The 1098s isn't suited for winter riding. There's nothing physically stopping me riding it in the winter that it, with the exception of the tyres, but that could easily be sorted. The engine would still work, the wheels would still roll and the brakes would still clamp onto those two twin Brembo discs at a mere moments notice, but this Ducati is just too good to introduce it to sub zero temperatures and the dreaded road salt. This is why, today, I called up Mike and his team and told them I'll have the Monster. I know that it too is an Italian bike, but with liberal coatings of ACF 50 www.acf-50.co.uk it will be fine. To fully 'winterise' it, I've already arranged for a set of Pilot Road 3 tyres and heated grips to be stuck on and although it already wears a hugger, I'll look at getting a shock tube too and probably some bar muffs. Now I know I mentioned all this before, especially about bar muffs being possibly the least cool modification you can make to any bike, but warm hands are a must in winter and I'm too old to care what anybody else thinks.
Its now only a few days from the start of November. The clocks have already gone back, but today the sun was shining bright in the sky; almost in defiance to the inevitable. After taking so getting started, the great summer of 2013 that burnt so brightly this year doesn't seem to be giving up without a fight, but annoyingly, nobody explained this to the night time. Leaving the house this morning, it was proper cold and it was the first time my fingers have hurt by the time I got to work. Sadly we all know that this will soon become the norm and any ideas of leaning through some quick corners will just be distant memories.
The 1098s isn't suited for winter riding. There's nothing physically stopping me riding it in the winter that it, with the exception of the tyres, but that could easily be sorted. The engine would still work, the wheels would still roll and the brakes would still clamp onto those two twin Brembo discs at a mere moments notice, but this Ducati is just too good to introduce it to sub zero temperatures and the dreaded road salt. This is why, today, I called up Mike and his team and told them I'll have the Monster. I know that it too is an Italian bike, but with liberal coatings of ACF 50 www.acf-50.co.uk it will be fine. To fully 'winterise' it, I've already arranged for a set of Pilot Road 3 tyres and heated grips to be stuck on and although it already wears a hugger, I'll look at getting a shock tube too and probably some bar muffs. Now I know I mentioned all this before, especially about bar muffs being possibly the least cool modification you can make to any bike, but warm hands are a must in winter and I'm too old to care what anybody else thinks.
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Well today, to and from work, I experienced two very different rides. The way back with warm, dry, sunny, easy and fun. The sort of ride you wish every ride home from work was. However the one first thing this morning was, how shall I put it, eventful.
Overnight the heavens had opened and dropped, what can only be described as ' a significant amount of rain' across my local area. Now I'm no stranger to rain, I am after all, an Englishman. I was wearing pretty much the right kit for the conditions, well sort of. I've worn my Supertech Rs when its rained before and my feet had somehow stayed dry. Could be foot position, could be anything, so this morning I thought nothing of wearing them, the rain had even stopped, so the El Nino rain suit I was wearing was to mainly protect me from the spray of other vehicles. As I was riding along, I noticed an area of the roadway, about 40ft long that was underwater. Not severely, just three or four inches. As any good rider/driver should, I slowed right down and aimed for the middle of the water. UK roads taper off to the sides, so are in effect 'higher'in the middle, meaning the water was also at its lowest. No chance of hitting a kerb either. Anyway, so I had dropped my speed to 10ish mph and lined up the move. My plan, which I acted out, was to keep a constant speed through the water and keep it in a straight line. As I entered the water, the front wheel of the Ducati created a wave and a secondary wall of water, about a foot high, out to the side of the bike. Sadly, this wall of water hadn't had time to fall to the ground by the time my feet arrived and my Supertechs, with their lovely venting, acted like a great big sponge, filling up with cold rain water and soaking my feet and socks. Socks saturated with cold rain water are not very nice when you have to change gear as you can feel the water moving past your toes. When I came to a similar 'puddle' about a mile down the road, I change my tack. I lifted my feet, but this didn't help either as I was pretty much just holding my feet at the apex of my own personal wave, soaking them again. Thankfully the Chuckie T's I leave at work are so soft and comfy that I could get away with wearing them without socks, so was able to leave them to dry in the changing room. After over eight hours I put the socks back on for the homeward journey, to find them almost dry, but still disappointingly damp. New Gore Tex boots anyone? Well, Summer has ended, Autumn is here and Winter is just around the corner. Well that's how it felt at 04:30 this morning when I left for work. Crickey it felt cold! But that was it; it only felt cold, it wasn't really that cold in the grand scheme of things. I've ridden to work when it was -7 which I quickly realised was my limit. I could barely open my hands for twenty minutes after that one, but this morning, the temperature gauge on my bike's dash was claiming it was 8 degrees, so at worst it was just 'chilly'. My Alpinestars 365 gloves have never been the warmest of things and my Ninja had heated grips fitted for those cold mornings, but I'm certainly not going to fit aftermarket heated grips to the Ducati. That is the second least cool (excuse the pun) thing to put on the handle bars behind bar muffs. The 1098s front fairing isn't that great at protecting the hands from the wind either, so couple that with the first 'lower' temperature since Spring, it was certainly noticeable.
