¡InvictaMoto!

It's around six weeks since I had my left eye operated on. A month of drops and then another two weeks since that stopped. So what's it like? Well I have much better long distance vision. In fact despite the same lens being installed I have slightly different focal lengths. I need to get reading glasses. Sometimes reading and using the computer is quite difficult. At the moment I am using this... It can't just be me can it? I have an eye-test for reading glasses on May 8th. VE Day!

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) congratulates Bill Wiggin MP on his election as the new Chair of the All-party Parliamentary Motorcycle Group (APMG).  MAG also thanks outgoing Chair Chris Law MP for his support over the last four years. At the Motorcycling APPG’s AGM on 29th April, Bill Wiggin MP was elected as the new Chair of the parliamentarians motorcycling group. Bill is an enthusiastic motorcyclist.  In 2003 he introduced a bill to allow motorcycle access to bus lanes.  His opening line was “As possibly the only Member of Parliament who motorcycles to work every day, I am one of more than 1 million motorcyclists in Britain who recognise the pleasure and convenience of filtering past the gridlocked traffic and steering clear of public transport.” MAG’s Director of Communications & Public Affairs, Lembit Opik, is a former MP and former chair of the Motorcycling APPG.  Lembit said: “Bill was a very active member of the All Party Group when I was Chairman, an...

Logged into day to see what had come in over the few days since I last posted.  I saw another "draft" that was nothing to do with me and that had been emailed to the blog.  Another of those "I saw you looking at porn and I am taking over all your devices" bullshit posts. Sadly they don't have a return address to tell them to "fuck off" so I just bin it.   Keep them coming you sad little twats.  I'll keep binning them. 

 I might keep my jacket done up though.....

Since I started motorcycling back in the 70's I have had an affinity. My favourite rider of the era was Barry Sheene on the TR750 and then RG500 Suzukis. Over the years I have had a number of Suzuki motorcycles of my own and was active in the Suzuki Owners Club for around 36 years. I still have a Suzuki! So it was natural that over the years I have been a fan of the racing efforts of Suzuki.  This year the British Super Bike team of Gino Rea and Danny Kent  will ride the Suzuki  GSX-R1000R in the main BSB class for Buildbase. With racing not getting underway until June instead of Easter time.  Another Covid affected season. Best hopes for these two riders.

Hopefully, we'll be out of lockdown by August and we can get away on this tour. Bike of choice for me will be the Rocket rather than the Kettle. https://devallboys.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-dambusters-tour.html Overall Route

Finally.  I called and booked Pepé's MoT! It looks as though many bikes are being brought out of hibernation and the first date I could get is May 7th at 1100. So that's it. Once done I can get it taxed and that breaks up the usual everything happening in June scenario! As usual it will be done at the Laguna Performance Centre in Ashford.

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) is calling on candidates for Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) roles to make a pledge to tackle motorcycle theft.  MAG has contacted every PCC candidate for Hertfordshire and West Mercia following worrying revelations from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. MAG has highlighted the positive effect that COVID has had on motorcycle theft in 2020.  However, two particular police force areas appear to have bucked the trend in a big way. MAG is collating national figures by police force area.  Hertfordshire Police’s FOI response to MAG showed a 50% increase from 134 to 201 in 2020.  This was closely followed by West Mercia’s response, which shows a 42% increase from 103 to 146. MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said: “We still have a few responses to come back, but Hertfordshire and West Mercia’s responses are sticking out like a sore thumb. Out of 34 responses so far only three have shown an increa...

Tomorrow is a must win game for Grimsby away at Latics. They are in the relegation zone from EFL League 2 into the National League. In the current standings they are 24th out of 24 places in the table and nine points behind third-bottom Barrow FC.  Both teams have four games to play, so can amass a possible further 12 points. A loss tomorrow will relegate Grimsby whilst a win for Oldham will simply cement their mid table position. Oldham have only three games remaining. As an Oldham fan since 1959 and who has lived 200 miles away for most of my life, I like to see the southern most teams stay in the same division so I can go to games!  So it would be sad to see Southend drop out of League 2. I have been a few times over the years as it isn't far.  Another reason for them to stay up but with three games to play they are 8 points off Barrow and one ahead of Grimsby.  They could well be relegated this weekend. It's not good for Essex and the local derby earlier in the w...

