Blue's Blogger Blog

Bye Bye Blogger

2007-11-05T12:12:00.000Z

Well it looks as though this Blogger Blog's time has come. Publishing or editing existing posts has been a real hit and miss affair - my blog is hosted on my own domain at 1&1 and I can log in and FTP with excellent speed ... until I try to edit or publish from within Blogger, in which case it's a case of hitting the try again link over and over due to it "taking longer than expected".

The problem is clearly at the Blogger end, so it looks like I'll simply abandon this blog and continue with my main WordPress blog at http://www.richardhmorris.com/

Long Way Down

2007-10-28T22:30:00.000Z

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman set off in May this year to ride from John O'Groats to Cape Town with funds being raised for UNICEF and Riders for Health. It's basically the same sort of idea as that behind their Long Way Round run going around the world "horizontally"!

If you are familiar with the Long Way Round, you'll know that KTM made one of those "what was I thinking?" decisions and withdrew their support (and bikes) and BMW, who'd basically been second choice, stepped in and the rest, as they say, is history: BMW selling over 100,000 units since. That's a sound commercial decision and a marketing triumph...

Now much as I applaud what the two riders have accomplished in terms of the funds they raised and continue to raise, in terms of their two rides, I wonder how much the effort was diminished by the whole entourage that accompanied them. Charley and Ewan on the BMWs with their cameraman on his and then the support vehicles with tyres, parts, medic, etc.

Compare that with Ted Simon's round the world trip on a Triumph Tiger back in 1973 (ending in 1977), Nick Sanders' seven trips or indeed Sjaak Lucassen's trip around the world on a Yamaha R1.

It's almost as though round the world trips are the latest extreme package holidays, especially as Ewan's wife, Eve, joins them in Malawi.

Maybe there's no real adventure left?

Free BMWs in Devon

2007-01-22T19:53:00.000Z

The wreck of the container ship in the Channel has brought some unlikely rewards for beachcombers: new BMW motorbikes!

Watch this video: halfway through, you'll see and hear about the bonus finds!

East Anglian Amble

2006-07-31T19:19:00.000+01:00

Saturday was good.

I post a bit on visordown.com and one of the guys there organised a ride-out from Red Lodge around Suffolk and Essex starting at midday. So I set off - leaving the kids home alone - at 11.00am and blasting down to Red Lodge. This mainly involved riding on the wrong side of the road as the A11 was clogged with bloody tourists and people whose lives have ended (i.e. drivers of diesel-fuelled people carriers).

One of my mates from the ZRXOC made it but left too early - the pace quickened (considerably) later with alleged speeds of 120+ in places (and I saw 150 and accelerating sitting bolt upright on my local closed road on my way home).

He also missed the most expensive soft drinks in the world evah at the Swan Hotel in Lavenham: �2.50 for my orange and grapefruit and �3.50 for a pint of lemonade (well syrup and fizzy water from one of those pumps) for a bloke with a SV1000 which was pulling some absolutely minging wheelies.

Photos from our cuppa stop at Finchingfield are here �

The woman in the tea shop was - ahem - rather attractive too ~;0)

I said my farewells when we got to Newmarket as I thought I should get home around tea time, but that meant missing out on a barbecue, more's the pity.

Kawasaki ZRX1200 Review

2006-07-04T11:57:00.000+01:00

I've just written a small review of the Kawasaki ZRX1200R over on my new bike review web site:

http://www.reviewspermonth.com/

Castle Combe Trackday, 24 April 2006

2006-05-03T15:25:00.000+01:00

Towbars

Anyone who saw me, Blue Rex and the trailer at any of last year's trackdays will know I was using Mrs. Blue's Fiesta to do the towing. This was because I drive an ancient Mondeo ST200 that Ford hadn't seen fit to get rated for towing, so my local Ford dealer wouldn't fit a towbar. Note that every other Mondeo was rated, just not the ST200...

Last summer, I was chatting to a neighbour who'd had a nice demountable one fitted to their Ford Galaxy, so I rang the place he'd had it done - Broadland Towbars near Norwich - and they said it could indeed be done*.

