Sargent Solo Seat
Yesterday was also the first long trip I'd done with the
Sargent Solo replacement seat fitted.
Whereas before I'd be shuffling around uncomfortably after a relatively short while, the Sargent cossets your bum in comfort and even has space and a tube for you to stow something in the seat itself (in my case a
ZRXOA rubber torch).
Recommended.
Cold Weather Bike Gear
So yesterday I had that 240 mile round trip to make in really cold conditions: so cold, in fact, that one the return journey, the gritters were out.
To make the journey tolerable, I'd added a pair of proper winter gloves to my wardrobe:
Belstaff Thermosport winter gloves - these are Pittards leather with Kevlar knuckle protectors, extra leather and abrasion resistance on the palms, Thinsulate (to keep the heat in) and Porelle lining (breathable but waterproof) in case of rain. This was the first time I'd worn them, so they still need to soften up, but they worked really well, aided by two things:
- A stop each way at the BP Garage on the A505 at Sawston - don't ever think that those coffee shop things they've put in are a fashion accessory: when your hands and body are getting cold, a hot cup of coffee really helps.
- The radiator shrouds on the ZRX1200R make handy heated glove racks when you're filling up with petrol!
So other than the gloves, I also wore a vest-style T-shirt, roll-neck T-shirt, ZRXOC sweatshirt and my lined Rukka jacket. On the legs, a normal pair of bike leathers worked fine, especially as they zip together with the Rukka jacket to help keep the draughts out and the heat in.
If I were commuting this distance regularly, I'd still invest in some proper electrically heated clothing, but for the occasional winter foray, the kit did the job well.
Martin Lovejoy's Funeral, 21 January 2005
Yesterday, I managed to get on the road at 9.00am: the Big Man Upstairs had laid on a clear but cold day for Martin's funeral.
A fairly clear run down to the Ace with an arrival there at 11.15am. Most of the
ZRXOC boys had already arrived and after a cuppa and a sausage and egg sandwich, I began to thaw out enough to speak. There had been a change of plan: we were now going to meet up with Icey and the London Ambulance Service bikes who were going to escort the funeral cortege to the church, so at 12.00pm we set off from the Ace and parked up at the bottom of Martin's road.
At about 12.30pm, Martin's hearse and the other funeral cars came past, led by two of the eight outriders from the London Ambulance Service, all with flashing blue lights. We tagged along behind them and rode slowly to the church, ignoring red lights and junctions as they were taken care of by either the outriders or by police cars and LAS members.
We met up with some more of the ZRXOC lads at the Church as they'd driven directly there.
We'd already decided to stand at the back of the church as a mark of respect, but in the event we didn't have a choice anyway as the church was packed with family and friends from all walks of life: 'normal' people, bikers, patch wearers, ZRXOC bods and a whole host of Martin's colleagues - yesterday would not have been a good day to be injured in NW London...
We estimated there were something like 400 people in the church.
The ambulance service had a piper playing as the coffin was taken into the church and the mourners came in.The priest opened with some great words: something like
"The ties that bind us in friendship do not unravel with death"
The funeral mass then progressed and was followed by two eulogies; the first on behalf of Martin's three young sons (Conor, Richard and Carl - please excuse the spellings) which had me welling up as it mentioned what a great Dad Martin was to the boys he clearly idolised; and the second by Martin's partner in the ambulance service which mentioned our club and the rest of his friends and of course his wife Cathy and the lads. He managed to nearly complete the eulogy without breaking down but at the very end it became too much for him (and indeed looking around he wasn't the only one in tears). Cathy had also asked for "Wind Beneath My Wings" to be played whose lyrics added to the emotion of the occasion.
The coffin was then taken back out to the hearse, led by the standard bearer and again being piped out to the tune of "Abide With Me".
The roads of Greenford were then again brought to a standstill as the funeral cortege, again led by LAS outriders, made its way slowly to the cemetary. I think everyone from the church had gone there as the cemetary was packed with mourners and Martin's colleagues lined the path up to his burial plot.
As we walked up to it, another ZRXOC member joined us.
The priest then took the ceremony and a bugler played the Last Post at the graveside.
There were some awesome floral tributes from his family, friends and colleagues (especially the Kawasaki bike from his colleagues) - some photos
here.
We'd been invited back to Cathy's (his widow) for some refreshments so we made our way there and spent longer than we'd thought there managing to chat to Cathy and Martin's Mum. Good people. We'd also said we'd go and say hello to the crews at Martin's station, but as time was drawing on, we headed straight back to the Ace through rush hour traffic to have a beer in his honour. A quick "light bite" - it said, they lied: it was huge - later, we said our goodbyes and headed home in the darkness of the rush hour.
So 240 miles (round trip) later here I sat, occasionally 'filling up' as I wrote this and raised another glass to Martin. Like it was said yesterday by many people: he never had a bad word to say about anybody and no-one ever had a bad word to say about him. He'll be missed.
Trailer Trash
So the nice man from DHL arrived yesterday morning with my shiny new bike trailer on his lorry and I moved the boxes into the garage where they were in the way.
