The plan for this weekend was to dedicate my time to my bikes. So yesterday I took advantage of the warm evening to give both of the bikes a little clean up. For some reason, don't ask me why, I decided that I really needed to take off the exhausts for the 1098s and give both of them and the undertray and damn good scrub. Turns out, it was a pretty bloody good decision. This is what I found.

From my estimates, this is a nice mix of baked on chain lube and general filth from the ride to Italy earlier this year. Since I got back, I've only really used the bike a handful of times, but bloody hell, this is terrible. I'm almost embarrassed.
With the exhausts off, I covered the pipes on the bikes with freezer bags which I rubber banded in place and gave the bike a good scrub down, cleaning up the cans separately. Thankfully, they went on as quickly as they came off. 
With a nice clean bike ready to go, I headed off to Box Hill this morning to meet my friend Martin who was kind enough to pick up a book from the Ducati Factory in Bologna back in July. I didn't have the space in my bag and if I did, it would have been ruined by the weather in Switzerland. Its a lovely book in both Italian and English and is filled with some wonderful photos from the museum. I'll have a read and get a write up in the next few weeks.

Whilst down in Surrey, I was able to say hi to a few friends and enjoy their tea. The coffee at Rykers really isn't that nice, but the tea and for that matter the chocolate brownie really hits the spot.
All in all it was really great to get out on the Ducati today. The bike felt good underneath me, even when having to ride through the London traffic. Its really a wonderful, albeit expensive bike.
I'm meeting up with my mate Dave tomorrow, who, if you read RiDE magazine, had his photo in this months issue. He was the silver fox with the ZX7R on top of the mountain. The photo is two years old and he's gone through four bikes (a ZX10r, a GSXR 750, a Ducati 1198 and V Strom) since then. Good old Dave. I'm going to take the chance of finally giving the 'Blade a proper run as so far she's just been used for commuting, so it will be good to get out in the country and scare the local wildlife.

The weather over the last few weeks has been a little...different. The overnight temperature has dropped a fair few degrees so I've been using my winter gloves on the way into work, but with temperature during the day back up around 20 degrees, I have to use my summer ones. Yes I know, not exactly the greatest revelation, but with limited space in my bag, having to carry a spare set of gloves just for the commute is a pain.
In other news, the exhaust that I ordered from Scorpion still hasn't arrived. It was supposed to be here on the 9th, but following several emails, it turns out that that it should finally be leaving the factory tomorrow. I knew there would be a two week wait, which I was fine with, but doubling that without a descent excuse is a bit poor. 
I picked up the Ducati today after dropping it into Metropolis to have the front discs replaced and tyres changed. As the Pirelli Angel GT tyres that I used to ride to WDW in July would be the perfect winter tyre, I want to get them on the 'Blade to replace the track focussed Metzlers that are on there at the moment. The Ducati uses a 55 sized rear, but the blade wants a 50. It shouldn't make too much difference, but I didnt want the waste the tyre on a bike that is likely to be sitting out November to March. The Honda goes in on Friday.
Finally, I thought I'd share this with you. Sarah took the picture a few weeks ago and I was just mucking about and well, I don't need a reason to act like an idiot.

Its funny that after only a few months of commuting on the FireBlade, I realised just how hard it was to commute on the 1098s today. Bloody hell was it hard work. Admittedly on the longish straight stuff it was its normal brilliant self, but having to pull away from the junctions, slipping the clutch, was a massive pain in the rear end. Thankfully I was just for one day only as this afternoon I picked up the 'Blade from my local Honda dealer, with a freshly fitted chain and sprocket kit attached. I went for OEM as it was the cheapest on offer. I like DID chains and Renthal sprockets as much as the next man, but if the original kit is cheaper, then that's fine by me.

I had to drop off the FireBlade this afternoon as she's having her chain and sprockets changed tomorrow. Yes, I guess that I could have done that myself, but I would have needed to buy some tools and well frankly, I was feeling lazy. As a result I'm having to take the Ducati back into Central London tomorrow, which will be the first time I've actually ridden it since returning from France in July. I guess I should apologise in advance to my neighbours for what is about to wake them. But hey, look at the bright side. The garage gives the exhaust an awesome upgrade to the bass.

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

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?

Following the trip its clear that my kit has started to suffer a bit. The leathers themselves are covered in the remains of all the unfortunate little bugs who just so happened to be flying around and found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. I could spend a bit of time and clean my leathers down, but I know, with some level of certainty, that I WILL get caught in one of the monster storms that are popping up from time to time. This attitude, although less than ideal, sadly doesn't really work for the inside of my helmet. 
A few years back I bought myself some S-Doc 100 helmet cleaner and have used it in the past, but the lining of my HJC was just crying out for a proper clean, so this weekend I removed the linings and stuck them in the washing machine. The side cheek panels came off easily, but the top wasn't going to budge without a fair bit of encouragement. Taking it out I felt I was going to break it, which is never a nice feeling, but eventually it came out and was intact. Thankfully the return installation process was a lot easier and today the helmet had a better fit and, not wanting to be too grim here, it smelt a lot better too.
This weekend also gave me the opportunity to give the 1098s a very quick clean. For a full on clean, I've got to take bits off, but this just gave me the chance to clean up a lot of the road grime that I'd be accumulating.

Today I got to use the FireBlade for the first time in over two weeks and following the sheer amount of miles I'd done on the Ducati, the Honda felt completely alien to me. It felt wide, with really high bars and if truth be told, a little heavy. I'm sure that in the next day or two, the feeling will return and I won't give it a second thought.

Well after a long 10hr ride from Colmar in France (its just South of Strasbourg) yesterday, I finally returned home yesterday just before 17:00. Wow, what an adventure. One blown fork seal, one seized clutch and even running out of fuel made sure that the holiday was memorable. I'll write up a proper review of the whole event in due time, but in the mean time, here are a few pics of my time riding across Europe on utterly the wrong kind of motorbike.

World Ducati Week - Day minus 1. Well there is good news and possibly bad. The good: My luggage options seem to work really well, with no obvious clashes between the three bags. I've had to strap my rain suit to the front of the tank bag, which then sits on the steering damper and key, but doesn't effect the handling of the bike in anyway. Now the bad: I fear that neither of my radiator fans are actually working. On my little test ride, the temp got to 107, but they still didn't kick in and I'm sure they're supposed to start when the temperature reaches 105. To be honest I can only see one, and now, a day before the trip, I don't have the time, or in fact the knowledge to investigate it. Not good and I'm not happy and there is nothing I can actually do. Not exactly the mind set I want to be in.