Wordpress, Blogger and other ways of driving yourself mad.

My blog over at woodgen.com has been running a fairly long time as blog lifetimes go - since May 2007 to be precise. Along the way, I have had the usual frustrations experienced by anyone running their own sites - outages, lost data recalcitrant scripts and the like. Inevitably, as I added more functionality (ie complexity), things started to go downhill. The camel's back broke under the straw of updating Wordpress to its present incarnation of version 2.7. At this point all my archived posts became inaccessible even though the mysql database appeared undamaged and intact.

Various attempts to resurrect the archives failed and I became so frustrated, I set up a new blog at Blogspot (running on the Blogger software). This worked fine except that I had to import all my old posts from the mysql database by hand which took three days! That I am still sane after this is a testament to my genes or more likely, Nurofen.

So, with one fully functional blog which is here, I felt moderately happy, except that all my comments had disappeared and as I started to look at various statistics, I realised that whereas my old blog was well spidered by Google etc. and came up as a first hit on many searches, my new one figured nowhere and reading various folks views on SEO stuff, I came the view that a blog at Blogspot was always likely to feature less prominently than one on a personal web site - other things being equal.

Anyone that publishes a blog is presumably concerned with getting read by someone and I am no exception - my deathless prose is not for me alone, so I started to look for ways of resurrecting my blog at woodgen.com. I won't bore you with all the details, blind alleys, deathtraps, pitfalls and the like - tell me if you need more info but this is what worked in the end.

1. I set up a (free) blog at wordpress.com which is here.
2. I imported my Blogger data (all the posts) to my new wordpress.com blog, using the Tools>Import option
3. I exported my data from wordpress.com using the Tools>Export option
4. I set up a new database and Wordpress site on my own hosted server
5. I imported the xml file generated in (3) above.
6. Hey Presto - I have a working blog.

Finally - because I was being driven crazy by double apostrophes appearing in my new blog - as used to happen in the old Wordpress blog - when I wanted only one. I searched and searched until I found the solution.

7. I created a file called php.ini containing just these lines

magic_quotes_runtime=off
magic_quotes_gpc=off
magic_quotes_sybase=off

8. I copied the file to every directory of my new woodgen blog ( probably only one directory is important but by this stage I was past caring.
9. I commented out these lines in wp_settings.php (my // is already shown here)

// If already slashed, strip.
//if ( get_magic_quotes_gpc() ) {
//    $_GET    = stripslashes_deep($_GET   );
//    $_POST   = stripslashes_deep($_POST  );
//    $_COOKIE = stripslashes_deep($_COOKIE);
//}

// Escape with wpdb.
//$_GET    = add_magic_quotes($_GET   );
//$_POST   = add_magic_quotes($_POST  );
//$_COOKIE = add_magic_quotes($_COOKIE);
//$_SERVER = add_magic_quotes($_SERVER);

And now, finally, I can write let's go to Jim's place without appearing illiterate!

For the time being, I am going to be cross posting my stuff at the three sites that I now have with my blog - so determined am I not to have to go through the whole darn thing again.

Bottom line after this experience?

Blogger at Blogspot is by far the easiest blog to set up and use. It lacks some of Wordpress's bells and whistles and has fewer attractive themes to pick from although Wordpess themes are being converted for Blogger by enthusiasts. It is better integrated with other Google services than Wordpress which will be of interest to folk running ads etc although the SEO stuff actually seems to favour Wordpress on your own site.

As far as I am concerned, if only a few people read my stuff and find some value or amusement in it, I am well satisfied.

Warm Hands on Order..

Well, I hope so at least. I rang Pricedright this morning and placed an order for a pair of the Gerbings heated gloves. I enjoy the cold bright weather we are having at the moment and I stay pretty warm in my Gerbings heated jacket under my riding suit and with heated grips on both bikes, the palms of my hands are OK but the tips of my thumbs get very cold to the point of spoiling the enjoyment of being out on the bike. I can wear thicker winter gloves of course but I miss the feel of the controls with thicker gloves and this always feels a bit less safe than I would like. I am hoping the Gerbings gloves will offer the warmth and the feel I want. They are supposedly waterproof too so I am pretty hopeful they will make an ideal winter glove. I ordered the Large size based on the sizing instructions but Derek at Pricedright assures me that he will change them if they don't fit properly. I must say, I have always had very good service from them in the past so I have no worries there.

Backdating is Possible!

For Blogger posts that is. I have been able to extract my old Wordpress posts one by one and am now in the process of bringing them over here. It is a long-winded way round but as far as I can see, it's the only way to do it and I am glad that it is possible at all.

I am rather counting on Blogspot being around for a long time and for the software that powers it to be updated painlessly with no input needed from me when and if it happens. At first, maintaining my own web site was fun but it now seems just a chore and even though the Wordpress installation I had on it was not difficult to manage, it had developed some irritating quirks like substituting double apostrophes for a single character.

I gave up maintaining a gallery of photography on my own site some time ago in favour of a SmugMug hosted account and that has proved a good decision, it may not be too much longer before I find a way to offload my remaining stuff on woodwork and genealogy and can get out of the site management lark altogether.

Out and about

Fresh from the triumph of fitting my new crash bars to the BMW yesterday, I celebrated by having a short ride on it today. Having both been laid low by the flu for two weeks, dearly beloved and I have postponed our Xmas jollifications until New Year - assuming we (still) feel like doing so by then, so today there were no distractions like presents to open or any such nonsense - it was on the bike and off! More accurately, it was about 11 am when I dragged myself to the garage, determined to prove to myself that I was still capable of getting the bike off the centre stand and out of the garage, mounting it and riding it.

I accomplished all of the above, only to discover that far from the imagined peace and quiet that would be prevailing on the roads at this time, countless, godless, antisocial idiots were already abroad, cluttering up the place just like a normal weekday. I turned as soon as I could onto the byways and quiet country lanes but found them so covered in mud and water that even with my new TKC-80s, I felt a mite insecure and given my kitten-like feebleness, I reckoned that it would be quite beyond me to pick the darn bike up if I fell off so I headed for home a lot sooner than I planned.

Aside from anything else, it wasn't that warm. The bike claimed 5 degrees but my thumbs were sure it was sub-zero. Ah well, time to look at Gerbings heated gloves I reckon..

Welcome to my latest attempt at a blog

Well if you made it over here from my old blog, you'll understand that I am totally pissed-off with Wordpress. Trying to upgrade to version 2.7 completely hosed my blog and all the archived entries have become inaccessible. I don't know if I'll have better luck here but it's worth a try I guess.

If you have stumbled across this for the first time, then I'll just say that this blog is about my experiences on two-wheels - a BMW F800GS and a Honda Goldwing 1800. These are very different bikes and designed to do different things but I enjoy both more or less equally.

Ils sont arrivés! Or the Eagle has landed!

My crashbars and bash plate arrived from Adventure Spec this morning. They were delayed apparently because the guys at AS had been unable to get up a snow-covered hill to their workshop on top of some god-forsaken moor and as a result were not posted until Monday. They arrived as shown in a rather unprepossessing bag but also as shown, were actually very well protected from the slings and arrows of Royal Mail by various bits of pipe insulating foam and carefully positioned brown paper.