In bike news, the Metaltech Racing parts I ordered are on their way, just in time for the Ducati to be put away in a month of so. My front tyre is looking a little worse for wear, so I've ordered up a new Rosso Corsa too and I mentioned that I'm going to need a new chain and sprockets, which I'll get installed during the frankly excessively expensive Desmo service due at 12000 miles. Its worth nothing that thats less than 500 miles away. You may remember I mentioned testing out the differences between performance fuels and regular petrol a few posts back. Well I've concluded the first step having burnt my way through several tanks of the new Shell V Power Nitro, which has included lots of town riding and some serious thrashing up the motorway. I'm now back on the normal stuff and as the fuel in the tank seems to last four days, I should be able to get some figures to compare in a few weeks. Finally, I got a lovely email this afternoon saying that I have qualified for a press pass for Motorcycle Live at the NEC at the end of November, which is rather exciting. Pop on over to 'Out there, Riding' to read my review of last years show. I plan on doing something similar this year, so stay tuned. What a fantastic little weekend that was. The weather man told us that the summer would be making its last stand this weekend and I didn't need telling twice, so instead of plumming for the car, I took the bike straight out of London down to Poole and Bournemouth for the weekend with Sarah.
Instead of taking the usual A3, A272 route, I needed to head past Box Hill so my plan was to take the A24 South to the start of the A272, ride west all the way along this great British biking route, pick up the A31 at Alton and head on into Poole via the M27 and the A31 through the New Forest as per usual. Well that was the plan anyway. I picked up the A272 and headed west, but by the time I reached it, my shoulders and hands were shot. I'd already worked a full eight hour shift starting before 05:00 as usual and having to ride out of London through Wandsworth just sealed it. I was knackered. It was when heading through Petworth when my plan got altered thou. I basically missed my turn as I wasn't paying attention to the road signs as I was making my way through the queues, so instead of heading West to Midhurst, I was headed South for Goodwood and Chichester. I realised this pretty soon, but couldn't be bothered to turn around, thinking that I'd spot a sign leading me to Petersfield or Midhurst, but they didn't come; mainly as they were rapidly disappearing behind me. As I got near the little village of Duncton (I only know this now as I've just looked it up on Google Maps) my fuel light came on and by this time I realised I could head West along the A27 and M27 to get back onto the A31. I'm midway through a self run fuel test, so I wanted to find a Shell garage to be able to continue. Don't ask me why I'm being stubborn about it thou. Anyway, previously I had worked out that I get through roughly a litre of fuel for every nine miles I ride, yeah I know its rubbish, so with four litres in 'reserve' I have a theoretical limit of thirty six miles. I entered Chichester at the start of rush hour in absolute agony, but couldn't find a Shell garage on the A27, so I pushed my luck and kept on going. The miles were ticking by and the fuel kept getting lower and lower. I passed a Shell garage on the opposite carriageway just after the A3(M) and felt positive as these stations are often built in pairs. However, the station on my site seemed notable by its absence. Finally, as my trip meter pushed past the thirty mile mark, I spotted a sign for some services just off the A2030 on the North side of Portsmouth. Thankfully it was the right petrol station and I can remember saying to myself, if they have a loo and a Costa, I'll be a happy man. Well, one out of two ain't bad I guess and I could always get some tea when I get home. So fuelled and emptied at the same time, I made the final push for Poole and pretty much just nailed it down the M27. I briefly stopped at Conquest Carbon in Wimbourne to say hi to Steve, but he'd already left for the day, so I changed visors and headed off, quickly and safely reaching my future inlaws. We were in Poole/Bournemouth so Sarah could run the Supersonic 10k race as part of Bournemouth's Marathon weekend and she managed the course in just over an hour and in the process raised £350 for Invest in M.E. I was so proud of her as she did the run carrying an injury and was very nervous about her ability to finish at all. If you want to donate, have a look here www.justgiving.com/Sarah-Tilley3 So finally it was 14:00 on the Sunday and time to head home. