In 5..4..3..2..1…..twiddle thumbs.
Weekly Update 9 – 11/10 – 31/10
Well people. For the first time in 4 years of motorcycling, for the first time since I started, I will be putting my beloved motorcycle to bed for the winter. It’s been a short time coming around and I feel slightly bummed about it, but then I immediately remember the GSR and how much it cost me to run it throughout winter. And not forgetting the volatile riding conditions that once made me feel elite, now make me feel cold. I always said from the beginning, as soon as I start to not enjoy riding my bike I will pack it in. I have held that view throughout and now, despite my perceived “elite” status being relegated, I am giving it a rest over winter.
Last winter was particularly harsh if you lived in Scotland, certainly one of the worst in recent times. This led to my GSR needing yet another £500 worth of replacement parts and another large dent in our already beat up wallet. So after the GSR was sold earlier this year, I made sure that the MT wouldn’t be tempting to ride during the colder season, mainly by only getting 6 months of road tax, but also by running the front tyre in to almost oblivion. I have a story for you.
Last night I was heading home in the dark, as now it’s dark when I leave the office, which is just unbelievable. Anyway, I went for some petrol and then on to the bridge (after nearly being side-swiped by a Renault Clio) and off we went. The usual braking/accelerating tactics continued over the bridge and we got to the other side. I switched to the inside (overtaking) lane as a lot of the cars come off at the first junction after the bridge, causing a bit of braking action.
Once in the outside lane, I was following a white transit van, older generation model and as we came off the bridge they all started to speed up. It had been raining a lot so the surface was damp, bit of surface water here and there but generally ok. Then out of no-where the transit van did an emergency stop. We were travelling roughly 60mph by this point and unlike all other cases of slowing down after the bridge, this was a complete halt manoeuvre.
Instinct took over as I saw a wee puff of either smoke or water from the Transit van in front. The van was closing in quick and I was increasing the front brake pressure subsequently but then the rear wheel locked up (damn right foot instincts are slightly more meat fisted than they should be) so the back end started weaving about in a slow smooth side to side action, and as a result the engine stalled. It felt silky that’s for sure, totally controllable, yet completely out of control……..doesn’t make sense. Anyway I kept increasing the front brake, but the van was braking more and for every second that passed I got closer and closer to hitting him.
As a gauge to the amount of time I was in full braking/weaving mode, I was able to audibly say to myself, “Come-on Gordon, let’s get some stopping action here, come on… come on…come on…”
I would say it was a good 6-10 seconds duration from the moment of brake introduction, to the point at which I was absolutely sure I was hitting the van.
Add on to this scenario of silky weave, hard braking and me talking to myself, was the knowledge that my front tyre only has about 1.5mm of tread on it, so any surface water that would be dealt with, wouldn’t really be that efficiently dealt with in my current condition. As luck would have it, at the point at which I had submitted myself to be picking my bike up from underneath this Transit van, the van released his brakes and accelerated a touch. This gave me the life saving break as our wheel/bumper nearly kissed.
After starting the bike again I quickly down-shifted a few and shoulder checked to the left, shot off up the inside lane and had a wee glance back at the van driver, who then flashed his lights in a weird moment of complete understanding.
I let out a rather embarassing “WHEEEEEOEOOOOOOOOEOOOOOOOOEOOO WHEE WHEE WHEE, BLIMEY CHARLIE!” in order to release the insane amount of adrenaline that was being readied for a complete muscle melt-down, and got on my way. I find screaming or shouting stupid words after a life-threatening moment diffuses the adrenaline’s impact on the muscles (you know, that debilitating slunk that you get in your legs and arms, as if you are about to faint). That and sheer bloody determination to get on with the journey home. If you had a mic in my helmet and listened back to it, I’m sure it would be a good amuser, but for me it seems to be a good way to deal with the adrenaline.
I got in and told Emma who did her usual “…….I hate it when you ride your bike in the rain”.
It would have been a bit of a downer had I hit the van as it might have caused some damage to the head bearing area which could result in a write-off if the frame is damaged, but hey ho. So on Saturday 30th October 2010, the MT-01 will be in the garage, washed and dried, prepared for its storage for the next 4-6 months. In that time I will change the now bald front tyre, change the oil/filter, perhaps install a new chain and sprocket set and generally get it nice again.
The question now is, what will I write about in the meantime? Well I am now going to be getting the train every day, so I have no doubt that I will descend in to some mindless rant about fellow commuters and their idiocy, perhaps write about the failings of the public transport system in Scotland, or just shoot the breeze, with intermediate updates about the MT. Who knows. Perhaps YamYam will turn itself in to a Golfing blog over the winter periods!? Write in if you have a suggestion.
It will be sad not being the select few still on their bikes in Nov/Dec/Jan but then again, I might enjoy not having purple toes and some frostbite to the forehead.
Till then, for now,
Gordon
It’s a sound unlike any other.
Break the mould just this once.
This isn’t a weekly update, but I am compelled to post for many reasons. The first of which starts with the photo above. There is several things wrong with this photo. I wonder if you can see what?
No? Yes? Let me tell you.
