Fuel Light Challenge #1 RESULTS!
Read it and weep.
As Aaron said on the first post, this was quite a hard challenge to stick to, not to mention boring. It was amazing just how slow it felt going 70mph, not because I am so used to bombing along, but because everyone else was bombing past me at ridiculous speeds. Does anyone stick to the speed limits these days?
I would be tooting along at 70mph and I was able to look about more, noticing things I hadn’t even seen previously. An added benefit to watching your speed: you get to sightsee more. 
So how did it all work out then? Well from the chart you can see that I did 39 more miles, it used 2.2l more fuel and returned just about 10mpg more. I used the MPG calculator here to calculate these figures.
So in the end was it worth it? Well I have to say yes. It got me further on less fuel and I was able to relax a bit more on the journey. It would save me £300 a year as well which may not seem like much but it’s something.
Hope you found it useful!
Gordon
50% Off All Prints
Well well,
As you may or may not know, I have a wee shop where I sell my wares in the shape of photographs. These are available immediately to buy, and as of this very minute are on offer of 50% off all orders.
If you use the code: YAMYAM at the checkout, you will get a whopping 50% off. Now that’s a good deal. Some examples of the great stuff you can buy are below. Click HERE to go there right now!
All images are available in 15″ x 9″ glossy photo prints.
Update: Puma Desmo 800 GTX. Done. Gone.
Well now…
Firstly, thanks to Alex @ J&S Accessories for her help. I appreciate it.
My favourite pair of boots, my Desmo 800 Gore-Tex boots, my babys…gone. Forever.
I had sent them back well over 5 weeks ago to J&S Accessories due to the zip busting and the unbreakable Gore-Tex liner leaking. I sent them back and waited. And waited. And waited. Until it was too much and I called them up.
“Ok…hmmm. I’ll have a look and get back to you.”
That was Friday, and hadn’t received a call back. So today (Wednesday) I called up again.
“Yeah, we sent them back to the supplier and I’m waiting back on them calling me about the status. Hold on, I’ll call you back and I’ll find out.”
Sure enough 30 minutes later a call.
“The suppliers say that they have given us a credit for the boots so you can get anything you want from our store.”
“What, you can’t get them anymore?”
“No, they have stopped making them. But have a look in our store. You can get the Sidi Evo’s? They are our best selling boot?!”
“Hmm Bums… I’ll call you back once I’ve had a look at them.”
So I had a quick look at their store and no boots were Gore-Tex apart from some TCX Competizione boots at £200…doubtfull she’ll allow that to fly.
I called back and suggested it and although she had said that I could have whatever boots I wanted, there was obvioulsy a bit of no-way-jose before I was told that the boots on the web were only the most popular and that she’ll check to see if they do any other GTX ones.
No call back, but again she was quick to get a hold of. She apoligised with the reason that she was doing two jobs at once due to someone being ill. No problem.
“There’s some Daytona ones.”
No. They were pretty basic and not very nice looking.
Whilst I had been waiting for the call I had checked online at various brands again, thinking various things like, perhaps the Alpinstars Effex would be good again? They were bullet proof and comfy as feck as well. Hmm. Nah. What about any other Puma versions? No. Puma seem to have pulled out of the motorcycle boot industry altogether!!
Well what about TCX then? Hmm.
I had a wee swatch on their website and immediately drew myself to these:
Now. I know what you are thinking. And it probably isn’t “They are smarter than X”
I like the look of them definitely. But my rational was this: Winter.
I have the smartest boots around. The Desmo non GTX variety remember. I had 2 sets. Now I still have the normal Desmos, so getting winter boots smarter than the Desmos isn’t possible. Add to that the fact that during winter, my mind isn’t on how good I look, it’s on getting to work with the most number of body parts still attached to my body. These boots look like they will be comfy (going by the pretty sparse reviews of them) and warm. They also crucially have Gore-Tex.
Aye they may not be made of hard plastic to protect from crushing, but apparently they last ages, are instantly comfy (no break in) and are warm.
So I suggested to her if it would be possible to get these? She said that she would call the supplier and see.
10 minutes later a call to say that aye, that’s no problem, but there is a problem with price as these are £150 and I had paid £126 for the Desmo GTX. Of course I had paid £140 for them back then. She realised the mistake and said, no worries, she’ll get them ordered and sent out asap.
So there you go. I am really looking forward to trying this new boot out, but at the same time I am gutted about my Desmo’s. The fact that Puma don’t make them any more is also disappointing. But more than gutted or disappointment, I am really beat up about the fact that they only lasted 9 months. I was sure they would last at least as long as my AStars Effex, but I was wrong. Such a shame. I guess I’ll just have to take ultra good care of my normal Desmos if I want to keep them for longer.
Updates on the TCX Airtech Gore-Tex when they arrive!
Thanks for checking out YamYam folks. I am always reading and enjoy your comments.
Check out my Flickr for a constantly updated photo stream.
All the best
Gordon
2009-06-22 – Thoughts
My mood is pretty low at the minute. Maybe substitute mood for morale.
It seems to be getting windier every day and although today was the first dry commute this week, it was still not very pleasant.
The bike is still playing up, cutting out, indicators flashing fast or not working at all. The Bridgestones (BT021) are working a treat though, Stuart was right; I wasn’t on the right tyre for my needs. The rear still has similar grip levels but are not wearing half as much as my old 16′s. I’ve had them for over 2 months now and there is no apparent squaring.
Riding through Tillicoultry the other day I saw a boy on the back of a bike wearing a t-shirt. I instantly wanted to slap the helmet off his head…would’ve been easy as it probably wasn’t fastened. Why bother?
On Sunday for the first time in A G E S me and Em went out on the bike and I cruised. No red liners or the need to go fast. I bumbled along and I felt really relaxed, allowing time to take in what was whizzing past instead of looking for the next point to ATTACK!
We headed over to Stirling via Crook of Devon, Alloa etc and it was great having no agenda, we were just out for a Sunday totter. There was a load of bikers out, all shapes and sizes, sportsbikes, harleys, tourers, trailies.
Em got a new dark visor for her Shark RSi Eden helmet and it looks smart as feck. I’ll post up a picture later.