So on the 20th, I went to their place for 3� hours whilst they fitted a rather nice Brink "Brinkmatic Classic 2506" - this involved some cutting of the rear spoiler, but it's not really noticeable unless you're looking for it specifically. It's demountable so when not in use the ball section is stowed away in the boot and means the lines of the car aren't spoiled. It takes less than a minute to fix and demount the ball section as well. Cost was �310 + VAT fitted.

So this year, I have my car to drive with all the toys and comfort and more space for ~~crap~~ my useful stuff in the boot. Marvellous!

*Apparently, the Mondeo ST220 is straining its clutch as it is, so if you try towing anything it breaks...

Sunday 23rd

Loaded Blue Rex onto the trailer, hitched it up to the Mundane-oh and headed for Castle Combe in Wiltshire with Extreme Towing... Stayed overnight at the Crown at Giddea Hall which was comfortable and not too pricey.

Monday 24th - Castle Combe Trackday

The day started misty and drizzly which is bad, but I was at the circuit early for noise scrutineering. The circuit has a tight noise limit so they check the noise output of your bike. I'd already fitted a decibel killer to the Akrapovic system but had taken along my OEM end can and a specially made adaptor to marry the can up to the Akra headers. Amazingly, I didn't need it as the bike got through first time.

I decided to finally break out the PVC... Yes, my Respro SLICK Racing Wet Weather Suit actually got some use, over a year after I bought it. I had to get my wardrobe assistant (actually a guy called Ian from the ZRX Owners Club) to help pull it on for me over my leathers which, like all of them. has all sort of padding (and hence ridges) at the shoulders. Couple that with the Respro being tight to start off with and it's not a job you can easily accomplish by yourself, especially if, like me, you have a shoulder that dislocates itself at the drop of a hat.

I looked like this (click on the thumbnail for an intermediate-sized version):

As the morning progressed, the track dried out and it was a slightly less cautious Blue who was photographed (again, click on the thumbnails for the intermediate-sized versions):

and

If you look closely at the first of those two images, you can make out the video camera.

And here's some footage:

My onboard footage (camera slightly loose + floppy screen = shaky stuff)

Onboard footage from the guy on the white CBR600 which overtook me

All in all, it was a good day. I did have to leave immediately after the first afternoon session though as Mrs. Blue was working in the evening and I had a coaches' meeting for our football club to attend. Still, more extreme towing and I was home in a trice.

Sunday, 26 March 2006

2006-03-21T15:20:00.000Z

So, let's have a little look at Sunday, 26th March. What's so special about that date?

Well for the women, it's Mothers' Day (or Mothering Sunday).

This year, this means I shall be foregoing the pleasure of riding down to the Ace Caf� London for a gathering of the ZRX Owners Club at the Ace's "Kawasaki Sunday".

But what else is under threat that day? Well how about:

12.45pm to 2.00pm BBC1 MotoGP from Jerez; and
3.00pm to 4.30pm ITV1 British Superbikes from Brands Hatch

We'll ignore the World Rally Championship coverage from Spain directly after the BSB showing.

Bastard!

Hells Angels to Sue Disney

2006-03-10T13:18:00.000Z

Courtesy of "Bikes (Motorcycles) in the Fast Lane - Daily Motorcycle News" comes the news that the Hells Angels MC is suing Disney for trademark infringement.

That would be someone suing a company reknowned for protecting its own copyright and trademarks.

How so? Well Touchstone Pictures is making a film this year called "Wild Hogs" with Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and John Travolta. The plotline is:

"A group of middle-aged wannabe bikers look for adventure out on the open road, where they soon encounter a chapter of the Hell's Angels."

And therein lies the problem: "HELLS ANGELS and the skull logo (R) are trademarks owned by Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation, registered in the USA and in many other countries. All logos and designs of Hells Angels are trademark-protected (TM) and protected according to international law. Copying and other use is not allowed." They claim that Disney are using their trademarks to promote the film before it's made.