The first thing you can see is that this is a motorcycle, obviously. And it’s travelling on gravel. Now, that’s no big deal, but let me elaborate. This, as you can see by the screen identification, is a man named Jed Heath. I’ve never met Jed so I don’t really know much about him. But I know that he shouldn’t be on a motorcycle like this, in some gravel. And he especially shouldn’t be travelling at the speed he was travelling at when he reached the hairpin gravel section of Knockhill Racing Circuit, near Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, UK. You’ll also note, he’s not braking.
I was at Knockhill this weekend with Rossy Boyo for the Jock Taylor Superprix, a celebration of Mr. Taylor winning the sidecar world championships in 1980. There was the usual support series including the GP400′s, which is what Jed Heath was riding.
We had started the weekend at the pit straight, followed by the bottom of the Seat Curves and the Scotsman, taking photos and getting our techniques in to shape. We drove around eventually to the “Carlube” corner and found it to be a bit lax, although the loudspeaker system which pumps out some irritating twat fumbling his way through times and interviews at obscene volumes was broken, so it offered us a bit of a rest. Following the completion of the Superstock 600′s in which our very own Stuart Jackson (of Jackson’s Bikes) was racing, we headed around to the hairpin for some closer in action shots, and some shade from the sun beating down upon our (or at least my) reddening faces.
The sidecars spun their way around and finished quickly. A man with a small boy turned up with a Nikon camera (with a stumpy looking lens) and a laptop of all things. No bags, just those two items…and his wee boy.
The 400′s, Forgotten Era’s and the 125′s headed out on track at once and I decided to switch to black and white on my camera to try and get some nice oldy looking shots with the Forgotten Era bikes. I was shooting in JPG as well, meaning these black and white’s were baked in to the files (instead of RAW where you can remove the black and white setting should you want to…)ANYWAY. I mention this only to make it clear that I didn’t translate these following photos in to black and white for “effect”, for impact or show. It was just unfortunately the setting I was in when this happened.
So they went round a few times to get their tyres warmed up a bit and the grid set up and off they went. I moved a bit further up the hairpin whilst Ross stayed close to the outer edge of it. The man with the small child/laptop was in between us. And then it happened.
I was locked on to Jed which was strange in itself as I had been resting my now knackered arms in between the Forgotten Era bikes going past. But I had my camera to my face and was locked on to Jed and I was immediately aware that something wasn’t right. Usually by the time they get to the hairpin you can see the front diving and the sound of hard braking, rev’s getting lower possibly some tyre screech. With Jed however, when I locked on to him his bike was still going as fast, there was no dive of the front, no reduction of engine pitch.
My camera was on continuous shooting mode but for some reason it takes two very quick photos, there’s a wee pause and then a third photo. It’s not really “continuous” in any sense of the word. I took the first of the two quick photos as he entered the sand trap. The next quick photo captured the photo above. The next photo, after the short pause, showed him or rather a wheel of his bike, sticking out of the now seriously inflated air fence.
Jed hit that fence with a sound that, like all things of horrific nature, isn’t heard anywhere else. We all knew how serious this could be and my initial reaction, after the air fence impact photo, was to turn to Ross who looked at me with such horror that I swear I have never seen before in anyone. The sound was that of a motorcycle going past you, flat throttle with no increase or decrease of pitch, with some gravel noises thrown in and then a hollow “boffffffffffff”. Then silence. No “OH MY’s” or sweary words. Just silence.
We watched together as the marshals whipped across that gravel barely touching the surface and were in that air fence before the fence came back down. Red flags were being waved ferociously as the other racer’s continued on unaware of Jed’s fate. A few seconds later, after rooting around deep within the tyre fence, a man emerged and stood up, resting himself on the airfence beside his impact point. A collective sigh of relief washed down the spectators box and Ross walked over, shouting how certain he was that Jed was dead. “You can’t go in to a fence at that speed and survive.”
And he was right. Jed was travelling at full speed when he skipped across the gravel and hit that fence. It’s a long straight leading up to that hairpin and these 400′s are quick. How he is standing there, talking to the paramedics, who had arrived shortly afterwards, is a miracle.
We had a moment of reflection, Ross and I, as we watched the bloke get his laptop out the case, and then proceed to upload a photo, presumably of the crash, to somewhere. Instant coverage…
Our day was coming to an end anyway by this point but we watched a few more races and then headed back to the paddock to speak to Stuart before heading home.
I got home and after having a shower and my tea, I sat down to transfer my day’s catch on to the computer. I was interested to see how the black and white ones came out, as well as my longer exposure ones (the really blurred fast looking ones).
And then Jed’s sequence appeared on screen.
It’s been a bit of a thinker for me tonight as I cropped these photos for YamYam. In the photographs of Jed travelling across the gravel, I can see his eyes in one. I said to Em, “This would have a completely different significance had Jed not been so lucky” to which she replied, “you’re full of joy tonight.”
But it’s true. In any number of ways Jed could have not have been so fortunate. His bike could have skipped up at the last minute making him miss the air fence…etc. etc. And this photo would have been the last moment of his existence. His last point of being in the world.
