Many moons ago i was up a ladder and it slipped back and down i went, i landed in the very big wooden barrel cut in half with flowers and shrubs, i wasn't in any pain honest :Hurting::Blackeye::Bawling: The very funny thing was i was doing some decorating:Artist: at the late Jeremy beadles house :Snaphappy::Clown:
Went to Hyside Ducati for an mot for the 848, there was a nice 996 in there for a service anyone on here, they also had a black 1098s in the well stocked show room, A lot of those hipster bikes in all colours.
Felt the need for a comfort visit to MRs this afternoon having fought NHS bureaucracy all morning and what a treat. An 1199R just off for a road test after an annual service which sounded heavenly, a brand new XDiavel being collected, a 1098R being preped for street clothes instead of an Alice track dress, a Bayliss 1098R in for an annual service and Baz in the workshop building the BSB Panigale for the first round at Silvestone. Feel a lot better now . Andy
I finally got round to test riding the Benelli Tornado. It was overcast when I left home and 8C but by the time I'd travelled the 70 miles to Newtown St Boswells it was 5C and pissing. The first thing is the bike is not pristine but has a couple of small pieces of cosmetic damage (left mirror chipped at the front where it meets the fairing and right mirror glass cracked) and it needs a good clean. Tosh's point was the bike isn't actually advertised for sale and if I don't want it he'll probably keep it. If I do want it he'll strip it and clean it and replaced the cracked mirror. The left mirror is more difficult because complete mirrors are like hens teeth apparently so I might end up having to live with it and, while it isn't really a biggie, it's not what I was expecting. At first the bike felt pretty awkward and the steering felt heavy around town, initially I wondered if the front tyre was a little soft, but that may just have been because I wasn't used to it. The bike feels reluctant to rev until you have more than 6000rpm on the tac when it becomes quite enthusiastic, and handling feels awkward until you get above 80mph where it becomes more positive and sharpens up without feeling twitchy. Keep it spinning above 6k and above 80mph and the bike is transformed from a bit disappointing to pure, grin inducing pleasure. The noise, the noise, the noise. The bike is standard but sounds pretty good to me even with the stock exhaust (made by Arrows to Benelli's spec I believe). It sounds good just bumbling about but when you get it spinning above 6k it has a wonderful and addictive wail that makes you want to keep the revs up there all day. Benelli triples sound amazing. Have a shot on one if you ever get the chance. I really like it and, once I got it up to speed and built some confidence, I enjoyed the ride despite the fact it was raining and freezing cold. But, even so, I'm not sure I'm going to buy it. It feels like you have to ride it at 9/10s all the time for it to be an enjoyable experience and I'm just not sure I'm that guy any more. I honestly don't know what I was expecting, I guess I'd just forgotten how focused it is. Maybe years of Tre-K and Multistrada riding have made me soft. I'll have a think about it while my aches and pains ease. Tomorrow I'm going to be washing the monster. It's filthy.
Done over 400 miles on heavenly bendy empty roads. Now in Segovia, going to the Gourmet Moto Burger bar for a Ducati burger n red wine.
I have a GSXR 6 and 996. Swore blind next bike would be something I could enjoy at less than 9/10 as I feel I have to be at silly speed to get the best of them both. Something like a HyperMotard. So I obviously bought a 999. Whoops.
Lazy start followed by a trip to the gym, then I decided to fit the De-cat... What a mare the cat was to get off, "un-do the 2 mounts, remove the springs and wriggle it off" after what felt like an hour of wriggling with the front header unbolted I started using a rubber mallet, then a 3Lb club hammer and 'industrial language' and it got jammed up solid. Then I un-jammed it and moved it with 2 fingers, and it fell off :Facepalm: The Leo Vince is on with the factory can after a slight mod to the can's hook and it's loud, but oh so nice, the neighbour that I was most worried about came home while it was running and shouted "Sounds like a proper Ducati now mate" I also got distracted and cleaned around the front sprocket and gave the engines grimy bits a de-grease and ACF, re-set the chain tension after declaring the standard hook wrench "junk/emergency use only" after it bent and slipped off 3 times... Then thought, is that tail light loose? yep, flapping about with both mountings broken, I guess I will see how good SMC's after-sales is. It was looking a bit floppy before I dropped it so I won't mention that.
Fingers crossed Jen, hope it's good news. I was the other way, everything about the MRI machine and process fascinated me, but I'm odd like that. Did you know MRI scanners depend on liquid helium to work?
Yay! Play with the tyre pressures, I've found 3 psi can take it from an odd steering thing to incredibly light and accurate. I've also found my tyres (Pirelli Diablo Rosso II's) just won't work much below 10 degrees.
They also work by lining every water molecule in your body up the same way, then hitting them with a microwave burst and measuring the tiny radio waves they give off as they realign with the magnetic field. No one has any idea what effect this has on your brain. I used to build them. I will do my best to never get inside one.
Yesterday I had a very productive day. After sorting out lots of crap from a client I now have them where I want them I also renewed my multi-bike insurance last night with Carole Nash who did me a good deal. It was a pleasure dealing with someone (Yvonne was her name) that knew about bikes and wasn't just reading from a crib sheet Today I am taking the Scrambler for it's first annual service and this afternoon we are babysitting
Just about to renew my multi bike policy with Carole Nash.Thought I would get a quote from Ducati Insurance.I gave them all the details yesterday-I should get a quote on monday.I don't normally like to faff around searching for so called deals as it takes so long with all the questionsIit is much easier to just renew with existing company,even they might be taking your custom for granted.
Just been for the MOT on the 748, it was booked in on tuesday for 9-15 this morning, the garage is only a mile away and it was drizzling, when I got there the first comment was, what's that doing out in the rain if you had rung up i'd have done the MOT over the phone , I pushed it up to the rollers and then the owner of the garage and his son ( both bikers) came chatting about bikes in general for ten mins or so when the tester casually said I'd better check something, onto the rollers front brake, bugger that's keen was his first comment then onto the back brake and i said there'r not renowned for rear brake efficiency, he thought it was better than many other bikes he had tested so another plus, just flick your lights on, now winkers, ok that's enough I knew i was wasting my time checking it, PASS. A very pleasant experience £20 with a cup of tea thrown in. Steve
