Daves Blog

Remember that song? I think the title was really different to that but I’m sure you’ll know it by that name. Well, song is used lightly as it was really some american fella talking over the top of some very repetitive music and giving his version of life. Something he said in it has always stayed in my mind though, something about don’t waste time worrying about things because the things you really should worry about will hit you out of the blue at 5.30 some Tuesday afternoon. So it was a couple of weeks ago when we got the message my dad, my best friend, had fallen very ill. We rushed round to the hospital in Kent to see him very ill indeed and for a few days the bottom was falling out of my world. I’m not going to go into any details but true to form, he’s somehow pulled off a remarkable recovery and I’m delighted to say is now back at home and doing very well.

Because of this though and spending most of my time travelling between home and hospitals in Kent and London, we really haven’t been doing very much on the bikes or anything else for that matter. We were due to be going on a trip to France this last weekend with Wiltshire Riders, the reason for getting all the camping gear recently, but we’ve had to opt out of that now as I really didn’t want to be stuck on the other side of the channel if I was needed at home. In the end I wasn’t, but I’m still glad I didn’t take the chance. I’m sure all the camping gear will get tested more than once this year when we go travelling with friends.

Over four weeks ago now, and my memory is a little blurred, we had gone to George Whites to pick up the crash bungs and seat hump that were finally in for Meike’s Ninja. The following morning I fitted them and it became very clear why the crash bungs were some of the most expensive R&G make. Not only do they supply the crash bungs but also all the bracketry required to mount them which is some pretty substancial stuff. The quality of manufacturing is superb and once the brackets were fitted, the fairing mounted back with everything perfectly aligned. It’s then simply a matter of bolting up the crash bungs and voila. The seat hump was a piece of cake to fit of course.

We’ve been to The Mermaid a couple of times in the last 4 weeks although we did miss one bike night which was a first for us. There’s no question that the bike nights are catching on well and everyone who attends seems to have a great time.

We’ve also managed to get on a couple of rideouts. One with Wiltshire Bikers to Weston Supermare and another with Moonrakers EVS to raise funds for this new Devizes based blood group. The weather was very nice for both rides although the one to Weston seemed to be too drawn out somehow. The traffic was very bad that day and we were stopping too frequently to really get into the riding. I was very concerned with the Moonrakers EVS ride for two reasons. Firstly my old shoulder pain re-appeared which makes riding a very painful experience, but probably more importantly the standard of riding was attrocious. As a group, and I’m ashamed to admit I got drawn in for a while - like everyone else, we appeared to have little regard for other traffic and in some cases even each other.

This is absolutely the worst scenario for any rideout in my opinion because the more inexperienced riders are encouraged to ride well beyond their abilities. So with my concerns over this and my shoulder we decided to opt out at lunch time when we were about half way. Much later in the day we learned that one of the riders on a Kawasaki ZZR1400, not someone we’d ever met before, had gone into the back of a car, at speed, and ended up in hospital with 7 broken ribs and a broken collar bone. Obviously I’m sorry to have heard this, but it didn’t come as a complete surprise. I hope he heals quickly.

This weekend we’re off to the Isle of Wight with some friends, on the bikes of course. The weather looks as though it should be OK and we’re both greatly looking forward to it. Tonight is bike night at The Mermaid and we’re looking forward to that too.

What else has happened in the last four weeks?

I’m on the WaBAM committee now. I think this was more because of a lack of volunteers in the posts but I’m happy to help out where I can. I’m now responsible for the news letter and publicity.

I’ve been assigned my RoSPA observer and had in fact arranged to have my first check ride a couple of weekends back. I had to cancel that though and so will be arranging for it again soon I hope. Interestingly I already knew my observer, Julian, from The Mermaid bike nights lol.

My new Zumo 660 finally arrived and overall I’m very pleased with it although there are a few software bugs. Still, I’m sure Garmin will sort them out over the coming months. The unit is noticeably faster than the 550 especially on map redraw and route calculation as well as playing mp3’s. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about it over the coming weeks and months. This meant though that Neil could finally have my Zumo 550 for his (my old) FJR and so he came round this last weekend and I fitted it - or rather re-fitted it.