First impressions are of a very solidly made bit of kit with nice neat welding and excellent powder coating. I just had time to fit the bashplate before it got too dark and cold.

The bashplate makes the BMW supplied bashplate look really poor. Mine had split a weld somewhere on the trails of deepest darkest Wales in September and when you compare the welds it is easy to see why. The black AS plate on the right is welded inside and out whilst the BMW plate is welded only on the outside. Where the split occurred I can see only very limited penetration of the weld metal. Also, the AS plate is made from 4mm ally whilst the BMW plate is only 3mm thick. Also, the BMW plate has a welded seam running up the middle, whilst the AS plate is a single piece of metal at that point.

I hope to fit the bars tomorrow and if they go on as easily as the bashplate, it should be a doddle. All the nuts are in stainless steel and the five spaceers that come with the kit are in balck anodised ally.

Finally I got my map and other good news.

Well TomTom came through in the end although the communications through their web site still drive me potty. I had to create a new email address and set up a TomTom Home account in the new name, then the company switched my map authorisation to the new mail address and I was able to to download it. It seems like a needless palaver to me, caused basically by their desire to a) make their products secure from piracy and b) use a system that is designed for people who don`t have a clue about computers. Good intentions and roads to hell come to mind..

I also got a phone call from Chris at Adventure-Spec from whom I ordered crash bars and a bash plate. He says they were being sent off today so with a bit of luck I should receive them tomorrow. I ordered these as a replacement for the SW Motech bars that I had so much trouble with when trying to fit them ( and which I sent back to Nippy Normans for a refund). I sure hope the new ones fit! I do have a bashplate already - the BMW one but that has cracked as a result of some darn rocks jumping out at me and in any case I wasn`t sure if the new bars would fit around the BMW bashplate. Also the Adventure-Spec plate looks more robust than the BMW one. I shall try my hand at welding that up with my little MIG welder, it'll make a useful spare for someone.

F800 Updates

I took the BMW over to South London Motorrad yesterday for a set of factory mandated checks and updates. These involved re-routing the ABS connections, checking various fasteners on the brakes, replacing the fuel pressure sensor and a software update.

Not unnaturally, I have not noticed any difference as the bike was running fine beforehand anyway. What I did notice was just how different the 650 GS loan bike I used felt (I had to leave my bike there for most of the day, and I needed transport). It seemed very low in the seat, rather underpowered, or at least lacking in the torque department and contrary to my expectations, the steering seemed very slow and the bike reluctant to tip in at corners. I didn`t check the tyres closely but they were road tyres, not TKC`s like mine - how much and what kind of difference this makes, I don`t know. I do know that I vastly preferred my own bike to the 650. Perhaps this had more to do with familiarity than anything else but the difference surprised me, I had thought the two bikes would feel much the same.

The weather was absolutely dreary and in the morning, cold with it. The heated hand grips are great but particularly my thumbs get cold even with them on. I guess it`s time to don winter wear.

Still No Joy From Tomtom

I have had a couple of emails from TomTom in response to my moaning, with a promise to do something - so far that represents absolutely nothing. I am getting very cross with them. After all, they have been sitting on my money, surely it`s easy enough to let me have the maps?

TomTom Woes

If you are thinking of getting a Tomtom GPS unit, my strong advice is not to bother. They are inherently less capable than Garmin units, notably in their inability to be programmed via a PC for routes etc. and Tomtom`s convoluted update process using the most awful piece of software this side of PC hell (Tomtom Home) is enough to cause you to lose the will to live.

Being at some stage naive, I bought two of these bloody units - a Tomtom Rider for the bike and a Tomtom Go 910 for the car. I no longer use the Rider, having switched to a Garmin on the bike but I still use the Go 910 in the car. As it is now a couple of years old, I decided to buy a new map for the 910. It turns out that I can pay for the map over the web that`s nice.. but I can only download it through the Tomtom Home program and then only if it recognises me. Well it kind of recognises me but only as owning a Rider unit so it won`t let me download the map I paid for using an email address that is associated with the Rider unit.

I spent an age trying to find out how to email Tomtom support but they are one of these companies that deliberately set out to make it hard to email them unless you have been through every bit of irrelevant useless "online" advice that they have hidden under various icons more suited to TeleTubbies than thinking adults before finally emerging on the other side a gibbering idiot.

I have managed to use their contact form which was finally revealed to me after a sort of D&D quiz, to ask for help. An automated reply tells me to expect a response in 2 business days. Well, I understand they have more important stuff to deal with but I am naturally concerned about the £60 I just spent with nothing to show for it.

I`ll keep you posted!

New Tyres and a Plan

When lubing my chain after my trip to Wales on the GS, I noticed that my rear tyre - a TKC80 was split between a couple of tread blocks. It wasn`t catastrophic looking and it had brought me back from Wales in one piece, but not wishing to tempt fate, I had the tyre replaced this morning at South London Motorrad. I must remember to measure the tread block before using the tyre. My last one seemed to wear down quickly, particularly in the centre section but as I hadn`t measured the blocks when new, I had no way of actually measuring the wear.

Now to the plan - I am aiming to go to northern India and the Himalayas next year! SWMBO has kind of given me her blessing...

The trip will be aboard Royal Enfields - the best bike to have in India if you need repairs apparently. Best of all, buddies from my Patagonian adventure are also planning to come - should be a great trip.

Autumn Colours

I took the Goldwing out for a ride yesterday in perfect weather. I bimbled down to Ashdown forest - one of my favourite destinations at any time of the year. My route there and back takes me through lots of leafy country lanes and with the fine dry weather of the last few days, the roads were dry and the trees were a magnificent blaze of colour with a cloudless blue sky as background. It made for a perfect relaxed ride, especially on a weekday when traffic is relatively light and although the day was cold to start with, my Gerbings electric jacket kept me nice and warm.

One thing bugs me somewhat and that is a problem that has started to occur with my BMW System 5 helmet. All too frequently, the visor pops right off! It seems to happen when the flip up part is opened fully which in some way seems to force the visor free from its moorings. I'll try taking it into South London Motorrad and see if they can do anything in the way of a fix. As it stands it's making the helmet rather a pain to use as I have to keep stopping to fix the visor back in place.

The Crash Bar Saga

More than three months ago, I ordered a set of SW Motech crashbars from Nippy Norman but they didn't fit
After endless emails, complaints and attempts to fit a replacement cross piece - which suffered exactly the same fault, I gave up, returned the bars and got my money back.

All in all it has been a pretty sour experience and at no time did I get any explanation as to what the root of the problem was. Having some experience in the manufacture of jig assembled components, I am sure that it is a case of an inaccurate jig-set up at SW Motech but I never got to first base in discussing this with them. Suffice to say, I`ll be looking elsewhere for my bike bits in future.

Welsh Weekend with the Adventure Riders

What a great weekend it was too! It was a really sunny and lovely weekend weatherwise but I got wet, cold and muddy despite that. Probably that was because I rode my bike up and down Welsh mountains and along lanes that had been chosen by folk like me - in search of some wonderful off-road riding.

