Well seeing as the weather has dramatically improved up here over the last couple of days 'fingers crossed' I plan on getting my first rideout of the year tomorrow or Sunday. Basic plan is to fit new tyres to mates 07 blade first thing, give everything a good going over to make sure all bolts are tight, tyre pressure, oil levels and the usual pre flight checks. Then it's out to the open road for a well deserved blast/ shakedown, that I have been waiting on since mid October. To say I am looking forward to it is the understatement of the year. I honestly feel like a kid waiting for christmas day
Yep, did all my preflights tonight when I got home from work. Hoping to get on the road early enough that Jeanette hasn't got time to think of an alternative.
Lol. I was out in the garage tonight giving my bike the once over so that it's only my mates bike we need to concentrate on tomorrow. Also made the 'prewife' checks midweek to make sure there wasn't anything that could scupper my plans for the bike. Not that she had a chance anyway
Know what you mean Col'. You and I share a hairstyle which means we can't use it as an excuse to spend two thirds of the day swilling hot brown and slagging each other off.
Good luck sleeping tonight mate . you be dreaming about about pulling wheelies all night . Well i do the night before a ride out anyway !! lol
Not a chance of sleeping tonight. Mate just phoned me. He's even more excited than me. It's his first ride on his blade tomorrow after being on his SRAD 600 for the last 3 years. I can't wait to see his face once he pulls up I love that feeling when you get off the bike, and you have the shakes, and talking jiberish from the adrenaline.
Lisa knows if I've been riding in a certain fashion... I'm like muhammed ali For three hours after!! Enjoy the ride pal and stay safe!! Ps, pre flight checks??? You put me to shame... If it starts I ride it!
I just hate the thought that the tyres are down. If I don't check 'em first, every time I miss an apex I go all 'WTF was that!'
Bugger all this chat of rides out, mines still in pieces and my wheels won't be with me for a minimum of 2 1/2 weeks yet.
Went out for a little shakedown today in prep for a decent run tomorrow. After all the mods I done to the bike over the winter months, the bike is so different to how it was before. Even after only 30 mins of riding I can tell I'm going to love this years riding. A few notes on what I've noticed so far: The Rizoma rearsets have changed the riding position perfectly and I'm so much more comfy on the bike. I can see myself doing a lot more miles on the bike now. I was also a little worried about the Rizoma Grips maybe being less comfortable and also transferring vibration through to my hands, but all is good and to be honest I dindnt notice any difference from standard. A longer run will tell though. The Akrapovic exhaust sounds fantastic, and along with that and the powercommander the bike has more punch in the midrange, and it fires out of corners so much better now that I was laughing in my helmet. There is a little hunting lower down in the revs, but that'll get sorted when the bike gets setup on the dyno. One thing I don't like, and are coming off asap are the preload adjusters, don't know why but they are just annoying me. Can't wait till tomorrow now for a proper run
I'm the same mate but I couldn't wait any longer. The roads ain't great but they are good enough for a quick fix. Just give the bike a good clean and then oil up before putting it away, and it'll be fine. 12 degrees outside is good enough for me
Well, it was my first ride out today after a long winter period and a lot of mods to the repsol. New akrapovic full system, power commander, full service, sprocket, chain, polished swingarm and finally new set of tyres, sportsmarts from the group buy deal that I put on a few days ago. I get the bike ready to take it for a blast to scrub the tyres in and literally ride out of my road and start to give a bit of throttle at about 25mph and the bike slides out and high sides me and has completely smashed and buggered my bike up!!! Not only that, I break a rib from the handle bar snapping off. All in all I am not a happy man. I have scrubbed in a lot of tyres on many bikes and I have never experienced that before. I wasn't being silly and didnt do anything to jeopardise myself or the bike. I've been over it 1,000 times and it has to be the tyres. Any ideas would be appreciated but it's not a good start to the season.
I did this last year when I had my tyres fitted. Though I only low sided a slow speed with no damage to myself and little to the bike. I also couldn't think what had happened until I washed the bike and saw all the soap bubbles coming from the tyres that the fitter hadn't washed of. It was genuinely as if I was on ice. I fitted the sportsmarts to my mates bike today and afterwards we washed the tyres and went for a blast. He never had a problem with his. On another note mate. Sorry to hear about your off and I hope you recover asap. I know it pisses you off but there will be a reason as to why it happened and I doubt it will be the tyres mate.
Sorry to hear your news Chicane, hope your rib mends quickly. I know it'snot much consolation but it could have been worse at least you will heal ok and I am sure the bike will be back to normal as soon as possible. Feel for you mate, it is a really horrible feeling.
