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.

What a great day out today.  Millie (the Old Dragon) and I jumped on Jessica to meet Little Bro (Russ) at George White Superbikes in Swindon.  Having lusted many many nice shiny bikes and drank tea whilst discussing the relative merits of said nice shiny things we set off for a ride.

We picked part of the route from a recent recommended route from RiDe magazine with a few twists.  Russ bought the VFR800 today so the road to Avebury was fun to say the least.  This being the first time I’ve been to Avebury I was massively impressed with the standing stones there.  One of these days I’m going back to spend some more time wandering around them some more.  If you have it you can see a few in the background of a picture in the RiDe Great Rides supplement from earlier this year.

From Avebury we headed towards Hungerford via Marlborough.  We all enjoyed the lovely sweeping bends of the A4 before stopping in Hungerford for coffee and a sandwich.  If your ever there look up Azura in the highstreet.  The coffee isn’t the greatest but the food was good, the staff friendly and the setting lovely.  Then it was back to Swindon by the B4192.  Now this is a great road, the surface could be better but the scenery is beautiful and the bends great fun.  If you haven’t then ride it, it’s one of my favourites.

So thanks Bro, a great day.  Let’s do it again soon.

I’m not sure I should admit to this but it was so hot today I couldn’t even bring myself to get kitted up andgo for a ride ! What’s that all about then.

What a horrible day. Too much to do, not enough time to it and the whole world wanting it yesterday. An hour out on the bike around the local A roads and it all starts to get better. God bless the man who thought of strapping and engine to a bicycle !

Today thousands of bikers took to the major roads around the UK to register their objections to proposed EU legislation.  This is supposedly in the interests of motorcycle safety but addressing the cause of 0.07% of accidents whilst destroying the jobs of thousands at huge cost to motorcyclists seems to be missing the point in my opinion.  If you then take into account that the cause of 70% of motorcycle accidents, i.e. poor car drivers, haven’t been taken into account in any point of the legislation and I can’t help but feel that this is legislation for legislation’s sake.

It was heartening to see so many bikers turn out to support MAG (Motorcycle Action Group) in their fight against this nonsense.  The gang pictured consisted of myself, the Old Dragon, David my little brother and my niece.  We met at H Café just outside of Oxford and proceeded to join the ride South down the A34 from the Didcot services.  We were quite near the front of the group but looking back in my mirrors there were bikes filling the inside lane at 40mph for as far as I could see.  Let’s hope those in Westminster take notice.  Fluorescent jackets, restrictions on modifications and restrictions on the age of vehicles allowed in urban areas are not wanted here.  Instead go away and teach car drivers to keep a proper lookout for other road users.

Wandering around the web recently looking at various motorcycling related bits & pieces I came across the UlyssesThe aims of the club are: Club.  Being the curious chap I am I looked into this a bit further and found a little treasure.  The club was started many years ago by a brit, Stephen Dearnley,  living in Australia and is aimed at the more ‘mature’ biker.  The club is now a global organisation with branches in Australia, New Zealand, America, Canada, the UK, Germany and beyond.   The bit that really appealed was the club moto ‘Grow Old Disgracefully’ which is a line I have used on many occasions for many years.  I took this to be a good omen.

Three years in and the festival just gets better and better.  This event is pretty much unique: attendance this year was in the region of 12,000 to 15,000; it is run entirely by volunteers for the benefit of charity and is designed to promote the family side of motorcycling.  Brackley High Street is closed to form one arena with the local school fields providing space for fun fair, food stalls, displays and traders stalls.  Attractions include stunt shows by the likes of Kevin Carmichael, custom bike show and historic racers to name but a few.  You’ll find major manufacturers like Harley Davidson, Yamaha and Ducati displaying their wares and offering test rides as well.  All in all it is a massively successful event with something for everybody.  It is my pleasure to volunteer as a marshal every year as well as being related to one of the organising committee.  If you want a great day out for all the family you could do a lot worse that get the date in your diary for next year (19th of August in case your curious!).  If in doubt as to how much people enjoy the event, take a look at the website

With any luck I’ll see you there.

Last weekend was magic.  Silverstone World Super Bikes and messing with great company on the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling (www.bfom.co.uk) stand.

It struck me that my re-awakening to the joys of motorcycling took place one year ago at the very same event.  This year was marked by fantastic conversations with bike fanatics from all over the UK.  Awsome !  It does constantly amaze me that just about every biker out there is such a friendly, warm human being.  It re-affirms my faith in the human race to know that wherever I go, so long as there are bikers there, I have friends.  What a wonderful world it is.

Oh and by the way, it’s the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling on Sunday 21st August.  It’s a brilliant family event all in aid of charity with thousands of lovely people and loads of bikes.  Check it out and I hope to see you there.

After a few weeks where life managed to get thoroughly in the way of my play activities I finally managed to get out on Jessica again today.  Some might say it was not the best thing I could have done, it was our 22nd wedding anniversary after all, but what the hell, herself was working anyway.

Todays trip was down to the coast again, this time to Lulworth Cove in Dorset.  I sure I went there as a kid but can’t say I really sure.  What a gorgeous place it is though.  Riding down some great roads from Salisbury to Blandford Forum with characteristically little traffic was a joy.  It went a bit pear shaped at that point when I managed to get lost but that only added to the fun trying to find myself again.  The cove itself is stunning.  The facilities great and the rum and raisin ice cream a rare treat.  Jessica performed flawlessly as usual but I can’t believe how much I ache now..and it was only a 160 mile round trip !

ME !

OK I admit it.  It was me who filled the bike up with diesel.  The result being nearly two hours at the side of the road draining the tank and a beautiful blue cloud of smoke when I did eventually got it started again.  Fortunately draining the fuel filter and having good old fashioned carburetors without a fuel pump meant it was not too difficult a job to fix.  So before anybody else officially nominates me I thought I had better do it myself !