Rossi-Stoner Laguna Seca 2008 battle

This Would Do!

Wouldn't mind finding this in my Christmas stocking!



Christmas Goodies

Thought I better get in the Christmas spirit and get the VFR a couple of pressies, so I got a nice s/h seat to replace the much faded one from Ebay plus another seat cowl as I butchered the original one to fit when I have the panniers on.

Top Brit

Amazing last 125GP and an Englishman bags pole position and it's his first ever! hope it's the start of many more to come, well done Danny Webb.

End Of An Era

Last ever 125 GP race this weekend in Valencia, 722nd race in this class and the door will be firmly shut on two strokes in Grand Prix racing, sad times:(

R.I.P Super Sic 1987-2011

Bike Tax

How can it be right that it costs £20 a year to put road tax on my better half's car and £74 to tax my Bike!!!!!

Her car has a hundred cc and two extra wheels more than the red rocket, now I am not saying put the car tax up as I applaud the fact that the thieving bastards have dropped it even on the dodgy grounds of the environment(power stations, planes diesel buses!), but surely bikes should have lower road tax also if your taxing vehicles on their environmental impact?

Connell Bridge

 A run up to the Connell bridge seemed like a pleasant way to spend Saturday, A bacon butty at the welly and a milkshake a little further on to cool us down after being blessed with lovely sunshine and spiffing scenery en route, also unfortunately plagued not by the flying teeth that inhabit the Highlands but the camper van and weekend tourist who seem to clog up every apex just at the wrong time, But no me and Al are made of sterner stuff and we had a whale of a time soaking up mile after mile of good well maintained tarmac and how often can you say that these days!

Biggest ripper of the day came in Inveray, how can you charge £8 for two cups of coffee and a small pack of biccies!!!

Hers the pics of the day I seemed to have a Harley fetish going on after photographing a couple and i had to include Al's Gixer thou for its truly awesome engine.

 

High speed MotoGP cornering at 1000fps - Casey Stoner - Red Bull Moments

Awsome super slow motion video

Yamaha 50th Anniversary GP Video

KTM Advert

banned commercial the new kawasaki ninja

The Spinning Motorcycles - a Parody

Stuart Easton

18 months before he can ride again!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/13891460.stm

Some Pretty Awsome Wallpapers

Want to brighten up the pc with some decent bike wallpapers? you could do a lot worse than checking out these two sites.


http://www.honda.co.jp/motorcycle-graffiti/wallpaper/index.html


http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/profile/sports/race/wgp-50th/download/wallpaper/

Steve Hislop

Me and Allan took a run to Hawick yesterday to have a look gander at Hizzy's memorial, nice statue they have of him and Jimmy Guthrie in the park and they also have a museum exhibit which is free to go and view.
Anyway I will let the pictures do the talking.

http://youtu.be/GAr9kl-86xk

For a video tour

 A very fitting tribute to a great racer we thought.

Purple People Eater

 If you wondered why there is a world shortage of purple metal flake look no further, Here it is!

 Puts a smile on Al's chops

Scott leading the moto 2

http://www.youtube.com/embed/kM-Hop6YKd0


Click on the link above to see Scott leading the moto2 race at Silverstone

Oil change

I thought after the road trip it was time to change the oil an filter, I was planning to do it before but then the fear of what if ? set in, last thing I needed was a cross threaded sump plug a week before I left.

It would be an easy enough job but why did Honda insist on using those stupid rubber well nuts in a place where there going to catch all the shit an salt from the road, it takes less than five minutes to remove a fairing side if you can get the nuts undone, but you have to remove the centre section, so in he end I took both sides and the centre piece out as one piece and then separated them an put some decent fixings on whilst it was in bits.

So a new filter and 3.1 litre's of fresh oil and we are ready for a few more adventures together.

Lovely stainless downpipes

There's the oil filter, not visible with the fairing lowers in place

Silverstone Road Trip Part 3

The Voyage Home

Sounds good that eh? Well weather forecast said sunny until about four pm in the Scottish borders so it was only right that it was again pissing down! I set off at nine thinking this is going to be a long day but hey presto 20 mile up the road and the rain gave way and the sun came out.

