Tag: Motorcycles

  • Spring has sprung…

    The weather did not get the memo, however. Bollocks It’s just for a couple of days, and it’s not actually been too bad. I took the Ninja out yesterday for the commute and the bike felt really good. I’ve been fighting surface rust on the chain for weeks on the Ninja, largely because the expensive…

  • Emerging From Winter.

    Emerging From Winter.

    My CSC TT250 wears the typical makeup of my winter commute; the usual mixture of water and mud, baked onto the engine casing just after I arrived home. The TT250 has been an absolute champ, an I’ve done most of my winter commuting on it. Next year I think I’ll store the Ninja 300 in…

  • Here's Johnny.

    December 12th, 2016. Last year, we were blessed with winter staying almost entirely within bounds; a late December to February even, most severe in late January. This year the lake-effect weather system, resulting low temperatures (10F!!!) and snow started early. I also got the seasonal man-cold a couple of weeks ago. Any medical professional recognises…

  • Dan Gold's Honda CB650 Custom Artwork

    Motorcycle Live 2016, Birmingham NEC, England. London-based tattoo and multi-disciplinary artist Dan Gold went to the Motorcycle Live show at Birmingham’s NEC to work on a CB650 (Honda’s middleweight naked), painting the plastics and fuel tank Working through design ideas before the show. Photo credit: dangoldtattooclub The fuel tank design takes shape. Photo credit: dangoldtattooclub…

  • Zack Courts Monstering Monaco

    Memories of a similar bike in a different place. I was rather taken with this. Motorcyclist Magazine’s senior editor Zack Courts rides a 2017 Monster 1200 S around Monaco. I got a chance to ride the 2016 model in Summer, albeit around semi-rural Pittsburgh suburbs. I wrote about my Ducati adventure here.

  • As If Right On Cue…

    The weather has started it’s Autumnal swings. 36°F this morning. 36 is an interesting temperature for this rider, as last year I realised that is about the lowest I can tolerate without heated gloves. I don’t get numbness, just very sharp pain that I’m guessing precedes the numbness. First frost of the year. Of course,…

  • …And Winter Is Coming.

    Predictably on the tails of my last entry, and because I am British, I’m going to moan about Winter. I live in Western Pennsylvania, and while it’s hardly Minnesota, it’s a somewhat harsher experience than my British homeland. The average January high for Pittsburgh is 37°F(US Climate Data, 2016); that is the average low temperature…

  • A Close Call

    There’s a lesson in everything. This could have gone very badly, luckily nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged. What could I have done differently? Fumbling the horn didn’t help. I cancelled the shit out of that turn signal, though… The police vehicle was being erratic long before the incident. I could have hung much…

  • Cheating on my girl with a pair of Italian supermodels

    In this part of the world, test riding bikes isn’t easy. The bar to a ‘M’ endorsement is low, and there are no restrictions. A novice rider can get their learner’s permit and hop on a 180hp, 1000cc bike the same day. Yes, they’ll probably hurt themselves. There’s a good example of this from Laurie…

  • Fear.

    Motorcycle accident, Balham. By Drew Leavy. License You have to learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make them all yourself. (Unattributed) When you think of riding, the elephant in the room – or if you prefer, the SUV at the intersection – is the prospect of getting killed, or…