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to simply fly up the M3, or weather I wanted to go back onto the part of the A272 I missed out on on Friday and pick up the A3 past Guildford instead. Now I could sit here and say that I chose the M3 to see how good the fuel economy was using Shell V Power on the motorway, but to be honest, I just wanted to get home. I find I get very nervous about two hours before a long ride and its always a very emotional time parting ways with Sarah as she heads North up to Birmingham and I head East to London. This time she stayed later that usual which freed me up to go at my own pace on the start of the ride back. Allowing the wind to take the weight of my upper body, I reached Fleet services feeling fairly fresh. I didn't really need or want to stop, but I stopped anyway to ensure that I didn't suffer when fighting through the crappy traffic that was waiting for me 45mins up the road. Whilst sat drinking my decaf I noticed loads of people wearing the celebratory T shirt that were handed out to each and every finisher of all the Bournemouth races at the weekend and heard a few people talking about my bike, which I parked away from the cars, up next to a wall by the entrance. Finally, a few hours after leaving Poole I was back inside London and joining the A406. When passing the Ace cafe a rider in street gear (jeans and trainers) riding a Suzuki GSXR joined the carriageway and we followed each other up and out of London on the A41 fighting our way through the traffic. It was a nice way to end a long ride, almost like a welcome home. So here I sit, happy, tired and very content. I had a great weekend and it was probably the last real opportunity to have a great biking weekend before things get a lot colder. I fear its going to be another longish winter thou, but thats not all bad as it will give me loads of time to make sure the Ducati is ready for those first few days of Spring. There is something very distinct and unique about the smell of a motorcycle when ridden after it has been out in the rain. Its the strange sickly smell of debris and dirt suspended in the rain water being burnt away by the heat of the engine and the exhaust. I have never liked it which is funny because I have no problem riding in the rain or poor weather conditions. High winds maybe, but certainly not rain. As the saying goes 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing'. This mornings ride was the first ride in the rain that I've had to make for several weeks, but the wet greasy conditions often leave me with no confidence in my tyres, nor the condition of the road. I have often talked about the amount of diesel and oil I see when riding around London and my constant amazement that fewer vehicles seems to break down. This morning wasn't any different.
The Pirellis that are currently on the Ducati are a superb dry weather and track day tyre, but as the summer fades into autumn and winter I'd rather have a bike shod with Michelin's excellent Pilot Road 3s which would give much better wet/cold weather grip. Saying that, its pretty much a moot point because as soon as the temperature drops down close to freezing and the council decide to spread the road salt about, the Ducati will stay tucked up in the garage on a charger. Hopefully I'll get the second bike sorted by then, as I really hate using the car in London, but then again, who doesn't? Yesterday I popped down to the Ace Cafe in North London...twice. I had arranged to meet up with my good mate Kevin yesterday afternoon, so after heading out of work and killing 20mins in a shopping centre I rocked on over and for probably the first time, Kevin was there before me. We ordered some food, had some coffee and just chatted about anything and everything. I have known Kev since 2010 when we met at a Silverstone trackday. He had a very low speed lowside very early on and his 999s still bears the scars. He has been threatening to get it resprayed, but getting his bike cleaned is a massive deal, so maybe before the end of 2015 huh Kev? I headed home for just over an hour and then headed back along the A406 to meet up with some chaps from the Ducati forum. Stupidly, I only took a dark visor, so I had to leave before the evening really got started. Those who have been to bike night at the Ace Cafe know what I mean when I say it can get a bit raucous. Its almost the polar opposite to bike night at Poole, which is a much more reserved affair Whilst I was there in the evening I noticed that my tax disc holder and tax disc had both made a break for freedom, which is a fairly substantial pain in the arse. Even more annoying is that my local DVLA centre doesn't open on a Saturday and is only open during office hours Monday to Friday. Really! Why? The vast majority of working people wont be able to get there unless they make the trip during their lunch break, making it a very stressful experience I would imagine. The only people who will really benefit are poor souls like me who start in the middle of the night or the unemployed. Surely, if you only wanted the office to be open for five days a week, it would make much more sense to be open on the Saturday and closed on say the Wednesday or Thursday instead. I guess its lucky 'stupid' people like me don't get to make these sort of decisions. Who knows what we might achieve? Now where's my benefit cheque, the X-Factor's about to start.
