Petrolhead & Padstow Rocks Perfume

So I was at a bike night one evening and got chatting, as I do, to this chap, Dave, about bikes (that surprised you didn’t it!) and he said he knew a lady who was a petrolhead like me that I would get on well with and put me in touch with Katie Forman.

Katie, is the founder of a company called ByKathryn which is a fairly new perfume brand with fragrances Petrolhead and Padstow Rocks.


We met up at a local pub late one afternoon and ended up spending the entire evening chatting. Katie, like me, is indeed a petrolhead and an avid F1 fan and follower.

Katie has been an international event rider, a groundsman for a tree surgeon and a business woman but also has a love of perfume and in whatever she has been doing, either professionally or personally, perfume has played a prominent part in her life.

The idea of creating her own perfume came about when she was laid up after a hip operation due to a sporting related accident, when Katie had time on her hands to think about things.

So a lot of research later, Katie found a company in the Cotswolds, The Cotswold Perfumery and visited the company. There Katie met the chief perfumer, John Stephen, and after learning about creating perfumes and scents, Katie decided that she didn’t just want to create her own perfume but that she wanted to start her own perfume company!

Like me, Katie found many perfumes are too floral or too sweet and wanted a perfume that was designed for women but that a man could wear too and two perfumes were created called Petrolhead and Padstow Rocks.



I’m not into girly scents either (I bet that surprised you) and when I tried the perfumes I found they really suited me and I liked the way they made me feel when I was wearing them. I will definitely be getting some more. In the bumpf that comes with the perfume, Petrolhead is described as 1) a car fanatic and 2) a woman who writes her own rules. That sums the perfume and me up perfectly.

What Katie is trying to say with her perfumes is that you can have fun and be feminine too and I firmly believe that that is true.

As an avid motorsport fan, Katie hopes that her perfume will be the go to perfume for motorsport enthusiasts and has created a perfume brand that has fun, adventure and real life to it. Sports is an indication of what Katie loves doing and sees her perfume that way, Petrolhead and Padstow Rocks describe a vibe but you don’t have to be a petrolhead or surfer to wear them.

Katie has found two great women who epitomise her perfumes’ vibes. Lucie Rose Donlan, is the face of Padstow Rocks.


Lucie is a professional surfer, coach, judge and a model. Lucie has been free surfing since the age of 13 years and as well as being an ISA Surf Coach, is now one of the few females in the industry qualified as an ISA Level 2 Surf Judge having worked with Surfing England and the UK Pro Surf Tour.

Jo Polley, racing driver, is the Petrolhead ambassador.

Jo, the daughter of double Hot Rot World Champion, George Polley, started racing at 15 years old in full contact Junior stock cars and quickly progressed entering the world of circuit racing and qualified 4th on the grid in her circuit debut. 



As a member of the British Women Racing Drivers Club, Jo sees herself as a role model to other women to encourage them into motorsport.

This year Katie’s company sponsors Jo in competing in the Mini 7 Racing Championships.

It was absolute pleasure to meet and chat with Katie, thank you for your time, I really appreciated the opportunity to write about you and your company.

BK

BYKATHRYN

Cotswold Perfumery

Lucie Rose Donlan

Jo Polley Racing

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Cafe Racer Monkey Test Ride

Pat on the Cafe Racer Monkey

I was contacted by a chap called Pat who has turned a monkey bike into a cafe racer and asked if I would like to have a ride and blog about it. Well I’m not going to turn down an offer like that am I?

We met at The Super Sausage Cafe at Towcester, got a cup of tea and had a chat.

Pat, who is approaching 70 years young, retired from the West Midlands Ambulance Service after 20 years of service and became ill about four years ago with an auto immune disorder. His son could see that this was affecting him mentally as well as physically.

The original Mini Bike

Pat’s son has been riding and racing mini bikes for many years and one day he turned up at Pat’s house with a box of bits which contained all the parts needed to make a mini bike and asked Pat to help him put it together.

The box sat in the workshop for a few weeks and Pat’s son asked if he could have any bike, what would he choose. Pat’s first bike was Norton when he was 16 years of age and that would be his choice so the seed was planted to rebuild the mini bike into a cafe racer mini bike.

Pat did a lot of research online and the first thing he found was the seat and that was how the bike started to take shape. 

A lot of time was spent looking for the right shape tank and whilst searching the internet found that there is a calculation to reduce anything in size. 

If I remember rightly, you measure the seat and divide by 1.615 and that gives you the tail measurement and again you measure the seat and then add 1.165 to give you the tank measurement and that is how Pat managed to get the proportions right for both the tank and the tail. If you are thinking of trying this at home, let me know and I will double check with Pat that I have got that right – I have visions of out of proportion tanks and tail ends in circulation!!!

The bike started off as a 50cc and after some tweaking it is now 140cc. In a couple of weeks time some more mods are happening to the engine and it will become a 190cc engine. In a mini bike!! Wow, I was looking forward to having a ride of this bike.

The original exhaust on the bike was a single outlet going into a single pipe but Pat decided to change this to a single outlet going into twin pipes as it looked so much better. So the exhaust may have looked better but it didn’t sound right even after buying a pair of motorcycle end cans from a classic motorcycle shop in Redditch.