I rode for an hour an fifteen mins before needing to stretch my legs and fill up with the liquid gold at Blyth, I had noticed that the wind was getting up and was wary of any breaks in the embankment as the sudden gusts were strong enough to blow me off line but apart from that so far so good.

I decided that Scotch corner would be a good place to stop for a buttie and a drink but after successfully negotiating the road works that had been such a major pain in the arse on the way down with ease the off ramp was full so I decided that Durham services would be the place to stop, Jesus that fourteen mile seemed like a long way. I tankled the bike up and had a conversation with a lass from the toon that I have to confess I did not understand a word off and just shook my head and said yes and know in what seemed like the right places, is this how you do it when you go abroad I wonder if you don't speak the lingo? anyway one haslet buttie and a bottle of water and I was ready for anything, I was making good time the roads where good but the wind was still getting up, I didn't really have any bother with the wind until I reached Berwick and then you change direction, it was scary from then on in, big gusts of wind were catching the back of the bike making it feel like the back was going to break away any second and on one part of dual carriage way I went for an over take and could not wrestle the bike into the other lane, all the time hoping that the Forth bridge would not be closed.

After what seemed like an eternity I finally made the Edinburgh bypass and caustily checked the matrix to see if the bridge was shut, hoorah it was open, thank fuck my arse really didn't want to do a huge detour today. Once onto the bridge though it was wild I decided the best course of action was to place myself a long side an artic and let him shield me from the wind a bit which worked quite well until his lane came to a stand still with half the bridge still to go, it was butt clenching stuff but I was over and in my last petrol stop before home in a flash.

So overall the journey had gone quite well I did 704 miles on the bike in total and she never missed a beat, it cost me £107 in petrol so I don't think thats too bad considering it seems to be 3 or 4pence a litre dearer on the A1 than everywhere else.

Would I do it again? Of course I would, it may be bum numbing but it is still great to get away from every day life on the bike.

Silverstone Road Trip Part 2

Rise and shine its half past three am!!! fuck me since when where there two half three's in a day? should be a law against it! anyway despite sensory deprivation two mugs of tea and a bowl of cornflakes it was back on the road again and race day. After the disappointment of seeing Cal Crutchlow crash out during qualifying I was hoping to have a jolly decent day at the races, the weather forecast was troubling but it was supposed to be fine until 1pm and driving to the circuit I witnessed a beautiful sunrise and everywhere just looked glorious as the early mist was lifting off the  fields and we arrived at 6.30 with the gates opening at 7 we was right near the front of the queue which judging how long the queue became very quickly this was a good thing.

Luffield looked a good spot to spectate so we beat a path to there and set up the deckchair , sorted, then disaster struck it started to rain and rain and then the wind got up and it continued to rain and it got colder and colder whilst it rained some more in fact it never stopped raining and I have never been so cold on a day in June in all my forty years. At last the morning warm ups began after what seemed like an eternity in my frozen watery hell which as well as it raining persistently on me the blokes umbrella next to me made sure my l/h side got a through soaking as he tilted it in my direction with a " its tight here" quip on a regular basis.

What I was not prepared for and it was a glorious surprise was the sound of a Moto GP bike, yer mother do they make a racket a wonderful spitfire taking off with a misfire as the traction control kicks in hounds of hell type racket ooh sends a shiver down my spine now thinking about it now, (it did then but couldn't be sure if it was because I was half way to hypothermia)

The Brits did us proud with Scott Redding leading for a few laps before finishing 5th and Bradley Smith finishing 2nd from 38th on the grid and Rossi grabbed 6th after starting 13th which was I think his lowest ever grid position after falling off in the morning warm up.

I must confess to leaving early even with the purchase of an extra fleece I could not stop shivering and it was a miserable experience which was surreal as the day before it was declared to be a drought! so if I return next year I shall be purchasing a grand stand ticket.

Just one final note, i didn't know until today but I was standing 20 yards away from the lass who runs the parts department in Alan Duffus Yamaha in Kirkcaldy and didn't even realise it, how about that for a strange coincidence?

I do also have some video but I am struggling to upload it, once I sort the problem I will post it.

The third and final part to come, oh yes you poor sods this is a trilogy...........