Saw a Kawasaki 800 Drifter at the weekend and couldn’t help but imagine myself cruising about on one. Sounded beefy and looked like a lazy boy. I don’t know if I’m starting to gravitate towards a more relaxed bike, MT-01 perhaps…can you call the MT-01 relaxed in any shape or form? Maybe not.
I’m going to Tenerrife in November. This may seem like no big deal, but the whole scenario takes on a different meaning when you realise how quickly I burn. I won’t even be off the plane and I’ll be in need of some medical attention. It looks not to hot though in Nov which is a good thing. The place we are going looks fantastic and behind it sits an active volcano, something which I will be heading up. This holiday can’t come soon enough.
British Superbikes come to Knockhill in a week or so, really looking forward to that. Hopefully the weather will remain somewhat dry and we can get some good racing. Last year was quite wet which spoiled a lot of it, but I’ll not forget the demonstration by the rescue helicopter right above us. Amazing.
Anyway,
Thanks to all that have left comments and check out my various links to Flickr and whatnot.
Gordon
p.s. check out the new sticker for my helmet:
Suzuki GSR600 – The List
Complete list of work done to my GSR from start to finish.
MILEAGE 0
Purchased Bike – 26-01-2008:
- Pre Delivery Inspection
- Fitted R&G Crash Mushrooms
First Service – 09-02-2008:
- Oil Change
Problem No.1 – 24-04-2008
- Bike not starting, electrics all power up but no starter motor or turnover
- Tried fitting parts from the demonstrator GSR with no success
- Ordered a complete wiring loom from Suzuki Warranty
- Replaced wiring loom, started first time.
- Stator, Signal Generator – Warranty
- Starter Clutch Cover x2 – Warranty
- Starter Idle Gear Cap Gasket x2 – Warranty
Rear Tyre Fitted – 30-04-2008
- Bridgestone BT-014
4k Service – 17-05-2008
- Headlight bolt sheared, replaced with non-standard bolt
- Oil changed
- 4k checks
Problem No.2 – 08-07-2008
- Same problem as No.1 – bike not starting
- Cleaned pickup and rotor, fixed – Warranty
7k Service & Problem No.3 – 24-07-2008
- Knocking in 6th gear
- Indicators broke – flashing too fast. Not fixed
- Run out of time to do complete service – air filter not fitted
- No vibrations or knocking found from tester
- Rear tyre fitted – Bridgestone BT-014
Problem No.3 continued – 23-08-2008
- Knocking even louder and more obvious now
- Indicators flashing too fast.
- Bulb replaced for indicator problem
- Advised front sprocket wear may be knocking issue.
11k service & Front Tyre – 04-10-2008
- 11k oil change and service
- New front tyre – Bridgestone BT-014
- Rod for holding tank up not returned to bike
Rear Tyre Fitted -10-10-2008
- Told Bridgestone BT-014 have been superceded by the BT-016
- Bridgestone BT-016 fitted, £30 more expensive
New chain and sprocket fitted – 15-12-2008
- New Renthal front and rear sprockets replaced
- New Tsubaki chain fitted
- Old rear sprocket missing 4-6 teeth
- Old chain totally feckered
- Front sprocket in perfect condition
Throttle Jamming – 10-01-2009
- Throttle sticks open when introduced, rev’s like mad
- Brake switch on front brake lever broke, replaced – Warranty
- Throttle body linkage seized making throttle stick open
- Fixed under Warranty
16k Service 15-02-2009
- Small 5mph spill in office car park.
- Rear brake peg broke, RHS Engine cover scuffed. Initially thought was just cosmetic.
- Turns out the RHS cover was corroded beyond reasonable operation. Bolt wouldn’t have failed had it not been corroded.
- Brake pads replaced
- Bill for repair £550, not Warranty.
Corroded engine covers – 16-03-2009
- Right hand cover replaced by me
- Left hand cover showing corrosion at the seal between engine and casing
- Magneto cover & gasket replaced under warranty
Throttle Jamming – 16-03-2009
- Throttle sticking again
- Mirror finish flaking off
- Oil leaking from engine on to my right boot
- LHS pillion peg cast cracked – not a warranty issue, replaced my dollar £160
- Throttle shaft lubricated
- Cam chain tensioner bolt tightened
New mirrors fitted – 04-04-2009
- New mirrors (K8) replaced under Warranty
- LHS footrest cast fitted
Rear Tyre Fitted – 18-05-2009
- Advised by independant garage BT-014 hasn’t been superceded, but doesn’t matter anyway because the BT-016 is the wrong tyre for me
- BT-021 Sports Touring tyre fitted
- Mileage for tyre should increase
- Independant Mechanic noticed that the engine is corroded now, will only get worse. Go to Suzuki garage.
Engine corrosion – 18-05-2009
- Check for the corrosion of the engine block
- Photos sent to Suzuki for Warranty check – Sunday
- Suzuki approve – Monday
- Bike booked for 21-05-09
Engine Case Replacement & Kill Switch Fault – 21-05-2009
- Kill switch, even in on position, engages at random during ride
- Bike handed in for complete engine case replacement under Warranty
- Indicators flashing fast- replaced under Warranty
- Parts for this job: Crankcase Set, O-Ring x 5, Engine Oil Plug Washer, Oil Seal, Gasket Set, Bolt(?), Clamp Muffler Connect, Bolt (8×35)x2, Screw x2, Plug, Ring set Piston, Pin, Bearing, Roller Bearing, Bolt, Bearing Crankshaft x 3, Connector Muffler x2, Filter Assembly Engine Oil, Exhaust Pipe Gasket, Exhaust Clamp Stainless, Oil, Coolant.
- Kill switch checked, cleaned.
Engine overheating – 02-06-2009
- Engine overheating – Normal Temp 80°C, Temp now 121°C. Radiator Fan doesn’t seem to be coming on.
- Indicators flashing Fast, Cleaned checked and working ok
- Fan re-connected as mechanics found it difficult to establish a clean connection the first time. Working fine with diagnostics programme and when brought up to temp in the courtyard.
Indicators Broke, Bike Cutting Out – 16-06-2009
- Not resolved as of yet.
MILEAGE 20257
New Logo, British GT’s @ Knockhill
So did you notice then?
For those that didn’t, here’s the old logo:
and the new one
What do you think?
I am heading to the British GT practice session tomorrow at Knockhill (Friday), armed with my camera so I should hopefully get some good looking photos.
