February 2008

Hello

2008…………

I find myself struggling to think, not just what to say here, but just in general…

Hmmm….

Ah. I’ll start with the latest. My left wrist was really sore, I thought it was just because I played my guitar a bit much, but I stopped playing it 2 weeks ago and my wrist is getting worse. So I went to the doctors and she said I have tendonitis, where the tendons in the back of my hand are inflamed and thus I have a sore wrist. I got a tubey support and lots of pain meds and told to refrain from doing anything which caused it i.e. at work where I use my computer all day or playing guitar etc…So instead of resting like she said I was back to work the day after…I had a deadline and couldn’t take any rest, but for some reason it seemed to focus me and I have spent the past 2 days working flat out in a complete zoned in state of mind. It’s been great for ploughing through my work, but it hasn’t really left much thought power for when I return home.

What has happened in February then. Well I started my second month of 2008 on a new bike. It has been brilliant being able to actually believe I will have this bike for the next 3 years. I have finally (i hope) settled on a bike that I like to ride, like to look at and like to hear. I guess I am just glad to be away from the nightmare that was the ER6.

The o2 Eliminator mod was a joy and after a few brain freezing moments I managed to install it myself which I think is the best way to do things. I have saved so much money doing things myself instead of getting charged labour for someone else to do it for me. It’s also allowed me to tinker, which is always good.

It was mega windy a few weeks back, so I had to go over the Kincardine bridge. It was wierd because it was almost exactly the same scenario as the accident…really windy, wet, cold. I thought to myself about the crash and what the cause was. I was interested to see if it actually was how I remembered it, and not just an adrenaline fuelled recap of something similar to what happened. So I reached Kincardine and instead of going the long way round I took the right turn, headed out towards the crash site. As I reached the road I flipped my visor up so I could see better.

I crested the hill and yes, there was a bright light ahead. Very bright in fact. But I also noticed that the road actually curved to the right. The roundabout where the bright light is, was straight ahead, but the road curved off to the right and back to reach the roundabout. Also directly in front was the lay-by.

It was completely reasonable that I would head in to the lay-by thinking it was the road. I also saw the dual signage that almost killed me.

As I safely navigated past the site, I felt a wee bit happy. Not for the fact that I crashed, then got a new bike and I am happy with it…but because I felt that the crash was due to a confusing split second and not because I had wandered off in my mind. Even if I was going 20mph, I would have still headed in to the lay-by. For this reason I was happy.

Anyway, 

So far the GSR is great. It is a bike that I am happy with and feel that it suits my needs better than all the bikes I have had. I still miss the Buell though.

I have a hankering for a new bike jacket, but I really can’t afford it at the minute. I still have to buy panniers and an intercomm for our trip around Scotland. My holidays are booked at work, we have sorted the route out and all the accomodation is booked. All we need now is a beautiful weeks worth of weather and some dry roads. I am starting to get excited.

Camera at the ready, because beautiful scenery is going to be a plenty.

Thanks for visiting folks, lots of visits=happy YamYam,

Take care

Gordon

RST GP Pilot Race Gloves

Hello everyone,

I got new summer gloves the other day (see “Full usage…”) and I thought I would show you them. They are RST GP Pilot gloves, retail at £69.99 and you can see the RST web page here. They are really comfy, a lot more so than the Alpinestars Sledge I got last week ( I still have to bed them in though) and are a full race glove. There’s lots of tech in it, but it’s all on their site so check it out. For the rest of the pics click the link below.

Thanks for looking!
Gordon

Full usage to the redline and idiot white van man…

Hello everyone.

After little over 3 weeks of ownership I have finally run in my GSR. So the first 600 miles @ 7000rpm and 1000 miles @ 9000rpm are done, and oh boy is it something special.

I had the odd crank open before being “allowed” to, but I wasn’t going for it, so as soon as I crossed the 1000 mile mark I ripped open the throttle in 2nd and nothing really happens. That is until you get above 9000rpm…

Basically what happens at 9k is that the bike goes in to hyperdrive. The bike shoots forward and the engine sounds glorious and it really is a struggle to hold on. Fantastic! However, even though I have the o2 Eliminator mod in place, there is still a rather large jerk when I let off the throttle, at around 6000rpm…but I can work around it.

Anyway, this weekend past was tremendous, superb weather for being on the bikes and we took full advantage of it. On Friday I picked up Emma from her house and we headed up to mine, pretty damn cold but it was Em’s 2nd time on the bike so she was happy. It’s really comfy she says, lots of room, but she finds that she is a bit far away compared to the other bikes. Saturday I cleaned the bike thoroughly, polished it as well. I then remembered that I had to take my RST gloves back to Scott Murray, because during the months of them being in the bag they came in, the velcro strap had broke…I can’t explain it but that’s RST for you…so I phoned Blair up and he said that he had just got back home from being at Alan Duffus, and that his girlfriend Kirsty had been fully kitted out, so they fancied going out on the bike.

I was a bit worried for them, I know Blair hasn’t had that much experience of solo riding yet, but he’s his own man and it’s up to him whether or not he’s ready…so I suggested we all go to Scott Murray and then home again. Em and I got suited up and off we went. It was glorious, sun splitting the sky, quite mild but with the occasional nip in the air. We arrived 15 minutes later and had a look at K’s new gear. Nice stuff, it was mostly Spada textile gear, red to match Blairs bike. An AGV helmet with a red/silver design, the smallest Alpinestars gloves you have ever seen and some Alpinestars SMX-4’s. Very nice.