On every Knockhill ticket it states “WARNING MOTORSPORT CAN BE DANGEROUS. Despite the organisers taking all reasonable precautions, unavoidable accidents can happen. In respect of these, you are present at your own risk.”
“…you are present at your own risk”.
I couldn’t help think that the risk involved for us isn’t getting hit by a flying motorcycle or car, it is having to possibly watch someone die in front of us. I mean, I enjoy racing, I enjoy watching it and despite the slightly demonic inclination, I enjoy when people crash (don’t try and take the moral high ground here either, I know you like a good crash or two). But as long as they get up I can feel ok about it, I mean they know what they are getting in to. Right?
Right. But in the same token, this weekends racing made me really think about what these guys bet every time they get on that track. This wasn’t a professional race, it was probably a Dentist or Accountant on his weekend thrill seeker. And the moments before his demise would have been crystallised in startlingly clear digital pixels on my amateur camera in my amateur hands.
Despite the enjoyment I get from motorcycle racing, I don’t know if I like the risks involved, if I’m honest with you.
Like a freight train, only smaller…
Weekly Update 3 – 28/07 – 06/08
It’s been an eventful week and a bit, more so towards the end of the week but nevertheless, eventful.
I was off for a week following 2 weeks of utter exhaustion. I was glad to get time off to get my brain pointing the right way, but it took 2-3 days for the transition. I did weekly update 2 during that time so was a bit spaced out. Towards the end of the week both Blair and I went out for a quick trip, it’s been a long time since our last outing and the weather looked ok.
We decided to head around the coast via Leven to St. Andrews, “East looks the brightest so lets go that way” Blair said. Ok.
Within 10 minutes of being on the bike I was soaked, we drove through a torrential downpour only to get to overcast skies. It did start to clear up the closer we got to the coast and dried up in time for us to get some fast corners in. We arrived in St. Andrews with the sun shining and we stopped for petrol.
“You going to give me a shot to the beach?” Blair asked.
“No, I want to rumble through the streets.”
And rumble we did, it was glorious. We got through the streets and got to the beach, where the remnants from the Open (golf tournament) still stood. We had a quick look about, Blair called his lady and I called Em to see how she was getting on but she didn’t answer. Probably because she was getting scoofed with her work colleagues in the middle of Edinburgh but that’s another story.
I gave Blair the MT for our ride home and he was loving it. Every time I got close he would tear away, leaving my open visored face reverberating from both the shockwave and the sound from the exhausts. He did sit really close to the middle line as I was trying to see the right hand side of the bike (the best bit) and he wouldn’t take the hint and move over, so I just had to make do with the left. A few dodgy manoeuvres from Blair thrown in to the mix as always and it was a good day out.
All he said was “yeah, it’s great” when we arrived at my house for the switch back.
That was Saturday, covered around 100miles.
Sunday came and I decided to head to Lochgilphead to visit my Aunty and Uncle. Em and I got ourselves ready to go, complete with tankbag and rucksack, love handles etc and we were off by 10:30am.
Quick nip in to Perth Broxden services for fuel, where the till woman came out to see the bike because “I’m just being nosey”, Em filled in that she had a bike too. A fella on a Ducati Multistrada rumbled in beside me before I ba-boomed the MT in to life. We were taking the usual route of Lochearnhead up to Tyndrum, back road to Inverary and up the coast to Lochgilphead. Stopping in Tyndrum for some chow, which was pretty good, the weather remained decent, with only a small spattering now and again. I had fish, Em had sausage…
We carried on West after our lunch and the roads were on off wet/greasy. Arriving just before Invarary I was suddenly aware of this small, slow moving thing going in front of my bike. Realising it was a frog, I could do nothing but hold my course…spllaaaafff.
I stopped at Inverary to fill up quickly and then finish the journey, which we did in about 25 minutes.
I love Lochgilphead. It’s just a fantastic place to be. If I had the chance, I would move there in a heartbeat. We had a quick bite to eat (read 3 different types of cakes) and caught up with both Aunt/Uncle and Mum and Dad who headed up earlier than us. They were surprised to see us (Mum and Dad) even though I told them the DAY BEFORE that I was heading up with Em. Oldies…
We then headed back, which was a total killer. Emma got a bit tired and was losing concentration (if you can do such a thing as a pillion….hahaha Em) so because we were following Dad in his car, I suggested/forced Em to relax and get in the car. She wasn’t happy at all with this, but later admitted that it was good to have a rest. I trucked on and headed in to a massive rain storm, arriving at Mum’s totally drenched.
Em quickly got her gear on at Mum’s and we nipped back to our house, 5 minutes down the road, soaked.
And that concluded the weekend. Too fast.
The following week was good until Wednesday night, when I got to the roundabout at Kinross and I was quickly aware that the bike felt weird. I ran a bit wide on the first corner, got to a mini roundabout and the bike was all over the place. I stood up on the pegs and looked over the front to see if the front wheel was ok, as it felt like it was going to come off. All fine there, so that left only the rear tyre as the next logical place to look. Pancake doesn’t quite say it.
