Total Motorcycle Community Forums

With the heat wave we have having right now (30-33°C), it is an excellent time to get out there and ride. Nothing like natures air conditioner blowing on you at 50mph!

I tried out a few new roads in some new areas today. Always looking for those no-traffic, country roads to get away from it all. But they are like panning for gold, you never know what you will find...


This one is a typcial British Country road that checks all the boxes of fun but nerve wracking: 2 way, 1 car wide, no shoulder and blind hairpin corners.

TileHouse Lane


TileHouse Lane


TileHouse Lane is a good riding road (nerve wracking factor of 6.5/10). Good scenery, little traffic, nice views.

Denham Airport. Amazing you can get so close to the aircraft and helicopters. Would make a nice place to have a picnic.


"Which one is faster, the blue bike or the blue plane?"

A hot riding day for sure. Got lost a few times as the roads are really well marked, but marked for the next small town, not the town you are looking for...haha.. A402.. A412... M25... Anyone heard of names?!

Also took a trip down my favourite nerve wracking road, W Hyde Ln (nerve wracking factor of 8/10) where you pass through Bloom Wood (not my photo, but it is a photo of Bloom Wood).



...then a tour through Maple Cross, Rickmansworth, West Hyde, Harefield and Ickenham.

Mike

totalmotorcycle wrote: I do love torque. Will have to look into a Yamaha FZ1 or Yamaha MT01 as possible next bike candidates when I get back to Canada.

Although you never know what other sweet bike might come by and tickle my fancy.

Mike

Too true Your story and pics really make me want to visit but I've been spending too much money lately to be able to do it. Keep the pics coming Mike!

My MOT test.

Each year, almost every motorcycle and car have to go through what they call here in the UK a MOT test.

"The MOT test for your vehicle Everyone who uses a vehicle on the road must keep it in a roadworthy condition. The MOT test checks that vehicles meet road safety and environmental standards. The first MOT test for a vehicle is required when it’s three years old.

The prices at present (January 2008) are £27.13 for a Motorbike MOT"



So I got my MOT done at Daytona Motorcycles in Hillingdon, it's a good dealership that I had 1 service done before in and they were honest..so...

In Canada the closest thing to a MOT is an Out-of-Provience inspection, and they really hose you for the repairs good! So I was quite concerned the MOT was a hose too! You have to book your MOT test appointment in advance (I did 4 weeks before) and if your bike doesn't pass you can't ride it (or take it away!) till it's fixed.

But luckily either it wasn't or all my fixing up on the bike saved me a lot of $$$. They just charged me £27.13 +VAT for the MOT and that was it. So I'm happy with that and it will last for year too.

Another Tax sorted out.

If you are not playing tax for something you must not be in the UK!

Mike

Great blogging. Thanks.

We used to have yearly vehicle inspections here in BC also...then some dumba$$ premier decided to do away with it. We got air care instead. All it does is test for emissions and nothing about safety or condition of your vehicle.
Motorcycles don't have to go to air care.

Back in May you said you were waiting for the weather to get drier.

Still waiting?

Ade

aw58 wrote:Back in May you said you were waiting for the weather to get drier.

Still waiting?

Ade

Hi Ade,

Ya, I know exactly what you mean too. Darn wet weather all the time eh! haha. Just when you think it's going to be sunny, here come the rain clouds. I've given up on that "wait for drier weather" and just go out now. I'd be waiting till the cows come home if I didn't!!!

Mike

Good heading:

Riding a motorcycle in London, UK is not for the feint of heart.



After riding in London now on my bike for months I was ready to hit Central London yesterday and go for it!

I've heard that riding a motorcycle in Central London was (one of) the most dangerous places to ride, so I thought, well, might as well give 'er a go.

So, off on the A40 I rode towards Central, with traffic building quite nicely on my side (Westbound) and even much more traffic coming out (Eastbound), time was around 3pm, so I was starting to see the start of rush hour. What a perfect time to pick to ride in Central London eh?!

Well, you might not think doing a 40 mile round trip can be an adventure, but I assure you, in London, it is!



First, as you enter Central London, you enter the dreaded "Congestion Zone", which means you pay £8-£10 for the privilage of driving there. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congest ... fault.aspx but no worries, (Exemptions: Two wheeled motorbikes (and sidecars), mopeds and bicycles) Yay!! No money from my pocket.

But sadly, £8-10 quid isn't enough to keep the grid lock traffic from happening! It's a mad house of vehicles, street signs, traffic lights, and DO NOT DO X everywhere! ahhh! There are just so many signs/lights that you are bombarded with information. Oh, and let's not forget about the traffic cameras everywhere (like every few blocks).

