Some deep contemplation went in to this…
Weekly Update 5 – 15/08 – 29/08
Hello.
Yet again I have been very busy this past week with work, meaning that for the first 3 days of the week I was not on my MT. Instead I was in a white van for 2, and on the train for 1, and whilst I was away from the MT I had a chance to think about this coming winter and what winter entails for YamYam and his bikes.
Now the reason I got my MT was on the basis that 2 bikes means that one can go away for the winter and stay nice, and the other can be run in to the ground thus saving money in the long run. I believe differently now and the reasons are to follow. But I think that this decision is a good one because the main motivation is that we wont need to be replacing £600 worth of bike parts every January.
As of Thursday 26th August 2010, YamYam is minus a Suzuki GSR600S K7. I sold it. On eBay…
When I was looking at getting a MT I had asked the question “what would I get as a part exchange price for my 30,000 mile Suzuki GSR600s K7?” The answer was “Nothing.” The bike dealers obviously have to have some scope to mark up the bikes once they have bought them from customers at ridiculously low prices…so what can you mark up from a purchase price of £0? £500? Whatever it was, the dealer didn’t see any benefit in taking in my faithful steed.
So I decided that instead of keeping it and running it in to the ground completely, where I would eventually have to either scrape it, or myself, off the tarmac….I would sell it, and whatever I got for it would therefore be a bonus!
So to cut a long story short, I sold it for £1200! I was pretty chuffed with that, and the guy that turned up to collect it was equally chuffed, mainly because he thought it was in a lot better nick than he expected, even though I had clearly detailed in the listing that it was pretty rusty.
I am quite relieved actually. Not for getting shot of my then winter hack, but for the money that we will save not having to service (or not) two bikes, replace 4 tyres a year, petrol, wear and tear etc etc. It equates to around £100 a month saved if you compensate for wear and tear, replacing corroded and worn down parts. So what then shall I do during the winter, when I would usually be shivering in to work or sliding about on ice?
The Scotrail Fife Circle Train is what.
During my 3 days of non-biking I drove a white van around which in itself was quite fun, if only to listen to the radio on the way. The third day I didn’t have my van, but I got the train. It was at this point that I thought actually, it’s not that bad? I usually, when it’s really bad weather, get the bus. Its a smelly, stuffy, cramped, disease ridden journey at the end of which you get off and are genuinely relieved to get the hell out of that place. Bus drivers think it’s good to turn the heating up full blast in winter, but when you have 40 folk all cramped in, probably wet from the Scottish winter rain, then it all turns to condensation which makes it like a greenhouse. Because it’s winter, we all have our winter jackets on. So you can already see how torturous it is. Couple that with the tiny, OAP geared seats (knees around ears stuff), the sneezing, coughing, paper reading, light flicking passengers and the picture becomes complete…oh that and the complete inability of the bus driver to drive smoothly resulting in some serious frustration as your head goes bashing forwards and backwards, even quicker when sitting in traffic jams.
OH DEAR, I am getting annoyed just thinking about it. Well the train is different in that firstly, you’re on rails. So there’s no bumpy bits. The seats are a bit more spacious. There’s no queues. Yeah the passengers may still have colds and read papers, but the journey is a flat 25 minutes regardless of what the weather is doing. So you’ve not got to sit in a 2 hour long traffic jam because of the complete inability of the rest of the driving population to pay attention when its dark and raining.
It’s a bit more expensive, around about £40 more a month, but when you see how much different the experience is with the train, it’s worth it and I’ll still be saving money than if I was on my bike.
So yes folks, YamYam is turning in to a Spring/Summer/Autumn rider, and is dumping Winter from his repertoire. It makes both logistical and financial sense. I just need to let go of the slightly immature “I’m better than you because I can hack Winter” attitude that’s unfortunately consumed me for the past 3 years.
In other news then, Blair is selling his GSR too! Hahaha. It’s a Fraser exodus.
Blair, as you know, had his first child in December 2009 and as always is with bringing small humans in to this world, there are sacrifices. He fought it for longer than we all expected but he’s given in to the inevitable, even if it’s for the greater picture. So his bike is on eBay right now too.
It will be sad not having Blair to go out riding with every so often…yes we’ve not been getting out so much lately due to me working and Blair daddy-ing. But then again, I’ve invested a lot of my GSR’s money in taking up a new hobby, one that will allow me, Blair and Dad to get out more often together. Golf.
