staying visible on the road, covering stuff like positioning and some debate on hi-vis.
Overall it was a very informative and useful evening, I learnt a lot of stuff that I hope never to have to use, but invaluable should the need arise. I can highly recommend you sign yourself up for the course, it’ll cost you nothing and is now being run in many other parts of the country as well as just Kent and Bucks. More info on the Biker Down Facebook Page or google for info on your local fire service.
It’s been a busy and productive afternoon, I managed to grab a few hours and some nice weather to tackle some jobs I’ve been waiting todo for some time. I swapped over my new genuine Yamaha fairing and fitted some genuine Yamaha crash bars.
You may have previously read how I had picked up a Fibreglass fairing copy, which I had been meaning to send to a local spray shop. Time and money delayed that, however in the mean time Yamaha had drastically reduced the prices of their fairings, from £450 to £180, with these supplied fully painted. With a spray shop quote coming in at around £100-120, it was a no brainer.
I still need to source some decals and swap the Yamaha tuning fork badge on the front, but all in all a reasonably straight forward job to swap everything over.
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New Front Tyre and Lesson Learnt
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been battling with a niggling issue of wobble from the front end. I’ve had the wheel re-balanced, kept checking tyre pressures, but never really resolved it. I was about to dismiss it as my large top box and rear tyre starting to square off. However throughout my front tyre has always needed a bit of air each week.
This last week however, it quickly became apparent that I had a slow puncture. My old Metzeler Z6 tyre was nearly a year and half old and showing only a couple of mm left, so I ordered a new tyre, whilst I could still ride about. That was until one morning I found it totally flat. Hoping I could pump it up enough to get to garage, I found air hissing out of the valve like crazy. Yes, the valve, there was no hole in the tyre – Doh!
After a quick trip to Halfords to pick up a valve tool, it turned out the valve core was super loose. Quick tighten and the tyre held up well. Hmmm, but what to do with the new tyre on order? Decided to swap anyway, the old Z6 would have only last a couple of months and I was keen to try out the new Z8. Ultimately, on two wheels we need as much grip as we can get, it’s a false economy running rubber until the very end.
Moral of the story, got a slow puncture, check the bloody valve first!
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Bike Gear Deals at Lidl, Aldi and GetGeared
The biking season is almost on us, for you fair weather riders that is. 🙂 There’s deals on Lidl (from 27th Feb onwards), where you they’re flogging some basic gear; lids, gloves, thermals, socks etc. Check out the range here.
There will be a range of gear on offer at Aldi from 9th March, again basic lids, gloves, boots and base layers. More details can be found here.
However in direct competition GetGeared are offering some huge discounts on similar gear at similar prices. Check out their offers here.
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Visit to MCN Bike Show London 2014
Yesterday we had a family outing to the MCN bike Show down at Excel London, as such not on bikes, but in the car. Bad as we had to pay £15 for parking and get stuck in the rush hour jams on the way home, but good in that we stayed dry and had more room for shopping. 🙂
The show took up a sizeable area of Excel, but ironically was located directly opposite the (push) Bike Show, so cue lots of confused people expectantly finding bikes with (or without engines). A lot of the big brans were present at the show, Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, Ducati, BMW, KTM, Harley, Indian, Royal Enfield, etc. However notable there was no Suzuki… On the Friday, the show was reasonably busy, but not too busy and we had plenty to opportunity to sit on many bikes and get a feel for for them. Something the kids loved doing at every step! With Mary’s short stature, it was a great chance for her to check out what bikes suited her best. The Ducati Monster 696, Honda CB500 and KTM Duke 390 all seemed good candidates.