Stumbled across this excellent riding video that brought a smile to my face. For anyone who spends most of their time filtering through the city, this is for you.
Cleaned and Polished, Made Good Damage
Finally got round to giving the bike a damned good clean and polish. Tried to make good damage recently sustained in crash. It’s not too bad, but the belly pan and crash mushrooms look a right mess.
Still awaiting outcome from insurance, other party is contesting liability. Recently submitted by account of incident, photos and diagrams, but still playing the waiting game.
Bust Zip on Hein Gericke Jacket
Dammit. Just broken the zip on my Hein Gericke jacket. This is the waterproof inside pocket. No idea what happened, just zipped it up, then found my keys falling out. Not good, expected better really, jacket is only 9 months old.
Might see if I can take back, however I’m not sure I still have the receipt. Not that you should need one for faulty goods. Otherwise I’ll shall gave to look into getting it repaired.
First Time Pillion Rider
Yesterday I took my sister-in-law pillion on the bike, the first time she has ever been on a motorcycle. Kitted out in a mixture of my spare leathers and my wife’s gear, I gave her a lift back home to Islington.
Lovely sunny weather, just cleaned, polished the bike and a great day to ride out through the quiet-ish city streets. She was a little scared and apprehensive at first, but soon got the hang of it and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.
Was a great ride, except for when I mashed the gears trying to pull away in 2nd or 3rd, stalling lots and struggling to find first. Doh!
Public Transport Strike, Missing Bike
I’m currently working on site for a company in Heidelberg (about 1 hour south of Frankfurt), however there’s been a local public transport strike, both limiting my options and causing huge waits for taxis. The client is situated on top of a big hill a couple of miles out of town, in the middle of some lovely countryside and has some great bendy roads and hairpins on route.
Really missing my bike right now. It would be so handy to get about and so much fun on the roads over here. But alas it sat at home 500 miles away.
London Biker Borough Market Meetup
Just back from a good meet up at Borough Market with the London Biker forum bunch. Great turn out, lots of bikes (only half in photo above), of all shapes, sizes and ages. Good friendly banter, but cut a little short due to rain. Can’t believe I’ve not made it before as I only work 5 mins around corner.
Here Comes The Sun
At last, it looks like we might be getting over this long winter that has dragged on far too long. First ride into work of the year without thermals on, heated gloves off and shades on!
To be fair, yesterday was also fairly warm, didn’t really need heated gloves on, but I left them on lowest setting. I must be turning into a nesh Southern pansy. 🙂 Could be time to swap to my summer gloves.
Bike desperately needs a nice wash and polish, however I’m still waiting for damage and insurance claim to be resolved. At least the other insurance company is starting to get their act together. Just had a visit from their engineer to assess the damage and push the claim forwards a bit. Fingers crossed it will be all sorted soon. However it’s looking likely it will be written off, but I have been advised to buy back the bike cheap and repair it myself on the cheap.
Delays on My Commute Home
There were long delays on my commute home today. I ask you, who brings a yacht up the Thames into central London and gets Tower Bridge to make an unscheduled opening at rush hour?! It wasn’t even a posh or expensive looking yacht, nor very fast!
That said, sat on Tower Bridge on a warm Spring afternoon, Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, Dome to my right, and to my left I can see the Shard, HMS Belfast, City Hall, Tower of London, St Pauls, the nearly complete ‘Walky-Talky’ building, and in the distance, BT Tower, the Eye and Big Ben. London is a mental place to live and work in, crazy, busy, total bedlam, but there are moments when you stop and take in all amazing history and breathtaking sights. Over 15 million people each year, travelling from around the world to visit London, the city I call home.
Repair Quote
Eeek! Just got repair quote to get bike all sorted. Come to just over £1600! Mostly a replacement front cowling. They did however factor in a new Givi top box as it was scratched. Sure a lot of it is just fixing cosmetic damage and not essential to run the bike, but the claim is to return the bike to its previous condition.
However at that price, I suspect the insurance will want to write off the bike… Not what I need. 🙁
Car Pulled Out On Me
The other night on the way home from work I had an off. Thankfully at very low speed and just a slight clip, so no injuries or serious damage.
I was approaching a red light junction with two lanes to turn right. The first of these had two stationary cars, the second was clear. So I took the second clear lane and prepared to pull up at lights. However a car on the left suddenly pulls out into the second lane, causing me to swerve, just touching his car and come off.
Bike now has some cosmetic damage, cracked and scuffed faring and a crumpled bust belly pan. Indicator was bashed in, but thankfully has a rubber mount, so just clipped in. Bike still rides fine, just looks a mess.
However, the other party was very reluctant to exchange insurance details. Firstly, he promptly moved his car around the corner away from the traffic, then insisted he wasn’t to blame and as there was no damage to his car, there was no need to pass on his details. What a wanker. In the end, it wasn’t until I started calling the police did he dig out his insurance details. He did eventually concede he changed lanes without indicating and ‘just didn’t see me’ – didn’t check his blind spot. He has a big scuff mark in the dirt on his door, where I clipped him (which I photographed)
Insurance claim is under way, just hoping the other chap doesn’t spout some bullshit to his insurance firm and leave me to fight this one out. Going to try put off any repairs and costs from the insurance until blame has been assigned, I don’t want to be left out of pocket if the other chap is an arse.