It’s a traditional Scottish sport that I’ve watched Blair and Dad play for years, whilst I walked along beside taking photographs. But now it’s time to get myself behind a club and start getting out in the fresh air in my spare time. I am so excited about it that it’s borderline obsessive already, for I have spent the past 5 days relentlessly scouring the web for the best deals, going up the driving range to test clubs and generally being really sad about it. But it’s a Fraser trait so I can’t feel to sad about it.
I have a funny story regarding a man in a car that is so angry that he felt compelled to hang out his window and shout abuse at me. Next week for that.
Cheers all, and sorry for the 90% non-biking post.
Gordon
It isnae the fastest bike, but it’ll pull a caravan
Weekly Update 4 – 07/08 – 14/08
Ah, the feeling of fresh tyres. It’s a strange feeling really. A cross between bum clenching and quick breathing as you try to scrub them in. Every degree of angle you exhibit brings this feeling on, coupled with the thoughts of the back end sliding out behind you as you go over too far. But once you get out to the edge of the tyre, this feeling turns to joy as you are afforded the full use of the tyre.
These feelings are enhanced ten fold if it’s wet. Which it just so happened to be the day I picked the bike up.
Now if you have got this far and have no idea what I am talking about then,
When a tyre is made the inside of the mould is coated in a release agent, which allows the tyre, once moulded to be freely ejected from the mould. Without it the tyre would be a pain in the arse to get out of the mould, and when you are making millions of these, you need a quick way to get the tyre out and the mould shut for the next tyre to be made…anyway, this release agent just so happens to be extremely greasy. So that’s the reason most, if not all motorcycle dealers, servicers and outlets will tell you to “take it easy for the first 100 miles or so” as you leave.
For a great example of why your told to take it easy, see exhibit A:
Now, when I last got a back tyre on the GSR (a Bridgestone BT-021 for those who are interested) I picked it up from Stuart and he said the famous words, “take it easy.”
As I bid adieu he started talking to the next bloke who was waiting and off I went. I pulled out of the garage and started heading along the road, and gave what I thought was a good level of throttle given the situation. Next thing I know the bike is snaking about and the redline is being kissed. “BRAAADADADADADADADADA” up the road. I could just imagine Stuarts face.
I told you that so I could tell you this.
I got the new tyre on the MT on Saturday there, a Metzeler Z6. Now those of you who have read every post on here (thanks Rossy Boy) will know how I don’t ever mix brands of tyre. By this I mean I don’t have say a Dunlop on the front and a Michelin on the rear. It just doesnt work.
Now when I called Stuart to get him to order a tyre he tried to get me a Pirelli Diablo Strada, the same as both my tyres were before the flat rear. He called back shortly after and said that he couldn’t get a Strada rear and suggested the Metzeler Z6… I said “you told me not to mix brands” and he said that basically Pirelli own Metzeler and the Z6 and Strada are basically the same tyre, same profile, just slightly newer tech in the Strada than the Z6.
If Stuart says its ok, it’s ok.
Saturday I headed down and it was wet (great) and there it was, fresh shiny new tyre. We got chatting about various bikes and his race bike was sitting there. I moaned about how the GSR needs the crap revved out it if you want to go somewhere instantly. He agreed saying his R6 race bike needs a lot of rpm before he goes places, whereas the MT is just BOOM you are off.
“Aye, it isnae the fastest bike but it’ll pull a caravan” he said, I burst out laughing. I’ve never heard torque explained that way before much to my amusement.
So we talked some more and I mentioned the unfortunate situation where in order for Stuarts business to be thriving, people need to be falling off their bikes. He laughed agreeingly. Is that a word? Agreeingly. He laughed in a way to suggest that he agreed with my statement.
Stuart you see is owner of Jackson’s Bikes, the place to go if you need absolutely anything done to your bike…unless you live outside Scotland. There are some shockers in his garage I tell you. He was showing me a bike that hit the back of a bus and the engine casings were split as if someone had wanted to show a section of the engine. Clean through. Unbelievable.
Anyway he parted with the take it easy line and I mentioned my last visit. He burst out laughing saying that he was talking to the waiting guy and heard me redlining it up the road. He smacked his forehead in a “oh no what are you doing…” way and was laughing.
