Blue’s WordPress Blog

I managed to acquire a set of front wave discs by Braking and fitted them the other evening.

They look the business, I reckon.

I’ve also fitted the fairing I got cheaply from eBay now that it’s been resprayed the blue rather than its original red. I need to decide whether to get a set of decals for each side, but they’re around £25 each!

Thumbnails are below, click them to see larger versions.

Yes, I know it’s been a while since the trackday itself, but I’ve been waiting to get hold of the photos.

We stayed overnight the night before at the Admiral Horny, Rodcastle Admiral Rodney, Horncastle which was very pleasant and well priced. I passed around my copy of the Motorcycle News as I was sort of featured in it in an article on the Kawasaki ZRX1200R.

On the day itself, I drove up to the circuit at around 7.30am to get myself in place to help out with signing on before handing out wristbands and getting changed into my new leathers. During the briefing, Geoff singled me out as someone to avoid following my ‘off’ at Mallory.

For the first time, I was due to be in the Fast Group along with the racers and track bikes on slick tyres. But you know what? It was much better there than in the Intermediates as the Fast Group (me notwithstanding) know what they’re doing and overtake safely. Marvellous!

I’ve uploaded some video footage: most of one fast group session is here.

What’s that? The photos? Oh, if you insist:

Click on the photo to go to two larger versions.

All in all, it was great fun and the weather was superb.

Over the weekend I decided it was time to wash Blue Rex after the last trackday so I polished him up good and proper.

Also fitted one of the “perfect” indicators that I’d bought on eBay; perfect, that is, if you don’t mind the connectors having been cut off. Gah!

Clear indicator glass is on order from Clear Alternatives in the States at less than the cost of the set I was bidding for from Taiwan.

I also used up a load of Solvol on the full titanium Akrapovic exhaust system I got from Gibbo to remove most of the tarnishing you get with titanium. I won’t fit the system until I get a set of exhaust gaskets.

Once fitted, I’ll get the bike rejetted with a Stage 2 or 3 Dynojet and junk the rest of the emissions gubbins, so I should get another 8 or so bhp over and above the 5 I get from the end can only.

Now I’m waiting on the replacement Powerbronze crash post and the bike will be ready for Cadwell on June 9th. I just wish the same could be said of me: at this rate, I may be wearing my scuffed leathers, my motocross gloves and a pair of trainers with my mullet flying in the breeze: the new Arlen Ness leathers are on order, as are the boots and gloves but there’s no sign of them yet and the replacement Arai has yet to get to the helmet dealers too. Gah!

So Blue Rex’s insurance is due for renewal in a few weeks. Carole Nash wanted £268 fully comprehensive with protected no claims discount.

So I had a quick look in the “Pit Stop” section of the ZRXOC Web Site and tried Bennetts who came in with much the same price, if you include the RAC and legal insurance that CN wouldn’t strip out. Bit of a duplication as I already have full AA cover.

Today I rang Roadsure - also recommended in the Pit Stop. £160 for the same cover including RAC and legal insurance. Bit of a result, really…

So at the weekend, I finally managed to fit the Talon 44 tooth rear sprocket and R&G Racing Products fork protectors to Blue Rex.

The latter didn’t go without a hitch as the threaded rod appears to be too short; as I write this, I’ve spoken to them and will be letting them know the length of the supplied rod as it appears to have been packaged incorrectly.

Despite it being about 3°C outside today, it was bright, so as I needed to head into town to the bank, I tried out my new Arlen Ness leathers for the first time. I put on multiple layers underneath, so unfortunately in both photos I’m looking somewhat portly. Heigh-ho!

I’d forgotten that the leathers are ventilated around the crotch and under the arms so it was a tad bracing, shall we say. Very comfortable fit though.

And as for the new sprocket, well fitting it means even quicker acceleration, even easier wheelies and a reduction in the theoretical top speed from 186mph to 178mph. It does indeed accelerate very quickly indeed now and I even managed a wheelie coming home into the Close (oops!).

Yesterday was also the first long trip I’d done with the Sargent Solo replacement seat fitted.

Whereas before I’d be shuffling around uncomfortably after a relatively short while, the Sargent cossets your bum in comfort and even has space and a tube for you to stow something in the seat itself (in my case a ZRXOA rubber torch).

Recommended.

Yesterday, I managed to get on the road at 9.00am: the Big Man Upstairs had laid on a clear but cold day for Martin’s funeral.

A fairly clear run down to the Ace with an arrival there at 11.15am. Most of the ZRXOC boys had already arrived and after a cuppa and a sausage and egg sandwich, I began to thaw out enough to speak. There had been a change of plan: we were now going to meet up with Icey and the London Ambulance Service bikes who were going to escort the funeral cortege to the church, so at 12.00pm we set off from the Ace and parked up at the bottom of Martin’s road.

