In the words of Hannibal Smith from the A Team (George Peppard, not Liam Neeson) 'I love it when a plan comes together'. With a weeks delay due to a late arriving of parts (see previous posts), my mate Dean and I set about giving the 1098s some love this weekend. Love in this context is an oil change and a new chain and sprockets. Yes, not a huge deal, but still it was enough to keep us busy. 
We arranged to start the work on Sunday morning, leaving, hopefully, enough time to finish the jobs and still have time to watch the Argentine Moto GP. We completed the work with two hours to spare. No dramas, no problems. It was wonderful. The hardest parts was undoing the retaining nut on the sprocket. Ducati do like a bit of high tension don't they.
As it was apart, we took the opportunity to give it a clean in those hard to reach places with some XCP Professional cleaner and check the gauze filter in the sump, which showed no signs of any issue.
With the panels still off, I'm taking the opportunity to order up a stronger battery. The Ducati struggles a bit to fire when cold and the battery is the first point of call. It's probably due a change anyway, so upgrading it seemed the logical choice.

In other news, I was given some new Auritech Universal fit earplugs to try this week. They are similar in design to my normal 3M mushroom plugs that I've been using for years and are a little shorter and smaller in their design. They are built around a ceramic tube which is there to help filter out the high frequency noise. All very hi-tec!
On a very wet ride to and from work yesterday I gave them an outing and for me, they are a little small. Everyone's ear canals are a different shape, but when the fit is so important, its worth baring in mind. I will say, I was also a little worried I'd struggle to grip them again to retrieve them after the ride. Thankfully, no such problem.
The quality of the materials is good and they are nice and soft to the touch. This is good as they are made from plastic and not from foam.
Despite being concerned that their size may be affecting their performance, I was very pleased with them when riding around at under 50mph. They cut the edge of the road noise, leaving me able to hear the bike and the road around me. At no point were they uncomfortable.
The problem for me was when travelling a much higher speeds. Wearing an Arai Chaser V, the wind noise was certainly noticeable when on the dual carriageways above 50mph, which isn't the case with the 3M plugs. This was disappointing.
Finally we come to the cost. I checked and this one set of reusable plugs is £19.95, which when to think that I got about ten pairs of the 3M ones for a few quid each, has to make me question the price. You do get a lovely little metal canister to store them, but that can't be the sole reason to buy them. Auritech come highly recommended in the industry and its well worth noting that no universal plug will be as good as a custom set.
So would I recommend you try them? Well, yes I would actually. As I said before, everybody is different and its about finding the ones that work for you. £20 is quite a lot for a single set of plugs, but our hearing is a risk if not protected when riding and they may be perfect for you. If you're looking for a set of plugs, try them.
More information about Auritech can be found at www.auritech.co.uk/

After an Easter weekend, that can only be described as a 'bit of a wash out' it was good to be able to open the garage door this morning and use a bike in anger. Saying that, I did have to wait until the ride back home this afternoon, as the weather this morning, was, well, very British.
The FireBlade is currently looking like a bike that's been used throughout the winter. Whenever I've taken her out, she's come back covered in grime, mud and god knows what else. Lets just say I live in a rural county and leave it at that. 
Despite not doing much riding this last week, I was in attendance at the monthly Dorset Bikerdown! course, where I volunteer helping to deliver some life saving skills and knowledge to open minded bikers from the local area. Bikerdown! is a fire service product, having been developed by Kent Fire and Rescue Service when they noticed a gap in the market. With an already highly successful safety programme in place, Dorset Police and Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance took over delivery duties for Dorset. We however are a little different. Our team includes Dr Ian Mew and aids the development of the Docbike project https://www.docbike.org. This is the Facebook page for Bikerdown! UK and I would highly advise finding your local team and taking part. ​https://www.facebook.com/bikerdownuk/ 

In Ducati news, my sprocket carrier finally arrived, so I'm a go for the service works. Which is great. This Renthal carrier, although more expensive than some others on the market, is a beautiful piece of metal. Its such a shame knowing it will be hidden behind the sprocket flange. At least I'll know it's there.
This carrier has allowed me to go up a tooth at the back, which when combined with a reduction at the front, should improve acceleration (not that the Ducati really needs it) sacrificing top speed. I'm keen to get the work done and get the bike out to see how it rides. I doubt I'm good enough to really notice a difference.