UK Bike Sales in 2005

2006-03-06T15:03:00.000Z

So according to the excellent "Bikes in the Fast Lane" site's reporting of an article in Moto Journal, the top 5 motorcycle sales in 2005 were:

Italy
1. Yamaha 600 Fazer/FZ6 - 10,834
2. Honda 600 Hornet - 8,217
3. Kawasaki Z750 - 5,149
4. Honda CBR 600 RR - 4,421
5. BMW R1200GS - 4,095

Germany
1. BMW R1200GS - 6,779
2. Honda CBF 600 - 4,859
3. Suzuki Bandit 650 - 3,420
4. Yamaha 600 Fazer/FZ6 - 3,286
5. Suzuki GSX-R 1000 - 2,947

France
1. Kawasaki Z750 - 7,160
2. Yamaha 600 Fazer/FZ6 - 6,474
3. Suzuki Bandit 650 - 5,475
4. Suzuki SV 650 - 3,420
5. Honda Hornet 600 - 2,687

Spain
1. Yamaha 600 Fazer/FZ6 - 5,421
2. Suzuki GSX-R 600 - 2,988
3. Honda CBR 600 RR - 2,893
4. Honda CBF 250 - 2,778
5. Suzuki Bandit 650 - 2,425

UK
1. Suzuki GSX-R 1000 - 2,534
2. Kawasaki ZX-6R - 2,213
3. Honda CBR 1000 RR - 2,083
4. BMW R1200GS - 1,980
5. Yamaha R1 - 1,936

Now, whilst four of the UK's top 5 being sportsbikes is probably a healthy thing, as far as I'm concerned, the level of sales that implies is pretty pathetic, isn't it?

Slightly perturbed by this, I went and had a look at the MCIA's web site and found December 2005's figures with the 2005 totals.

It looks as though Moto Journal had ignored total PTW sales, because Honda's learner-legal 125cc bike, the CBR 125R, was actually the year's top-seller with 2,738 unit sales.

Somewhat more disappointing for me is that Kawasaki only sold "approximately 150" ZRX1200Rs in the UK in 2005 whilst Triumph sold 757 Speed Triples.

2006 Bike Racing TV Coverage

2006-02-24T16:58:00.000Z

I'm really a little bit pissed off.

On the plus side, the BBC is to show live coverage of MotoGP this year. Excellent news.

Also on the plus side, ITV will be showing live coverage of the British Superbike series this year. Obviously they realised just how thrilling the racing was last year and decided to give the public something exciting to watch, rather than F1 processions {yawn}

On the minus side, there's the Superbike World Championships. Last year, Channel 4 decided to schedule its highlights show to a short slot in the wee small hours of the morning and then use up most of those slots with Warren "Interesting As A" Pole boring us to sleep. This year? I can't find any mention anywhere of any terrestrial TV coverage of World Superbikes. Arsebiscuits...

Braking Wave Discs

2006-02-19T20:16:00.000Z

I managed to acquire a set of front wave discs by Braking and fitted them the other evening.

They look the business, I reckon.

I've also fitted the fairing I got cheaply from eBay now that it's been resprayed the blue rather than its original red. I need to decide whether to get a set of decals for each side, but they're around �25 each!

Thumbnails are below, click them to see larger versions.

�

London Motorcycle Show

2006-01-28T20:36:00.000Z

So today I drove down with a mate (with the Bandit 1200) to the Alexandra Palace to have a look around the show. This was formerly the Road & Racing show or something similar but has evolved from being a trade show for bike racers to a mini-version of the main NEC November bike show (and that much further South too).

Disappointing to see that Kawasaki didn't see fit to have a ZRX on their stand. Triumph, on the other hand, had one of the quite amazingly wonderful Daytona 675 on theirs. It had a different saddle - presumably from their options list - and a seat cover for the pillion that added to its good looks and no doubt comfort too.

Very narrow-waisted, being a triple, but for such a small bike it was amazingly comfortable for a six-footer like me. I really, really want one for trackdays now.

The Blue Flame Perfomance stand also had a 675 on their stand fitted with their exhaust which appeared to have two stoppers for the outside exhaust holes held in place with circlips, presumably so you can remove them for more power and noise.