By the time I got to the turn for my street the tyre was as flat as you could get a tyre. The MT is a heavy bike (quarter tonne) so even when the tyres are inflated it’s hard to shift it round corners. When a rear tyre of this gurth (190 section) is flat on a bike this heavy, it’s near impossible to steer it. Aye you can try turning the bars, but the rims were pretty much on the deck if it wasn’t for the rubber squeezed between it and the road.
I trundled up the street passing many a teenager, feeling like a total muppet. Got home to see this:
The silver scrapes on the rim are from Hagon re-truing the wheel after the SB farce.
So pretty annoyed, and had to get the bus the past few days including today when I was stuck on the bus for over an hour due to the most anti-climatic “serious accident” I’ve ever seen. Tailbacks to dear-knows where, ambulances up the middle of traffic (2 of) and numerous police cars, all for a 5 car fender bender. I have footage. Here it is:
So that’s been my week. New tyre is being fitted today, a Metzeler Z6 which is fundamentally the same as the Pirelli Diablo Stradas, bar the fact that the Stradas have “better technology and grip” in them. Stuart doesn’t seem to mind, so that means I don’t either.
Can’t wait to get my beast back. This is a taster though of what it will be like in winter when I sell my GSR…more on that next week.
Thanks for looking all, keep doing it or I’ll not have the motivation.
All the best for the coming week,
Gordon
50,000 miles and counting
On Sunday the 2nd May I crested the 30,000 mile mark on the GSR, just over 2 years after buying it. It was a weird feeling really, I was excited about it, enough to show Emma whilst we headed down the motorway sliproad (“Aye, very good” she said)
But at the same time as being excited about crossing another milestone I couldn’t help but remember what 30,000 miles has done to the GSR’s health. Anyway,
Since Jan 2007 I have covered over 50,000 miles on 6 different motorcycles: Yamaha MT-03, Buell Xb12Ss Lightning, Kawasaki ER-6N, Suzuki GSR600 and my latest Yamaha MT-01. It’s a good feeling knowing that I am beginning to get in to territory that relatively few bikers (in the UK anyway) reach, and I’ve only been riding for 3 and a half years.
It’s funny how I’ve come full circle from first getting my MT-03, and then swearing never to return to Yamaha after the way they treated the “incident”. But I am so glad I did, because my excitement for motorcycles and love of being a biker has been reignited, and it’s raging out of control. I had become complacent and the daily drudge in to work on my bike resulted in it being just another day whenever I sat on it.
I am also glad that I chose the MT as my new steed. It’s crazy how many people have gone out of their way to comment on it since I got it 2 weeks ago. I’ve never had anyone come up to me like that since owning the Buell 2 years ago. I think it’s something to do with the V-Twin roar, or the oddball looks but whatever it is, people warm to it.
So I shall continue on and on, sitting upon 2 wheels every day as my A to B.
I must say a little word about the tragic death of a biker just down the road from me. Saturday was a glorious day to be out on the bike, and we were out as well. It seems that no matter how nice the weather there are still people dying on their bikes. I always feel sad for these unfortunate people, but always always sceptical. I don’t know why really, but whenever I hear of a biker dying, I always think of the biker doing something wrong or riding beyond theirs or the conditions limit. Sometimes its just a freak coming together in the middle of nowhere.
My scepticism isn’t helped much after witnessing a bunch of high-vis clad bikers wobbling all over the road on Saturday, one of which left his indicator on for 10 minutes. I want to stop these bikers and slap their dishes. Get a grip. Ride safer. But then why should I?
Take care out there please, and keep your head screwed on.
Onward.
YY
How not to fill up your tank…
Hi folks,
Tonight I had a bit of a scare, in Tesco Petrol station of all places.
GSR was my steed today (until the warmer/dryer weather kicks in) and on the way home from work I stopped in at the station beside the FRB to top up the tank.
Of course the only pump available was the far left one, so the bike was leaning away from the pump. Not usually an issue. So as it’s a “pay-at-pump” place I got my card out, put my pin in and waited for the “please lift nozzle…” etc.
Got the pump nozzle, made sure the pipe was over the seat and went round to the left side of the bike (as the bike is leaning this way, it’s easier to get the nozzle in the petrol hole than try and flip it over)
The petrol cap kept flapping shut, meaning I couldn’t see what I was doing, and as I fill the tank by propping the nozzle on the very lip of the inlet as to get the most in the tank without it clicking off all the time, it was important that I saw what I was doing. Well of course what happened next?
Mid-fill, with the trigger fully depressed, the nozzle slipped out of the hole. And not just “oops, in we go again” I mean the force of the petrol coming out of the nozzle coupled with the snap slip of the nozzle leaving the lip meant the whole “gun” of the petrol pump was suddenly airborne and spraying petrol everywhere. It was up the petrol pump, it was all over my bike (think a thin film of liquid coating the whole tank, seat and quickly running south).
It’s not like I stood there with the petrol spewing everywhere, it was a “slip-oh shit-trigger off” quick thing, but in that split second it took to shut the petrol off, it was everywhere. The petrol spews out at some lick, I tell you.
