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News

New ELAM Website Launched

As well as working on this blog, I am involved with the East London Advanced Motorcyclist (ELAM) group and over the last few months have been revamping their website. That’s my excuse for the somewhat sporadic updates to on this blog recently.

The group’s old site was pretty dated, but was WordPress based so plain sailing to update with a theme change. Fresh photos were sourced and page layouts reworked make things more engaging. Whether the IAM is something you’ve considered or not, take a look, any feedback would be much appreciated.

Categories
Riding

Happy Christmas!

Christmas wishes and Happy New Year to you all!

I trust you all had a good year and are now putting your boots up and enjoying a well earning Christmas break. Weather, man-flu and busy work deadlines this last month have preventing me updating here as much as I would have liked. However, I did manage a great day at the Ace Cafe Toy Run with my daughter. No matter how crappy things seem to be going at times, it’s generally just first world problems and we can be glad of our health. Don’t forget those in worse plights or very ill.

Happy Christmas!

 

Categories
Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Dainese Clutch Evo D-Dry Unisex Gloves Review

Small hands? Check. Get pretty cold in the winter? Check. I would love to have heated gloves- but the pennies don’t stretch that far at the moment. So to keep the winter chill at bay I use these Dianese Clutch Evo D-Dry gloves in combination with heated grips.

I have had these gloves for about 18 months now- I purchased them in February 2016 at the Excel Bike Show. They have been through all the weather the sky can chuck at them- snow, gales, sun, heavy rain, drizzle, hail. They are a good quality short glove and are well insulated against the cold. For those of us who have shorter arms and struggle to find longer gloves to fit, these gloves fit well with jacket sleeves that tend to be longer than they should be. In the frost and snow my fingers can feel a bit cold but putting some Merino wool glove liners in can help and the heated grips keep off the chill.

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Categories
Gear Reviews

Comparison of Anti-Fog/Mist Solutions to Stop Glasses Fogging Up

As a glasses wearer, I’ve always struggled with my glasses fogging up/ steaming up on cold days. Whereas as my visor stays clear through the use of a Pinlock, there is no obvious solution for glasses, just a multitude of products to squirt on that claim to stop all misting up. But do they really work? In the name of science, I conducted a mini-experiment to compare some popular products to ascertain which were most effective. These best solutions here should also be equally useful to stop visor steaming up too.

The Experiment

I used a number of old pairs of glasses, which I first cleaned and then applied the various products as per their directions. As a control, one pair was left untreated. I then placed the glasses in the fridge to cool to 5℃, to mimic a ride on a cool winter’s day. First I took the glasses out into the kitchen with a humidity reading of 55%, to see how the lenses misted up (or not). Secondly, I repeated by taking the glasses from the fridge to the hot shower room with a humidity reading of 60% to test a more extreme scenario.

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Categories
Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Richa Nomad Waterproof Unisex Boots Review

Being Wide of Calf, buying new boots that fit me is generally a pain in the arse. I am also very short so I usually have the added complication of longer boots impeding my knees. I had heard good things about the Richa Nomad boots and with winter approaching I needed some new waterproof boots to replace my Furygan boots. For £80, they are a good value boot and I decided to give them a go.

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Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

EDZ Ladies Merino Wool Base Layers Review

EDZ Merino Wool Base Layers - Long Sleeve TopWhen a girl asks her partner for some underwear for Christmas, most would have in mind a nice bra, some matching knickers, or perhaps a negligee. Not for me, however. For Christmas, I want some more EDZ Merino wool base layers.

Last February at the Excel Bike Show I purchased an EDZ ladies’ merino wool base layer, a long-sleeved crew-necked top made out of 100% merino wool with some 100% merino wool base layer leggings. I have worn them pretty much constantly when out on my motorbike ever since.

EDZ Merino Wool Base Layers – Top & Leggins

At the Bike Show, the EDZ stand was offering a small discount, which was great as these items do retail for quite a lot when compared with other base layers. Especially those made from artificial fibres, but then merino wool is not a cheap material.

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Categories
Videos

Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 20 (Peds)

So many close calls, can you predict what is about to happen? Reckon you would have the sixth sense skills to avoid these near misses?

So many

Unfortunately, this is the state of London today, too many people completely oblivious to their surroundings.

Categories
Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Ladies Kevlar MotoGirl Leggings Review & Long Term Test

Motogirl Leggings ReviewWhen you were a child, did you ever have a favourite pair of trousers or a top that you would wear to death and never take off? Well, my MotoGirl leggings are mine. I bought them in February and I have worn them pretty much constantly since.

MotoGirl Leggings Review

These MotoGirl Leggings are stretchy and come with knee armour and optional hip armour. They have pockets, loops for a belt and more importantly are completely lined with Kevlar. This is unlike some biker jeans which only have Kevlar lining on the main impact areas of the groin, hip and knees. Definitely reassuring if one ever has a tumble.

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Categories
Videos

Sixth Sense Skills – Tip 19 (Bad Obs)

I know my video output has been a bit sparse lately, but I do hope you’ll find this one interesting.

There’s clearly a number of lessons to be drawn from this video on planning ahead, avoiding distractions, maintaining safe distances, personal safety bubble and not carrying too much speed into situations. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Thankfully the rider only had an injured pride and some minor cosmetic bike damage.

Categories
Gear Reviews

Kriega US-5 DryBag Tail Pack Luggage Review

Commuting daily into the city I normally have a huge top box to carry my huge security chain, work clothes and lunchbox. The top box is very practical on workdays, but total overkill when on a weekend blast where something more discrete would be preferable. Kriega is a quality brand I’ve heard many great recommendations of, so it was the default choice when I picked up this US-5 DryBag tail pack from Infinity Motorcycles in Holborn for £50. It is the smallest tail pack Kriega does at just 5 litres and not cheap, but I’m hoping its quality will make it good value.

The US-5 tail pack claims to be completely waterproof and fastens to the rear of your bike onto the pillion seat, however, it can also be strapped to larger Kriega bags and luggage to gain more capacity. Fours straps are provided to hook around the frame under your seat, which then pokes out to attach the tail pack too. Otherwise, a specific strap to bolt onto your bike is also provided. Two further straps then thread through the bag and simply clip onto the other straps attached to your bike. On my Fazer, the four default straps made for a simple install, all sorted in 5 mins. Then the bag itself can be attached or detached with minimal fuss.

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