I ended up with a bargain: a pair of Bridgestone BT012SS tyres (like I already have fitted for fast road/trackday use) for �150. Cheapest online deal I can find is �185 and I usually pay over �200 for a set.

I also bought a rear brake line kit - BSR Aerotek braided hose and fittings - and as I walked away from the stand, there was a nagging doubt about it ... confirmed when I got home and discovered the same set sitting on the shelf in the garage!

The final purchase was a full-sized numberplate for the bike trailer to match the ST200's as I'll be towing with that this year, with a mention of the Motorcycle Prizes web site URL along the bottom.

Brands Hatch, 11 July 2005 - On-Board Footage

2006-01-13T11:04:00.000Z

If you want to see how slowly I was riding at Brands, here's the video, uploaded to Google Video.

Donington Park, 16 September 2005

2006-01-12T13:26:00.000Z

My first time ever at Donington but as the Fast group had been selling out and even had some reserves, I was riding in the Intermediates, aka the group most likely to crash (this is because - according to legend - it's the one where people too proud to book into Novices go and/or it's where the self-styled heroes go so they can beat all the slower riders). In truth, I'm better suited to the Inters. as I'm not as fast as I was and I ride a bike that's much, much heavier than the rest - imagine a sportsbike with a rider and pillion and that's about the right weight...

We don't allow laptiming at our trackdays, but one of the ZRXOC Team Phat Bastid Supporters Club contingent clocked me at under 1:37 for a lap.

Donington Park is now one of my favourite tracks as it's a lovely one to ride and not 'Mickey Mouse' like some others. Problem is, it's another 'premium' MSV-owned circuits so it's an expensive day, especially for a so-called Noisy day: despite being next to East Midlands Airport, the locals complain about bike noise, so there are normally noise restrictions in place.

That and they prohibit on-board videos, the buggers.

Photos in the usual place:
and

Mallory Park, 23 August 2005

2006-01-12T11:48:00.000Z

Monday

Back after our family hols. Mum drove up to collect the kids to take them off to hers for a couple of days via Banham Zoo. Hmm. Shouldn't "hers" be "her's"? Anyway. It rained bucketloads which made loading the Fester with bikey gear and then loading Blue Rex onto the trailer a tad worrying. Still, by mid-afternoon, I was ready to head off to Mallory and - shock! horror! - Mrs. Blue was coming with me!

The journey to the Royal Arms near to the track was a pain in the arse as some fecktard had decided to park his lorry on top of a car just past Thetford on the A11. We diverted into Thetford but found traffic queues, so did a U-ey and then went towards Brandon only to find that at a standstill, so did another U-ey (all with the bike and trailer, remember) and then decided to check the A11. The � hour peeing about had been enough time for the road to have re-opened so off we went.

Got to the M11/A14 bit at Cambridge and found that at a standstill {sigh} so diverted through Madingley onto the A428 before heading up the A1. The last section of the journey went fine and we arrived at the hotel by about 6-6.30pm to find a bunch of others sitting out with beers, so we joined them, drinking until we all went in for Dinner at 8.30pm.

One of our group was getting married so was treating Mallory as his stag do, so he bought �100 of champagne for us (to go with the cost of the hotel, the trackday, hiring the bike, etc.). It was his first trackday since shattering his elbow at Mallory three years or so ago. Hooooge meal and then to bed. Way too hot in the rheum so a fitful night's sleep.

Tuesday

Up at 6.00am to get ready and packed for breakfast at 7.00am and away to the track for 7.30am. Marvelous weather. Assembled the trackdayers for the briefing at 8.45am and onto the track for the first fast group session at 9.00am. One older rider highsided at the Devil's Elbow almost taking out his daughter's bloke who was about to overtake.

One or two more red-flagging incidents, then the big one.