Yes, I know he wasn't born in England, but neither was Jesus. Doesn't stop people having a patron saint or a divine belief though. Does it?

The ride is about a month away and  I am planning to go out for a short ride on the Kettle that day. It coincides with Meldrews Sunday so as long as the weather is decent I'll combine the two with a ride to H's at Kent Motorcycles. I don't know how dapper I will be! They have also revealed a set of posters for the event.   I guess the Kettle is a classic for the ride? Donate

Mass protests across the country at games featuring the English "Big Six" that wanted to join this disgrace. And one by one they have bottled out with a range of mealy mouthed apologies for their involvement. Surely no one believes the lies they are spouting? The English clubs were joined by one of the Spanish clubs leaving only three of the original gang of 12 still there.  Some f*cking Super League that will be with just the three of them! But don't let anyone think this is a victory. They will be back as the lure of the money attracts them like pigs to the trough.

I'd like to, but they are way outside my bank balance. When we were looking for a new car recently, we looked at hybrids. Comparing them to our eventual purchase they were too expensive. At around the same price as the Juke, they were all around 15000 to 20000 on the odometer for the same age and there was no real guarantees that the battery had been serviced correctly. Who wants to get saddled with the cost of a new battery?  Considering that we were in lockdown for most of 2020 and my personal mileage dropped over 50%, one year old cars with 10000 on them seems way too much. In tonight's programme we're looking into hybrid cars and how fuel efficient they are. Do you own a hybrid car? Do you... Posted by ITV News Meridian on  Thursday, 22 April 2021

Today after finishing work at 4pm we decided to drive along the coast to the White Cliffs of Dover.  There is a visitor centre with café and shop. With Covid there is still limited access inside the buildings, but the rest of the park is open air and mask free. On arrival the gatehouse was closed and it was about 4.40pm. Whilst I sorted Reggie out Claire went and bought drinks and a scone.each.  Then we had a walk along the cliff and looped back under the front of the Coastguard centre. From where they manage the traffic passing through the channel between Kent and France. I took a few photos of the ships moving in and out of Dover Harbour. Currently there are two lines running across to France. Two out, one in. "Resting" cruise ship in the distance

I finished work at 4pm and went out for an hour or so.  As I expected the battery wasn't very healthy and so I had to use the dbPower unit to give it some charge and it started on the electric boot. With the choke engaged it starts but it needs clicking off quite quickly. I went up to Hythe and to the A20 and then over the M20 towards Canterbury.  I kept to the speed limits and also a 3500rpm maximum.  This equates to about 60mph in top gear. I only rode as far as the garage near Stelling Minnis and then came back to the motorway. I decided then to head to Tesco at Cheriton to fill the tank and see what the first few rides had achieved.  The tank took 6.68 litres of Unleaded 95 with no added oil this time. On the ride along the Canterbury road I got up to 60 and the bike felt pretty stable.  The Bridgestone BT46 front and rear seemed very good. Encouraging. The problem with the lights and indicators looks to be fixed.  No problems on this ride with the engi...

Some videos of a GT750 "Stink Wheel" https://youtu.be/PFvyPTcNsng https://youtu.be/RVT3D1aNj4c https://youtube.com/shorts/dVK7qwU5hRw

 Just say no!

Warrior Mage by Lindsay Buroker My rating: 3 of 5 stars Starting a new series although one that harks back to earlier series is quite a mind reset. This one starts off well enough but in common with so many of Lindsay's books the main protagonists are a little on the nerdy or wimp side of life. Yanko is chased by a murderous warrior mage who is out to kill him. The same mage has destroyed his family house and lastly, even tried to kill him by setting off a volcanic eruption. BUT. Yanko doesn't want to kill the enemy. Okay, we can get past that but it is a recurring theme. The "hero" being a no kill nerd. Book Two? I'll see before committing to it. View all my reviews

I had a look under the left sidepanel.  None of the connections or block connectors seemed to be not fully engaged. I pulled one out under the voltage regulator to check the connections. They used to be called spade/blade connectors, but no doubt they have other names. They are in two pairs and one of them looked as though the blade was shorter than the other three.  This has the green wire attached. From the back I pushed the connector back so it looked the same length as the others and pushed the block back into the socket. I have an idea that it was this block that blighted the trip from UK to Czech in 1992! About half way across Germany, I guess when the battery was flat then the problems started. On that occasion it had been pushed in and one of the spade/blades had been bent and missed the connection. Anyway, I started the bike using the kick-starter as there wasn't enough juice to use the electric starter and it fired up. I turned on the lights and the indicators and th...