Silverstone Road Trip Part 1

 Atomic batteries to full power! The Red Rocket ready to go.

Friday the 10th of June finally arrived after purchasing my Moto GP tickets back in September and I was off on my own little road trip to see Rossi and the duke of death at silverstone. I set off at 9.15am in pleasant sunshine with a good feeling in my belly that i was going to have a good trip but alas i hadn't planned for the law off sod! it may have been sunny but it was far from warm so I was going to be on the cool side as i realised this when i got through Edinburgh and it was too late too turn back and get some long johns, and a pain that was growing in my right testicle that after an hour was unbearable which i put down to the air hawk seat cover i was using, the seat is smaller on the Vfr than on the Rex so I took it off and it was a huge sigh of relief but I knew that I would have too stop every hour as I get cramp in my left hamstring but out of crushed balls and cramp, cramp is the better option!

View from just before the border





So I pushed on thinking that the next stop would be Newcastle services as I had made Berwick in an hour and everything was going well. I got too the services but as i turned off I took the wrong slip road for the petrol station and couldn't get any fuel so I thought I could make Scotch corner and fill up there when the dreaded worse case scenario flashed up on the matrix A1 closed !!!! Oh fuck not being sure if it was the junction before or after scotch corner I decided to fill up in Durham rather than run dry in a massive tail back, turns out it was closed after the services so I decided to stop for dinner at scotch corner and ask motorists if they where heading North what was happening on the south bound carriageway. After an hour an a half I got the news I was waiting for and was back on the road again although five miles down the road I hit road works and because of the narrow lanes and the width of the panniers I was restricted to 10mph for fifteen miles ( I was ready to throw the bike in the hedge and catch a train by the time I cleared the road works, my clutch hand was killing me with all the constant gear changing and my arse was smarting something rotten.

Blyth services became my salvation with a pee stop and a drink, funny how the world looks so much better after only ten Min's of stretching your legs and the previous hardship was soon forgotten. I continued down the A1 turning off at Newark and had to take my brain out of motorway gear and watching out for cars pulling out of junctions in front of you like they do! But I have to say i had missed the Lincolnshire roads with the long sweeping bends you can see all the way round where you can just power through bends and see whats coming the other way, in Scotland we have some fab scenery but far too many blind corners and it was nice too ride the roads where I cut my teeth as a teenager.

So after seven an a half hours, Knackered, sore arse and a shade cool but still smiling I finally reached Long Sutton where I was going to be based until I came home on Monday



St Mary's Loch

After two cancelled attempts due to piss poor weather me an the Ginger ninja finally got to make a trip into the borders and vist St Mary's Loch, a popular meeting place for bikers with it having a nice wooden tea hut beside it.

This excursion did not get off to a particulary good start due to nearly being tailgated by some stupid cow who was half asleep coming off the motorway and then having to stop to avoid being hit head on by another driving the wrong way up a one way street!!! so I was feeling slightly apprehensive to say the least but we set sail for the borders from the out skirts of Edinburgh on a dry but overcast Thursday morning and things picked up and we settled into a good rythmn after we cleared the bypass until we came upon someone driving  ford Ka down the middle of the road staddling the white line at 40mph for no apparent reason?

Allan was riding the Purple people eater, the bandit he bought for a song although painted in the heaviest metal flake you have ever seen, but it grows on you , Allan claims not to like it but he has just bought a new phone in matching purple so he protests too much I reckon and I was on my ever faithful Vfr 800, we ate the miles with again being presented by some great scenery, but beware of the sheep wandering on the road in certain places!
We reached the Loch and headed straight inside the cafe which has been there since the 1920's and had a mug of tea and a bacon buttie and I have too add one of the best bacon butties I have ever devoured, that pig tasted heavenly wrapped in a fresh bap. After our snack A wander was in order and although no toilets inside the cafe there is public toilets beside it, they fuckin ming!, if the cafe was built in the 1920's these bogs smell like they where last cleaned then! come on get a grip the local council need to flatten them and build some new one's! they are a blot on a beautiful lanscape.
We set off again heading for Moffat and stopped there for a cornetto muching away on a garage fore court unaware there was a beautiful park behind it with a lake and benches!