Where have you been? I hear maybe two of you asking me, well I've been away for a week and I didn't have either a computer with me, nor more importantly a motorbike for all but one of those days. My holiday all started with the Ducati trackday at Brands Hatch last Monday. I got there a little later than I would usually have liked and by the time I arrived there were vans everywhere. So I parked up and went to sign on. This was only the second event that I have attended that was run by Focussed Events and I have to say that although the first went reasonable smoothly in terms of organisation, this one was a shambles. Firstly they were unable to sell out to a purly Ducati audience, so it was opened up to other types of bikes. Then they started dropping the price to entice more people in. So on the day there were people who would have paid the £220 sitting next to people who paid £170. That in my book isn't fair, or right. Anyway moral ethics aside, I effectively queued to sign in three times. I was told that there was a sign on the door explaining the slight differences between Ducati Riders and the others. This sign was a piece of A4 paper stuck on one side of the door way (the wrong side as nobody had to pass it to get in) so I missed it. Anyway once I had finally signed in I got some food and a coffee and sat and chatted with some other riders. The safety briefing was supposed to be at 08:30 in the briefing hall, but then, when everybody was already in the briefing hall, they changed their minds and had it in the pits at 08:45. There was no way that the first group will be in a position to be on track at 09:00. After a few introductions we went out.....late. I spoke to a few riders who had missed their sighting lap sessions, didn't have time to be noise tested, so they just left. This is customer service at its worst. Below are a few pics from the day. As you can see, it was pretty damp out there, so I'm pretty much bolt upright everywhere. I'm going to writing a full report in the next few days. The rain had pretty much stayed away and a dry line was making its presence known, but then just before lunch, it started raining, only lightly, but that was enough to soak the track, making it pretty much pointless to go out. After lunch the only people on the track were on full wets. I went out to test the conditions, but realised I was going too slowly and was a danger to myself and the guys on wets, so I came it and got ready to go home. After a quick dash back, I parked the bike, got changed, picked up my car keys and drove to Poole to spend my birthday weekend with Sarah and her family. Tuesday evening on Poole Quay is bike nirvana. Every Tuesday during the summer, the local bikers descend on the Quayside, so as it was my birthday, it was fairly easy to convince Sarah into letting me go. Here are some pics. Whilst down in the South I took full advantage of being close to one of my favourite after market suppliers. Conquest Carbon www.conquestcarbon.co.uk down in Wimborne supply as the name suggests after market carbon fibre body part replacements. In the past I've ordered a replacement key guard, front mudguard and full belly pan all of which are excellent. If you can think of it, they can supply it. Have a look at the site and see if they can supply your bike. Its an Aladdin's cave of wonder. Tell them I said hi
I took a call yesterday from that ivalidate place, the people who have been writing the insurance report following the theft of my Ninja. At the end of the second phone call, over a week ago, I was asked to supply the address of where the bike was stolen from which was missing from the file. I was able to get the address from Sarah about an hour later and emailed it over. So yesterday the call came in and it was the same woman who I had spoken to before, but she was still asking me for the address. Somewhat dumbfounded I explained that I had already emailed her the details and was able to give her the exact time that the email was sent. Her reaction was less than comforting. It turns out this has been dragged out for so long because of her. I'm not going to call here incompetent, because that would be unfair, but I am very disappointed with the whole thing. I'm glad that I have at least one alternate form of transport, although if I had a courtesy bike, I'm damn sure they would be dealing with the matter a lot quicker.
Still no news on the Ducati, hopefully I'll hear something later today, cross fingers Well it turns out the tempting fate actually works. I was utterly amazed when fate stepped in and ruined yet another day. Instead of a letter from the insurance company, the fickle finger of fate pointed it's bony finger straight at the electrical system and halted my bike in its tracks. The ride home from work was fine and the bike was running just as expected. I needed to fill up, so I used the pay at pump station just around the corner from home. I paid my money, filled the tank, hit the starter and then nothing but the horrible noise of the starter motor trying to push the pistons up and down filled the air.
