Duxford Remembrance Day 8th Nov 09

Took the swoopy non motorway route to arrive just before the NAM brigade. This year was disappointing in that no historic aircraft flew but this was made up for with a free museum pass. Just shows how much has been added since I last went and everything was in an old hangar. Now there are sparkling glass halls with B17,B52,Blackbird, Typhoon,Liberator and loads more in the US hall plus a land warefare hall complete with a Normandy Experience. Best was an ordinary hangar with the doors open with a Hurricane and F109E in working order just standing there.
Not good news was that one of the NAM observers who taught me a lot was recently nerfed off his K1300GTSE on a local roundabout in a classic SMDNSY incident. He has bruises but the bike has cosmetic damage which on a £12k+ bike can be staggering to fix.
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IAM bike test pass !

After a year's training on Sundays, with a bit of a gap this summer, I
applied to take The Test a few weeks ago. The examiner contacted me
and requested a selection of dates and today was the one chosen.
I had done a series of Mock Tests, some results were declared as
nearly there, others with very nearly there, one not there at all but
all had the usual positive NAM critique and suggestions on
improvements. So after every Sunday the week's riding has been an
extended practice period to try and bring all the required elements in
to play.Every now and then at the end of a ride I have reckoned that
that was the one. Too bad no examiner saw it.
Well, today was the day to stand up and be counted. I had wished for a
cold, dull day and preferably raining. Reason ? Less traffic, speeds
are lower and expectations of adding " sparkle " to the ride are
lower. Someone must have been listening because just as we met up the
dull grey skies opened and down came the rain. Great.
After a briefing on what was expected off we went. Ethel closely
followed by the examiner's Blackbird.The route went through towns,
shopping areas, villages, open countryside and dual carriageway stuff
with hazards galore on the slippery roads. Having flunked the last
Mock Test when I completely missed the 30 signs in a village and
whizzed straight through at 60 I had decided that today dull would
have to do and stuck rigidly to the indicated speeds even though I
know from the satnav that they are 10% optimistic.
No matter how many times you go out observed it is still an unnerving
experience to be aware that someone is closely watching what you are
doing. I am quite used to being in very close, 1 metre, company with
another bike ( just so long as a qualified IAM rider is aboard ) but
somehow it plays on your mind.
So today was a super legal soggy trundle around for an hour ending up
with a bunch of Grade 1 scores and all the rest at Grade 2 ( scores go
down from 1 to 5 ). Job done !
Thank you everybody at NAM for showing me so much that I never knew
and never letting me forget that, in the words of today's examiner,
when you stop learning you are dead.

Subaru unimpressions

Hired an 08 plate Subaru Legacy Estate petrol auto for a West Country business trip this week. Entry to the car is backwards then sling your legs in as it is very low slung. Raising the seat and lowering the steering wheel height makes the indicator warning lights invisible to the driver. Fitting a twin socket into the 12v outlet is only possible with the auto stick in neutral - it fouls in the P position. The heater controls are tucked away low by the same lever so are not in the drivers line of sight or colour coded for hot/cold and the hazards are scattered away over on the passenger side. So much for lousy driver ergonomics. Almost. If you get in the car and do not start it straightaway the immobiliser prevents it starting until you blip the key off and on. Just as well I had asked if there were any pointlessly goofy design ideas I should know about and was duly tipped off. Off we go at last. The engine is a revver. Kick it down flat and it wangs round to the red as it changes up, the all wheel drive makes roundabouts fun. Floor it from standstill, wang round to the exit with the throttle flat and ping out of the exit with the car flat to the road and stable. There is no surplus of power but it holds 80 on cruise control up hill and down dale. Whilst driving the poor ergonomics again let it down. A great big handbrake lever juts out above your left leg, the flower pot sized twin drinks holders are placed behind your left elbow where you cannot reach and the mirror controls are lurking in a dark and gloomy door recess. The centre console is very groovy in brushed alloy but has fiddly little cd controls.
This car is what happens when a non driving fashion nerd designer is let loose on a nice piece of engineering.
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But Ks grab the attention