So off I went with this insane torque machine, wet roads and fresh greasy back tyre on. It was ok really, I took it easy but taking any kind of corner on new tyres is always a shaky one. By the time I get round to changing my tyres they are usually well squared off/bald. This means more force is needed to turn the bike, to get it over the edge or lip of the now flat area. When a new tyre is on there’s absolutely no resistance and the bike falls to the side. It’s quite shocking and I always get a “oh shit somethings wrong” instant reaction but then realise it’s how it’s meant to be… Maybe I should change my tyres more often. ..maybe not, at £108.63 a piece I don’t make a habit of it.
Anyway, as the week draws to another speedy close the rain is falling like one of those rainfall shower heads….hang on. I need to get me either a one piece waterproof oversuit or at the very least, a pair of brieks. I am growing tired of getting off my bike only for all the water that has collected in my pants to go shooting down my legs and in to my boots. It gives a somewhat bitter end to the journey.
YamYamBiker.com is steadily growing in popularity and visibility. By steady I mean I have a steady view stat of around 170 folk a day… I would love for it to get a bit more popular, so any hints on what you would like to read about would be appreciated, or indeed what you don’t like reading about.
To help me on my way I have been included in various “TOP ###” motorcycle blog posts, including the ones below. Many thanks for that and I hope people start finding and subsequently enjoying YamYamBiker.com.
All the best for the coming week all,
Gordon
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
MT-01 Fixed, Rockin. GSR Fixed. Crap.
Hi all,
Bit of a hoo ha really, but the long and short of it is that the MT has been fixed, wheel is true (unchecked as of writing) and although scuffed in a few bits, the wheel isn’t too badly mangled.
I have been commuting on the MT for the past 6 days and I am absolutely in love with my bike. It’s just the best. The comfort, the power, the dials (the smartest I have ever seen), the riding position, the sound, the vibration (with earplugs in the bike makes your brain vibrate out your ears), the feeling of utter joy as other bikers double take left right and centre.
A lot of bikers who normally fly past me in town or motorway will now sit behind me. It’s almost a respect thing, but I suspect it’s something more to do with the sound and looks of it.
When I picked up my MT from Sandy Bloys I dropped my GSR off as the head bearings have been shot for the past 6 months if not longer. I asked how much roughly and was told £100 – £120.
Go for it.
Got a call today to say the bike is ready. No price attached.
How much is it?
£185.
!!!
Again the long and short is that the GSR is apparantly a total bitch to get in to the head bearings. You have to take the ignition barrel off and everything and the mechanics at the garage said they never seen any bike as complicated as this.
I don’t know whether to believe them or not but it seems awfully expensive.
Nothing I can do now but I am a bit disappointed really.
GSR will go straight in to my Dad’s garage in preparation for it’s first oil change in over a year. Joys.
I’ll keep you updated as to whats going on but I’ve got to get my main website up and running after the powersoft fiasco.
Thanks all for reading,
Gordon
Yamaha MT-01 Review – YamYam is BACK!
The last post on YamYam finished like this:
I am going to have a wee test ride on one to see if all the reviews are correct. From there it’s either buying one, or looking elsewhere, but something tells me I will be rumbling home once more.
Well I did go for a test ride, and here’s what happened.
Friday (23rd April) I decided to head up to Sandy Bloy Motorcycles, Perth, after emailing Gary regarding the MT-01 they had in their shop. Gary said come up Friday.
Arriving on the GSR with the rain in full swing, I wondered what it would feel like to sit on an MT-01 after all these years of wanting one. Well it seems like I wouldn’t get the chance, because when I entered the shop the MT was sitting there, looking amazing…with “SOLD” suckered on the light.
Gary emerged after a lengthy wait and I introduced myself and said “well, it seems like I won’t get to test ride it” and pointed to the beast sitting unavailable.
“We’ll…” Gary started, “It is…and it isn’t.”
Oh? I said, feeling a small glimmer of light appear at the very end of a long tunnel.
“Yeah, the guy who was in has since said he can’t get finance, and I have told him that if someone else comes along, then I won’t be waiting for him to get his act together. So as far as I am concerned, the bike is still for sale.”
Well then, lets get a test ride! I filled in the standard “if you deck the bike you’ll pay for it” form and round the bike came, sounding amazing as it did so. This was the first time I had seen or heard one up close, so everything was a new sensation.