I signed up on the Adventure Rider forum for a so-called Equinox Rally Novice weekend and the results are to be seen here I have nothing but praise for the organisers who had gone to endless trouble to sort out routes that were suitable for a largely unknown and mixed bunch of riders coming from all over. The weather for the previous several weeks had been anything but encouraging and I was very doubtful that the event would actually take place. As I was in Italy with LOML until a couple of days before, I had only one day to read the forecasts and weather history and then to decide it was probably worth the effort and then to pack all the camping gear for the weekend. As this was to be on the 800 sans trailer, it was a new experience for me. Needless to say, I packed too much as usual. I used half the clothes I took and still felt somehow overdressed but wanting something different.

The riding was exceptionally good. A great mix of mud, rocks and broken bones - thankfully not mine but requiring two helicopter medevacs in any case. These were performed by the Welsh Air Ambulance service and what a terrific job they did. So much so that we are all now contributing to this charity organisation.

I am pleased with this picture that Timpo took of me. He really caught the water as it sloshed into my helmet!

See the rally pix for more of this sort..

One thing caught me by surprise - we were doing a route called Strata Florida and went past a load of wreaths that had been laid for the young girl who had died in a recent flood when the 4x4 she was in had been swept away by the river at a crossing. We crossed at the same point on bikes and there was no danger of being swept away (I think) but it is crystal clear that conditions can and do change very quickly.

We crossed the river many times and went through so many very deep puddles that I feel quite at home in the water now although I`d hesitate to tackle it by myself having found out just how easy it is to fall down and get a leg trapped under the bike. The trouble is the rocks under the water are unseen, slippery and odd sizes - there`s just no way of picking a way through them unless you can see them from well above - as we did on a couple of occasions when there was a bridge alongside a ford.

I was delighted to find such a nice group of folk who like off-roading. They were very kindly disposed to all the newbies and helped me countless times in picking the bike up and in encouraging me up various routes that I would nt have had the courage to tackle on my own.

I was pleased with the performance of the F800GS, it performed very well and only sustained one broken mirror as a souvenir of three days of abuse. It seems to love dancing over rocks (or at any rate, I do) whilst the mud slogs are not such fun. To be honest, I have never felt so tired as when paddling the darn thing trough some of the two feet deep ruts that we had to contend with. Still it went through several where the bigger 1200`s got stuck on their cylinder heads and had to be picked up and pushed through such sections.

One tip I learnt from Robbie C was to use second gear and spin the rear wheel fast, so that it flung off the mud clogging the treads. This helped a lot in gaining traction in the really boggy bits.

New Kent Wings Site

The website of the Kent region of GWOCB has been dormant or non-existent as long as I have had my Goldwing. I think this is a pretty poor show for one of the largest regions of the parent club. I took it on myself to set up a site for the club here.

It`s also in the blogroll at right. I am pretty happy with the site as it stands at the moment although it`s brand new and untested at the moment and could provide plenty of fun and games before I can feel confident it is actually robust against hackers and spammers etc.

As always, it`s content that is king but since it is a new site there is not a lot there at present. I really hope the members use it and that it also becomes attractive to visitors. The amount of effort I shall spend on it is not unnaturally related to this sort of statistic although I do appreciate that an investment of effort up front is needed.

Getting the site to it`s present state took more time than I envisaged. First I tried to select forum software. My first thought was to use phpbb which is so ubiquitous but then a search of comparison matrices led me to SMF via expensive stuff like VB and Expression Engine (EE). There seemed no clear advantage to using software one had to buy, a view confirmed when I spent a whole day trying to get to grips with EE and in the end only succeeding in duplicating what took about 30 seconds with some of the freeware forum stuff. SMF looked like a winner until I added the complication of wanting a portal for the forum, so that extra pages of stuff and a front door could be added. Finding a portal/front door combination that suits suddenly turns out to be the Holy Grail, Google kept saying as much so it must be true, right?

After flirtations with Tiny Portal and a couple of others I tried MKportal. This, it turned out, was now packaging forum software with it (AEF, some new Indian start-up). At first this looked ideal; set up was easy and it looked pretty and it had great skins/themes. Unfortunately, functionality was not great and things like a calendar turned out to be mere stubs waiting for some future development.

So, after a long couple of days, I finally settled on MKPortal and SMF as the best combo. I think both are really good, fairly mature pieces of work that provide both ease of set-up and power in use.

Let me know what you think!

The Powerpark centre stand

Powerpark is a wonderfully misleading name. In one sense it is accurate, but in another quite wrong. There is no power (unlike the BMW K1200LT) other than using the bike`s reverse gear. The stand is nothing more than a shorter than standard centre stand which is the right height to allow the rear wheel to remain in contact with the ground when the bike is on the stand.

I wanted it because I had strained my back during one of my off-road exploits and I just could not find a non-painful way of lifting the Goldwing onto the centre stand, plus I figured that as I am not getting any younger, it would become increasingly attractive as old age wreaked its havoc on my muscles.

It does take a little practise to get comfortable with using it but I have to say it`s very nice in use and getting the bike on the stand is now a doddle - plus it`s a ride-on/ride-off stand and that is nice too.

The only drawback is when wanting to turn the wheels, front or back, for e.g. cleaning. As both are in solid contact with the ground, you need to insert a couple of bits of one inch thick wood under each leg of the centre stand - accomplished by rocking the bike from side to side and kicking the wood as you do. The first rock is the easiest but with one leg on a piece of wood, the second is a lot harder and the bike needs a really good shove. I think a couple of suitably tapered wedges might make this job a lot easier

Progressive Springs and other things

I had just one day at home when I got back from Ireland (just enough to dry out a very wet tent) before I took myself up to Rotherham so that Ian Cardwell could do some work on my bike. I had a number of relatively minor things to do - mostly I wanted attention for my fog lights that had stopped working (turned out to be only a fuse!! But I had looked at the thing and it seemed OK, honest) but then I added a few more "nice to haves" including Progressive fork springs and a "Powerpark" centre stand.

Ian quickly diagnosed the fuse problem with his continuity tester (note to self, must get one of those..) and having fixed the fog lights in short order, turned his attention to the centre stand. It`s an easy enough thing to do in principle but in practice it is quite difficult owng to the restricted access to the holding bolts - I am frankly glad I didn't try it myself.

With that installed, the fork springs were next. Once I saw how these were done, I realised I could easily have done this job myself but as usual, it`s the old adage of knowing "where to hit it."

One thing I had wanted Ian to fix was my cruise control that had stopped working a while back. The main light, indicating it was active would come on but I simply couldn't set it. Apparently there are four microswitches (front brake, clutch, rear brake and gear shift) that can be the culprit for this problem. Ian reckons it's the rear brake that is mostly the one to blame. However, in all the Irish rain, mine had started working again, so I can only conclude that perhaps some dirt had been washed away from a switch and that allowed it to operate again. I am glad to say that it is still working after my return home.

Ian finished up at about midday and after refusing his kind offer of lunch, I set off home. I noticed the difference the fork springs made in the first hundred yards - they are truly a fantastic improvement over the originals. No longer is a minor roughness in the road surface a cause of irritation - the Progressives simply iron it out. Equally I can ride harder into the corners than I ever felt comfortable doing before, the front seems so planted. I shall definitely go for the Progressive rear spring (and probably shock) if Honda don`t introduce a Japanese `09 model of the Wing - in which case, I could be tempted to go for that.. :)

Tent Freer If Wish (- or in English, Wet Irish Treffen)

I wish my tent had been freer - freer of water basically. Instead it looked like this - with a swamp at the entrance.