In other news, and if you had been watching again, I am 9 miles short of the biggie: 20,000 miles…well, not that big but still unbelievable. I have been carting my point and shoot about with me in the hope of capturing the exact point I hit the 20k. I’ve been lucky as I am 9 miles off the mark with my bike at home, it’s not like I am halfway to work on the motorway when I suddenly realise I am 1 mile away from it, with nowhere to park.
I will update tomorrow night with (hopefully) some fabbo pictures.
Thanks again y’all and check out this blog which is runs the same vein as yamyam.
Gordon
Update: Puma Desmo 800 GTX Boots Review
Hey All
After my beloved Alpinestars boots broke, I fancied getting a pair of pumas. I had already bought a set of them off ebay thinking they were Gore-Tex as advertised, but unfortunately they weren’t.
Instead of getting some Desmo’s I decided to try another pair, called the Brutales. These were pretty uncomfortable and I really didn’t like the blue leather.
After a week of sending the boots back and forward, I decided that I would go for the Gore-Tex version of the Desmos. I knew how comfortable they were i.e slippers, and they looked smart as feck.
I bought them last August and wore them from then until now, so here is how they are fairing. Bearing in mind that they had…big shoes to fill. My Alpinestars didn’t flinch for over 1 and a half years of constant riding, walking, washing bikes, laying paths/grass and generally getting abused. (Click the images to see the larger ones over at my Flickr account)
As you can see, they are not so daisy fresh. But from August 08 until now, they have proved to be an excellent boot, standing up to some of the most torrential rain I have ever experienced.
The toe sliders are scuffed to bits, with the plastic the same. However on this boot (left) there is now a leak where the outside of my toes are. I suspect it’s something to do with the bolts securing the toe slider to the boot, but I am not sure.
The rear of the boots used to be nice and shiny, but after some pretty heavy use, you can see how worse off they are. This is from a multitude of things that I can think of right now. When Em sits on the back, her feet sit in a way that they hug the heel of my boot. This is probably the cause of the scuffs, with perhaps taking the boots off helping out.
As mentioned before, this little metal bit serves two purposes. The first is to make the boot look smart. The second is to assist in getting the boot off. You stick your opposite toe on this wedge, then suck your foot out the boot. It works wonders in the wet, I can attest to that. Note how pitted the metal is. This is Scottish winter road salt at it’s finest.
And now we come to the reason I have stopped wearing the boots for the past week. The zip burst. These boots are really snug, they hug your feet and offer tremendous feel. The downside to this is that when you are putting the boot on, you really have to use the zip to bring the two sides of the boot together and sometimes this puts a bit of strain on the zip. Unfortunately it put a bit too much strain on it and it split. I continued to wear them, just securing them with the massive velcro patch above the zip. It worked ok, but the zip issue, coupled with the leaking left boot called for a return to the shop.
The shift patch is quite obvious now. The rest of the patch is still shiny but the area I shift with has turned matte.
I often walk about in my boots, I did it with my A-Stars and I do it with my Demos. These boots are the comfiest things I have ever worn in my life, so it’s a joy to keep them on. However I walk like a dork, so the heel is starting to show signs of wear, and so is the outside of the sole.
So compared to my Alpinestars Effex Gore-Tex boots, how do the Puma Desmo 800 Gore-Tex fair?
Comfort: The Desmos are the comfiest things to put on your feet whilst riding a motorcycle. Compared to the Effex, the Desmos are far better.
Looks: Again, the Desmos are the smartest boots I know of. They offer something a bit busier than the Effex, but a long shot away from the squeeky Sidis. These are the pinnacle of effortless cool.
Durability: The Desmos have lasted since August 08. That makes it 10 months. The Effex lasted since January 07 until August 08, that makes it 18 months, so the Effex win hands down. The Effex were also really basic looking, just leather, no shift patch (where one of the holes developed) and the sole was the othe rhole. The Desmos are made up of lots of different materials, leather, plastic, metal. For this reason the Desmos look a lot rougher than the Effex did.
Effectiveness: The Effex were solid perfomers, offering dry feet up until the hole developed in the shift patch area. This wouldn’t have happened had there been a man made material (rubber, plastic) here. The Desmos have also been solid performers, but are now letting water in around the toe slider area.
Price: The Effex when I purchased them were £110. The Desmos £150. The price difference reflects the complexity and safety of boot I think, and they both sport Gore-Tex, so I think the Demos are well worth the extra dollar. The Effex didn’t have any shift patch, rugged heel armour or toe sliders. It also didn’t have the height of the Desmos.
So to conclude, the Puma Desmo’s are a superb boot, offering fantastic comfort, protection from the weather, feel on the gear shift/pegs and have gorgeous looks to boot (sorry). My boots are going back to the shop I bought them from to get the zip and leak fixed and I will continue to use them until they fail.
You can find the Desmos here for £128! An absolute bargain now! I think I may just have to invest in another pair for when these go bang, they are really that good.
Thanks for reading all,
Gordon
Suzuki GSR – Just a pain in the ass?
Hey all.
So I got my bike back last Wednesday and for the first 30 minutes of riding it, it felt weird. I had ridden the new (08) SV650 for the past week and had gotten used to the quick steering and fall over cornering. The GSR seemed a bit stiff, a bit like you need to work at it to get it to corner. I didn’t like it.
But then after riding it again on Saturday I was back to knowing my bike and it felt like second nature again. It’s amazing how quickly one can adapt to a different bike so quickly.
I had to go to work on Saturday, but left at mid-day. I had to drop off a package in the middle of the city so after doing that I headed back home through the town. After a bit the bike started to feel really rough, shakey and just not right. I looked at my mirrors when I stopped at a set of lights and it was like I was riding a V-twin! The mirrors were vibrating like nothing I have ever seen on the GSR.
It was then that I looked down at my dials, to see a flashing “121°C” oil temp and the red oil light illuminated. For reference, my bike usually sits around 70-80°C. I immediately thought “Shit, I need to get moving before my bike blows up” and then the lights changed, so I quick shifted to 6th and bumbled along. Thankfully within a couple of seconds the temp started to come down and when it passed 119°C the flashing of the digits stopped and the oil light went out.