The final part of our ride was to take us parallel to the A74 to the sevices at the top of the A702 where we split up and I took the 702 to Peebles and then to home and Allan went up the motorway to Kilmarnock.

we had a great ride out and we intend to explore the borders a bit more in the near future.
Some pics from today.

Cafe

 St Mary's Loch

 The Erratic Sheppard Monument

Still catching up

The Red Rocket breezed through her yearly mot on 19th of May, what is it about mot's ? am I the only one who paces up an down waiting for the result, I mean if it fails I know its hardly likely to be a major problem?

Bit of catching up

Have not had the time to update for a while due to college deadlines, but here we go.

On the 29th April A dry but chilly day me an Allan set off to the highlands for a bacon butty, long way to go I know but trust me there good butties and there is always a few like minded souls around for a blether. After our pork based snack it was a choice between having a run up to Fort William and a look at the pre-65 trials taking place or Oban and the coast road back to Inverary, and we decided to do the latter, the road to Oban was cracking loads of sweeping corners and scenery to boot and the temp was climbing, by the time we reached Oban it was reading 24 wind temp as opposed to the 11 degrees we had set off in.

After stopping for another snack just outside Oban we proceeded through the town and onto the coast ride, if you want a top tip , don't bother its bloody awful, full of blind single track corners and you just can't relax on it, you are constantly up an down the box an on the brakes, it was a relief to pull into Inverary for a break, we both decided that we wouldn't bother with that route again, after our pit stop we took a leisurely run down to Loch Lomond where the temperature dropped back down again and it started to rain so after a quick stretch of the legs all that was left was a run home to end another good solid run out, which also turns out to be the last for Allan's Tdm as he sold it on and bought a Bandit twelve......

Glencoe

Vfr in front of Etive Mor

I took a run up to the Great Glen today, was going to be the last chance I get to go out whilst on my holidays so thought I would combine an assignment an a run out. The day started off as I had expected very grey but hey at least its fine, that lasted up until Stirling but to be honest I only had a few light showers once I was off the motorway.

The traffic was fairly light so I was able to make good progress and saw plenty of fellow bikers out an about, with a sprinkling of roadworks here and there but no major delays, wind temp was a bit cool on the way up but the sun broke out for the return journey.

I stopped at the welly for a coffee before realising I had forgotten to take any cash out! but luckily I had a bottle of pop with me an a sandwich so I didn't fade away whilst on my travels. Someone over filled their petrol tank and spilled it all over the floor; I almost parked in it but someone kindly stopped me, I thought it was water being right in front of the air and water pump!

On the way back I detoured to the fall's of Dochart where a lass walked straight out in to my path without looking, good job I was just trickling along or she would have been flattened, I could here her mother bending her ear after I passed. I parked up and finished my juice while having a look at the falls an then set a course for home.

It was a good run an I was a bit stiff when I got back but its the first time I have done any real miles since last year so only to be expected. Overall a great trip, shame Alan was working as all that was missing was a bit of banter but hopefully we will make up for that with a trip to Oban at the end of the month...........

Honda cb 750 bobber

Little bit of CB750

I thought I would fit the rear brake linkage and pedal this morning, so I washed it down in the paraffin tank, applied a nice big dollop of grease and suddenly realised it didn't fit!!! Sod it, I must have removed it with the swing arm out. Now I thought about it and dropped the shock off the r/h side and with a bit of gentle persuasion it was in, chuffed I was having being able to fit it with out removing the swing arm........

So whilst on a roll I thought I would fit the chain, you know whats coming don't you, you do, the bloody chain is an endless one!!! so I still have to take the swing arm out, oh well can't win them all eh?

Luggage

Put the wing rack back on yesterday ready for a few trips out, I am not keen on ruck sacks so the top box comes in handy for throwing bits an bobs in when your having a day out.

Not terribly exciting I know but I thought I would modify the seat cowling so it would fit on with the luggage, I don't take pillions so I thought it would just clean up the back end a bit. I just laid the cowling roughly in place so I could mark where the carrier came out and then drilled a series of holes around the line an finished shaping the slot with a burr grinder in an electric drill.

