I decided to treat my head to a nice new helmet last week. There is no other feeling than slipping a new lid on for the first time. I have always been a big Arai fan and was delighted to see that Arai had re-launched their Quantum range of helmets.I was happy as a school boy when I received word from Graham at GLF Accessories that my shiny new lid had arrived. On opening the box I was not disappointed and was, as usual, very impressed with the high quality finish. I was equally impressed with the excellent fit, much better than my previous Condor as I always found the actual ‘head hole’ a bit too small for comfort.

My childish delight was dented slightly when, having tried with Graham for about half an hour to fit a slightly darker visor (obligatory in my book), and having had to call Arai, we discovered that the normal range of Arai after-market visors do not actually fit the new Quantum or the RX-7 range of helmets. Thanks for the heads-up Arai. After much nodding of heads and beard stroking, and some more frantic telephone calls, a new style visor was on its way from Jersey. Great work by the way Graham as it turned up the next day as promised. Our efforts to fit a darker pinlock to the new visor also resulted in failure as, following yet another call to Arai, we discovered that the current pinlocks don’t actually fit the new visor and so further calls were made to order the necessary items.

I managed to give my new lid a test ride over the weekend. What can I say?? Absolutely brilliant. Perfect visibility, perfect fit, absolutely no (and I really do mean NO) wind noise and the usual excellent ventilation. Even without a pinlock, and on quite a cold day, there was no misting at all of either the visor or my glasses.

Despite the small teething problems vis a vis the visor/pinlock issues I can only say – great work Arai, you have made my head very happy again.

Just waiting for my new gloves to arrive now and will do a review on them as soon as I can.

Happy riding all – keep it the shiny-side up

Today is the first day my new Rukka Kit got its first outing in the hacking down rain, and the boys from Finland know how to make a decent motorcycle suit. Mine is the midrange Armadillo but the prices are pretty top end. Anyway, here is what I reckon.

The quality seems very good, the waterproofing held up in 3 hours solid rain at brisk motorway speeds without any leakage and the suit can shut off most incoming wind. The collar was especially good.

The downsides are the price, and zipping together the trousers to the jacket is more fiddly than my old and now just slightly leaky HG suit. The kit without liners is not warm, but I don’t think that is a fault. I hate clammy riding gear in the summer but I do think the lack of vents, which is great for water proofing will not be so great for summer riding.

All the internal pockets stayed perfectly dry and while my missus says I know look more like a policeman than I normally do (I still get sent to the Police Room when I turn up at the magistrates) she thinks it is the smartest looking gear I have had.

So is it worth the premium price? I don’t know yet. I can spend all day riding and if I was a regular leisure rider I would have to say I would stick mid range (Held, HG) as the step up in price needs quite extreme conditions to bring out the benefits. The 5 year warranty is what swung me. I get through my HG stuff about every 3 years, so it was worth trying. I like HG stuff but holding joint British/Finnish nationality tipped me over to buying Finnish kit. So far I am pleased with it but it will get sorely tested on the RBLR 1000.

The kit is comfortable but I had to take the hip armour out with the lining in as it rubbed, but with the lining out I can feel it but it is not too bad. The armour sits snugly and does not feel like it would move about in the event of my delicate form sliding down the road. It is way more waterproof than the Aerostich, and I do not look like a Ninja teletubby wearing it, at least, I don’t think I do.

Our new prize bike, a CCM SR-40, joins the FT-35s for our prize bike giveaway. The SR-40 is a retro style bike inspired by scramblers from the early 70’s. Below is the full specification and some more images of the bike.

Winter linings zipped back into all the gear and lobster gloves on again … happy biker
Now contemplating some highly attractive thermal base layers for the REALLY cold months

Since yesterday, I have learned two new things about my ear-plugs.

Firstly, when a house or car alarm a few streets away goes off in the middle of the night, and the sound feels like it is piercing your brain and you’ll never sleep again, these moulded ear plugs block out the sound completely. They are too uncomfortable to sleep in, but you can at least stop having to listen to the alarm.

Secondly, if you get your order of getting ready to leave in the morning wrong, and you put in your ear-plugs prior to using an electric tooth-brush, the noise is immense and feels as if you are drilling into your brain.

Happy plugging

I have long been aware that wind noise contributes massively to the fatiguing effects of riding a motorcycle; pretty understandable given that at motorway speeds the volume inside a helmet is apparently the equivalent to having a pneumatic drill pounding away at you.

