A frenzy of farkles.....

The last couple of days have been pretty good in terms of farkles, albeit quite diverse in function.  The first item arrived in the post yesterday....

A fellow Street Triple owner in Perth, Australia (cheers Allan!) alerted me to some very nice swing arm crash bobbins on EBay.  I don't plan on crashing anytime soon (fingers and everything else crossed) but their design has another nice feature.  As the Triple only has a side stand, lubricating the chain and doing laser wheel alignment requires the use of a paddock stand.  With the previous home made locators for the stand arms, there was always a risk of scratching the paint. The new crash bobbins double as locators for my paddock stand and the shape of them keeps the arms clear of the swing arm too.  Relatively unobtrusive as well.  A great result all round!

The new swing arm bobbins/paddock stand locator

The next farkles arrived by courier today......

With the exception of the Damascus Steel carving knife we commissioned  a few years back (story and photos HERE ), our kitchen knives purchased over the past 4 decades have been cheap and utter crap (a technical term) and simply won't hold an edge.  In fact, a carpentry saw might give a better result. I suppose I'm the last of the moto-bloggers to cotton on to the value of really good kitchen knives!!!

Finally losing patience, we recently investigated what might be described as high end kitchen knives.  The first reaction was "Bloody heck" (another technical term), mainly as a result of the eye-watering price.  I reckon that NZ kitchen accessory shops could teach the Mafia a lesson or two in terms of extortion.  Fortunately, the Internet is a wondrous thing and we found a supplier in the US who specialises in internet sales to keep overheads to a minimum.  Not only would they ship to NZ at a saner price but he gave some excellent impartial advice to help us navigate through the bewildering minefield of specifications.  Their advice was that you didn't need many knives at all, but quality was everything.  We ended up with these 4 knives:

Tojiro ITK 270mm blade bread knife (also great for melons and the like)

It has a thin, hard core to keep a lethal edge, sheathed with a surgical grade stainless steel and like all the knives we bought, the general "feel" and balance is light years ahead of our other knives.

These are the rest:

Wusthof Ikon 4 1/2" utility knife, Wusthof Classic 6" serrated utility knife, Tojiro 15cm utility knife

Haven't had time to use them properly yet but have seen an impressive demo of the bread knife on YouTube and at lunchtime, I cut a soft tomato with the serrated utility knife - it's like it's cutting through air!!!  Incidentally, the Wusthof Ikon 4 1/2" utility knife was the most expensive of the lot at just under US$100 - go figure that one! At least Jennie can't grizzle about the outrageous price of bike accessories any more!

As a final comment, I'm inclined to think that internet shopping has made suppliers world-wide really lift their game in terms of quality of service.  Whether it be motorcycle parts or anything else, I'm  struggling to think of an example of having been on the receiving end of poor service in the last couple of years. If only the same could be said of our local councils and some notorious banks where poor service is the norm, rather than the exception!

Addendum:
A nice sharpening jig arrived today.  You can set the sharpening angle and it comes with 4 stones between 400 and 1800 grit.  Tried it on one of our crappy old knives and it works perfectly.  I'm useless with a steel and this delivers a professional finish even when operated by a complete idiot like me!

 Idiot-proof sharpening jig

What's in a number?

The number is 65 and the answer is there is absolutely nothing bad about this number!

 Me in Dad's helmet, aged 5

I was going to keep quiet but it would seem that quite a number of people somehow know (thanks for the good wishes guys - you know who you are) that I hit the milestone of 65 last Thursday.  Best to get in first and admit it before someone else writes a pack of lies in their blog!  In a lot of countries, this officially signifies OLD FART status as it's traditionally (not by law) the time to retire and receive national superannuation courtesy of the government.

Maybe there might have been a bit of introspection had I not deliberately retired at 60, thanks to a very good company superannuation scheme and some investments but at present,  I feel quite enthusiastic about frittering the government's forthcoming contribution on wine, women and song! Well, wine anyway..... I can't sing and pursuing hot chicks would see me sucking my meals through a straw in a hospital casualty ward at the very least!

Almost respectable, aged 20 or thereabouts

In all seriousness, I reckon birthday milestones shouldn't really influence how you organise your life.  Let me explain.....