I stood for a moment waiting in horror for the petrol to hit either the engine or the headers or indeed the underseat exhaust box and engulf me and my bike. 3-4 seconds later I had ran round the bike, slotted the gun back in to the pump, ran to the place with the towels etc and grabbed a handful to try and stem the liquid from going further south.
Luckily nothing combusted except my heart rate.
I finished filling, got myself ready with my now petrol soaked gloves and took the bike away from the pump to give it a once over.
In doing so I noticed that the engine covers, the ones that had corroded before, were seriously corroded again. I mean seriously, to the point that it’s like a hill with a bolt sticking out the top.
Something I will have to address when I get the bike in the garage in prep for winter. Very worrying and it seems like the only thing that isn’t cheap rubbish on the GSR is the petrol I put in it.
Anyway,
That’s the first and last time I’ll do that, because if that was the MT, that petrol would have instantly hit the header pipes and both the MT and me would have been up in flames…in the Tesco petrol station.
Helmet Chat: Geezer with a Grudge
Very funny quote I found today whilst surfing through Geezer with a Grudge’s website. He’s talking about the different types of helmet, and starts off talking about Skull Cap helmets and “Nazi Bowls”:
“The owner of this comedy prop is usually 50+ years old, 150 pounds overweight, as uncoordinated and physically incapacitated as South Park’s Timmy and missing a mental connection or eleven million. If it’s true that a crash is 49% likely to result in a faceplant this kind of helmet is all bur worthless.”
Made me laugh, but is a very serious point.
Check it out here
January 2009…what happened?
January 2009
Good evening all, it is a cold Sunday night here in Scotland and I have just realised how long I have left it since posting.
My January this year wasn’t the action packed January like last year. No sir, this Janauary consisted mainly of riding to and from work. That’s it.
As far as biking goes, this is as routine as it comes. Yeah there was numerous stupid car driver fuelled moments and a lot of lonely rides in the bogging Scottish winter weather.
My favourite moment from Jan 2009 was when someone pulled out in front of a guy on a beemer Long Way Whatever. I watched as the guy then peeped his horn, raced along side the driver’s window and proceeded to pound on it in frustration. It was a spectacle and something which I found highly amusing. I could also hear some expletives being launched from within his helmet. Brilliant.
We had some snow here over the past 2 weeks and for most the snow had little or no impact. When I say most, I mean people who actually have a grip of themselves. There were people flailing about whining that they can’t get to work and blah blah. Every day I went out in -1°C, -5°C and swept the snow off my bike. I then started my bike and then got on my bike. I then wheelspun out of my housing estate and then wheelspun on to the motorway. I then rode my bike to work and back again. Most people called me a psycho, whilst I called myself a non-panic merchant. I found it fine riding in snow. I found that although it was at times trecherous, as long as I approached the situation sensibly, I was ok.
Well there wasn’t a better way to approach the weather last week. And my story starts thus:
Thursday last week I headed to work in the snow like I had done for a few weeks. I got on the motorway and it was snowing heavy. I then got all the way through the rush hour traffic and roadworks, through some idiotic moves from car drivers playing with satnav and mobiles, some thinking about work and some just sleeping. I got to my work’s street, which is cobbled and the back wheel was loosing traction like mad, so I slowed down to below walking pace, say 3-4mph and kept it in 2nd to try and get some traction. Then as I went over the entrance to my office car park, which happens to be downhill, my front folded and down I went.
Now there wasn’t a whiff of brake, nor a whiff of anything else. As soon as I touched the slush on this slope there was absolutely nothing I could have done. And what’s the most annoying thing? It should have been gritted.
As I fell it felt familar, something which only people who have fallen off their bike can understand, and I shouted “why isn’t this f*cking gritted?”
Well not a moment had passed and a guy from my work had appeared from the garage saying he had heard me fall off. He also said that his car had been all over the place too and was angry that it wasn’t gritted. He gave me a hand up and off I went in to the garage pushing my bike along, although it was sliding still under no engine momentum whatsoever. It gives a wee idea of how slippy it was.
In to the dry garage I stopped and surveyed the damage; broken rear brake pedal (obviously. These things are meant to break…) a scuffed engine casing and crash mushroom was filed away flat. Luckily because I fell on a downslope, the crash mushroom protected the bars from coming in to contact with the ground, so they were fine, as was my bodywork.
I tried to start the engine and after a bit of trying it started fine. It was showing FI but I turned the ignition on and off and it started ok. I then rode it and parked it up.
During that day I went back out and noticed that my bike was leaking oil from my scuffed engine case. There was a bolt loose enough to turn by hand and this was where the pil was coming from. I went inside and called Stuart, from Jacksons Bikes. He suggested tightening the bolt and warming the engine up to put the engine under pressure and see if there was oil spurting out. If there wasn’t I could ride it to his garage. If there was, it was goosed. Luckily the bolt tightened up fine and there wasn’t any oil.
The ride home was interesting though as I crapped myself incase the engine casing burst off the side of the bike, thus throwing oil on to my back tyre throwing me in to a housing estate or field…but I was ok and got to the garage fine.