Fortunately we had an answer - the mighty mop demonstrated here by Theresa

Luckily, we did get a little sun and that saw us over at Giant`s Causeway

The weather had an undoubted effect on attendance but I think most people had a good time despite the rain. Ireland, or at least the parts I saw is very beautiful with large areas of unspoilt countryside and very friendly people. The roads are not especially good and I would love to go back with the F800GS under me as it would cope much better with the potholes I encountered.

This is Doe castle - I think the tide is out!

This is somewhere along "Atlantic Drive", on Ros Guill adjacent to Mulroy Bay

It was a hell of a long ride to Donegal where the Treffen was held. We rode to Holyhead, ferried across to Dublin and carried on to Stranorlar where the event was held - 500 miles in total and the ferry was a 3 and a half hour trip. We arrived on site at about 9pm, having left the house at 04:30 that morning. Needless to say, putting the tent up in the rain after such along day was not an experience I would like to repeat!

Ireland here I come!

Tomorrow I am off to the Irish Treffen on the Goldwing. I have never been to Ireland before so it''s a real first for me. There is one fly in the ointment however, the ferry tickets were booked by fellow Kent Winger Vern and the timing is such that we have to leave at 04:30 tomorrow morning to get to Holyhead in time. This doesn''t sound like awhole lot of fun to me.. Added to which there is an uncertain outlook re weather. Well, to be honest it looks like a dead certainty that we shall have rain and plenty of it in the next week so quite how much of Ireland I''ll be able to see is questionable.

Packing the trailer, it''s clear that Parkinson is alive and well. The thing is already full and I still have a few clothes to fit in somewhere. I know I shall only use half the stuff - only thing is, I don''t know which half.

The GPS is loaded with MP3s, and various touristy sites to see (it''s a bit disconcerting to find that both Mapsource and my 2820 are not that clever when it comes to Irish place names - they seem to have trouble finding many of them) so I hope not to get lost and to have some amusement on the way. I must remember to get my Ipod wired into the bike''s supply at present I rely on its battery and when that is flat, I am out of music.

Fantastic Wiltshire Ride

A member of the UKGers forum had laid on an invitation ride for big trailies and novices over some of Salisbury plain and anxious to try out some new territory and also to see how my Metal Mules performed on the rough stuff, I was keen to sign up. I became rather less keen as I traveled down yesterday to the meeting place in pouring rain and at one point, practically no visibility. I stopped at a Little Chef about 20 miles from my destination for a warming cup of coffee and dithered about whether I should turn back or not. I am so very glad I didn't because I had a wonderful day. The rain eased considerably and for the rest of the morning it was intermittent showers and grey clouds but in the afternoon, the sun came out and we had a lovely wamr bright day - as one should at this tie of year I feel!

Our guides were all local to the area and knew the plains like the backs of their hands, including the ranges and when it`s safe to cross them!

The rain ensured we had some nice puddles to play in..

We also forded one river that was quite deep and I wondered if the panniers would lifet the rear of the bike high enough to reduce traction! Evidently not enough to prevent me getting through and the panniers stayed totally dry inside. However, the topbox was a different story. I had put a full bottle of water in it and all the bouncing around destroyed it and all the stuff I had really wanted to keep dry and had therefore carefully put in the topbox, was suddenly not so dry! A valuable learning experience. Another was the fact that a road atlas made with a spiral binding can become a loose collection of pages as the spiral unscrews when subjected to a lot of bouncing around!

Non-Fitting Engine Bars

I bought some SW Motech engine bars for the GS from Nippy Normans. They were a good price compared with other makes and they arrived swiftly. Both left hand and right hand bars went on the bike easily enough although the lower bolts must have been made from putty as the hex key started to cam-out of the mushroom headed 8mm bolts as soon as any torque was applied (In fact it was at about 10NM torque -19NM being the amount specified in the BMW service manual for fitting BMW crash bars to the same mounting points) I replaced these bolts with decent socket head bolts.

Problems started when I tried to fit the cross piece between the side bars. Brackets welded to the cross piece and designed to bolt to the front of the engine were too close together with the result that the bolt holes in the brackets and the threaded holes in the engine did not align. I telephoned Nippy Normans to explain the problem but was taken aback by the tone of the response which suggested (a) it was my fault and that I had to use the correct spacers and (b) if I sent a photo they could diagnose the problem. I explained that it was not a problem of spacers and a photo would only demonstrate what I had said. NN then said if I returned the cross piece, they would check it against their stock and if it was faulty, they'd send me another. I bit my tongue because it is obvious the thing is faulty and I don't expect that checking against their stock will alter the fact. I really don't believe my BMW engine is at fault!

This is what I am supposed to bolt together...

I posted the darn thing off to NNs with this photo and will have to wait and see what they say.

Getting Serious!

Got down to Metal Mule today and had these beauties fitted. It's two 38l side panniers and a 45l topbox. To get the balanced set-up the standard exhaust was replaced with a slimmer Scorpion exhaust. It is no noisier than standard but sounds quite different - better I think.

Changed the SatNav

I got fed up with not being able to sync the Tomtom Rider 1 with my Scala Rider bluetooth headset and also with the somewhat flaky track recording that depends on a third party app that I installed to the Tomtom. So after swearing to avoid doing business with Touratech if I could avoid it, I went back to them for a bracket and cradle for the Garmin 2820 that normally lives on the Goldwing. Initially. following the TT instructions I found that the 2820 competely obscured the speedo and the rev counter from view. However, after reversing the handlebar brackets I am now able to see the speed and the top half of the rev counter which is acceptable.

Now all I need to do is to get a pair of specs that will enable me to see the thing clearly. After some experimentation using reading glasses I am going to get a pair of bifocals with a smallish area devoted to the near focal length - large enough to cover the instruments and nothng else basically and have booked a sight test for tomorrow.

Metal Mules and a Movie Cam

I ordered some of these for the GS quite a while ago - in late April if memory serves - at which time they were awaiting delivery of the new Scorpion exhausts which are needed if one wants a balanced pannier set up with no exhaust cut-out, as I do. As I was going off to Italy, I reckoned I could happily wait for the exhaust and on my return I had fixed up to go down to Hassocks last week but then Paul at MM phoned to tell me he is still waiting for the exhaust. OK, I rearranged the date for tomorrow but then this afternoon another conversation with Paul took place - déjà vu all over again as they say..still no delivery date on the Scorpion.

I shall go for a ride in any case. I got myself a little Action Cam today and have fitted it to the bike, so I hope to have fun tomorrow recording some nice lanes

It came with a mount designed to fit something like a bike's handlebars plus a couple of straps to fix it around a helmet or one's arm. I couldn't use the handlebar mount as it was so made up a fixture to sit in my RAM mount (good job I had a bit of ally rod and plate as well as a lathe handy!)

Another neat thing I have come across is a plugin for my Tomtom Rider - I did not even know it could use plugins! This one is called Event Logger and amongst other things, it can record a track log on the Rider. The program is free and on a short test seems to work as advertised. I shall try a longer test on my ride tomorrow.

