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Gear Reviews

Raleri Visor Inserts Review – FogStop and Photochromatic PCShade

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The Raleri PCShade FogStop

If you’ve ridden in the cold or wet you will know full well how big an issue a steamed up visor is. A whole cottage industry has grown up around this issue, with the Raleri FogStop being one such solution. Raleri kindly sent some of their products in for review, but I shall endeavour to keep this review honest. The FogStop works in a similar fashion to the popular Pinlock, in that it’s a secondary internal visor providing a double glazed setup to prevent your breath condensing on the cold exterior visor. I’m going to compare against the Pinlock a lot, as it does cover a huge chunk of market and is more commonly available and known. The FogStop inserts fundamentally differs in that no specialist visor with specific pins is required, it simply has adhesive edging to stick straight onto the visor. Great if your visor isn’t Pinlock ready or isn’t available for your lid (e.g. my Bell M3R). Oh and the FogStop is cheaper too.

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Not really a yellow tint, just the protective film!
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Gear Reviews

Schuberth S2 Helmet Review

Schuberth-S2-Helmet-1I commute into London every day all year round, so when it comes to helmets I need something that didn’t just look good but also practical. Spurred by previous helmets being noisy, leaking rain, lacking Pinlock and other annoying niggles, I decided to splurge out on a premium lid. I was drawn to Schuberth due to their rep for being good quality and really quiet as being big into my music, hi-fi and home cinema I was keen to keep my hearing in good shape. I also wanted a design that would stand out and help me be seen on the road. Helmet City had a number of Schuberth lids heavily reduced last Autumn (~£200 off!), so I just had to check them out.

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Courses/Tuition

IAM Skills For Life – Machine Control Day

For my birthday my lovely wife signed me up for the IAM Skills For Life course, something I’ve wanted to do for a while which should really help improve my riding. On Sunday I attended the first day of the course – the machine control day. Out on North Weald airfield I was practising some key riding skills; low speed riding, balance, emergency stop, counter steering and so forth.

The riding was not easy, but really useful to practice in a safe environment off the road and quickly highlighting some bad habits I’ve fallen into (in particular how I cover my front brake). There were loads of IAM observers on hand to help, give encouragement and ask the right questions to aid us pinpointing our own mistakes.

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Videos

Sixth Sense Skills 16

A full review of that Nautilus Stebel horn can be found here.

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News

Ushering in 2015

And there we have it, another new year and a year older, possibly a little wiser too. The tail end of 2014 was insanely hectic for me with my day job sending me out to Gothenburg  and Boston, followed by a mad Christmas break visiting all our family in Shropshire and North Wales. It has been good to be back in London and back on the bike. It’s funny how some time away from two wheels leaves you hankering and longing, but once riding again at first you feel awkward, slightly nervous  and rusty. It’s taken a couple of days to relax and get reacclimatised, but it’s good to be back.

I suppose I should have some New Year resolutions and plans, so here we go:

  1. Do my IAM. My lovely wife treated me to their Skills For Life course (starting Sunday), which I’m looking forward to and hope to complete this year.
  2. Update my YouTube channel. Life has been so busy lately, I’ve done little video editing, however I have some plans for a new video series in the pipeline.
  3. Bike maintenance wise, I hope to give the Fazer’s forks a good service and swap on some braided brake lines. I also have some yellow wrap for the headlights which I’d like to try out for the dark nights.
  4. Fingers crossed, I’d like to resolve my incident from September 2013, which is due to go to court at some point.
  5. Lastly, it would be great to get my wife another bike. Hopefully she’ll complete her PhD and get a job, so finances can resolve this.

Happy New Year to you all – ride safe!

Categories
Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Forcefield Back Protectors Review, Armour Insert for Rukka Jackets

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Armour Inserts: Left, Forcefield 009; Right, Rukka RVP.

If like me, you have a Rukka jacket with a back armour insert that’s worse for wear, then you’ll be interested in this replacement from Forcefield. Well known for their quality armour products, Forcefield has a range of armour inserts in many different shapes for all manner of jackets. For Rukka back protector owners you need the 009 model, which as you can see above is a like-for-like replacement. Well, not completely, the 009 insert is slightly thicker than the original Rukka RVP insert and is CE Level 2 certified to afford greater protection.

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Gear Reviews

Oxford Aquatex Bike Rain Cover Mini Review

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If you’re not lucky enough to have a warm dry garage, then you have a choice of leaving your bike to face the elements or you use a cover like this. I managed to blag this Oxford Aquatex cover in a recent competition from Helmet City, but it’s readily available for about £20.

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Categories
Riding

Ace Cafe Toy Run December 2014

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Ready to deliver toys

It’s Christmas! – screamed Slade. For bikers up and down the country that means Toy Runs. Not just any old excuse for a ride out, but a chance to dress up, decorate the bike and most importantly take some toys to kids stuck in hospital this Christmas. On Sunday I joined the Ace Cafe Toy Run, which visited the children’s wing of St. Mary’s in Paddington, Royal Brompton in Chelsea and the Evelina Children’s Hospital in Westminster.

I took my 8 year old daughter along with me, who was super excited and had wrapped our presents days in advance. The weather held out well, just a spot chilly in the morning and we finished off with bacon sarnies and complementary drinks back at the Ace. Here’s some snaps from the day, most taken by my daughter!

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Alpinestars P1 Sport Touring Drystar Trousers Review

Alpinestars-Drystar-P1-trousers-frontAs summer comes to a close and winter approaches, the prospect of wet riding days looms with a damp inevitability. I was fed up with my waterproof over-trousers that were no longer waterproof,  and a hassle to put on, as well as causing me to slip around on the seat and more importantly, look pretty naff. Definitely time for some new textile gear. Being a cheapskate, I hit eBay and found these Alpinestars P1  Sport Touring Drystar trousers brand new for £100. They’re not current, but the Drystar range is still going strong and well regarded.

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Categories
Courses/Tuition

IAM Taster Session

IAM-Taster-RideThis weekend I attended a taster session with the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) and a freebie too! I’ve been toying with the idea of doing their Skills For Life course for a while, to try and learn a bit more. So when the offer of a free taster session popped up, I jumped at the chance.

I was put in touch with a Observer from the local IAM group (ELAM), with whom I arranged a short ride out. After a quick natter on what I wanted to get from the session, we hit the road, with my observer following and keeping his beady eye on me. We had a couple of stops on route to natter more, before a final debrief at the end.

All in all, I found it really useful with a number of key things highlighted that I need to work on. Some bad habits and some from inexperience. Either way, it was pretty clear I’ve got a lot to work on and that’s the crux of it is, we should never stop learning.

I shall definitely be signing up for the full course in the near future. Especially as there’s a discounted rate for the time being.