By now the rain was getting quite heavy, so Gary said take it easy, handed me a £5 note and said put some gas in it. Off I went, and immediately I could feel the power that this thing had in store. Burbling up the first junction I had a bit of a time getting the old clutch-in action smooth, and indeed the fantastic twin engine braking was quite harsh on the MT.
Anyway I toodled about and after a whizz around Perth I got back to SB’s and in I went. Gary was there to greet me and I said how I loved twins and to cut a long story short, he was chuffed to have someone ride it who knew what it was about and I wanted it. I said that I had the finances ready (The loan form was sent and I was waiting back for the approval) so took a gamble on them being successful and put a deposit of £100 down, after haggling a bit with the price.
He showed me a dent in the exhaust headers from where someone has laid the bike down at rest, and a chip on the tank.
So I left it at that, said I would be back up the next day with Emma and w0uld keep him updated as far as the finances go.
Parting test ride thoughts: Well the MT looks absolutely gorgeous. It sounds absolutely gorgeous. It feels absolutely gorgeous. It’s just a shame I didn’t get to test the instant thundering torque and fantastic brakes that everyone raves about. Fingers crossed the finances come through because it’s rare to have an MT come up for sale in Scotland, and I would be pretty sad if I didn’t manage to realise my 4 year want.
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Well. The finances did come through. And I went up on Saturday 1st of May to pick her up.
What. A. Beast.
Of course, Saturday was raining as well, which was great. I was hoping to get some full throttle’s going but anyway, we headed up sharp as I wanted to get a good day of riding on it before we headed out to see the Doves in Glasgow at night.
Got all the paper work sorted, paid the remaining balance (£5400) and that was that! Emma had never heard an MT-01 so when I fired it up and the bike sat and shook, Emma just burst out laughing. She was even more excited than me.
On the way home I gave it some licks and it sounded so good I burst out laughing, shouting “THIS IS AMAZING”.
But. Twice on the way, in 2nd gear and giving licks, the rear spun up in a controlled wheelspin. The rev’s rose to a constant hum and the rear stepped out. Giving it a bit more throttle the rev’s rose more and the rear straightened up, leaving me feeling even better. It did make it perfectly clear however, that there’s enough power being transmitted to the rear tyre to make it dangerous, should one forget and open the taps whilst leaning over.
I took it out on Saturday for a while, fitted the new tax disc on (with the ridiculously complicate 8 bolt tax disc holder) and then rode home to pick Em up to let her experience the MT first hand. She was slightly worried that the pegs would be too high or she wouldn’t feel comfortable, but after getting on it and riding down to Blairs (to surprise him) she felt fine.
I explain the surprise for Blair in the video at the end, but basically I said that after I got to Sandy Bloys and saw it was sold, it was actually sold and that was it.
We got to Blair’s street but went round the back street and I revved the MT up knowing that he would hear it, and he did. By the time we got round to the front window he was standing there waiting to see what it was. You could see the cogs turning as he stood there open mouthed in amazement!
Well as I thought, he absolutely loved it and I took him out for a spin during which he felt the full beast unleashed and although there was 2 fatties on it, it still shifted like nothing else I have ever felt. He was astounded at the instant power, the gorgeous v-twin sound and the gobsmacking strength of the brakes.
What a beast.
The bike is in fantastic condition, with the above mentioned scuffs on the exhaust, the bike is pretty much mint. After cleaning it today I did notice that there’s a few more scuffs, on on the front rim and a few other wee bits, but nothing that is noticeable.
So there you go. I finally have an MT-01, after 4 years of wanting it. The good thing about this is though, that the MT will be a Summer/nice weather bike, a bike I can keep looking gorgeous and get the enjoyment of it, but then put it away in the Winter.
I can then use the GSR as a Winter hack and a learning tool for changing the oil and other servicey things.
YamYam is now a 2 bike outfit, and I am so very excited about it. I will be posting up my experiences with the MT regularly and I am suddenly really excited about being on 2 wheels again. Staying on 1 bike for so many miles really does take the fun and enjoyment out of it, but now I have the beast to go to when I am feeling down, I can see things being different.
More pictures and the video review, including some derogatory comments and some funny voices. Oh dear. Thanks for visiting and look for the MT related posts, of which there will be many. I’ll be doing a bit of maintenance on the site, weeding out the lesser viewed stuff and re-arranging some bits and bobs to make posting a bit swifter.