Back in 1987 when I was 40, my best friend Alan and I were rising through the management ranks in one of NZ's biggest manufacturing companies.  Long hours, good pay, fulfilling careers with the downside being that perhaps we didn't spend as much time with our young families as we should - the classic dilemma.  Then everything changed.

Early one evening, we got a phone call from the police.  Alan had lost his life in a car accident and would I please go with them straight away to break the news to his family.  Putting it simply, having to do something like that once in your lifetime is once too many. I won't dwell on the incident but the impact was profound and from then on, the focus dramatically changed to never putting anything off in life so that we never had to say the dreaded words, "If only..........".   Since then, Jennie and I (and our kids) have gone out of our way to do all sorts of stuff and experience different things from pursing personal and shared interests, through to a bit of community voluntary work.  We've kept ourselves pretty busy but that doesn't matter at all when what you do is fulfilling and enriching.  And importantly, we've had fun and laughed a lot - particularly at ourselves!

In my late 50's - bottom of the South Island on the

Southern Cross round NZ in 5 days endurance ride

Back on a motorcycling theme, regular readers will be aware that last year, I joined the Institute of Advanced Motorists which arguably sets the highest advanced riding standards anywhere, based on UK police rider training.  Passing their full membership test and now hopefully not far off becoming an Observer has in all honesty been the highlight of my riding career (spanning 50 years next year) and I'm unbelievably proud to have met those goals .  More importantly, it's made me a much better rider which will hopefully extend my riding career.  It's also allowed me to put something back into a lifelong passion. It's challenges like this with more than a dash of irreverence and humour thrown in which will continue to make the number of years lived so far just a number, nothing more!  And definitely no "If onlys....".

Out on the town celebrating last Thursday

- both of us have the giggles!

A Walk on the Wild Side - Auckland's west coast

We have just got back from a few days away and it's been quite an occasion!  Most of our IAM training rides take place on the roads to the west of Auckland and the topography in that area is mainly dense bush and twisty, technical roads with wild surf beaches.  Jennie has never been out that way and I've only had a fleeting visit to one of the beaches themselves so it was a good opportunity  to spend a couple of days exploring together out that way.

The forecast was for stormy weather which was the perfect conditions for seeing surf beaches.  The Street Triple stayed safely tucked up at home and we headed off in Jennie's MX 5 to stay at our Auckland-based son's house to get an early start the next day.  The first surprise was when our daughter arrived unexpectedly (also Auckland-based) to take me out to a show as an an advance birthday present for later in the month.  And what a show it was!!!  The famous UK comedian and classically-trained musician Bill Bailey was giving a one-man performance and I'd have to say that it was one of the most memorable I'd ever been to.  Laughed until I hurt all over and his musical talent with all manner of instruments was unbelievable.  Clearly a lot of collusion among the family to get me there and something deeply appreciated.   For those who have never seen Bill Bailey at work, the short following clip is an example of both his deadpan humour and musical talent Cow Bells.  His hour-long YouTube Guide to the Orchestra is outstanding.

The next morning, we set off for Muriwai, the northernmost of the surf beaches and the GPS decided to try and send us 576 km south to an unknown Muriwai Road which was clearly not our intended destination!  There are times to trust your intuition and we found the proper destination pretty much by dead reckoning.  From then on, the GPS behaved impeccably!  The stay wasn't a long one despite the really impressive surf as the wind was picking up huge amounts of sand and with no shelter, the car was getting a real hiding, not to mention black sand getting in our mouth, hair and eyes, the moment we stepped outside!

Next stop Bethells Beach, some 30 km away by road.  The roads in this area are narrow and winding through native bush but during spring, the bush is dotted with flowering trees and the spectacular native clematis shown in the next photo.

NZ native Clematis

Bethells beach was magnificent.  Huge surf driven by the high winds but we were sheltered by a large hill at one end of the beach for much of our walk.  There was no-one about and the black clouds, black sand and white surf made for a great contrast.  The surf lifesaving season has yet to start and the empty small lifeguard tower added to the lonely atmosphere of the place.  Not a place to go on your own and get into trouble.

Bethell's Beach - the perfect weather to visit

White shell and black sand contrast

Wind erosion on the dunes

At the far end of the beach, there was a warning about quicksand.........

How's your insurance, honey????

