‘Oh why oh why is life so difficult’  I catch my self asking this dull Sunday morning.

The cause of this outburst ?  Well, it’s like this.  Come October/November time I’m looking to change my bike.  Having thought about it carefully, done my research and taken into account everything I want a bike to do I had settled on a Yamaha TDM900.  It’s a lovely bike, a nice upright seating position, good pillion accommodation, good fuel consumption, handles well and I can fit the luggage I want for touring.  They’re also available at the right price and have a great reputation with a lively forum to get support from when needed.  I also love the look of the bike.

Then I go out for a nice little ride down to Lulworth Cove with the Old Dragon.  As usual there were a bunch of bikers I have never met before all of who were also my best mates.  We

got talking to a great couple from Portsmouth who had turned up on a Suzuki Intruder.  They had recently traded in the Hayabusa for the cruiser and, aside from missing the power, were thoroughly enjoying biking at a slower pace.  It has been my privilege to ride a Victory Hammer, Vegas and Cross Country as well as a Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 Custom all of which I have thoroughly enjoyed so talking to my new best mates got me thinking again.

I would love to have 2 bikes.  The TDM900 for regular use, touring etc with a cruiser for those sunny Sundays but, like most people there are 2 major issues.  I don’t have the cash and I don’t have a large enough garage to store both in.  So there we go, there’s the dilemma.  I really want both but can only have one, but which one !  Could I make the cruiser work for touring ?  There’s no doubt the bike will do it but hard luggage is a non-starter.  Herself wouldn’t mind either but shows more interest in cruisers than the other.

I’ve a nasty feeling this debate could rattle on for a while yet !

Looking back over the last two years since my biking rebirth there are a few things that occur to me.

First off, and as a result of reflecting on the Welsh Road Trip, I can confirm that it is true that you can tour on any motorcycle.  However, some are better at it than others.  Jessica, a Suzuki GSX600F of 1999 vintage, is a sports bike, or at least was in her day.  The seating position means legs are fairly well bent and weight is thrown forwards onto the wrists due to the clip-on handle bars.  By comparison to todays sports bikes it’s all fairly relaxed and the description of sports tourer would probably be most appropriate.  Anyway, Jessica can easily carry all the camping equipment and clothing I need for a 2 week trip and, so long as the speeds stay around 80mph, will be perfectly comfortable…but let the speed drop and it isn’t long before muscles are screaming for mercy.

It’s a well known fact that the Adventure bike market is the biggest in the UK next to the scooter market, and the reason is that we’re all getting older, less flexible and less tolerant of dis-comfort.  Obviously I resemble that description and, after far too long below 80mph on our recent trip, have started to look around for a new bike.  What strikes me straight away is that there are many manufacturers who have produced suitable machinery but also a ridiculous level of snobbery.  I guess it’s a consequence of the biking demographic and a considerable dollop of delusion that leads many to believe the only possible solution is the BMW GS range.  Having given the matter much thought I can see the appeal but can’t yet see the rationale behind the massive popularity.  After all, how many of us will actually take these machines off road ?  Very few I would suggest, so why the need for the big diameter, narrow tyre’d front wheel that ruins the road manners of the bike.  If we put all the vanity aside then the choice is whittled down considerably and we come are left with the likes of the Triumph Tiger 1050,  Ducati Multi-Strada and even the ageing Yamaha TDM900.  Not being particularly flush in these difficult times I’m going to look for a nice example of the Yamaha.  All of these bikes are built around a comfortable upright riding position with large torquey engines that will allow many many miles to be covered in great comfort…exactly what I’m looking for !  Watch this space but I predict a shiny Yamaha TDM900 will make an appearance in the region of my garage before the end of the year, unless I win the lottery in which case it’ll be a Tiger 1050 !  Yamaha it is then.

Secondly, getting older has been a good thing.  In my mis-spent youth I hurtled around on a bike utterly convinced of my immortality and invincibility.  A few decades and a few hundred thousand miles later I know better.  If you’ve followed my blog you’ll know that it was one of my greatest fears on returning to biking.  I feared that the hooligan tendencies would be irresistible leading me to the inevitable site of my accident.  Fortunately this hasn’t been the case and I am genuinely older and wiser.  Whilst still not slow by any means, I do see situations developing and anticipate required actions far better than I would have done back in the day.  With any luck that will carry on just like that for many years to come.

And today I will be mainly wondering where the summer weather went !

Having spent Saturday running around after No.1 son to get him back from Uni for the summer, the Old Dragon and I thought it would be nice to spend some time out on Jessica on Sunday afternoon.  Although the forecast wasn’t great the day started nice, bright and warm.  Splendid I hear you say and funnily enough so did we.  Arrangements were made with Little Bro to meet at H Café just outside of Oxford and we were set to go.  As the weather is want to do the sky darkened as we were about to leave giving us cause for concern, but it soon passed.  Nay, nothing so obvious, not for this summers weather.  It waited for us to actually get 3 miles down the road before it rained.  Then, just as we were considering turning around, it stopped and the skies brightened again, so on we go.  All goes well until, sat at a table outside H Café complete with mug of tea with Little Bro, the day decides to tease us once again.  Discretion getting the better part of valour we all decided that 45 minutes of riding through torrential rain wasn’t really what we wanted from the day and set off for home hoping to get there quickly and avoid a soaking…..then it brightened up again…then it rained again…and stopped…and started again.  What’s going on !