Anyway, hopefully life is returning to normal and my entries in the blog will become more frequent again. Thank you to everyone who sent me messages of concern during this awful period. Each one was very much appreciated.

Meike’s parents left for home last Thursday as planned, despite the French trawlermen doing everything possible to prevent it. We then had a couple of days of pretty cold and damp weather but on Saturday the sun returned and Meike took the 250 Ninja out for it’s first ride. We only did about 30 miles but it was great experience for her and she thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s obviously going to be a little slow while we run it in and she gets used to riding again, but it’s still great to see her on it.

On Sunday it was the monthly Wiltshire Riders meet and she rode to that too…

Here we are having just arrived at The Moonrakers for the meet.

We hung around for an hour or so and it was then decided some of us would ride up to George Whites as it was their open weekend. Meike didn’t fancy that on her own so we took her bike back home and then returned on mine.

George Whites was packed silly and so after an hour or so we left with some friends to spend the late afternoon at The Mermaid. As usual, it was a good day.

Yesterday evening, Monday, we went to the new bike night at The Chestnut Tree in Andover. Meike again rode the Ninja to get some more miles on it. It was a good evening with the weather being so nice and great to meet up with friends we hadn’t seen for a while. I can imagine it becoming a very popular bike night as the year progresses.

I’ve been giving a lot thought to our up coming camping trip with Wiltshire Riders at the end of May and thinking about how I’m going to pack the bike. It’s only two nights, but there’s two of us and we need to take the tent as well as sleeping bags and mattresses etc. Looking at the K1200S and the new rack I will only really safely be able to fix the tent to it and so will need to use the panniers and tank bag for the remainder. Our sleeping bag was not designed for compactness and there’s just no way it would fit anywhere and so I went looking for new ones. During this exercise I also started to read a lot about mattresses and read a very interesting article about how the right mattress can do more for your comfort and especially warmth in a tent than the sleeping bag. So with this new found knowledge I went looking for the best mattress and sleeping bags with compactness when folded up being high on the list of requirements.

I found a sleeping bag made by Snugpak, the Traveller Lite, which is a one season sleeping bag rated down to 2 deg C that rolls up into a bag not a lot bigger than a coconut lol. I’ve bought two, a left handed one and a right handed one so they can be zipped together. We’re a little concerned that they won’t be warm enough, even though in May the nights should not drop below 2 deg C, but we decided it was certainly worth trying. I then found the best mattress I could, the Exped Down Pump DLX 9. This is a down filled air mattress that’s 9cm thick and yet rolls down to just 11 inches long by 6 inches diameter. It has the highest warmth rating of any camping mattress and is supposed to insulate down to -38 deg C. The theory here being that the mattresses will off set the thiness of the sleeping bags. Anyway, all will be told at the end of May lol.

The beauty of both these items however is that they’ll easily fit in the panniers leaving room to spare for other bits and clothing with the remainder in the tank bag if needed.

It seems like a good plan, so hopefully it will all work well.

Earlier in the week I ordered some adapters for my Abba Superbike stand so that I can use it with the 250 Ninja to lubricate the chain and things. Interestingly I had a call from them this morning to ask what bike I’d originally ordered the stand for. When I told them a K1200S the guy was very relieved. Apparently they make the stand in different heights but the K12 one is already low. If I’d had the higher ones, then apparently it lifts the Ninja too high off the ground. Great service!

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been thinking a little more about my riding and wanting to keep developing. When I did my IAM a year or so ago I really enjoyed having someone observing me and pointing out where I could make improvements. I’m pretty sure I still ride to a good standard, but I do miss the evaluation and advice. Consequently I’ve signed up to do my RoSPA certificate. While the riding is ‘taught’ to the same system as the IAM the RoSPA qualification is a little different in that a pass is graded bronze, silver or gold and is only good for 3 years when you must retake the test if you want to maintain it. Of course I’d love to take the test and get a gold first time out, but that’s probably unlikely and so getting one of the lower grades still gives you something else to aim for. I’ve already had my observer assigned and so hopefully will be going out on a first ride very soon. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m still waiting for my Garmin Zumo 660 that I ordered back in February. Garmin have delayed the release while they’ve been ironing out some issues apparently. Last week, Audio 66 told me that they’d been promised their first delivery on the 26th April but they weren’t sure how many they were getting. I hope I don’t have to wait much longer.