Once I got to the dual carriageway the temp came down to around 85ish and my heart slowed slightly. However it wasn’t just this incident, as come Monday it was still pretty warm. Sure enough by the time I got to work the temp had crested 110°C and although the engine didn’t sound or feel like there was anything wrong, I certainly didn’t like it being so high. When I arrived at work I called the garage and they asked me to come in asap. When in the garage on Tuesday I handed the bike over at around 3:15pm, after arranging to be there for 3pm. Howeer I didn’t get my bike back till 5pm leaving me and Em floating about the garage for nearly 2 hours. It was a bit annoying as there aren’t any seats except the wall outside but when I saw this, it made up for it:
I couldn’t believe it when I saw them! The B-King with quad pipes. This is the same bike that had the 2 Brothers Exhausts on it, but man, these things are lovely…but then, after gazing at their titanium stainless steel splendor, your eyes can’t help but fall down on to the white slip of paper that holds the price for them. That’s right folks, you read it correctly: £1615 retail price. It seems no-cheaper with the “Our Price £1000″ because lets face it folks, a grand for a set of cans is pushing it, don’t you think?
(I would still have them though…)
So after I got my bike back, the boy mentioned that my rear-right hand indicator lens was hanging off. We went through to the workshop where my bike was in bits and there it was, hanging off. I never noticed it until this moment, but it was plain as day. Even the rubber seal was hanging out as if it’s intestines were on show.
I got the guy to order me a new one and tape up this one.
Pretty annoying and yet anothing thing to add to the long bill of parts.
Just for you, I now have a picture of the part that was most recently replaced under warranty: the whole crank casing.
That’s a whole lotta metal there folks. This part goes all the way from where the black bit meets the silver bit at the left of the blue arrow, all the way down behind the header pipes at the bottom, all the way behind the big circle at the bottom left. It’s a massive bit, and pretty much the whole engine. All replaced under Suzuki Warranty. Beggards belief that Suzuki don’t think, “hold on, this is the same bike that was in just the other month there…” but hey, as long as it gets fixed.
Well, at least my bike seems to be running ok now and for that I am thankful.
In other news I have been made aware of something called FS365, it looks something like this (taken from www.scottoiler.com)
This stuff you spray on to your bike after a wet ride or in winter and it protects the bits that are cheap and shit from corrosion. It’s a little too late for my bike really, but I will still be investing in some for this coming winter to at least stem the rot.
Rusty.
Anyway,
I have some updates for my AGV GP-Tech and thoughts on my next bike.
Many thanks for all that take the time to write to me and all that visit regularly. I appreciate it all, and I hope that you enjoy what I write and review.
Yours
Gordon
Still Here>Not Happy
Hello.
I am still here folks, albeit a bit miffed.
My bike is falling to bits and now, to top it all off I am having to get the front of the engine replaced. This is costing £1500 JUST FOR THE PARTS and then 2 weeks of labour, all done under warranty.
I will update with pictures this weekend.
Meanwhile I have finished my first book, and it’s available to buy now worldwide.
Check it out below:
So check that out, then come back at the weekend to get the low-down on my horrendously bad bike…
Thanks for looking folks,
Gordon
Car Crash TV…
Right, after my post about my mirrors I shall divulge my trip to the garage to get said mirrors fitted.
I left the house at around 8:35am as my bike was booked in for 9:00am sharp. It had been POURING down and I was bummed as every single time I am due to go to the garage it rains. Anyway, I got the bike cover off and got ready to go. I had my camera with me as I wanted to take before and after pics of my mirrors and get a few of the new Suzuki Gladius that the garage has.
So off I went in to the rain and as I arrived at the main roundabout I looked right to see if anything was coming. Well there was, but for some reason his car was defying the laws of physics and was travelling around the roundabout side-ways…hold on, he’s now spun round the other way and is now facing backwards!? What?! Ohh Oh OHHHHH!!!! And my jaw dropped in disbelief as I watched a Renault Scenic hitting the pavement and rolling on it’s side.
How not to go round a roundabout
I thought, shit I better get over there, so looked in front of me to see the guy in the red car just carry on as normal and head the other way on to the motorway! Unbelievable. So I got to the roundabout and headed around it the wrong way round to get to this guy asap. By the time I reached the car the guy who was driving it was out and crawling along the top of it (which was actually the side of his car.)
He jumped down and I immediately grabbed him and got us both away from the car. He was pretty jacked up, shaking and generally puffing a lot. I said the “It’s alright, you’re fine” and asked if anyone else was in the car; there wasn’t.
By this point there was now a young girl on the scene and quickly after another older bloke in a BMW X5 had stopped, each asking the same questions: are you alright and is there anyone left in the car?
After a few moments of calming down (sort of) the girl then asked the driver if he wanted to call anyone. Just before he answered, X5 man asked if he had anything to drink which made the driver pretty defensive. “NO! I’m just coming back from my work and I’m heading to my parents house to pick something up!”
X5 said that he had to ask just in case and then offered the advice of not bothering to phone the police as there wasn’t anyone else involved. After this he then suggested that we try to tip the car back on to it’s wheels, to which I stupidly agreed to do. Luckily enough the car didn’t want to budge.
The driver then called the police and then the RAC.
All the while I am standing with my helmet on listening to all this when I suddenly realise that I am going to be really late for the garage appointment, so decide to call them from the middle of the roundabout. The reason being is that all the while the driver is on the girls mobile, X5 man is telling him to get away from his car as the mobile will make the car petrol explode. How this would actually happen is beyond me but it’s better to be safe than sorry!
Whilst I was in the middle of the roundabout I decided it would be a good oppertunity for a covert photo for YY! haha.
Here it is:
The scene as it unfolded...
After a few moments the police arrived and immediately the male officer shouted “IS ANYONE HURT?”
I thought that I’d better take my helmet off now and shook my head to his question. Another one followed quickly and precisely, “IS THERE ANYONE IN THE CAR?” No.
“WHERE IS THE DRIVER?”
There, pointing at him on the phone. And then for a bit I zoned out as the police man went round his car checking his tyres and stuff. The officer asked the girl to move her car away from the crashed car and I said would you like me to move my bike?
“MOVE IT IN FRONT OF MY CAR ON THE PAVEMENT.” he said.
“Are you joking? I won’t get up there!”
“OK, move it back there then.”
Another squad car had arrived by this point and a solo lady officer joined the party.
When I arrived back to the officers the lady officer said that the other guys said I was a witness, to which I nodded and then gave a statement.