After riding the bike in to Stuarts new bike garage wing he surveyed the damage saying that he thinks it’s just a case of rear brake pedal replacement and that’s it. My 16,000 mile service was due so I said just to get that done whilst the bike was here and also replace the brake pads after Stuart had mentioned it the last time.
“You’re mental. Riding in this!” He had a look at the back and muttered “That’s down to the steel…” had a look at the front and “…yep, they’re pretty much the same!…how do you stop!!?”
“It’s an issue”
So we agreed on what needed to be done and off I went happy that my bike was in safe hands.
Voila! My January was complete and February is already half way through, which is ridiculous. My weeks have been flying by (hence the reason I never realised how long it has been) and I am getting the bus to work tomorrow, something which annoys me. On Friday there I was sitting in front of some greasy bank exec type who had serious fag and tea morning mouth and kept sighing, which sent all his faggy tea breath over in to my seat. Lovely. Then some youngster sat in front of me, doused in some sweet smelling aftershave which added a sickly twist to the atmosphere. This is why I hate public transport.
I can’t wait for the spring and it seems to be coming through now. It’s to be mild this week and I can hopefully get my bike back before I poke my eyes out on the bus.
I have had the GSR a year now, so I’m going to post up a yearly review of it. Stay tuned for the relatively small good points and the overwhelmingly regular bad points…it’s not going to be pretty…
Thanks for the regular interest all, I know how lucky I am.
Send me a message if you can, I’ll reply to every single one.
All the best,
Gordon
p.s. 15,500 miles this year. It seems to be flattening out a bit, but that now makes my overall bike mileage well over 33,000 in 2 years. Oh and recent news of bike air bag jackets will be covered soon too…grrr.
24, it’s the magic number.
“Compared with wearing a black helmet, use of a white helmet was associated with a 24% lower risk”
Like a big round beacon of white light.
That’s some statement there. It’s taken from a British Medical Journal paper, titled
“Motorcycle rider conspicuity and crash related injury: case-control study”
It’s by a bunch of people who studied the effect of wearing hi-vis clothing compared to dark clothing with relation to accidents. It’s pretty interesting reading actually, and they discover a lot of facts and figures about how wearing hi-vis clothing and brighter clothing makes you stand out more from the background thus making you more noticeable.
Check it out here if you fancy educating yourself.
On the subject of safety, I made an observation tonight, and take from it what you want. I was cruising at 75mph and as always there were people going very much faster, around 90-100mph. There was 6-7 of these drivers tonight and all were female drivers, most with either a baby seat or obvious signs of children. To contrast this, there was a number of times I had to overtake slower cars and every single one was either a young guy or a really old guy.
If you fancy a decent read of a website, including tips to stay safe when riding, check this website out:
http://bmwdean.home.att.net/index.html
It also has a wee story about the guy who has done over 1.4 million miles on a BMW. That’s loyalty for you.
Ride safe all,
Thanks for looking,
Gordon
It’s a dangerous game this.
I had never really thought about it really. The Forth Road Bridge is a means to an end. It’s not until something like today happens that you actually think, “yeah, that’s pretty dangerous.”
Today was like any other day for me, I left at around 8:10am and once on the motorway, it was the norm. I noticed the overhead sign reading “Accident on Forth Road Bridge” and thought, whatever, I’ll just go down the middle. And I did. Once I got to the hold up I just toddled down the middle and that was that.
Then I reached the bridge and as I approached the very last turn off I saw “Forth Road Bridge closed” on the overhead. Brilliant. Something serious must have happened.
I continued down the now empty outside lane and pulled up along side the Officer and asked, “how long is it likely to be shut?”
“For a long time.”
“Is it fatal?”
“Can’t say”
It is. Of course it is.
Once off the motorway people were splitting off left and right trying to out fox each other for time saving. I continued along and noticed that a lot of people were stopping on the roundabout asking officers what the deal was. I did speak to the police but I spoke the the guy that wasn’t directing traffic off a live roundabout. Mongs.
It took an extra hour and a half to get to work and I checked the news to see if there was any updates to what had happened.
A short while later the news came up that a male biker had been killed. What a tragedy.
And it makes me so sad to think that one unfortunate fellow has lost his life like this. News is still pretty sketchy but it seems like 2 cars were involved too. The circumstances I dont really know about but it can’t have been nice. My heart goes out to the family of the guy. Furthermore, it must be difficult to deal with if you are one of the car drivers involved.
Coming off your bike is something that none of us want. Of course we don’t. But inevitably if you do lots of miles, it’s going to happen. You hope that when it does happen you are on a straight bit of road with 20ft of grass either side and that you’ll land somewhere relatively safe. What you dont want is to come off your bike with metal grates and posts on one side and a 100m drop on the other. But you can’t choose.
It has affected me this one. I hear all the time about folks coming off bikes and accidents involving bikers, but it’s not until something happens that involves some place you frequent that you start to think, “What if that was me?”
I hope that I don’t ever have to find out what it’s like.
A very sad day.
Ride safe all,
Gordon
UPDATE:
Just had an email from a guy who was on scene in the middle of the Forth. You can see his email in the Comments section.
