I feel I should apologise to every biker in the UK. In my last blog post I talked about how the cold weather was in the past and that we were on the brink of the new season. How wrong was I? Arctic Siberian winds are due to bring snow and freezing conditions to the UK this week and it's all my fault. I'm genuinely sorry. Please forgive me!

Before news of the cold weather came to light, I was able to take a somewhat rare ride out on a Saturday. Carolina was at work and I had the day free to explore, so explore I did. After a nice ride out into Wiltshire and back into Dorset, I found myself outside Bournemouth Kawasaki, the home of the BSB JG Speedfit Kawasaki team. Well renowned in the local area, the dealership had a lovely array of bikes, including one of James Hillier's Lightweight TT machines and an ex Chris Walker BSB ZX7-R racer. Also pretty cool having a H2, just casually parked by the door.
Riding on Saturday is a bit of a strange one for me, mainly as I've always seemed to get a lot of my riding done just commuting to work. Whenever possible, its the long way which invariably takes shape, which may explain my feelings towards weekend riding. It's not that I'm averse to it, on the contrary in fact. I just seem to have other responsibilities at the weekend. Strangely, riding at the weekend seems to be a matter of timing. Getting up early and logging three hours of riding in before the shops open has, in the past, proven to be the way forward for me as riding later on can be a frustrating and dangerous affair. But, as with everything in life, it's finding the right balance.

I'm prone over the bike. The sun is covering everything in crisp bright light. The trees are still. There is no wind. The bike is reacting to every bump in the road. I move my body weight to the inside of the bike as I move her across to maximise my vision, taking up the line I want for the upcoming corner. There is a crest. I'm travelling quickly.  I attack. I take the corner and crest in top gear. The front of the bike goes a little light and I move my weight over the front to keep it all in line. I pass a small red car coming the other way. The road is clear. The road is dry. I'm in heaven. Its 08:50 on a February morning in 2018.
This week, the overnight temperatures haven't dropped as low and the rain has, for the most part been absent. Rain on Sunday night left the roads wet for Monday morning, but since then, its been dry and clear. Although not here fully, Spring is making its presence known. The 2018 biking season is almost upon us. 

As you can see, the ride on Monday morning was a mucky one. The overnight Sunday rain had mixed beautifully with the farming traffic on my rural commute, resulting in a patchy muddy route, leaving very dirty FireBlade. The Pirelli Angel GT tyres performed perfectly however. I know I harp on about these tyres fairly regularly, but its for good reason. They are astonishing. Even in the worse conditions, they maintain great levels of grip.  The ride home was drier and these conditions continued into Tuesday. No longer needing to worry about icy and unexpected damp patches, I'm back to taking the long routes too and from work. With the hedges still fairly barren and cut back, what I can see from the saddle has vastly improved, allowing me see and do more. Its just been great.
I'm fairly sure it won't last. This is the UK after all and rain is never too far away. For the meantime, its been great to know that we are leaving the cold short days of winter behind. Hopefully 2018 will be just as good as these last few days.

I hadn't been to the London bike show for a few years. The last time I went I was left disappointed by its scope and scale in relation to the far superior Motorcycle Live show in Birmingham. So, I headed up to London with my riding buddy Dean, with a certain sense of trepidation. I'd won two tickets through social media and felt it would be rude not to make the trip, so with the alarm set, we headed up in the car just after 7am.
Making short work of the sub-three hour journey, we got to the show just after it opened and immediately I could tell it was a vast improvement over previous versions. Walking through the entrance you were greeted by an amazing display of Grand Prix bikes and that set a nice positive tone for the event.

Heading straight to the Ducati stand we checked out Shane Byrne's BSB winning bike as well as looking at the Ducati Tri-Options bike on display, but like so many, the real reason was to have another look at the new V4 Panigale. From there we made our way round to explore what the show had on offer. 
In the middle of the show was the Thunderdrome, a short oval track where a range of pros, including Carl Fogerty, Ruben Xaus and Neil Hodgson would race against each other during the day. I have to say I liked this feature, not because I wanted to see a few quality riders muck about on tiny little bikes, but because it meant the crowds were drawn there, clearing a bit of space around the rest of the show.
As expected, probably the best stand was Kawasaki. They always seem to put in that extra level of effort with their stands. This year their stand resembled a retro record shop, with their new Z900rs sat in the middle on a revolving turntable record player. You can see from the below, this bike was getting a great deal of interest and it really is a beautiful bike.

The H2 and the new H2-SX were drawing a lot attention as was the ZX10R-SE and the Z900rs Cafe, the sister bike to the Z900rs above. With a limited amount of space, Kawasaki didn't present their full range, but were able to show off the new Ninja 400, the Versys X 300 and a few race bikes.

By lunchtime the show was packed and it was proving to be a touch difficult to really get close to the machines by the big manufacturers. The crowds around Honda and Yamaha were notably bad, with the new Goldwing at Honda drawing a great deal of attention. 
BMW had their stunning HP4 Race on display and with the benefit of being displayed away from greasy hands, the carbon was glinting under the show lights, adding something a little extra to this rare piece of exotica.

Norton were grabbing a lot of attention with their V4s in their prominent display again. I've seen this same display now at three shows over two years, and despite reading how the bikes would be launched in 2017, as far as I'm aware (I did search the web) that still hasn't officially happened. 

There is no doubting their allure and they are stunning looking bikes, but these were first announced back in 2016 and if it was me looking to buy one, I would have given up by now and headed back over to Ducati and put the money down on the V4 Speciale instead, or bought a Aprilia RSV4 RR or RF, which in essence, carries the same engine as the Norton.
Overall, the show was well worth the drive and both Dean and I took advantage of a ticket offer to visit the Classic car show next door for a brief walk around. If you don't get a chance to head to the NEC, the London show has proved itself to be a worthy companion having grown out of previous year's disappointment.

Just as I was about to write a post about it being a mildish winter down by the South Coast of England, we were embraced by a cold snap, leaving overnight temperatures below freezing. Being based in the land that transitions a rural and an urban environment, the risk of ice is raised exponentially and I promised Carolina that I wouldn't ride with the temperatures so low.
There is a slight tinge of irony as, when living in London, I found my limit was -4 and freezing fog.
I have manage a few short rides, taken for convenience rather than anything else. What can I say? free parking is free parking. Hopefully the mercury will start to rise again so the bike can get a decent workout.
This weekend gone, I popped down to the Bovington Tank Museum with my mate Michael, where, sat among the wide array of tanks from numerous different conflicts, sat this: ​

This is the fully restored 1929 Brough Superior SS-100, nicknamed George VI, owned, ridden and subsequently crashed by T E Lawrence, taking his life in May 1935.
Situated in a three sided glass display case, the bike may seem like a strange vehicle to find in a museum dedicated to the tank, but Lawrence was a local man, based at Bovington Camp and his final fateful crash took place less than three miles from where his bike is displayed. A fitting memorial, but I do kinda wish it was right at the entrance with the sun glinting off all that chrome.