Then that was that. The officers took the driver off, the girl got back in her car, X5 man had already vanished and the car was left on it’s side.
It was pretty exciting and as I left I took the photo that’s at the top of the page, where you can see the officers disappearing behind the wrecked car.
I arrived at the garage 30 minutes late, and then waited around for 45 minutes to get the warranty work and peg fitted, but then was told my footpeg was seized and had to order £6 worth of new parts. Not bad considering the usual Suzuki parts bill.
Anyway,
Another exciting day in the saddle.
Thanks for reading folks,
Gordon
Suzuki GSR600s K7 – The Big Review
Hello.
This post would have been done a looong time ago had it not been for my bike breaking so much, so apologies for that.
It has been more than a year now of owning the Suzuki GSR600 and I am about to review it. It won’t be positive in any sense of the word so if you are in a good mood, please navigate to another post on YamYam until you are angry enough.
I guess I’ll start from the start then.
I bought my GSR600s K7 in January of 2008, it was my 4th bike and the last chance of a bike for the next couple of years. I had a Yamaha MT-03 (which melted), a Buell XB12Ss Lightning which costed £2000 for insurance and a Kawasaki ER-6n which was crap and I crashed it and then sold it. The GSR was the bike that I had to get on with as I wasn’t able to afford anything else.
Brand Spanking New.
Blair had one since November 2007 and after having a sit on it and seeing it going etc etc I liked it. I had never had an in-line-4 and had never had access to these kinds of rev’s so was looking forward to it…actually the only thing I haven’t had is a triple.I picked up my bike on the 24th of January 2008 and it felt good. The ER-6n was away and stability was finally here. And it stayed that way for 3 months.
The first thing to go was the electrics. And when I say the electrics I mean the whole thing. The garage replaced the whole wiring loom after a week of diagnostics turning up nothing. It was highly frustrating as we had booked our Scotland Tour for the end of May and I didn’t want anything to stop us from going.
Turns out that they couldn’t find out what the problem was but it was working now and I was happy. If I remember correctly the warranty bill came to something like £600 odd.
Debugging
A couple of months later my bike suddenly failed to start. After many attempts at the house to start it I was off, however on the return trip from work that evening I went to the petrol BP at the Forth Road Bridge and it wouldn’t start for love nor money. After half an hour of attempts it fired up and all was ok for the rest of the week. But then it totally failed to start and it was buggered. After another few days of non-biking bus journey to work the garage had fixed it, with a dirty starter coil or something like that the issue.
My bike then developed a knocking when accelerating in 6th. It wasn’t any other gear, just 6th. As you twisted the throttle I could feel through the pegs a “knock knock knock knock” which sped up as I accelerated. This grew over time in to a knocking at all revs and gears.
My indicators also broke but strangely started flashing really fast. A new indicator relay fixed this. An annoying trait started to appear as well with the mechanic at the garage. He was completely unable to fit my indicator pods back on properly, leaving a huge gaping hole between my tank and the indicator pods. Hair pullingly annoying to say the least.
The knocking became so loud that I had to do something about it. I bought a new Renthal chain/sprocket kit and got it fitted. Turns out my chain was totally feckered and my sprocket had 3-4 teeth missing. Problem solved and the shitty GSR stock drive system was OUT.
Whilst this problem seemed to have been solved, another problem was rearing it’s ugly head. The throttle.
Now I was fully aware of the throttle issues with the GSR and how it lurched forward and back when you accelerated/decelerated, but this was different. The throttle was sticking and I had to force it open and closed if I wanted to get anywhere. This was crap for a few reasons, the first of which was that it’s really unsafe to have to shut the throttle off manually whilst trying to slow down. A number of times I found myself having to brake harder to try and overcome the throttle being slightly open. Also when I am changing gear, the throttle will stick open and rev the bike to 8-9000 revs, which is shit if you are trying to be smooth.
After months of putting up with it I took it to the garage. A week and a half later the bike was fixed. The throttle bodies were siezed, making the butterfly’s stick open. This accounted for the need to force the throttle open and shut and after they were lubed/released the bike was running sweet. This also solved a problem with the bike cutting out in the morning. I would start the bike, let it warm up and then start off to work. I would get to the bottom of the road and change down the gears only for the bike to cut out. I would then have to restart the bike whilst still on the move. I had a suspicion this was to do with the idle speed and I was right.
How my GSR looks now, 2009
The brake switch in my front brake lever broke as well, rendering cars behind me oblivious to my slowing down. The back brake pedal had siezed up due to excessive lack of brake pad so I only had my front. This was replaced under warranty.
January 2009 saw me falling off my bike in the office carpark. This would have been a minor spill had it not been for the engine casings on my bike being corroded. And it was on both sides, and it was leaking oil. The first was fixed under my dollar, but the second corroded engine casing was a warranty job. The spill damage (rear brake lever, engine casing) as well as a 16k service came to £580, which was irritating as the only reasoon I fell off was because the office had left the entrance to the carpark un-gritted. There was not a sausage I could to to stop my front folding from underneath me.
How my GSR looks now, 2009 - The new non-corroded engine casing.
The rear left hand pillion footpeg mount then suspiciously cracked. It’s bizarre but the bottom of the casing has a big crack along it. I thought it would be covered under warranty but no it aint. £160 for that to be replaced by me and Em can’t get on it until a week today. What with the excellent spring weather we are having at the minute, this is a major annoyance.
How my GSR looks now, 2009 - Rusty. F*cking Rusty.
The finish on my right hand mirror is gone. This is frustrating but will be replaced under warranty with some K8 mirrors, which anyone who rides a GSR can do. There is a deal at the minute whereby anyone who has a GSR can get their mirrors swapped under warranty due to excessive vibration. I never use my mirrors for anything but seeing what’s directly behind me, so I wasn’t bothered. However for those who like to look at themselves or read the car numberplate behind them, this seemed to be a reason to get on to Suzuki. I can think of a few more important issues that they could attend to first though.
How my GSR looks now, 2009 - The frame saving R&G Crash Mushroom. Cheers!
And to top off all of this, the throttle issue returned. There seems to be a pattern of things happening twice, but this time it was the throttle shafts not being lubricated enough and now that they are, the problem is fixed.
How my GSR looks now, 2009 - Aye...build quality is an issue folks.