Time to visit the next beach south for a late lunch.  Piha is the most frequented of the west coast surf beaches and is featured in an annual surf lifesaving TV series, mainly featuring young, bulletproof foreign tourists who deliberately ignore instructions to swim between the flags and make headlines for all the wrong reasons.  

 Piha from the lookout

There's a good mix of permanent and holiday homes in the hills at Piha. The smaller holiday homes are known as baches, apparently a contraction of the old phrase "bachelor pads" from long ago when mining and logging operations etc provided basic accommodation for single men.

Typical NZ coastal baches

A few hardy surfers, despite the cold conditions

Our accommodation that evening was nestled in native bush in the hills overlooking Karekare beach.  NZ IAM member Keith (HD Sportster) and his wife Ann own a beautiful home with separate high quality visitor accomodation.  Keith was at work in the city when we arrived but Ann welcomed us with fresh chocolate cake and settled us in.  It's a beautiful location full of native birds and views to die for.  There's also an outdoor heated spa pool in the bush for a romantic evening...... or any time come to that ;-).

View from the front garden

Our accommodation

The guest lounge

View from the bedroom

Keith and Ann are the most wonderful hosts and next morning, we enjoyed a sumptuous breakfast of fresh fruits, cereals and toast.  We would loved to have stayed longer but alas, we had friends to meet south of Auckland so bid our reluctant goodbyes.  Very happy to recommend Lone Kauri Lodge as it's an oasis of tranquillity with great walking tracks and beaches nearby.  IAM members even get a good discount!!!

All in all, a wonderful trip exploring Auckland's wild west coast and hope you've enjoyed the journey.....

A run in the sun (at last)

Today was the monthly IAM training run in Auckland which necessitates getting up at 0530 to ride the 180-odd km to get there.  If that wasn't bad enough, the clocks went forward to NZ Daylight Saving time last night so it was pitch black for the first part of the ride!  However, the forecast was for warm and sunny conditions which was a change from our woeful recent weather.

We knew it would be a good turnout with 4 potential new members (2 women, 2 guys) turning up too but as it happened, several Observers were unable to make it at the last minute.  A couple attended fellow moto-blogger and IAM member Roger's birthday celebration the previous evening so there might be a reason for their no-show.  The words "ill" or "looking after the kids" might be cover for another root cause :-).  Good on ya Rog, your hospitality knows no bounds!

The shortage of Observers to assess the advanced trainees meant a hurried reshuffle and Rog and I found ourselves with 2 trainees each to assess and coach.  I had Alan, a BMW adventure bike rider who is very skilled and will be sitting his full membership test before long.  I also had Charlotte, a sound engineer from a major TV network who had come along for the first time on her lovely black Bonneville.

Great turn-out.  Charlotte and Alan's bikes in the foreground

Introducing Charlotte and her Bonnie

After explaining the rules for the ride and assessment process to Charlotte, hopefully setting her at her ease and setting up bike-to-bike comms, we all discussed the route which was a technical mix of urban work, open country sweepers and tight, narrow back roads  with regular changes in posted speed limits.  Delighted to say that Charlotte had an absolutely fantastic attitude and soaked up the comments and suggestions which will move her from an already competent rider to a truly advanced one.  She wants to come back and learn more so I can't have been that much of a bastard!!  Alan had an exemplary ride, confirming that a check ride prior to sitting his full test is imminent.  Well done both of you!

Socialising after the ride

With all the written assessments out of the way and everyone relaxing, Philip, our Chief Examiner, gave a demo for those who hadn't previously seen one of the correct method to pick up a bike by walking it up backwards.  Philip is slightly built but made it look easy and his Honda ST1300 must be one of the heavier bikes around, with a high centre of gravity.  The highlight for me was Roger having a go, mainly in anticipation of him stuffing up (that's what friends are for after all).  Kudos to Roger though and here's the evidence:

Taking the strain.......

....and up she comes!

Any riding day is a great day, but the great weather and excellent company made it 420 km of sheer pleasure!

Only a wee bit about bikes....

We moto-bloggers tend to post about riding safety a fair bit and quite rightly so but I forgot a cardinal rule around the home late yesterday. Consequently I'm paying for it right now and having a quiet day of not doing very much at all.

A small area in our garden is paved with treated wooden blocks which have a coefficient of friction when wet that any budding perpetual motion inventor would lust after - even small animals and insects steer well clear of it. (you can see what's coming, can't you?).

