I’m pretty certain that when I bought my bike in April 2011 he was silver. Yep I’m pretty certain that was supposed to be his colour 🙂 Which is why I found myself looking with dismay at him just before we got our latest dumping of snow. I know that when I picked him up from the show room he was immaculate. I also recall that I have washed him at least once as that involved messing about with a greasy rear wheel from an over-active Scottoiler. Yet that doesn’t explain why Silvano looks like I’ve been throwing mud at him or worse still – using him as fly paper! (Looking around at the bikes about I can see I’m not the only one which is why I’m polling opinion – see the end of the post to take part 😛 )
When I had my Fazer I was rather pedantic about chucking a bucket of water over him on a regular basis, lots of soap and plenty of degreasing the chain before spraying it again. I always finished up with a healthy spray down of ACF50 – that wondrous spray for stopping aeroplanes rusting! It certainly explains why after four years of riding all year round the bike was only just starting to show signs of corrosion.
Yet my beloved Silvano has been left to his own devices! It’s not that I don’t love my bike – it’s more a case that with the full fairing on I just don’t see the dirt and whatnot building up 😉 It made me wonder just how often bikes do get washed properly. Upon asking a few mates I was met with everything from blank stares “wash the bike? why would I do that?” to ” a clean bike goes faster!!”.
Yeah and I’m Valentino Rossi! To be fair I do remember my CBT teacher telling me it was easier to spot a fault if the bike was clean as you weren’t trying to peer through inches of dirt.
I’ve decided that my beloved Silvano is in need of specialist care (ok I just want an easy way out!) and am having him professionally cleaned and then misted with ACF50 by All Year Biker! I’ll let you know how we get on. In the meantime, here’s a poll – why not take part and share your thoughts on how often you get all scrubbed up … or not.
OK I admit it – there is at least one thing I am not that great at! Yes I know, it’s a real shock, but the truth is that I just cannot sing! – “What the hell has that to do with two wheels?” I hear you ask. Well anyone who’s been on the back of a bike for more than an hour will probably agree that at some point you get a bit bored… the mind wanders…. you begin to talk to yourself – and if the journey’s really boring or you’re cold and miserable, you may even start to sing to cheer yourself up.
Hmm does any of that sound familiar lol? Well I can only take so much of my own high pitched warblings and for my sanity use my Ipod on my bike. I’ve always used ear plugs since hearing on CBT all those years ago about the dangers of going deaf or worse still tinnitus developing in my old age!
At first I had those soft squidgy plug things that always seemed to pop out of place if I even yawned and definitely came out when I pulled my helmet off. Then I moved onto in-the-ear head phones from various websites including ones you cut down to fit your own ears. These were a disaster as I have never felt anything so painful – if I ever get round to remembering where they were from I will be sure to let you know.
Ear plugs complete with lead for mp3
Fortunately I was introduced to the wonders of custom made ear plugs from Ultimate Ear by someone who had bought them to sleep at night as her son snored the house down! On researching their product they also did various products for bikers including my beloved ones for using mp3 players.
Ok they are not cheap – the bikers squidgy starts at £59 and a whopping £170 for those who want audio on the go. But the amount of miles I do on my bike, coupled with the cost of constantly trying to find a good alternative made these bad boys a no brainer! And let’s face it – if you enjoy biking that much, and believe in good quality kit for your body and your head, then surely it makes just as much sense to take care of your ears 🙂 There’s lots of science stuff on their web page to explain sound ratings!
Something for the weekend!
I am on my second set of them since I managed to stand on one in my heavy motorcycle boots and this was shortly after zipping the cord up into my jacket and shredding it. AND I had also noticed that one wasn’t fitting quite right after I had a whopper of an ear infection about four years after they were made that seemed to change the way my ear was shaped. Fortunately Ultimate Ear continually evolves their product and has introduced kevlar into their cords so that it has a lot more protection. They also recommend that you get new ear plug moulds made if it’s more than three years I think. Anyone who knows me has probably heard me rave on about how good this product is and, in my opinion, definitely money well spent 🙂
Now there are two schools of thought regarding ear plugs with access to music. One is that shock horror – they are a distraction and you can’t possibly be concentrating on the road. The other is that they are an excellent asset adding to your relaxation, help to pass the journey – oh and those of us who use them don’t tend to be stupid enough to have them up so loud they can’t hear the traffic, sirens or even the engine going tits up!