So I had been toying with the idea of getting some personal ear plugs rather than continually nicking from the office stash of disposable freebies we give out at shows . At the Aberdare Road Races I decided to utilise the time spent waiting for it to stop raining by finally acting on this idea, and I had casts taken of my ears to have plugs made which fit me and me only.

The sensation was simply the strangest thing I have experienced in a long time; it is neither natural nor pleasant to have goo injected that far down your lug-holes.

The jury is still out on whether it was worth it. I did get a pretty good deal cash-wise, and I did get to choose bright blue to match my bike and satisfy the girliness in me. However, I’m just not sure .

They are quite solid, which surprised me – I think I expected softer, more malleable rubber. This means my ears now get bashed by my helmet each time I pull it on or off. It also means after a long journey my ears can feel quite tired – really not something I would call ‘normal’.

I have also found them quite a hassle to insert, although I am hoping this is just a matter of technique improving over time. It is definately a two-handed affair, and it is all too easy to get the angle off just slightly, and you will be fumbling for ages, cursing (a lot) and getting less and less likely to fit them with each mini-tantrum. On the other hand, sometimes I manage it within seconds, and wonder what the fuss on the previous ride had been about. Which just confuses me further.

I think the conclusion I am almost at is that when i’m out for a decent spin on my bike then yep, genius, cuts out almost every last bit of wind noise (I chose the filter level for race & motorway use rather than normal road use), and I can hear my bike’s engine crisper than ever, which is great. Definately worth the hassle.

However, when out as a pillion? Or on just a short run-around? No thanks, I think i’d rather just have a little noise and get to where I am going without the extra palarva.

I took a chance with buying a pair of allegedly cool, waterproof, protective, perforated leather motorcycle jeans from Hein Gerickes Luton branch. Neither Charlie nor Tim had used them but their basic position was HG would not compromise their brand by selling something which was not up to the job. They are also Goretex and the Gore Company try to avoid putting their name on stuff which does not work. I have to admit I am a bit of an HG fan, so I took a punt. Luckily Charlie ordered up several sets and I fitted into a size on the label I have not fitted into since I left Gibraltar Barracks, so they do come up big. When on they are more of a trouser cut rather than a race jean cut and they look okay, but my Alpine Star Track jeans are a much closer cut. I wore them for the first time in an absolute deluge – for about 15 minutes the skies over Birmingham just exploded with water. Cars were braking to 30mph on the M6 Toll, foglights were going on, and my Schuberth Helmet filled up it pinlock fogshield with water. Basically it was bloody horrible. However my leather jeans did not leak at all. Nor did my Hanwag lace up combat boots (try www.sappershop.com) for the boots that British Squaddies are buying themselves because the Government won’t, and as I was almost expecting a leak I was really alert to wet crotch or my boots filling up. In short, the HG waterproof leather jeans work. Given the choice between waterproof leather and Cordura in an off I will go for leather, so these jeans will be getting a lot of use. The only downside may arise in the winter because the trousers come with a zip in thermal liner which may be a little snug, but then long johns can go on.

These jeans are pricey, but if you ride all year, I reckon they will be one of the most used pieces of kit in your wardrobe. I recommend them.

I have finally had to admit defeat and accept that, after fracturing my scaphoid and having it pinned, my wrist is not as strong as it used to be. Therefore, riding my 749 has become increasingly painful even on the shortest of journeys.  Once I finally got passed my stubborn streak and realised that perhaps I should be looking at something with a less sporty bias, I started with my wish list for the bike; something like this:

1. I must be able to ride it longer than 5 minutes without being in pain;
2. I want to be able to go Court and go touring on it so good luggage is essential;
3. It must be fun;
4. It must start every time you push the button and be considerably cheaper to run than a Ducati.

I very quickly started considering BMW’s because of their ‘bullet-proof’ reputation and I know they do good luggage designed specifically for their bikes.  Initially, I considered the old R1150GS.  However, there is a problem with this bike for men like me who aren’t blessed with the longest legs in the world.  I looked at Mr. Dalton’s R1200GS.  The length of the leg was not so much of a factor with this bike, but it does weigh about 4.5 tonnes.  At this point I was thinking I would have to look elsewhere, but before I did, I was reliably informed that BMW had a relatively new model which would probably suit me more: The F800GS.