Luckily, motorcycle are ALLOWED to lane split where you can fit! And trust me, you learn to do it pretty fast. This is the dangerous part x2, as you really have to be on your ball riding in this messed up traffic environment and want to lane spit with the other scooters, motorcycles, bicycles and occasional horse. I feel sorry for motorcycle/bike couriers who have to do this on a daily basis.

Some things I learned: I can tell you a 750cc bike is a big bike for lane splitting, but I did see the rare larger cc bike do it. Scooter = lane splitter extraordinarie. I did not see a cruiser do it and in fact feel bad for cruiser riders as they would have to wait in traffic even more. With traffic so tight you learn the width (and length!) of your motorcycle to a few inches each side! (Watch out for those mirrors and trucks and front/rear bumpers). Some areas are too tight to fit (while you are lane splitting) so you have to wait in between cars/trucks/buses. Thankfully, drivers use their turn signals to change lanes and don't open doors on a splitter!

Lane splitting in Central London is definately a learned talent. A talent London riders definately pick up better than anyone else. I never thought I'd have to learn the width of my motorcycle so precise or it's length to get around.

Fun and interesting, definately added to my skills as a rider. Lane splitting for riders in London is as much a part of riding as merging onto a highway is for us. I can see why riding in London can be dangerous, the odds of messing up is high, but with traffic so thick if you don't lane split you don't go anywhere fast.

But I sure do miss the open roads of North America, and I think London riders would agree if they ever get the chance to ride like we do back home.


Photo: This is an actual photo of the one of the sections of the A40 I was on. Fun eh?

One last bit of information, I actually lane split beside a police car too! LOL, never thought I'd do that!


Mike

Whew, I've been so busy with the Total Motorcycle.com site that I can't get in an update my blog as often as I'd love to.

Well, here is an update.

2 weeks ago the weather was nice enough to install some gold foil rim tape to my rims. I bought the rim tape in the winter at the NEC motorcycle show for a fiver and thought I'd try it out. I always loved the way the rim accents on the V-Max (red lines) looked and for a fiver, why not try it on my bike.

Thanks to the help of my wife Andrea (it would be very hard to do just with 2 hands) it turned out great! The gold accents the other gold parts on my bike and I'm pleased as punch.

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I also did an oil change using store name semi-synthetic motorcycle oil and a K&N oil filter. I wish I could get Shell Rotella-T diesel oil here but we can't and oil in the UK is REALLY expensive ($50 for 5 litres for the cheap stuff above). The filter I picked up 2 in Toronto in November when I was at my Dad's funeral.

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Last week my speedo cable died on me on the highway (M25). My speedometer just stopped working and I had Andrea on the back of the bike too. My first thoughts was that I didn't know if my gauges were electric or cable and I hoped they were cable or the time, cost and effort of replacing/troubleshooting the electric ones were...well, glad it wasn't electric!! haha.... So when I got home I saw it was cable (whew) and unscrewed both ends of the cable, pulled on each end and ta-da, broken cable in the middle somewhere. So I ordered a replacement, came in 2 days and installed it. Bam, it works great now!


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I also wanted to replace the old battery in the bike. I don't know if it was the original 2000 one or not but it was starting to get weak and this winter wasn't so kind on it, so a new one was in the plans.

First let me say, I HATE Kawasaki's choice of battery placement on the ZR7. Argh!

Ok, that out of the way I ordered up a Yuasa YTX12-BS MF top-of-the-line battery. Of course it came in the mail and I had to use the acid pack on it (no biggie), slow charge it (no biggie) and install it (big biggie).

To install.

1. Remove seat
2. Unscrew side panels (2)
3. Remove gas tank bolts
4. Remove gas tank bracket
5. Remove air box
6. Remove old battery (straight up without grips)

Ya, well, 1 hour later and it was done (fitted for those in the UK) and my bike was happy.



(pics to come)

Oh and I'd like to add I'm getting pretty darn good at lane splitting with a passenger on the back.

Mike

Haha sounds like you're having a good ole time out there Mike! Wow is stuff expensive there. $50 for 5 litres of oil? Insane!

Oh, and because I was reading through an earlier post. You don't condone breaking the law, you just happen to be good at it right?

Wrider wrote:Haha sounds like you're having a good ole time out there Mike! Wow is stuff expensive there. $50 for 5 litres of oil?

Ya, $50. It's not cheap at all here and gas, that's close to $2 a litre or $6 a gallon!

Wrider wrote: Oh, and because I was reading through an earlier post. You don't condone breaking the law, you just happen to be good at it right?

Oh oh, did I do something bad I didn't know I did?

Mike