After much deliberation and head scratching it turned out that the down pipes were too narrow so Pat decided to cut the end of an exhaust that was laying around in his garage and adapt it to make it fit on the cafe racer. Unfortunately, Pat didn’t realise that the exhaust laying in the garage was apparently a very expensive exhaust which belonged to his son and was waiting to go on his bike. Oops. I believe that Pat’s son is now talking to him again!

The original mini bike wheels were 8” but they didn’t fit the cafe racer look Pat was after so he ordered some 10” wheels off eBay. 

The bike was starting to take shape and look right. Many parts were sourced from all over the globe and the Cafe Racer Monkey was ready to ride.

Pat’s first ride on the bike was to the Coventry Motor Fest and Pat was asked to lead the cavalcade.

Pat’s son entered Pat into the Bike Building Championship in July 2019 and Pat came a very well deserved 2^nd place and was awarded his trophy by Steve Parish and Henry Cole.

Two days later Pat rode to Wales and covered some 500 miles in two days. Very impressive bearing in mind it’s a mini bike! Pat is also taking part in The Gentleman's Ride in September to raise funds for a cause close to his heart.

Pat’s goal is to get the bike to do 100 mph and the wheels have now been changed to 12” wheels (which came from the US) in order to help achieve this. Pat is hoping that after the engine upgrade and now with the new wheels, he will be near that 100 mph mark!

My time for a ride on the bike. It’s a kick start and the gears are neutral and then 1, 2, 3, 4 up. 

Well it sounds amazing when it started up, even for a little bike it sure does have a lot of noise. I started away and had real trouble getting my legs up high enough to get my feet onto the pegs. 

After guidance from Pat I re-positioned myself on the seat and did manage to get my feet on the pegs but I’ve got to say it wasn’t the most comfortable I have been on a bike but I would assume that if you rode it often your body would soon get used to the position.

For a little bike it sure does go. I didn't have any problems with the gears and really liked the sound from the exhaust as I was riding. It is light and very easy to ride. 

It is huge fun to ride and I had a silly grin on my face when I got back. I can definitely see why Pat loves it so much. 

Thank you Pat for the privilege of being able to ride your bike, I appreciate that very much.

BK

Super Sausage Cafe

Coventry Motofest

Gentleman's Ride

Cafe Racer Monkey

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My Test Ride of a Kawasaki Z1000

So I was asked if I would like to test ride my friend, Leigh’s, 2017 plate Z1000 and not being one to pass up an opportunity of riding a different bike, I said yes. I’ve got to be honest with you though I did think to myself would it be much different from my Z900. Well ……

At the time the Z1000 was purchased, Leigh also had a ZX10RR and was looking for something to compliment the ZX. The ZX was only used on sunny days and high days, I don’t even think it had seen rain and Leigh was looking for something that he could go to work on, ride in the rain and not be too worried about it getting wet and dirty.

Leigh has also had three knee operations so he was looking for something less punishing on the body in terms of riding position.

Along came the Z1000. For those of you that like techy stuff, here are some basic specs for the Z1000:

Displacement : 1043.0 ccm (63.64 cubic inches)

Engine Type : In-line four, four-stroke

Power : 142.0 HP (103.6 kW)) @ 10000 RPM

Torque : 111.0 Nm(11.3 kgf-m or 81.9 ft.lbs)@7300 RPM

(Now if you’d asked me I would have said it was silver with green bits here and there)!

At the time it was released onto the market, Kawasaki described the new engine and chassis settings as being able to deliver a stiffer, more direct ride transforming the Z1000 into the market's most radical Supernaked and they rejected the fashion for electronic rider aids which can be costly. Other than ABS it has no ‘bells and whistles’.

Leigh likes the riding style, feels comfortable on the bike and describes the seating position as sitting in the bike rather than on it. The Z can keep up with the traffic with no problems at all and has all the power (and more besides) that Leigh needs for travelling to and from work.

The exhaust downpipes are somewhat rusty (the previous owner used the bike as a commuter bike) and this winter’s project for Leigh is to keep the akroprovik exhaust end cans that are on there and to replace the downpipes and link pipe and remove the cat. By so doing, the bike should not only sound better but it will look a heck of a lot better too than the rusty ones on there!

So time for my ride. Leigh hopped on my bike and I followed him on his.

OMG it was so comfortable to sit on and even though the bars are slightly lower than on my Z (or at least they felt like they were) I found the riding position very comfy and as soon as I rode away I felt at home straightaway. It is a little heavier than my Z but not a great deal and it was easy to ride. It somehow felt more stable in the corners than my bike and I can tell you it went really well too.

On our way back I passed Leigh and started to enjoy myself in the corners.

I did comment to Leigh when we got back that it was weird following my bike but apparently it wasn’t as weird as his bike overtaking him and heading off in front of him. Ooops.

I was really enjoying myself and to be honest with you, I could quite easily have carried on riding it. Maybe it’s time to think about changing my Z……

So in answer to my earlier question, would riding a Z1000 be much different to riding my Z900. The answer is yes, they are so different to ride.

For those of you that do like the techy stuff, here are the specs for my Z900 so you can see the difference:

Displacement : 948cc

Engine Type : In-line four, four-stroke

Power : 125 HP / 91.2 kW @ 9500 rpm

Torque : 98 Nm / 72.7 lb-ft @ 7700

Again, if you asked me, I’d tell you it was black :-)

Thank you Leigh for letting me ride your bike, I really appreciate the opportunity.

BK

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