Breakfast, Cake & Coffee!

So a friend messaged in the week and said that there was a breakfast car meet at The Dukes pub in Leighton Buzzard on Saturday if we fancied popping along. You could have unlimited tea and coffee if you had a breakfast – well with an offer like that, who could refuse!

The sun was kind of there somewhere in the clouds if you looked really hard. The forecast was sunny spells – we’ll see!

We arrived at the pub mid morning and there were a handful of cars in the car park and a few chaps standing with mugs of tea looking at the cars. We chatted for a bit before heading inside to get breakfast and some of the bottomless coffee.

The breakfast was amazing and would, I believed at that time, keep me going until dinner.

We had a chat with some of the guys and a look round the cars before heading off to Stagsden to check out Boyds of Bedford. We hadn’t been to Stagsden before and only sort of knew where it was and so thought we’d wing it and try and find our way without sat nav. Surely it can’t be that hard to find!

We ended up stopping twice to look at the map on our phone - well the other half looked at the map, I just nodded in agreement like I knew what he was talking about – I find this generally works well in situations like this, smile and nod like you actually want to know in detail when and how we went wrong and where and how we need to go in order to get to where we want to be. On both occasions we had to turn around. I said nothing.

Having arrived at Boyds of Bedford we parked up the bikes and had a look at the bikes and a rather nice old classic car that were in the car park before venturing inside.

It was lovely and warm inside and I headed over to get a coffee. Well the breakfast that I thought would keep me going all day would probably have done so had I not seen the cakes on offer – my downfall! I had to try the salted caramel cake as I thought it would have been very rude of me not to especially as it was sitting there calling me. Mmmm, mmmm, absolutely delicious. It was one of those occasions where I wish I hadn’t had the breakfast just so I could have more cake. Next time …..

Sitting proudly on display and looking beautiful was an absolutely gorgeous bike that was made as a promotional bike for a clothing company called Two Gun Salute by Jamie Smith of Smith & Son in Cambridge. It really was a work of art and one that I could quite easily have taken home with me. It turns out that this bike has been featured in Built magazine (a copy of which was conveniently to hand) and so I wrote down what it is as there is no way I would know myself. 


So for those of you that like the technical stuff, here goes: it is a brat-style Yamaha single 1992 SR400 Yamaha imported from Japan; it took 13 weeks to build; the brat style rear hoop has been lowered by 3 inches and the forks are lowered by a similar amount; the shocks are Harley slammers – 10 inch long, the yokes are stock too but cut down. See, I would never have known that.

Also sitting up on display was a classic Honda. Unfortunately I do not know anything about the technical side of this as there was no information conveniently to hand written down for me but I can tell you that it looks awesome. I am sure that there are a few of you out there that will be able to give me the low down on exactly what it is. 

Unfortunately it was beginning to be a toss up as to which bike I would take home with me. Oh, to actually be in the position to have to make that decision!



When we went back to the car park there were some new bikes that had arrived during our visit and so on leaving we had a look around theseones before heading off.

We headed for home and found ourselves going through Woburn (I am not sure if we were actually supposed to go this way but I have learnt it is best not to ask) but we came across Woburn Triumph and so stopped to have a little look round. 

They are undergoing some refurb work at the moment but there were still quite a few bikes on display for us to drool over and more fantasy decision making dilemmas over which bike(s) we would take home.

Looking forward to going back there again soon to check out the new look showroom.

We had a great day riding here, there and everywhere eating cake and drinking coffee – perfect!

BK

Boyds of Bedford

The Dukes

Woburn Triumph

Two Gun Salute

Jamie Smith

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WSB Update Portimao

Check out my write up on the latest World Superbikes round of testing at Portimao where it was all change at the top of the charts.

The Pit Crew Online 2020 WSBK Portimao Testing

Cheeky little ride out

Just got back from a cheeky little ride out this afternoon, had to get a new valve put on my tyre so thought it best to give the bike a little run - well, it would be rude not too! Luckily got back before the rain came 

😁

WSB Update Jerez

Check out my latest update on the coming 2020 season for World Superbikes for 

The Pit Crew Online

The Pit Crew Online

World Superbikes

My Riding Development

When I passed my bike test and I got a bigger, faster bike it became apparent to me that I did not like going around corners at speed.