This is a Green Lane!

It just happens to be blocked by a rather large tree root..

Turning six bikes round in a lane narrower than the bike is long necessitates some rather hard work..

It was a brilliant day, organised by Mike Wilson at South London BMW. Six brave souls, including Mike - bravest of all for looking after us! - took to the Surrey hills and encountered most kinds of terrain from loose rocks to deep pools. Here is Mike showing the rest of us wimps how to do it..

I only fell off once which is a great improvement on my last outing! I had taken some precautions such as removing my mirrors - this made me realise just how much I use them as I felt completely blind for a while - and taking some spanners and the Torx keys on sockets. As luck would have it, the only thing that was right was the spanner for the mirrors. I could have done with a couple of other things after my "little off" but naturally, they were at home in the garage..

Getting Ready!

For some greenlaning tomorrow that is. Recalling my last outing, a few precautions have been taken, such as to have had a bashplate fitted and I have removed one mirror from the bike - the other will come off before we hit the dirty stuff. One problem is deciding where to put stuff like an essential toolkit and the mirror. The F800GS's toolkit is like a poor joke and there is no room under the seat for much extra although I have managed to secrete a tupperware box of torx keys there. The mirror and a ratchet spanner for the torx bits will have to live in a tool roll strapped on the back seat.

The problem with stuff on the back seat, as I found out last time, is that in my riding suit and motocross boots, I can't easily lift my leg high enough to clear the extra height - I am not Darcey Bussell! - still I think I can just about manage to clear the tool roll. This problem is of course much amplified when one can't stand on a piece of level ground or is up to the knees in mud. Both these situations also preclude use of the sidestand and then the problem is compounded by having to keep the bike upright and by the time this becomes necessary, the bike weighs a ton because one is absolutely knackered. At least, I am knackered. This is partially due to my advancing years but mainly because I am out of condition and haven't yet been back to the gym since my Italian trip - or if I am honest since Patagonia, apart from a few forays that didn't translate into peak condition... Only those who have ridden off-road know how much hard work motorcycling can be!

Ride Out

I had a great ride yesterday with guys on the UKGSer forum. We started and finished at Newlands, taking in three counties in a 120 mile loop through some very pretty country side and along a fine mix of roads including some gravelly muddy stuff that almost threatened to become off-road, shady country lanes and some faster stuff with nice sweepers. I was pleased with the road going performance of the TKC80s although rather cautious when it came to exploring their full potential in the bends - which often had gravel just waiting around the bend - I wasn't desirous of finding their maximum lean angle the hard way but I suspect it is quite a bit more than I was prepared to try.

Trailer Time

Yesterday I went off to North Walsham to pick up my new trailer at Freewheel and also got a trailer towbar fitted at the same time. The weather going up was horrid - a grey murk that resembled a London smog in many ways, except for the foul smell that used to accompany those. It took longer than expected to fit the towbar but when I left, everything seemed fine until about halfway through the journey home when I noticed that my Garmin 2820 stopped working. Being suspicious of this and feeling that it must have a cause related to the recent fiddling with the bike's electrics, I pulled into a lay-by and discovered that my trailer lights had also stopped working. I called Alan Young at Freewheel who made some helpful suggestions including an offer to put me up for the night if I wanted to return to Norfolk. However, being closer to home, I decided to get home, using hand signals in place of my trailer lights and sort the problem out there.

This morning, the cause of my lights failure turned out to be a simple fuse. The extra lights (in addition to those installed in the panniers, plus satnav plus CB radio were just too much for the 5 amp fuse safeguarding the accessory terminal. After debating with myself the wisdom of installing a 10 amp fuse in place of the original 5 amp, I decided in the end to power the trailer relay directly from the battery using an in-line fuse for the trailer. This seems to be fine, at least for the moment although I may have to check battery condition more regularly.

I am pleased with the trailer. It looks good and the Bordeaux red gel coat, whilst not a perfect match for the Cabernet red of my bike, is reasonably close and I certainly have no urge to get it sprayed to match exactly. The trailer is well shaped with plenty of storage for all the stuff I can imagine wanting on a camping trip plus a lot more besides. I am really looking forward to using it for the first time.

Before my return journey, I was a bit nervous about towing the trailer, never having done this on a bike before. I am happy to say that I really didn't notice it was there unless I looked in my mirrors for it. I actually did this quite a bit at first to check the turning circle as I went around corners. Cornering presented no problems, I didn't have to take them especially wide at all.

8000 mile service and new tyres

On the Goldwing that is. I bought it just a year ago when I started this blog and it has performed beautifully during the time since then but I guess part of that is getting it serviced regularly and so I took it into Doble's yesterday for the scheduled service. I reckon a 4000 mile service interval is pretty horrendous in this day and age but subtracting the tyre costs left me with what I thought a reasonable bill for a major service.

8000 miles isn't a huge amount for a year's biking but to that I must add the mileage of my two foreign trips on other bikes (Patagonia 2700 miles, Italy at 1800 miles and a further 1000 miles for the GS) and we end up with a respectable total of 13,500 miles for the year. Not surprising that my woodwork has taken a back seat!

Italy 2008

Back from a marvellous tour of Umbria, Tuscany and the Marche courtesy of Beach''s Motorcycle Adventures.

I was riding a brand new BMW 1200GS equipped with a Garmin 276C GPS (great system - miles better than my Garmin 2820 I reckon, at least for my uses) that was filled every couple of days with lots of routes all well researched by Rob Beach. He has found wonderful motorcycling roads, twisty, scenic and if you want them dirt roads. Umbria was spectacular - rugged scenery, mountains with snow and at times cold winds, as I found out when my brand new bike succumbed to an "immobiliser incident" at the top of a pass. The bike had to be transported to a dealers some 60 miles away so for a couple of days I rode a BMW F 800 ST - showing the value of the kind of back up provided by Rob - also the wisdom of using a simple old-fashioned bike if one wants to do a RTW trip!

A few pics

It was particularly nice to be with my friends from the Patagonian trip - Brian and Shira, even Mr Happy made it!

More photos are here.

Trailer ordered, 8000 mile service booked, new tyres needed

In my (respectable on-road) Goldwing life - as opposed to my (irreverent off-road) GS life, I have decided it's time to get a trailer for the bike. I hasten to say that is not a trailer to carry the bike on but a trailer to tow behind the bike. This will alow me to dump all the stuff that currently adorns the back seat when I go camping with the bike (because I can''t get it all in the panniers).

I have accordingly made arrangements to get a trailer at the end of May when I return from a trip touring on an 800 or 1200GS in Italy (not sure which at this stage but it will be one or the other and I shall be happy with either). The trailer will be used this summer on a couple of outings for sure - Kent Wings Wingding and the Irish Treffen (bloody expensive ferry ride that is too!).

I have also booked my 8000 mile service which I shall probably get done just before picking up the trailer. I have asked that new tyres be fitted although the ones I have are no doubt good for a good few more miles I have used them pretty hard and I figure I might as well get them done at the time of the service to ensure that my summer touring is not interrupted by a need to schedule a tyre change which will inevitably clash with something else I want to do. I am pretty happy with the Bridgestones that came with the bike and I have asked that the same tyres be used this time, altough I have heard good things about the Avon Venoms too.