Quite a few things to write about:

Firstly, what a fantastic weekend we just had weather wise. 20 degrees on Saturday and a wonderful 23 degrees yesterday. Both days started with a little fog and in fact yesterday was worse than Saturday, but they both turned out to be absolutely glorious. More please.

On Saturday I went to George Whites to meet up with a few others from Wiltshire Riders. We didn’t go anywhere else but had a good time nattering. Yesterday we went with the IAM to the Weston beach races. The IAM ride was a week early this month to coincide with the beach races and it was a great ride there. I was a little worried when we left home to get to the meeting point for 9.00am because of the fog. It wasn’t that visibility was bad but that because of the moisture I soon couldn’t see much through my visor. Lifting it up didn’t help because then it all landed on my glasses. My left glove became a windscreen wiper about every 5 seconds. The first 20 or so miles of the ride were also the same but then we rode out of it into glorious sunshine. Everyone made their own way home and we chose to come back up the Cheddar Gorge and through that way. A really lovely day.

Earlier in the week my latest RAM mount arrived for the GPS, the one from MV Motorrad and it works surprisingly well. I still don’t like all the bracketry needed for RAM mounts but out of the three I’ve tried so far this is the best. It enabled me to offset the GPS left of center and this makes for easier reading and operation and doesn’t obscure the ignition key. On the way to George Whites though the music started to crackle in my right ear and progressively got worse and worse. This was the same mount I’d had on the FJR where the vibrations had given it problems but this time no amount of plug wiggling seemed to fix it. On getting home I swapped it for the mount from the Bandit and it’s been fine all day yesterday. So, it looks like the mount itself is damaged internally and I’ll have to get a new one.

Obviously I’ve also fitted the Autocom intercom. In fact I fitted it and then refitted it because in the first position, under the seat, I was getting interference from the ECU or something. I then moved it to behind the left rear panel and now have probably the cleanest audio I’ve had on any bike. The problem however is that the riders lead is now about 6 inches too short. I don’t like it coming out at the front of the seat and much prefer it to come out at the front of the bike. This puts less strain on things in my opinion and makes for easier head movement etc. It will reach, just, with the helmet cord plugged in, but it means the connector is under the battery cover.

Earlier in the week on Wednesday night we went to meet friends from Wiltshire Riders at the Mermaid pub in Christian Malford. In fact this was my suggestion because now all the bike nights have closed down for the Autumn and Winter, we were missing meeting everyone. The pub seems like a great place to meet and so we will probably be making these Wednesday nights a regular event. Then on Thursday we go to the Salutation Inn bike night which is one that runs all year round.

So, how’s the K1200S been? Generally speaking absolutely wonderful. It’s so much nicer to ride with its new clutch and everything seems to be losening up nicely. However, and it is a big however, despite all their findings I am still absolutely convinced that the bars are turned slightly to the right when riding in a straight line.

This morning I decided to check the alignment myself using some string like the racers used to in the old days. Basically you tie a loop in a piece of string and then hook it over one end of the handlbars. Then you take the string to a point central at the rear of the bike and mark that point on the string. Now unhook it, loop it over the other bar end and of course if everything is perfect, it should meet the same point in the middle at the back etc. Well, not that I expected anything different, mine is 10 to 12mm shorter on the right than it is on the left. In other words, despite two more people riding it and whatever sophisticated alignment equipment North Oxford Garage borrowed, the bars ARE turned to the right. Obviously I’m not happy about this and am very concerned. I’ve written to the dealers this morning and I think this time I will take the bike and prove to them I’m right. We’ll see what they propose when they contact me.

Other than this the bike’s wonderful, but as I intend to keep it for a few years I want it to be 100% right, not 99.

