Winter is nearly here…again.
Well it’s now official. Autumn is happening and it’s October tomorrow, which means pretty soon it’s winter. Great.
The life of a 365 biker is complex. Many a time when I have arrived at work, hands blue from the frost, tears and snot running down my face, with ice formed on my visor, people have asked me, “Why don’t you get a car!?”
It takes a certain love of 2 wheels, a desire to ride that makes someone endure such weather. It also helps if it’s your only mode of transport. Why don’t I get a car then?
Well cars make you warm. They make you (relatively) safe. They entertain you with music, sometimes more. You sit, comfortable in your hugging sports seat with tinted glass windows, offering you a crisp aperture of the world whooshing by. You may have a fast car, which then adds an element of thrill to the whole thing. But then, after you are settled in for the drive and have your stainless steel travel mug firmly positioned in your cup holder, you hit what is known in the automotive world as a “queue.”
It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, if it’s snowing, if it’s sunshine and beautifully warm, one thing above all keeps me smiling; I never have to stop in a queue. I never have to drawl along at walking pace for hours. Yes I may have blue fingers and frozen snot on my face, but I left my house half an hour ago, which was 15 minutes after waking up. When did you leave? “I left 2 hours ago to beat the rush hour.”
Why am I saying this again you may ask? Because I am now coming up to my third Scottish winter, a thing that over the past 3 years has gotten colder and colder, earlier and earlier. And I don’t feel down about it. I don’t wish I didn’t have to go out in the frost to sit on a cold bike. It may make me bonkers, but after nearly 2 years of all weather biking, I am still as passionate and excited about my bike as I was when I first started.
But one things changing this year, and that’s the handlebar muff situation. I will be getting some fecking muffs and have my heated gloves wired up because DAMN it’s cold!
Anyway,
I have been totally enveloped by my new camera. I am going crazy over it. I have always wanted one and now I am having a blast with it. I love having the means to stop anywhere and take a photo, and know that it’ll be super sharp and super big. I took lots of photos on the Scotland Tour 2008 (980 to be exact…) and it beats me up that although the pictures are really good, the quality of the image isn’t. If only I had this camera to go around Scotland, when we had some unbelievable weather and saw Scotland in breathtaking style.
But there you go. On Sunday I went out and took some quick shots of my bike after I gave it a BIG clean. It hadn’t been cleaned for weeks and the chain was sounding a bit wierd. So Sunday was all about getting my baby back up to scratch, and fitting the screen again in a bid to try and take some of the weather off me.
It still looks as good as it did new!
The GSR is holding it’s finish superbly! That’s nearly 12,000 miles and apart from some scratches on the swingarm from bobbins and feet, the rest of the bike is in excellent nick.
Fresh off the cleaning wagon.
The evening light made my bike glow. It also showed up my amazingly bald front wheel...
Over the motorway.
My front tyre is on it’s last legs. It is the original tyre from when I bought the bike! That’s nearly 12,000 miles on 1 tyre! Wow.
My bike goes in for it’s service on saturday, and will get a new tyre on it. The bloke at the garage said that I need a special type of tyre, made only for the GSR. I don’t know if he’s spinning me a line but whatever. For 12,000 miles a tyre, I’ll pay that extra £20!
So yeah, all in all it’s all going well…all.
I’m at the stage just now where I am just chewing up weeks and miles. Work is going so fast and nights are lost to tinkering or surfing, the last time I looked at my ODO it was 11,300 ish. It’s now just about 12k so that’s 700 miles of autopilot.
I have some new gear which has the Outlast material in it. If you have never tried it, I suggest you stop reading this and go and get some. It is amazing.
It’s a thermal regulating fabric. So if you are cold, it makes you hot and visa versa. And it works like a dream. It’s been quite cold recently and I have noticed my arms warming up as I’m riding along. It’s simply amazing!
So yeah, Outlast rocks.
I don’t really have anything else to say at the minute. Life is just churning past at a fast rate of knots and it’s sometimes difficult to steal 10 minutes to update, but I’m pretty sure when the Winter starts coming, I’ll have lots of stuff to say! Because when the nights get dark, the car drivers come out to play.
Thanks for reading guys and all the comments you keep sending in, I really do appreciate it.
Gordon
Road Rage and Dirty Rears…
Evening all.