Bluetooth drives me barmy

OK I don't understand Bluetooth but then it's supposed to just work isn't it? On the Goldwing, I hear my GPS and other stuff (radio, CB etc) through a wired connection and the bike's built-in intercom system but on the GS I have been using custom earplugs with built in speakers connected to the original Bluetooth dongle that came with my TomTom Rider 1. Those earplugs can get uncomfortable after an hour or two and and it''s a rather fragile wire that''s connected to them so I have been looking for an alternative.

My first thought was to put all my wishes in one basket and look for a Bluetooth flip up helmet with a retractable sun visor. Nolan make one but it doesn't fit my head - like many flip ups it seems very short from front to back and presses hard on my admittedly big chin. OK so now I have to choose between a sunvisor and built in-bluetooth. The latter seems as a rare as rocking horse manure but there is a Viper RS101 helmet which I have not tried. I am perhaps perversely rather put off by its low price - £94.99 seems unlikely to buy very much head protection or quality and in a helmet I want both.

So, I decide to stick for the time being with my BMW system 5 and try to fit a Bluetooth headset to it. Accordingly I got a Scala Rider Q2 and managed to wangle it into the helmet with less difficulty than I had feared. The lump that sits outside the helmet is in the wrong place to use the microphone, being far too far back on the side of the helmet (forced there by the flip front) but as I want it primarily to listen to the GPS and its built in radio, this is not too much of a problem. Next job was to sync it with my GPS. I knew there might be a problem with the Rider 1 so I tried first with the Garmin 2820 on the Wing. It took me ages to learn how to put the headset in pairing mode. This was owing to a combination of not reading the instructions properly and impatience. When I had understood the unit must first be switched on before pressing the same switch again for an extended period to set it looking for marriage partners, I did eventually pair with the Garmin. But why oh why can't we have a simple on/off switch instead of these stupid press it and pray type things that take forever to do something?

Next I tried and failed several times to pair with the TomTom. After several bouts of cursing I eventually succeeded by dint of understanding that the darn thing was trying and failing to pair with its original headset because that is what I was telling it to do in response to a rather ambiguous Yes/No query in its menu system. Finally in frustration, I realised I had to tell it to be more promiscuous and go and look for another partner when, thankfully it found the Scala Rider that had given up and gone home, or at least had stopped trying to pair on many previous attempts.

With the popularity of flip up helmets, sun visors and Bluetooth, I cannot understand why every helmet manufacturer is not in the game - ah well, that's life at the bleeding edge I suppose..

YEE HA!

I had a fantastic day on Saturday, taking the GS properly off-road for the first time. The weather was rather mixed, starting out nice but with some rain and hail later. It didn't stop five of us having a ball in the mud though. The new tyres were perfect for the job even if the rider wasn't! I fell off enough to test various aspects of my set-up - most things survived OK apart from the Satnav bracket which broke, the mirrors kept being knocked loose but stayed in one piece and the gear lever which was bent double on one occasion and merely 90 degrees on another survived the bending back to its original position.

First we got the bikes muddy, then we cleaned them:-

TKC 80s fitted

I took the GS this morning to get the off-road tyres fitted. They are Continental TKC 80s, a road-legal tyre with a good blocky pattern that should be much better in the mud than the road tyres. I'll get a chance to try that out tomorrow! On the way home. I was treading somewhat carefully as they were brand new and it started raining so I wasn't expecting a lot of grip. I especially wasn't expecting a lot of grip when it started hailing like crazy - sizeable lumps of ice that actually stung my hands through the thinnish gloves I was wearing. You can imagine my joy then, when some bright spark pulled out suddenly in front of me and I had to jam the anchors on :shock: . Fortunately, the ABS performed brilliantly. I stayed upright without even a wobble and stopped in time even though I had to retrieve my heart from the roof of my mouth. A very scary moment and I am very glad I chose the ABS option.

The tyres feel noticeably different from the Battle Wings I had on before. I can feel the knobbly bits at low speeds and the bike doesn't tip into the corners like before - needs more steering effort to turn. Nothing extraordinary, just enough to be noticeable really. I shall probably keep these tyres on for the while and see how I get on with them for normal road duties.

Weird Weather!

This was the scene chez moi last Sunday before the snow really came down and the bike went back into the garage! Since then we have had a couple of lovely days and I rode both bikes (on separate days! :) )

Tomorrow I am taking the bike to South London Motorcycles to get a set of knobblies fitted as on Saturday I shall be doing a bit of greenlaning - provided that the snow doesn't come back in earnest..

I have ordered a set of tyre irons and a bead buddy - still neeed a bead breaker probably and a couple of other things, so I can change the tyres back and forth as I need. This is the best site I have found with advice on changing tyres on wheels like mine

Goldwing suspension

After riding the GS for the last few days, I took the Goldwing out this morning and it took me a couple of miles before I felt at home again on such a different machine - I even tried to switch the indicators in the stupid BMW mode! :) I think the thing that has most significance for me in comparing the feel of the two bikes is just how much better the GS's front suspension is on rough roads. Now this is hardly a surprise in a bike designed for the rough stuff but the bit that is important for me is that it has started me thinking again about a front suspension upgrade for the Goldwing. I had grown used to its foibles before riding the GS but some roughish road this morning reminded me that it was one of the first things I noted about the bike when I bought it.

I see two options - one is to install Progressive springs which is the cheap option but one that some folk think highly of and the other much more expensive option is to go for the Traxxion system. I am pretty persuaded by the movie but it would be nice to talk to someone in the UK who has fitted it.

Another expense is on the horizon in the form of its 8000 mile service and a new pair of tyres to go with it. I could let them go further but the rear especially is looking fairly tired and I might as well get it done soon - before the suspension upgrade too if I decide to go that way.

First Ride with UKGSers

I had a great day out yesterday with a crowd of GS owners. Captain GSA picked a nice route with quiet roads (at least, as quiet as they can be in the overcrowded corner of our isle) which provided plenty of fun including water, gravel and a couple of alpine hairpins. Some 26 of us found our way to Littlehampton where we stoked up on fish and chips - very good they were too.

Back home I had slightly exceeded the 600 miles target for the first service so it''s just as well it went in today for the service!

These are not my photos, they were taken by Sidpic on the GS forum

Starting out

In Littlehampton

Where we were obliged to show off or Twat suits..

Having a Ball!

On the new bike. I am riding around all the twistiest hilliest lanes I can find and it's behaving impeccably. My 600 miles service is booked for the 31st March which means that I have to be a bit careful not to put many more miles on it. I am planning a longish rideout with other GSers on the 30th and need to keep some miles in hand for that.

I have now rigged up leads for my Gerbings heated jacket liner and for a TomTom satnav. I connected the heated jacket direct to the battery via an inline fused lead but for the TomTom I plumbed it in via a Canbus connector to the spare Canbus socket under the centre trim panel. I now need to think about how I connect up my iPod. At present I am using custom earplug/speakers for the TomTom connected to a little Bluetooth thingy. But I need to multiplex the iPod somehow. I am not at all sure I can do this with the current Bluetooth gadget and I am not sure if the TomTom will recognise others. It's the TomTom Rider 1 and it doesn't for instance, recognise the Jaba bluetooth thing I use for my mobile.

