Recently Motorcycle Monthly asked readers to give tips on staying safe and visible on the roads in the winter. I posted off my contribution and they chose it for print in this December’s edition and here it is.
Excuse the cheesy mugshot! Nonetheless, the kids are proud to see me in print. 🙂
Continuing my series of Sixth Sense Skills, here comes tip 2:-
Highlighted is a very common scenario when filtering through slow moving traffic and a gap opens up. Think to yourself ‘who might want to fill that gap?’ Also notice the position of truck, close to the edge of the lane, the driver is likely gauging the progress of the traffic up ahead and contemplating a lane swap.
Kicking off a new video feature on this blog, welcome to the Sixth Sense Skills! I’m going to show simply scenarios with the hope you can spot the tell tail signs hinting at how they may unfold, so you can ride safely. Too often bikers miss these signs and suddenly find themselves in tight spots with too much speed and no time to brake or evade. Please watch the video below and see if you can guess what is about to happen.
The new fairing for my Fazer 600 arrived the other day. I have opted for a pattern part, GRP version from CWC (Cars Wants Change) in Poland. As you can see the fairing arrived unpainted with just the white gel coat finish. So my daughter offered to paint it for me. Not 100% it’ll be a good colour match mind… It was far more cost-effective than a genuine Yamaha part and first impressions are good, nice smooth finish in the main. Just a couple of edges that will need a bit of sanding prior to spraying.
Over the next week or so, I’ll get it painted up properly at a local spray shop and then fitted. I don’t think I’ll be able to do a particularly good job with rattle cans at home. Finally, once I’ve stuck on some decals and the Yamaha badge, it should look indistinguishable from a genuine Yamaha fairing. Of course, at a fraction of the price; £125 compared to £500. At that price, it won’t be such a tragedy if I drop the bike again!
CWC make all kinds of pattern fairing, rear huggers and other body parts for all manner of bikes (and cars). Do check them out
Update: Since writing this it seems CWC are longer trading on eBay. Also, Yamaha reduced the price of their genuine fairings, with a fully painted and colour-matched cowling coming in at around £200. Order directly from your local Yamaha dealer, or Fowlers Parts.
With the weather rapidly turning colder, winter will soon be on us and out comes a bike’s worst enemy. Salt.
Spread on the roads to tackle ice, it literally eats our bikes, accelerating the oxidisation of ironwork causing your downpipes, frame and anything else exposed to rust and disintegrate before your eyes. Now is the time for some motorcycle winter preparation to prevent this problem.
ACF-50 motorcycle treatment is an amazing product you can just spray onto your bike, totally covering it (just stay away from brakes), whence it will leave a protective film that halts any existing rust and prevents further rust. And so, at the weekend I gave the bike a good clean, removing a lot of the grime and dirt, then completely doused it in ACF-50.
Autumn is here. The leaves on the trees are changing colour and are being shed. The weather is all over the place, wet, windy, bright sun. Watch out for wet leaves on the road, they’ll be super slippery. Avoid hard braking and cornering on them, or risk loosing grip on the front wheel. Don’t ride in the gutter where the collect, with the low Autumn sun dazzling you, glare on the wet road, you may not notice them until too late.
Recently I splashed out on a new Motad Venom complete exhaust system for my Fazer. Comprising of stainless steel downpipes, a nice oval end can and all the trinkets for fitting. Motad has their factory located in the heart of the black country up in Walsall, which is nice to know as supporting local trade is always preferable. Motad sells their products directly through their eBay shop or their website, and in either case, you can get a better price than going through a reseller. I ordered their full exhaust system; downpipes, gaskets, link pipe, the end can and necessary clamps/brackets. Motad offered me a good price in exchange for a write-up on this blog. The whole lot arrived quickly in a lot smaller box than I was expecting, but dismantled the system is not as large as you first perceive. Upon opening, I had a box full of shiny goodies. All packed well, everything needed for installation included and a short set of instructions for fitting.
Update 2017: Sadly Motad has shut shop and ceased trading. It’s a real shame to see such a good British brand no longer in business.
This is the first time I’ve tackled the fitting of downpipes, but after consulting my Haynes manual, and some guides on the Fazer Owners Club forums and various other websites, it didn’t seem too difficult. Here are the steps I followed.
Gerbing’s have taken their XR12 heated gloves for motorcycles and revamped and improved them for 2013/2014. Now with a number of key differences and tweaks that greatly improve them compared to the prior XR12 iteration. After recently sending my old Gerbing heated gloves back for repair (again), I received this new iteration as my replacement. Thankfully, a very swift turnaround on warranty from Gerbing, so I only suffered cold hands for a couple of days.
Treated myself to a set of nice new stainless steel downpipes and can from Motad. My current stock pipes have turned into a complete rust bucket and full of holes at the bottom by the 4-into-1. Not bad considering they’re over 10 years old now.
Will fit downpipes one upcoming weekend when weather permits. But might stick can on sooner, can’t wait to see how it sounds.
Haynes manuals have now arrived. Gave up trying to find a cheap second-hand copy, there’s naff all saving by the time you’ve factored in postage compared to Amazon free delivery.
To be honest, I can’t believe I lasted this long without a Haynes manual. I also have a Motad downpipes and exhaust system on order, so should be handy when it comes to fitting that.