The real bone of contention for me is the crazy lack of durability with anything on this bike. It’s like the boy in the garage said, “They give you the bike for free and then rob you for parts” and I have to agree. I am a guy who takes pride in the finish of his bike and to see the paint falling off, rusting, flaking, cracking, badly designed parts on my GSR is a major issue. My rearsets are totally wasted with the paint finish blowing off with the wind to leave a nice fresh bit of metal to rust up.
How my GSR looks now, 2009 - Cracked footpeg, conveniently held up with a zip-tie.
I ride my bike 5 days during the week and then when it’s nice, some weekends. I try to wash it every weekend and when I don’t, it’s the 2nd weekend. A bike shouldn’t be this easy to ruin and a bike certainly shouldn’t be so easy to break.
How my GSR looks now, 2009
That’s the negative out the way, and when I say negative I mean in excess of £1500 worth of warranty and non-warranty negativeness.
How my GSR looks now, 2009
So now after I have stated all the problems I have had with the GSR, where does that leave me? Well to be honest I like my GSR. If you ignore all the issues the GSR is a nice bike. The throttle issue can be worked around but now and again still catches you out.
The looks of the GSR are still one of the reasons I love it. It’s quite unique and still get’s a lot of attention, but I suspect it’s people thinking it’s the B-King and not the GSR.
How my GSR looks now, 2009
The power of the GSR still makes me smile with the bike really coming alive after 9k all the way up to the redline at 13.5k. The roll on speed at 70mph is brilliant and leaves nothing to be desired for motorway duties, with low speed stability and controlability superb, so long as you use a good helping of back brake at 3-4mph.
The running costs of the bike are pretty good. I pay circa £224 a month for everything, bike £80, insurance £30, petrol £110 (varies), tax £48 (yearly) so this is a big positive.
The time saved in rush hour alone is enough to justify the expense on parts braking and consumables like tyres and services. I can’t really picture what it would be like commuting to Edinburgh in a car. I would have to leave at day break and get home at sunset and this would drive me mad. With a bike I get up and out to work in 20 minutes and am in the office 40 minutes later. The return is pretty much the same and there is absolutely no waiting in queues at all.
Also as a point in favour of the GSR: It took me and Em around Scotland, laden with luggage, camera gear, sweets and maps unflinchingly easy, and gave us the best time on my GSR, including some sweet handling, power and lack of fuss that we would have wanted. This was a big ask of the GSR and it didn’t even break sweat. Thankfully…
So in summary then, how has the GSR performed over the last year/16,000 miles?
Let us not forget first and foremost that the Suzuki GSR600 is a relatively cheap JAPANESE motorcycle. The finish on the parts is to a budget and it almost certainly, everywhere, shows. With exception to the wheels and handlebar, there is not a part on my bike that isn’t rusted or showing signs of deterioration, whether it be finish flaking off or just turning nasty due to cheapness of material.
There are a number of design touches that are completely stupid and worth slapping the designer over the face for. First is the rearset, which is a cast block of metal. This block holds both sets of pegs and the finish on it is a very nice easy scratch silver paint. If you happen to snap a peg mount point, you have to replace the whole damn thing.
The next is the seat, which is paper thin exactly where your bits naturally sit when you are on the bike. After prolonged periods on the road or if you wear thinner trousers, this can be excruciating very quickly. Not only is the seat thin, but it’s also angled such that your body slides forward in to the tank at the whiff of slowing down. A bit of a flatter angle on the seat would irradicate both problems.
The clutch cable obstructs the temp gauge on the dash. This isn’t so crucial but is annoying.
The clock pod vibrates at exactly 6000rpm and it’s LOUD AND VERY ANNOYING. Something has broken off inside this part and is causing it to vibrate, but I haven’t hit it with anything or tampered with it at all, so there’s obviously an inner stress within this part that fails whenever a mildly big bump is hit.
The throttle issue is something that I knew about and folk who know what a GSR is know about. The fix (looking at the GSR forum) is the throttle position sensor being manually set in the build stage of the bike to a preset place. If you get your bike apart and override this setting by adjusting the position of a lever, the bike runs fine. How Suzuki couldn’t advise their garages to fix this themselves to eradicat this highly irritating and potentially dangerous issue is beyond me.
Ridden 50%, broken 50%
Well, there you go. The GSR is a decent bike let down by STUPID build quality issues and a severe lack of durability to their parts. When I am due for a new bike I wont be looking to Japan for my new metal, I will be looking to either Austria, Germany or Italy…although I am sure I said that if you want a cheap bike you need to look no-where else but Japan….who knows. One things for sure, Suzuki really have something to answer for with the GSR and it seems that when Suzuki released the GSR to the world, the didn’t expect anyone to actually ride it that much. For example Blair’s bike has 4,000 miles on it in a year and a half, and it still looks fresh as a daisy. I’m hitting 17,000 in a year and it looks like a pile of rusty ming. I dont want to even think what it’ll be like this time next year…oh dear.
December 2008
“It’s Christmas don’t you know!” said one of my friends today.
Christmas. 2008. It’s over AL-FREAKIN-READY!
I guess as you get older the years get shorter. I need something to slow me down or I’ll just speed up till it’s over. I am looking forward to the week and a bit I’m off over the Xmas holidays. Looking forward to eating so much that I’ll burst. Looking forward to chilling with Blair.
Got my new chain and sprocket kit on last Thursday. I went to Jacksons bikes to see Stuart and have him fit my kit for me. I was hoping I could watch him do it and I did, so that was ace. I asked him what would have been pretty idiotic questions but for me they were important.
One such question was about adjusting the chain. “I haven’t really thought about it because I need a torque wrench.”
Stuart laughed and said “Eh…no you don’t. Tighten that thing till you can’t turn it anymore, then give it a few kicks as well and that’ll be more than enough. I can get the manual out the now to check what torque setting it ‘should be’ but I bet you it’ll be a bawhair* more than what you can physically do.” Excellent.
So he began by getting the back wheel off and then the rear sprocket. By the time I had made it to Jacksons, my chain was practically hanging off, something which Stuart found pretty funny. I said that there was some clicking going on and he burst out laughing, “I’m pretty sure it has something to do with your chain.”
So upon inspecting the rear sprocket there were a few missing teeth, something which would have contributed to the clicking I felt through my pegs.
The chain was wasted, and some links were seized, again contributing to the noises.