Unlike the Goldwing, I have no built in electronics for this sort of thing, so I might just install an autocom and possibly, use my Garmin 2820 from the Goldwing, instead of the TomTom

It's Raining And It's My Fault!

Because I cleaned my bike.

I put more miles on the F800 today in order to meet the "deadline" which I imposed on myself by booking my first 600 mile service due in a couple of weeks. Until these initial services are out of the way, I always feel very constrained on a new bike. 600 miles is too short a distance to go for a decent tour - besides which the "running-in" limitations on revs etc. means that sustained high speed cruising to some distant destination is no-no, but it''s quite a long way for just cruising the local lanes. I compromised today by a lengthy exploration of lots of country lanes with nice twisties and hills followed by a reasonably quick return home along main roads. The net result is some 300 miles on the clock and a very dirty bike that needed a very good wash.

The sun was shining and it was very warm when I started but by the time I had finished cleaning the bike, it was raining and cold. I used sDoc 100 to clean it - first time I have tried it but it seems to get a good press so I hope it does what it''s supposed to and protects the bike with a corrosion inhibitor as well as helping to clean it.

My verdict on the bike so far is that it is simply brilliant. I had been reading various pundits on different forums say that it was too focussed on off-roading to be a good road bike, mainly owing to the 21 inch front wheel. What a load of cobblers! This bike turns as fast as I shall need it to. The wide bars, the light weight etc make it very flickable and the super engine certainly make it a capable tourer too. I am very eager to use the full rev range - currently restricted to 5,000 rpm - it will make it an exciting bike to ride quite fast and to cruise comfortably at a decent mile eating speed.

The seat is quite a lot higher than the Goldwing and even familiar roads revealed new secrets to me today as I was able to see over lots of hedges that previously obscured interesting stuff - often it was fabulous houses in the middle of nowhere with enough land to build a couple of golf course and motocross circuits. Sometimes just pretty countryside.

New Arrival

Picked it up from South London Motorcycles this morning! The bike feels really stable and planted in the corners, new tyres notwithstanding. Only a few miles on the clock so far but I have booked the first 600 mile service for two weeks hence, so I hope the weather will cooperate!

I am really looking forward to taking this baby off-road. I rode through all the potholes I could find on the way home (and our roads these days have plenty!) and the bike and suspension felt really great. I have to get used to the crazy BMW indicator system which needs three switches where the rest of the bike world makes do with one and I need to curb the urge to see what it can do with its 85 HP - at least until I have a few more miles on the clock. At the speeds I travelled home, the on-board computer was indicating instantaneous mpg of anything between 65 and 90. I'll be well pleased if I get that sort of mileage in normal use!

Anticipation...

Just spoke to the dealer (South London Motorcycles) about my order for the F 800 GS. All seems to be in order and he'll ring me next week with the reg so I can insure it. I have already anticipated the big day by putting a promo picture of it in the side bar, as well as retitling the side bar to My Bikes - plural. Until I sold the ZZR that had been true and it will be true again in just over a week but right now it's strictly My Bike and the one I put a deposit on :)

I have been thinking about a GPS and other stuff I might put on the new bike. I think I shall probably get a Zumo. I have the Streetpilot 2820 on the Goldwing but I am not entirely happy with it as I find the screen too small and some of its menus are frankly horrible - I much prefer the old Tomtom in this regard.

Lovely Weather!

We have had a great February weatherwise! I have been out on the bike a lot in splendidly sunny weather and feeling warm enough until the sun goes behind a cloud when it suddenly feels cold and you realise that this is still officially winter with over 3 weeks to go before spring. The apparent temperature and possibly global warming notwithstanding, I have decided to get a Gerbings heated jacket liner. My technical guru Ian Cardwell has explained how to fit the wiring and swears that he feels far more comfortable in a heated jacket liner than the various layers he needed previously, to keep warm. My principal reason for getting it now, even with spring just around the corner, is that I shall be in the mountains of Europe - Italy mostly- quite a bit during May and folk say it can be surprisingly cold there.

The bike is running really well and as I noted before, the gearbox is very sweet. I realised on my last jaunt (round Rye and Tenterden - some great biking roads there too!), that I was riding the bike pretty hard, scraping my feet in the corners fairly often - I deliberately keep them a bit lower than the pegs just to let me know what's going on - which got me wondering about the tyres. They are OK at the moment but I shall probably get them changed in another 800 miles at the next (8000) mile service. I guess 8000 miles isn't bad for a set of tyres on such a heavy bike. It''s probably a bit better than the ZZR but then I did ride that quite aggressively at times..

My new F 800 GS is due on 8th March - its launch day and rather inappropriately(!) my wife''s birthday. I shall (or may) be collecting a present for myself whilst LOML will be getting some flowers and a card - OK, plus an IOU for something later. It'll be a good bike to ride some of the increasingly crappy stuff that passes for paved roads in this country. The aftermath of years of neglect, interventions by every service under the sun and heavy trucks have left some a lot of our roads in an appalling state.

Farewell ZZR - Hello Ogio!

My faithful old ZZR left my garage for the last time yesterday when it was collected by the new owner. Ebay had done its magic and found me a buyer offering the sort of money I felt the bike was worth and we are both happy with the deal. I do confess to feeling somewhat sad when it left but on the other hand I had hardly ridden it since getting the Goldwing and do have a brand new bike on order which should get early next month with a bit of luck.

I have a thing about luggage - almost a fetish I guess. I love it and the more cavernous and Hi-tech it is the better. I am not sure why I feel like this but I think it''s probably the possibilities it conjures in my mind for all sorts of travel adventures. I love stuff with special pockets for things I have or might own or might never own but which seem neat and well thought out. The padded pocket for an iPod with a hole for the wires to come out, the mobile phone pocket at the right height and with a clasp to be released with one hand - they are all to be savoured.

My latest luggage acquisition is certainly cavernous and a bit Hi-tech but its focus is on moto-cross. It has a special place for boots and helmet, a padded pocket for goggles, a roll-out mat to stand on while changing and lots of space for other stuff - in my case two week''s worth of general clothing for touring with the bike. It's the Ogio 9900 rolling gear bag and I think it will certainly do the business. It is very heavily built (inevitably quite heavy at 14 lbs) and should withstand lots of abuse while at the same time protecting the stuff inside. The wheels are very strong and roll like silk and the whole bag is built on a lightweight frame that will help it survive being crushed along with a lot of other people's luggage.

Patagonia Movie

Friends (Brian and Shira who publish Backroads Magazine) I made on the Patagonia Trip put this together - it's great.

Farewell Ride

On Wednesday I took the ZZR for an outing to Horsham in glorious sunshine. It is probably the last time I shall ride it as the bike is on Ebay and the auction ends tomorrow. It was a great ride with the bike running well and the weather just about perfect for riding. Horsham itself was as exciting as ever, ie. NOT but actually I was in search of a Motorcycle shop called Moto Ward a little way from Horsham at Rudgewick, where I wanted to look at a travel bag suitable for conveying my motorcycling gear (suit, boots, helmet etc. plus enough regular clothes for a two week trip abroad. The bag I am interested in seeing is an Ogio 9900 which looks as if it will do the job. Moto Ward had none in stock but are getting one in for me to look at. The Ogio bags are all imported through one distributor who serves five outlets and Moto Ward is one. I could have bought it off Ebay but the price is the same and I want to see it first.