So we headed off to SM, which was a laugh. I have never seen someone on the back of a GSR until I saw Kirsty on Blairs bike. I burst out laughing because she looked so high on the bike. After a short trip over we arrived.

As we entered Billy was with someone else but he soon came over and started chatting to me. I said I was in about my gloves and he had a look at them. After a wee bit he asked how much I paid for them, as the receipts I had with me weren’t for the gloves. I said £40 but he thought they were £50. He asked if I fancied having another look at their gloves but I said do you have anything other than RST…no, but then he went away and came back with a set of RST gloves. They looked the business and he said “what do you think of them then? Try them on and then we’ll talk…”

They were pretty comfy, really well made (from first looks) and had nice design touches on them. Billy said they were £80, but “hey, for you let’s split the difference..” I said, a Fiver? and he said “yep.”

So I got brand spanking new RST GP Pilot gloves for £5. RST don’t make a higher spec glove, but I’ll post up the pics after this post…

Then we headed back home, and just before Kinross, we encountered one of the biggest idiots I have ever seen. We were going along, I was infront of Blair and Kirsty, and I saw a white van man up his arse. It wasn’t a transit, but one of those maxi van things. Anyway, Blair pulled in to let him past and I saw him accelerate off, thinking he would soon pass me. But then he swerved in front of Blair, so ended up in between us…then slowed down!!? So Blair pulled out and over-took him, and I accellerated away as well. But then he was back up his arse again. So Blair pulled in again. Seeing that he was going to pull in front of Blair again, I shot off in front, pulled out in to the inside lane, and just as I did, a car infront towing a trailer pulled out. I let off the throttle and the bike slowed, but as I looked in my mirror I saw white van man going up my arse! So I slammed on my brakes. To the point of me going 40mph. As I pulled in I turned round to get a look at this boy and he was going bananas! Shaking his hands and looking mental! …so I stuck my finger up at him, and held it there. For ages. Then gestured him to get the hell away from us and he took off.

Blair meanwhile was still behind me as I was doing all this, but then decided to undertake me just as I was ushering the idiot away. We were quite close to colliding but thankfully we didn’t. Then the idiot carried on until he was about 20ft infront of Blair and swerved in, trying to give B a fright, but he was so far in front he didn’t really do anything….

A complete and utter idiot, who for no reason at all decided to make our lives a misery, and in the process made it extremely dangerous.

Anyway

That was that, and that was Kirsty’s first introduction to Biking, not the best I think…

Sunday was good, Blair washed his bike and we went out for a moster ride. I got it all on helmet cam so I will edit that and post it up. In the meantime check out these official photos for the day, if you click the link below:

Alpinestars Sledge Street Gloves

Hello all.

A while back me and B went to Alan Duffus to pick up a new visor for his Schuberth, as apparently the visor he had was steaming up and it wasnt meant to do this…

Anyway, whilst we were there we asked Ania if she had any shortie gloves and she did. They weren’t the best looking gloves and I had shown Blair some shorties before and he really liked them.

So we got Ania to order them in and on Saturday after the service we headed down to Kirckaldy to pick them up.

This is the Black version. Blair got the Red version, which I will show you the next time I see him.

Click below to see the rest of this post. I have hidden it to save some space! You know how I like to take photo’s and all…

One serviced GSR

Evening all,

Saturday saw my baby go for it’s first service. 9 a.m sharp at the Garage.

My brother’s GSR was also due for a service and we were both booked in at garage, however I was 9, brother was 12.30. Blair was told that if he came early with me his bike could possibly get sneaked in as well. So I was up 8am and ready to go by 20 past.
Blair arrived and announced that he had forgot his service history booklet…so had to go for that first. I said I coulnd’t as I needed to be there 9 sharp, so I would just meet him there.

9:35 he turned up, but I didn’t care because I was sat outside staring at the garages B-King, with a new set of 2 bros exhausts. Beefcake.

This is Blair arriving for a 9am service at 9:35…

After we booked the 2 GSR’s in, we were both given courtesy bikes, which went something like this:

2 pretty old SV650’s, which is funny because Blair was set on getting on of those as his first bike. I really didn’t like them but B was insistent that it was a good deal because it looked cool and was cheap.

He changed his mind when he had the hire bike. Hate isn’t strong enough a word. But I was enjoying the twin again, even after a short time away from the ER-6. However I also thought for the first time since October last year, I can’t wait to get back on my bike.

The sound was good, the power was nice but the whole experience reminded me of the ER6, and I think I have got to the stem of the problem I had with the Kawasaki.

The SV had a 160 rear section, with the same brand and model of tyres I had on the ER, and I felt totally unstable. B felt the exact same way, affraid to lean it over because it felt so vague. Perhaps had I attempted another brand or even model of tyre, I would have had some confidence in the ER6. But then I remember the wierd steering and thin-ness of the Er6 and I am still totally solid in my decision to get rid of it. I am much happier now.

So there you go, another weekend away! It has felt a long weekend, I have been up early both days, today I was up early again to clean my bike tip to toe. It was quite dirty but I got it back to spankers again. The paddock stand forks I got for the stand last week are great, but they marked my swingarm…so I’ve taped the stand forks up with insulating tape which will hopefully stop them ripping the paint off the swingarm.

I’m off,

Thanks for reading folks!

Gordon