Yes I know. It's a new car and we want to drive it a bit to get used to how it all works.  We have sussed the Satellite Navigation and it seems to work well.  And we have been able to listen to Zac Brown on USB stick. Today we had two drives.  Firstly to H's Café at Kent Motorcycles near Canterbury as it was Meldrew's Sunday.  I didn't feel confident enough to go on Suzi after yesterday's lack of lights and indicators !  Even though I think I have fixed it I was wary.  Claire came with me and we used the Navigation to get there.  The route it took us wasn't anything like I would be happy with. We blindly followed it (not really!) to see where it thought we needed to go. Oddly the way back was more like what I had expected! After a bacon sandwich and a chat we got home in time for me to watch the Arsenal's miserable game with Fulham.  1-1 with a team in the bottom three! During the game the delivery people came with a parcel containing the rear sea...

Took a run out to Dungeness to give the new car a run out.  We ended up having a coffee and sausage rolll at the Light Railway Cafe.  Also there were some Indian bike club riders and their pillions from their local chapter in Canterbury. Canterbury Indians! After coffee we set off home but took a few pix first. Juke at Dungeness "End of the Line" Cafe Old Lighthouse and Juke New Lighthouse

I turned down the idle using the wheel between the centre and right carbs  Adjusted the mirrors so I could see behind me. I needed the dbPower unit to start on the button. This ought to have been a warning. Suzi eventually started and we were off. The tickover had gone down to 2500!  I set off for a loop around to Dymchurch, New Romney, Brenzett and across the marsh to home. Everything seemed okay until I went to turn off between Brenzett and the Marsh. With lights and indicators the engine began to stutter. After the turn the engine stopped. All the way home I was okay with no lights and no indicators! It looks like a problem with the charging system. I had something similar in 1992 and it was a faulty connection under the left side panel. Let's hope it is that easy to locate. End mileage today 75639.2 - a whole 29.9 miles covered. A total of 44.7 miles since I got it back.

We picked up the Juke today.   It was a bit sad trading both the Corsa and Insignia in together but at least it's done and we can start again as a one car family. Claire at the wheel! Front view I took a short video as well using the Xacti camera.   It's hardly Cecil B De Mille though.... When we picked it up it had about a quarter of a tank of fuel and so on the way home via our friend's house to let them see the car, we stopped and filled the tank. I had already hooked the car up in the Fuelly app!  And of course "retired" the other cars. I have also ordered a new back seat cover so that we can keep the seat clean when Reggie is with us.  Despite one in the back of the Insignia the seats still got dirty. Union Flag roof

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has praised the office of Northumbria Police & Crime  Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, following clarification of her recent proposals.   Motorcyclists have been alarmed by reports of proposed measures, but MAG has engaged with the office of the PCC and is now looking forward to helping find genuine solutions to the problem of anti-social and criminal use of motorcycles. Tempers were raised following a press release issued by the sitting PCC for Northumbria, Kim  McGuinness.  Adrian Pearson, Director of Planning & Delivery at the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Northumbria, admits that the press release was not very well written, baldly stating that ‘reckless’ riders would have nowhere to go if all motorbikes were fitted with a tracker device.  Many members contacted MAG with concerns that law-abiding riders would be punished simply because a criminal element was breaking the law. MAG’s Director of Ca...

After toying with cheaper makes for a few years and only really having one pair that I have been 100% happy with, I decided to buy some more Hood Jeans. At £129.99 they are mid priced. My old ones have seen road surface action on one occasion and they held up very well. So I am expecting the new improved ones to last as long and also be as protective. I do not intend to Tarmac surf in this pair on some French road that was soaked in deisel!!  But you never know. When I left a note on their FB page with a picture of the old ones they offered to take them back and see if they could fix them.... I will send them back ASAP. My first opportunity to test might well be Sunday when I give Suzi a run out to H's and the Meldrews meet 

No motorcycle technical control on January 1, 2022, France is not ready! https://ffmc.asso.fr/pas-de-controle-technique-moto-au