Steve posted the following comment in my guest book “Good riding Dave, must be that IAM green badge you have. Just doing mine at mo and they love those white lines, can be a bit much sometimes, rather get round than extend my view, what do you think?”.

First off, thanks for the comment Steve and the compliment, it’s much appreciated, but I have to say I don’t feel it was as good as I could have done it. I definitely made some mistakes, probably because I was riding more for the thrill, but this of course and the fact it was the first time I’d ridden these roads, shouldn’t be any excuse. Many of the bends tightened as they progressed and I feel my reading of this should have been a lot better than it was. Still, I will at least learn from it and so hopefully only improve.

Anyhow, let me try to answer your question.

Please remember though this is just my interpretation and opinion. I don’t always succeed to put it into practice what I believe and I certainly don’t think I can ride any better than anyone else. I will never stop learning.

I think a lot of people interpret The System too literally and especially when it comes to recommended positioning on the roads. Out to the white line for a left hander and in the gutter for a right hander. The fact is that this is just one of very many options you should consider for negotiating each hazard as it arises. Safety, firstly your own but also that of others around you has to be the driving factor for every follow on decision and action. So, while being out at the white line will maximise your view in a left hander, you should never be there at such a speed where you can’t move back into your lane if the situation ahead changes, such as a vehicle coming the other way. Equally, if you consider it isn’t safe to be there in the first place, perhaps because of a risk of oncoming traffic, then you shouldn’t be. It’s a process of continuous evaluation and actions and even your own actions, such as your positioning, can then change the situation so it needs to be re-evaluated.

I’ve seen many so called advanced riders moving left and right in their lane, sticking rigidly to The System positioning, when there is absolutely nothing to be gained from it. I’ve even seen them stick rigidly to this chosen path when it is far from the safest thing to do. In my opinion this shows little to no understanding of The System which is as I’ve said is supposed to be a continuous and ever changing process. If it’s safe for example, judged only by you, to cut the apex of a corner and there is something to be gained from it, then absolutely you should. You should always be aiming to take the safest and most efficient line around every hazard.

It’s a very complex subject of course, but I’ve always felt the best advice I was given is to, where possible, keep your hazards equidistant. This is why, on a deserted road, I will often position myself near the centre line. If a vehicle then comes the other way, often I will either move completely to the left, depending on what hazards that presents or certainly away from the centre line. For right hand bends, I will maximise my view where I can gain advantage from it but I am rarely comfortable way over to the left in the gutter, where, especially in the countryside, much muck and debris washes off the fields.

When we’re on the roads we’re in a constantly changing environment where each split second situation is unlikely to ever exactly arise again. This makes it impossible to have simple rights and wrongs for handling each situation and is precisely why we’re in a constant mode of discovery and learning and why The System is one of constant evaluation and adjustment. Safety absolutely has to be the first factor in every decision and all others second in order to make progress.

As I say, this is only my opinion and of course others far more experienced than me may not agree and may well be right. I hope though that what I’ve said makes sense and answers your question which after all was what do I think lol.

I knew when I was writing my entry yesterday that my IAM test was this morning but I didn’t want to say as then everyone would be expecting an update lol. Anyhow… I passed and of course I’m delighted. The examiner had some constructive criticisms and advice of course, all of which I’ll try to take notice of but he said overall he enjoyed the ’spirited’ ride and especially a few overtakes I managed to get in.

It’s a very odd thing because absolutely nothing depends on success of the IAM test but never the less I was very nervous to start with - so much so that I could actually feel my left foot shaking lol. I think the biggest challenge is trying to remember the route but you can’t fail for getting it wrong and the examiner did give plenty of clear signals to keep me on it. It was a great route on some wonderful smooth twisting sections of road I’d never ridden before and I’ll be sure to remember them for future rides.

Anyhow, I’m delighted… I wonder if I’ll get cheaper insurance now?

