'Go Go Juice', 'Gas', 'Fuel' or just 'Petrol' it doesn't matter what you call it, but this afternoon I filled the Ducati up and subsequently spent the rest of the day burning off, a tank of Shell V Power Nitro+, which is the latest incarnation of Shells performance fuel. The car gets whatever its given, but I tend to use Shell in the bike for two main reasons. The first, which has nothing to do with the fuel, is that Shell garages have the 'Pay at Pump' service which is a godsend in a country where some garages insist bikers remove their helmets. The second reason is, and I don't really know why, but I just like using Shell fuels, its seems like the bike runs....err better. I know that's not exactly a scientific reason, but as a customer, its the only real reason that matters. I went for the superdooper stuff over the standard 95 Ron fuel as earlier today I read a small article in this months RiDE magazine which talked about an economic improvement over normal petrol when using a 'Performance fuel'. With 160bhp under my right hand, I certainly don't need any increase in performance, but an increased level of fuel efficiency is certainly worth exploring. I will let you know how I get on.
Anyway, the reason I went out on the bike today was to head up to my nearest KTM dealer; the KTM Centre in Hemel Hempstead http://www.thektmcentre.co.uk/
Anyway, the reason I went out on the bike today was to head up to my nearest KTM dealer; the KTM Centre in Hemel Hempstead http://www.thektmcentre.co.uk/
Before I go on, I should just apologise about the photos. New phone, crap camera. Right, where was I? Ahh yes. I was there to look at and get some information on the KTM Duke 125, which I had in mind as a commuter/winter bike. I spoke with a really nice guy by the name of Jason Jones, who suggested, just from looking at me, that the Duke 200 would be a much wiser choice. Who was I to argue? Sadly there was no 200 there, but there was a 390, which is exactly the same dimensions as the 200, which I got to test for size. So far it looks promising; I can fit my Kreiga tailpack on the rear seat, you can get hand guards and heated grips to help with winter riding. So far so good and we will just have to see where it leads.
After chatting Ducatis with a chap from the garage next door and as I was out and about and already halfway there, I decided to continue North and head up to OnYerBike just North of Aylesbury www.onyerbike.net. Its remains the only place that I know that keeps a descent range of leathers, clothing, helmets, gloves and boots in stock and its always worth a look.
After visiting the service department to ask, what in hindsight was a fairly stupid question, I popped into the showroom to have a look around. Inside was pretty much the full range of Kawasakis, Ducatis, Aprilias and MVs all under one roof, but the one bike that peaked my interest was a black and red 2005 Z1000. You may remember this was the model of bike that I killed on the side of a taxi in early 2011. I've always like them so I was pretty interested. I wasn't standard, wasn't in amazing condition and it wasn't even UK spec (you could tell this by all the stupid bloody reflectors on the side of the bike) but I was still interested. There was no price on the bike, so I asked. £4200!! Well that sorted that. If the price had been £2500 I would have sat down with the man and had a chat, but in my opinion it certainly wasn't worth £4200, especially with 17000+ on the clock and without the standard cans. There was one little highlight thou and that was before I left, I did notice a customers rather tidy original Z1000, which I just had to take a little snap of.
After visiting the service department to ask, what in hindsight was a fairly stupid question, I popped into the showroom to have a look around. Inside was pretty much the full range of Kawasakis, Ducatis, Aprilias and MVs all under one roof, but the one bike that peaked my interest was a black and red 2005 Z1000. You may remember this was the model of bike that I killed on the side of a taxi in early 2011. I've always like them so I was pretty interested. I wasn't standard, wasn't in amazing condition and it wasn't even UK spec (you could tell this by all the stupid bloody reflectors on the side of the bike) but I was still interested. There was no price on the bike, so I asked. £4200!! Well that sorted that. If the price had been £2500 I would have sat down with the man and had a chat, but in my opinion it certainly wasn't worth £4200, especially with 17000+ on the clock and without the standard cans. There was one little highlight thou and that was before I left, I did notice a customers rather tidy original Z1000, which I just had to take a little snap of.
Not wanting to fire it back down the A41, I decided to have a little explore, so after having a Macdonalds, which was actually pretty tasty and fitted the bill, I headed off towards Leighton Buzzard and an alternative route home. It was whilst on the A505, riding...how shall we say...progressively, that I got passed by a yellow 1098. Now I'm not normally a huge fan of yellow Ducatis, but this bike looked amazing. Not wanting to be left out, I gave chase and for a few minutes a V Twin chorus was bouncing off the local hedges. Sadly the bike turned off and I was left heading down the A5 towards Dunstable and St Albans.
I was nearly home and when truddling through the rush hour traffic in Barnet, that I saw my MOT man, so naturally I waved. He waved back, but unless he recognised the bike, he would have no idea who I was. Still nice of him to wave thou.
So now its evening. My bike is locked up safe and sound in the garage. The fuel light has told me that all that 'Go Go Juice' I poured into the tank earlier this afternoon has all but gone, disappeared in a blur of movement, heat and vapour. So what now? same thing tomorrow? Oh go on then, why not?
I was nearly home and when truddling through the rush hour traffic in Barnet, that I saw my MOT man, so naturally I waved. He waved back, but unless he recognised the bike, he would have no idea who I was. Still nice of him to wave thou.
So now its evening. My bike is locked up safe and sound in the garage. The fuel light has told me that all that 'Go Go Juice' I poured into the tank earlier this afternoon has all but gone, disappeared in a blur of movement, heat and vapour. So what now? same thing tomorrow? Oh go on then, why not?
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