Novices group, so should have been safe as houses. One bloke (who'd been at the Royal Arms the night before), loses the front end of his Ducati Monster at Edwinas. Aforementioned stag on the hired Honda SP1 drops it avoiding him and a third rider who's managed to stop. Fourth rider (also at the hotel) on an Aprilia Falco manages to stop too, but fifth rider (ditto) is approaching at a much quicker rate and cannot brake in time. His bike hits the Falco and then launches about 10 feet into the air taking Duncan with it and knocking the bike out from underneath the fourth rider. Red flags waved, both ambulances go out to collect Stag and Duncan. Duncan's wife just happened to be spectating at Edwinas and caught the whole thing on video...

Stag is brought to the track medical centre but is fine if very battered and bruised. Duncan is taken straight to Lecister Royal Infirmary leaving a distraught Janie behind. Hugs from me and Mrs. Blue help, apparently, before she drives off to the hospital. His bike is totalled but the marshals shove it into a pit garage and I drag his trailer in there.

Rest of the day goes OK and an incident-free journey home.

Photo here

Brands Hatch, 11 July 2005

2006-01-12T11:21:00.000Z

I still didn't trust Blue Rex's front tyre after the Mallory 'off', so a day at Brands on the Indy circuit which is quite short and twisty was probably not a good idea, especially as I would be in the Fast group...

Fast? I'd have been quicker pushing the bike around Clearways.

Photos here and here. Footage showing just how slow I was will be on Google Video shortly.

Catching Up

2006-01-12T11:08:00.000Z

Sorry, dear reader, for not updating this for a while. I'll try and catch up with everything soon.

Perceptions

2006-01-12T10:08:00.000Z

Tonight at 9.00pm on BBC1, there's another episode of the documentary "Traffic Cops" which tends to show lots of chases in "Police, Camera, Action" stylee.

What caught my eye in the TV Times was this summary:

"Meanwhile, officers on the motorway embark on a high-speed chase - pursuing a reckless motorcyclist who is in danger of causing an accident."

So I looked at DigiGuide, that says:

"On the motorway, the chase is on for the motorbike from hell."

Ditto with the RadioTimes online and the BBC's web site.

I see plenty of footage of people ridng like knobs but I am curious as to just how awful the riding will be to deserve these sorts of reviews.

We'll see.

Norfolk Eastern Lights Rideout

2005-07-31T23:56:00.000+01:00

They said:

One of Lowestoft's biggest fundraising events is coming to an end next weekend.
Motorcyclists will be revving up for the final time to complete the Eastern Lights Cavalcade to raise money for the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston. The event, which will take place on Sunday, July 31, has raised nearly �25,000 over the last four years for the accident and emergency department at the James Paget. This has helped to completely refurbish the relatives' room and buy a blood gas machine. Mr Howard said he would ideally like to raise more than �6000 this year, which would pay for two years upkeep of the blood gas machine. He said they were on the way to the best ever attendance with up to 1000 bikes booked but soaring insurance costs has urged the committee to call it a day and go out in style.

Daughter Amy and I were set to join Michael (Bandit 1200) and his son Chris and Tony (Z1000) and his wife Sally for the Norfolk Eastern Lights charity ride-out from the Norfolk Showground to Lowestoft to raise money for the A&E department at James Paget Hospital. I also arranged to meet another ZRX rider, Gregg, on the way.

Despite the weather forecasts, it had been raining overnight and there was still some drizzle in the air. Mrs Blue took son Jack over to Michael and Carole's house on her way to work. I went to get the bike out of the garage but found it locked ... with my house and garage keys inside. I jumped into the car and met Mrs Blue as she arrived for work to get her house keys. Then back home, got the bike and leathers out and we set off for petrol. I decided to see if Gregg had made it to the rendezvous early - which he had - so we collected him and Chad on a FireBlade and went to Michael's house to wait for Tony to arrive.

Then off to the start point, handed over our �8 on the gate and waited in some light drizzle for the off. At midday, the convoy rolled out. Limited to 'just' 1000 bikes, we all pulled out into the road which was blocked off my police bikers. They did the same at the roundabout over the A47 and as we rode down onto the southern bypass, I saw that the police had closed it for the bikes to have to themselves. We rode on in convoy with police outriders all the way to Great Yarmouth and from there to Lowestoft. The roads, laybys and bridges were packed with people waving and filming. Amy was amazed and said she felt like a celebrity.We got parked up in a special area at Lowestoft seafront and wandered off for lunch. Met up with another ZRXOC member who's currently got no Tinterweb and so hadn't realised we'd be coming along.