As a wee testament to the quality poured in the MT-01, the dials as seen above are adjustable for light intensity. But not just as a whole, you can adjust the tach, the main bit at the bottom AND the needle for brightness! The needle! Makes my day, that does.
What a ripper. I just LOVE the MT styling. Always have, always will.
Video below.
(Will add here once it’s finished uploading.)
How to keep warm on a motorcycle…
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Hello y’all,
Things have been quiet on the yamyam front for the past week or so due to me starting another artwork. However this one is zipping along nicely so I should be able to get some posts up soon. Anyway, as I was trawling through backlogs of stuff I found this and thought you should see it!
Well…it’s certainly one way of keeping warm. I saw this in Glasgow last year around November.
Brilliant.
Check out www.gordonfraserartwork.co.uk to keep up to date on my artworks.
All the best
Gordon
Honda VFR1200F. A Possibility?
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Well then folks. Well then. In my last post about my future bike choice, I talked about 3 options to consider when buying a bike. The options were you get a house with a hose and a dry garage, you go wash it at a nearby garage before you get home or you buy a bike fit for purpose.
I ended my post with
“This also means repairing the GSR yet again, and who knows, that may be anything from a clean service and new caliper seals, to a new ignition block if they can’t unseize it. And who knows how much that’ll cost? By my experience, £100 won’t cover it.”
Well I still don’t have my bike back yet (it’s due to be completed tomorrow) and on top of the caliper seals needing changed, I did indeed need a new ignition block. I also needed a new sprocket and chain because it was “a good one” said Stuart. All the teeth were pretty much half the size and the chain was rigid.
£100 won’t cover it, and it’s another January of financial drain.
So anyway, I said in my last post that the answer to all my problems was getting a BMW R1200GS. But then one day at lunchtime I was browsing the Honda website and remembered the VFR1200F was about to be released and sure enough, it had been. As I poured over the various infos and pictures, I suddenly started to realise that hey, this might actually be the bike for me. I will now go through the reasons why.
(All images below are from http://www.feelvfr.com)
At first I noticed how nice it looked. I remember when I first saw it, I didn’t really like that huge fairing. I must have grown to it, because now I quite like it. I like how aerodynamic it looks and the unbroken lines make it very sleek.
Reading through the specifications I noticed a lot of things that fitted my requirements. Shaft drive, build quality and quality materials. Good winter accessories. It has a V4 engine, single sided swingarm, radial brakes, chunky rear, nice seat, good riding position.
This thing looks like it could do a lot of miles and not complain.
I’ve read a lot of reviews about this new Honda shaft drive and how it works. It certainly removes the need for any maintenance, which when riding in winter is a massive draw.
It has a centre stand which would be superb for cleaning the back wheel. Would remove the need for me to get my buckled paddock stand out of the garage every time.
Honda seem to have really thought about what a rider wants out of a bike, and especially a rider that will ride his bike a lot. The 12v cigarette lighter would be superb for SatNav or other accessories that you would use on a bigger trip.
So after having a quick whip around the details, I gave Blair a call and asked him about it.
He agreed it would be nice and said there was a review in MCN that week about it. One of the things he said was that the shaft drive seemed to skip when going fast over bumps. Not really an issue unless you are a knee down kind of rider. He also said that it was 170BHP and would hit around 160mph…
And this is where my interest ended.
One Hundred and Seventy Brake Horsepower.
Imagine if you will a nice winters morning. You are riding to work and aye, it’s a bit cold and overcast, but you knew this yesterday and yet you still got on the bike because you love it. It’s in your blood and you would never take the bus unless your bike was physically immovable. You made your bed when you signed up to the 365 biker club and you never think about quitting.
Then it starts to snow. There’s nothing you can do about it, you are halfway to work. You can’t turn around. You just have to keep going. But the snow is lying.
So you get to work and as you travel down the cobbled, wet and snowy surface you get to the hill before your garage. And therein lies the problem.
You now have 170bhp to try and baby along this street. There doesn’t seem to be any GSXR style ABC power control. There’s no traction control. Your only way of dealing with it is down to what your right hand does.
This neatly leads on to the next problem. The fairing. Although it’s beautiful to look at and really shiny, there isn’t upon inspection any holes or places to fit crash mushrooms.
We all know how expensive wee fairing panels are and that’s some of the reason why they are all split up, so you don’t have to replace a massive plastic panel if you are unfortunate enough to drop it.
