I ordered the paint for my respray, hoping to collect it this afternoon. Annoyingly they couldn't supply it until Monday. This depressed me, it really did, and coupled with some lovely sunshine and being stuck in traffic, it just left me just feeling down today. This is the kind of weather to ride bikes in and at the moment I don't have one road worthy. When I got home I did have some stuff waiting for me: my new screen (which I'm not really happy with thanks to the massive 'Desmo' on the front) and my new clutch cover, which thankfully was black as ordered.
I received a call yesterday from a company called i-validate (note the small 'I', trying too hard to be hip and modern - how sad) who have been sub contracted by my insurers, asking me a few questions regarding the theft of the Kawasaki. I was certain that I had already explained what had happened, but they wanted me to send a chunk of documents to them and schedule a 30min conversation on Monday afternoon. So today I dropped them in the post, which cost me £6 as some of the documents were original. What a major pain in the ####! I ordered the paint for my respray, hoping to collect it this afternoon. Annoyingly they couldn't supply it until Monday. This depressed me, it really did, and coupled with some lovely sunshine and being stuck in traffic, it just left me just feeling down today. This is the kind of weather to ride bikes in and at the moment I don't have one road worthy. When I got home I did have some stuff waiting for me: my new screen (which I'm not really happy with thanks to the massive 'Desmo' on the front) and my new clutch cover, which thankfully was black as ordered. In a bid to feel fairly proactive this afternoon, I did some work on the rebuild. I fitted a new rubber bracket mount, the complete new tail section and the new clutch cover. I also took the opportunity to transfer the sound proofing from the old panels to the new. It was the first stages of getting my Ducati back on the road, which will now be a bit longer than planned because of the paint issues.
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Still no news from West Midlands Police about my Kawasaki. I fear its now in pieces, which saddens me on so many levels. The theft of the ZX7R has really pushed me into getting the Ducati back together. I have already ordered a new carbon fibre belly pan and mudguard and today I ordered an Evotech open clutch cover. I tried to specify black, buy I have a feeling its going to be red, which will stand out like a sore thumb on the side of the bike. They sent me the invoice and the dispatch email in such quick succession that I was unable to alter the order, so I'll just send it back and get the one I wanted in the first place. Wouldn't get this from Oberon. Today I dropped off the tank and nose cone to the painters, who will start the painting on Thursday or maybe Friday, so hopefully this time next week the tank will be back where it belongs. I do have to source my own paint thou. Speaking of the tank....yesterday I had to get the tank off the bike which in turn meant I had to drain the fuel. I didn't much like the idea of three and a bit litres of fuel pouring all over my garage floor, so I bought a syphon and removed what I could. What a faff that was, but it did the job well enough to justify the £7 cost of the thing. What I couldn't reach I just burnt off by leaving the bike running. Not exactly environmentally friendly, but I had precious few other options. The only problem with the tank is that the stomp grips and the tank protector will have to come off, so I need to source those over the next few days. After a deal on a screen fell through I ordered up a Puig clear double bubble screen, from Amazon of all places, as a replacement for the Zero Gravity screen destroyed in the crash that one I only put on a few months before. I'm not too sure I'll like the lines of the screen, but they look good in photos I've seen and riders swear by them. Got to be worth I try.
Finally England is in the middle of a heatwave and I have no bike. A really large part of me is cursing the timing off all this, but a small part it very glad my car has air con. The weekend wasn't supposed to end like this. I was supposed to end my weekend all hot and bothered after riding back to London from Birmingham on the hottest day of the year. Instead, I'm hot and bothered after a sweltering journey on the Underground, walking home from the local High Street, tail pack in one hand, helmet in the other, wearing the clothes I leave in Birmingham with Sarah all because some utter scumbag decided to steal my motorbike during the night. I woke up this morning around 07:00ish looked out the window and just saw an empty space where my bike had been. I just felt so low. Sarah thought I was joking and she was the one who lost her temper when she looked out the window. The weekend had started well. The ride up on Friday was great and I took this picture on Saturday morning and I liked the way my bike glinted in the early morning sunshine. She looked beautiful. After phoning the police, who to be honest couldn't do very much as there were no witnessed and no CCTV in the area, Sarah and I had to work out how I was getting home. Sarah suggested driving me home, which as much as I would have liked it, it really wasn't that practical an idea. The only real option was the train from Birmingham Moor Street so we spent the morning in the City Centre having breakfast in Cafe Rouge. It was here that I got a bit emotional about it. The actual value of the bike isn't very much, at only £1200, which is even less once the excess is taken away, but what really got me was the amount of time and effort that I had put in over the years, you can see a fraction of this in the ZX7-R section on the site. All the cleaning, fixing, improving that now means nothing as my bike is either already in pieces ready to be sold on ebay or somewhere else entirely. The most annoying thing is that when I went looking for it this morning, it was probably less than a mile away from where it was parked as the thief or thieves wait to see if there is a tracker on it.