Glorious Weekend Weather!

And still brilliant today as well. I took myself off to Wiltshire on Saturday for a bit of gentle, aimless wandering around the hillier bits. I was pleased to find that once off the main roads, the smaller ones were pretty quiet. It was such a lovely day, inevitably quite a bit of traffic had been tempted out.

The bike performed flawlessly and the improvement in the gearbox smoothness seems to have continued. It is as smooth as silk now - I guess that''s what 6500 miles do for it?

Ken Livingstone - London Mayor and Total Twat

This is the sort of shit we have to put up with as motorcyclists in London. But I blame the folk that elected this sorry excuse for mayor or better still the idiots that decided we needed a mayor in the first place.

The British Motorcyclists Federation have
accused London Mayor Ken Livingstone's office of putting motorcyclists
lives at risk by failing to authorise the use of London's bus lanes by
motorcycles. The BMF will now be making a formal complaint against the
Mayor who is also Chairman of Transport for London.

This follows the leaking of a long overdue Transport for London (TfL)
report in to the use of bus lanes by motorcycles. The report (the
findings of which of not been disputed), shows that accidents were
nearly halved over a three-year period on two trial routes where
motorcycles were allowed into bus lanes. In fact it found that when
motorcycles were allowed access to bus lanes, it proved safer for all
users, pedestrians, cyclists, car drivers and motorcyclists, with a 42
per cent fall in the overall rate of collisions.

Speaking on the report, BMF Chairman Anna Zee said: "Considering that
the Mayor set a target for a 40% casualty reduction across London and
the only group that has not met this are motorcyclists, this is a
disgraceful affair. The report was available in September but has been
suppressed for political reasons. Lives are being put at risk for
political expediency."

Comparing the trial routes of Brixton Road and Finchley Road with a
control route, the report found that accidents directly involving
motorcycles fell by 45 per cent, while those on the control route
increased by 19 per cent. Also down were pedestrian casualties by 39
per cent against a three per cent rise on control route.

On the perceived danger to cyclists, the report shows that collisions
between cyclists and motorcyclists fell by 44 per cent. Summarising,
the draft report said: "These figures demonstrate that crashes
involving powered two-wheelers and other vulnerable road-users become
more infrequent even when considering the increased concentration of
riders."

A year ago the BMF welcomed the news that a TfL review was underway of
its trials that ran between 2002 and 2005, but has bemoaned the fact
that despite repeated requests, the report has still not been
published.

Commenting on reports that Mayoral staff have now ordered a re-write of
the report to avoid a green backlash from the cycle lobby, the BMF say
that this is like living in a dictatorship where everything is
manipulated to suit the state.

BMF Spokesman Jeff Stone said: "I've been involved with the campaign
for wider bus lane access for over twelve years now. These findings
match what we know from elsewhere and I find it bizarre that an
expensive report set up to establish the facts has confirmed what we
have been saying but has been suppressed because it doesn't suit.
This smacks of political interference from the highest level."

The name of this blog is currently "Chris's Goldwing Blog" and that's a pretty accurate name as far as most of it''s content currently goes but I have a problem.

I love my Goldwing better than any bike I have owned to date although I have done many more miles on other bikes, none has come close to the all-round road going performance of the Goldwing. Yes, "all-round" is what I said, although I modified it with "road going" by which I meant paved (metalled) roads. It's fast comfortable and handles like a dream. If it wasn't such an expensive bike, I'd take it to a track and turn it loose but replacing any of the Tupperware is likely to cost a bomb and I am just not going to risk it.

So - what's the problem? Simply this, I already have another bike - the ZZR and am about to acquire a third, the F 800 GS. Neither of these resembles a Goldwing in any shape or form so if I write about them am I going to disappoint the masses who, misled by the name of the blog, came looking for thoughtful stuff on the 'wing :) I dunno, but Chris's Bike Blog has a certain ring to it so I might just make that change one morning..

Meanwhile, I am having to think about selling the ZZR, I am running out of space in my garage and I am afraid there is really only one answer. So for anyone in search of a great sports tourer at a very reasonable price - make me an offer!

My New Bike!

Well, not quite but I have put a deposit on one..

I went to the MCN show at Excel yesterday and this was what I needed to tip the balance. As soon as I saw the bike in the flesh, I knew I had to have it and then, when I got on it and found it fit me like a glove, standing and sitting, only a seizure or fire alarm would have kept me from pulling out the plastic. With luck I might see it in March but that would be really lucky as everyone is saying that the UK allocation is not large and that there have been a lot of pre-orders already. Well, it's something to look forward to!

I often say there's no such thing as a bad bike and I am generous enough to include even Harleys in that statement - however, it will be along time before one of these ever graces my garage! Actually, I suspect this model could be quite a bit of fun.

Seaside Sun

Yesterday was a lovely day and I took the Goldwing to the seaside - Eastbourne to be precise. Although the sun was bright and warm in sheltered spots, Beachy Head doesn't quite fit that description - it felt very reminiscent of Patagonia with a strong wind and a substantial wind chill factor. Riding along, I had been conscious of the wind although it didn't budge the bike and I stayed very comfortable behind the screen. There is really no doubt in my mind that for paved road, the Goldwing is the very best touring bike one can buy.

This notwithstanding, I am thinking seriously of getting a dual sport bike for some off-road touring and am currently lusting after the new BMW 800GS - I am off to the London Bike show on Thursday and this might just be the point at which lust becomes a deposit on a new bike...

Good weather for a while

In between the wet stuff I had a nice ride yesterday in sunshine, if rather cold sunshine and because the sun is so low in the sky at the moment, potentially dangerous sunshine. Because it was very cold I put on a balaclava, then my Arai helmet with the headset installed because I wanted to listen to my iPod. Only trouble was, that this is a tight helmet at the best of times - so tight in fact that I couldn't then get my sunglasses on. To hell with it I decided - I put my BMW System 5 on with enough room for balaclava and sunglasses but not equipped with a headset. Still, in the circumstances I figured warmth and vision were more important than music.

I was very glad of the heated grips and heated seat as I headed south at 08:30, also the big screen. Really, the Goldwing is a very civilised machine! I stopped by the BMW dealer at Pembury and bought myself a new visor which I need, my old one being rather scratched. I got one I didn't know existed for the helmet - a double visor that cuts fogging, it's also supposed to be scratch resistant. They didn't have any tinted visors which the low sun prompted me to ask for and they advised me that I would have to order one from Southern Ireland as they weren't allowed to sell them in this country. God how I hate this fucking government we have.

I enquired about the new BMW F800 GS - they are due in March apparently. I really lust after one of these but to be honest I am not sure where I''d ride it. There is no off-road opportunity for miles around. Perhaps I'll get a trailer made for the Goldwing and haul it off to Spain!

One thing struck me about the bike yesterday and that was something I had noticed but forgotten to mention before. The gearbox is much smoother than it was when the bike was new. I had criticised the box for being agricultural previously and it is still not the best I have used ( I think that honour goes to the ZZR) but it is now changing very sweetly - I guess I must have knocked a few corners off here and there!