The VFR1200F has this problem. And believe me, when you are going down this cobbled road with 170bhp under your right hand, you will be thinking about it.
Why make a bike so powerful, when it’s intended for touring and bikers who ride their bike? This isn’t a track bike Honda. So why are you giving it so much bloody power?
The speed limit is 70mph in the UK and yes, at some point we are inevitably going to break that. But not by over double. So why can this bike go 160mph?
It’s baffling really. And this is why the VFR1200F is immediately obsolete for me. There’s no way I will get insurance on this bike, not without a severe heart attack and some ball crunching from Emma. And inevitibly if you ride a bike in the shit weather I ride in, it will be dropped, and that beautiful fairing will be reduced to a blabbering mess within 2 feet of asphalt contact. Not only that, but it’s over £10,000!!
It has the credentials for a marvellous bike, it really does. But it’s been ruined by whacking in an absurdly powerful engine, stupid design and amazingly stupendous price.
I haven’t ridden it and I never will. It’s pointless.
Blair had a good point. He said,
“Why get a brand new bike, especially one so damn expensive, and watch that rot away to nothing in the Scottish winter? It’ll be even more painful watching a £10,000 bike rust than it will your current bike. And it will rust and it will get manky, because you will ride it. What you need to do is get a bike for summer and keep the GSR for a winter hack-about.”
He has a good point and one that I am now seriously considering. I could have a bike that I ride from say April to November, and my GSR for November to April. This way I keep a bike in great condition and I reduce the mileage on both bikes. This means less servicing, less miles and more value. It also means I wont be using the same bike every day all year round which should bring back some of the enjoyment of riding a motorcycle for me.
I really need to have a think about it, but for now the VFR is so far beyond reality it’s actually quite funny.
Thanks for checking YY over the past month, the view have really been good!
All the best,
Gordon
Welcome to 2010!
Well welcome one and all, for it’s two-thousand-and-ten A L R E A D Y.
The weather here is atrocious at best, so because of this my bike has been constrained to the work garage, as I couldn’t get it home. Because of this, my bike has sat for a week and now that I have returned to see it, the ignition is seized stopping the key from turning (you can still get the key in though…) and thus I can’t start it, thus I can’t unseize the rear brake that’s now jammed on.
Ace.
It’s going to be a few weeks I would imagine, before this snow and ice clears up. This isn’t good because my bike needs to be in active service asap. I think what I might do is get Stuart to come and get it and do a service. Then I can just wait until the weather is a bit kinder to 2 wheels.
Anyway. I hope Santa was good to y’all and you had a great and happy new year’s celebration. We had a great time, with a new Fraser in the family (Lily, both mother and daughter are well!) and some nice relaxing fatty-eating-chocolate-and-other-leftovers joy.
2010 has to be a good year, because 2009 wasn’t. And for this reason, I have made a promise to update YamYam at least twice a week. Let’s see how I do.
Oh and the 25th of January will celebrate my 3rd year of YamYam and 2 wheeled joy. Insurance AHOY!
Cheerio for now!
Gordon
Thoughts: Rev-It Apache Boot & Dainese Virlunga D-Dry
After my Desmo’s packed in, the Airtech GTXs disappointed and the Sidi Rain Evo’s got sold on eBay (times are tight) I had nothing left but to get the Alpinestars Effex GTX back out of retirement, complete with mud and cobwebs from working in the garden with them on.
The only issue however is now the Effex boots are wasted. There are still two holes in the shift patch and the sole (the reason for the retirement) and the sole is compacted to a wafer, so comfort isn’t really what you would call comfortable. Not only that, they are cold and leak like a pair of boots with two holes in them.
So I got thinking about what was out there now that could possibly fill the void left when my Desmo’s packed in. What kind of boot could be worn day in day out, in Scottish winter weather, as well as walking about in them, washing my bike in them and generally living in them. What boots are there in the market RIGHT NOW, that could possibly fit the bill?
What do you think of these then?
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT!! Wow.
I stumbled across these boots when searching for another boot that I liked the look of. I’ll come to those in a minute.
These Rev-It Apache boots are precisely what I would imagine a boot to look like, should it fit the requested spec I mentioned before. It looks rugged. But it also looks comfortable. It looks solid. Most of all, it looks really quite smart.