So here I am, at home, with sore feet, my bike kit still in the Midlands. Along with a thief. May you burn in hell sir. Today was the hottest day of the year (well in the UK anyway) but even this will be eclipsed by the temperature on Sunday. So there I was, riding my Kawasaki out of London on the hottest day of the year in a full one piece leather suit. Its dieting in action. Getting out of London was pretty much the usual affair, lots of drivers getting hot under the collar, everybody fighting for those few feet of tarmac just trying to get home. The bike was getting really hot so it was good to get it up to a decent speed when the road opened up which allowed the air floor to bring the temperature down.
The bike started to sound a little gruff around midway through the ride and I had a bit of trouble getting it to start when I briefly stopped in Warwick, but that probably means its due an oil change and a se There was an accident that had closed a nearby main road, with all traffic being sent in the direction that I was heading. There is no better was to highlight the benefit of riding a motorcycle when congestion is the name of the game. As long as you're sensible, you can just ride straight past it, scything huge chucks of time off the journey, which really helps when you've been on a hot bike, on a hot day for over four hours. Oh the many joys of being a biker....oh did I mention hayfever? If you know where to look, there are signs that tell you may be pushing your luck too far. Today, I didn't have to look very far to see the sign and subsequently was reminded of one of the first rules of motorcycling, which is, always make sure you have enough space to stop. Today I got away with it. Just.
The car park in Central London that is the home for my bike for forty hours each week, has a cobbled entrance, not ideal when dry, potentially lethal when wet. Today was dry. I'd finished another uninspiring day in the office and I was riding out of the car park, where some workmen had pretty much blocked off the entire entrance/exit. It really annoys me when people do stuff like that. They don't seem to realise, or more to the point, care just how much disruption they cause. Anyway, a car was already stuck as they'd left about three feet of room, so I popped past the car, but was a little keen with the throttle heading up out of the car park. I was confronted by a massive black 4x4 coming down the slope (on the wrong side of the road too) and I just grabbed a big handful of front brake. The Pilot Road Three lost traction almost immediately and I could feel the front sliding alomg the cobbles. I though that I was either going to slide into the front of the 4x4 or drop the bike. Thankfully a third option presented itself and I stopped a few feet short of the bonnet, still upright. I was an idiot. I was going too fast knowing that the ground conditions were not ideal and I couldn't see far enough around the corner. I rode slowly around the side of the 4x4 and carried on my journey home, evaluating what had happened. Basically I got careless and when riding a motorbike, especially in London, that can be deadly. I had an important phone call booked it at 16:30, one that if it went well, would have changed my life, so in the few hours I had spare after arriving home, I cleaned the Ninja in preparation for the ride to Birmingham tomorrow and I fitted those new Progrips onto the Ducati. Grip cement is nasty stuff. Its basically uber yellow modelling cement and I still have some stuck to my left hand to prove it. The grips look good thou, so it was worth it. Oh that phone call? sadly it didn't change my life, it was just another huge disappointment, but I was told some nice things and given some good advise. Once you fall down, you have to make sure you get straight back up again. Yesterday I spoke to a local mechanic about getting my nose cone and tank repainted. I was quoted around £250, which thinking about it, is steep, but I want my bike to be perfect again and with the guy being local, I don't have to worry about sending a tank and nose through the post, which would be really pricey anway. I recently ordered some new grips for the Ducati. I had a pair of Pro Grips on the Kawasaki before I went down the route of heated grips and was very impressed. I think I was sold because they're also used by the Ducati Corse race teams. If they're good enough for Checa and Hayden, then I guess they're good enough for me. Ive updated the other rides section today as I spent the afternoon on a black Ducati Diavel, which I had been wanted to ride since it came out. It's fair to say, its a very interesting bike, not what I expected and great fun. Thanks to Mike at Metropolis for letting me loose in the Hertfordshire country side.
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MeMy name is Matt Brown and I'm a UK journalist formerly based in London, but now calling the South of England home. I've been riding bikes since 2007, but got hooked straight away. Nothing gives me the feeling of freedom, even when stuck in a city. In 2010 I became a RoSPA gold rider, but when it comes down to it, I'm Just a normal man, riding his bikes as often as he can. Archives
April 2019
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