In a hurry to finish a couple of chores before heading off for our weekly evening pub quiz competition, crossing those darned blocks is not exactly the best time to be distracted.  We'd just had a light shower of rain and........

This is going to hurt.......

(courtesy Poolcenter.com)

Gravity, even from a short way off the ground ensures a rough landing and there I lay in light drizzle hurting and wondering what the hell happened.  Jennie was indoors and oblivious to all this as I made tentative movements to see if there were any unusual grating sensations and wishing Mummy was there to make it all better.  Mercifully, there were no breaks although my shoulder aches and it hurts when I cough - just strained chest muscles I hope.  Didn't try to play the sympathy card as I've planned to do something about those darned blocks all winter so the response would have been predictable.  (This has been the ultimate prompt to do something sooner rather than later).  No doubt there will be some interesting colours coming out on the body over the next day or two but don't feel too bad right now having swallowed some anti-inflammatories and rubbed in Voltaren Emugel.  Just hope I'm not too stiff to take part in the IAM ride on Sunday or I'll never hear the end of it from a certain other Kiwi blogger who will see it as his mission in life to tell the other riders!!

Back to the subject of bikes, I had an experience on the Auckland motorway a few days ago which was a timely reminder that even with a high standard of riding, motorcyclists are still at risk.  I was in a line of traffic in the outside lane, moving marginally faster than the next lane in.  Leaving a decent gap to the vehicle in front, I was slowly going past a 4x4 in the next lane.  I was just past the driver's seating position when I sensed as much as actually seeing that his front wing was swinging across to the space I currently occupied!  Delighted to say that's where the IAM training kicked in with muscle memory instantly triggering an avoidance manoeuvre.  No fright, no nothing other than an instantaneous control response - pretty darned pleased with the level of internal discipline.  Reflecting on that incident, a couple of things come to mind.  In the last post reviewing David Hough's new motorcycle book, he talks about prominent vehicles capturing another driver's attention to the extent of ignoring smaller objects (like me!).  This near miss could very well have been an example of this phenomenon.  The driver may well have been fixated on the vehicle in front of me and combined with the decent space I'd left, simply assumed it was ok for him to change lanes.  Guess he'd never heard of doing a lifesaver or shoulder check.  Just take care out there everyone!

Finally, a friend has just introduced me to a supremely talented young Australian musician with a wicked sense of humour.  I can't remember when I've laughed so hard, which hurt rather a lot, given the current state of my ribs.  The satirical song Tim Minchin sings about young children is music to the ears of grandparents in particular, but also parents after they've regained their sense of humour.  I particularly dedicate this YouTube video to our fellow blogger and recent father again Chillertek !!  Incidentally, Tim Minchin has many more hilarious YouTube videos which can't fail to brighten your day.......

Mastering the Ride, 2nd Edition. David L Hough

 David Hough's eagerly-awaited new book

ISBN 978-193548486-B

 (All photos reproduced from the book)

It's always a great occasion when David L Hough puts out a new book, even more so when the great man sends you an autographed copy, but more on that later!

We all know that there are large numbers of motorcycling "improve your skills" books on the market and without spending a fortune, choosing what to read becomes a formidable task.  I have mixed views about the title of the book.  The first "Mastering the Ride" was released nearly 10 years ago.  I wonder whether some potential readers who are familiar with David's earlier books might hesitate to buy it, thinking that it may simply be a cosmetic rehash of earlier work.  At least I'm able to publicly state here that that anyone thinking that would be making a seriously BIG mistake!  How do I know?  Well, when David was putting the material together, I was genuinely privileged to be shown some draft material and asked for some feedback.  Over a period of a couple of months, there were quite a few emails flying back and forth asking for clarification of particular aspects, sharing experiences or arguing the toss!

Some otherwise good skills books can nonetheless be quite hard going.  They can being overly prescriptive without the benefit of clearly explaining why you should follow a particular course of action.  We each respond to learning in slightly different ways but from a personal viewpoint, having some background as to why a particular course of action is being recommended really helps me to engage with what is being presented and retain that information.  It's this aspect which helps David to stand tall among his peers. In other words, he treats his readers as adults, giving sufficient background in terms of photos and clear text to get his point across with a complete absence of self-promotion.  Here is an example:

Just how much did that car driver about to cut across your lane really see?