These retail for around £160 in the UK. There’s a variety of tech going on in here, including a sole that was derived from hiking boots. WebBikeWorld calls them a “Mashup” in that they merge off-road boots with hiking boots with touring boots and racing boots. It’s a best of all worlds type boot.
I am really intrigued by these. Could they be the answer to my Scottish boot nightmare?
The other boot I mentioned was the Dainese Virunga D-Dry boot. It looks like this:
These boots look like comfy bams I have to say. I also like the combination of soft materials combined with ratchet style closure as an extra security feature.
They don’t look as solid as the Apaches but I prefer the softer look.
I’m going to try and get my hands on either or both of these boots and give them the YamYam review treatment. Fingers crossed because I am really starting to tire of having cold wet feet.
Stay tuned!
Winter Hack
What what what.
My last post to have the blue banner of information said that I was in a so-so mood, had done 24486.3 miles on my GSR and…go to yamyambiker.com.
Since then, as you can see with my new blue banner of information, I have increased in mood by 3 bars, I have covered 2619 more miles on my GSR and you’ve still to go to yamyambiker.com.
So what’s the chat? What have I been doing that’s so damn interesting to keep me from my YamYam duties. Well as you know, I sometimes go for ages and then end up writing a long assed post, so perhaps this might be one of those moments. I’ll start from where I left it…that is I had just reviewed my current jacket (Wolf Titanium if you ask), I had been told I would be better suited to a scooter because I couldn’t handle my Kwak ER-6n and I was off to Tenerife. Not before emailing West Coast Harley about their current Buell stock, a small yamyam probe to see what the deal was (deal…get it?)
Well I got back from a spectacular 2 weeks of sunshine, sleeping, eating (a lot) and bobbing in an extremely cold pool. Like a true Scotsman, I sucked it up and I was in there pretty much every day, floating like a fleshy coloured iceberg, whilst others sat shivering on their sunbeds. I didn’t care. I wasn’t thinking about work, I wasn’t thinking about the thousands of troubled thoughts that plagued my mind on a daily basis. For 2 weeks (well, 1.3 really) I was awol from my mind, from my life back in Scotland and all that was really to do was decide what to eat (crisps or bread), what to wear (usually just shorts…easy ladies, and a t-shirt) and what to do; float or read…or watch a film…or go for a walk.
We arrived back in Scotland to an extremely cold, windy, wet Saturday morning, having had our plane delayed a wee bit. I sat on my couch at 6am deliberating whether or not to go to bed or just ride it out and see how far I made it. I went to bed.
It was great being back really. I love Scotland and no matter how many Hunters Chicken I ate (a delicious meal prepared by someone other than me in a restaurant filled with alcohol and sunshine), it’s still no match for the stiff, crisp Scottish air. Refreshing some might say.
Before heading away on holiday I had realigned my broadband duties from Virgin to O2, because I found Virgin’s internet to be slow in the evenings, slow enough that I had to buffer some films from Sky Player a few times.
What a mistake that was. From the get-go O2 were dismal, utterly dismal. Think along the lines of trying to open a YouTube video, only to have someone actually come out of your screen and scream “Who do you think you are!?” at you for even trying. I couldn’t load any videos, surfing was a task and I was totally fed up. However I had a 30 day “Happiness Guaranteed” period where I could opt out and nothing would be said of it. I gave it a little while as I was promised that the service would start to pick up shortly because of some maintenance they were doing to the lines or something.
Well guess who got their math wrong? ME. I got back from Tenerife thinking I had a good week left of my 30 days, only to find that I was actually, from Saturday of my arrival onward, 1 day in to my contract. The service was no better by the way, still as crap as always. I should have been getting 8mg. I was getting 0.3mg.
So with no time to lose, I called them up and got my MAC code, then requested my account be cancelled to be told that I am now “within contract period and it’ll cost £160 to get out of it.” After much argumenting and deliberating from O2 I got out of my shockingly bad contract and luckily I was able to go to a more safe bet, BT. Now that I have, my internet is ace, I can watch films, watch YouTube and I’ve even updated www.gordon-fraser.com to celebrate.
But all this has taken it’s toll on my time available to post here, that and just getting on with riding my bike every day with pretty much no incident.
Since getting back the weather has steadily decreased to the point of no-feely-handies. So I decided that it was time to forget looking swish, and buy some hand guards for my Gisser. I did buy them (£38) and fitted them with Dad with a little trademark Fraser persuasion.