More news has also filtered through, being that it was a 48 year old male, riding a silver Honda and involved a white van and a blue car. According to the email, it was a central reservation job. He was also wearing an open face helmet. Very very sad.
Bennetts British Superbikes @ Knockhill: Race Day
Motorcycle racing is brilliant. It’s everything we want to be able to do, but can’t. Knockhill BSB was upon us and oh what a day it was.
You saw the Saturday Practice photos in my last post, so here’s the weekend’s worth of story for y’all.
Saturday was an early start, we got to Knockhill for 8:30am and already it was bustling with activity. The weather was pretty miserable but that didn’t deter either of us from trekking throughthe muddy fields to get a good place to stand.
First up were the KTM Superduke/R6′s practicing. It must have been 5 minutes in to the session and the red flag was waved as some one had fallen off. It must have been pretty bad as an ambulance was called out as well.
After that was cleaned up the racing started again and it began to dry up, but not for long because in the same session it started chucking it down.
We headed for the stands and took some refuge from the increasingly bad weather. Blair got chatting to a camera geek who prattled on about how “he waited and waited for the 10 but then realised that the 20 was coming out soon so saved himself for that.” Then he gave us some “advice:”
“I started off taking photos of these boys and then started thinking “I can go faster than that.” So I started racing..and then I went back to photographing.”
…….we waited for the advice to come along but I guess what he was saying was that he thought he could go faster, then couldn’t so had to go back to taking photos of the fast boys. Cheers mate.
The superbikes came out to practice and it was mega rain. A lot of falling off was witnessed and I guess that’s what the rest of the session was like for everyone.
We decided to head home because we had got some decent photos and were pretty wet. We stopped off at Scott Murrays to get Em a helmet that she saw ages ago but we couldn’t afford it. So I surprised her with that.
I had some good chat with the boys and then headed home to get the pics on to the computer and see how good the actually were.
Then we fell asleep because I tell you, watching racing doesn’t half weather beat you.
Race day came and another early start. Earlier in fact and we got to Knockhill for 8:20am and it was chocker. We learned from our bad advertisement of our season pass parking permit yesterday and had it blazing in the front window. We got parked in the special bit where no-body was and it was relatively flat unlike the 4×4 adventure we had yesterday.
The weather was damp but not raining. The KTM’s were out practicing so we got immediately to it.
KTM Superduke R
Repair Bills and Suzuki
Goodevening all.
This weekend was a mixture of good and bad. But lets be positive and start off on the good.
Got the ER6 back on Friday, one of the windiest days so far this year. It was looking ace in the dark, really shiny and it was cleaned quite well. Got all my still dirty gear on and headed home from the Garage. It was a weird feeling riding for the first time after the accident. But moreover it wasn’t a secure feeling on the ER6. Really twitchy.
The repair bill was quite reasonable. The parts list was as follows:
-
Gear Lever £25.98
-
Generator Cover and Gasket £52.62
-
L/H Front Indicator £23.67
-
Front Brake Lever £25.45
-
Rear Brake Lever £20.30
-
R/H Footpeg and bank sensor £46.62
-
Clutch Lever £7.67
So there you go.
On Saturday I went to the Suzuki garage and started arranging the GSR. I chatted away with the guy about it all and gave some details, £200 holding fee which they refund me in a weeks time….silly, and some details about the ER6, at which point he asked what the condition was of it. I said that it was good condition and that it was a test ride bike so has marks on the footpeg hangers. There is also a crack on the fairing. At this point he took interest and asked what sort of crack etc. And eventually he said well we need to do a workshop check before agreeing on the price for the ER6. He wants it in showroom condition so may need to order some parts in. Ok I said and off we went, agreeing that Saturday was the time to do it all.
When I arrived home i went out to the ER6 and took the front fairing off to inspect in in the kitchen and it was scraped to buggery. If he sees this he’s going to know that it was dropped etc so I need to replace it.
So I will call the Garage tomorrow and get one ordered as I dont really want to go in Saturday and they say “ooo it’ll cost you £200 for a new one so we’ll take that off the part exchange price..” when it actually would have cost me £50. At least it gives me proof of them trying to pull my pants over my head. But it’s all depending on what the boys at Suzuki deem to be “Showroom Condition.”
We’ll just have to wait and see. Me and Em went out for a 2 hour ride today and I put the helmet cam on her this time. Which shows a really smart angle. I’ll convert it tomorrow and post it up to let you see. However the lens gets dirty again. I am starting to think that this camera will only be really good in the complete dry weather. But it was a good ride out and already my confidence has came back.
I also got my quote through from Express Insurance, with £395 as the official quote.
So yeah, I’ll keep you posted on what happens with Suzuki.
Thanks for looking folks,
Gordon
Post Crash Video – Snow blues
Hello everyone.