Of all the bikes parked up at the test day it was the 3 Ks that drew plenty of attention. A stunning maroon K1100LT outshone both Ethel and an e bay K100RT 500 quidder !
I'm no longer surprised when owners of gleaming new Beemers come up to say " I had one of those - smoothest bike I ever rode "

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Another Balderstons test ride day

Today was another Balderstons test ride day so I took the chance of another go on the K1300GT. This time I trundled round playing with all the toys. Top goodie is the heated seat, just the right level of heat which combined with the 2 stage heated grips keeps you warm and alert. The heated grips seem to be thermostat controlled but the result is that you end up with cold grips - I'd rather control them myself. Electric screen let's you have more or less noise and windblast. The adjustable suspension switch makes the bike feel firmer on sport setting compared to the plush standard setting. A stunning super rocketship of a bike.
Next I rode the new naked 800R. Wow ! BMW have built a Buell. At last an 800 I like - no fuelling glitches and no twitchy handling ( 800ST and 650 thingy respectfully ). The motor rips around the dial, the exhaust snarls and the induction growls. Free of shaft drive you can smack down the gears, chuck the bike into a bend and wallop the power hard on with no dramas - just a huge grin ! Big wide bars , low seat and low flickable weight would make this a stoating town bike.
Now, how can I get a go on a Triumph Street Triple as the 800 is vibey through the bars ?
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BMW Coverall one piece suit - what a letdown.

Having got a wet crutch in a London downpour the other day and wanting
to be able to wear business clothes under bike kit I set off this
lunchtime to try out a BMW Coverall suit at Wollaston BMW in
Northampton. Sure enough, hanging right there, were 2 of the suits.
"OK to try these on ? " says I to seated bloke at a telephone
listening on the speakerphone to his missed calls " Help yourself " he
said, not bothering to get up or offer any other advice than " We call
'em Babygrows ".
Immediately upon lifting the hangar from the rack I was struck by the
lack if substance of the suit. Looking at it reminded me of a water
ski dry suit - that is the loose fitting job not the neoprene wet suit
number that makes the ladies look mmmmm, mmmmmm - it is unlined and
does not have the ankle to neck zips I thought it would have. Instead
it zips open from ankle to waist on both sides, the zips stop there,
and then the top has a waist to neck zip. The net result was that I
could not get both arms in because it does not open wide enough !
For our footy club we have one piece sub suits which unzip straight
down from neck to ankle one both sides, you stick your feet through
the elasticated holes at the bottom of each leg, stand up and zip the
whole thing up all the way on both sides.
I even took a business suit along to see if I could step into the
Coverall with it on. You would have to step into the suit as you would
ordinary bike trouser, unfurl the suit legs and then zip up the sides.
If I could net get in with a T Shirt on I dunno how you cope wearing a
suit jacket.
Aerostich of America have covered all these aspects ,so I understand
from their website and will make the suit to measure. Too bad their
suit is almost double the BMW item price but then if it is as good as
all the reviews say then its got to be worth it.
Better start saving..........................

Llangollen 13th Sept 09

Motor Cycle News has been running stories on harrassment of riders by Welsh police and asked riders to turn up en masse today. Vast numbers did arrive including Ethel. We went A5 all the way up and blasted home all motorway - 280 miles, set off at 0900 and home by 1600. We saw a police car and bike at one roundabout, another car in a junction and a white van camera above us on a bridge. That was it - we did not see anyone pulled over. The problem facing the police there is massive traffic volume on inadequate roads. Everything imaginable is winding along them nose to tail. Cars, bikes,vans,lorries, caravans, Euro motorhomes towing cars, bicycles, horses,pedestrians - the lot. To make things even worse long sections of road are wide enough for 3 cars with grisly results as witnessed today. Shocked motorists were sitting in the kerb near an ambulance showing little sign of activity. 200 metres along the road a bike was lying on its side.200 metres the other way a car with a big pear shaped dent in the drivers door and front wing was off the side of the road.
The only way to make the place safer is to reduce all types of traffic. A scheme such as those used in cities like Athens whereby only certain licence plate numbers can drive on certain days across all vehicles would do it.
Anyway I'm not going back in a hurry - I've seen sheep and hills before, they're no big deal.
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