I should probably give you a bit of background here. Before I got my bike licence, I used to compete in off road motorsport for many years in a purpose built racer. I was racing one day and the course went out of one field into the next through a gate and then you had to do a sharp ninety left and continue straight. I had been going through the gate, drifting the back end out and then power on for some laps and it was on the penultimate lap that things went a bit awry. I had the back end out nicely drifting round and just as I had put the power on, I caught a rut and the racer flipped over and I ended up doing two 360 degree rolls ending up back on its wheels.

Now my co-driver and myself were okay which was the main thing even though the roll cage was now down by our ears and the windscreen was in our laps. The engine was still running so I kicked out the windscreen and continued racing back to the finish line and then into the pits. I am pleased to say that the roll itself only cost me 17 seconds but the scrutineer did not join with me in my elation. Apparently, I should not have continued as the car was in no shape to have been driven from a safety point of view but when the adrenaline has kicked in and the red mist has descended once the visor goes down, you do not see it quite that way! The racer took 6 months to rebuild!!!

For about eighteen months/two years after this incident, I found going round a left hand bend in my car hard and could not get away from the feeling that I was going to roll over again but it did get better and the car, I am pleased to say, did not roll over.

When I got my first big bike this problem reared it’s head again and it was becoming a problem that I needed to address.

What to do?

We were out for a ride one day and ended up at a café in Oxford and in the car park were a lot of police officers on police bikes. They were running a BikeSafe course and had stopped there for a cuppa and were talking to other bikers promoting the course they offer. BikeSafe is a national police run motorcycle initiative, which involves an observed ride with a police graded motorcyclist or approved BikeSafe observer.

I was talking to one of the police officers and I was telling him about my cornering predicament and he encouraged me to book onto a course as he was sure they could help. I booked onto a course near me which is run by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service. The officers are professional police motorcyclists, who are all keen bikers, and they share the secrets of how to become a neater, smoother, safer and more confident rider. They are the only police force in the country that offers this course to learner riders. They aim to cover different topics during the morning’s classroom session one of which is cornering and bend assessment - perfect for me.

The aim of the day is to help you enjoy safer biking even more, and you receive advice that will make sense to you at your stage and ability and help on where to get further training, if you would like it. I believe it cost me £35 which was for a full day’s workshop and included lunch.

We spent the first part of the morning in the classroom and watched some videos and did a lot of chatting talking about techniques, experiences etc. which I found really helpful. Mid morning we were paired up and assigned an officer who would ride with us and observe our riding. The chap I was paired up with was corner adverse like me, so we could concentrate on our weak points. After a spell of being observed, we pulled over and the officer had a chat with us and gave us some really helpful pointers and advice and we rode again putting his advice into action.

We met up with the rest of the people on the course for lunch and chatted about our morning. The officer who was observing us, then gave us some more guidance and advice and off we rode again for most of the afternoon ending up back where we had started in the morning for a debrief and a general chat about our day and how we felt we had got on.

I personally, had a really great day. I learnt lots and found it really useful. I rode home putting my new found techniques to use.

Did it sort out my cornering predicament I hear you say? No, it helped a great deal but it did not completely eradicate the problem.

What now?

Later in the year I was at a bike show at which the Fire Service had a stand promoting rider training days they had to offer. I was talking to a fire officer and he put me in contact with the fire department nearest to me who offer the training – Herts Fire Bikes who are a team of volunteers dedicated to reducing the number of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured on Hertfordshire roads. I spoke to a fireman called Chris Williams, who it would turn out, turned my riding around.

I met up with Chris and he asked lots of questions about my riding and what I hoped to achieve from my lessons with him. We then went out for a ride with Chris following me so he could observe my riding. After a while we stopped for a cuppa and Chris talked about my riding and where/how he felt I could improve.

The best thing we had was intercom which I found invaluable as Chris could instruct me whilst riding and I could immediately correct/change my riding and I could ask questions as we were riding along.

I had several lessons with Chris and, in my opinion, my cornering and overall riding has improved dramatically. Don’t get me wrong, I do not go round bends with one knee scraping the road and in all honestly I can say I probably will never do that. I did manage to get my knee down once but that was closely followed by my shoulder and then the rest of my body as I came off my bike and landed in a ditch! 