At about 12.30pm, Martin’s hearse and the other funeral cars came past, led by two of the eight outriders from the London Ambulance Service, all with flashing blue lights. We tagged along behind them and rode slowly to the church, ignoring red lights and junctions as they were taken care of by either the outriders or by police cars and LAS members.

We met up with some more of the ZRXOC lads at the Church as they’d driven directly there.

We’d already decided to stand at the back of the church as a mark of respect, but in the event we didn’t have a choice anyway as the church was packed with family and friends from all walks of life: ‘normal’ people, bikers, patch wearers, ZRXOC bods and a whole host of Martin’s colleagues - yesterday would not have been a good day to be injured in NW London…

We estimated there were something like 400 people in the church.

The ambulance service had a piper playing as the coffin was taken into the church and the mourners came in.The priest opened with some great words: something like

“The ties that bind us in friendship do not unravel with death”

The funeral mass then progressed and was followed by two eulogies; the first on behalf of Martin’s three young sons (Conor, Richard and Carl - please excuse the spellings) which had me welling up as it mentioned what a great Dad Martin was to the boys he clearly idolised; and the second by Martin’s partner in the ambulance service which mentioned our club and the rest of his friends and of course his wife Cathy and the lads. He managed to nearly complete the eulogy without breaking down but at the very end it became too much for him (and indeed looking around he wasn’t the only one in tears). Cathy had also asked for “Wind Beneath My Wings” to be played whose lyrics added to the emotion of the occasion.

The coffin was then taken back out to the hearse, led by the standard bearer and again being piped out to the tune of “Abide With Me”.

The roads of Greenford were then again brought to a standstill as the funeral cortege, again led by LAS outriders, made its way slowly to the cemetary. I think everyone from the church had gone there as the cemetary was packed with mourners and Martin’s colleagues lined the path up to his burial plot.

As we walked up to it, another ZRXOC member joined us.

The priest then took the ceremony and a bugler played the Last Post at the graveside.

There were some awesome floral tributes from his family, friends and colleagues (especially the Kawasaki bike from his colleagues) - some photos here.

We’d been invited back to Cathy’s (his widow) for some refreshments so we made our way there and spent longer than we’d thought there managing to chat to Cathy and Martin’s Mum. Good people. We’d also said we’d go and say hello to the crews at Martin’s station, but as time was drawing on, we headed straight back to the Ace through rush hour traffic to have a beer in his honour. A quick “light bite” - it said, they lied: it was huge - later, we said our goodbyes and headed home in the darkness of the rush hour.

So 240 miles (round trip) later here I sat, occasionally ‘filling up’ as I wrote this and raised another glass to Martin. Like it was said yesterday by many people: he never had a bad word to say about anybody and no-one ever had a bad word to say about him. He’ll be missed.

A couple of snippets I’d forgotten about the ‘O’ ring fettling session:

1. I was really pleased that I could hoik Blue Rex onto the paddock stand (for stability, level and height) and work on it in the garage at last, rather than outside on the driveway.
2. For the first time whilst manouevering the paddock stand into place, I managed to let Blue Rex topple over sideways, it being stopped by the two pushbikes next to it. Fortunately, it was such a gentle roll sideways that there was no damage (thank goodness it was slow and there were no sharp ends sticking out of the pushbikes). Now if it’d happened outside, the bike would’ve gone right over onto its side…

I wasn’t entirely happy about not having bled the cooling system after fitting the ‘O’ ring, so this afternoon, I fired up Blue Rex, took off the pump cover and fuel tank and undid the bleed valve/screw and was pleased to see a little coolant come straight out of each.

Job done.

Whacked it all back together and went for a quick 100mph thrash of about 15-20 miles just to be sure. No obvious signs of any leaks, so I’ll check again after I use it next time.

At least the roads were dry and I was toasty warm in my leathers and Rukka jacket.

Blue’s Top Tip

Avoid leaving your helmets on top of the fridge-freezer in the garage as they’ll get filled up with condensation… Bugger!

So I picked up the ‘O’ rings and some premixed Motul coolant from the dealer today and after lunch, drained down and disconnected the leaking hose. The ‘O’ ring was fine once I’d cleaned it up a bit and likewise the hose. I replaced it anyway, but I really couldn’t see anything wrong with the old one.

Ah well!

Refilled the system, ran it up, checked the level again, loosened the bleed valve but no fluid came out of the top one and I didn’t bother with the bottom one for now.

I’ll take it for a proper run tomorrow and see what’s what, weather permitting.