I’m amazed at the people who have seen fit to lecture me about using ear plugs, let alone ones with music – da da dah😨!! Get with the times people is my response. After all what the hell are gadgets like Autocom, StarCom, or even blue tooth systems for? Hmm let’s think about that one – rider to rider or rider to pillion conversations, listening to directions from the satnav, music from the radio or an mp3 player and even responding to a phonecall! (Personally I don’t answer my phone on the bike, but that’s more to do with the fact that I just don’t like using phones in or on moving vehicles.)
Of course it behoves one to ensure that one’s choice of listening material is appropriate to one’s style of riding 🙂 I do find a little rock and roll can have an effect on the throttle lol! Just as well I tend to go for ballads and easy listening ;-). I do recall being stopped by an officer of the law when filtering past a line of solid traffic – and a solid white line!😱 He did point out that I wasn’t going to get in trouble because I was doing it very smoothly, very slowly and in control of my bike. The kind man then asked me what I was listening to … and with complete honesty I replied “A bit like my riding Officer. It’s Whitney Houston with ‘It’s not right but it’s ok’ !” I do recall he was chuckling as he sent me on my way 😂
Ride safe
(September 2023 – the above post was written many moons ago and I’m still a fan of Ultimate Ear. I’m just about to get my fourth pair so I’ll update on them when I get them sorted. – Prendy.)
HOORAH! I am back – did you miss me? As you’ve probably realised it’s been a fair while since I last regaled you with my exploits. And no – I have not been incommunicado due to any bike accidents! I’ve just not had any time due to personal issues. I’m still not quite with it (when am I ever!!) but thought it was about time I got back to the keyboard 🙂
Not actually been biking too much as been busy for the afore-mentioned reasons but was surprised to find I racked up 4,000 miles enjoying the new man in my life :-P. In the first four months that we’ve been together, Silvano, my newest love, has turned out to be pure joy – I haven’t stopped grinning since we finally clicked. Mind you it took 2,000 miles for me to get my act together and he’s to be commended on his patience and coping with things like me dropping him….twice lol!
So what have I been up to? Well recently it involved a road, four wheels instead of my usual two, not quite being on the ball and a camera! Need I say more? The long and the short of it was I was offered an AA Speed Awareness course for which I had to pay the princely sum of £95 in return for four hours and no points. Bargain and I was frankly relieved to be offered it!
Smile – you’re on camera!
I’m mentioning the course here (despite it being brought about by car rather than bike) because it opened my eyes to some startling facts that I thought I’d pass on – hope I’ve remembered them correctly!:
If you run into an adult at just 32mph in a 30mph zone the impact will be enough to break their legs – (pray you don’t hit a small child at what seems a teenie speed increase as their major internal organs, or heads, are obviously a lot lower!)
If you run into anyone at 40mph in a 30mph you will probably leave them brain-damaged.
More people are killed or injured on small country roads than the motorway.
If you are travelling along a minor road in the late evening or early morning, come off and land in a ditch, you are more likely to die of your injuries simply because no one will find you till there is more traffic about!
If you fall asleep at the wheel and kill someone you can now face around 14 years in prison for what is effectively manslaughter.
Last but not least – secure things in the boot of your car and keep those rear passenger seat belts belted up even if no one is using them. Items in the boot can become missiles, break through and cause you serious injury or death.
So here’s hoping I can stay out of trouble – and now that the clocks have gone back, that half awake numpty car drivers can think about something more than rushing home for a can of Stella and avoid endangering me and my biker mates! (mini rant over!!)
Whilst that’s the slogan Sainsbury’s likes to use to persuade shoppers to enter their doors and part with their cash for products allegedly guaranteed to tickle their tastebuds – frankly now that I am car-less, and since it was closer than Tesco’s, am more interested in whether or not I could indeed try something new and fit my shopping onto the bike……. 😛
Whilst bling may be king, I was lucky enough to find a bike that had many accessories already attached such as panniers, a Scottoiler and R&G crash bungs – and I solemnly promised myself that I would only add what I considered necessary to survival or comfort – which frankly tends to be one and the same thing to me 🙂 Fast forward and I now have a top box (52 litres) and an air horn 😛
Have bike – will shop! (might need stabilizers though!!)Let’s get that all on board!
One weekly shop later – and ninety quid lighter (doesn’t go far these days does it lol!) and I had filled each pannier and the top box. And was rather pleased that I hadn’t had to strap anything to the seat either.