The front sprocket was pretty good, but the new Renthal one went on anyway.
I learnt about a “Cush Drive” which was new to me. I noticed that when Stuart was removing the old sprocket, the whole hub came out of the wheel! I said, “Bloody hell, is that not attached?” and he said, “no….it’s the cush drive.”
“What the feck is a cush drive?”
And it turns out that the sprocket is sat in to a bed of rubber blocks, with opposing rubber blocks on the sprocket side and this “cushions” the drive train, removing any unwanted stresses or vibrations etc from the throttle/gears. This is all held in place by the axle/swing arm. Every day is a school day. Never forget it.
So he assembled the wheel back on, with the new chain fed through which looked amazing. Whilst he was fitting that I had a look around his workshop at his race bike. Stuart sponsors a race team and there was the racing R1 bike. He said that it’s got about £25,000 worth of stuff done to it. It looked amazing and it had a similar chain to mine.
Once Stuart had finished I made my payment of £15 and off I went. Immediately the bike felt smooth again, but it highlighted the throttle issue that I’m having just now. It’s not the usual jerky throttle issue, but it’s the idle speed. When I close the throttle the bike revs to 2,500rpm. If I roll the throttle forward i.e. negative throttle, the revs die to where they should be sitting. It’s weird but I haven’t been able to fix it yet. It’s not the idle or the throttle grip, I think the cables need re-setting.
Anyway,
Today is Christmas eve and I had the worst ride in. I have a cold. Cold + Bike = Eating your own snot. It was pretty bad and the only positive thing was that I managed not to sneeze. It was crap.
I am sitting in work, its quiet and I feel shit. I want to go home, but talk of the management releasing us at lunchtime is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Anyway, I’m signing out.
I will post before 2009, so have a wonderful Christmas and Santa is good to you…
thanks for reading all,
Gordon
Running snow and Renthal Sprockets
Hello all,
It has been ridiculously cold here in Scotland the past few days, in fact it’s now probably a week. My Klan heated gloves have stopped working and there’s really no point in having the inners on anyway. I can either have frozen fingers and no feel, or have frozen fingers and keep from doing a redline rumble everytime I change gear.
So thats good.
Then this morning I woke up to this:
It's going to be cold today
Cold bums today then. And I needed petrol too. So I went out and checked if I needed to de-freeze my petrol cap, as usually I forget to do this and get to the garage only to find, ach, no. But today it was fine! So I sweeped the snow off my feet, and on I got. It’s not so difficult this riding-in-snow lark. As long as you take it easy and try your best to not get your knee down…
It was a pretty chilly ride in and the AGV seems to be pretty good at channelling most of that -26*c windchill directly at your forehead. The usual crappy visor mist problems occurred and the roads are mega dirty at the minute so the visibility was bad.
I am fed up with this chain.
At the weekend I cleaned my bike thoroughly (first time in 2 weeks 
) and gave the chain a good seeing to after some serious knocking going on. Then I checked the tension…oh dear.
It’s got so much play in it that I could touch the swing arm with the chain. Then I check the tension over the rear sprocket, and I could take the chain away from it around 2-3mm… So I need to adjust my chain. But the only torque wrench we could find on Sunday was a £59 Halfords special and we (Blair and I) didn’t want to part with that much moolah.
Fearing that my chain was on the way out, I purchased a Renthal Final Drive kit, for £119 @ Sportsbikeshop. It arrived today.
Renthal Final Drive Kit
Contents: Tsubaki Alpha Chain, Renthal front and rear sprockets
The front sprocket...steel
we're talkin' bling here folks
So it looks pretty good. I think my justification is that I would probably have to pay to get the chain adjusted, so instead of just getting that done, I’ll just replace the whole thing and hopefully the mystery knocking will cease as well. Plus, I will now have a gold chain and sort of gold looking sprocket. which is ace…its not? oh well.
My next service is at 16,000 miles so I still have 2k to go, and I aint waiting till then to get this fixed.
A guy on the GSR forum has apparently found a cure for the GSR’s snatchy throttle. It consists of adjusting the TPS (Throttle position sensor) and it fiddles with the voltage that controls the ECU, which in turn can be exploited to trick the computer in to thinking that the throttle remains open therefor, not cutting the fuel which leads to the GSR’s snatchy re-entry of throttle.
OOO
The bad news for us all is that it requires a tank/airbox/other really important bits to be removed and then some other really important bits to be removed before you arrive at the TPS. It’s not over then as you now have to configure the TPS by hand…
I guess I’ll print it out and hand it to the garage! haha
Right, well it’s bloody freezing in my “computer room” which is a cupboard under the stairs…so I am signing out.
Hope you are all well,
Thanks for stopping by
Gordon
Quick Update
Just a quick update,
Been reading a lot of interesting motorcycle blogs over the past couple of days. It’s good to read other people’s perceptions of situations similar to your own. I’ll add a few in the links to the right…I might start a new section for it as well.
The GSR has now become an extension of myself. I find myself riding to work these days in complete harmony with my bike. I know the exact precise position that I need the clutch to be in to give me a slick shift, and I am able to instantly go there whenever I want. I know the inner workings of the stupid throttle snatch and can work around it on the fly…it’s almost as if I can see it coming and take measures to prevent it. There is a funny tapping that is going on in 6th. If I open the throttle I can hear a regular tapping. I have no idea what it is but I’ll bring it up at my next service…which is due pretty soon.
I read with interest on someone else’s blog about back brake and what it’s for…which got me thinking about how some people actually don’t use it. I know that Blair doesn’t use his back brake as much as I do but when you see how easy the bike is to control when you do use it…it’s a wee bit baffling why people dont use it.
After updating the logo of my website I looked at getting a new sticker for my helmet and so headed back to Diginate (www.diginate.com) the place I got my first set of stickers.
They had said on their website previously that they would soon be doing contour cut stickers…well that time has arrived. I created my artwork in Photoshop, got an instant quote online and then sent it all through. I got a confirmation email to say that my artwork was ok and that was that. 1 week later they arrived and I have to say, they are pretty good!
Pictures are below and with a deal of £20 for 100 of these full colour bad boys, it’s a win-win situation…now where can I stick 100 YamYam stickers….?