In the chapter about conspicuity, David discusses visual priorities.  A big, intimidating vehicle may draw the eye in terms visual priority and a motorcycle being in front of it might not even register in the brain with potentially dangerous consequences.  This then leads to what motorcyclists can do for themselves  in terms of conspicuity tactics. A fascinating and insightful chapter - I learned a lot about this subject.

In a discussion on rider training, a graph of the USA motorcycle fatality rate is presented, showing an upward-trending increase.  An argument is presented that in the US, the motorcycle industry quite properly promotes getting as many people as possible to share our passion BUT that the industry's training developers created a very simple "learn to ride" course and a commensurately easy skills test.   Many new riders may feel that having been "anointed" once, this adequately equips them for the rest of their riding  career.  David then discusses independent training courses for renewing/enhancing your skills and where training can be tailored to specific needs of students at any level of their experience.   This is music to my ears having been exposed for the last 18 months or so to the "continuous improvement" environment of IAM advanced roadcraft.  You never stop learning and the moment when you think that there's nothing else to learn is when you put yourself at extreme risk.

There's a specific chapter on improving situational awareness although this topic manifiests itself time and time again in other parts of the book  when dealing with particular road and traffic conditions.

Spot the errors!

The photo above reminded me of  a ride home on my bike from Auckland a week ago.  On the Southern Motorway in reasonably dense traffic, I was followed by another rider who positioned himself too closely, and in my blind spot.  He would also occasionally switch to another lane which occasionally moved faster than the one we were in to try and make progress.  It was clear that he wasn't scanning ahead for a sufficient distance because he got baulked several times as the traffic in that lane slowed.  He would not only lose his place behind me, but to the following vehicles in my lane too.  Had he looked well down the motorway, it would have been clear what was happening.  This is what David refers to as developing "expert eyeballs".

There are many more chapters in this book dealing with other aspects of motorcycling which are treated in the same depth and background analysis than the ones I've briefly described.  However, I'd like to conclude this review by mentioning the section covering the Ageing Rider.  This is is of profound importance as coping strategies are rarely discussed in the public arena..  Consider the following table:

Quite a change in the demographics

The average age of riders continues to increase for all sorts of reasons.  Probably one of the biggest ones is the switch from a cheap form of transport from a younger person to a lifestyle choice for an older one.  This presents all kinds of potential difficulties in terms health, skill, motorcycle choice and so on and if you get that combination wrong, it could mean a world of pain at a time when you're supposed to be enjoying life.

Resulting from an earlier blog article I'd written, David wrote to me and asked when I was going to get off my arse and do something about upskilling (my words, not his but the meaning was abundantly clear!).  It was our subsequent correspondence which lead to a whole load of data collection through various international motorcycle websites about attitudes and intent.  This chapter summarises some of that material and I'm hopeful that David will write a stand-alone publication on the topic as there's a substantial need.  Really proud to have played a small part in this chapter.  Regular readers of this blog will also remember that it was the exchange of emails with David which "got me off my arse" and train with the IAM, arguably one of the world's best advanced roadcraft training courses and for that, I owe him big time.

David's pals Andy Goldfine (l) and Fred Rau (r)

In summary, no book can replace high quality ongoing roadcraft training but this one is an absolutely outstanding adjunct.  It will help prepare riders to lift their skills by better understanding the background to many issues.  It is also invaluable to an experienced or advanced rider as a refresher to help arrest that imperceptible slide in skills which happens to us all if we don't frequently work on our riding skills.

Simply put, this is a wonderful book and you won't regret buying it!

Bikers in Blue charity run

Blue September is the Prostate Cancer Foundation fund-raising month in NZ.  There are all sorts of events to raise money for this worthy cause and the Fat Bikers Motorcycle Club organised charity rides in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.  IAM members were asked to go along and show the flag and it didn't take much prompting!

Unfortunately, the weather didn't co-operate in the early morning with torrential rain (it's been a very wet winter in the north island of NZ) and the 2 1/2 hour ride from Coromandel to Auckland to get to the start of the ride was awful, with a lot of standing water about.  To make matters worse, the zip zipper-up thingy on my overjacket exploded en route without me being aware until a rivulet of icy water ran down my chest.  Never mind, good excuse to visit an accessory shop in the next few days!