Then we decided to take the long way home, so we headed south down the A12 towards Leiston before turning off towards Stowmarket and taking the back roads back to Michael's. Some spirited riding and a dice with an Aston Martin DB7. Amy got airborne over one small rise despite my keeping our speed below 100mph for most of the time, anyway.

Back in time for tea.

Marvellous. Amy is definitely teh biker chick.

Cadwell Trackday, 9 June 2005

2005-06-21T20:32:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know it's been a while since the trackday itself, but I've been waiting to get hold of the photos.

We stayed overnight the night before at the ~~Admiral Horny, Rodcastle~~ Admiral Rodney, Horncastle which was very pleasant and well priced. I passed around my copy of the Motorcycle News as I was sort of featured in it in an article on the Kawasaki ZRX1200R.

On the day itself, I drove up to the circuit at around 7.30am to get myself in place to help out with signing on before handing out wristbands and getting changed into my new leathers. During the briefing, Geoff singled me out as someone to avoid following my 'off' at Mallory.

For the first time, I was due to be in the Fast Group along with the racers and track bikes on slick tyres. But you know what? It was much better there than in the Intermediates as the Fast Group (me notwithstanding) know what they're doing and overtake safely. Marvellous!

I've uploaded some video footage: most of one fast group session is here (11 minutes, 41MB WMV file).

What's that? The photos? Oh, if you insist:

Click on the photo to go to two larger versions.

All in all, it was great fun and the weather was superb.

More Photos

2005-06-07T15:07:00.000+01:00

Control youselves!

Yes, it's Captain Blue in his new riding gear! w00t!
Just got back
Hiding behind the visor

New Gloves!

2005-06-05T12:01:00.000+01:00

So John at the Motorcycle Clothing Centre rang me this morning to tell me that my Richa GP Race Gloves had arrived.

These are Richa's top of the range sports glove "featuring Kangaroo leather to palm and fingers for extra protection. Carbon protectors to knuckles, fingers, wrists and palm. Vented leather section. Double wrist closure."

Fresh from the packet, they fit like, erm, a glove and are soooo comfortable. They look as though they'll do an even better job than my old Richa gloves did if I have another off.

New Helmet!

2005-06-03T17:05:00.000+01:00

Well good to their word (and for an extra tenner) Lings at Lowestoft delivered my Arai RX7 Corsair in Sport Blue like this one:

At least my head's not big: this was a Medium shell like last time.

It also came with a free cleaning kit, Arai baseball cap, lanyard, water bottle and a voucher to swap for a cool bag and seat combination as I bought it from an Arai 5 Star Centre.

Marvellous!

New Boots (no, no new panties)

2005-06-03T16:48:00.000+01:00

It seems that my replacement Oxtar TCS Evo boots are not to be: despite ordering them well over a week ago, there aren't any in the country still in my size - I'm a 43 euro normally and I was in the Oxtars these were replacing, but the slightly different toe slider arrangement seemed to mean that the inisde of the boot was smaller, so I'd ordered a 44 instead.

So as the thought of trying to do next week's Cadwell trackday in trainers was too scary and - dahling - I couldn't possibly wear red boots with blue leathers, I bought some slightly cheaper Gaerne G-RS boots as worne by WSB rider Chris Vermeulen and other top flight riders:

These also have the added benefit of coming with spare plastic toe sliders for tracks where the owners don't like titanium ones.

New Nessies

2005-06-01T17:40:00.000+01:00

So the nice man from UPS arrived this afternoon with my new Arlen Ness 1790 two-piece leathers like these ones:

That's the proper colour, but for an idea of how the suit looks from the back, this is pretty good (if slightly off, colour-wise):

Only downside with the new ones is that there's no external pockets like there were on the old ones. Old, haha, I mean the ones I got in January.

Oh and the Euro 56 size I got maps to XXL it seems...