This blog tells my story as a biker in London, from learning to ride to now a seasoned city commuter and lover of motorcycle adventures further afield.
Read and watch videos about the lessons I’ve learnt, tips I’ve picked up, reviews of my kit and stories of amazing rides around the globe.
It was a busy year for me in 2019 with numerous biking trips and adventures around the globe. Below is a short video of the key highlights from the past year, do enjoy!
Have you had similar interesting adventures in the past? Do you have any exciting plans for the coming year? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.
I think I’m almost as passionate about Scotland as I am about motorcycles, scotch and good coffee (which means it’s significant). I first travelled to Scotland in 2017 for our NC500 Adventure. I fell in love with the scenery, the roads and the people. I knew I would be heading back.
In August 2019 I set off on tour to explore the West Coast of Scotland and, more importantly, the Isle of Mull and the Isle of Skye. I decided to call this adventure the “Western Isles Tour”. Now, I must put my hand up and admit that I have made a mistake. I have been advised by several followers that the Isle of Mull and Skye are not part of the Western Isles. Please accept my apologies for this error! (But to me, Mull and Skye were the Western Isles, for this adventure at least!)
The tour itself took place over five days and was designed to take in key parts of the Scottish Highlands, the West coast as well as the Isles of Mull and Skye. In total, the adventure covered over 1,300 miles, starting and ending in Manchester. AKA Team Mapped Base Camp. Although, the true start point is Loch Lomond.
It’s well documented that riding a motorbike can bring a huge sense of freedom and when you tour solo for longer distances over many days this feeling is even greater. For a beginner, that first big solo motorcycle trip can be quite daunting, raising many what-if questions – what if I break down? what if I get lost? Some people are just more naturally confident, whilst others are less so, worry more and find the idea of riding out into the unknown uneasy.
If you’ve not travelled long distance by bike solo before and are somewhat nervous of the proposition, but do what to overcome this fear and explore, then read on. This article will hopefully give you some tips to beat those fears and plan for a trouble free motorcycle tour.
Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.
James Dean
On my old Fazer I had installed a Stebel Nautilus air horn, a super loud horn that saved my bacon on a number of occasions on my daily commute into London. As such I was keen to install similar on my new FZ6, but with the Stebel horns less readily available in the UK I came across the Denali SoundBomb. On first glance it appears to be a spitting image of the Stebel horn and priced similarly at £40.
With the horn being such a large lump, mounting needed some thought as the FZ6 stock horn is mounted between the forks and there are no handy mounting points on the sides under the fairing. Denali sell a number of specific bike and generic crash bar mounting brackets, but unfortunately nowt suitable for the FZ6. Denali offer a ‘split’ version of the SoundBomb which separates the two halves of the air horn, thus allowing the compressor and horn elements to be mounted individually. A supplied thick heat resistant hose then connects the two halves. As with other large horns the compressor should be wired to the stock horn via a relay due to it’s 20A power draw. i.e. the stock horn wire triggers the compressor via a relay, to power it direct from battery on its own fused line.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
We’ve had many biking adventures over the past year, trail riding, track day, trips to Australia, California and the French Ardennes; plenty to takes one’s mind off the current political climate… One of the years last jolly’s was the annual Ace Cafe Toy Run, a charity event to deliver toys and gifts to sick children in London hospitals. A fun day with dressed up and decked out bikes.
I hope your 2019 has been filled with adventure and fun riding. What has been your biking highlights this year?
“put out the lights on the Age of Reason.”
– Here Comes the War, New Model Army
When we first picked up Mary’s Honda CBF500 it was clear it hadn’t always stayed rubber side down. It had various bits of cosmetic damage, which I have progressively fixed up as parts crop up cheap. One of the last items to address was the speedo tachometer case which had a few cracks and was taped up. Genuine Honda parts are expensive (£300+), second hand clocks aren’t cheap (£100-150 odd) and are often missing mounting lugs too. So, when I spotted a cheap Chinese replicate instrument case for £25, I was of course intrigued and figured it had to be worth a punt.
My planned trip to California to rent a Yamaha Super Ténéré from Eagle Rider and head inland to take on Yosemite National Park all went to plan without hitch. The weather was perfect, the snow stayed away and the Tiago Pass stayed open. Experiencing Yosemite off season at the end of October and riding the Tiago Pass on a weekday was probably a shrewd move to avoid the crowds and ride the roads at their quietest to enjoy the stunning scenery at it’s best. Below are some video highlights from my trip through Yosemite.
Read about my trip planning shenanigans that went into this mini adventure here. The second half of my mini tour took in Lake Tahoe and a return to San Francisco via Sacramento. Watch this space for highlights on this leg.