What a difference, my hands are now wind free and really a lot warmer. Then the weather got to the point that in the morning my bars would be iced up, so really even though my hand guards were preventing wind and rain from chilling my fingers, I was still holding on to a frozen piece of metal, so my hands still got numb. The ride home however is a different story and I am ever so thankful I took the plunge and fitted them. I also re-fitted my screen unit and it’s keeping a lot of the rain and draught off me so that’s ace. The only problem is the increase in ease of speeding. I am always so used to having the drag on my body that the position I sit at naturally on the throttle is causing me to cruise faster with the aerodynamic advantage of the fairing. It has been a few times I have glanced down to see that I am not sticking to the speed limit without knowing it. ANYWAY.
Hand guards were from a V-Strom 650, for all you like minded GSR riders, and can be picked up from your local Suzuki dealership.
I mentioned the email to Buell Glasgow.
Well I sent a wee informal “Now that Buell is going south, what deals you got?” email to them and I’m not exaggerating here, 8-9 calls later they are still trying to get me in to have a chat. I’ve decided to forget going for a new Buell because I spoke to Stuart @ Jacksons Bikes about it and he said that because of the miles I do, I could quickly find myself in a position that I need a part and they can’t supply it. Say if the engine management computer packed in, and I couldn’t get a replacement, that’s my bike written off, even if the rest is in mint condition. So aye, even though I LOVE LOVE LOVE Buells, I just can’t justify it really. I’ll stick with the pain in the arse and rusty boy until it packs in (it’s been a while so touch wood nothing will happen…)
So that’s really where we are at. It’s a week until christmas, Blair is soon to be a Daddy (it could hit off anytime now) and work is busy as feck.
In a week there could be a small, brand new Fraser in this world. After a year of utter SHITE, I am desperately holding on to the hope that it’ll end well. I am hoping.
2010 is a new year. It’s a fresh start. One things for sure, it really couldn’t get any worse than what 2009 was. If it does, there’ll be bigger problems than my hands getting cold, or BT internet. 2010 could be the greatest year of everyones lives, purely for the fact that we had one of the worst years just before it. I hope for all our sakes it will be.
AHHHHHHHHH
It’s definitely time to draw a line under this post. Word count is 1308 as of this word HERE.
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Go check out my home website WWW.GORDON-FRASER.COM and feedback me.
All the best for the remaining 2009. I will speak before the bells.
Thanks for visiting all,
GORDON!
YamYam’s Back, but not without problems
Hey y’all.
I’ve been back a good wee while now but firstly my broadband situation was just dismal. If you are ever thinking of going with o2, forget it. They suck ass.
Anyway,
Just to let you know it’s been an eventful few weeks and I have some new products to test and review from a company called Fourth Element, who supply thermal and technical clothing to major police forces and other folks, including divers.
My bike is running ok, I’ve fitted hand guards so I’ll cover that as well.
Weather is deteriorating fast.
I’ve been trying to get my main website (www.gordon-fraser.com) up and running with all my photography, artwork etc etc but its taking ages.
Anyway, I’ve now got reliable BT broadband, so updating will be happening soon.
Sorry for the delay in fresh material, it’s that time of year.
All the best folks
Gordon
Commute=Bums
Hey!
I’ve been commuting through to Glasgow the past couple of days, it’s a real drag. The weather has been getting progressively colder, wetter and darker. I’ve switched to my clear visor permenantly now and it’s a shame, the Summer is officially over…already.
Me and Blair washed out bikes at the weekend, Blair washing his to go in to winter storage, me washing it for the…3rd time this summer. It was MANKY. But the Bro’s got it sorted and it looked smashing. Wheels were gleaming, chain was slick and smooth.
I got up this morning, chucking it down and within 10 minutes my bike was as manky as it was before we washed it…it’s hard work this motorcycle lark.
Not to worry though, because in 2 weeks I am off to sunny Tenerife! Oh AYE!
Had a quick message from Leigh on the Kawasaki ER6 page saying I would be better suited to a scooter. It made me laugh, but maybe he’s right…could this be the end of all my worries!?
Watch out folks, YamYam’s going 2-stroke…
Keep coming back folks, it’s getting to the time of year when YY goes nuts with the post count!
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.
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
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
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
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…