The Triple all decked out in blue tinsel

Fortunately, the rain stopped shortly after arriving and the roads dried out pretty quickly for the run itself which was great.

All manner of sports bikes and cruisers came along and the next photo of a Suzuki Gladius with a life-sized dummy on the back is especially for Brandy.  It might give her ideas for punishing Brad if he's blotted his copybook ;-).

A seating position to make your eyes water!

There were some nicely finished bikes there and the Suzuki M109 clearly had a lot of money spent on it.

Beautiful M109 with blue helmet hair!

Didja notice the nitrous bottle in the previous photo?

Another M109 from the front!

An awful lot of Can-Ams

Mark (Fat Max) Hill, the FBMC front man; gave a hilarious ride briefing where he had everyone in stitches.  At the end of the ride, there were heaps of donated raffle prizes with Mark again as the MC.  We all know that events like this take a huge amount of organising but Mark and his team made it all look easy.  The hallmark of very slick work.  A big well done guys! 

 Love the tee shirt Mark!

To end on an appropriate note, Mark talked for a bit about prostate cancer and what I didn't realise is that 1 in 10 men will suffer from it at some time in their life.  That's a pretty high percentage and I'll be ringing the doc to get a test in the next few days.  Thanks Mark, you're a gem - I'll even buy you a pie from the Coromandel Pie Company if you get up this way!

Introducing Ken, IAM Vespa Scooterista!

Crikey, this retirement business takes some organising!  Between doing voluntary work helping local senior citizens to use computers, acting as an unpaid carpenter for our offspring and IAM motorcycling involvement, there aren't many spare hours left in the day.  Still, at least we get to choose what we want to do and when to do it for much of the time!

Yesterday was no different as I'd promised to take out an IAM Associate, Ken, from Auckland to brush up on his open road skills.  There had been a snow dump in the central north island high country the previous day and although it was sunny, the strong southerly made it as cold as charity.  Wasn't looking forward to the early morning 2 hour run up to Auckland in those conditions so it was a case of piling on plenty of layers of Icebreaker merino clothing under the padded Gore-Tex riding gear and even slipping Rain-Off mitts over my winter gloves as a further insulation which paid off in spades. The trip was really enjoyable, simply by staying warm and by the time I reached Auckland, temperatures had lifted (just) into double digits C; although wind chill was quite noticeable.

Ken and I arrived within minutes of each other at a service complex just off the Southern Motorway - let me introduce Ken:

Time for a warming coffee and cake before the ride!

A lot of people think that  advanced roadcraft training with IAM is the exclusive province of big, fast roadbikes and whilst a lot of members do own big bikes, it's certainly not their exclusive domain.  Ken is a scooter enthusiast from way back, owning a 200cc Vespa.  He shares the common desire of other IAM members to ride safely to one of the highest roadcraft standards anywhere.  In an urban environment, small capacity scooters compete on an equal footing with any other bike but out of town, a high level of ride planning and situational awareness is required to meet the IAM requirement of "making progress".  Consequently, the decision was taken to plot a route which Ken wasn't terribly familiar with on 2 wheels just south of Auckland.  It incorporated a small amount of motorway (freeway) work, but mainly covered country roads of varying width, sweepers, blind bends and altitude changes.  A great challenge for Ken in terms of positioning and gear selection to make consistently good progress in unfamiliar territory!

Getting ready for the "off" - really nice Teknic jacket Ken!

The ride was deliberately set up to be "informal" so there was no documented marking, enabling Ken to concentrate on one aspect of the roadcraft requirement without the stress of an "official" observation. After a short briefing and connecting his excellent Scala comms set to my helmet, we set off.   The benefit of concentrating on one single aspect of roadcraft in this instance became immediately apparent with Ken attacking the conditions with enthusiasm.  The bike to bike comms was a huge bonus, allowing both of us to offer up relevant information at exactly the right time for maximum impact. Without going into the minutiae of the ride, Ken acquitted himself really well and the scooter also coped pretty well in the strong winds which prevailed on some of the ridge tops. Equally importantly, it was fun for both of us!  After one or two more mentoring rides of this nature plus some solo practice, there's little doubt that the official IAM observed rides will show a significant jump in open road confidence and performance. (A more succinct phrase would be ride it like you stole it Ken!)