I decided that I would assemble it last night whilst Mrs. Blue was at work, so at 6.30pm I headed outside and began unpacking the parts and assembling it like some giant Meccano set. All went remarkably well until the last pair of guard rails whose bolts and nylock nuts were a real bugger to get at and more particularly get a spanner or socket on. Remember that the trailer is basically a bunch of aluminum channels so there are quite a few sharp edges. Anyone who's ever worked on an old Mini would recognise my hands last night and this morning: bruised, cut and sore. Oh and I've also got some bruises and scars on my thighs and stomach from heaving it around later that evening...
I assembled it partly inside and partly in the rain outside our small, single garage which, being a "family garage" and part of a spec. built Beazer house, is rather small and is full of:
- five bicycles;
- two scooters;
- two wardrobes full of bike clothing;
- wine and beer;
- two brand new ST200 alloy wheels;
- two brand new ST200 floor mats;
- standard ZRX1200R exhaust silencer;
- standard ZRX1200R seat;
- a fridge-freezer;
- a tumble-drier;
- two music centre/separate systems;
- DIY tools, paint, etc.;
- kitchen roller blind;
- pasting table;
- Black & Decker Workmate;
- 3 piece aluminium ladder;
- large wooden garden table and four chairs;
- sledges;
- tools;
- ramps;
- wall-mounted kitchen units;
- cupboardy thing;
- data backup fireproof safe;
- paddock stand;
- carpets, lots of carpets;
- assorted fluids and oils for cars and bikes;
- general crap;
- bag of 10 footballs, pump, bibs and first aid kit;
- central heating boiler; and
- a big Kawasaki ZRX1200R.
It's a very big trailer. 10' long by 5' wide by 2½' tall. And 125kg.
I'd been lucky enough to nab my neighbour when he got in to lift the wheels on whilst I lifted the trailer up high enough - I'd found I could lift it with one hand but struggled to line up the wheel bolts with the holes with the other hand.
At this point, I stood back and admired my handiwork. Mrs. Blue came home at 9.00pm and I stayed outside to work on the trailer (and never did get anything to eat).
And then I looked at the chaos that is the garage and wondered how it would fit inside...
So I'm pondering my options: there's no access to the back garden other than a 3½' wide passage so that ruled that out. I could wheel the trailer into the garage and permanently stand the ZRX on the trailer, but access to everything else would be nigh-on impossible. I could eBay it. Or I could try to stand it up on its side against the wall.
Except that that was easier said than done. Did I tell you it's a very big trailer? I tried heaving it up and over onto its side, but the internal width of the garage meant there wasn't enough room to allow for it turning onto its side - I could get it to a 45° angle but not much further. So I did some measurements and discovered that if I took the front section off again, it might fit standing up on its back, although I'd still have to somehow lift it onto the back section and then manoeuvre it into position against the wall. So I set about it with the spanners and sockets and dismantled the work I'd already done. With the front section removed, I reckoned I could just about get it in place against the wall and resting against the wall units, so I put an old kitchen mat next to the wheel and heaved it up onto its side, bumping it outwards as I did so. Success! There was also just enough room between it and the wall to slot the heavy towbar section in to take up less space. 11.00pm and I was finished.
There's a photo here, taken this morning showing the finished article in the packed little garage. Mrs. Blue asked me to take her bike out so she could go and grab a DVD for this evening's booze and filum session at her friend's house and I was able to show her that it wasn't that tight and inaccessible ~:0)
New Bike Trailer
I seem to have bought
a new Erdé two bike trailer from eBay: now all I need to do is get the towbar fitted to Mrs. Blue's Fester (as I can't get one fitted to the ST200 ).
Should make travelling to and from circuits easier, plus I can carry spares and tools.
[edit]
I spoke to the sellers and they let me upgrade it to
the bigger, 750kg trailer which arrived this morning.
RIP Martin Lovejoy
I've just heard that one of my friends in
the Kawasaki ZRX Owners Club, Martin Lovejoy, died at home yesterday following a massive brain haemorrhage.
Martin was one of life's good guys; a family man working for the ambulance service in London. He loved his bikes too and was always quick to have a laugh and a joke with his mates. He'll be sorely missed.
I'll look forward to seeing you again one day, Martin.
Oh I almost forgot...
A couple of snippets I'd forgotten about the 'O' ring fettling session:
- I was really pleased that I could hoik Blue Rex onto the paddock stand (for stability, level and height) and work on it in the garage at last, rather than outside on the driveway.
- For the first time whilst manouevering the paddock stand into place, I managed to let Blue Rex topple over sideways, it being stopped by the two pushbikes next to it. Fortunately, it was such a gentle roll sideways that there was no damage (thank goodness it was slow and there were no sharp ends sticking out of the pushbikes). Now if it'd happened outside, the bike would've gone right over onto its side...
You Little Bleeder
I wasn't entirely happy about not having bled the cooling system after fitting the 'O' ring, so this afternoon, I fired up Blue Rex, took off the pump cover and fuel tank and undid the bleed valve/screw and was pleased to see a little coolant come straight out of each.
Job done.