Not long before I started writing a blog and then transferring the content over here to Blogger. I had only recently bought my R1150GS.  It came with the BMW system panniers but with no top box. That was remedied with a Givi plate and utilising the Givi E45 topbox that I had for over a decade by them (I still have it!). The Easter 2003 trip was organised for the Suzuki Owners Club, primarily for everyone in the club as well as friends Graham and Sarah Walker. The take up was very small.  People claim there was "nothing ever organised" but when there was they were pretty much absent.  On the way Claire and I stopped in Veurne near the Belgian coast and managed to park up alongside another Manadarin GS! Also with UK plates. Most of the participants had booked into the Old Tom B&B and restaurant in the main market square in Ypres. The idea was to get there on Good Friday.  Have two days touring and visiting the battlefields and then go home on Bank Holiday Monday. P...

The National Motorcycle Council (NMC) has today written to the candidates for Mayor of London inviting them to attend a virtual hustings. NMC founding member organisation, the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) called for riders to get stuck into the May election debates and this event is part of full NMC member support for that initiative. The NMC is working with MAG to provide a platform for debate, and calls on the next London Mayor to fully recognise and support motorcycling in London’s transport policies. The hustings on April 27th will cover road transport policies for the capital with an emphasis on issues that affect motorcyclists. Motorcycles of all varieties make up four to seven percent of registered vehicles in London boroughs. Used as daily transport, for leisure and for deliveries they represent a significant proportion of traffic but help ease gridlock and reduce emissions. Riders are affected by mayoral transport policies.  Good policy will increase access, safety and jo...

When you buy insurance from Carole Nash you get a free anti-theft marking product called DNA+.   It is automatically assigned to the first bike on the policy.  As my Rocket is already DataTag marked I didn't bother using the DNA+ system. Reading through the paperwork I saw that it could be re-assigned to another bike and so I will put the microdots onto Suzi.  The re-assignment was straight forward on the web and once logged in with my security passwords etc it was done in seconds. https://www.carolenash.com/motorbike-insurance/motorbike-quick-links/dna-protection-kit

Well, new to us anyway.  We had a look but during the pandemic it was difficult to get test drives. Even so we visited our local Nissan dealer after some Googling different makes and models, and got the test drive we needed. I had a look at the Toyota C-HR hybrid that my brother has and whilst the prices were around our budget the mileages were all over 24000!  I don't have much confidence in the battery situation! My brother has his serviced every year and they warranty the battery. It was a surprise when the Nissan dealer offered us part-exchange on both the Insignia and the Corsa against the Juke. The total package means we need to raid the piggy banks for £10000!   With WFH I am not using the Insignia very much. In fact the last year with the pandemic and all I managed only 3379 miles between MoT tests. That was February 1st 2020 to February 3rd 2021. Usually we do between 7000 and 8000. They are getting a good deal as both cars were serviced in February under th...

Today's dog walk was along the south bank of the Royal Miltary Canal.  It's the same walk we do most days and t be honest it does get a bit repetitive. He likes to sniff and pee all the time so it doesn't matter to him. I took the Sanyo Xacti with me tonight to give it a trip out. It's quite compact and fits in my Nike hoodie pocket okay.  As it is a movie and still camera it is quite useful on holiday.  I have taken it on a few but find that I hardly every shoot video.  Mind you, teo years ago this week it would have been perfect when we were in Florida and especially at the Dolphin Research Center. Anyway I did take a few photos! Testing full digital zoom.... bit blurry I wonder if they are still in love? Blackthorn blossom The walk was quite chilly again and although it is warm when the sun appears, it does get quite cold when it hides behind the clouds or clears off completely.

Whilst I was out testing the Peek metal polish I took a few pics of the bike in the garage.  I still have to sort the idle and the mirror positioning. I don't think my neighbours will appreciate me starting up and running up to temperature on the drive.  The smoke might be a hazard. Another job for the future is to replace the headlamp.  The bottom of the the unit is rusting and although it doesn't appear to affect the light it produces, I guess it should be done. Anyway. Some pics from today. Barry Sheene Keyring No leaks fuel tap!! Many restorers like to get all the decals in the right place too.  Mine on the tank flap has been there since 1993 and is staying for the future! I bought a Megadeth cassette (remember those?) in Brno and this came with it. Megadeth sticker from Czechia! Another sticker from the same sort of time is the one on the read light bracket.  When I was in Czech working in Zastavka, I put this one on as I passed through the border several t...