When looking into this bike, I found that at last BMW were starting to realise that not all their riders are 6′6” with a 42” inside leg.  They do a lowered seat.  Off I trundled then to BMW Wollaston in Northampton where I test rode the 800 with a lowered seat.  Whilst manageable, I did think I could do with it lowered just a little bit more.  When mentioning this, I was told that you can get an aftermarket replacement shock spring which lowers the bike about 1” further.  I was so taken with the bike on my test ride that I put in my order for a yellow and black one a couple of days later.  I took delivery of the bike last week.

I have just ridden my F800 all weekend and have to say that it was a cracking choice.  The bike is awesome as an all-rounder and loads of fun to ride.  I will shortly write a blog about the first 600 miles spent running in the bike, but I can already say that the 3-piece hard luggage is really good and really easy to take on and off.  It has a nice touch of being easily expandable.

A quick plug here:  I have to say that Steve Nash of Wollaston Motorrad has been very helpful throughout the purchase of this bike.  He managed to source me one, get all the extras fitted etc and through to me in under a week.  I am impressed and grateful.

Finally (and worryingly) Andrew says that I am two years ahead of him in buying my first BMW.  How many gadgets and devices I will have attached to my bike by the time I reach his grand old age?

Knowing I am going to get merciless stick from m’learned friends for having yet another gizmo on my bike I’ll admit another one – this time a DAB radio. On the RBLR 1000 endurance ride, having the Lions match to listen to whilst flooging up from Edinburgh to Wick was a much needed distraction from my seriously numb backside. Having traffic reports and weather coming in on Absolute Radio was also good.

I used a Pure Highway Radio, wired in to the ignition on car lighter style plug – so far very easy. I placed the additional magnetic aerial on the top of mu top box, routed the cable and job done. 5 minutes maximum. So does it work? Yep, I got Radio 5 live clearly in the middle belt of Scotland, Absolute Radio clear as a bell in Cumbria and what is good about this radio is the if the signal is too weak it just stops, with very little atmospherics, and when the signal is on one bar I can still hear it very well. The Autocom copes very well with the noise output. The little magnetic aerial (an optional extra) is well worth having as before I fitted it I could not get a signal pretty well from Leicester to Leeds on the M1 but with it fitted a decent signal all journey.

So if you are a long distance rider or a regular commuter it can really break up the monotony of a long journey, and the signal seems pretty good across the nation, from the North of Scotland down to the North Devon Coast.

I had heard a lot of good things about the Schuberth C3 and having ridden 600 miles in a day with the very noisy Carberg I decided to try out a Schuberth. I popped into Helmet City’s shop cum farm, where the guys let me put my soaking wet gloves on the heater. I tried out a range of helmets, but was advised by them not to buy a seriously reduced in price C2 as it had been on about 3,000 heads at shows and I tried it on and it did smell a bit! I bought a C3 flip up lid in matt black. The price was discounted but it is not a cheap lid.

However I wanted a number of features, the first was the drop down dark visor, secondly I wanted quiet, thirdly I wanted a helmet which was designed not to come off in crash. As a solicitor who spends all day dealing with serious motorcycle accidents I am all too well aware that just about any helmet will come off just about any head if the rider is unlucky. The Schuberth has two key features which resist this. The first is the chin piece sits snug to the chin and secondly the strap sits close to the throat. Having seen loads of expert reports as to why helmets come off, these Shuberths are said to be designed to avoid this particular problem. However, all lids have their engineering constraints, so no helmet manufacturer will ever be able to persuade me that their lids will stay on in every situation.

On riding for the first time in the Shuberth, it was a bit but not massively quieter than my Shoei Raid II. It was comfortable, quite snug and the noise reduction was most noticeable when listening to my sat nav and mobile phone. If you don’t have your lid wired full of gizmos and ride in earplugs the quietness really is not a big factor.

It was really easy to fit the Autocom head set neatly into the lid, with a little nick cut into the polystyrene lining to accommodate the shrink/heat wrapped connector for the autocom.

So would I recommend it? Yes, it is quiet, comfortable, the inner visor is excellent but it has one really annoyng habit. The main visor flops down at about 25mph. In urban riding in the summer I lift the whole front up, which looks a bit stupid, probably isn’t especially safe and has the potential to mess up my already fairly lived in face. If the weather is really hot, I use the Shoei, which for a supposedly top of the range Schuberth is a little poor.