Yours truly, looking like Michelin Man but warm as toast!

I guess that the main point of this post is that no matter what you ride, there is no good reason not to aspire to riding to the very highest standards.  The other relevant thing is a comment by both motorcyling guru David Hough and Oregon-based instructor Dan Bateman that the instructor/mentor gets as much, if not more out of training sessions as the trainee.  On top of those benefits, the fact that the IAM operates on a completely voluntary basis, there's no downside whatsoever.  Thanks for a great morning Ken!

To finish on an entirely different note, here's a job advertisement from an NZ south island newspaper for someone to work on weed control on Department of Conservation land.  Isn't it wonderful to see a bit of plain talking in today's politically-correct environment?  Well done that company!!!

A motorcycle book par excellence!

by Neil Bradford

Motorcycling tends to attract independent-minded people, those who like both freedom and the extra challenge and thrill of 2 wheels compared with 4.  Perhaps it's also fair to say that most of us are free spirits to some extent with a few eccentricities thrown in for good measure!  Something to be proud of in this day and age when the pressures to conform, standardise and sanitise are ever-present.

This anthology covers motorcycling tales from the early 20th century right through to the present day written by both sexes. Some of the writers were unknown to me before reading this book, others are household names.  They have different writing styles (which is part of the joy of this book) but no matter who they are, the same passions and sensations that we experience as motorcyclists are shared by all of the writers, irrespective of their status or experiences.  I found myself nodding in agreement, grinning and sometimes moved as they committed their feelings to paper.

The title of the book comes from the Aramaic word Boanerges which T.E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) called each successive Brough Superior motorcycle which he owned. It literally means Sons of Thunder and it sits well!

The feats of some of the early writers almost defy belief, like Theresa Wallach and Florence Blenkiron who in 1935, rode a 600cc single cylinder Panther with a sidecar from London through Africa, including the Sahara Desert.  Similar journeys today with all the modern equipment are still a major undertaking, let alone nearly 80 years ago!

Whilst T.E Lawrence was serving in the Royal Air Force, he describes riding through the English country lanes at full throttle on a twice-weekly shopping trip to buy sausages and bacon. All pretty innocuous but he then adds the sentence that every motorcyclist will identify with:  

"For months, I have been making my evening round, twice a week, riding a hundred miles for the joy of it and picking up the best food cheapest, over half the countryside".

We all know about the journey, not the destination being the important bit, don't we?

The fabled Lawrence of Arabia with his Brough
(file photo)

LJK (Len) Setright was an English eccentric who gave up law for motoring journalism.  His command of the English language is simply superb and he was also gifted with a deep technical knowledge of anything automotive.  Even though his essays are often complex with rich language, it was one paragraph written several decades ago which caught my eye as I thought it only applied to the modern world.  He's on his motorcycle en route to play in an orchestra:

" ....I almost got to Rochester to encounter the tail of what proved to be a 6 mile queue. As carefully as one does in such circumstances, I rode past it all - and was dismayed by the anger and hostility of all those stationary motorists, blaring their horns or even waving fists at me.  There was no way in which I could have been harming them, but the thought that I was going and they were not aroused furious jealousy".

And we've all felt a similar frisson of malicious satisfaction, haven't we?

The wonderfully eccentric "LJK"

(file photo)

Very few people will not have heard of flambouyant American writer, Hunter S Thompson.  He was asked by Cycle World magazine to road test a Ducati Superbike and his narrative is largely about that experience.  He notes that he's not without mental and physical scars from previous accidents, yet can't help himself from taking it out and thrashing it within an inch of it's (and his) life.  This sentence of his sums it up rather neatly:

"A thoroughbred Cafe Racer will ride all night through a fog storm in freeway traffic to put himself into what somebody told him was the ugliest and tightest diminishing-radius loop since Ghengis Khan invented the corkscrew."

Yep, if most of us are honest, we've been there and done that!

Hunter S Thompson

(file photo)

Valentino Rossi (aka The Doctor) must be pretty close to a household name, even among non-motorcycling families. His book extract gives a wonderful insight to the world of Grand Prix racing where the very top riders not only know their own bikes intimately, but their opponents and the characteristics of their bikes too. He says

"You've studied your main opponent's trajectories, the way he takes every turn; you know where he's strongest and where his weaknesses are, you know where he's vulnerable if you attack him.  It's the ultimate rush."