I took my helmet cam to my very first day back at work, which also happened to be the icy/snowiest day. Instead of being sensible and getting the bus in, I decided to be an idiot and go on the bike..but I got there in the end. Shame the very next day I would be flying through the air…
Here it is:
Pretty cool except the rain getting on the lense of the camera. But it did show some cool effects as I got to the bridge! Psychadelic…if that’s how you spell it…
I will hopefully be heading to Suzuki this weekend to trade in the ER6 for a silver GSR600, brand spanking and the final bike I will own for a while.
I am still to confirm some stuff, but it looks like I will only get £1900 trade in for the ER6, because the garage “doesn’t sell many” which I think is crap. But there you go.
I will get the 0% finance dealio, as well as the Alpha Dot, 12 months road tax, 12 months AA cover, first service free, courtesy bike when in for a service and I have asked for a deal on crash mushrooms….hahaha
So aye, I am looking forward to it for sure!
I’ll update you before the weekend to let you know if I will have my first new bike of 2008! HAHAHA.
Thanks for stopping folks,
Gordon
p.s. The music in the video is Biffy Clyro, Wave Upon Wave from the Infinity Land album…it was on at the time so that is why i used it. Plus the microphone that I got with the camera was crap, so all you heard was a really distorted voice and wind noise. Sorry bout that. The intercom that I am looking at will hopefully have an OUT socket for connecting up an audio feed. More on that later.
Last Chance Cafe & Crash update
Hello all,
Firstly the quote for damage to my bike has came in.
After I dropped my bike off etc I gave Stuart a call back the next day and we chatted about what to do. The options were that he orders some of the parts and he plastic welds and paints the fairings, or just orders all the parts except the fairings and tries to make them look as un-broken as possible.
So the option two was better because 1: it was £200 cheaper and 2: Stuart is a wizard and I’m sure he can make it look presentable.
The parts list was a new front brake lever, a new right hand peg, a new engine casing, new rear brake lever and a new gear shifter. This all comes to £212, with labour etc totalling it at £284.
I was a bit surprised as I got a quote for the peg and lever at Edinburgh Kawasaki and it was £60 for the peg and £30 for the lever. Which means that for £122 I am getting the engine casing, rear brake lever and gear shifter…I got a new rear brake lever for the MT-03 and it cost me £15, so say another £15-£20 for the gear shifter and it leaves £92 for the engine casing. It is a cast lump but £92 for f*ck sake. OEM parts eh…
So yeah it’s all good on that front, I was expecting at least £400 of work, but I suppose the fairing would cost a bit anyway.
Bike should be ready to go this week some time. I can’t wait because it means I will be moving on for the final time. And this time I have to get the right bike.
I was looking at the Z750 before and I was totally dead set. I had read the reviews online and they all pointed to a nice bike. But then I read my BIKE magazine, which I respect 100% and they said the Z was completely crap, bottom of the table in a shootout with a Street Triple, Hornet, Fazer and a GSR600.
They said the forks were crap, the power was pretty gutless, the handling was good but the whole experience was disconcerting and very uncomfortable. I was really disappointed. Then I read the reviews for the other bikes and although the Street Triple didn’t really come out top in anything tables wise, it was their pick of the bunch. Fair enough, but they forgot to mention the ludicrous pillion pegs. This was a one person bike from the off, which was also disappointing.
The I looked at the Fazer, which had a pretty duff write up as well. But it was closely matched to the GSR600. Which my brother has.
Upon reading the review the GSR was left in pretty good light, with great power, great handling and great looks, but fell on tank size and snatchy throttle issue.
It left me thinking…What do I want from a bike?
I want:
• Comfortable
• Fast
• Stability
• 180 rear section
• Comfy 2 up riding
• Good dials
• Good lights
• Nice posture
• Quality build.
The GSR has pretty much all of those, with exception to the tank range, which tops at 140 miles by BIKE standards, which is what I am getting with the ER6 at the minute so no change there.
I would have had a GSR off the bat had the throttle issue not been there. Basically when going from no throttle to introducing the throttle there is a lurch. Going from Positive throttle to rolling off the throttle, there is a negative lurch. This not only is annoying but it unsettles the bike mid-corner and can be quite dangerous should you forget about it.
However upon reading the GSR forum for a bit, I came across the o2 sensor eliminator fix, which you buy for £18 and it fixes the snatchy throttle. It does this because as a standard bike the GSR runs lean, to pass fuel emission regulations. This means that at low throttle openings the bike lurches about. This o2 eliminator tricks the bikes ECU in to running rich, which removes the lurchyness.
If this works, then I think the GSR would be a great bike.
But with all this said, I have to remember one thing: This will be the very last chance to get it right. I have had 3 bikes in a year and I can’t go on like this. So I think I will go for the GSR, which will make me have the same bike as my brother but I like the looks, it sounds amazing and has everything going for it. But should this O2 Eliminator not work, I could have to put up with it for at least 3 years. Anyway, I am just glad the ER6 is going, because it’s unsafe.
Sorry for the long post folks!
Thanks for looking again,
Gordon
YamYam Motorcycle Accident #2
Hello everyone.
Last night I had a pretty major accident. I made a video of the damage and explain what happened. I’ll add a diagram of it in a mo.
2nd day on the bike in 2008 and a major crash notched up already. Bring on the rest of the year…