This means by the way that the FJR is now ready for its 600 mile service and so I’d better get that arranged. So far I’m delighted with the bike too and the more I ride it the more I enjoy it. I ended up putting the suspension settings back to stock for today because whatever I tried only seemed to make things worse. I may take it somewhere to get it set up professionally or at least get some advice. I also want to fit a Power Commander once it’s run in as I only read good things about them and apart from anything else, it should help greatly with the smoothness and if I ever fit after market exhausts. My birthday’s coming up soon… maybe I’ll get one for that lol.

There’s a fair bit been going on since my last update and so I thought I should write something before there’s too much lol.

Last Sunday we had the monthly Wiltshire Riders meet at the Churchill pub in West Lavington and there was an absolutely fantastic turn out. Great to see so many people and so many different bikes. Then in the afternoon I went to the BikeSafe day in Devizes as planned to meet Martyn and Ken from the IAM. This was really so that Martyn could retake his senior observers test but would also serve as a useful check ride for me. At the end, same as last time, they both agreed I am test ready and so on Monday I posted my application for the test. I hope I pass it this time! At the time I’m writing this I have already heard from the examiner and we’ve booked the day and time but I’m not going to say when it is as I don’t want to set any levels of expectation lol.

The weather last week wasn’t too bad except for Tuesday evening and Wednesday when it rained just about all day. However, having had to work both Monday and Tuesday evenings, we took the opportunity to go to a fairly new bike night in Cherhill. The roads were still very wet and we even got rained on a little on the way there but it was nice to see the others who also ventured out. We took the Bandit as I don’t want to get the FJR too dirty yet and in total there were only 6 bikes there. It’s a great location for a bike night right next to the A4 and the food was really nice so it would be great to see it take off. The Bandit got really mucky and so yesterday it got a wash and clean. It’s not perfect by any means but looks a lot better for it.

And so to yesterday… Sue from Wiltshire Riders had made the suggestion earlier in the week of meeting at George Whites on Saturday and riding to Fox’s Diner just south of Oxford. It seems it was a great suggestion as about 15 or so bikes turned up and so we decided it best to run it as an organised ride using the marker system. I offered to go as back marker and we had a great ride and a good day out. It all helps to get the FJR run in and by the time we got home there was nearly 400 miles on it.

Earlier in the week I bought a Laminar Lip for the FJR from eBay and it arrived on Thursday although I wanted to wait to fit it in the sun as the sticky pads it fixes with work best above 70 degrees F. So, when we got home yesterday I set about fitting it. The sticky pads don’t appear to me to work very well and a couple of times they came off the screen as I was trying to remove the backing on the others. In the end though I got it fitted and everything appeared to be pretty well fixed. The Laminar Lip is a sort of aerofoil that sits along the trailing edge of the screen and is supposed to smooth out the airflow and I was hoping it would do just that and reduce the noise in my helmet.

So, today we went for a ride and took a very long route to George Whites (Surprised?) through Devizes and Chippenham. As soon as we set off I could tell the noise in my helmet was worse, not better with the screen in its lowest position. However, I also noticed as I raised the screen that it got progressively less until at full height it was almost silent behind it. This is just the opposite of the standard screen where the noise increases as it’s raised and so the lip does appear to be doing something. The problem with this though is that I really don’t like the screen extended all the way up and so I need to play with the positioning of the lip on the main screen. For now, I’ve pulled it off as it’s so warm I’d rather have some wind in my face.

I’ve also been playing around with the suspension settings on the FJR. As well as preload on the forks and rear shock it also has compression and rebound damping adjustments on the forks and rebound damping adjustment on the rear shock. Before yesterdays ride I’d increased the rear shock rebound damping and it had definitely made a great improvement so today, before the ride, I also increased the compression and rebound damping on the front forks. Disaster! It was horrible… almost like not having any front suspension. So once at George Whites I set it back and even made it a little softer than stock. The ride home was much better. Now, once home, I’ve increased the fork preload and softened the compression a little more. I may go for another ride in a moment just to try it out.

Think that’s about it for now… the sun is still shining and it’s supposed to continue for a few days yet… happy days.

Today was dry and warm… perfect for putting more miles on the bike. Only went to George Whites for a burger and coffee but it was great to run into some of the Wiltshire Riders there as always it seems lol. Anyhow, put about another 60 miles on the FJR and looking forward to tomorrow which is supposed to be the same weather wise.

