Eunos Chump

At lunchtime today we had a group ride/drive through the new Hindhead tunnel (the longest in the country).  No, it's not very exciting but it's better than stuffing your face with crisps whilst surfing for porn, which is what your lunch hour consisted of.  Yeah, I know all about you, and your habits.  So shut up dissing the IT section tunnel run.

Been away for a few days in Las Vegas, had a cracking view from the hotel: Nah, the reality was Leeds and this was the view: It meant I couldn't wander about the room naked :(

I'm on a course in London this week, which means an excruciating 2.5 hour commute each way.  This morning a big chunk of the tube was knackered by a broken-down train, which resulted in me having to change train 4 times, and walk about 3 miles underground.  The platforms were absolutely packed with people, it was hot, nobody wanted to be there, and I realised this is actually Hell .  I did have a plan last week to buy a sat nav and take the bike, but all the hard-core bikers at work said this was crazy; I shouldn't have listened to them. The moral of this tale: never listen to people.  Or travel to that London.

Went to a Kawasaki event thing yesterday, where you could have test rides on their new bikes.  I was planning to take out a K1000SX but it kept raining and I was scared, so I went for the harmless retro K800 instead: What a really likeable machine!  It was way more comfortable than my SV with nice wide bars, and was great for pootling about Dorking town centre at less than 2000rpm.  Between 3-4000rpm the engine really vibrates though, and I don't mean a bit through the bars, I could barely keep me feet on the pegs!  It's pretty funny but I couldn't live with it.  It's got no appetite for going quickly either, which was a shame as I had a police bike escort who wasn't hanging about.  You'd think that'd be good for slicing through the traffic, wouldn't you?  But no, car drivers couldn't decide whether to stop, keep going, or pull over, and usually just dithered and got in the way.  It was good fun though, a 40 minute ride and a t-shirt for free!

Mrs B helped me change the brake fluid on the bike last night (it looked a bit murky).  It was all going well until she suggested my bike was front-wheel drive .  Not only is this very silly, it's also highly offensive to a right-wheel drive purist like myself, so there was no option but to give her a light duffing up.  You can't let that sort of thing pass, can you? Brakes have a much firmer feel, incidentally.

I gave it a wash and polish today, a proper thorough job including the interior, 'cos I was fed up of it looking absolute shite.  It's come up really well, in fact it's too nice to use now.

Visited this motorbike museum today, it's hidden away in the New Forest near New Milton: There's so many bikes in there I actually suffered motorbike overload , a serious and debilitating medical condition that required a stay in the cafe (where I came upon some excellent breakfast despite it being past 2pm, plus lemon meringue pie). I think my favourite era is the '70s, this is a Suzuki rotary-powered bike, alongside a DKW.  Unfortunately there's nothing much later than early '80s here. It's surprising how the basic elements of bikes haven't changed much in almost 100 years, unlike cars.  This BMW is from the early '30s: Interesting 2-wheel drive bike; drive is taken to the front wheel via a sprocket attached to a CV joint: This streamlined '50s Norton held several speed records, and was ridden by my friend Adrian's father, Eric Oliver: Finally, a 1973 Yamaha race bike.  It's a measure of progress that my bog-standard SV650 has such

I've come across some very useful biking books in PDF format here .  They're mostly concerned with improving bike skills, and I particularly like 'Full Control'.  Last night I went out and practised concious countersteering ; it's something you do subconciously to ride any kind of bike (it's one of the reasons why learning to ride a 2-wheeler is difficult), though when you initially read about it it sounds like madness.  To actively do it was a revelation and it made me laugh out loud at it's effectiveness, the bike just leans at the appropriate angle automatically and goes around bends like it's on rails.  The aim is to use the method all the time, so in an emergency situation you can retain control rather than simply freeze.  I can do it at speed but it's proving more difficult around town, need more practice.