Daves Blog

I can’t believe how long it is since I last made an entry in the blog. Five plus months and so it won’t surprise me if no one ever reads this. I imagine anyone who’s had an interest in the past will be long gone. There so much that’s happened over the months that I can’t even remember it all, let alone write about it, but let’s see what I can…

I still have the BMW K1200S and the Bandit 1250 and both are still going just fine. The BMW’s had it’s first service some time back… 6000 miles which almost coincided with 1 year and so both parts were done at the same time. Oh, yes, that reminds me now… I had the service done at North Oxford. Yes, I know, but apart from better the devil you know, they also collect and deliver it free of charge. They kept the bike for a couple of days and delivered it back on a Friday. On the Saturday we went to meet friends and go for a ride and it was lovely to ride, that just serviced feeling being very evident. Once home, I was chatting to my friend near the bike when I noticed some drops of oil (I thought) on top of the fairing, just under the right handle bar. “Hope that’s not brake fluid” said my friend. Well, it was! To cut a long story very short, and as it happened a few months back I know this to be correct, the moron that serviced it had completely overfilled the front reservoir and spilt brake fluid all around it. In the ham fisted way these idiots work, to clean it up he’d only wiped what was visible from above. Underneath the bar, the switch gear and the brake lever it was absolutely dripping. It took me a few weeks and many checks to clean it all up. Good one North Oxford!

Nothing really to report on the Bandit except that it continues to be reliable and great fun to ride as my “chuck it around” bike. Meike still has her 250 Ninja but she seems to have lost interest in it and so with just 600 miles on the clock it’s for sale. I think she just needed to get the experience out of her system but I can’t help feeling she wouldn’t have had more fun, and therefore still be keen if we’d got her a 600 rather than a 250. Never mind, I’m glad she’s done it and at least now on the back of my bikes she knows that’s where she wants to be and won’t be hankering after riding for herself.

Mermaid Bikers is still going strong even though The Mermaid pub closed without any warning and we had to find ourselves a new home. We now meet at The Oliver Cromwell in Bromham every Wednesday and despite the fact The Mermaid has reopened it’s where we’ll be staying. The pubs great and very friendly and the location is a million miles better than The Mermaid.

Funny thing! I haven’t ridden either of my bikes for over 5 weeks now and for some odd reason I have no great desire to do so. I’m not sure why I feel like this. You couldn’t keep me off bikes at this time last year and even through the winter, but whether it’s because of the weather or work demands, I just have no desire to ride right now. I’m sure it will improve soon though.

Wiltshire Riders finally folded for good. No big surprise there, the guy who ran it had really lost interest and although he’ll blame anyone else before himself, it never really recovered from him abandoning it over last Christmas. He has other interests now though, which a few friends are also involved in… Biker FM. It’s an internet radio station supposedly for bikers, but I’m not sure how that works. I wasn’t aware that bikers had musical taste any different to anyone else. I don’t listen though, so perhaps there are bike related things going on I don’t know about.

Hm, what else? Well, I’m not sure there is really. We’ve had some great times with friends and the bikes over the last months including quite a few ride outs and a 4 day trip to Wales. That was so good we’re doing it again next year.

I think that’s enough to be catching up on and I’ll try to start writing more regularly again, although that will depend of course on having anything to write about lol.