Well the annual holidays have come to an end. What turned out to be a great two weeks away with my family meant I've haven't seen, let alone ridden my bikes. I therefore don't think that you'll be too surprised to read that about a week ago, in a moments of actual decent wi-fi signal fuelled optimism, I ordered myself a new slip on Scorpion exhaust for the FireBlade www.scorpion-exhausts.com. Its nothing super flashy and one of the cheaper models, but I like the look of it and it should give the bike a much better look and sound. I should get it early next week so it will be out with the spanners, with pics and maybe some video footage to follow.
I've also booked the 'Blade in to have its chain and sprockets changed over. I'm pretty sure that the originals are still on there and visually they're past their best, so now that the Italy trip is behind me, I can concentrate on spending a few quid getting the bikes into shape.

Just a little side note as I would like to formally welcome a new addition to my mechanics family. Wishing both Artur and Agnieszka all the very best.

Tonight the Ace Cafe in North London are hosting an Italian car and bike day and I would have loved to have gone on the 1098s were it not for two things. Firstly the weather. It chucking it down and secondly, I still havent changed over my front discs. You may remember that on the return trip from Italy I noticed that one of my rotors was loose, well since getting back three weeks ago, I haven't ridden the Ducati a single metre. I have however picked up some replacement discs. So not all bad

Its not like I haven't been riding you understand because that simply isn't the case. I've been using the Blade a lot and yesterday I think its fair to say that I gave it a damn good thrashing. This I think is only fair because as of this weekend I'm out of the country again, this time without a bike beneath me. So if the site goes a little quite, fret ye not, I shall return but just with a better sun tan. Stay safe

I will readily admit, that this is probably a little sad. For some reason, over the years, I've got it into my head that for each specific bike, I have to have a specific key ring. For the ZX7R is was a Kawasaki racing one, for the 1098s its a Ducati Performance one, for the Monster its was a Monster tank one and so now for the Blade, its, well err, a Blade one. The fact it's yellow sealed the deal. I know its a 2003 colour scheme, the one with the black tank, but who cares, its just a bit of fun really. 

I was watching the weather forecast last night, not especially out of choice, but mainly as it was on in the kitchen and the BBC forecaster, the one with the funny name, was saying that it was going to chuck it down this morning, so when I woke from my slumber, I opened the curtains to see a wet road, but no rain. Could I get away with it? Has the rain already been and gone? but there was something about that forecast that made me pop on all my rain gear. Getting the bike out of the garage there were just a few spits of rain starting to fall, but nothing like the weather my suit warranted. About 5mins into the ride, I was already about 2 miles from my house and I started to think to myself that I kinda wanted it to bucket it down in order to justify wearing all this surplus gear. 
About 60secs later, I wished I'd kept my thoughts to myself. It was like somebody had turned on the taps and very quickly, the water flooded the tarmac and I counldn't see the road. Bloody scary. Thankfully after about 3 miles the rain stopped and the rest of the journey was fairly uneventful.
So in order to celebrate the first time I've ridden the FireBlade in the wet (on some already wore out rubber - not advisable) I fitted my first mod to the bike. Well I say mod, what I mean to say is that I fitted some Stomp Grips to the bike.

I already have a set fitted to the 1098s and not only do they work a charm but they really suit the bike. For the 'Blade I've gone for black grips again, which although semi ruin the graphics, would still, in my opinion, look a darn sight better than the clear ones with all my grubby fingerprints on the underside.  I'll keep you updated on how I get on.

Today I took advantage of the decent weather and had myself a little ride out to the Goodwood Breakfast club at Goodwood Race Circuit in Sussex. It took me around 90mins to get there via the most direct route with no traffic and I was happy to see a few friendly faces when I arrived. As the 1098s is still poorly, I was on the Blade again and despite it feeling a bit alien at the start of the week, it now feels like a comfy pair of shoes. I still need/want to do a few things and last week I ordered up some Stomp Grips to help grip the tank with my legs. Still on the list are different exhaust, some braided brake lines and some different tyres. The Metzlers that can with the bike are disappearing fast as the compound is extremely soft.

Nice bike ride to have a nice breakfast in the company of friends whilst looking at classic cars. What's not to like?

I had a bit of time on my hands this afternoon so I thought I'd get down to a task that, if Im honest, Ive been procrastinating about for weeks. It was time to take the panels off the FireBlade and finally have a look at what's underneath. Whilst I was there, I also took the opportunity to get rid of the sissy bar off the rear seat as thankfully I don't know anybody dumb/crazy enough to get on the back.

As you can see, its all very tidy under there, which considering its a 12yr old bike, it pretty bloody good. There are a little bits of corrosion on each side of the radiator, the coolant reservoir was empty (not too much of a problem as the radiator was full) and one of the bolts holding the fairing mounting bracket in place has gone AWOL, but that's an easy fix and i'll pop down to Firstline Motorcycle in Arnos Grove and see if they have any in stock. All in all, very good indeed.
Whilst I'm here, I've also posted up a small write up of WDW in the articles section, which will be followed in a few days by a review of the trip. If any of you are going down to the Breakfast Club at Goodwood this Sunday, I'll see you there.