In the morning it’s the monthly WR meet at The Churchill is West Lavington and then in the afternoon I’m going to meet Martyn, my IAM observer at the local Bikesafe day in Devizes. I did a Bikesafe a few years ago and it’s an excellent day but this time I’m not taking part in the event. Once again we’re killing two birds with one stone… Martyn needs to retake his senior observer test and to do so has to be judged on his observation of an associate… so I get an observed ride out of it as well as being able to help him out and basically just have a good time.

I wheeled both bikes into the garden later today to take some pics in daylight…

First the FJR sporting its Givi Maxia E52 top box…

Then a couple of both bikes together…

Now the Bandit on its own…

Finally both bikes together again…

I hope we have many more days like this.

I’m sorry to report that having put about another 200 miles on the FJR the vibrations if anything are worse, not better. I realised this for sure when I went for a ride with my IAM observer on Thursday evening. We did about 100 miles all in and it was absolutely awful. The vibrations now start noticeably at about 2000rpm and get to their worst or at least most annoying by 3500rpm. They’re so bad now that at 2500 rpm the audio from my sat nav crackles because the plug is rattling in the mount and the view in the right hand mirror is distorted, although strangely the left hand mirror is rock solid. I got the opportunity to ride another 2008 FJR with just 700 miles on the clock and in comparison to mine it was as smooth as silk. Certainly there were the expected vibes from an in line four cylinder engine at around 4 to 4500rpm but during, below and above this they were insignificant.

The facts that Phoenix had the bike for 10 days, everything they did to it and that it seems to be getting worse, not better, all served to convince me that there is something seriously wrong with mine and something that is not going to be easy, or even possible, to fix.

With this in mind I emailed Phoenix Motorcycles detailing my concerns and I have to say I can’t fault their response. Kevin, the owner, called me first thing on Friday morning and it’s very obvious he is dedicated to solving the problem. I couldn’t ask for a fairer or more right response and so once again I’m delighted I chose to deal with them.

My IAM ride was fun apart from the bike vibrating and considering I hadn’t been on an observed ride for 18 months or so I was delighted with the outcome. Both my observer and another new observer who was there for a check ride agreed that my riding was good enough for me to put straight in for the test again. I did make a couple of mistakes of course, but nothing really serious and I knew each time which is always a good thing. One thing the second observer commented on was that while my use of my mirrors is great, he’d like to see more life saver checks. He’s right too… I don’t do them very often unless I’m turning right or changing lanes on a dual carriageway and so I’ll have to practice doing a few more when setting off and when pulling out around stationary vehicles etc. Also perhaps just before accelerating on an increased speed limit. I’m always checking in my mirrors and always know what’s going on around me but on a test at least it’s better to illustrate the point.

Apparently the group has a new examiner and he likes to see brake lights when slowing down for a lower speed limit. The funny thing is I always used to do this, but as I’ve tried to get smoother in my riding I’ve got used to relying much more on engine braking. Again, just something I need to remember. Even if I’m not actually braking there’s obviously benefit in letting any following traffic know you’re slowing.

So I’ll be applying for the test again real soon and then one more check ride and let’s see if I can pass this time.

I picked up the FJR from Phoenix Motorcycles yesterday morning and I have to say my initial impression was that it was much better and a different bike entirely. Before I’d even got to the point of feeling for the vibration the bike felt more responsive than it had before. Once up to the 4000rpm ranges I could still feel vibration of course but not through the seat or at least not as much as before and it generally felt to be more the levels I would expect. Moving around on the seat I found a position where I could hardly feel it at all so perhaps my boney back side has something to do with it lol.

Martin at Phoenix told me that the work he’d done included the first (600 mile) service and so I am now good to go up to 4000 miles. I was though a little disappointed to see that he’d only put 8 miles on the bike since I’d dropped it off. I don’t think this could have been nearly enough, seeing as he told me he rode it at least 4 times (GPS bracket on, then off, then on again, then off again) and it does seem to me that the vibration gets more noticeable with distance and the engine warming up and as I’ve mentioned before seems to be affected by different road surfaces. As I mentioned before he told me he’d balanced the throttle bodies, adjusted the throttle position sensor and slackened off all the engine bolts and then re-tightened and re-torqued them in the correct sequence. This on top of giving the bike it’s first service. It would have been interesting to see all this as certainly re-tightening the engine mountings means having most of the lower bodywork off.