I am happy with the end result and at the end of the day can pick a cowling up of fleabay if I want to take the rack off.

Quick trip out

Well blew out the winter cob-webs this afternoon, put the battery on and she fired first push of the button, the new plugs have definitely cleaned up the bottom end and she feels crispier than I remember. The Remus can doesn't seem any louder than the standard can which I am pleased with, looks nicer than the standard can but isn't going to drive me insane on the long runs.

The weather was good and the sun shone, roads were dry and there wasn't much traffic on the road, what more can you ask for eh? two hours just melted by and I soon found myself getting back into the groove having not ridden since November I wasn't about to hit the Leary twat setting and was just happy to be out an about in the sun. The only thing I couldn't work out when I got back was how did I get chain lube on the right hand side of the seat cowl, did it fling off then turn round and chase me!!! weird eh?

Roll on more sunny days and please can we have a decent summer up here in the frozen North?

Allan Duffus Open Weekend

A few pictures from the open weekend I took this morning

Demo rides every hour

Michael Laverty B.S.B title contender

Busy showroom helped no doubt by the nice weather

and friendly staff

Allan Duffus Yamaha

Open day on Saturday 19Th & Sunday 20Th March at the above, Raffle, demo rides ect and I think B.S.B stars Tommy Hill & Michael Laverty will be there too!!!!!!

New Plugs

Behind that oil cooler is the front two plugs!

There as promised, but you feel like a gynaecologist changing them.

Back l/h corner the easy one


four old and one new, bit of blow by on the porcelain
and the electrodes have varying lengths

Glad I changed them now all done in about an hour an half with the most time spent getting at the front ones, with the cooler dropped there was still not enough clearance so I had to take the l/h fairing off to let the cooler drop just that fraction more so I could access them.

Original 1973 Z1

Kawasaki Z650

Z650 sprocket

Whilst searching for a bit of scrap metal to make a bracket out of earlier I cam across the front sprocket for the wee Z which I had lost ( or the shed fairies moved whilst I wasn't looking ) so I thought I better fix the bugger quick before it disappears again!

After fitting the sprocket I greased up the clutch actuating mechanism, replaced the seized cable and fitted the front sprocket cover, needs a good polish but that can happen when I have had it running.

Remus Can

When I got the bike it came with a Remus can, that had been fitted previously but the down pipes had been changed for stainless steel ones and both pipes were almost identical in size, so the Remus wouldn't fit back on. Someone had cut two slots in it with a hack saw and tried to force it on but with no luck, so I thought I would see what I could do; the solution I came up with was too heat the end up slightly and I have a large socket which is the same diameter as the down pipe which I tapped into the end can slightly and wiggled it backwards and forwards with a breaker bar to expand the diameter of the pipe, working slowly I managed to be able to get achieve this and now the end can fits the down pipes.

However the original clamp was fouling the centre stand plus with the two slots cut on the opposite side I decided to cut the old clamp off and get a nice shiny stainless steel fixing that i can adjust where i want the bolt head.

Old mounting

Old mounting removed and new slip on fixing


Job done


Just needs a polish now

The only other thing I needed to do was to make a short bracket to mount the rubber on it that stops the stand slapping the exhaust as it was in the wrong place on the link pipe, I don't know if this is because the stainless down pipes exit in a slightly different place or angle than the original as it would never had lined up in a month of Sundays.

Kawasaki kz650 / Z650 fuel injected using megasquirt ecu

The Boat That Guy Built

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/z88v0/

Make a cup of tea an follow the link to bbc i-player great new series starring Guy Martin

Vfr Rear brake

Got down an dirty with the red rocket and stripped the rear caliper down, cleaned the pistons back to there gleamy goldness, the middle one was stuck but all three are moving freely now and with the slides greased I would expect to have a bit better braking than last year.

MCN Fantasy road race

http://mcn.fantasyleague.com/

Still time to register a team, I have won bugger all for the last three years but I pick with my heart not my head.

Subframe sorted

I have painted the rusty spar on the frame ans sprayed the inside with a tin of aerosol wax oil I had kicking about so that should prevent any more corrosion!

So I managed to get the bike put back together minus the luggage, I am going to leave it off until the weather picks up as it's a bitch to clean around.