Luckily, I only suffered two broken ribs and the bike, which let’s face it is more important, was fine and I got back up, got on my bike and rode home!

My lessons with Chris were probably the best thing I could have done for my riding and I would encourage anyone who is struggling with any aspect of their riding to get on a rider development course and see if you can improve your riding. 

Since my lessons, I have gained so much more confidence and have now been touring in this country a few times and Europe three times so far, with two trips booked for this year already.

I now find riding my bike a fun and enjoyable experience.

BK

Bike Safe

Herts Fire Bikes

Chris Williams

Email: chrisvwilliams999@gmail.com

Mobile: 07931 303821

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First ride out of the year

Hmm... drizzle, they didn't mention drizzle! The forecast was cloudy with a little bit of sun and 9 degrees. It was definitely cloudy, the sun was nowhere to be seen and I would say it was more like 5 degrees. I was glad for my heated vest!

I decided to take the Z as it’s easier and more forgiving on slippery roads and it doesn’t seem right to get the MV all wet and dirty. Six of us met at the local petrol station and it was drizzling. After the obligatory study of each other’s bikes, we decided to head to Super Sausage at Potterspury, Towcester for brekkie. This is one of our favourite haunts as it offers great food and lots of bikes to look at and bikers to chat to. What more could you want!

We headed towards Aylesbury where the drizzle had now turned to rain and then picked up the A413 out through Whitchurch, Winslow and Padbury. This is a lovely flowing road with some great sweeping bends and I would thoroughly recommend it. When we reached Buckingham the rain had stopped and the roads had dried out considerably. We then picked up the A422 which took us to Stony Stratford and then we headed down the A5 into Potterspury.

The car park was quite full when we arrived, we couldn’t believe how many bikes there were for the time of year. There is always such a varied mix of bikes in the car park and it’s nice to have a drool over a bike or two and dream about what the next bike could be. There were a couple of really nice scooters and a very shiny and well looked after Honda 400 Four. Great to see classics out at this time of the year.

Super Sausage is an award winning biker cafe and is very popular. The queue for food was out the door but this is not uncommon and does, in fairness, move quite quickly and when you’re chit chatting to each other and other bikers it doesn’t feel like you’re waiting that long. We probably queued for about ten/fifteen minutes before we ordered our breakfasts. The food was, as always, cracking.

After brekkie, we went outside to have a wonder round the bikes. Some that were there when we arrived had left and new ones had arrived providing yet more conversation/debates between the guys.

Back to our bikes and we decided to find a nice little café in Wendover on the way home for a coffee. There was no room in the café when we arrived so we sat outside and one of us wasn’t wearing his correct base layers and was feeling the cold so wrapped himself in a blanket as you can see from the photo (a real hardened biker)! More obligatory looking at bikes took place, not sure what they find to look at each time, I think it was phone mounts on this occasion!

After a coffee (or two!) we headed home the long way via Hyde End, Chesham and Bovingdon.

Another great ride out.

BK

Www.supersausagecafe.co.uk

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Post turkey ride out

A friend messaged and asked if we fancied a ride. Heck yes, definitely need a bike fix after all that turkey. Six of us met at the local petrol station and after the men looking at each other’s bikes (this seems to be a pre-requisite before every ride – I think it’s a man thing!) we set off.

Being the Christmas period we are limited in what is open so we ended up at the The Coffee House café in Butter Market, Thame again (not that we were complaining – roaring fire, full cooked brekkie and unlimited coffee, what’s not to like) and then we rode via Long Crendon and Oakley to On Yer Bike Aylesbury for a cuppa and a look at the bikes they had in stock.

OMG I sooo need a barn that I could fill with bikes, not necessarily new bikes but just bikes that I like the look of and could have fun riding. It would be so nice to go out in the morning and have the difficult decision of which bike to take
out that day! A girl can dream!!!

The traffic today was really heavy so there was not much overtaking, I think a lot of people had gone out for the day after being stuck inside for the Xmas period. Still, we were out on the bikes and that’s all that matters.

The roads were damp in most places today meaning the bikes were absolutely filthy by the time we got home. Apparently my bike took an hour to clean but I had gone off shopping when we got back so when I got home my bike was washed and polished ready for the next outing so I can’t say for definite how long it took but I can tell you it does look shiny 

BK

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www.onyerbike.net

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