I wanted to experience this difference he mentioned with the GPS bracket on or off and so when I got home I fitted it back on. Later in the evening we went to the Red Lion at Avebury as it was their Wednesday bike night and I have to say I couldn’t tell any difference at all in the vibration levels at the bars. This time of course I had Meike on the back as well as the panniers back on and the rear suspension preload set to hard. On the way there I was disappointed that a couple of times the vibration felt just as bad as before Phoenix had it. On the way home though, when we took a much longer route, once again it felt more at the levels I’d expect. This makes no sense at all of course.

I’m sure it doesn’t help that right now I’m concentrating on the vibration and feeling for it rather than just relaxing and enjoying the ride. So, I’ve decided I’m going to ride it for a while longer before really deciding if it’s acceptable or not. I’m also going to make the point of riding some other 08 FJR’s to make sure I’m not imagining things and I think I will take it along to the FJ Club soon for a second opinion.

I’ve decided on a top box! I’m going to get the Givi E52 Maxia box with additional brake lights and back rest and mount it on their rack specifically designed for the FJR. It’s a shame in a way because the rack doesn’t look as good as the stock FJR one, but it seems to me after much investigation that it is the best quality and most robust solution. I’m ordering it all through the FJ Club as they have by far the best prices. I’m also considering ordering their screen with a flip edge to see if makes any noticeable difference and I am definitely ordering their heavier bar end weights to see what effect they might have on damping down the vibration at the bars.

Tonight I’m going out for a ride with Martyn, my original observer from WABAM the IAM group for the area but I’m still undecided which bike I’m taking… While I want to ride the FJR to get it run in and because I really enjoy its handling, I also love riding the Bandit for it’s sheer flikability… hm… decisions, decisions. I’ll be very interested in his observations of my riding having not been involved for over a year and from this I think I’ll decide if I want to put myself through the IAM test again.

It’s Wednesday and since late on Sunday we’ve been battered by 50 to 60mph winds almost non stop. They’re supposed to be all gone by this evening and it can’t come too soon for me. I don’t mind rain or even snow but strong winds to me are the most destructive of all weather conditions. I wouldn’t normally be out on either bike during the week with working from home, but of course this has absolutely guaranteed it - they’re wrapped up safe and warm in the garage, so long as it doesn’t get blown over.

I ordered a new Skidmarx Double Bubble screen for the Bandit last week. I have to wait a couple of weeks for it to be delivered but I’m hoping it will be better than the Vario screen I currently have fitted. The Vario is definitely better than the stock screen but I’ve always felt there’s room for further improvement, particularly with the noise levels in my helmet. On the Goldwing, where I’m shielded by it’s fairing and large screen, my helmet, a Schuberth C2, is very quiet but on the Bandit, the wind noise is bad enough to need ear plugs. Double Bubble screens are supposed to work by splitting the air and pushing it to the sides and are meant to help with any buffeting for the pillion too, so I’m looking forward to trying it.

I’ve also been in touch with WABAM as I mentioned in the last entry. My observer, Martyn, is sure I don’t need to book for the full course again and so will just rebook for my IAM test and have a couple of refresher/check rides with him. We’ve agreed to wait until April for some lighter evenings and I’m looking forward to it. Last time I took my test I only had the Goldwing and while that shouldn’t matter, it is a big and heavy bike. This time I will use the Bandit which I hope will make it easier for me to demonstrate my knowledge and especially implementation of the system.

This weekend, on Sunday, we’ve planned to visit my parents in Kent which means taking the car and it’s a shame because both WABAM and Wiltshire Bikers have organised rideouts planned. Mind you, the weather forecast is for fairly consistent rain and so it might not be as much fun as it could be.

Roll on summer.