Earlier this week I headed up to Motorcycle Live with long time friend Lucinda. From where I live on the South Coast, the drive to Birmingham is a long one and by the end of the day, we'd spend nearly 7 hours in the car. 
I've been going to the show regularly now and it never fails to impress. Its now a case of if you really want to see everything, sit on everything and explore everything, you'd probably need two days. 
The show is really well supported by all the main manufactures and the big companies are starting to really present very large, dominating stands. Honda for example seemed to take up a third of one of the halls by themselves. It was all very impressive.
There were a few bikes that were getting a lot of attention; the new Ducati V4R, BMW1000RR and Suzuki Katana to name just a few. Personally it was great to be able to sit on the new Honda Cub after seeing the prototype last year. I'd love one, but being 6'3, they are tiny and the rocker action of the gear change would be problematic for my massive feet.
The new bikes  were mixed in between old classics, genuine race bikes from Kawasaki and BMW and the traditional MotoGP 'shells' from Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda, which now almost seem mandatory.
Here are some pictures from the day. Not everything by any means, but a few of the bikes, in no particular order, that took my interest

As motorcyclists, we all know, well at least, we all SHOULD know, that good observation skills are paramount to a safe and enjoyable ride. As we've started on our 5 month journey through the winter, how we employ those skills becomes more and more important.
In the dark, our biggest advantage is greatly restricted and in some cases (being blinded by cars cresting a hill or coming around a corner with their full beams on) temporarily removed. This lack of visibility, coupled with often damp and greasy roads in the morning, results in a completely different riding style and approach to each journey.
I don't know about you, but when its damp, there always seems to be much more oil laid down on the tarmac. In reality I know that there is no reason why, when it's wet, other vehicles will leak more, because they don't. Its just that, in these damp conditions, the oil spreads itself on top of the surface, rather than staying in a concentrated droplets. Its this spread that makes oil the number one danger when your visibility is taken away in my opinion.
Now when the police and riding instructors talk about using our observation skills, there is a tendency for us to only think about the one sense; sight. That's totally understandable as we get approx 83% of our information through our eyes. But there are more senses as our disposal that could save us from a fall.
The first of these we all use without actually realising it. This is our sense of touch. When it's cold, we can feel it all over, so we know that there will, more than likely, be less mechanical grip. We therefore slow down and don't try to lean the bike over so far. To a lesser extent we use our hearing as well. Although often muted by earplugs, we can still hear the vehicles around us, be they a car travelling too close, or an emergency vehicle approaching from the distance. This is all good and one of the many reasons why I don't listen to music on the bike. The sense that many people ignore though  (and the actual reason for this blog post) is our sense of smell.
When we are riding, we are exposed to so much more than the average car driver. We can smell the countryside, we can smell that 150,000 mile Vauxhall Zafira pumping our toxic diesel fumes a few cars ahead, but we can also smell spilt fuel and large quantities of oil, well before we actually see it.
As part of my riding gear, I always wear a Buff neckscarf. Its a simple fabric barrier that I wear over my nose and mouth to help toxic fumes out of my lungs, but it still allows me to pick up that all too familiar smell, roll off the throttle and take a far more conservative approach to my speed an line. 

I never thought I'd be getting me knee down today, but down it went. The left puck glanced the surface and I got to feel the positive pressure push my left leg back towards the bike.
The ironic thing is that I was doing about 4mph and I was filtering between two lines of stationary traffic approaching a roundabout.
The surface in question was the right wing of some old boys piece of s##t Vauxhall. Not a fan of Vauxhalls at the best of times. Not content that me, the biker, was able to squeeze between the traffic, they decided to hit me with their car as traffic briefly started to move.
Now, I will happily admit that the gap was small and that he may not have seen me, however, I was already in front of him (probably only a few feet), on a bright yellow bike with a shockingly bright hi viz jacket on, so yes, he may not have seen me, or as I fear, he thought 'Oh no you don't, I'm going to teach you a lesson!'
Interestingly, when I stopped and waited for him a few meters further up in the traffic, he pulled up next to me, wound down his window and repeatedly referred to me as 'A F##king Maniac! Conversation I fear, would have been tricky. So after listening to his tirade and watching his blood pressure rise, knowing I wasn't injured, I casually rode off leaving him to steam in his own hatred.
Playing Devils Advocate; maybe he's had a really bad day and having been stuck in traffic for the last 20mins his temper and patience were already low. Then, out of nowhere, from his perspective, this biker was either cutting him up, or had actually struck him, rather than the other way round. 
It takes two to tango as they say. We were both just trying to get to our destination and this was just the result of a really busy road network, the dark, rush hour and a split second decision.
Or failing that, he was just an a##hole!