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Competition Now Over

The one year anniversary competition is now over and four winners have been pulled out of the hat at random. You lucky four have been emailed, so if you entered, do check your mailboxes and get back in touch with your postal addresses. I should have your prizes sent out next week, ready to prepare for the next bout of crap weather.

The lucky winners are:
1st prize: Iain MacIver
2nd prize: Simon Oakley
Runners up: Robby Price and Douglas Plester

Thank you all who entered and helped share my blog around a bit. I hope you enjoyed checking out my blog and do hope you’ll keep coming back to read more of my adventures.

Categories
Hardware

Replaced Givi Rack on Fazer

imageManaged to grab an hour at the weekend to replace the Givi rack on the Fazer. The arms on the old one were thoroughly bent from the last crash, which snapped the top box off.

Tried as I could they wouldn’t bend back. To be honest I also doubted how strong they would be after if I did get them back into shape.

The new went on a treat, dead easy. Interestingly this one came with black painted bolt, rather than plain aluminium. Can’t decide which I prefer, might go for a combo to blend in with black arms and aluminium pillion peg brackets.

Categories
Gear Reviews

Lidl Motorcycle Rain Cover Review

Lidl-Motorcycle-Cover-ReviewLidl recently ran one of their Motorcycle accessory weeks, which featured some rock bottom priced rain covers. Since the lining on my old R&G cover was disintegrating and leaving a cloud of white fluff over the bike each morning, I thought I’d give them a go.

We also needed a cover for Mary’s ZZR400, so at just £9 each, we managed to buy two for less than the price of the R&G cover or a basic Oxford cover. But were they cheap and cheerful or do you really get what you pay for? Read on…

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Categories
Maintenance

Mobile Motorcycle Mechanic – ZZR Brake Service

imageSince borrowing Mary’s ZZR400 this last week or so, I noticed a few niggles with it’s running that I’ve been trying to address. Firstly the front brakes were sticking a little and secondly the running has been a bit on the rough, loud and underpowered side, especially at high speed. To tackle these issues I called up on the skills of Tim (‘Scorch’ on LondonBikers.com), who offers a mobile motorcycle repair service.

Tim popped over to went to work on my bike, whilst I was parked up at work myself. Very handy indeed. He quickly set to work on the brakes, found one of the pistons was a bit gunked up and air in the system. In a couple of hours he had the lot stripped down, sorted, new fluid in, bled and working well.

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Clothing/Protection Hardware

Heads Up: Cheap Bike Cover and Base Layers at Lidl

Lidl-Motorcycle-CoverQuick heads up: Lidl are doing cheap motorcycle rain covers from the 3rd October this week. They look quite basic, but are dirt cheap at just £9. At a fifth of the price of an Oxford one and with a 3 year warranty, I’m sure you’ll get your moneys worth. I’ll certainly be grabbing a couple, so watch this space for a review.

Also this week, Lidl are doing base layers and cheap hi-vis waistcoats. Previous base layers from Lidl proved very effective last winter, so I can definitely recommend them. At just £2 for the hi-vis, I’m dubious as to how they will stand up to high speed riding. Still worth a quick look though.

Categories
Maintenance

Repairs to Fazer, Back on the Road

FZS600-Fairing-BracketsAfter my incident last week when some idiot not paying any attention ran into me, I had to spend sometime fixing up the Fazer and getting it road worthy again. There was quite a bit of damage, but thankfully all cosmetic. The fairing was scratched and cracked, the fairing brackets were bent badly, screen snapped off, belly pan was crumpled, crash bobbins almost snapped off, broken mirror, broken indicator and bent Givi rack and snapped Givi mounting plate. Obviously I am working with my insurance to claim for as much of the damage as possible. However in the mean time my priority has been emergency repairs to make the bike usable again. I want to avoid taking a courtesy bike as liability is still yet to be assigned.

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Categories
Hardware

New Rubber For The ZZR

imageStuck a new tyre in Mary’s ZZR400 yesterday. Nice Michelin PilotRoad, to match the rear. Big thumbs up to the guys down at FWR Kennington for sorting it out double quick during my lunch break. Definitely recommended if you in the city and need new rubber in a hurry.

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Categories
Riding

“Filtering is illegal, don’t ya know?” – Twat

Silver-Astra-Twat-01Fuck.

Riding back home last night, quietly filtering down the A13 through it’s usual gridlock, when this twat suddenly decides to change lanes and takes me out.

He then starts getting a bit worked up, telling me I was wrong for filtering, I “shouldn’t be filtering, it’s illegal, don’t ya know?”

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Categories
Clothing/Protection Gear Reviews

Alpinestars S-MX4 Boots Review

Alpinestars-SMX4-Boots-1I recently purchased these boots second-hand off eBay, after the straps on my old Hein Gericke Bullson boots started to wear and looked ready to snap at any moment. I opted for Alpinestars as I’ve always found their gear to be good quality. It’s easy to see why they’re still going strong after recently celebrating their 50th anniversary. Granted their brand carries a premium price, but popularity does mean a large number of their products can be found second hand and so with a little patience, some real bargains can be found. These S-MX 4 boots will normally set you back in the region of £150, but I picked up a pair in good nick for just £40. Sorted.

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Categories
Gear Reviews Hardware

Pragmasis Chain & Squire Lock Review

Pragmasis-Chain-Squire-LockAfter getting Mary her own motorbike, getting an extra security chain was a top priority. Being so pleased with the Pragmasis Protector chain I’ve been using, they were the obvious choice. I had considered an Almax chain, which is generally regarded as being on par with the Pragmasis chains. Both brands cost the same and are supplied with the same Squire padlock, however, Pragmasis offer free next day postage – can’t argue with that.

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