I have passed the 2k mark with little notice. This bike is effortlessly easy to ride, although not really, because if it was effortless, I wouldn’t be knackered after riding…so perhaps just easy then…
I have had a few moments of driver idiocy this week. I will start with the first incident, which didn’t actually involve me, but I made a concious effort to get involved. Basically there was a BMW GS something going along the motorway and there was a BMW car behind him. Now the bike was going faster than the BMW car, but the BMW driver was being a mong. So the bike pulled over to the left hand lane and the BMW driver kept at the same speed as the biker until…there was a car going slower than the biker. But instead of letting the biker out, the BMW car driver sped up. Then the biker pulled out, whilst indicating, but the car driver still kept accellerating. Then he started weaving all over the place as if the biker had came out of no-where! It was astounding. But even then it wasn’t over because the biker then pulled in again and the BMW driver went along side the biker and started gesturing to him.
So I took it upon myself to let the car driver know he was being an ass, so went passed him and the other biker and started pointing to my head and shaking my hand in a “bad boy” fashion….it felt good.
Then yesterday, and this is the one that had me laughing, was even more ridiculous. I was going along at 30mph in Edinburgh and some idiot in a Vauxhall Astra was getting closer and closer to me. So I slowed down a tad to see if he would back off…nope. He was so close I thought he was going to rear-end me. So I showed some brake light and still nothing. So I gave a good hand of brake and the guy went bananas. I am not joking! He started weaving all over the place trying to get past me so I shot off and he went along side me at a queue and when I turned round he had his hand in the middle of his face, middle finger hoisted, but actually touching his face. I pointed at him, then gave him the thumbs up. I have never seen a shade of red like this. I could practically see the steam dripping from his ears. And then to make matters worse, I shot off between the cars leaving him in the rather long queue. Ahhhhhhh the benefits of being on two wheels.
But don’t let my jokey point and thumbs up fool you…I was ready to get off and punch this guys head in, I just wanted to make him burst, which he did.
Totally ridiculous and very dangerous driving by the mongo car driver.
ANYWAY!
Apart from that it’s been all good, my tyres are starting to square off, but I have managed to get quite far over. I fancy some leather trousers so I can finally get my knee down, there are some great bends just down from my house where it is dead quiet and smooth surface. I think I could have already had my knee down, but I was scared to incase my textiles caught and ripped my leg off…dramatic yes I know..
Anyway, I am still loving the GSR and am amazed at the unrelenting power even at higher speeds. It just pulls and pulls and pulls….
Here’s a picture of my rear. I fancy some Avon Storms, but am not sure about it yet. They have had a great write up @ Street Scene so I might just bite the bullet when I have worn my rear to the bone.
(By the way, I washed my bike to an “eat your dinner off it” state on Sunday…and now look at it.)
Thanks for stopping by as always folks, I really appreciate it!
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
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Generator Cover and Gasket £52.62
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L/H Front Indicator £23.67
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Front Brake Lever £25.45
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Rear Brake Lever £20.30
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R/H Footpeg and bank sensor £46.62
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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…
Frozen…everything
Goodevening.
Friday was the last day at work for 2 weeks. A joyous occassion for anyone. However the day got off to a bad start. I left the house at the usual 8:10am, and needed to go and get petrol. It was extremely foggy and very cold, but by the time I got to the local Esso, I didn’t think it was that bad.
Out came the key and as I went to open the fuel cap my key wouldn’t even go in. What’s wrong here!?!? Surely it can’t be frozen because my bike is kept in the garage, which has the boiler in it. Well it was, so I headed in to the tiny shoppie to look for de-icer. They had either a pump action one or an aerosol, which was a foot long. Opting for the foot-long I headed back out to the bike. 5-10 minutes later the key was in and the cap was open. Hurrah. In went the fuel and I went and paid for it.
When I got back out it was 8:40am. I still had a 30 minute journey ahead. Oh well. Key in the ignition…nope. It wouldn’t go in either. Surely the lock couldn’t have frozen in the 10 minutes I was in the station? So back out with the de-icer, skoosh skoosh, then I looked at me key and it was twisted. I then had to un-twist it and finally it went back in and the bike was good to go.
From Kinross to the bridge there was a thin layer of ice forming on all the leading edges of my body, including my visor which was like trying to see through a frosted glass window. Really scary. By the time I had got in to work I was shaking with the cold, my nose was streaming, my hands were like blocks of ice and my face was dirty from having to ride with the visor up.
Work passed without a hitch and we went out for a meal which was ace.
I then headed in to work on Saturday to pick my bike back up ( I got the bus home) and it is now sitting in the garage, fecking filthy, ready for a clean down and perhaps a cheeky ride over the xmas holidays. Who knows.
Anyway, I am going to sign off for the last post before christmas. So have a great one folks and don’t drink too much! HA.
Thanks for looking,
Gordon