I tried to call the dealership, but there was no answer so my only recourse was to call the AA out...again. The chappy turned up within 20mins and as it was easier, I whipped the left fairing panel off in a few mins for him using his rusty tools. Turns out the battery wasn't receiving enough juice to get recharged. The battery was hooked up to a booster and the bike fired up straight away. My plan was still to ride to the dealership and the AA man said he'd follow. We left the fairing panel in the van and I rode on ahead....for half a mile. That's when the bike spluttered and ground to a halt. Turns out the battery had now completely discharged itself so now a top up was needed. After about 5mins we were back up and running and when we encountered traffic, Mr AA told me to head off and told me he'd catch up. I got to Metropolis 10mins before him and I found out why they didn't answer the phone. They were flippin closed. Mike was in Italy looking at the new Ducati models (exciting stuff) and Leyton couldn't cover. In a brief moment of good luck, Artur was there doing some freelance stuff so I was able to leave the bike with him. The theory being it was one of two things: the alternator or the regulator/rectifier. On the three mile walk home, in full leathers, I started thinking about the bike, my bikes, the theft of the Ninja and pretty much all that is associated with my bikes. I love the Ducati and I loved my ZX7R, but I can't be dealing with all the hassle of them breaking down. Maybe a PCP deal would be a good idea. Jack my Ducati in and put the value towards a brand new bike and subsequently get a new one every three years. Its a very temping prospect. No breakdowns, everything under warranty. In three years, all I would have to get would be new tyres, break pads and a few fluid changes. It's very temping, but a hard decision. To finish I found out how much the repair may cost. If its the Reg/Rec its £80 give or take. If its the alternator it £400. Which my run of luck, how much do you think I'll be shedding out in the next day or two? Yeah, me too That was a good weekend of riding. Admittedly I was only really Friday and Sunday, but it's the thought that counts. I was able to ride out London in 30mins on the Friday, which is a good 20mins better than I've managed before. Although one little only lady in her beaten up bright green Micra did try to drive me into the van next to me whilst filtering along Chelsea Embankment. I made a point of passing her on the drivers side and smacking her mirror with my hand. Yes, not exactly friendly, but if she didn't see me right in front of her before, maybe she needs that kind of wake up call.
I powered out of town down the A3 filling up for fuel down at Liphook services just after the Hindhead tunnel, which must have been designed by somebody who likes noise. They should have named it after the tunnel at Rockingham and called it the Hindhead Exhaust Appreciation Tunnel, or HEAT for short. Knowing just how busy the A31 through the New Forest can get, I pretty much always stop at Rownham Services on the M27, mainly to pop to the loo and fill up on fluids and sugars etc. Friday was no exception and after a great run along the A272, I stopped and I noticed that one of the bolts holding my right heel guard on, had worked its way loose and was now probably sitting in a grass verge in Hampshire somewhere. The other bolt seemed secure so I left it, which was a mistake as when I finally stopped in Poole, the second bolt and the heel guard has pissed off into the distance. On Sunday I visited an open day at the RNLI down in Poole and I picked up two buffs for £1 each. That's at least £10 less than they're available in the shops. Bargain. I could have easily bought the ten that were there and turned a tidy profit on Ebay, but a) I didn't have a tenner on me b) It's best to let somebody else be able to get a bargain too. The Ducati passed 10000 miles on the way down on Friday, which is a nice milestone. Sadly it also means the 12000 mile Desmo service is looming. I should be hearing from my insurance company within a week or so in regard to the theft of my Ninja. Once I get the official nod that the bike is no longer mine, I'm going to have to change the front page. Not the photo, I like that too much, but the text. Still no very happy about the whole thing to be honest. |
MeMy name is Matt Brown and I'm a UK journalist formerly based in London, but now calling the South of England home. I've been riding bikes since 2007, but got hooked straight away. Nothing gives me the feeling of freedom, even when stuck in a city. In 2010 I became a RoSPA gold rider, but when it comes down to it, I'm Just a normal man, riding his bikes as often as he can. Archives
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