Whacked it all back together and went for a quick 100mph thrash of about 15-20 miles just to be sure. No obvious signs of any leaks, so I'll check again after I use it next time.
At least the roads were dry and I was toasty warm in my leathers and Rukka jacket.
Blue's Top Tip
Avoid leaving your helmets on top of the fridge-freezer in the garage as they'll get filled up with condensation...
Bugger!
'O' Ring Fitted
So I picked up the 'O' rings and some premixed Motul coolant from the dealer today and after lunch, drained down and disconnected the leaking hose. The 'O' ring was fine once I'd cleaned it up a bit and likewise the hose. I replaced it anyway, but I really couldn't see anything wrong with the old one.
Ah well!
Refilled the system, ran it up, checked the level again, loosened the bleed valve but no fluid came out of the top one and I didn't bother with the bottom one for now.
I'll take it for a proper run tomorrow and see what's what, weather permitting.
'O' Rings - Plans for le weekend
Well as I hadn't heard from them "by the end of the week", I rang
Seastar Superbikes this afternoon to see if the 'O' rings had arrived: they hadn't. ~:0(
Bugger! So those plans went astray...
...until the 'phone rang at 5.40pm - I'd told the parts guy I wanted to do the repair this weekend and as the parts had just arrived there (!) he'd telephoned me to let me know.
Looks like these might be a good bunch of chaps...
So
this is running at Ally Pally from 29th January to 6th February and I'll be going on Saturday, 5th February with Michael the Bandit owner.
There's more about it
here.
On my shopping list are the following goodies for Blue Rex:
First up is a Respro SLICK Racing Wet Weather Suit
From
their web site:
Use the SLICK? Race suit for the following:
Increase Thermal Protection on perforated suits
Reduces weight gain by keeping Leathers from soaking up water
Improved Aero Dynamics at High speed
To go with your High Heeled PVC boots
I like companies with a sense of humour. I'll not be having the Ducati branding; instead I hope to get some vinyl lettering made up locally, if I can find anywhere.
Secondly, I'm after some new leathers. I've seen this suit at
Cissbury Leathers for £200 so it's got to be worth a punt:
They're an Arlen Ness 1254 two piece racing suit (with no ridiculous Quasimodo hump).
I might also treat myself to a nice new Arai like I posted before on my LJ: my current one is a three year old
Arai Quantum F helmet which should really be replaced, but I'm torn between the
Schwantz replica like the one I used to have and the
Cathcart replica which I've always liked.
And that little lot should do it!
The Sale of LiveJournal to Six Apart
In case you missed
the news of its sale, LiveJournal has been sold to
Six Apart (who are the company responsible for Movable Type - their weblogging product - and TypePad - their service).
There's much in Brad
's post about how nothing is going to change, but then we've all heard that before with the sale (and subsequent resales) of CiX. CiX is now a system I hardly ever use as it's now a shadow of its former self.
I really hope LiveJournal doesn't wither and die on the vine in the same way. Yesterday I set up my own Blogger Blog with spooky foresight: I just hope I don't have to rely on it instead.
For me, the benefit of LiveJournal is that it's not about publishing my thoughts and deeds to the world and his brother - although I do do that, of course - it's about my Friends list and the interaction I have with them, both online and In Real Life. That cannot easily be replicated.
Similarly, one of the best features of LiveJournal over my own Blogger Blog and indeed Captain Blue's MSN Blog of d00m! (or even ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif)
captainbluemsn) is the ability to choose who has access to my ramblings on a per post basis rather than a global one.
I really hope LiveJournal remains the same.
One intial bad sign is that from now on anyone can have a LiveJournal account rather than just over 13 year-olds. I expect we'll see lots of "OMG!1!1!!!1111" comments to our journals in due course...
Commenting to my Blogger Blog
Just a thought: now I've
syndicated this Blog on LiveJournal, it'll show up on the Friends page of anyone who adds it as a feed - 6 people already, it says 'ere.
The only thing is, LiveJournal adds a comment feature that only comments in the syndication account, i.e. any comment made does not show up in
this Blog, so I'll never know.
Feel free to comment
here instead.
Google AdSense
Regular readers {snigger} may have noticed that I've now included some clickable ads. provided by
Google's AdSense programme.
Basically this generates a tiny bit of revenue for every click-through and helps fund (if only marginally) my web site.
'O' Rings and Coolant
Bit of a bugger this one: at
Snetterton last September I noticed that there was some coolant dripping onto the floor of the pit garage we were using.
I shrugged it off as being nothing more than some mild overheating due to my caning Blue Rex (the name I've given to
my Kawasaki ZRX1200R) around the track.
But the leak just seemed to get worse so that after every outing, the underside of the engine would be covered in green stains.
I eventually tracked it down to the return coolant hose (the one with the drain plug) under the engine and specifically where it is fixed to the back of the water pump housing: it looks like the O ring has given up the ghost.
Still, I've ordered it (plus a spare) from Seastar Superbikes, so we'll see if that cures it. They've said it should be here by the weekend.
Obligatory "Hello World!" Post
Ah well, here we are with the first post to my shiny new Blogger account.
Marvellous!
The intention is to make this my bike-related blog. We'll see...