He describes his battle with Max Biaggi on the last race of the year for the World Championship title.  Biaggi is leading, Rossi has sussed out where Biaggi is weakest but daren't try to pass him too early as it will only work once - chess on 2 wheels!  So he leaves it until the last lap and the last tough corner of that lap.  The mark of a true champion with that much at stake.  Two rivals at their absolute limit - what incredible reading.

Valentino Rossi

(Motorcycle USA)

I bought the electronic version of the book though Amazon.  There are no photos but this in no way detracts because the writing is so powerful and evocative.  Don't know if there are photos in the hard copy version. The e-book cost ~$10.  I would have happily paid a lot more for it.

There are 28 separate essays/book extracts and everyone a gem in its own right.  The other great thing about this anthology is now being able to track down some of the original books from which these extracts came to provide many more years of enjoyable reading.  Overall, this is the best motorcycling book I've read for years.  Although the subject matter of each story is quite different, they all carry the assertion which we already know.......  motorcyclists are different from most of the world's population, motorcycling is not about getting from A to B, motorcycling lifts the soul.

Rectification and a rapid ride....

Last week, I had a message from my Triumph dealer in Hamilton that there was general recall for Triumph Street Triples and 675 Daytonas up to a certain VIN number to have the voltage regulator/rectifier replaced.  I've never had any bother in nearly 3 years of ownership but from looking at a couple of Triumph forums, some others have been less fortunate.  There was a similar problem with Honda Blackbirds pre-2002 and although the issue had been present for a number of years, Honda-San made no attempt to sort the problem out with owners who broke down, often in out of the way places.  It therefore came as a delightful surprise to learn that Triumph would be replacing the R/R at their cost, including labour - maximum Kudos to them!

The dealer is some 170 km away but as we've had some nice sunny days for a change, it was a good opportunity today to beat the winter blues and go for a decent, rapid ride.  I must say that before setting off, there was some vague unease as to whether Sod's Law would strike with a R/R failure on its last run before replacement; leaving me stranded somewhere in the countryside. Fears turned out to be unfounded of course.

Radar detector locked and loaded!

Most of the journey is through countryside and a "brisk" pace could be maintained with minimal other traffic about.  Rocking up to the Hamilton Motorcycle Centre is always such a pleasant experience because not only are their team on top of their game in terms of competence, the relationship with their customers is flawless.  On pulling up, Matt, the senior workshop technician and one of his team walked out to say hi and that they were ready for me - still getting my riding gear off whilst it was wheeled inside!

Prepping it before hoisting it to eye level

The photo below shows the old R/R (the finned block) just to the left of the monoshock.  Not only is it directly behind the engine, it runs down the axis of the bike so there isn't much area exposed to cooling air and these mothers run hot!!  It would be a really fiddly job, but the guys simply unbolted the top of the rear shock which made it a straightforward exercise.

Not a job for large hands!

Pristine new R/R

The new R/R has a transverse mounting, exposing a bigger surface area to cool air so that should aid reliability, together with whatever they've done to the internals.

New R/R bolted in place

Whilst the guys were putting it together again, I strolled into the showroom to see what goodies I could drool over.  Readers who have seen previous posts about the Hamilton visits may remember that the dealership covers Triumph, Ducati and Kawasaki. First bike to drool over was a Ducati 848 Corse.  This must be one of the most beautiful bikes on the market - absolute design excellence.  I'm not sure that my knees would bend far enough to get my boots on the pegs but if we won Lotto, I'd buy one as a lounge ornament (err... subject to CEO permission of course).

 

Talk about going weak at the knees!

Every line carefully crafted

The seat is a work of art by itself

The 3 pipes of the Tiger Explorer 1200

Retro chic Bonneville - extremely attractive in the flesh

Blue and white Bonneville - gorgeous, shiny engine

Early 2000's muscle bike - the Kawasaki 1200 ZRX

I love it!

If Darth Vader owned a bike, this would be it - the wicked ZX10R

Ducati 996 race bike - drool, slaver.......

Less than an hour after arriving, I was on my way again.  Is there any better way of spending a morning..... riding 350 km in great weather, looking at some fantastic bikes and dealing with a business which is right at the very top of its game - thanks a million guys for the magnificent service!