Review: AGV GP-Tech
Hello,
What do you get when you cross ultimate comfort, with ultimate technology and ultimate materials? You get the Ultimate Warrior….but apart from him, you also get the brand spanking new AGV GP-Tech. Retailing at £379.99, it most certainly is expensive, but what price do you put on your head?
The brand new AGV GP-Tech, the top of the line job
Well put whatever price you want on it, because until the SHARP tests come out (see below/here) I really don’t know how good it is, but from wearing it now for over 1500 miles in 4 weeks, I can certainly attest to certain things.
So, how does it feel knowing that I have the best money can buy on my face every day? It feels great. My Shoei XR-1000 is a nice helmet, but it’s nothing compared to this.
The first thing that struck me was that it actually fitted my head. I have tried on a lot of helmets and in the long list of ones that don’t fit me, the AGV is at the top. It was a shame because when I first started biking I was on the verge of buying an AGV Ti-Tech Rossi Gothic, the one he used from the 2007 motogp season. Even worse was that I was going to buy it off the net, but instead I headed to Scott Murrays to try some on and it didn’t fit me.
How smart is that! The two air channels on the crown
So it fitted me and even better, it fitted like a glove. The helmet is plush to say the least. The materials and fabrics used in this helmet are top notch and the interior of the helmet is a dream. The roof of the helmet is the perforated type of material, letting in some ventilation from the crown vents. The cheek pads and aperture surround are covered in a suede type material, which feels snug. There is CoolMax material used in the whole lining which wicks moisture away leaving the interior fresh.
The shell is made from a mix of Kevlar and carbon, which is really light. The design of the helmet is very aerodynamic, with 2 distinctive channels running over the crown for ventilation. The rear is quite pointy compared to other helmets and has another 4 10 vents to exhaust the remaining heat away from the inside.
Mega vent. Brilliant ventilation system and looks the business as well.
The ventilation on this helmet is fantastic. I have never felt fresh air on my face like this before. The Shoei was quite airy but that was mainly due to the chin being open completely. The AGV feeds a continuous flow of air in and around the face and keeps things nice inside, but also benefits from an enclosed feeling with the chin and neck skirts. However I can imagine in winter it may be a bit chilly. We’ll have to wait and see.
The visor on this helmet is both genius and disappointing. The visor doesn’t have pinlock, the famous anti fog double glazing that my Shoei had. Instead it has an anti-fog coating on it. Now from previous experience with both the Shoei and the Shark, I have always had fogging with anti-fog visors, but the AGV is something else. It is the start of summer at the minute so the real capabilities will again have to wait till winter, but there is no sign of misting at all with this visor. It’s amazing. UPDATE: Today I was riding along and suddenly I could see my breath, inside my helmet! It was amazing, I had seen it before, but the visor had misted up as well, however the AGV didn’t. It was great being able to see all this mist but also be able to instantly see out the visor when the air clearerd. Weird….However the disappointment lies with the visor mechanism.
The weak visor mechanism. It’s a bit difficult to change visors as well.
It doesn’t have enough friction. Compare the AGV with my Shoei and there is a distinct difference in ratchet strengths. The Shoei had a lovely firm ratchet, holding the visor wherever you wanted it to be, and if you wanted to close it completely, it would take that extra push to create the snap seal. With the AGV, it feels like the visor isn’t even on a ratchet sometimes. The visor has actually closed itself on a number of occasions, which has both startled me and annoyed me. Sometimes I like to go along with my visor open, but the AGV it’s impossible. Apart from that the visor is ace, especially the dark visor. I found with the Shoei dark visor that it was quite cloudy to look through, as if it was dirty. The AGV is crystal clear which is brilliant, and also without the pinlock insert, the viewing field appears larger.
The anti-fog visor. Note how easily it picks up finger prints. Annoying to say the least.
The stock GP-Tech rides quite low on my head. Its not just my head either which is weird. The aperture roof sits too low and forces me to look slightly up, which when you are going at faster speeds, is quite uncomfortable. However the way around this is a thin slice of foam, which I have put inside the crown of the helmet. This has allowed the helmet to sit more naturally on my head without compromising anything. (Thanks Chris)
On a final note, the helmet is really quiet, however not as quiet as Blair’s Schuberth, but a hell of a lot quieter than my Shoei, I think this is due to the small helmet opening and chin skirt, which were both available for the Shoei as the whisper strip kit, something which I was going to buy for a long time but never got round to it. I think I may have to invest in it after hearing the difference.
You squeeze your head through that tiny space, and it’s instant comfort.
My helmet is white, which shows up every splat of road kill, something which I hadn’t really noticed until now. My Shoei managed to cover most of it up and even though I cleaned it regularly, never really appreciated how many bugs have splatted. It’s both good and bad I suppose, it’s easy to clean my AGV and looks amazing when it is, but when I am out and about, its not very nice seeing bugs all over the place. I may look in to getting it painted, I don’t know.
So yeah, the AGV GP-Tech, top of the line helmet and an absolute dream. For nigh on £400, it’s a BIG price to pay for comfort/cutting edge tech. However if you want the pinnacle of helmet tech and comfort, look no-where else.
Fingers crossed it comes out top on the SHARP tests, which I have a feeling it will.
Thanks for looking folks!
More updates very shortly, including my RST GP-Pilot gloves, Furygan Orona Jacket, Puma Desmo 800 Boots and my Hardas jeans.
Gordon
p.s. remember you can see all of the photos here and from every single review/post on the photo gallery. Click the menu at the top to go there.
New YamYam logo
Hello everyone!
Big news today. I have finally came up with a YamYam logo.
Here it is in all it’s glory:
Check that out!!
I have also made a new banner at the top of the page and if you want the logo for some reason get in touch and I’ll send you a hi-res one.
I think I will get some stickers made up, I found a cool site that you can get vinyl stickers printed off, full colour for 20 stickers it’s £11ish but it has an instant calculator thing.
The website is here.
I quite like it, and when I get the stickers I will put em on my helmet. Hooray!
I had over 850 views in November so thanks to everyone who stopped by and had a look. I know it’s a tiny number compared to other websites, but I am chuffed anyone even bothers to read this and even leave comments, so thanks again.
I will update before Xmas, but it’s my last day at work tomorrow so I will be beside myself with joy.
Thanks for looking folks
Gordon
Updates
Pictures section has been updated with 2 galleries full of nice images.
Check it out and drop me a line if you like anything.
Cheers
Gordon