Of course it made for an interesting ride home! Turning right at T-junctions was rather hazardous to my balance and I certainly was more cautious with the braking. I don’t ride with pillions so have never had to deal with excess weight on the bike – for those of you who know me, no comments please about my own weight or the size of my overnight bags thank you very much 🙂
So what did I learn? Well the Sprint is built like a workhorse and admirably up to the task of lugging my gear about (it’s just me as a lightweight rider that has the difficulties!!). The panniers are fitted with excellent elasticated hold straps to keep your gear from falling out when you open them. They are also deep enough to hold a full size helmet, whilst the top box by GIVI is pure genius!
Having previously considered a 46 litre top box on my FZ6s to be ideal, I was concerned that anything larger would dwarf this bike, be subject to a wind tunnel effect and upset its handling, particularly as the sportier position means the box is more exposed without my body blocking it. I needn’t have worried – I never even noticed the thing! And it’s proving the best item for the bike as it’s large enough for helmet, gloves, locks, spare visor, waterproofs, hairbrush, cuddly toy and anything else I suddenly think I might need on a trip out. With this box there’s no need for the panniers as well which is even better as it makes filtering a breeze 🙂
Incidentally my thanks must go to Mark, at Flitwick Motorcycles, who stood around for 20 mins acting as a hand model, holding the different sized boxes (46, 52 and 55 litres) onto the back of my back so that I could view them in situ and analyse their aesthetic value! How’s that for service!
I did make it home safely but frankly I’ve also have learnt that if I can’t beg, borrow or “steal” a four wheeled vehicle from family, friends, or even complete strangers! that three bottles of wine, a ton of cat food and all the rest of the paraphernalia that I consider necessary to tempt my palate are best purchased through a store’s home delivery service 😉
In my last post I was wishing for rain to try out my Michelin Pilot Road 3s – well as if made to order, the heavens opened up a day later and the rain came forth 🙂
As it was a day when I abserlootley needed to use the bike as it was booked in for my air horn, I wrapped up in wet weather gear and a tad nervously but also excitedly ventured out. First it was off to Luton’s High Town with a mix of roadworks, manhole covers, mini roundabouts, potholes and lots of lovely painted wet road signs. Silvano (my Triumph Sprint ST 955i) on his new tyres made light work – in fact it was as if running on air in the nicest possible way! Getting round corners wasn’t remotely hard work on the wrists and counter steering was a breeze. Never mind the Road Pilots – this was just the effect of round rather than square tyres 😛
With the rain steadily pounding down I was careful not to push too hard as there were literally streams of water going diagonally across my path and man-hole covers were being pushed up by the volume of water! However when I hit the Thorn turn (between Toddington and Leighton Buzzard) I definitely had a big grin on my face as I took the s-bend with ease – hoorah!
As I pulled up to Flitwick Motorcycles, I was unimpressed to see the rain stop and the sun come out – and realise that for the first time in six years my waterproof Daytona M-Star boots had let me down – urgh wet toes are not cool 😦 AND two fingers of my left hand were distinctly damp. Having said that the Halvarssons gloves are at least three years old and, like the boots, have kept me dry in the most horrendous of rain storms. We’ve also racked up about 45,000 miles on the boots and about 30,000 on the gloves so I think I’ve had my moneys worth. Will have to look into replacing or repairing and will let you know how I get on with that!
Yep – I definitely looked just as bad!
Since I have no wish to show any pics of me looking less than fab here’s something else to laugh at 🙂
Anyways back to the biking – once the air horn was fitted I decided it was time to play again! With water all over the place but no extra chucking it down I wanted to see if the Road Pilots would engender confidence or confusion.
Taking the twisty back road from Flitwick to Westoning I went into those corners without a hiccup – then a water and gravel strewn hill to Barton – and again, whilst avoiding the gravel, those new boots on my baby stuck to the road like glue 🙂 That new technology seems to work a treat but Michelin explains it so much better!
Nice n Grippy boots for my baby!
Incidentally I may finally have solved a little bit of a problem I’ve been experiencing with my braking. At times I’ve been concerned by how light this bike can feel under hard braking – as if the back wheel hasn’t got the weight of the bike on it. A quick discussion with some older biking mates gave me a solution. Back in the day, when they were taught and I was just a twinkle in my mum’s eye!, they were always told “use your back brake first to settle your bike then pour on the front”. Whereas in my day the back comes on at the last moment when less front is needed.
I guess it’s also a case of different bikes different circumstances as the Fazer didn’t really have this issue. So on the way home I tried it several times – t’was indeed an EUREKA moment 🙂 and Silvano is nicely settled and driving to a halt each time rather than a back tyre developing a new relationship with air!!
So all in all a good day indeed to test out the new tyres, and also find out that my waterproof kit isn’t so waterproof 😉
A bird's eye view to biking! 