Can we have a little more consistency with the weather please.  Being a bit of a lightweight it would be greatly appreciated if I could be sure if I was going to have a fun, dry ride or stay at home and watch the box.  It’s not much to ask…is it ?

Nearly there !

Little Bro and I are so very nearly off on our first road trip.  Bikes have been fettled, camping gear checked and re-proofed and the weather even looks encouraging.  Assuming the status quo continues the fun begins on Friday 25th May.

The plan is to travel from Hampshire to the far Southwest coast of Wales via Symonds Yat for lunch on Friday.  After that we will travel up the coast to Aberystwyth, inland through Snowdonia and back home.  As kids we spent many happy holidays around this wonderful countryside.

Russ is planning to take the VFR800 and I will, of course, be riding Jessica but without the Old Dragon, sadly.  Apparently camping isn’t civilised behaviour !

I’m hoping to take lots of pictures and keep the blog up to date as we go.  It should be huge fun and we are both looking forwards to the trip immensely. We hope to meet fellow bikers as we go so if see a red Suzuki and a yellow Honda along the way, give us a wave.

So, after much chipping away of firegum (2 weeks worth on and off) the downpipes were liberated.  Much time was spent making sure nothing had disappeared into the cylinders, there was a clean surface for the new gaskets to sit against etc etc, you know what I’m talking about.

Everything is back together along with a gorgeous new can as well….and it sounds great.  If you need a new can have a look at Delkevic.

Following on from my last post I can confirm that the last person to remove the down-pipes from my bike did indeed reassemble it using Firegum instead of exhaust gaskets.  It has taken me an entire day to get just one of the four free.

One of my pet hates is bodging.  It’s just so easy to do things properly.  A job that should have taken mere hours is going to take me days simply because some muppet couldn’t be bothered to get real exhaust gaskets and do the job properly.  Strangely it would have been easier to put it together again had it been done right as well.

So, for the sake of my sanity, the general well being of your health and so as you don’t offend me beyond endurance

JUST DO IT RIGHT !

As an old engineer I’ve always known that the simplest jobs are the ones that cause you the most trouble so why is it I’m surprised today.

I have need to remove the exhaust from Jessica.  A simple job I hear you say and usually I would agree whole heartedly.  However, today it’s turned into a real show stopper.  The first indication that all was not well was when the silencer came away easily but a small pile of rusty particles appeared on the drive beneath the bike.  A quick look reveals the collar that the link pipe slots into has rotted at the point where it joins the collector. Bizarrely the bit outside of that is spotless !

So, the header pipes have to come off to allow a new collar to be welded on…easy….no.  Now I can’t get the downpipes to come away from the cylinder head, aaaargh.  With a bit of luck WD40 and a few hour to soak will solve the problem.

This is unashamed plagerism here.  The below is copied directly from the e-petition page but this is such an important matter for all bikers and road users in general that it’s best explained in its original form.  Please sign the petition, you never know when you might need it.

Return VAT on Air Ambulance fuel payments.

Responsible department: Her Majesty’s Treasury

The Air Ambulance Service is forced to meet rising fuel prices year on year including VAT.

The Air Ambulance Service have saved successive governments millions and millions of pounds funded by charitable donations given by the general public to run what has proven to be an essential service.

Whilst the Lifeboat Service has been exempt from VAT on fuel costs since 1977, a similar privilege has not been afforded to the Air Ambulance Service;

We call on the government to have an urgent review of this situation and in doing so
We call on the government to return in the form of grants to Air Ambulance Service providers all the future VAT which the Treasury collects from them so that the Air Ambulance Service is in practice exempt from paying VAT in the same way as the Lifeboat Service.

Link to Petition

What a great Christmas Holiday this has been.  Last year I missed it all with a nasty case of the flu so I was very much looking forward to this year and it didn’t disappoint.  Christmas day and the New Year weekend were spent with family with the New Year particularly being a terrific time.

On the biking front the weather stayed generally pretty good in Southern England and we managed to get out a couple of times.  The Old Dragon and I got out to Loomies again (it’s becoming a bit of a habit that one) with a great ride down through Winchester and then back via Alton and Basingstoke.  Today I managed a trip out on my own.  The sun was shining, the roads dry and little traffic in evidence…bar a lot of fellow bikers.  It was bloody cold though !  Aren’t heated grips wonderful.

Now it’s time to look forwards to another great year.  Let’s hope it’s a good one for all.  Happy New Year.

Before I sign-off just a quick mention for a few people who have made the last year special: my little brother Russ; sister in law Charly; Holloway; PC Mac; Uncle Frank; Sean; Val and all the other Ulysses club UK members and of course The Old Dragon.  Thanks one & all, you know why.

I’ve had an interesting weekend.  I’ve had a few issues of late with selecting neutral when the engine is running so, with the next oil change looming anyway and having made all the usual adjustments without luck I decided to change the clutch.  Now sad though it is, I actually enjoy doing stuff like this so a fun Saturday afternoon was had messing around in the garage…very satisfying.

However, when a beautiful day dawned to day and I managed to get out for a while you can imagine my disappointment when I found the problem still there.  I loved the ride out, stopping at Loomies for coffee and chatting with fellow bikers on what could easily be the last good biking day of the year but the frustration !

Hey ho, sounds like a gearbox rebuild, thank goodness it isn’t the middle of summer.